I've been producing music for over 10 years now, I started learning how to produce music after realising it was the key to getting a good quality sound. Phone recordings of band practice sessions definitely aren't the best way to present your music.
I've been learning about music as a broader subject my entire life, I have been able to play the piano and read music for as long as I can remember and picked up the guitar at school. It was somewhere between school and university that I started to gravitate towards production. I was never the most disciplined learner at uni, but my tutors all had a lot of knowledge to share on a vast range of music topics and they were all very supportive.
I use FL Studio. For me, it was really intuitive to just get going with it. Lifetime free updates at an affordable price for the software is a big selling point too!
I've accumulated a small collection of music gear but my favourite pieces are the ones that friends and family have gifted me. I don't consider myself as much of a sentimental person, but it's a warming reminder of the fact I have their support to follow a musical path.
My family pooled in and bought me a Faith acoustic guitar for my 21st birthday, playing feels very smooth and it has a nice warm sound. My girlfriend got me a Maschine drum pad for my 26th, and it has now become one of my go-to tools.
For original songs, it's a blank canvas. I've come up with a few templates with everything already organised to save time in setting up projects but I'll generally start by making a sound/melody/harmony that catches my ear and going from there. Lyrics usually come last unless something comes to me as I'm writing the music.
For remixes, I prefer to try and not change too much in the structure of the original song. I'll listen to each of the stems to find what I want to keep in the remix, what I might sample and what I want to cut out entirely. Then I'll compose and arrange around the existing melodic and percussive elements.
YouTube really is incredible for finding out how to do anything. There are so many people who share their knowledge on the platform but between my day job and everything else that goes along with making and releasing music, I barely get time for sleep!
Andrew Huang made a great video on music theory basics, in which he gives some practice exercises to help reinforce the topics he covers.
Time is the most valuable resource you have, use it wisely.
Writer's block and time constraints are very common problems. They can also feed into each other and send you spiralling out if you're not careful!
For writer's block, I personally find the real problem is choice paralysis. My solution is to create conditions you need to meet – for example in songwriting, you can say it must contain certain words/themes, or for composition/production the song must contain a certain instrument or set of instruments. Working within a given set of parameters limits the amount of choice you have and can help speed up workflow.
Time constraints is an interesting one though – you can use this to your advantage. Self-imposing deadlines to complete work by can be a good productivity tool. If you don’t like the result, you don't have to release it. Either way, working to a deadline is good practice. If it's in music or a completely unrelated industry, deadlines are deadlines.
Learn about music theory, and put it into practice. You don't always have to follow the conventional rules but at least know which ones you're breaking and why.
Analyse your favourite songs, and even analyse songs you wouldn't normally enjoy. It’s a game-changer how much you'll come away with.
If your computer struggles with lots of simultaneous notes and sounds, render out what you need to audio. It's less CPU intensive than handling polyphonic MIDI.
I've got a Splice subscription and should really start making use of it more! It's a really useful tool.
SKIO hosts remix competitions that I have been entering regularly for some time now – as part of these competitions you can choose to receive feedback from their A&Rs. A lot of the advice I have received has been helpful in getting a cleaner mix.
I've just seen that RepostExchange have a new feedback campaign functionality in beta - I am looking forward to getting involved in both giving and receiving feedback when I get the chance!
My remix of 'Kill' by ANDRÆ. He's an incredibly talented musician and it was a pleasant experience working with him and releasing the remix. For me, it was the first time taking my new template out for a test run and I'm really happy with the results.
The user rating system on RepostExchange is useful to gauge how well-received a track is once there is a solid sample size of people rating my work – if it seems to have missed the mark a bit, I'll try and work out what's different about that song and why it may not have landed so well.
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This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
