I've collected my 6 best tips to really improve as a producer. Check them out, decide for yourself what you want to apply and go to work!!!
1. Improve workflow - Templates, Custom Chains, Presets
Make sure that every time you go in the studio you make the most use out of your time. That means you produce and don't spend half a day searching for sounds, create tracks and auxiliary channels. Organise your samples, presets and save templates. Find the repeating tasks which aren't really helping with creativity and automate them, so you got more time for creating cool melodies and sounds 😉
2. Learn to play an instrument
Playing an instrument will help you to develop new Melodies, Chords and also try out different variations in a very short time. This will keep the creative flow going and you'll be able to make more better music faster.
3. Study Basic Music Theory
I know this topic doesn't sound really sexy and we also life in a time where not knowing anything is sort of a batch of honour to display your unbelievable talent. I met so many people with former classical education, telling people that they can't play an instrument just to be looked at as a supertalent. Don't think that if some successful producer says he doesn't know anything about theory and can't play an instrument, that this is the way to go or in some cases even true.
Basic Music Theory knowledge will drastically help you to realise Melody and Chord ideas which you have in your head and it will take out hours of mindless "Notes Moving" to get what you originally planned.
4. Stop listening to the Style, you're producing.
Be open minded and listen to all types of music. If you're a Rawstyle Producer and you only listen to Rawstyle, you'll develop a boxed thinking. You'll be too much influenced by this style and you'll be rather imitating then innovating. All those "hybrid" styles like Raggatek, Psycore, Psystyle and so on are a result of Hardcore producers listening to other styles and getting influenced to try to incorporate this styles into their Hard Dance Style. Those are the innovators. Be one of them!
5. Finish your Projects/Songs
This seems so obvious, but a lot of producers stop every project at the same point - usually at a point where it stops to be fun. Go through it, even if the songs sucks. With every finished project you went through that entire process including final mixdown and master. If you always stop at the point where you're done with production, you'll still suck at mixing and mastering and the only way to get better at it, is simply doing it. So make sure you reach the point in your production where you got to work on your mastering.
If the song sucks, it's still not a big loss. Maybe you got a cool idea or a couple of cool sounds which you can use for another project.
6. Do something every day - at least for 30min
This is by far the best tip somebody could ever give you and if you really apply it, you won't believe how fast you will improve...I promise 🙂
We always tempt to find excuses, why we don't have time. The day has 1440min, most of us find time to watch stupid videos on YouTube, mindlessly scrolling the feed on Instagram, but we find it very difficult to find 30min out of 1440min to do what we really love.
Most producers work a full time job and focus their production only on the weekend. This is a good approach, but not the best.
If you work everyday, certain workflows, shortcuts and so on will become 2nd nature and you'll be incredible fast. That means the little amount of time you work, you'll be focused on the creative stuff instead of trying to remember how things work.
I also experienced it a lot, that I really didn't feel for producing, but I forced myself to produce at least for 30min and after 20min I had such a good flow and so many ideas that I went on for a couple of hours. This wouldn't happen, if I had skipped my daily production work. Consistency is king. It's better to produce for 30min daily (=3,5hrs per week), than 8 hours straight once a week.
If you don't apply this now, you're missing out on the biggest thing to improve.