Music Production: My Experience

What's uuuuuuuuup!!!

Again, I've kinda been on a hiatus, but I have some good excuses this time. First, my band and I went on tour this summer!! It was sick, and if you wanna see more details, check out my band's ig @nothing_wrong_with_wet_socks ! We posted some vlogs on YouTube and other things too, but all the details are on that IG page. Additionally, I'm a senior now, so that itself functions as a myriad of excuses. However, on top of that, I've been working on my music portfolios for colleges, which brings me to the topic of this entire blog...

MUSIC PRODUCTION!

Obviously, I'm big on all things music, but that's not limited to just performance. Since my first release last October with '3 Stocked', to my summer EP drop 'still yawning', I've really developed an interest in music production, sound technology, audio engineering, or whatever other names you'd like to use. It's what I want to major in for college, so I've been working on putting together a bit of a portfolio, and in this portfolio process, I've definitely noticed a couple of things from my perspective as an aspiring professional producer.

1. Suck it up and post your material

I'm not saying to immediately post any draft you have. I think I understand better than most people how hard it is to release your material in the music world, espeically when there's so much talent out there. Howeer, too many chances fly by when you keep on tweaking your work based on what-if's. Stick with a song, and make it as perfect to your liking as you can, but don't sweat spending months on end with the tiniest tweak. Publish that song, and if you still feel cringe or unsatisfied with your work, use that energy. Let it set a fire underneath you to make your next project as great as possible. That's what I've done. It took me months to release 3 Stocked, and as soon as it released, I was already working on the still yawning EP. Once I announced the date for SY, (a few weeks before it even came out), my newest project already was in its infant stage. Similarly, I'm sure once I'm done spending these long nights tweaking these songs, I'll be unsatisfied again. It might seem annoying, but I love it - I think it's a sign of constant growth and determination.

2. Learn from experience

This one might sound intuitive, but trust me, it's reallllly not. I don't want to say 'wasted', but for lack of a better term, I've used up countless hours of my life watching videos on proper mic-ing techniques, elaborations of mixing strategies, and soooo many other sound production topics. These definitely had some impact, but they heavily paled in comparison to just grabbing my DAW and screwing around. I remember just spending one night on Garageband with a single track I had recorded earlier in the day, and going through every amp sim, every eq technique, and any other software, plug-in, etc. that I had at my disposal. I truly believe I learned more in that one night than I did from 5 hours of a professional video. Being able to see firsthand the direct causes and effects f different techniques really gave me a better ear, and not only did it allow me to identify changes, but also see which I preferred. Again, this isn't to say that anybody teaching you sound production is horrible compared to experimentation. I actually took a pre-college program at Drexel strictly for music production, and that was all teaching! However, there was also a fair amount of direct control at the board, and me personally, I gained so much from having access to a learning environment where I control the factors, yet still had someone guiding me along the way.

3. WHOOOOOOO CARES?

Even as I'm writing this, I find it hard to believe myself. However, through the many music mentors I've had, I've learned that there is no krabby patty secret formula. Every song, album, artist, and label, will have a different sound or idea how this or that song should sound. There's no set rulebook to play by, and at the end of the day, it doesn't matter if you follow objective fundamentals. A mix is a good mix if you like how it sounds. If that happens, the job is done. However, especially me, I feel like the constant need to make everyone enjoy my music. Obviously, this is impossible, but still, it won't stop me from feeling the need to cater to everyone. However, you just need to remember that you need to impress YOU. Hopefully I learn it from myself sometime soon too!

AND boom. That's just the tip of the iceberg for my grandiose music production knowledge. The next time I blog, I'll probably have released my next project and (hopefully) announce what college I'll be attending. CRAZY to put in perspective, but we ball. Hope I can make a reader excited enough to leave a comment or like. If not, I hope I at least had a reader, but even if this blog serves as a little diary, I still feel great putting this out of my dome and into the world somehow.

UNTIL NEXT BLAWG

😎😎

(cover photo of some pretty cool equipment at Drexel's Westphal campus)