The Next Level

[mtl6]

I'm sure many of us have put of lot of time and effort into this hobby. When I look back on the first tracks I ever made, I can see how far I've come as a producer. Yet, I'm still nowhere near the level I need to be at to satisfy my artistic urge. I can write a decent sounding tune every once in awhile but I am so far from being able to communicate my vision and to hone my unique style. I'm sure you all can sympathize.

What can we do to take it to the next level? I know the obvious answer would be 'time' and 'practice' but when you reach a certain point, you watch your growth happen slower and slower. It's like the jump from being a terrible producer to an okay producer happens pretty easily, but the jump from being an okay producer to being something special is beyond massive. What direction can we head in at this point?

I do not play an instrument, and my music theory knowledge is hardly extensive. Should I take a step back and learn these basics? Or should I plow ahead and craft my own sound? Time is ticking and we must race against ourselves. How can we get to the next level?

[fragments]

You want to make music with little music theory knowledge? Think you answered your own question...

[mtl6]

You want to make music with little music theory knowledge? Think you answered your own question...

How much is enough?

[PillowFight]

You want to make music with little music theory knowledge? Think you answered your own question...

[fragments]

You want to make music with little music theory knowledge? Think you answered your own question...

How much is enough?

How is anyone even supposed to answer that? How about: never stop learning.

[Crimsonghost]

How is anyone even supposed to answer that? How about: never stop learning.

Serious.

[SunkLo]

You want to make music with little music theory knowledge? Think you answered your own question...

How much is enough?

All of it. That's like asking how much money, women and drugs is enough.
Really though, can't sum it up better than never stop learning. Not just within music either, you should always have something on the side that you're learning. The day you stop being a student is the day you stagnate and start your decline towards death.

Definitely learn an instrument. Join in the piano practice thread I started. Just go for anything you can to give you a different perspective on music. Listen to Motown records and play the pan-flute. You'll eventually make better tunes because of it. Consume information, experiment with what you've learned, practice what works. Repeat.

I guarantee you'll never exhaust the well of things to learn about music. Right now I'm picking up a new instrument and learning to code audio plugins, and I'm enjoying both immensely. The rabbit hole goes as deep as you want.

[claudedefaren]

Compare your stuff to the songs you want it to be on the same level as, and emulate.

[SunkLo]

^Don't do that. Unless you mean emulate their work ethic or creativity or something. You're better off making quirky electric-polka in your basement instead off following the trend and contributing to the already superfluous noise floor.

But you can definitely take inspiration from other producers and strive to be at the same skill level as them in certain regards.

[Huts]

^Don't do that. Unless you mean emulate their work ethic or creativity or something. You're better off making quirky electric-polka in your basement instead off following the trend and contributing to the already superfluous noise floor.

But you can definitely take inspiration from other producers and strive to be at the same skill level as them in certain regards.

You don't NEED to be making something new and exciting. Forcing yourself to stray away from something that's already been done, while already not having much confidence in your work, can really hurt you imo. I'm not advocating rehashing all the tunes in your itunes, but if you make something in a similar style to your favorite artists, you can compare your progress which isn't a bad thing. A small fraction of the people making EDM are making groundbreaking stuff, just have fun with it whether it sounds like beatports top 10 or some obscure mixture between skrillex and polka.

It is possible for someone to bring their own new ideas/sounds/techniques to a style that's already present without it sounding exactly the same as everyone else.

[SunkLo]

Well like I said, it's perfectly advisable to try and emulate the skill of other producers. Explicitly trying to reinvent the wheel at every turn is just going to be a hindrance.

But copycatting isn't going to teach you how to write your own music, how to develop a cohesive palette of sound, how to transmute an idea into an arrangement, etc. which are all pretty vital skills. When we're talking "The next level" I assume we're referring to the level of production where you're not imitating others. Although imitation is a good way to develop some technical skills when just starting out. I guess the semantics of "the next level" depends on the current level.

[Zerbexian]

Hello, I feel like I'm struggling with the same issue. I have only been producing for 2 years, but I feel like my progress is getting too slow, and I'm getting nowhere.

I read the replies, and they're not bad, but I'm kind of the person that doesn't get really good on one thing, I get like above average good on alot of things.

I know some instruments, but I'm not REALLY good at any of them, also my music experience from before producing is bad (except for knowing a little at some instruments).

What I'm struggling the most with, is getting it to sound catchy enough for people to listen to it for a while and maybe share it alot. And at the moment I'm struggling with another issue, I don't know if anyone could answer it in this thread, but I'll ask anyway.

I really need lecturing on how to EQ high end sounds, without them making to much bad noise to my ears also without taking away the good high end in the really high sounds. Thanks ^^

[claudedefaren]

^Don't do that. Unless you mean emulate their work ethic or creativity or something. You're better off making quirky electric-polka in your basement instead off following the trend and contributing to the already superfluous noise floor.

Says you! Rather pompous.

Emulate someone in every way you want to, but i was mainly taking in terms of the "sound" of their mix. Balance, frequency spectrum, compression, punch, tightness, etc.

[SunkLo]

Yeah having reference mixes is completely fine. But if your track sounds like a shitty guitar hero karaoke version of another track, why even bother? Copycat tracks contribute nothing.

[claudedefaren]

Says you. Copying professional tracks helped my mixing and arrangement shills greatly.

[SunkLo]

mixing and arrangement shills greatly.

Beautiful Freudian slip

Like I said, "The Next Level" is very open to interpretation. Maybe for you to advance to the next level after your current one you need to stop imitation and forge your own path. How many next level producers copy the tracks of others?

I mean yeah sure if you've never produced anything, getting to "The Next Level" is just learning how to open your DAW and save a project. But I interpreted it as referring to going from an average producer to a great one with a unique signature and the ability to produce a diverse palette of music. You're not going to acquire those skills by simply reproducing the work of others.

[audiowaves]

analyzing tracks is a good way to start. take a track you like and check when the artist introduces new synths, what's happening in the breakdown, during the intro, during the drop, if you can find similar patterns throughout the song and so on. maybe even try to recreate it -> which gives you some sort of visual image how that tune is build and how it looks like in your daw.
I'll often just listen to songs over and over and write things down, counting etc... Oh yeah - listen to a lot of music (YouTube Channels e.g)

I think deadmau5 said sth. like - write 3000 shitty tunes until you come up with a good one -> practice!

[Add9]

analyzing tracks is a good way to start. take a track you like and check when the artist introduces new synths, what's happening in the breakdown, during the intro, during the drop, if you can find similar patterns throughout the song and so on. maybe even try to recreate it -> which gives you some sort of visual image how that tune is build and how it looks like in your daw.
I'll often just listen to songs over and over and write things down, counting etc... Oh yeah - listen to a lot of music (YouTube Channels e.g)

I think deadmau5 said sth. like - write 3000 shitty tunes until you come up with a good one -> practice!

I think I could write 3,000,000 tunes and still not come up with one as good as strobe, lol

[Icetickle]

Try producing like almost drunk. Works for some people

[Add9]

Try producing like almost drunk. Works for some people

Haha I make the illest beats while drunk... then I come back to them sober and I'm like wtf is this shit