Seriously for the past two years, on and off for the past five years. I've learned through watching recorded tutorials and a lot of practice and experimentation!
I use Ableton Live, mainly because I found this to be a very popular choice for electronic music producers. It has the ability to create scenes quickly before making the main song arrangement. I'm sure there are other great DAWs out there, but I found while learning that this was the most used DAW when watching recorded tutorials for techno and house music.
I use the Ableton Push 2, it's great for creating track melodies after choosing my own scale, and it helps keep it in key for me. I also have the Novation Peak synthesizer. I only started using this synth but so far it is great for sound design.
I really like the U-HE Diva synthesizer, it's versatile, has a great collection of built-in presets, and has a great analogue type sound. I also use Xfer Records Serum, it's easy to use as it's a visual type synth. And Fab Filter, a really great boutique of visual EQ and compression utilities.
I normally have a slight idea in my head, like a rhythm or sample I want to use, I'll try to get that idea into Ableton and work from that. Although I find getting it to sound the same way as in my head is very challenging. So it normally turns out quite different once I get an initial beat going. After that, I just go with the flow and experiment with different synths and samples until I have a good base to go off. Then I set up or record a basic arrangement. The track is then mostly done from a creative standpoint. I then go back and forth working on each track and mix them together.
I try to keep my sounds at a certain level for pre-master using VU metering, and I'll do my own quick master using compression, limiting, etc. Once I'm (mostly) satisfied with the song, I'll export and listen to it in my car or other sources to see how it sounds. I say mostly because I don't think I'm ever truly satisfied with how it sounds, I always want to make tweaks and changes to it. But I have to cut off the changes at some point to get a final version done, which I'll then send my pre-master to an external mastering company for a final mastered version.
I've watched a lot of tutorials on Sound Academy, Groove3 and Masterclass. I've watched some YouTube videos but I generally try to stay away from them as they are mostly hit or miss. If I'm looking for a solution to a specific area I will try searching YouTube. I also try to read on technical aspects of sound. I'm currently reading books such as Sound FX and Handbook for Sound Engineers.
The user Sadowick Production has some great free videos on using Ableton and many other topics that I've watched.
There's so much to know. Each topic of music production is critical in its own way. You have to know basic music theory, how to use your DAW, mixing, mastering, effects, synths, acoustics, computers, just to name a few. I'm still learning in every area, probably always will be. If I would choose one topic I wish I'd learned earlier it would have been room acoustics and setting up my home studio, because if it's not set up properly your mixing decisions may be either too extreme or too mild, which won't translate well for general playback on other systems.
But room acoustics is not the most exciting topic and takes time to learn and set up, and there's the financial aspect of course. I'm sure many people like myself when just starting out want to get straight into making tracks since that's what it's all about. But once you get serious about it, you can't ignore important areas such as room acoustics.
My greatest challenge is finding the time. I try to utilize any spare time I have whenever possible. Right now I probably use half of this time writing music and the other half learning and studying new areas. I have many ideas and when they come to my head I note in my phone so I can refer to them later on and experiment with.
My advice would be, always be open to learning new techniques, push yourself to learn and improve on areas you're weak on.
Not really. I do use an external mastering service: The Fat Mastering.
One thing I do, other than posting on SoundCloud and Repost Exchange, is to submit my tracks to blogs and labels through Submithub. The blogs are required to give feedback on my track if they aren't approved. This was probably the most difficult part of sending out my music, as it is very hard to take rejection and criticism for something that I worked so hard to create. But music is very subjective and emotional and I realized not everyone is going to like my music. But overall worked out for me as I found some labels that really liked my music and ended up releasing on their label.
I would say I'm most proud of my track 'Rock Bottom'. This was the first track I released.
I think definitely RepostExchange has had an influence on my music from hearing other styles of new producers and what they are doing. I try to stay in the same style yet develop something original to my tastes.
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This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
