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72 Music Production Tips I Wish I

Recording

Producing

Mastering Knew When I Started

By Zac Citron
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04/18/2015
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Dear Past Zac,
Compression

EQ The year is 2015. I well you, are older.

Drums
In time, youll release two original EPs on iTunes. Youll get a remix
Hip-Hop and an original release published on Beatport. Youll compose,
Low End arrange, and produce hundreds of tracks.

Vocals
Youll use Kickstarter to create two successful albums and print
Guitar physical copies. Youll have people commenting on YouTube how

Effects much they like your music. Youll love your music.

Youll hate your music. Youll continue to struggle with self doubt but
with better finesse. The ebb and flow doesnt ever leave.

As you listen in amazement and wonder to Move For Me by

Deadmau5 and Kaskade in your new Sony MDR-7506s which youll
use for over five years I want you to take heed of what Ive learned
over time.

Heres 72 tips I wish I knew when I started producing:

1. Trust your taste. In other words, dont second guess yourself. Who
are you doing this for anyway?

2. Stop crapping on popular music for your ego. You can learn from
anything. In fact, its wise to learn from music that millions listen to.

3. Using loops doesnt make you a fake artist. Its the end product
that counts. Look at the gaming industry. Do you know how many of
them use Unity? Or Unreal? What matters is the game. What matters is
the music.

4. Same goes with samples.

 5. Having a beverage while you produce will make the process much
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fluid. Arguably
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its the caffeine. Arguably its having something
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to reach for in between empty moments.

Search 6. Get a nice pair of headphones or monitors ASAP. Frequency

response is important. Bass is important.
ARTICLES
7. Mixing is not mysterious judo. Go ahead and mix. Make bad mixes.
Mixing Eventually, youll make good mixes.
Recording
8. Mastering is not mysterious judo. Go ahead and master. Make bad
Producing
masters. Eventually, youll make good masters.
Mastering
9. Buy a quality sample pack as soon as possible. Here are some

VIDEOS quality packs incuding a free one.

Latest 10. Let music you dont like or understand warm up to you. Chances
Essentials are youll dig it once its familiar.

Compression
11. Repetition is important and minimalism is key but dont use these as
EQ an excuse to ignore that last 20% of polish. Give your tracks that spit

Drums shine sheen.

Hip-Hop 12. No one cares until they do. Work on your craft and put it out.
Low End
13. If theres no market for your work they may never care. Do you
Vocals
care?
Guitar
14. If you dont enjoy listening to your music youre doing something
Effects
wrong (or working for hire).

15. Start building a reliable way to connect with people who want your
music. Email list is a good idea.

16. Free shouldnt literally mean free. Give it out for a purpose.
Facebook likes? SoundCloud followers? Email subscribers?

17. Think about where people will listen to your music. What is the
setting? This should inform your production.

18. Think about what people will listen to your music. Who are they?
This should inform your production.

19. Dont resist learning music theory. Music theory is a map. You can
navigate without it but its handy to have.

20. Dont compare yourself too much to professional artists. Especially

not early on.

21. DO aim for the quality of these pro artists. But again, do not let
them stunt you.

22. Youll reach a point where your music is actually on par with
professionals and youll only recognize it looking back.
 23. It doesnt matter what DAW you use.
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24. The final production is what matters not how its made.

Search 25. I repeat. The final production is what matters not how its made.

26. Dont ever make excuses with regards to tools. You can make
ARTICLES
amazing music with 100% free software. Remember that $400 you
Mixing spent on synths that Deadmau5 was known to use? Youll use those for

Recording about two songs.

Producing 27. New tools do provide opportunities for new directions. Spice up
Mastering your production once in a while by acquiring a new plugin, sample
pack, or instrument.

VIDEOS
28. You know that guitar youve played for half your life? Stop
Latest pretending you dont want to use it and get an interface. I recommend
Essentials this one.

Compression
29. Invest in a solid microphone to go with that interface. I
EQ recommend this one.

Drums
30. There are four tiers of audio equipment.
Hip-Hop

Low End 1. Cheap

Vocals 2. Solid enough for pro use. Consumer level pricing.

Guitar
3. Pro which is marginally better than number 2.
Effects
4. Expensive.

Tier two is good enough. Ignore the rest. When you make a living off of
music you can splurge.

31. Never get angry or upset at change. People who yell about the
music industry crumbling or that streaming is taking over the world
are exhibiting resistance. Accept the world for what it is and look for
opportunities. The obstacle is the way.

32. Deadmau5 began his production journey around age 16. He

exploded 14 years later. Mostly because of market conditions.
Kaskades active years according to Wikipedia begin in 1989. Aim for
the slow burn not overnight success.

33. Start building up a following now. Fan by fan. Never forget the
power of one more fan. One more listener. One more email
subscriber.

34. You dont need a million twitter followers to be a success. All you
need is one thousand true fans. This may not literally be one thousand.

35. Treat your music promotion like a boot-strapped blog. Its

surprisingly analogous.
 36. Your side project of writing and your eventual day job as a game
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will provide
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incredible perspective on making art. This will
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inform your music. Vary yourself.

Search 37. Compression is overrated.

38. EQ is overrated.
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Mixing *Clarification: Compression and EQ are nothing more than hammers

Recording in your toolbox. Learn how to wield them. Use them to get the job
done.
Producing

Mastering 39. In fact, most technical aspects of production are overrated. Focus
on the emotion and the energy. Youll write a book about this.

VIDEOS
40. If youre sitting on unreleased music for two or more years
Latest consider licensing it. Sell the beats. Do something with it. Chances are
Essentials youll just sit on them anyway.

Compression
41. Vocals are like cheat codes for engagement and interest in your
EQ track.

Drums
42. Provide value to others. In time, theyll provide value to you.
Hip-Hop
43. The people Ive seen have the most success do it by physically
Low End
knowing and interacting the most. Playing the game online can work
Vocals
but its harder because the barrier of entry is lower everyone is
Guitar doing it, and its far less personal.

Effects
44. Ignore vanity metrics like number of tracks or song length.
These have no bearing on the final quality of the song.

45. As Rolf Potts says in his book Vagabonding about world travel, If
in doubt about what to do in a place, just start walking. Similarly, if
you get stuck with a piece just start messing around. Eventually what
youre looking for will find you.

46. Break all the rules. On purpose. Make this a dedicated effort.
Youll learn why they exist and how malleable they really are.

47. Label and name your tracks and project files. It really really really
helps when revisiting things. You still wont do this even if I tell you to.

48. Never ever export a song and call it final. Thats a slippery slope.

49. Use [track name]_[purpose]_[date] where purpose is something

like mix or mastered or demo or forJuan.

50. You appreciate production more during periods of your life when
its your escape. I know you want to drop everything and produce but
understand it will lose some allure. Opportunity cost is a fiend.

51. Your speakers can deteriorate overtime. This will cause you to
remaster an album 8 times in the future. Trust your monitors yet be
diligent that their time may come.
 52. The real important difference between analog and digital
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53. In the absence of analog equipment, get a MIDI keyboard with

Search knobs, wheels, and faders if possible. At least knobs.

54. Your family genuinely enjoys listening to your music. Share it with
ARTICLES
them.
Mixing

Recording 55. You know your friends genuinely enjoy your music if their play
count is more than two.
Producing

Mastering 56. If you want to make a big diversion or edit in your track do a Save
As and name it [track name]_[reason for edit]. Then feel free to

VIDEOS make changes. You can always go back to the initial file.

Latest 57. Keep volume at a decent level. No reason to blow your head off.
Essentials
58. Make sure you check your mixes when the track is loud and when
Compression
the track is quiet.
EQ
59. When the track is quiet you should be able to hear the most
Drums
important parts of your track clearly.
Hip-Hop
60. Mixing is 90% volume and 10% remembering its mostly volume.
Low End

Vocals 61. Mastering is 90% volume and 10% fixing your mix.
Guitar
62. Back up your music. Dropbox didnt exist when you started so grab
Effects an external hard drive. Losing your work is awful.

63. Never let dollars impede your creative progress.

64. Producing on a laptop is less enjoyable than having a bigger

screen. Get the iMac instead of the Macbook. Or, buy a display for
your laptop. Regardless, youll use a 13-inch MacBook for awhile.

65. If youve spent more than 5 minutes adjusting a parameter youve

lost objectivity. Set it and come back later. Preferably another day. Or
after youve substantially disengaged from production.

66. Youre not gonna become famous by creating some crazy new
synth patch. Each piece serves the whole.

67. You cant force your voice. Youll stumble and mimic your way to a
point where your voice begins coming through. Let it. Be vulnerable.
Trust your choices. Eventually it comes out.

68. There is a difference between a track you casually throw up on

SoundCloud and something youve officially released. Put care and
value into your releases. People respond to this.

69. Find someone to do visual design for you. Album covers, web
design, logos, etc. theyre all important for creating a holistic
 experience and meeting audience expectations. Most people dont do
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70. Always pay for visual art. If the person declines compensation buy
Search them lunch. If they wont take lunch yell at them.

71. Whenever you struggle or doubt yourself remember why you got
ARTICLES
into this in the first place. Making music is fun. If youre struggling
Mixing youve forgotten the fun.
Recording
72. Sometimes the fun isnt there. Go do something else.
Producing

Mastering

Well, Past Zac, I hope youve learned something.

VIDEOS

Latest If anything, youve learned that theres a vast, unknown, and exciting
world of music creation ahead of you. Theres tons to learn.
Essentials

Compression And let me tell you, it never gets old.

EQ
In the comments below, share what you wish you knew when you
Drums started producing.
Hip-Hop
Furthermore, if this kind of material excites or interests you, click here
Low End
to check out my book: Electronic Music Arrangement: How to Arrange
Vocals Electronic Music.
Guitar

Effects
Zac Citron
Zac Citron aka Zencha is the author of
zenchamusic.com, a music production site that explores
beyond the technical mindset, workflow,
arrangement, marketing, and more. He also drinks way
too much tea.

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ARTICLES Mike Blumke a month ago

Like it all...
Mixing
I tell myself a lot of this and never listen, but sinks in when you
Recording hear it elsewhere!!!
Thanks for putting this together!
Producing
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Mastering
Mathew Fok 2 months ago
Disagree with a few points, but agree with a lot for the most
VIDEOS part.

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Essentials xristosolos 3 months ago

really truly appreciate this article, thanks.
Compression
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EQ
vido 3 months ago
Drums
Great advice! Thanks a lot.
Hip-Hop Reply Share
Low End
Matt 3 months ago
Vocals This is some good shot right here! I should print it off and put it
on the wall above my mac
Guitar
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banayan media 4 months ago
Good one!!
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