16 Music Production Tips

I took to Facebook last night asking 16 producers for one bit of simple advice they would give to someone starting out on their music production journey, these are real tips from real producers, sitting in their bedroom just like you. Nothing is set in stone when it comes to music production and everyone does things differently so don’t worry if you don’t think anything here will suit your style of music or you just don’t like the results from any of the following advice or techniques.

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Fort Road

“Reverb, always reverb… and when you run out of ideas, well… you guessed it… MORE REVERB.”

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Chris Hanna

“Timmy Stewart told me ‘It’s the ear not the gear’ – some people can get caught up in the whole technique of producing a track – that it may be intricately made, but it doesn’t sound overly great. I would say just make what sounds good to you, and be confident in your personal tastes.”

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Protostar

“When you’re going to make a song, whack the master fader up to full. That way when it comes to mixing down your track, you can bring the master down to 0 db and you will have plenty of headroom.”

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Sean ‘O Sullivan / Triptych Media Labs

“I find that in order to maximize creativity one must first minimize the tools with which they work. Stick to what you know and perfect skills before jumping into something new. This will allow creativity to flow naturally and less time to be spent on learning new technologies or techniques.”

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Groovebound

“Sometimes, the mid/high sound of a bass synth are what gives it its character. Layering other sounds (and cutting the low end from around 200Hz) on top of a bass synth can often completely change the feel of a bassline, providing you with a more unique sound.”

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Tulpa

“Add a light saturation to everything in your mix, this creates a warmer, realer tone”

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Sweclubberz

“Music production is all about creativity and to bring YOUR world into another’s. Don’t limit yourself following certain rules and don’t be afraid to experiment. Unleash all your creativity and motivation and get going!  Also try to strive for originality – we allready got enough of what exists today, think outside the box! Avoid inspiration through music.  Go someplace you can relax, in the woods for instance, feel the fresh air and hear the powerful sounds of nature. Get inspired.  Or why not look up some fresh breathtaking digital art on the internet? Chose alternative inspiration sources! Get creative!  If you haven’t got any motivation at all whatsoever, quit music production….. for a couple of days! A break will for sure help you and you will feel inspired within some days without producing any form of music.

Whatever you do; Never give up.”

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Mencel

“If the sound you make isn’t what you intended, but it sounds good, don’t feel the need to fix it, no-one knows what you were intending to make in the first place.”

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Serren

“When processing your drums, make use of parallel compression to help them cut through the mix.”

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Elliot Berger

“Think about frequencies when doing your sound design, rather than waiting until you have your sounds to do the mixing.  For example, if you need more top end, add a new airy synth layer to your sounds, rather than go crazy with EQ. I do all my writing based around frequency content, makes mixdowns much quicker and fuller too. And ping pong delay, lots and lots of filtered ping pong delay.”

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Hasta

“Always categorize your Audio and Midi files in your DAW! it will fix a lot of things in the long run.”

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Andreas Ort

“An EQ boost at around 200 Hz for Snares give it a nice punch.”

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Ryan Vail

“One easy tip to brighten up drum loops is to have some stereo parts. Like a high hat that pans left to right. Or even just some parts sitting full pan left etc.”

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Skynetics

“Self recording and organic sampling is one of the most underrated ways to get the percussion sounds you want. the feeling of accomplishment after you’ve spent ages on just a kick drum you made yourself from scratch to finally find the perfect texture from what you recorded is one of the most rewarding things one can experience during producing, in my opinion.”

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Mallo

“Ever wonder why your kick sounds a bit flat no matter how much you compress, eq or turn that bad boy up. Try using a sub osc side chained to your kick drum for a nice sub roll off at the end of your sample. Always make sure to cut off frequencies below 45/50Hz on your sub osc as this will help to cut out any possible sub frequency clashes.”

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Bustre

“Stay away from YouTube tutorials. I’ve found that my best sounds have happened by complete accident and through experientation you will learn so much more – just remember that before you get to that stage of knowing how to get the sound you want, you must first wade through a heap of ‘trial and error’ sounds. I experienced this for about 3 years, but after wading through a large amount of rubbish techniques, you can single out the good from the bad through sheer experience.”

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