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35

Inspiration and Risk: Returning to FL Studio and Reason

As 2019 is comes to and end, I realized that it will be the 4-year anniversary of this blog. For the first time, I’ve had a hard time finding inspiration and motivation for writing, but also for music in general. After releasing an album this spring, I really felt like I’d explored techno inside-out, in […]

36

Make Music Faster: Some Organizational Tips

We are constantly bombarded by information and it can be difficult to focus on anything properly. Making good music requires slowing down and a high level of focus—often people rush when making music and it comes out poorly. How can you make music faster while still giving the process the attention it deserves? In terms […]

38

How Long Does it Take to Make Professional Sounding Music?

For people who are just getting started with production and recording their own music, many wonder how much practice is involved before they can create professional sounding music that they are happy with. I often get asked questions like this: “I’ve been making music non-stop for 6 months. Why am I not happy with how […]

39

How to balance a mix

In general, I find that there are certain common elements found in mixes I’m sent, and I’d like to share my thoughts on how to balance a mix. If you google “mixdown tips”, you’ll see that mixdowns have been covered in a lot of detail online, but most articles on the topic are geared towards […]

40

Mixing projects with many tracks or sounds

If you are familiar with my music, you know I love things complex and busy. Many people in our online community share songs they are currently working on that have a lot of content in them, so I thought it would be practical for me to share what I’ve learned about mixing too many tracks […]

41

How to maintain consistency in the quality of your productions

The most consistent musicians have reached a comfortable flow and they finish tracks that they’re satisfied with fairly quickly. But how do they ensure that each of their tracks are maintaining the same level of quality as their first well-received works, as they complete more and more of them? Making a lot of songs/tracks and […]

42

Building a great groove

Have you ever been on a dance-floor and heard a track that connects with you in a very physical way? Physical connection creates a sort of energy that is infectious and makes you want to dance until your feet give up. This feeling is all about the groove in a track; creating a groove makes […]

43

Taking breaks from music-making

It’s strange how some topics seem to pop up in the music world again and again, both online and in person—taking breaks from music being one of them. During the summer in Canada most people—including musicians—don’t want stay indoors as much. Many musicians seem to get FOMO this time of year because they’re not making […]

44

Experimentation in music: how far can you go?

If you’re a regular read of this blog, you know that I encourage people to indulge in experimentation in music and to think “outside-the-box”; to try out new ideas in their music. That said, sometimes it’s difficult to judge how experimental one can get, and to understand the potential downfalls of going too far off […]

45

Workflow Suggestions for Music Collaborations

One of the most underestimated approaches to electronic music is collaboration. It seems to me that because of electronic music’s DIY approach people believe they need to do absolutely everything themselves. However, almost every time I’ve collaborated with others I hear them say “wow, I can’t believe I haven’t done that before!” Many of us […]

46

Balancing a Mix

Balancing a mix is simple “mixing 101” theory; it’s usually fast and simple to do. I could go into a lot of detail about mix balancing, but the point here is to provide you with some quick information that you easily can put to practice to get quick results yourself. Hopefully this will also make […]

47

Learning how to make melodies

One of most difficult things for a self-taught musician to get the hang of is writing melodies. Even for a trained musician I believe melody is still a challenge; using theoretical knowledge to come up with the right melodic vocabulary to really express what one wants to express can be difficult. When I started to […]

48

Making a hit

The title of this article might be misleading: if you came here in hopes of learning how to make a hit step-by-step, you’re going to be disappointed. The good news though is, I can shed some light on how – based my experience – a track becomes a hit. I frequently hear people – including […]

49

Self-Sabotaging Your Music Career

“I was working on a track and it was going so well; people were leaving me a lot of great comments. I continued working on it for a while but started hating it. I deleted it and blew myself up…I often do.“ In many past posts I’ve mentioned that many people work so much on […]

50

Becoming a professional musician

Back in 2002, I received a government grant for a European tour. For me, this was the beginning of the process of becoming a professional musician. A lot of Canadian arts and music are funded by the government; if you’re organized and a resourceful, you can get funding. I was lucky enough to be one […]

51

Production tips to wrap the year

This year is almost over and I wanted to thank everyone I worked with for trusting my services to give their music an added edge. I think it’s the first year I can feel that I’m finally surfing the waves that took a while to get together, but now things are flowing. This goes for […]