15 ways to improve your music production skills

Do you think there is some room for improvement in your music productions? Probably the answer is yes, because you can always improve. ProducerPoint.com gives you fifteen tips to improve the quality of your production drastically. This is how to make better tracks! 1. Collaborate Collaborating with other artist will help you to get more insights in different aspects of music production. It will give you new creative input, and you can share knowledge about synths, effects, anything!

2. Know your synths Knowing your synths well makes you able to create that sound you were looking for in your track. It helps you to create more unique sounds, and you can add your own signature to your sound. Tip: pick one synthesizer of which you will learn every detail. It's better to know one synth totally, than to know a bit of a lot of synths.

3. Rest and don't rest This may sound a bit contradictary (because it is!). Being rested will help you to focus on things like your mixdown, sound design and other analytical tasks. This is because your brain is more able to focus on a particular thing when you're on the peak of the day (for morning people it's the morning, and for evening people, it's the evening.). On the other hand, you tend to be more creative when you're tired, so create chord progressions, rhythms etc. when you're sleepy. More info: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/your-best-creative-time-not-when-you-think/ Also, take break at least every hour when you're producing. You're ears become tired so every now and then you need a 'reset'. Do this more often when you're working on your mixdown or mastering.

4. Compare If you want to sound like the pro's, compare it with the pro's! Choose a similar track that you consider to be good, then listen to both tracks and ask yourself questions like: 1. Does my track give the same feeling and is that a positive or negative thing? 2. Does my track sound as bright, heavy, loud, funky, etc, etc as the reference track? And is this positive? 3. Is my mixdown as good as the reference track? 3. Does my song differ from the reference track, or are they too much the same? Logically, every question with a negative outcome is followed by: "What can I do about it?" Here is a simple way to compare your mixdown or mastering to your reference track: 1. Export your track to an uncompressed format (.wav or .aiff). 2. Download your reference track(s) in an uncompressed format. 3. Open an empty project in your DAW (music creation software). 4. Import both audio files and link them starting from Insert 1. 5. Master your track as you wish by adding mastering effects to the virtual slots on your mixer insert, or use hardware if you have the luxury. Keep the FX slots on your master channel free, or add analyzing plugins only. 6. Compare by playing (one of) the reference track(s). Still happy? Export your track! If not, go back to step 5.

5. Listen to music Listening to music will be inspiration for sure. When you're listening, mind the structure of the track, the mixing details, the progression etc... Listen to music outside your own genre too, for creative input.

6. Go to meetings, conferences and seminars Visit events like ADE (Amsterdam Dance Event), Dancefair and EMC (Electronic Music Conference, Sydney). Here you can meet the pro's and ask them anything you like. Also, a lot of major DJ and music shops have a guest speaker or product specialist visiting every now and then, could be interesting too. Tip: burn a few CD's with your best tracks, and hand them out to people with the same music style.

7. Test it If you have the possibility, test your track in a club (if it's club music). How does the crowd respond? How does it sound in a club? Based on this, you can make changes in your track, and test it again.

8. Ask for feedback Almost every DJ and producer has an Internet addiction nowadays, just like the rest of the developed world. Just send them an (almost) finished track and ask if they can give you some feedback. If they like it, they might even play your track! Few things to consider: 1. Don't spam them. If they don't respond in a week, don't panic. DJ's and producers have other things to do too. 2. Focus on the lesser-known producers. They often have more spare time and are more interested in unknown people's work. (Although this isn't a general rule!) 3. Give your track a good file name. Make sure the title of your track, your artist name and your e-mail are included, so they can find you back if they have the file only (also important when handing out CD's!). When you're sending a SoundCloud link, make sure it's set to private. 9. Set goals Do you often sit in the studio, just listening to your track over and over without making any progress? Set goals! It helps to say to yourself: "Today I am going to make the kick, percussion and bass sound right together." Don't be mad if you failed, that's natural. Setting goals also helps you to avoid the next problem:

10. Don't work too quickly This is something I've done way too much in the past and still I find myself doing it sometimes. When you have an idea in your head, you probably tend to sketch this out as soon as possible. Although this may be a convenient way to work for some people, it will often end up with a messy, unorganised project without a structure. See 9) too. Note that this is not true for all people, if that's the way you like to work and you're happy with the results; no problem!

11. Don't be a nitpicker Opposite of number 10. It's good to put a lot of effort in your mixes, but if you work in too much detail, you're never ever going to finish a track. Seriously, no one is going to hear the difference of a 1.2 dB boost on 440 Hz and a 1.2 dB boost on 455 Hz on a riser.

12. Join groups Some social media and SoundCloud allow you to take part in discussion/feedback groups. This is a great opportunity to share knowledge, give and receive feedback. Don't be that person who is always asking for feedback, but never giving any, though. Search for 'producer', 'music production' or the name of your DAW on Facebook to find these groups (or start one yourself!).

13. Have a good monitoring system Yes, it takes some time and money to get a good monitoring system, but it's certainly worth it. This is because it is very hard to make a track if you can't hear all the frequencies equally. A good monitoring system consists of a pair of studio monitors or a studio headphone. If you're going for the monitors (speakers), you'll need some room treatment as well. Make sure to learn a lot about room treatment and monitoring before actually buying things. Use the groups of step 11 to get some help maybe? (Although be aware that there are a lot of people acting like they know everything.)

14. Watch tutorials There are tons of information on YouTube about music production. To name a few: Sadowick Production, ADSR, Image-Line (FL Studio), SeamlessR and Ryan Enzed.

15. Learn music theory It's way more easy than you probably think to learn the basic theory behind scales, chords and rhythm, all of which you can apply in your own tracks. Buy a 'For Dummies' book or search on the Internet.

I hoped these tips will help you to improve your music production skills. Do you have some tips that haven't been mentioned here, use our contact form or send us a message on Twitter and we'll post it next time. Subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter and Facebook (see top of page) for more regular music production tips.

#Mixing #Mastering