"Career" Advice

[5910]

Reading that title made me corn-lol.

But seriously here's the situation...

There you are, uploading your tunes to soundcloud, beginning to generate an iota of interest on your productions... When suddenly a wild new producer sends you a short message along the lines of

"Hey man, I really dig your stuff, I'd really like to work with you on a tune for an EP I'm trying to get together"

Before responding, you click through to his soundcloud to see what you're dealing with. It turns out that this kid is completely fresh, at it for no longer than 6 months, with a long way to go before his productions begin to sound "produced". Now, without wanting to lead the kid on, and certainly not wanting to shut him down about what is really nothing more than a lack of experience that he will most definitely overcome, and most importantly, without seeming like a complete tnuc, how exactly do you proceed?

Discuss.

[fragments]

Simple. If someone can't handle honesty, they probably shouldn't be sharing any kind of creative pursuit with the world. Clearly, I'm not saying be mean. Just be honest. Or lie your ass off and say you are too busy at the moment working on other projects, but you'll listen to a couple tunes and PM him some comments.

[Dystinkt]

what fragments said, be honest and tell the guy politely that your not into his tunes and your not interested. if you're polite and respectful about it there shouldn't be an issue.

[Crimsonghost]

If he/she s a big boy/girl then they will understand that criticism is part of the game. No one likes to hear it, but it makes us stronger in the end.

[wub]

Agree with the above...you could even (if you wanted to) pass on a bit of production advice with regards to elements within their tunes that you feel could maybe do with some work.


(Though this occasionally backfires and you get a torrent of abuse from people who then slate your own Soundcloud efforts )

[mthrfnk]

I've had a few messages on SoundCloud from randomers about stuff like this (collabs, editing peoples tracks, putting tracks out). I recently had a message from someone asking if I'd like one of my WIPs to be included in a compilation when it was finished. Apparently there were some other "big names" on the compilation... looked up the guys SoundCloud and he was 17 lol. Normally I just politely decline/shoot them down and leave it open for them to contact me again if they want.

[bRRRz]

tell him that you are not interested in the moment but that he should keep at it and try to motivate him to get better.

[Augment]

Quote from when some dude asked me to do a collab and I checked his tunes

This is not at all to be rude, but I think you should get to know your daw and stuff a bit better, make some more tunes etc before we possibly collab
Again, not being rude at all now, just keep messing around!

Think it was a kid, so tried to make it clear that I'm not bashing him and shit. c:

[blinx]

i had something similar happen, i was asked to do a remix for a cat that was new to the production game, so i showed him how to bounce stems and did the remix. I liked the end product, and it was my take on his music.. i enjoyed the experience and he seemed to have a good time hearing me take his idea and twist it about. He said it really was inpsiring and jsut made him want to work harder at it.

IMHO im not that good either but its humbling to have others really dig your sound enough to ask you for your help. Its all your choice of course at the end of the day, but how hard would it be to do a remix quick. Networking is huge and there are plenty of crap producers who still make it big and get signed lol this could be your in lol

[Soulstep]

The cycle

1. Producer thinks he’s good but he’s not (can’t handle criticism)
2. Producer realizes he’s not that good and because of it gets better, becomes highly underrated (nice people)
3. Producer starts to get ‘big’ unfollows everyone on soundcloud etc (can’t handle criticism/1in 4 chance of becoming an asshole)

[skimpi]

link pls

[Mason]

why do you have to reply can you not just ignore the message?

[Trollah]

I've had a few messages on SoundCloud from randomers about stuff like this (collabs, editing peoples tracks, putting tracks out). I recently had a message from someone asking if I'd like one of my WIPs to be included in a compilation when it was finished. Apparently there were some other "big names" on the compilation... looked up the guys SoundCloud and he was 17 lol. Normally I just politely decline/shoot them down and leave it open for them to contact me again if they want.

Fuck off mate, i was being nice, trying to do you a favour by putting your name on an album which potentially (emphasis on potentially) could do well with names that i think are big (big to me meaning good artists, not necessarily well known). Yes im 17 and what? UKF was started by a 17 year old, and anyway im not claiming to be anything decent, im just tryna help out if possible. Jeeez some people just dont appreciate shit. I even gave you constructive critisism on that track of yours.. jesus man... learn to be up front to people and not say shit on forums behind their back!

[skimpi]

m8 you should buss dis guy up

[lloydy]

I've had a few messages on SoundCloud from randomers about stuff like this (collabs, editing peoples tracks, putting tracks out). I recently had a message from someone asking if I'd like one of my WIPs to be included in a compilation when it was finished. Apparently there were some other "big names" on the compilation... looked up the guys SoundCloud and he was 17 lol. Normally I just politely decline/shoot them down and leave it open for them to contact me again if they want.

Fuck off mate, i was being nice, trying to do you a favour by putting your name on an album which potentially (emphasis on potentially) could do well with names that i think are big (big to me meaning good artists, not necessarily well known). Yes im 17 and what? UKF was started by a 17 year old, and anyway im not claiming to be anything decent, im just tryna help out if possible. Jeeez some people just dont appreciate shit. I even gave you constructive critisism on that track of yours.. jesus man... learn to be up front to people and not say shit on forums behind their back!

[Trollah]

Aha xD Sorry about the rant, just annoys me when people are so unappreciative! And i don't see how my age is relevant. There are kids who are 13 and 14 who have had releases on multiple labels (decent labels, not just ones they made themselves).

[Aufnahmewindwuschel]

get a torrent

haha had to do it sorry

[lloydy]

I don't think he busted your balls too bad,the conversation is about randoms messaging you on soundcloud which you did do so i think it's just fools luck really you happen to read a thread where it was brought up.No harm fam just people choppsing init?
Saying that to move the thread on in a nothing to see here fashion,i just tend to ignore people.I've had a few people ask for help more than anything.Some guy i helped he played one of my tracks out and on his internet station.Another i was meant to help(sorry dread if ya reading)but i just got tied up with life stuff.
I tend not to just hand over stuff until i get to know people a bit better,some shaddy characters out there and all that jizz.

[lloydy]

Oh and no age doesn't matter because i'm old as fuck so i cling on to that to make myself feel better!!!!

[mthrfnk]

I've had a few messages on SoundCloud from randomers about stuff like this (collabs, editing peoples tracks, putting tracks out). I recently had a message from someone asking if I'd like one of my WIPs to be included in a compilation when it was finished. Apparently there were some other "big names" on the compilation... looked up the guys SoundCloud and he was 17 lol. Normally I just politely decline/shoot them down and leave it open for them to contact me again if they want.

Fuck off mate, i was being nice, trying to do you a favour by putting your name on an album which potentially (emphasis on potentially) could do well with names that i think are big (big to me meaning good artists, not necessarily well known). Yes im 17 and what? UKF was started by a 17 year old, and anyway im not claiming to be anything decent, im just tryna help out if possible. Jeeez some people just dont appreciate shit. I even gave you constructive critisism on that track of yours.. jesus man... learn to be up front to people and not say shit on forums behind their back!

Lol.

Apologies for the way I put it so bluntly & crudely, I wasn't intentionally shit talking you, I didn't mention names or laud you out publically for people to mock. But you have to see my view - especially in relation to this thread.

I've had similar messages before from young promoters & producers asking to collab or put out/share a track on some compilation or something similar etc. etc., most of the time it appears waste of time and nothing comes to fruition because they think they're bigger than they are (i.e. they don't actually end up doing you any favours). This is a huge generalisation on my part though tbf. Similarly, I'm not saying it's a bad thing you're young, but honestly I don't just want to give away a track to someone I don't know at all proposing they put it on a compilation, for all I know you could line it up for distribution on Beatport and withold any royalties without my knowledge (again not a personal attack on you - just in general). Consequently it's nothing bad on you it's just a reflection of my skeptical nature... and I could well be missing out on a big opportunity, at the sake of protecting my work, which is my own fault.

For me, producing isn't really about making tracks to try and get deals and promotion, and though I appreciate people offering me such things, I'd rather do it on my own when I feel I have something actually worth sharing.

Like I said I normally politely decline these sort of things, I just didn't get round to actually messaging you back.