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Do You Love Your Track? Or Are You Just Overly Committed?

July 23, 2021/in Blog/by pheek

The creative process involves a lot of fantasizing. You fantasize about the reaction you’ll get from crowds, and the reaction you’ll get from promoters. You fantasize about the reaction you’ll get from their creative peers, and the reaction you’ll get from your friends. Perhaps the person you have a crush on will like it. Perhaps you’ll get it signed to the label of your dreams, and it will break your career as a musician. This often creates a deep level of love for your track.

However, the caveat is that many people feel this adoration in that euphoric phase of composition, where you’ve discovered an amazing loop or a basic structure of a song that enraptures you.

This is that moment when you pull the hammer back on the metaphorical pinball machine and bounce your idea into the summit of the board, where it starts bouncing off the bells, whistles, and fixed, flashing bumpers, sending it careening into a space of infinite possibilities.

Then after a while, it slows down, and you begin to see that the ball is falling deeper and deeper towards your flippers and that if you don’t hit it just right, you may destroy your track forever.

This is that moment of self-reflection and doubt that most creatives have. It’s in this period that you might think that you messed the whole track up by adding a part that doesn’t elicit the same joy as before, almost like chasing the high the first time you took a drug.

The problem is that you’ve committed so much time to this track that you may be convinced that it’s still incredible, and become stubborn about any suggestions.

Or it could go the other way, where you’ve committed so much time to this track that you feel like you need to do something with it, but you don’t love it like you used to. There are solutions to both conflicts, resulting from the same emotion – love for your track.

A solution to loving your track too much

This is a hard one because people often get stubborn about their art. They love it so much that they can’t absorb any feedback or rejection from their peers about it. Often that’s because their love for it is built on the cognitive heuristic of commitment, rather than them actually believing it’s an incredible track.

Therefore, often this fallacy is built on eggshells and critique may seem like a personal attack, and therefore the creator protects it from opinion and rejection, lest they be rejected too. This sometimes leads to people not putting their track out at all, always “waiting for the right moment.”

The way to get over this fear? Truly don’t give a shit what other people say. Most great artists didn’t. We always hear stories about the albums that critics lambasted or art that sat obscurely for decades before being dusted off and appreciated. Or there is the opposite, where their art’s controversy was appealing to some, and appalling to others, creating a maelstrom of press.

This is what happened to John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, who made some of the most challenging music in modern history, where to this day most people don’t understand it. But they are both considered important in the canon of music.

They knew their music was threatening, but they probably didn’t care, because they thought it was important, and thus put it out there.

If people want their music to get out there, especially if they still hold onto the original fantasy of other people listening to it, then they need to put it out there for critique. Whether that’s your friends or a marketing campaign that goes out to media contacts and DJs, you’re going to feel rejection, even if it really is brilliant. That’s because music is subjective.

A photo of Deadmau5, who understands that his love for his tracks can often be misguided.

Credit: Wikipedia

A solution to not knowing if you still love your track

If you got to the point where you can put the song out, but are still having doubts about it, keep in mind that you really have no idea how it will sound to others. Remember, when you first started the track, there were elements about it that sent your brain bouncing off the proverbial pinball machine. Therefore, there is a good chance that other people will love it too.

Deadmau5, love him, or hate him, knows how to finish tracks, and has released some of the most seminal modern rave anthems. With his hit, Strobe, he was having this conflict. He liked it enough to finish it, but not enough to be confident with it.

Since his label hadn’t seen anything in a while, he decided to send it over to them, suggesting that it could be a B-side to a record; another piece of content to whet the appetite of his fans. Then, to his surprise, it blew up in 2009, right at the advent of the EDM explosion, helping to propel his career into the stratosphere.

If you listen to Strobe, you might be able to see why he wasn’t confident in it. It’s at least two minutes longer than any other song on the album, clocking in at 10:33, and it takes a few minutes before the kick drum comes in. It’s not necessarily a radio anthem.

But believe it or not, people like challenging music, because it gets them thinking.

A less mainstream example of this is from one of my clients who had a song that they sent me that I thought was pretty good, but they were having doubts about. I was like “Look, how about I send it to some labels and see what happens.”

So I sent it out to some labels, and it didn’t just get signed, it got picked up by a bunch of different places. They were having doubts, and their doubts were squashed when it became as successful as anything else they’d released.

You also don’t know who tracks are going to resonate with. While they might not vibe with your primary (often fantasized) audience, they could resonate with an entirely new audience.

A good example of this is a client of mine who sent me over some ambient tracks they made, which was surprising based on his previous work. What was also surprising is that they had all these Indian-sounding names.

Well, it turns out those Indian names were actually holy words in a religious sect, and when people searched for those on Google in regards to the sect, their songs would come up. With this, their music, in a way, became holy music and ended up performing better than any of the other, more branded tracks that we worked on together.

A Note On Expectations

As I get older, I realize that the desire to be understood, or liked by others is a trap for the creative process. The real joy should come from if a song is technically solid, or if you changed your style to something that you’ve never done before. These are both something to be proud of as they show an improvement in your abilities as an artist.

I like to think of each track as journaling, and it’s a capturing of an idea, rather than trying to make something that will please thousands of people. The most frustrated artists are the ones who have high expectations for their music and where it goes, the least frustrated are the opposite.

A note on collaboration

As many of you know, I do track finalization. Whether you do it through me, or another session musician, I think what I’m about to say rings true for both. Basically, I only like to work with people who have a realistic expectation of their art or don’t view me as some sort of savant. Just like they have high expectations for the track, they might also have too high of expectations for the session work, especially if they have both. Because whether people realize it or not, they might have subconscious ideas of how their track should go without consciously knowing how it should go.

Then when I or anyone else goes in and makes edits, these sorts of clients expect it to sound like something completely different. Also, if they’ve heard a track a couple hundred times, any alterations to it are going to be glaringly noticeable, and might not jive with the congruency you have programmed in their head. Therefore, if you have these sorts of expectations, it’s best to forgo them, as they diminish the creative potential of a track. Remember, it took something like 27 people to write “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer. Did they all agree? Did it diminish the value and impact of the track?

The best people to work with are ones who are about a 6 or 7 out of 10 on their love for their track. These people tend to keep an open mind.

Difference Between Art Music And Commercial Music

April 2, 2021/in Blog/by pheek

I often get asked what the difference between art music and commercial music is. And while there is a lot of subjectivity in music, I think I have a pretty good answer for it.

Before I get into it, I would like to note that all musicians are artists. However, there is a difference between art music, and commercial music.

People have different reasons for why they make music. Some do it because they want fame, or at least relative fame within their niche or region. Other people do it because they have an insatiable desire to innovate. And when they innovate, they often take risks. And it’s this risk that separates the two.

I would hypothesize that the majority do it for somewhere in the middle, where they desire to be noticed, but at the same time have an innate desire to create something groundbreaking. Then from that middle, it skews to either side, depending on the individual.

While it is possible to be artistic and commercially successful at the same time, often one has to make concessions depending on what their motives are.

First, let’s define what I mean by both.

Commercial Music

In my mind, commercial music doesn’t necessarily mean Top 40. There is tons of commercial music that you will never hear on pop radio. But you may hear it on a genre specific radio station. And to get on these stations, typically songs have been focus grouped to hell; where consultants, and market research have determined what the winning formula is for a song. This could be length, song structure, instrumentation, and lyrical content, among other factors.

In other words, it’s template, or formula based music.

Since this is primarily a dance music blog, let’s concentrate on techno. If you look at the Beatport Top 100 Peak Time Techno songs, the prevailing techno sound nowadays is 130 BPM +/-3 BPM.

They all have some sort of “DJ intro” for easy mixing, usually a kick drum, or repetitive synth line. Additionally, their breakdowns happen at roughly the same times – 2 or 3 shorter breakdowns in the first half of the song, followed by an extended buildup and breakdown somewhere in the final third of the song.

There isn’t much variation in the composition, because it’s music designed to be mixed by DJs, and the second you change up the composition, it becomes harder for a DJ to mix.

Basically, this sort of music, no matter what the genre, is designed for people to understand quickly.

Music Can Still Be Commercial, Even If It’s Underground

So you made a Rominimal track, which is undoubtedly an underground genre. However, underground doesn’t mean it’s not commercial. If it’s a Rominimal track that follows the same formula as what came before it, borrowing sounds and structures from groundbreakers like Raresh, Petre Inspiresu and Rhadoo, then chances are it exists to be sold to other Rominimal DJs, rather than the art. A producer who is taking an artistic approach would take the Rominimal framework and turn it on its head, just like those three pioneers did when they reimagined Minimal.

Art Music

Art music is music that doesn’t try to be anything else, more or less. It’s music that comes from a place of authenticity, rather than a desire to be heard, or understood. It involves unconventional song structures, reimaged timbres, like a trash can lid for a snare, stream of conscious lyrics, odd time signatures, key changes, etc. In other words, art music takes risks.

The Balance Between Art and Commercial

One thing to note is that art music can also be commercially successful, and even sound popular. There are plenty of uber successful artists whose music is artsy. Classic examples include The Clash, The Talking Heads and Pink Floyd. More modern examples include Radiohead and Billie Eilish.

So, what makes these musicians art focused, rather than commercial? While they have their commercial hits, these aren’t what define their entire catalog.

Classic Examples

Pink Floyd, with their hit “Money” is in ⅞ and uses extensive folly sounds. However, this song is probably played thousands of times a day and has been for almost 50 years. It’s this time signature, and use of sound that is the difference between art music and commercial music.

Another good example of this is “Losing My Religion” by REM. There is no discernable chorus in this song. It’s only verses, with a repeating melody. It also heavily features a mandolin. However, this is still one of their most popular songs, despite it kicking convention in the face. When evaluating the difference between art music and commercial music, looking at the structure is a good place to start.

Modern Examples

An example of a modern art pop song is Blood Orange’s “Uncle Ace.” What’s interesting about this song is that it sounds like something that would be written by Prince. It also has parts that sound like a chorus, but in reality, it has no chorus.

The song structure instead goes intro>verse>bridge>verse 2>bridge/hook>pre-outro>outro, with no part being discernible similar to each other besides maybe the verses. Once again, it’s this structure that empathizes the difference between art music and commercial music.

Another contemporary artist that does artistic commercial music is Billie Eilish. Her hit, “Bury A Friend” is a shuffled, syncopated song that samples a dental drill, Easy Bake oven, glass and a staple gun. Its song structure is equally as odd. It goes hook>verse>pre-chorus>drop>hook>verse 2>alternate verse 2>bridge>pre-chorus>drop>hook. Most modern songs with that level of fame are verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus.

In electronic music, art music becomes a little more apparent than most. Good examples are Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Arca, SOPHIE, and Burial. However, they are all successful, and this is often by design.

What Makes Art Music Successful?

Popular Themes and/or Lyrics

The late SOPHIE is a great example of this. One of her most popular songs, “Immaterial,” is almost an off kilter tropical house and reggaeton song. However, it’s peppered with atonal sounds, and vocal yodels. Ultimately it’s a pretty jarring song. However, the song repeats the same simple lyrics over and over again, and those lyrics are about materialism, something we can relate to. Additionally, it uses R&B, auto tuned vocalizations that are common in contemporary pop music.

Same can be said for artists like Arca. While most of their music sounds like an ambient, distorted dystopia, the beats are largely hip hop beats. That’s why they have worked with mainstream artists such as Kanye West.

Standout Marketing

Good examples here are Boards of Canada and Burial. Both have cultivated a sort of mystery around their work. Neither perform live, and while their identities are known, they are shrouded in mystery. Take Burial for example. Even when he was up for a Mercury Prize, his identity was still speculated. However, despite being up for one of Britain’s most prestigious cultural awards, his music was hardly pop. It was lo-fi, future-garage made from samples from YouTube videos and video games. Placed up against songs at the time, it sounded thin. But that didn’t matter, because of the questions around his identity.

Boards of Canada are all about mystery as well. When they released their latest album, Tomorrow’s Harvest, they built a cipher for fans to figure out, slowly revealing details and further ciphers until fans realized it was a new album.

Having Commercial Success And Then Doing A 180

The best example of this is Radiohead. They blew up with their post-grunge, Brit-Pop single “Creep”, which followed traditional song structure. They then followed that up with their album, The Bends, which featured the similarly Brit-Pop-esque song “High And Dry.” Then they started to get bored.

Their next album, Ok Computer, still had its rock oriented structure, but started to rely more on timbre, and texture instead of traditional rock sounds. They introduced more pedals into their array, and concentrated on using the studio as an instrument, taking cues from early British artists like The Beatles. They even had experimental vignettes such as “Fitter Happier,” a jarring, Speak-And-Spell driven, ambient hellscape of a track that criticizes the numbing of society by commodities and pharmaceuticals.

While Ok Computer had one foot in commercialism, one foot in experimentation, it was with Kid A that they went a full 180, replacing guitars with synthesizers, drum kits with drum machines. Their songs started to have less of a discernable structure, concentrating more on themes, and timbre. However, Thom Yorke’s voice still remained a constant, allowing their previous fans to find grounding in their new, forward thinking sound. Sure, it alienated some fans, but Radiohead still continues to release albums, and sell out stadium tours. If you want a good example of a song off this that sounds like one of their more commercially viable rock songs but in reality has a complex, and unique arrangement, check out this video about the arrangement of “How To Disappear Completely.”

Intention Matters In The Difference Between ARt Music And Commercial Music

Ultimately there is no right or wrong way to create; it’s all about your intention. If you want to make music that’s easy for people to understand, so that it gets wider acceptance, then you should absolutely do that. This is probably the most surefire way to make money as a musician, and you will ultimately have more people listen to, and appreciate your music. You may even find some fame.

If you want to make abstract, ambient, noise music, go for it as well! There is no shame in that at all. You are making art for art’s sake, and nothing else. You are being true to you, and nobody else. While you may not find fame and fortune in it, you may at least feel creativity fulfilled.

Just keep in mind, while it can be done, it’s hard to square the two. So when creating, it’s all about your intention.

Producing Music With Minimal Gear

December 21, 2020/in Blog/by pheek

In this pandemic, it’s especially easy to get apathetic, and start looking for excuses not to create. “The clubs aren’t open,” “nobody is dancing,” “DJs can’t even play my stuff,” “I’m stuck with my current gear, and I can’t afford to get new gear, because the economy is bad.”

All of these things are just excuses.

The clubs aren’t open and nobody is dancing? Well, make the music now and release it when they are open. Spend the extra time to work on getting the marketing set up, or consider what labels you want to send it to.

DJs not playing music? Well, that doesn’t mean they aren’t listening to it, and stashing away music that they like. If anything, they are more responsive than ever because they aren’t on a plane, going on four hours of sleep in two days. Spend some time building relationships with them, so they actually care about you when you send them your stuff.

You can’t afford to get new gear, because the economy is bad? Well, don’t fear, there is tons of free, or low cost gear out there that can accomplish exactly what you need, and even provide some constraints that allow for true originality to shine. Producing music with minimal gear is a great way to make music.

What Are Some Free, Or Inexpensive Tools?

There are dozens of different tools that you can use to produce music with minimal gear.Moog, Korg, Image-Line, and predictably, Apple, have all thrown their hat into this creative ring. Here are some of the better ones for producing music with minimal gear.

Android Tools For Producing Music With Minimal Gear

GStomper Studio

A great way to produce music with minimal gear is the GStomper Studio app. GStomper Studio is an app that installs on any Android device, downloadable from the app store. Built for performance, it contains a full featured sampler/sequencer, microphone recording, a multi OSC and PCM enabled synth, piano roll, drum pads, mixer, master channels, timing and measure functions, and multiple effects. You can upload your own samples, or buy some inexpensive ones in the store. Feeling especially creative? Plug in your favorite MIDI keyboard with a simple USB converter. It’s only $12.99 in the Google Play Store.

FL Studio Mobile

Coming in at a cool $15.99, FL Studio Mobile is the little brother to the full fledged desktop version. While it lacks the VST support, and dynamics of the desktop version, this app is a powerhouse. It has a sequencer, mixer, low latency audio engine, audio recording, built in synths, effects, and samplers.

If you use the desktop version, FL Studio Mobile comes with the FL Studio Mobile plugin that allows you to swap between desktop and mobile functionality. Also works for iOS.

This is an excellent way to produce music with minimal gear.

iPhone Tools For Producing Music With Minimal Gear
GarageBand iOS

Free with all iOS apps, this cultural icon has been responsible for tons of hits, and is the undisputed champion of producing music with minimal gear. While it wasn’t the best when it first debuted on iOS in 2011, now it is a full functioning miniature DAW, with virtual pianos, percussion, microphone recording, loops, MIDI functionality, and way, way more. With the right adapter, you can even plug your guitar into it, and record in the park.

Korg iElectribe

The Korg iElectribe is the mobile version of the renowned Electribe hardware. Think this piece of gear isn’t capable of creating a full album? Think again. Daman Albaran created an entire Gorillaz album using an iPad, a guitar, and this piece of software. It’s only $9.99 in the App Store. If Daman Albaran is capable of producing music with minimal gear, then microhouse can certainly be done on it.

DAWs For Producing Music With Minimal Gear

Ardour

Ardour is a full functioning, open source DAW that has been maintained by a dedicated team of decentralized developers. It has full VST support, and uses audio engines that are just as good as any other major DAW, allowing for 32-bit, floating point playback and rendering.

It has recording capabilities only limited to the hardware you use, and has full mixing, mastering, and editing capabilities. It’s totally free, and is available on Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and FreeBSD. The only caveat is that if you use the free version, you have to code all of it together, which takes skill.

However, for a small donation, or a monthly subscription, you can get its full functionality. How much you pay determines what you get, naturally. According to them, “If you choose to pay less than US$45, you will get the current version and updates (e.g. buy version 6.0, get access to 6.1, 6.2, etc. but not 7.0). If you choose to pay US$45 or more: get the current version, updates and the next major version, plus access to nightly (development) builds”.

This is a very inexpensive way of producing music with minimal gear.

Cakewalk by BandLab

Cakewalk by BandLab is a full functioning, free DAW, with analog console-style virtual mixer, VST plugin support, multi-touch support, Bluetooth MIDI, a suite of in the box plugins, and more.

The only cons are that it’s only available for Windows, and that you have to sign up for a free BandLab account. However, there are no annoying ads that come up with this registration, so that’s cool. Cakewalk by BandLab is a great way for producing music with minimal gear.

Chasing The Dragon Of Perfection

One thing that many artists have in common is the strive for perfection. A tweak here, a tweak there, all to get that sound, color, or note to fit in exactly how you imagine it in your head. This can lead to endless hours of analyzing one aspect over and over again, when chances are that the other listener is never going to notice, and it’s just getting in the way of actually finishing and moving onto the next stage. It’s this need for perfection that starts the musical journey for a lot of people – they hear a style of music, and think, “I can add something to this to make it perfect,” and thus from that, comes many’s signature.

This strive for perfection doesn’t only extend to the composition; it extends to the medium that artists use to create. Currently using Ableton 10, and feel stuck? Well, maybe when you finally get Ableton 11, it will reinspire you to make music again, by giving you access to all these new features.

So you wait until you have the money saved up to get Ableton 11, and decide that you’re not going to do anything music wise until it comes out, lest you start something in Ableton 10 that you can’t fix in 11. Then, like many before you, you drop hundreds of dollars on that new version, and lo-and-behold, you’re still not making music. That’s because often it’s not about the equipment that you have, it’s about using it as an excuse to not do anything. Many times its more fruitful to be producing music with minimal gear, rather than upgrading your fancy DAW.

Where To Find Help

However, sometimes you really can’t do something that you want done, like a vocal, guitar riff, or live percussion. Luckily, there are a lot of places you can go to get reasonably priced studio musicians.

Before we into what the resources are, a quick note on individuality in music, especially electronic music. Most likely due to the 90’s DIY attitude towards dance music, there is a permeating attitude that somehow if you don’t do everything in the track, it’s somehow cheating.

No other genre of music thinks like this. Michael Jackson isn’t less brilliant because he had Quincy Jones. The Beatles aren’t any less enigmatic and sonically revolutionary because they had Phil Spector and George Martin. The Beach Boy’s Pet Sounds isn’t any less game changing of an album, because it’s made primarily by session musicians. However, in dance music, if there is outside help, somehow it’s cheating. This is kind of ridiculous. Electronic musicians are not more legitimate musicians than The Beatles, sorry. Many of these albums were created with antiquated gear, that equates to producing music with minimal gear nowadays. If they could do it then, you can certainly do it now.

SoundBetter

Soundbetter is a platform where musicians can hire people to do things that they don’t want to do, or aren’t capable of doing. Need someone to play bass on your new house track? SoundBetter has that covered. Mixing or mastering? There are engineers that work with most conceivable genres, for a reasonable price.

Fiverr

Lots of people know Fiverr, and for good reason. It’s an excellent repository of services, from graphic design, to session musicians. Many critically acclaimed musicians sell their services on Fiverr for a reasonable rate.

Pheek’s Mixing And Mastering

Shameless plug. Here you can get mixing and mastering services, as well as track finalization. If you specialize in underground electronic music, and want your track to sound pristine, or need someone to help put finishing touches on the composition, then this is a sure bet, for a good price.

Examples Of Music Made On Minimal Gear

If you’re just getting started, or are looking to change up your medium to find new inspiration, don’t let brand names, and expense, get in the way of creating something great. Some truly great works of art have been made on stock, dated, repurposed, or even free software.

Here are a few:

Burial – Untrue

If you’re not a stranger to Pitchfork’s social media feed, you have probably noticed how they absolutely gush over this album, reposting their article, Why Burial’s Untrue Is The Most Important Electronic Album Of The Century So Far ad nauseum. What’s most fascinating about this article, is that it is made on SoundForge, which is not a traditional DAW by any means.

The version he used didn’t have VST support or even multitracks. It didn’t have neat timing, or BPM features, or anything that modern DAWs use. It was simply a medium for designing sound. Yet, he used it to create an impeccably modern, important album, using old YouTube, and video game samples.

It’s this constraint that made such a unique, airy sounding album that still receives near daily praise the world over.

Justice – Cross

Pretty much the flag bearers of the post-Daft Punk “French Touch” revolution, Justice exploded onto the airwaves with their 2008 album, Cross. A distorted amalgamation of punk rock, disco, soul, and stuttering samples that were modern, and loud. Even to this day, the production value of Cross, while bordering on EDM, doesn’t feel plastic, or overproduced. By any stretch of the imagination, this album was made in an excellent studio, on well tuned gear, and warm, analogue synths.

Well, that would be wrong. While there is definitely some post production magic, the majority of Cross was made by two French dudes with GarageBand, and clever sampling.

Justice’s Xavier de Rosnay says, “A lot of people think it’s bullshit when we say we use GarageBand, but it’s actually an amazing tool.”

Jon Hopkins – Immunity

An image of Jon Hopkin's Immunity, which is an example of producing music with minimal gear. One of the most revered electronic albums of the last decade is Jon Hopkins’ blistering techno/neo-classical masterpiece, Immunity. While he now uses Ableton, at the time, he built this album in a Frankenstein combination of his MacBook running Logic for arrangement, with a parallel processed version of Windows 98 running a 1999 version of SoundForge to do his sound design.

This album was nominated for a Mercury Prize, and is #37 on Pitchfork’s Greatest IDM Albums of All Time.

Steve Lacy (Kendrick Lamar / The INternet / GoldLink, etc)

Steve Lacy is known for making beats on an iPhone and iPod. He has his beats on Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN with the song PRIDE, co-executive produced The Internet’s Ego Death, and has done collaborations with many other well known artists.

Yes, it may not be the type of music that many people who read this blog care for, but you can’t deny its impact. If you can make hip hop on an iPhone, you can make ambient techno on one too.

There are many, many more examples of this, in pretty much every genre imaginable. If anything it’s the constraints that give these pieces of art their depth. Never underestimate the power of limitations.

Hopefully this article provides you with some resources, and inspiration for making music with minimal resources. Whether that is using an antiquated, or repurposed piece of software, an Open Source DAW, or even your phone, there is no shortage of brilliant pieces of art that have been made by minimal, and unconventional methods.

Just remember, in the information age, there is a litany of resources available to help you get from A to B. And even if you have all the gear in the world, sometimes it’s good to try something new, and restrictive. You never know what will come out of it. Plus, making things in unconventional ways is a great story to pitch to media outlets to promote your music, so there is that too.

How To Communicate With Audio Engineer

November 26, 2020/in Blog, Communication, Song Finalizing and Arrangements, Tips/by pheek

how to communicate with audio engineer photo One thing that I love doing is to work with unestablished artists. It’s why I have Pheek’s Coaching Corner, and it’s why I price my services at a reasonable price. Working with new artists is fulfilling as I often find artist’s earliest work to be their most creative, and raw. It’s in these musicians that you find stuff that can be truly seen as original, having the vestiges of being an entirely new genre. It’s this sweet spot that exists before they start to become either derivative of their own work, or pivot to fill more socially acceptable shoes. However, unestablished generally means inexperienced in the rest of the music industry. There are certain things that both artists and engineers should understand while working together, simplified by good communication. If you are able to put things in a language the engineer understands, your experience will be much smoother. In this guide, I will provide tips, tricks, and methods to make this process as seamless as possible. Therefore, here’s how to communicate with audio engineer.

First, it’s necessary to lay out what a mixing and mastering audio engineer does and does not do.

What An Audio Engineer Can Do

1. Their Job Is To Facilitate And Mediate

People come to someone like me to either get guidance, or have access to a set of tools that they would otherwise not invest in. At my disposal are a bunch of plugins, and hardware that are specific to making sure things sound great, and translate well across as many mediums as possible. Additionally, I have access to creative tools that artists may not even know exist, yet could be applicable to their sound.

Additionally, artists come to me to get advice on where to go with their sound. Do they need additional elements to fulfill its intended purpose? Are they having writer’s block, or their skills limit them in what they want to do next? It’s my job to find resources that will help them reach their goals. These resources are something that I will touch on later in this article.

2. Their Job Is To Understand The Genre They Are Working With

how to communicate with audio engineer Not all genres are the same, and they require different equipment. If you were to record a cowboy outlaw record, it’s probably not the best idea to go to a micro house producer. However, I have had rock bands come to me because they wanted their album to sound electronic in nature, despite it being a rock album.

If you were to come to me as a micro-house producer, I’ve been in this genre for a while, and have a lot of resources. Therefore, it’s easy for me to tap these, and find things like reference tracks, or communicate with other artists who have tricks to help your track get to the next level.

Additionally, this genre understanding allows me to reverse engineer aspects of the music, and apply it to your track. Having a problem with simulating a certain textural effect that you heard in a micro-house track? Chances are I know how we can get pretty close to that with the resources, and experience I have.

Additionally, we understand how to reign in things like low-end if you are creating a song that you expect to be spun in a club. Remember, you’re competing with common frequencies of another song, like the kick, or the hi-hat. It’s good to know how to moderate these things for a club environment, and that’s where engineers come in.

3. Audio Engineers Understand The Technical Aspects Of A Release

Do you know how many LUFS the loudness of a track bounced out of the limiter needs to be to normalize correctly on Spotify? How about SoundCloud, or Beatport? Each platform has different loudness variations in their codec, and often if your tracks aren’t uploaded with these standards in mind, then there can be translation issues. This is where audio engineers come in. We understand this boring, uncreative stuff, and how to achieve it in the mix and master, so you can concentrate on being creative. Then again, if you want to learn, we can also play the role of instructor.

4. We Help Accent The Best Parts

Let’s say that you have a killer bridge. We can recognize this, and help bring that out in the mix, or even add elements that will help it transition better into the next part of the song.

What An Audio Engineer Cannot Do

1. An Audio Engineer Cannot Please Everyone

Perception is reality, and some people have different perceptions on what things are supposed to be. Especially when dealing with their art. With audio, producers often get married to their sounds, thinking that they should be specifically in this spot in the mix, when, in reality, it probably won’t translate the way you want it to. This may come from hearing said sound over and over again in whatever room, or on whatever medium they were listening to while they were making it. However, in a well treated room, with calibrated equipment, or conversely, in a club with a good, or poor sound system, it may not translate exactly how you anticipate. Some people are more judicious about this, and accept the reality. However, some you just can’t please. So is the way of the artist.

Therefore, I take the approach that it’s best to do the least amount of damage possible to a track, while still allowing the frequencies to properly breathe, and translate to whatever medium the artist imagines it being listened to on.

This is why it’s important to know how to communicate with audio engineer, so we can both come to a mutual understanding through the techniques I will discuss in a bit.

2. Audio Engineers Can Never Say What Does And Does Not Sound Good, Artistically

Kind of expanding on the idea of doing as little damage to a track as possible, it needs to be noted that like all other art, music, and sound is subjective. Sure, there are best practices to get something to translate, and upload to platforms properly, but as far as the timbre, and aesthetics of a sound are concerned, that’s so subjective. There is a reason why techno fans can’t agree on all techno being good, despite it being the same genre. Where everything else is the same, it’s the sonic grade that ultimately defines a song.

Extremely, there is a reason why some prefer the frantic shouts and pounding SH101 basslines of Nitzer Ebb to the soft musings of John Prine. As a matter of fact, they might detest John Prine, and John Prine fans might detest Nitzer Ebb. Does this mean one is better than the other? No, because our realities are subjective.

It’s my job to help you get to the sound that you truly desire, using references to other tracks, or having clear, simple communication.

However, it needs to be noted that we know what sounds good, technically. Like, for instance, if you’re making pop music, or if people are casually listening to your music (alternative or pop), they like mids, because mids translate the best on common speaker systems, and headphones. Chances are that if you submit your track to a blog, it’s not going to be listened to out of a soundsystem – it may be listened to out of a phone, laying in bed, which are mid intensive.

3. Provide Critique Without Having A Solution

Talent is subjective. So is if something sounds good. Therefore, if an engineer gives feedback, or says that something could be better, it’s their professional duty to have a way to fix it. That’s what we are hired for. However, if you aren’t looking for that sort of feedback, it’s good to have that role clearly defined beforehand.

Tips On How To Communicate With Audio Engineer

1. Keep Things Simple

how to communicate with audio engineer Engineers get that artists have a lot of things to say about their work, and may use poetic language in order to communicate it. And this prose sometimes leads to elaboration. However, there is a saying in sales, called K.I.S.S, which stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. This is because people understand things if they are simplified. No need to get technical, or elaborate. Just say what you mean. A good way of easily communicating is to provide examples of things that already exist. Let’s be real, nothing is new under the sun, so if we can pinpoint where that idea is coming from, then maybe it can be recreated, with a flourish that makes it your own.

No need to write out a full page of diction. Instead, just Keep It Simple, Stupid. Also, don’t use vague words like, “I want it to sound tight.” That doesn’t mean anything, and is subjective. Which brings me to my next point…

2. Provide References

Expanding on what I said earlier, we are all borrowing ideas. Even if your track borrows many different ideas, and creates something new, if you think hard, you can find tracks that provide the feeling you are going for, which can give clues to the frequencies, and mastering qualities you want to match.

The references also don’t have to be sonic, instead they can be cultural. Let’s say that you imagine your song being played in an after-hours spot. This means that the song will likely be played in a place with little treatment, or in a long, narrow venue that isn’t typically used for music. This requires specific mixing, and pre-mastering to properly express its full potential.

Also, there are moments where something is created that doesn’t exist. There is no way for me to know how to create something if there is no reference to it, so don’t ask for that, since it’s impossible to know without endless tweaking.

3. Contact Us Before You Buy

This is true especially if you have doubts. You wouldn’t hire someone without vetting them normally, so why should this be any different? If you have a song that you think might fit my aesthetic, but not quite, then let me have a listen to it, and I will let you know if I think it’s worth working on. Believe me, I don’t want to work on projects that are unnecessarily difficult, just like you don’t.

You’d be surprised at what projects I have worked on. For instance, even though I make “underground” music, I worked on an EDM project, because the producer liked that I didn’t sound EDM.

4. Know Some Basic Terms

As producers, many have at least some basic knowledge of the audio engineering spectrum. Most know what equalizers, and compressors are, as well as reverb or delay. They also know what mono and stereo means. However, there may be more specific things that they don’t know – like for instance the difference between a transparent and colored master. A transparent one is where you have a mix you’re happy with, but you want everything to be properly balanced. A colored one is where you aren’t totally satisfied with the mix, and want some more textures, and other elements, such as compression, and saturation added to bring out new elements. In other words, you don’t mind things being changed.

Other common terms used in studios to describe frequencies are:

Muddy: Too much bass.

Boxy: Too many mids.

Tinny: Upper mids or lower highs need reduction.

Bright: Similar to tinny.

Airy: The high register frequencies. The ones that can break glass.

Warm: Reducing high end, or boosting the lower mids to give it a toasty feeling.

5. Don’t Micromanage

Do you hate being micromanaged at work? Well, so does everyone. By micromanaging, you’re distracting away from the work that could be getting done on your project by pointing out things that the engineer recognizes, but hasn’t got to, or may not even be necessary once another process is done. We’re professionals; let us be professional.

Conclusion:

All said, if you learn how to communicate with audio engineer properly, you are making yourself better at what you do, because you are furthering your education by understanding the terms. Also, you’re making yourself easier to work with, and at professional levels, easy to work with can get you far.

This skillset will also help with other artistic undertakings, such as remote music collaboration, or doing collaborative DAW projects, or even online collaborative DAW ones.

Hopefully this proved to be a valuable guide to helping artists with how to communicate with audio engineers. Like in most things in life, solid communication, means a solid experience.

The “sous-chef” experience

October 7, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

I’ve been reading a lot about music arranging lately, mostly to see how the big players in the music industry approach it. It’s not that I love how things are made in that scene, but more because I want to see what I can take in and transpose to what I do. There are major differences to what the underground music producer will do in an arrangement.

Majors work with a team. You can’t make it on that level without a full team looking into making sure that each step is taken care of. This implies song writing, project management, recording, editing, arrangements, and mixing. Nothing will be done half-way.
They want the best in every sphere. To make great things, you need the best. Therefore, they will rent the best studios, hire the best musicians, and make sure that every player involved has a strong list of credentials.
Nothing is made quickly. Sometimes things go fast but they won’t take things in an easy way.

(Photo by frankie cordoba on Unsplash)

The average release on Beatport is a one-man band, but more than often not if equipped properly, will still get some attention. The main difference is the song’s longevity. Most underground songs won’t have a long life, and might not get many plays and if it sounds like a lot of music out there (eg. it’s a tendency that people will imitate the top 10 to be part of it), chances are that in 1-2 years, it will be forgotten.

Where I think we can learn from the majors is about team work. The main issue with this is, most semi-pro musicians or aspiring ones have to put some life priorities first. We started a community project with my Facebook group that is called Cosmic Relay, where we would work as a team to make songs. We did a first EP that made it to the top 3 on Beatport (Minimal) without trying to copy anyone. The potential is there indeed, but on the second batch of songs, we struggled to rally everyone to make things move with a good flow.

I’ve been experimenting a second approach, which is inspired by how restaurants work. I’d be the “chef” and I’d be working with one or multiple “sous-chefs.” One of my strengths, available as a service through my Track Finalization product, is to make arrangements and finish music. Finding the elements to start often takes me ages to create, mostly because I work primary with randomly generated music (ex. from little jams, tool/demo exploration or simply using randomization on plugins). While this generates a lot of original content, it also requires me to go through a lot of recording to find the little gems in there.

Working with a “sous-chef” is most probably the best thing for my workflow. I send them on a quest to gather material based on my suggestions and then I’ll compose with what I have. Facing some limitations bring a flow of high creativity in me. I usually find ways to find how to use the elements to create a timeline and then something that gets me excited. Usually the direction of the project is decided by the people I work with. We agree on a reference and decide where to go with it.

I’m not sure if you have watched Chef’s Table on Netflix, but for me it’s been a source of inspiration. I see parallels between the chefs starting a restaurant and musicians opening their studio.

One thing all music producers all have in mind is to remain playful, open and to reinvent themselves.

So back to our project: if we continue to take inspiration from the majors, asking for help for the parts where you feel either slow or less solid, is a great way to complement another artist. Collaborations are the best way to do things you could never do alone, every time, for the best.

“Yeah but I want to learn how to do everything by myself!” I hear you say. Then be ready to be a jack of all trade, which is a master of nothing. That’s not a bad thing, but then you might never shine at what you’re supposed to be great at, simply because you’re spreading your precious time on different tasks that others could do better. The thing is, you’ll get better at everything if you also work with other people who are better than you at what they do.

I’m a good example of that. It took me a long time to get better at mixing and I’m still learning. Same for sound design. But talking with other people was more fruitful than spending time on Youtube. Using and buying quality samples have also been incredibly useful in the process. As well as getting quality tutorials.

For best collaboration tools, here’s my favorites:

Splice for getting samples and sharing projects.
Native Instruments Sounds.com for more samples.
ADSR for presets and tutorials. A fast way to have your basis and kick start quickly any project.
Dropbox for sharing anything and everything.
Reaktor’s community for getting new patches ideas.
Our Facebook community to meet new people in the same mentality as me. We have a label that we then release the music on.

Resisting the lust to be famous

September 7, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

While music fame and the desire to “get famous” might seem comical to some, I’m sure that if it doesn’t apply to you, perhaps there are some people in your network who have expectations to build a career in music production. It’s one thing to leave your mark, but it’s another when you have a very strong expectation to be famous. Why do I address this? Mainly because working with people I’ve noticed that many have this cyclical pattern of ups and downs, all based on how productive or successful they’ve been. The thing is, when you’re up, things are great of course, but the issue is how to deal with the lows.

In my career, I’ve learned a few things regarding how to deal with the lows. It comes down to perception mostly, but also to how you approach things. The thing is, no matter if you’re riding a high or a low, you are exactly the same. External factors can trigger frustrations but they’re not responsible of your emotions. While it is known that physically, making music can release some internal hormones that give pleasure just as a drug, on the flip side not being able to do music can also be hurtful.

Let’s debunk a few things that can help you surf more positive waves.

If you’re in music production to chase success, you’re in for a nightmare.

What is a successful release?

This is a good question; the definition of success can be based on multiple factors:

Sales. As you know, what might seem like a catastrophic release for one market could be a crazy success for another, with the same numbers. I can tell you that I had a time where 200 vinyl sales was a moment to open up a champagne bottle.
Reach. It’s so strange how some releases will have all the same amount of effort in marketing but one will pop on social medias and charts. It’s basically impossible to predict what will work and how much it will spread out. But sometimes, something that reaches out more than usual, might have next to no sales.
Media feedback. So you know, if you pay for PR, it will be between 150 to 1000 euros or more for a company to pass the music to medias, DJs, blogs and journalists. It doesn’t guarantee anything at all. But one thing you want is the music to gain momentum and if you start seeing comebacks here and there, that can be seen as a form of success.
Other artists’ appreciation. Charts, thumbs up, DJs dropping music in an event are all a form of success.

The thing is, these factors are all linked as you can see, in one way or the other. As a label owner, sometimes it becomes pretty frustrating to deal with artists who complain that you didn’t push hard enough because the previous release did better. Explaining it like a lottery might be the best way to put it out. The strangest thing is, sometimes some of the most talented artists I know make music that is exceptionally beautiful but it just doesn’t sell, reach or get any feedback; it’s as if people completely missed it. I’ve seen some releases on Archipel pop 7 years later because a known DJ played a track in an event, randomly. Thank you Shazam!

In the end, you are the one that can define your own success. Using numbers will help you greatly. “Being famous or known” can’t be measured, but selling 200 vinyls can. And since sometimes things move really slowly; sometimes patience can make a difference.

Over 20+ years of releasing music, I’ve come up with my own set of success measurements. One of them is based on a very tight circle of friends I share my music with once I’m done with a new song. If they all like it, then I know I have something I’ll be happy with down the road. Because one of the main issues with music making is to know if you’ll love your music later on. While you’re in it, you often lose perspective of its true potential

So what does success come down to?

1 – Create personal projects that matter: This is something really important here. Make music, finish your songs, make albums and share them with your friends. Hire someone to make a kickass artwork, make sure it sounds top notch and have something that makes you proud, even years later. Why? Because that is success, honestly. To have your own collection of homemade music is something that creates a portfolio and later on, if anyone looks back at your past work, they can see the dedication and work you put into it.

2- The 1/20 ratio: Keep in mind that one song out of 20 might get attention. Perhaps less. Keeping that ratio in mind, it really brings you down to earth and keeps you humble. Is it worth making music? Hell yes. Make tons of it. Don’t spend forever on that one song you believe will make you famous. Make tons of them, record daily at least one thing, one sound design, one loop… keep yourself engaged in what you love, because you love it, not because it will lead you anywhere.

3- Create your circle of validation: This will take time and patience but if you can find a circle of 5 people you love and that you know have similar tastes to you, then you can broadly share with them. Expect to be frustrated at times but be there to validate their work as well, and remain honest, diplomatic and constructive in any feedback. Make sure that some people of that circle are DJs that often play out so they can test your music in context, if that’s you’re goal. Bonus points if one of those DJs is a social media magician; he might refer you around. I also like to have someone that is very knowledgeable so I can bounce ideas of him/her regarding labels to send my music to.

And have fun!

Home studio essentials: Starter kits for electronic music production

May 7, 2018/in Production, Review, Tips/by pheek

Due to popular demand and because I receive questions about what to buy to start making electronic music almost daily, I decided to cover the topic based on various levels of investment. If you follow the plan I outline below, you won’t fail or be mislead into bad purchasing decisions. This list is based on years of discussions with people, consultation with clients, and testing a variety of this gear myself. As previously covered in a past article, we’ll start with the level where you are completely new to making electronic music and then build up from there. If you need guidance beyond first levels, scroll down to see tips for larger budgets and more advanced levels of producing. Just remember, the type of studio electronic gear that you choose to use will have a profound effect on your sound.

Level 1 kit: The beginner Studio Electronic Musician

Your level of knowledge:little-to-none; you’re contemplating making music.

Includes: Laptop, DAW and Headphones.

Music really doesn’t take much to get started with anymore. There’s a myth that many people believe, that the more equipment you have, the better the music you’ll make and thus it’s waste of time if you don’t have much money to invest in the early stages. This is false, I know some pretty amazing music that was done on the cheapest setups you can imagine. Remember, studio electronic music started as a DIY endeavour, in cultures that were not traditionally wealthy.

The only thing I’d strongly encourange you to do is get a demo version of Ableton, Reason, or Bitwig to see which one seems the best for you but my personal pick will always be Ableton, which I’ve been using since 2002.

For your laptop, if you can invest in one, I’d say try to get a PC or MAC with at least a i5 or i7 processor and an SSD hard drive; this will make a tremendous difference in how you’ll be able to manage the needed resources. Plugins and software are mostly dependent on a powerful CPU to process information, while the fast hard drive is to access how the samples are read. If your hard drive is slow, it can create bottlenecks if you’re reading large files. An external SSD is critical should you rely on something not internal. Also with regards to RAM, the higher the better. At the moment, I find that a minimum of 6gb will make a difference but if you can get more, that’s even better. High RAM is also a critical part of how smoothly your DAW will run.

Harddrives & Laptops For For Studio Electronic Music

External HD SSD by Toshiba

Photo of Samsung portable SSD T5. Necessary for all studio electronics

Asus ZenBook Ultra-Slim Laptop, 13.3″ Full HD, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD

You’ll need a good pair of headphones. If you don’t like making music, you’ll still have a good pair. I find that it can be misleading to not invest much in it so if you can, get the best you can get. I propose here pairs for different budgets.

Headphones

Audio-Technica ATH-M20x Headphones

Sony MDRZX110NC Over-Ear Noise Cancelling Headphones

An image of Sony headphones - a necessity for any studio electronic producer

Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Headphones

photo of some nice headphones for electronic music producers

Sennheiser HD 598 Cs Headphone

Sennheiser HD1 Over-Ear Headphones

Level 2 kit: Getting confident In Studio Electronic Music

Your level of knowledge: You’ve made some songs and you start to feel limited by the level 1 kit (headphones and a laptop).

Includes: extra software/plugins, Speakers, MIDI controller.

Ok, so now you know you want to do this as a hobby or more. I think it’s important to have better monitoring than just your headphones so getting speakers should be among your next priorities. There’s nothing more important than to go to your local shop and spend time testing a few pairs of monitors with music you know. So get your phone ready and go listen, then you can make a decision and buy. My personal favourites might not work for your style, but here are some of them, including some for different budgets.

Just make sure that the music you listen to is similar to the type you will be making, since your studio electronic music will be influenced by whatever you get.

Speakers & Monitors FOr Studio Electronic mUsic

Genelec 8010 Monitor System with 3″ Woofer

Adam Audio T7V 7″ Active Studio Monitor

Fostex PMO.3B 3-Inch Speaker System

Another photo of a speaker - a studio electronic gear

Yamaha HS5 Studio Monitor

MIDI Controllers

A good investment is adding some controllers for your DAW so you feel a bit more physical about how you interact with your music. This can go from a pad based midi controller, to a keyboard or a midi mixer. It really depends of what you do with your music but any of these will be useful somehow.

Akai Professional MPK Mini MKII | 25-Key USB MIDI Keyboard & Drum Pad Controller

Midiplus AKM320 Keyboard Controller

A pic of the MIDIPLUS. An inexpensive piece of electronic music gear for your studio.

Icon I-Controls-Potable 9-Fader Midi Controller

Icon thingy. An excellent piece of gear for studio electronic

If you’re serious about your music, you will want some original material and investing in good synths is important; you can then combine controllers with sounds. KOMPLETE by Native Instruments is a powerful investment that will pay off for years to come. Otherwise, Arturia is also quite amazing.

Native Instruments KOMPLETE KONTROL S25

The Komplete Kontrol - a studio electronic

Arturia KeyLab 25-Key USB MIDI Controller

Level 3 kit: The Studio ELectronic hobbyist

Your level of knowledge: You’re able to make music and finish songs, you spend considerable time making music.

Includes: extra software/plugins, Gear upgrades.

At this point you can make music, finish songs, and perhaps getting some of your tracks signed to a label. This is the stage where most of my clients are at. In general, their needs are pretty much the same. Many haven’t invested in good monitoring, either a proper sound card or monitors. A quality sound card/interface will make a big difference in the quality of your sound; this sounds pretty obvious but many people I work with still need to be convinced…until they get one and come to me to say I was right! Sound cards aren’t like monitors, it’s not a question of personal tastes but a matter of understanding what you need. The very first question you should ask yourself is “how much gear do I need to record?”, because that will determine how many inputs you need in your interface. You could always get a little mixing board to get all the audio in then route it to two stereo inputs, but some people prefer multiple audio in. In other words, studio electronics matter.

Audio interfaces & Sound cards

Most basic audio interface: Focusrite

Focusrite Scarlett-Solo Gen2 USB Audio Interface

Medium budget: MOTU – who also make killer converters for recording.

MOTU MicroBook IIc USB Audio Interface

Higher budget: RME

RME Babyface Pro Professional 24 Channel USB Audio Interface with TotalMix FX

My personal suggestion is to go with UAD Apollo Twin, which also gives you access to all their plugins and outboard CPU power. This is a solid piece of studio electronic gear.

Higher budget: UAD

Universal Audio APLTWSII Apollo Twin MKII Solo

A picture of the Apollo Twin, which can be used to make studio electronic music

I find that at this point, investing in software to define your sound and to get out of your DAW’s internal sound is a great move. Some companies I love are U-He with their amazing synths such as Diva, Bazille or the Presswerk compressor. I am also on the Plugin Boutique mailing list to get daily discounts on software. Not only do I learn about what exists, but it then also becomes possible to get discounts for plugins I’ve had my eye on. Following KVRAudio is also an essential habit. They are masters of studio electronic gear.

Level 4 kit: The serious bundle FOr STudio Electronic Music

Your level of knowledge: You’re getting very serious at it and want to be semi-pro.

Includes: extra software/plugins, Gear & studio upgrades.

At this point, you have an organized your studio and all essentials are covered. Usually this is where you’ll feel ready to invest into more gear such as modular synths, synthesizers, external effects, and fine tuning what you already have. Before anything else, I’d suggest you make sure you have something to cover your low end. If you have neighbors and still want good relationships with them, I’d go for a Subpac:

Bass & Subwoofers

SubPac M2X Wearable Physical Audio System

Picture of the Subpac, an excellent studio electronic piece of gear.

This thing has really been helpful at home and helped me get more precise mixes; there’s this more expensive wearable version, or a cheaper version for your back while sitting in a chair. It’s a piece of gear that gives you a physical impression of having a sub. If you can get a sub though, that’s even better. I can recommend many, but usually something like the Yamaha HS8s Studio Subwoofer will do for a home or small studio.

Nailing the low end is really an important part in solid sounding music, and you can only get there by being able to hear what’s going on down there. To adjust it, you won’t really need to hear it as much as feel it, which is what the Subpac also does.

Synthesizers

In terms of synths, there are many great ones out there. If you can get to a shop to test some in person, I recommend you do so. I can explain in my own words the technicalities of sounds each synth can make, but test driving a synth is the best thing to do, to really know if it will fit what you do. I think my view on this is that when you get a synth, it will become an important part of your artistic identity. I’ll list some of my favorites, based on different branches and aesthetics: Roland, Korg, Moog, Elektron.

TIP: Always search for demos of the synths on Youtube to see how they sound!

Roland: aesthetic – classic sound

A staple player of the electronic music world, Roland basically shaped the beginnings with drum machines and the tb-303, source of the original acid tones or the Juno that shaped Trance/deep techno. After being silent for years, Roland has returned with force, deploying super solid products such as Roland Aira TR-8 Rhythm Performer for the 808, hugely recommended if you want classic kicks. The sound is very classic, clean, and efficient. I would recommend the Roland GAIA SH-01 Synthesizer which has made a big comeback in many genres in the last few years and is far from being out of date.

Korg: aesthetic – edgy, modern, clean, warm

Let’s cover the basics of Korg as I know some of them. The all favorite at the moment is definitely the Korg MS-20 Mini Semi-modular Analog Synthesizer which is a good cross of analog synths because of its patching options. It can sound very modern and experimental but it can also sound old school 50’s spooky sci-fi. There’s a bit of a learning curve but the investment is very rewarding once you dive in it. Very unpredictable at times, it can provide many outstanding ideas. These happy accidents define so much excellent studio electronic music, as well as live electronic music.

Another one is the Korg Minilogue 4-Voice Polyphonic Analog Synth which is a super slick synth that sounds very clean and modern. It is able to make tight basses and warm fuzzy pads. Excellent for techno.

There’s also the cheaper version as well too. Finally, super useful and fun is the Volca series. There’s a nice little FM synth in this series – a very powerful buddy that can provide really warm tones.

Moog: aesthetic – Fat, rounded, electroish sound, vintage and gritty)

Moog is a staple for its name and the legacy it’s left over the years in so many songs we have all heard. Fat and dirty basses are often from Moogs and bold melodies are pretty much a trademark. If you want to dip your toe in the modular world, the Mother is a great machine to get. Its sounds really, really warm and thick plus its patching board is well designed that you can get started intuitively. The Moog Sub Phatty is another favorite of many for the name it carries, and what you get in return. The Moog Mother is another beast that can make extremely powerful sounds, from basses to kick and leads. it’s also a good step in the semi-modular world if you’re looking to make some hard hitting studio electronic stuff.

Elektron: aesthetic – Berlin techno, modern/underground dance music

This company is the current leader for studio favourites. It’s defining a lot of the current techno tracks that are being released. The main bad boy here is the Elektron Digitakt. There are two things that define the success of this monster: it sounds right and the integration with Ableton/DAWs makes it an ideal desktop companion. If you have the budget, you could also get the Elektron Analog Four which is another beast. Crazy possibilities on this one and a resource to do pretty much anything you want.

Our First Music Retreat

May 3, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

The idea for a music retreat came from a discussion I was having with my friend Fred about the need to just flee the city with some fellow music producers to spend a weekend making music. I mean, being in the country, being with friends, and then be able to make music seems like a recipe for something very special, right? Well, since returning from our retreat, I can only say it was beyond all my expectations; I believe it might even be something worth repeating on a regular basis.

When I first posted about my intentions to organize a music retreat on Facebook, I was mind-blown by the reaction and enthusiasm it generated. I think the excitement about a retreat comes from a need to be with others who share the same passion, but also to be in a context where we can connect about it.

We ended up having 13 people signing (note: we even had people from France who wanted to come but we didn’t posted the dates soon enough for them to prepare) and we found a beautiful manor outside of Montreal with the views of fields and hills as the place for the retreat. The setting was perfect. Fred organized two separate studios and we had plenty of room to be with our laptops to get in our bubble.

I had planned to do some workshops but after talking and deciding on the plan for the weekend, we didn’t really want to follow any structure. This first experience would determine our needs and how to deal with anything happening.

What came out was pure magic!

Imagine being in a room where everyone is making music, has gear and is focused on working on their own music, where you can show others what you’re working on to get feedback, to get answers to questions you have regarding technical issues, to observe everyone’s workflow and use of plugins…it really felt like a need was being met by everyone present: being part of a community, and getting instant validation and experience being in a creative environment.

We traded Soundcloud and Facebook for real human contact. Hanging out in clubs to find like-minds felt awkward; being around people who share the same interests, and working at the same time as others really responded to a common need we all shared: connecting physically.

No matter how the internet is developing and the tools it offers, there’s nothing like physical closeness. Even myself, I felt overwhelmed with the desire to make sounds and also to comment on other’s or to answer questions people would share out loud. It’s pretty common for music producers to meet in bars and clubs but you can’t really talk because the context is loud and not appropriate, plus you can’t really share your tech set up or how you work. It seems like a retreat is creates a proper space to co-create and see everyone’s game get upgraded. I am under the impression that this could be the best way to shape the sound of a community all together.

As we’re preparing to already organize more retreats, we are also planning to gather music producers in cafes, on a Saturday afternoon. I think that is also something we would love to explore, elsewhere in the world as well.

How I used the Music retreat for my creative flow

I wanted to do exactly what I do with my days in the city but to really concentrate it in a short period of time to see what would come out. My usual routine is to take my sound generators such as synths and then jam. I did that intensively until Saturday afternoon, but then I had a mental crash. It usually happens at some point but it was pretty interesting to see it happen like that. But the cool part was to be around people, talking and exchanging about anything coming. I wasn’t home on Netflix waiting for my energy to come back.

Later, I realized there were some ways I could have improved our productivity on the retreat. Below are some ideas I’m noting down for next time, as well as to give you some suggestions in case you plan to embark on a music retreat yourself:

Make samples as a team. Since everyone has a different background and inspirations, we could analyze some songs to try to replicate certain sounds.
Try to finish one song where everyone is involved. Each participant could use one instrument, and one person collect them all to put them into arrangements.
Use multiple people to do complex field recordings, strange sounds and atmosphere.
Make convolution images of different spaces, such as using microphones to sample the different rooms of the place we were.
Do the relay method of music making, meaning “try to do as much as you can on this track then pass it on to the next person.”
Try to do a cadavre exquis, music related.

If you have suggestions for us to try at the next retreat, let us know as we’re already planning another one!

The Inspiration Cycle

April 26, 2018/in Blog, Production/by pheek

Most people enjoy discussing music technically in terms of production as we all wonder where to start and how to handle ideas in order to make a song. I also follow many magazines and articles which cover how the brain perceives creativity, where it starts, and how to invoke it and keep it alive. However, even if you know the techniques to make music, remaining inspired to make music can become a challenge. I struggle with musical inspiration as well, but also have a few tips if you’ve been struck with writer’s block that I find always work.

How is your inspiration cycle working?

This video about using flow is tightly linked to the experience of inspiration. Let’s dive deeper.

Through reading and my own personal experience, I’ve noticed that inspiration comes and goes through a number of phases, in a cycle:

The stimulation and satisfaction of the mind.
Conceptualization.
Struggle.
Release and creativity.
Project completion.
Transmission, validation.
Celebration.

In the above video, the discussion is around flow, which is an important state of mind for a high level of creativity that can be reached by athletes and musicians during a performance. You can also access this level of creativity by making music, in your studio. But before a studio session, you need an idea and concept to make music around. Let’s examine the phases of the musical inspiration cycle I outlined above:

The stimulation and satisfaction of the mind

To sum up this phase, think about falling in love with something. For the writer, it’s a book or a scene description. The photographer gets excited about a landscape; the gardener, about the perfect trees; and the musician, sounds or a song. This can stimulation can occur anywhere at any time; in your car for example, or in many cases, during a “celebration” of some kind. The cycle becomes evident here, because the last phase is the celebration of completing your work, but this phase can also restart the cycle and restart the first phase of stimulation.

For example, many people feel that they want to become a DJ after a special night in a club. This is an example of musical stimulation kicking off the cycle of inspiration. People also like to celebrate art, in search of some sort of new stimulation for the mind; to be inspired to create.

Describing his creative process, Mozart observed, “Those ideas that please me I retain in memory, and am accustomed, as I have been told, to hum them to myself. If I continue in this way,” he writes, “it soon occurs to me how I may turn this or that morsel to account so as to make a good dish of it… All this fires my soul” (Harding, 1948).

The mind will feel satisfied by certain things that will inspire it to bring different elements all together, into a collection that will lead to the creation of a concept.

Tip: Before investing and diving into production, try to make a personal collection of music that moves you. It could be a secret playlist on Youtube, Spotify or Soundcloud, for instance. The richer your collection, the more you are investing into potential sources of inspiration.

Conceptualization

Understanding your concept is key here; it’s about putting to words what you have in mind. The main writer’s block-inducing trap in electronic music is facing the limitless options of where you could go in a creative sense. Ideas and concepts help to box you in, and to create your sounds into a palette that matches your idea. For instance, knowing you want to make “banging techno” already provides you with a direction as to what you’ll be doing. The challenge in this particular case would be educating yourself and understanding how complex sounds are recorded as well as other technical details. Conceptualization leads to the next phase which is the struggle; an unavoidable part of the creative process necessary when trying to apply your concept.

I’ve always found there to be two main things that will help with conceptualization:

Finding real life equivalent to what your vision is, such as finding songs that contain your idea or a part of it.
Finding resources to help you understand what your idea actually is.

The more clear your initial idea or concept, the best you can explain it. From there you can find someone who has the experience or tools to help you get your there if necessary.

Tip: Using voice memos to record something you hear or to leave yourself notes is a very useful practice. If you can invest in a microphone to try to reproduce sounds with your mouth or found objects; this technique can lead to very interesting results.

Struggle

The struggle is the phase in which many people feel like they want to stop making music altogether and even sell all the gear they have in extreme cases. Perhaps you’ve been through this struggle before – it can manifest in many ways – but the best approach to handle a struggle effectively is to moderate what you like doing, by reducing the length of time or efforts you’re inputting into developing your concept.

For example, instead of being in the studio for four hours, how about going for just one? How about you go for a walk when you have negative ideas coming to you? There’s no rush in making music.

I’ve seen so many artists struggle through this phase by falling victim to substance abuse which is by far the most risky way to deal with writer’s block. If you need an external substance to make you creative, you’ll quickly become dependent on it.

Tip: My drug is jogging.

Release and creativity

This phase can be when the “aha!” moment hits you full effect; all the technical details fall into place and you can express yourself entirely. I’ve had this moment with two albums I made, Tones Of Void and White Raven. However in previous albums, I’ve worked and worked to eventually find a pace that just made me feel unstoppable. I would finish songs in a day, which would normally take me months. Find a recipe, a patch, a series of effects that give you wings to turn anything in the sound you’re looking for.

For me, the “aha” moment is easy to hear on Tones Of Void. I had found the right series of effects that I loved and I was digging in my library, then could easily turn 1-2 sounds into a full song. I would record it live, do minor edits and felt entirely satisfied with whatever I had. I’ve also seen people using modular synths to make self-generative patches where songs are just written on their own and it’s really beautiful to see.

Tip: This phase isn’t linear and comes in moments. Find ways to save your tools and understand what uplifts your work.

Project completion

Finishing projects is something many people struggle with. The real question is when is it really done? Recently, I made a list of items to check to give yourself an answer but you can also give yourself certain criteria. I like the idea that something is never actually totally done, and that is part of the charm of it. Knowing the next project will be better is a way to let go of anything that has been revisited too often.

Once you can save your file and are happy with it, do a backup and call it done, this phase is simply done; it’s something you don’t want to drag on.

Transmission, validation & Celebration

You know when you love your song so much you want to share it with the entire world? That’s what the celebration phase I mentioned earlier is about. We want validation for our work, but there’s a part of ourselves that also wants to pass on our ideas to others. This creates the desire to have “the celebration” and to provide musical inspiration to others.

There are some people, however, who fear sharing their music. It’s no secret that most musicians seek validation from their community and music is a way to do it. What stops some people from sharing their work with others is the fear of being criticized. However, transmission and validation are necessary to move on to “the celebration”, which is the end of a cycle, but also the beginning of another.

I’d love to hear your stories about your inspiration. Please share!

8 common mixing mistakes and audio production errors

April 2, 2018/in Blog, Production/by pheek

Since starting my label, and after years of dealing with large numbers of demo submissions and artists, I’ve noticed that most of the time new producers and musicians make the same kinds of errors when they are early in their audio producing years. When I started my studio full-time I also noticed that I have – for the most part – been dealing with the same questions and frustrations about producing audio on a regular basis. This post outlines a list of some of the most common mixing mistakes and general mistakes musicians make when they are starting out.

the most common mistakes I see from Musicians with regards to audio mixing and producing:

Not investing in good monitoring (speakers, headphones).

This one is a huge deal. You’re dependent on what you hear to get quality results. This is always a bit puzzling to me, that some people hope to compete with artists who have invested so much into a professional studio with poor monitoring. If you can’t hear what you do, it’s pretty much like working blindly and the results on good sound systems will be catastrophic. So many people go test music in their car to see if it’s done properly which is sort of ok, but not productive.

What I’d suggest is to try to spend an afternoon listening to music you know on different speakers. Do not invest in cheap monitors because it’s all you can afford. It will fill your music with many problems down the road. Trust your ears.

A Lack of references

You can’t produce quality music if you haven’t been exposed to quality music. This means you need to have in your possession a large library of music for listening, but also to spend just as much time listening to music as producing it. The more you immerse yourself in music that sounds great, the more familiar your ears become with regards to how things should sound. This can mean listening to good quality vinyl or wav files.

What I’d suggest is to have regular sessions of listening music you like attentively and also in the background. Both are important. Make a playlist on Spotify or on your computer of music you know sounds right and train your ears to know that music inside out.

Making Comparisons to Professional musicians too often

This is the downside of referencing as it can play tricks on you. I know some people who have amazingly good tastes in music and want to start producing but when they start and see the work that is ahead, they become frustrated quickly. If you compare yourself to a guy who has been around for 20 years, chances are, you’re setting yourself for defeat.

What I suggest is to focus more on the experience of making music than the result, at first.

Thinking making music is easy

Can’t blame anyone besides the general culture that has been saying for years that “making electronic music” is all about “pushing a few buttons”. People see a DJ with fists in the air and they think “I could do that…”.This mindset will give you a rude awakening when you start working in a DAW and dive into sound design. Electronic music doesn’t require the same skills as playing piano, but will be demanding in terms of technical details. There are so many possibilities that you can go crazy trying to know where to start. Sadly, many people realize that and become depressed.

What I’d suggest before diving in music production is to try to befriend a producer and spend time in studio to see if you really enjoy it. Watch videos on music making to see if you can pick it up quickly too.

Investing too much, too fast

I’m thinking of the guy who decides one day to make music and then comes back home with 5000$ of equipment without knowing if he likes it or knowing what he needs. See what you like doing first, then invest around that. Music production has so many different dimensions that it’s important to know your cup of tea. Is it DJing? Playing synths? Sound design? Making loops? There are pieces of gear you need first as I explained in a previous post but you surely don’t need everything your friends will tell you to buy.

What I suggest was written in a past blog post about what you really need to get started. I often get asked what you need to start making music: a laptop and headphones is all you need at first. Build around that.

CHASING “success” before Building up skills

This is a classic. Knowing what you like is one thing, knowing what you do best is another. We all have certain skills that feel natural and sometimes you need to explore to discover all of them. Planning your DJ career without having done a few gigs and releases is getting a bit ahead of yourself. Take your time; enjoy the fun of making music and success might come down the road. Chasing success can be like pursuing a mirage.

What I suggest would be to really focus on loving making music before anything else. I often encourage people to start with things little such as making music for friends or to share with local DJs. If you build a network of 5-10 people, that’s enough to slowly build your self-trust and eventually emerge at the right time.

A Lack of patience

Making quality sounds and music is like brewing wine/beer: it demands time, patience and some sort of personal isolation for a while. It’s important to stop yourself from sharing your work to the whole world before it is really done. The name of the game in music production is patience and it is the same for anyone who want to go to another level.

Misguided Audio Production Techniques

If we’re talking tech, this list of issues are some things I always find in the work of new producers. Perhaps you can start changing your techniques if you recognize yourself in this list.

A lack of quality samples.
Not using EQs/compression. This one always surprise me.
Using too many instances of an effect instead of using the Sends/AUX.
Not using at least one, very good quality EQ or compressor. They really make a difference.
Not using channel strips in the DAW.
No mono for the bass or anything under 130hz.
Not using swing/grooves.
Missing the boat with saturation. Either it’s not done at all or with tools that aren’t doing the job. Get this free one to get yourself with a good starter kit.
Lack of post-production on sounds. Whenever you think you’re done with a song, you just realize there’s a number of details you overlooked. The road often feels endless… because it is.
Muting the kick too often in a track. This kills the energy, especially if you have long breaks with no kick.
Not letting things go. Sometimes, a simple idea can carry a track for a while but you’ll need to let sink in people’s mind so to do that, you need to trust what you do and let it go. Too often, newcomers are concerned that the listener will be bored and they keep adding or changing things.

You can also ask for help and I will update this list with pleasure!

The 2-minute Soundcloud preview method

March 24, 2018/in Blog, Production, Song Finalizing and Arrangements, Tips/by pheek

The 2-minute Soundcloud preview method, as I call it, is about creating tracks previews that are 2 minutes long. Why that length?

If you look at most track previews labels and artists are sharing online, they’re about 2 minutes in length. This unofficial standard got popular during the early days of Soundcloud when a little problem was discovered involving people being able to download full tracks from the website; not the full resolution file, but the streaming version, which is very low quality. Many tracks leaked this way and it’s crazy to think some people used those versions to play in podcasts or even in clubs!

So then, why post 2-minute tracks?

Many labels look for artists by browsing their Soundcloud page and it doesn’t look good if the page is empty. As a result, some artists started creating “fake” songs, as 2-minute tracks, often with artwork created by an online app. The crazy outcome of this behaviour was that some people/labels started asking artists to release some of those two-minute tracks, which forced the artists to finish them.

The pros of uploading 2-minute mini-tracks is that if someone connects with you about one, you’ll know what’s working best from all the tracks you have online. This particularly useful if you have a large number of sketches and wonder which ones have the most potential. The cons of this approach, if done poorly, is that it can really backfire at you, and make you look (very) unprofessional.

That said, if your goal is to get some traction online, this method can really be effective. Some people also need motivation and direction to get things done so this approach might be good for you if you’re one of those artists. Here are some tips on how to approach this effectively, to get most out of it:

Use tracks that are in progress to avoid getting caught with unexpected requests. The more advanced you are in the arrangements, the better. You can actually use a complex 2-minute base as a way to find the final ideas of your track. Uploading a very simple loop is not a good idea as it might sound completely empty.

Make sure it is mixed properly. This might be the most difficult part of it, but make sure the mixdown is solid. Use some compression and have a limiter on the master to glue it together.

Make sure the main idea of the track is exposed in the preview. What I mean here is, be sure that if someone listens to your preview, they will have an idea of what the song is about. If you need a better idea, go to decks.de and listen to previews of records to see what I mean.

Have something strong to say. Make sure your loop is exciting, has something special in it and has a memorable element that might make people want to hear more. This is the most critical aspect of your 2-minute track.

Try to have very different song ideas from one to another. If you have too many previews that all sound exactly the same, it’s sort of like having a colour palette with a multitude of beige variations; have different colors but keep an aesthetic that is in tune with your style.

Make sure the mixdown is solid, then normalize. If you don’t use a limiter, export it normalized, this will create a louder version.

Limit the total number of tracks on your Soundcloud page. Try to pick a number between 10 and 15 then never have more. Why? Because you don’t want to be that artist that has zillions of unsigned tracks either. Remove older ones and remove ones that have no comments or likes. This is not good for momentum (see my previous post).

Indicate if the track is unsigned. Let people know the track isn’t signed or mastered; this helps clarify to people who listen to it.

So then, when do you finally finish one of these 2-minute tracks? You should decide to finish it when it generates some sort of buzz. If you get a DJ asking for a copy of a track for a podcast, this can be as important as if a label would like to sign it. If someone interested in your track, don’t sleep on it; let me know of your results!

The creative burnout no one is talking about

March 9, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

Around 2008, as I was coming back from the doctor’s office, I felt completely lost. He told me that I had to change what I was doing because I was heading straight for creative burnout. At that time, in my career, I felt like it was in its peak: I was touring, releasing music, making remixes, was invited to great festivals, and had an occasional part time job as a teacher. I had nothing to complain about; I felt I was pretty much living my dream.

So what was going on exactly?

Before I explain, I want say that this post is about sharing what I’ve learned the hard way. I’m talking about an important thing no one will tell you:

It’s not because you do what you love that you’re shielded from your limitations. It’s mostly because by doing what you love, you may overlook that it remains a form of work.

When you do what you love, you feel invincible. This might be related to the feeling of flow, explained by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, which is a state you get into when you create or become really focused. The thing about music is, it’s about inspiration, and inspiration doesn’t come about “when you need it”, it just happens.

How do you recognize the signs that could announce you’re on the verge of crashing?

Negative output in discussions. Do you observe yourself talking negatively to your friends or on social medias? It’s interesting to look at a week of posting on Facebook and see if you’ve been more positive or negative.
Lost of interest for music or anything you used to love.
Desire to announce you’re “retiring” (from DJing or anything), selling all your gear, deleting projects, quitting.
Cynicism towards the music world, what you do, others who make music.
Jealousy, envy, feeling discouraged when being around other artists who are doing OK.

Keep track if any of these are persistent.

These obstacles may lead to burnout:

Overworking

Going from a “normal” full time job to transforming a hobby you love into a job involves a pretty steep learning curve. There are multiple things to take in consideration . Money in the artist’s life is the source of a huge amount of stress. Not only can you not predict when things will work, but when they do, you don’t know how long the ride will last Since there’s no obvious relationship between the creative work you do and what you harvest, it becomes very easy to overwork. Pair that with the pleasure of making music, and at first you’ll feel you have too much time on your hands to know what to do with. As I described in a previous post about how spending a long time in the studio is counter-productive; you can easily ruin a lot of your own music. During the early years when I was making music full time, I felt I didn’t create music that was as meaningful as when I was working and doing music on the side; this realization has changed my way of making music for the better.

In my case, with my label (Archipel), mastering, touring, and everything else, I really was working up to 60 hours per week. I forgot to take care of my health. No wonder I couldn’t keep up the pace after a few years went by. When you do what you love, it never feels like work, but it is.

Expectations

Managing your expectations is extremely tricky in the arts domain. The ultimate goal is to get recognition, because many things unfold after that. Or do do they?

It’s very difficult to tell, and it messes up your zen. For instance, if you believe that this release on a specific label will give you certain opportunities, or you think that playing in a gig will lead you to get better gigs, or working with an agent will give you more visibility, etc, all these things – in theory – could be true. You admire specific role models who’ve made it to a level you want to reach, but you might never seem to get there even by doing the same things.

Why isn’t there a recipe that you can follow that will guarantee results?

The arts are a big gamble; a lottery where the turn out is not determined by anything rational other than – most probably – timing and networking. And even if you have those right, it might not lead to anything at all.

The only thing you can control is your patience and resilience. That’s about it.

Some people will tell you that hustling hard might make a difference, but you might get to the opposite of what you want; people don’t like artist who are constantly “pushing their brand”. Knowing when and when not to have expectations is certainly incredibly healthy, especially if you can reduce them to be realistic.

In conclusion, what I’d recommend based on my experiences with creative burnout:

If you can live a healthy life of work/music making, try to keep doing it as long as possible. It’s not only good for you, but you will have money to invest in your craft. Balance is everything.
If you are brave enough to try to live off music making, treat it as a job. Give yourself time to not work – that’s equally valuable.
Find a new hobby. Since music used to be yours and now it fills your whole time, try doing other things.
Sleep long nights and nap. Avoid partying on a regular basis.
Collaborate, delegate, ask for help. Connecting with other humans is always amazing for recovery!

SEE ALSO : Mindfulness for Creatives

Managing relationships, parenting, and music

February 5, 2018/in Blog/by pheek

I’m a father and have a family of my own. I’m often asked how I can still manage to find the time to make music amidst the chaos of all of the moving parts of my life. There’s no perfect way to balance everything life throws at you–balancing music and parenting is a challenge–but I manage to run a record label, play live sets, and release recorded music, all while being a parent. The life of someone who has the responsibilities of making music and parenting is very different than the life of a person whom only needs to focus on themselves and music alone. Knowing this fact and accepting it was, for me, the first step in taking ownership of my own time-constraint frustrations.

Your free time will become sacred

As a parent, you have to eliminate any possible distractions to when you’re ready to make music, because your time is limited. “That’s obvious” you might say, but when it comes down to it, as a musician and parent, this is the most important point I find one must follow to make the most of his or her time.

Schedule dedicated time for creation. This also involves your partner’s help, as she/he also deserves to get his/her own creative time in return.
Try to make music outside of your home. If this is possible, either share a studio with someone, or try to find a place where no one can interrupt you.
Turn off electronic notifications; social media, your phone, etc.

The number one enemy to creativity is to focus on too many things at once. Try to steal some time away from less productive things like playing video games or watching movies, to instead do things like learn how to use certain plugins that will be beneficial to your craft.

Echo Beach and Dahlia (Photo by Katherine Hoos)

Work faster, fix later

One thing I’ve noticed since becoming father, is how I’ve had to optimize my use of the little free time I have to maximize my productivity. For example, I’ll squeeze programming a percussion loop into a 5 minutes window of spare time. I’ve also developed tricks for myself to turn a loop into a full song in the fastest possible time. I tackle certain things in the creative process that don’t needed much critical thinking as fast as possible. Here are a few advisory points you can use to do the same:

Predetermine how you’ll be using your time. This will require discipline, but for instance, I know beforehand that my incoming session is meant to focus a specific task, like remixing or mixing. This helps me, once in studio, stop my mind from roaming to unrelated topics or chores. One of the things I realized after becoming a parent was that when I would get to the studio, I would be so excited that I wanted to do too many things at once, and ended up not progressing on anything at all.
Plan in advance how this or that track will be like. You’ll have to apply this to song making. Is there anything you can decide beforehand will free your mind from time consuming decision-making? For example, how long will the track you’re working on be? Is it ambient or dancefloor? Punchy or subtle? Athletes can go beyond their limits by visualizing in advance what they’ll do and this applies to you as well. The clearer things are beforehand, the more efficient you’ll be. Use a notebook if you have to.
Don’t focus on details until later. Details are time drains, so try to focus on the big picture and then do a sprint to fix all the small details in a future session.
See your time limitation as a creative tool, not a constraint. I’ve learned a lot from working in accordance with Matthew Herbert’s music manifesto and one thing I’ve learned from this is that leaving mistakes in your tracks isn’t a big deal. It can even be an artistic statement if you believe in imperfection. Sometimes, they can actually end up being okay… if you can let them go.

Not making music isn’t a waste of time

One of the things I’ve had to deal with is daydreaming. When not making music, sometimes I feel anxious that I might be behind or that I’m going to miss an opportunity. However, some of the best music ideas have come to me while I haven’t been making music at all. Sharing this with others has made me realize that I’m not alone in this phenomenon. It seems as though the brain can hatch great ideas when doing other things; everything comes in due time. In a past post I explained how to spot your creative triggers; this can be a game changer in this context if you are aware of them.

Echo Beach and Dahlia (Photo by Katherine Hoos)

Don’t wait for the perfect conditions to start making music. Just get used working sometimes with headphones, at a very weird moments of the day. Get things done.

Make room for healthy habits

For some reason, I see a lot of people resisting the idea of forming habits. They associate music making with debauchery, partying and going a bit off the hook. Yes, it can definitely be that way, and if that’s how you see it, why not? But at the same time, if you aspire to be a bit more professional, organized and to actually get things done, you’ll need to focus on priorities. One of the most useful things to do is to make your art healthier.

Play more sports. Sports helps with concentration and ideas. This is factual. In my case, I can do way more creative work after jogging, and I’m usually am more enthusiastic about new ideas after I do yoga.
Don’t have dependencies. I don’t mean “dependencies” as in a partner or kids, but that if you’re dependent on substances or any odd conditions to make music, it’s time to break them. Making sure you can make music with no preparation, or lots of preparation, much is one of the most liberating things. If you need to “party” to make music, this will greatly limit your options.
Make the most of your morning hours. If you don’t already have experience with this, mornings are actually an excellent time to be creative. Some people believe they can only work at night, but this is–for the most part–not true. You can get a lot of things done with a clear mind and fresh ears. I always do mastering in the morning as at this time of day my ears are at their best.
Meditate. Actually, this was probably my secret weapon to remain productive through my parenthood. A simple 5-10 min practice of Mindfulness would clear out my mind and help me remain very creative, seeing through issues.

Last but not least, try to involve your child or loved ones in your music. It’s not something that has to work but it can help them understand what you do, how you do it and what it implies in terms of focus.

I hope some of these points help you maximize your time as a parent or partner! Remember that you can always ask for help, too.

SEE ALSO : Make Your Music Bucket List Happen

Besides music, labels are searching for these traits

August 4, 2017/in Blog, Production/by pheek

If your productions are tight and ready to go, and you have been looking for ways to get labels to sign your tracks, the natural next step would be to send out a ton of demos to labels and wait for them to call you back with a deal. It’s time to start living the dream right? You’ve done all your homework and followed the advice you’ve read online about how to get the attention of label reps. The thing is, and I hate to break it to you, there is another bit of info you probably don’t want to hear, but it’s important that you know.

Labels don’t want you to contact them.

Many labels won’t come out and actually say, stay away don’t bother, but before you throw in the towel let me try to explain what this means in the most helpful, and constructive way. I’m also speaking from experience here, so please don’t assume this is standard for every label.

Photo credit John Hult.

With the enormous and ever increasing stage called social media, a never-ending flood of new artists emerging daily, all wanting the same thing – your attention. With free and new tools available to make marketing and promotion easier by the day, the credibility of the ‘artist’ has become diluted from the perspective of the consumer.
Whether you believe this is good or bad, a new impression has been created which is:

Everyone is a producer, and,
They all seek some level of attention because they’re not getting in touch. Ironically, people want to listen to music more than ever, but the vast flood of new music leaves many listeners overwhelmed by it all. It’s the same experience for labels.

After such an onslaught of new artists sending in demos many labels become numb to the possibility of finding something great. This makes it harder for those who are truly deserving of attention and recognition.

Does this all mean to give up and stop sending in demos? I would say not necessarily. I’ve covered this topic in previous posts, but I’ll cover this point a more in depth here.

There is one important statement I’d like to point make out about our industry though: The whole concept of promotion has become obsolete and alienated. I’m talking specifically about the promotion from artists to label, artists to fans, artists to promoters as well as labels to DJs and labels to fans.

But still, labels will always find quality music and prefer if they find you. This is a fact. Think of Perlon for instance, they largely release music from their circle of friends and the track to be released will need to be tested by the core of the label (Zip mainly, but Ricardo too) in multiple contexts to see how well it’s received by the crowd. Serious label owners have a very particular vision of their sound platform, and your music will (in many cases) need to follow their established sound to get signed.

In my honest opinion: if you want to be on a label’s radar, you will get better results by getting played by DJs.

Besides music, labels are searching for these traits in you:

Patience. this is perhaps the most prized trait a label will appreciate from you. In this fast paced world, patience is not only rare but it is also a quality that we all need to work on. It’s about having trust that things will work out in the end and that one’s results will be something that happens in some distant future. Parallel to patience, this goes hand in hand with trust. One goes with the other. It means to be able to have a bigger picture of things, that perhaps somewhere down the road, something great will be happening. Maybe not… but to not lose patience over delays is critical as these are common in the music industry.

Get organized. Being organized is super important and will make everything easier. An organized artist should have a solid promo kit on hand – professional photos, your music project and files in order, ready to be retouched or fixed in case of a problem. There’s nothing more annoying than having to go back to fix a sound, but if you’re all over the place, you might cause delays which then moves the entire schedule, or can even destroy your opportunity for exposure. It’s helpful to start off your productions right, follow these mixing and production tips and save yourself headaches later.

Reactivity. Fast replies to emails, answering promptly, precision with your communication will make you pretty awesome to work with. Busy people appreciate this, and it goes a long way.

Flexibility. This is the opposite of being finicky. Things will never be perfect so let’s try to make the best of it.

In the end, it’s up to you to put in the work, which can be made easier when you step back and look at the big picture. What are your goals? Work backward and determine what action needs to be taken in order to achieve your goals. Take a minute and check out my guide to shameless self-promotion here. Add in a little good luck, some magic here and there, and consistent focused daily efforts. Best of luck to you ~

My Music Doesn’t Sound Like Me

July 5, 2017/in Blog, Blog slider, Production/by pheek

Does this happen to you? You start a project with an idea and a direction, “I’m going to make a techno track”, you fire up a drum machine, get a baseline going, start jamming, looking for sounds, creating a groove, and an hour later you listen back to an 8 bar loop that sounds totally different than what you set out to make? “My music doesn’t sound like me”. Yeah, it happens to a lot of people, and it can be really frustrating to make music that sounds totally alien to you.

There is a special kind of disappointment that comes with not being able to make the kind of music you want to create. Many producers I’ve worked with talk about starting a project with one direction in mind but as the track evolves they find the sounds they’ve chosen and feel of the song completely opposite to their original direction.

Why does this keep happening? What is going on here?

From experiencing this myself, I understand the confusion. I want to suggest looking at this situation from another perspective, which I believe will be much more positive, and productive for you as a producer. It’s all about context.

Firstly, our moods and our thoughts are always changing. We are dynamic, and there are multiple versions of us. What I mean is, you are one person when driving with very loud music on, there is one while enjoying music at a party, there is another you while listening to music made for earphones. There is a big difference between the person you are enjoying music and the person you are when making music. Both matter, both are ok.
Tip– as soon as you start a project, save it right away with a name that describes the genre or feel of the song you want to create. A name as straightforward as “techno …. ” or “house ….” is easy enough.

It’s helpful to start your productions with a clear focus and intent in mind – otherwise, it’s quite easy to drift off. That being said, my personal opinion is that drifting is a good thing, and goes hand in hand with being in the moment, and more in touch with the YOU who is in the studio in that moment.
If you are truly in touch with your emotions or follow the sounds you are excited by, drifting off into other directions is going to happen. It’s simply a process of discovery.

The way I see music is similar to the birth of a strange, alien creature that has come out from nowhere. Even if the music you’ve created sounds completely foreign to you, it’s important to be patient with the material as later in the production or mixing phases, you learn to gently tame something raw and undeveloped into an evolved creature with a unique personality. If your music sounds a little different than what you set out to do, I believe that’s a good thing.

If you’ve been reading my posts over time, you’ll know I strongly encourage The Bonsai Method, and the habit of not spending too much time on any one track. Working quickly and finishing fast will significantly sharpen up your production skills, and you’ll be a much more prolific producer for it. You want your sounds to be a little raw, out of control, and strange. These sounds are the unsculpted gems you can only do when you stop censoring yourself. This is the stuff you are striving for.

Embrace unexpected results, and embrace change.

Imagine the number of ideas you’ll have to work with if you start 20 tracks from scratch as opposed to trying to polish one song for 20 hours. Spending too much time on one track will often take away from the rawness of your initial recording. This liveliness is precisely the sound that made us excited in the first place, and it’s important to embrace these unexpected noises, rhythms, and grooves. Taking away all the rough charm of your material could be compared to photoshopping a beautiful and natural adult woman’s body into the thinness of a child to achive some measure of perfection. Here are a few essential tips to starting your tracks off right ~

Your work is whatever you want it to be.

As a people, we are always evolving, and our tastes in music will evolve as well. It’s ideal for your music to sound alien to you and progress yet understand that your progression may happen in an order you can’t predict. Through time and work, who you really are as a musician will begin to take shape.

Hearing the music you’ve made in the past is like looking at pictures of yourself from another time. It leaves a stamp. Find the photos of yourself from the past and pay attention to the ones you love. They might be aesthetically good, but I’ll bet that your favorite images will be the ones that recall a particular moment in your life. See it with raw, original sounds you find. The ones that are bold are the sounds that will stand out through years and perhaps bring you unexpected attention.

Tip: Bounce a version of your track before saving and closing your project. Compare how it evolves. Share it to people who know you. See what freak them…

As always let me know if you have any suggestions or questions about this post and leave a comment below and tell me what projects you are working on right now.

SEE ALSO : Deconstructing A Reference Track

Deleting all yours tracks and selling your gear.

June 22, 2017/in Blog, Blog slider, Production, Song Finalizing and Arrangements/by pheek

Since the very beginning, I can remember many times I’ve questioned my abilities as a music producer. Feeling stuck on a project or coping with negative feedback from a track I was proud of left me wondering if I was starring down the path of a musical dead end. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to consider unplugging, and putting it all away for good. Several colleagues of mine have similar stories, and more than once I’ve seen someone debate deleting all their tracks and selling all their gear.

High highs and low lows. There is a wealth of research which supports the fact that making music can produce a massive dose of satisfaction, a high similar to the effect of drugs or the rush of an intense workout. The thrill after completing a track is huge, yet on the flip side when things aren’t working out the low can often be depressing. At times it can feel like you’re living in a constant state of low-grade misery. Our perspective often governs our moods, and with just a twist our outlook can turn from sour to super very quickly.

I’ve spent a lot of time reading comments within Facebook groups from people flirting with the idea of selling their gear and calling it quits. On the digital side, I hear people talk about deleting entire hard drives filled with a rough version of tracks, and I think about the hard work and time they’ve invested in projects that will never be completed. They feel the work is simply not worth the effort. So often the feeling of excitement and energy from listening back to our next best track can be replaced by frustration and self-doubt when seeing it stored away in the unfinished bin. Another great idea that stays just that, and idea – incomplete, unheard. Back to the drawing board. Again.

A personal rule of mine is never to delete any project or sample. I just won’t do it. 0% chance.

I believe the main enemies that alter our judgment are overexposure and adverse reaction. If I am working on a project that just isn’t happening, I remind myself to simply store it away and come back to it after a time has passed. Once re-opened and listened to with a new perspective, you’ll likely find something that inspires you, or at the very least – something you can work off of right away. As artists, we are always changing. The artist you’ll be a year from now might like or dislike what you’re producing right now. By keeping your unfinished projects somewhere safe, you are investing in your time and talent for tomorrow rather than throw away what you’re frustrated with today.

Tip: This might feel silly but if you don’t feel good about music, try simply saying:”For the moment, I don’t feel like making music.” Insist on “for the moment“, because it takes away the idea that your mindset is permanent.

In past posts I’ve talked at length about the benefit of planting seeds, creating a master project where all your ideas can be grabbed from and used as a springboard to something great with minimal effort. The benefits of having a library of sounds and tools custom-made, ready at a moments notice, is huge because momentum is critical to completing your tracks.

One thing that’s common is the search for old gear to achieve a particular sound. At some point, it’s natural to feel like you’ve outgrown your equipment and you’re sure that buying new (old) gear will solve the problem. We are constantly being tempted with new products and tools that promise to solve our problems and make everything that much easier. Even after buying new gear we sometimes don’t take time to truly audition them. How often do we ask ourselves what it is we truly need to fix? Can gear solve this? The hype and marketing work for sure, yet without fail the next time we turn around there is yet another must-have tool we’re after, because this one…. man this one, is going to make the difference.

Tip: Some gear can be rented. If you can test drive what you want, that can be really useful.

Take a minute to reflect what your goals are before making another investment.

To truly move on as a producer the best personal investment I can think of is to simply finish something, anything. I believe deleting your tracks reinforces your inability to finish what you started, and doesn’t bring anything good. You certainly aren’t farther ahead as a producer, and you’ll never have anything to show without completing your projects.

Take a moment to look at your progress or lack thereof. Where do you get stuck? Where does it come to and end? Is your sound design weak, do you break apart while arranging it? Find your weakness and draw a circle around it with a big, red, pen. That is your problem area. This is the tough part for you. This is where you give up and call it quits. Nothing you can buy is going to fix this for you. The good part is that now you know where you break down you can learn ways to improve on it.

Youtube. Thank the Lord. Whatever you are looking for I promise there will be a video to help you overcome your sticking point. Just don’t get stuck endlessly watching videos that hours later morph into a totally different topic (it’s easy to do). Also, to wrap things up, here’s a production tip I love doing: At the end of a session, bounce whatever you have, then store this in the folder of the production. Always do “collect all and save” It can be a 30-second loop ,the arrangements you have ongoing, or even export all your session stems. Doing this is extremely useful when going through older projects but also, you can open a blank project and then import several bounces and play with them straight away. This tip has been so useful for my past albums!

SEE ALSO : Finishing Your Projects

A Day in the Life of a Music Producer

January 6, 2017/in Blog, Mixing, Production/by pheek

I’m a music producer, and I know many others. I’d call myself an audio producer more broadly, because I also run a label and do sound engineering. My main focus is on electronic music as you probably know already. I wish I could give you a simple outline of the daily routine of a music producer, but the truth is that there is no typical day.

First, inspiration isn’t something you can just summon on command. It has to come by itself. You can tell yourself you need to be in the studio at 9am to start working on a track, but sometimes you’ll get there and find that your brain just isn’t ready to make music. Some days aren’t for creative output. That’s why after 5 years of trying to make music every day, I burnt out (2007). I learned that it’s better to devote your time to other things on those creative down days, because the space between sessions is essential for creative rejuvenation.

There are also days when it works. But before I dive in to those, I need to clarify a few myths about music production:

Myth 1: You start a new song from the beginning and keep working on it until it’s done.

Myth 2: You only work on one song at a time.

Myth 3: Every song should be finished.

Myth 4: You can work on music for hours. (You can, but you’ll be unproductive.)

You see, music production is a kind of dynamic chaos that evolves, regresses, progresses, and dies — or not — everyday. (I’ve written about these myths a lot before, especially here, here, and here)

So with all that being said, within the life cycle of a track, you’ll go through:

Ear workout. Listen to music of any genre and let ideas come. Your ears will be freshest in the morning, but they also need to be calibrated to how the music should sound. This can last from 1 to 3 hours.
Research and development. Which DAW to use? What gear to explore? Which synth will fit? Do I have what’s needed, or do I need to try out a demo or buy something new? This is basically the moment where you try to slot your initial idea into the production routine. This phase is ongoing, but I rarely spend more than 1h. There will be a number of sites I visit daily, with my favourites being:
- Resident Advisor. To get industry news in general and listen to music. I also like to check out the music reviews to get an idea of what’s trending.
- Attack Magazine. Because it has nice technical articles.
- KVRAudio. To get the latest news about plugins.
- My Soundcloud feed. Because I want to see what the people I follow have been into lately.
Sound design/recording. This is where you collect all the sounds needed to start your track. It’s very time-consuming.
Production. This will take the largest chunk of your time. That’s unavoidable, but you’ll want to space the production sessions out by a day. If you spend too much time working on a track at once, your judgment will blur and you’ll lose sight of the idea you began with. If you come back to your track with fresh ears, you’ll be able to stay focused on the core idea and to assess your work with a clearer perspective.
Mixing. This phase is time-consuming too, and you might want to ask another sound engineer to do this for you as a second pair of ears can really help.

So overall, a full day’s work at the studio involves only about 2-3 hours of actual music production. A lot of my time will be spent on tweaking, searching, checking references, checking emails, and taking many breaks that might appear as procrastination.

Why such little time? Mostly because I want to be at the top of my game, and I know that my peak attention is condensed into short spurts. Of course, sometimes I will spend a good 5 hours on a track because there’s a lot of cleaning up and tweaking to do, but it’s mostly micro-editing.

In my case, I arrive at the studio at 9am and leave around 5pm. Lunch is usually 1–2 hours.

I love to have the people I coach over at the studio, and sometimes friends will visit too. The time I spend with others in studio is extremely valuable, because I’m nourished by the ideas we exchange and the music they share.

Being able to do this full time is a privilege and I embrace every single day with full dedication. It is possible to do it but it demands a lot of discipline too.