Learning, Growing, Pruning

Yes, I know, this blog has been silent for too long. I was half burnt out of ideas, to the point of not wanting to do it anymore. In a way, that was a helpful feeling because I focused on learning instead.

From having Sarah Bell Reid as a mentor, Omri Cohen‘s community and wisdom for inspiration and research. Plus, there are a bunch of random courses here and there. I think I learned more that year than in the previous ones combined, where I did some studying. I feel fortunate to have access to this. When I started making music in the 90s, there was no YouTube, so watching your friend’s work was the best way to learn. Montreal had a solid community then to help one another.

Reflecting on the past year (2024), I realized I love teaching and talking with people. But I also love learning (my 15-year-old self would never believe it). When you learn, you see what triggers passion and curiosity. These emotions drive me to learn, probably because I’m passionate.

I realized that so many people invest large amounts of money into gear or software without allowing any time or investment into being taught how to use all of that correctly. I have to say I’m partly guilty of that, but now I have caught up with my investment with enough classes for multiple years ahead.

One of the most effective ways (for myself) to truly learn music is not through isolated tutorials or hours of theory but by observing someone experienced in action. Watching an experienced musician navigate creative choices in real time, asking questions at pivotal moments, and understanding why a choice was made—that’s where the most profound lessons are. It helps understand each context where one technique might be used to achieve a specific result.

 

Many online courses fail because they’re out of context: with who you are, what you want to have, and what you want to achieve. Most electronic music producers don’t read manuals as they prefer to explore to learn. So courses often fail in the same fashion: linear learning isn’t for everyone.

 

Music education thrives on interaction, dialogue, and having the space to experiment without fear of making mistakes. Learning with a community is a way of getting accountability and will help acknowledge the progress of an artist. In 2016, I started offering free coaching and created a group on Facebook. It worked for several years, but eventually, it got tired. The objective of the group was to provide technical feedback on songs. I saw many people who initially joined grow into creative artists.

 

This is also why the artist retreats have been so precious. Online feedback is one thing, but things make more sense in person. We meet as friends, listen to one another’s music, share feedback, eat together, and discuss.  The weekend becomes an exploration of learning, validation and belonging. One of my favourite ways to see this is by inviting everyone to perform a song live (5 minutes more or less). Everyone says the same thing each time we do it:

 

“Why aren’t we doing this in our living room already?”

 

My most significant learning of 2024 was how the sum of all the teaching came down to the essentials of how I work. There’s not much I can learn if I don’t experiment and revise what I just acquired. Sarah started her course by explaining how circular learning is the key to progression. While I’ve been doing it all my life, it became clear that I have structured it by pruning what I learn, practice and eventually integrate.

Circular Learning: Cycles of “How Do I..?”

 

Learning (electronic) music isn’t a linear journey. It doesn’t follow a straight path from A to B. Instead, it moves in cycles—rounds or sprints of creativity. Sometimes, your learnings spring you forward, or your lack of time drags you down, but your music will never let you down. However, having people for whom you can play in person is essential. During retreats, we all agreed that we prefer five to ten people listening deeply rather than five likes/listens on a streaming site.

It’s different than learning how to play an instrument. It is multi-dimensional because it covers synthesis, arrangements, sampling, computer understanding, logic, mixing, etc.

This is where many musicians fail to learn online: a generalized lack of how-to structure themselves to get to where they want to be.

 

The typical scenario I see is someone with the time and budget to invest in music making and starts with strong motivation. As they explore, they’ll constantly hit walls and obstacles, making them realize they lack knowledge on various topics. If their workflow isn’t well defined and there’s a lack of self-organization, it can quickly bring them to the edge of giving up. As a musician, I keep getting exposed to many ads on so-called “solutions” or shortcuts, but I know they won’t solve my issues because I have experience. This is why I want to share some of my circular learning.

 

What is Circular Learning?

 

Circular learning means that instead of gathering all the information you need to progress, you’ll explore until you wonder how to achieve something and then get the information you need to move forward. As you see, you’ll be exploring, and then you’ll run into a “how do I..?” question, which will then bring you to the next step of Research. The results are usually either a solution or technique you can then test. This will open up new possibilities for you to explore.

 

I find that what’s critical is to complete your full circle, as this is a cycle that will bring you learning.

A cycle starts when you ask yourself, “How do I…?”

 

Examples: How do I make my vocal pop in the mix? How do I recreate this sound from scratch? How does this song hypnotize a crowd when played?

Maybe I’m hearing you think aloud: That’s what I’m doing already.

But how much is it working for you? If it does, then great. Now, you perhaps have the words to explain it better.

If it’s not working, maybe a phase of that circle isn’t handled correctly. Signs of success mean that you constantly add new skills and have fewer and fewer hurdles when creating. Something is incorrect if you learn new things but keep having issues before a challenge.

Cycles and their uses

 

Each cycle begins with finding a concept—an idea that sparks curiosity.

Then comes the proof of workability, where the idea is tested, put into a template or macro, and explored by jamming. If you constantly rely on tools and macros others build, you’re skipping essential steps in developing yourself.

Understanding how your concept works forces you to learn music production techniques, perhaps new tools you ignored and possibly learn more about sound itself. But sometimes, putting an idea in a technical environment doesn’t mean it works immediately.

There’s a phase of fixing and refining—adjusting elements until they feel similar to your reference. Once the template feels solid, it’s time to record ideas. This could mean capturing an improvisation, layering sounds, or finalizing an arrangement. You then have the heart and soul of a song to finalize the arrangements.

 

I often tell people that each of my songs results from a new technique I used and learned, providing a fun result. Sometimes, an album is a collection of multiple songs using the same method, making all the songs feel coherent.

 

 

But the process doesn’t stop there. The magic happens when the cycle begins again, not from scratch, but from the momentum of the previous session. Ideas mutate, evolve, and branch out into unexpected territories. Your last project is the seed of the following one. This also helps you keep presets, tools and materials you know work well. Consolidating knowledge and technique is done by repeating over and over something until it becomes very easy.

When you learn something, you need to practice it until it’s fully integrated.

 

This cyclical process mirrors how art develops in the real world—it’s iterative, messy, and deeply human. Artists look at other artist’s works, try to understand it, then come up with theories and tests. It might be a copy at first, but you’ll be elsewhere as you start practicing to perfect it.

Having references you can study will bring many questions and start new cycles. The more unique and inspiring your references are, the deeper you’ll be in your learning process.

 

Why Education Matters Now More Than Ever

 

I could go on about how learning electronic music is essential, but I’ll share some thoughts that may support my claim.

 

Market Saturation.

A few people have told me how lost they are when finding music they like. DJs feel overwhelmed by how many new tracks come up. Since music is becoming easier to make and can also be distributed without hassle, this causes a mass of music that becomes more difficult for the listener to find what they like. They might discover multiple pale copies of the music they want instead. Still, the lack of originality comes from artists who rely on shortcuts, templates, pre-made macros or any solution to speed up their workflow without an integration where they can innovate the sound itself.

The success of a song often relies on understanding what works but adding a new twist to it. The more you know what you want to do, the more control you have over your output, which means your musical vocabulary expands.

Higher quality and control will allow you to distinguish yourself and your art.

 

AI Music.

This type of music-making is entirely different from the music we make. An algorithm processes a prompt and turns it into a song. While it gives the impression that it makes music for you, your output is still limited as you don’t fully control the render. There’s room for that type of music, especially for making generic music or coming up with ideas you can revisit later on. Still, AI music skips one of the most essential parts of music-making: the long process of composition.

Making music is often more interesting than the outcome, but many people only focus on that part because it is the end of the journey. I like to compare it to travelling. Your travels aren’t the pictures you took of them, but the entire story from when you leave your home to when you’re back. All the good moments and the parts where you had to change plans are part of the journey. It’s pretty much the same thing with music-making.

If AI music expands your vocabulary or eventually replaces a lot of musicians, it will never take away the pleasure of making a song or jamming in your studio. But with education, you can make those experiences even richer.

 

Personal Understanding.

Understanding something you love doing opens the door to a community and feeds a need for belonging. As musicians often seek validation and appreciation, relying on their music to achieve this, they frequently don’t realize that they’re trying to respond to a need to be part of a community. Making a song can be a lovely business card to get into a community, but being able to share ideas, explain how to achieve them or help others achieve their goals is a need they don’t know they have. This is what education can achieve for artists because it teaches them new skills and one way to learn is to explain it to someone else.

 

Reverse Engineering Into a Concept.

The final point I want to share is how understanding allows you to hear other people’s music and be able to pull a concept out of it. Conceptual music implies that you’re not necessarily chasing or digging for a hook; instead, you’ll make music based on certain conditions. Imposing yourself limitations is a way to create focus on what matters.

 

I hope this has inspired you to dig for information and insights.