Tag Archive for: mindset

Exploring Electronic Musician’s Mindsets

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As I write this, I’m in the middle of the second edition of my Catalyst program, a four-week training designed for musicians. It’s not just about the technical side of producing electronic music—it’s about taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture. People often hear a finished song and get lost in it, but rarely do they consider the invisible journey that led there: the hours of trial and error, the frustrations, the bursts of inspiration, and the countless decisions made along the way.

Music-making isn’t just about pressing buttons or arranging notes; it’s about navigating the mental states that shape every step of the process. Sitting down at a computer and starting a session isn’t a straightforward task—it’s a dance between energy, intention, and mindset. Some days, ideas pour out effortlessly. Other days, everything feels like a struggle. What fascinates me is not only the technical side of things, but also the mental choreography that makes a session successful.

Over time, I’ve realized that what I actually teach isn’t only about sound design, mixing, or composition—it’s also about knowing yourself. The better you understand your own working patterns, the more you can prepare, direct, and ultimately enjoy your sessions. My personal way of making music isn’t a formula that will work for everyone, but the principle behind it—that music creation is non-linear, circular, and iterative—applies universally.

In fact, one of the biggest surprises for the people I coach is how often the problems they think are technical are actually mental. For example, many producers complain about sound quality. Yes, sometimes it’s about EQ or compression—but often, the real issue is a mindset mismatch. They’re approaching the problem with the wrong mental framework. This misunderstanding is so common that I decided to build an entire training around it—and now, this post.

What is a mindset?

A mindset is the lens through which we perceive, interpret, and interact with the world. In psychology, it’s often described as a framework of assumptions, beliefs, and attitudes that shape our behavior. In music, a mindset is the mental stance you adopt when you enter the studio.

It could be the curiosity of an Explorer, the discipline of a Wrapper, or the playfulness of the Fun Zone. Each mindset changes how you act, what you notice, and how you respond to challenges. Importantly, mindsets are not permanent—they’re modes. You can learn to recognize them and choose which one you want to inhabit. Doing so gives you a tremendous amount of freedom. Instead of unconsciously drifting into frustration or distraction, you can intentionally set the stage for creativity.

Think of a mindset like a filter. If you walk into the studio with the “critic” filter on, every sound feels inadequate. If you walk in with the “explorer” filter, even mistakes feel like discoveries. The activity might be the same—pressing keys, twisting knobs—but the outcome, and more importantly, how you feel about it, is entirely different.

My experience with writer’s block

 

Earlier this year, I went through a period of writer’s block. This isn’t unusual for me—it happens a few times a year—but this time, I chose to observe it closely instead of resisting it. I asked myself a few key questions:

  • What am I trying to achieve?

  • How am I approaching it?

  • What thoughts are dominating my headspace?

  • How am I feeling in this moment?

This reflection led me to realize something: electronic music almost encourages multitasking. Think about it—you might start by writing a hook, then jump into beat programming, then tweak the sound design, and suddenly you’re back to doubting the hook because of how the sound interacts with the rhythm. The cycle repeats, and hours later you feel like you’ve gone in circles.

This multitasking loop is maddening, and worse, it often disguises itself as “productive work.” In reality, it fragments attention and leads to creative fatigue. On top of this, many musicians tie their sense of validation to outcomes: finishing a track, releasing it, getting it signed. This creates layers of pressure that block creativity even further.

To break out of it, I tried something deceptively simple: before opening my DAW, I took pen and paper and wrote down what I wanted to do. Sometimes I added which mindset I tried to adopt for the session. Just 20–30 minutes of focused intention made a huge difference.

I encouraged a client of mine to try the same. At first, he resisted. But when he finally gave it a chance, he came back a week later looking almost transformed. He said it had not only improved his productivity but also given him clarity. What mattered most was the act of choosing a mindset. That realization became a turning point in my life.

Common Mindsets in Music Making

Through weeks of self-tracking and reflection, I identified recurring modes of operation—mindsets that I and many of my clients fall into. Naming them has proven powerful because it gives us language to recognize where we are and adjust if needed.

Below are the most common ones I work with.

1. The Explorer

 

This mode is pretty much the most common one for me. Someone lately was asking me how much time I spend working on the track when in the studio, and I replied that most of my time was about testing concepts. The Explorer Mindset is all about not necessarily trying to achieve anything, but testing, understanding, and practicing something that is either new or not fully integrated. The explorer is not trying to make a song or to make something “cool”, but instead, it’s about preparing things that will be useful for sessions where we are hunting for new ideas. If you don’t explore, you’ll be stuck in repeating yourself or formulas that have worked for you in the past. Perhaps it’s not a problem but down the road, you might have several songs that are all the same, but with a little variation.

  • Practical example: Experimenting with a new synth plugin without worrying about saving presets.

  • Recognition tip: You feel playful and interested in “what if” questions.

  • Best use: Early in the creative cycle, or when you feel stuck in repetitive habits.

Motivation: Acquiring new ideas.
Pitfall: Getting lost in endless tinkering without finishing anything.

The Explorer mindset reminds us that not every session needs to be productive in a traditional sense. Sometimes, the value is in simply showing up to discover something new. Explorers fill sketchbooks, not galleries. And those sketches later become the foundation for great works.

2. Innovation

 

This is similar to the explorer but with a different angle. It’s about understanding a technique, a tool, or a principle and making it your own or improving it. For example, perhaps you’ve been using compression in the same way but now you want to enhance your understanding of compression vs expander to give your music more dynamic range. When in innovation mode, you solely focus on completely immersing yourself into mastering a concept by rehearsing, reading about it, and understanding it. The innovation mindset can also be about working on a song and trying to bring something new to a genre or a specific recurrent sound.

  • Practical example: Using granular synthesis in an unconventional way to reshape a vocal.

  • Recognition tip: You’re asking, “How can I make this mine?”

  • Best use: When you’re ready to push beyond formulas or evolve your style.

Motivation: Expanding your comfort zone and bringing something fresh.
Pitfall: Risk of creating results that sound odd or unpolished before the concept matures.

Innovation requires bravery. It’s where genres are born, but also where many half-finished ideas live. The key is to pair Innovation with other mindsets—especially Wrapping—so that your experiments don’t stay in the sketch folder forever.

3. Replicating

 

This is the opposite of innovation. Trying to replicate a genre, a song or a technique is about grasping its essence to be able to be part of a community or specific genre (eg. Label perhaps?). Quite often, clients of mine are reluctant to go that path because they feel like they’re copying someone else. I like to tell them that when someone is learning the guitar or an instrument, they always start by learning a song and rehearsing it. That is the replicator mindset. It’s about understanding the fundamentals and being able to redo it. See it as trying a specific dish recipe. It’s a mindset that typically precedes innovation.

  • Practical example: Rebuilding a favourite track in your DAW to study its structure.

  • Recognition tip: You feel like a student, studying patterns and fundamentals.

  • Best use: When learning a new style, or when inspiration feels distant.

Motivation: Understanding the DNA of a genre or track.
Pitfall: Getting too comfortable and never moving beyond imitation.

Replication teaches us humility. It’s not glamorous, but it sharpens the ear and hand. And often, the act of imitation plants seeds of originality, because once you understand the skeleton of a track, you can start bending it into your own shape.

4. Following

 

When going down that path, you’re following the rules and conventions of “what works,” and while you’re not creating a cover of a special song, we could agree that you’re making a cousin of it. See it like making Reggae, disco, house or generic hip hop. You know what works, you use all the tricks of what is currently in trend and deliver a song that can fit a playlist of that genre. Someone could, for instance, be going in that direction when you have to provide an EP for a label you respect or perhaps preparing for a set in a critical context. See this as a nice follow-up stage from replicating.

  • Practical example: Producing a deep house track using known groove and chord structures.

  • Recognition tip: You feel guided by tradition and trends.

  • Best use: When working on tracks meant for labels, playlists, or live sets in a defined genre.

Motivation: Belonging to a community and delivering recognizable material.
Pitfall: Lack of originality.

Following is often looked down on, but it has value. Communities need songs that “fit.” Playlists need tracks that hold their vibe. It’s not about being a copycat; it’s about contributing to a collective energy. The trick is to know when to follow, and when to step out.

5. Troubleshooting

 

Perhaps you’ve been working on multiple sessions of recording, sound design, or possibly making songs, and at one point, something is not right. Adopting the troubleshooter mindset means that you’ll fully dedicate your time to fixing problems. This means that your session might not be entirely musical, as you’ll have to find perhaps solutions to something you don’t know. Many musicians will push back their issues until later in the process, and by the end, a song is near completion, an accumulation of problems has piled up, compromising the song’s final outcome. This is particularly true for mixing. Some people wait at the end for mixing, while you can implement habits right from the beginning.

  • Practical example: Spending a session fixing phase issues in your bass and kick relationship.

  • Recognition tip: You feel restless until the problem is solved.

  • Best use: Whenever small issues pile up and start blocking progress.

Motivation: Removing irritants so creativity can flow again.
Pitfall: Getting overwhelmed when solutions aren’t clear.

Troubleshooting is like cleaning your workshop. It’s not glamorous, but without it, you’ll never get anywhere. The secret is to treat troubleshooting as its own mindset, not as an afterthought.

6. Fun Zone

 

There’s a phase of music production that I call ‘Sandboxing’ or ‘Playground,’ which is when you go to the studio with the sole motivation to have fun. Whatever is fun should occupy your time when here, no rules, no limitations and perhaps no precise goal as well. The Fun Zone is usually the motor of creativity. Recording everything usually will provide material for potential songs. Having ideas coming from spontaneity usually feels authentic.

  • Practical example: Sampling random sounds around your house just because it feels fun.

  • Recognition tip: You’re smiling, moving, or losing track of time.

  • Best use: To recharge creativity or break out of a rut.

Motivation: Joy, spontaneity, and authenticity.
Pitfall: Accidentally imposing rules or expectations and killing the vibe.

The Fun Zone is sacred. It’s where authenticity lives. Many producers lose it over time because they burden every session with expectations. Reclaiming the Fun Zone is often what reignites their love for music.

7. Inspector

This process is designed explicitly for revising material from any project or session. There are 2 sub-modes, though: critic or scout. I would playfully refer to the left-right brain stereotypes, where the left is more analytical and the right is more creative. So when being the critic, you’re on the lookout to validate what you have, while the scout is about spotting unused material and ideas. The only “rule” here is to be either one mode or the other. You can’t be a scout and inspect at the same time; it just doesn’t work.

  • Critic: Evaluating what’s strong and what needs work.

  • Scout: Searching for overlooked gems in old projects.

  • Practical example: Listening to unfinished tracks with fresh ears and marking what stands out.

  • Recognition tip: You’re detached, observing more than creating.

  • Best use: Before sending demos, or when mining past sessions for material.

Motivation: Gaining perspective and harvesting ideas.
Pitfall: Over-criticism that ruins already solid ideas.

Learning to switch between Critic and Scout is powerful. One judges, the other gathers. Doing both at once, however, is a recipe for self-sabotage.

8. Wrapper

 

If you’re following my non-linear music technique, you know that I like to work on multiple songs simultaneously, which can also lead to procrastination. Finishing a song, which I call wrap-it-up, is a mode that I love and when I pick that one, I feel that things just roll on their own. A key point here is to set a time limit on how much you want to put in the final touches. Because we all know a song is never totally done, setting yourself a deadline is an arbitrary way to put an end to a potential rabbit hole. In this mode, I usually start from the beginning of the song, fix one issue at a time as I g,o until I get to the end. Another trick is to listen to the song once and note on paper all the things you don’t like. But it’s important to limit yourself to one listen; otherwise, you get into a witch-hunt mode and will fix non-existent issues.

  • Practical example: Setting a timer for two hours and committing to exporting the track at the end.

  • Recognition tip: You’re focused on closure rather than exploration.

  • Best use: When you’ve explored, innovated, and refined enough—it’s time to move on.

Motivation: Wrapping up so you can release or shift to the next project.
Pitfall: Endless tweaking or chasing problems that don’t exist.

The Wrapper mindset is liberating because it forces acceptance. No track is ever perfect. The Wrapper knows this—and finishes anyway.

The power of shifting

 

What changed everything for me was realizing that I could choose these modes. Instead of unconsciously wandering into frustration, I could ask: “What mindset will serve me today?” That one question reframed everything.

Think of it like sports. You can casually shoot hoops for fun, and that’s great. But if you want to improve your game, you don’t just play randomly—you decide whether to focus on shooting, defence, or stamina. Musicians can apply the same principle.

Masterpieces aren’t accidents. They happen when preparation, awareness, and the right mindset come together.

Practical exercises for readers

 

If you want to start experimenting with mindsets, here are a few things you can try:

  1. Pre-session journaling – Before you open your DAW, write down: “Today, my mindset will be ___.” Stick with it for 30 minutes.

  2. Post-session reflection – Note what worked, what didn’t, and whether you drifted into another mindset.

  3. Mindset rotation – Dedicate different days of the week to different mindsets. For example: Monday = Explorer, Wednesday = Troubleshooter, Friday = Wrapper.

  4. Accountability buddy – Share your chosen mindset with a fellow producer. Knowing someone else will ask keeps you intentional.

  5. Play with extremes – If you normally only explore, force yourself into Wrapper mode for a week. If you usually replicate, permit yourself to enter the Fun Zone.

In closing

 

Mindsets are not rules. They’re tools. Each one has strengths and pitfalls. The key is to recognize where you are, decide where you want to be, and use that awareness to steer your process.

If you start tracking your sessions—writing down your intention before you begin, and reflecting afterwards—you’ll start to notice patterns. You’ll see which mindsets you gravitate toward, which ones you avoid, and which ones give you the best results.

Over time, this practice not only improves productivity but also reduces frustration and reconnects you with the joy of music.

So the next time you sit in front of your DAW, ask yourself: What mindset do I want to adopt today? That one small act of intention could be the key to unlocking your best music yet.

Sudden Aversion Towards Your Music

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Let’s go through a complex topic that hits pretty much any musician at one point, which is when they suddenly develop a total dislike towards their music. This commonly happens towards music that people usually work on, but it could also happen with music they released (made) in the past. In both cases, this is caused by the same few points that I will discuss in this article and propose some solutions to ease the tension this can cause.

 

Is aversion towards your music a writer’s block?

Not exactly, but they’re often connected.

Writer’s block typically refers to the inability to create, while aversion to your music is more about losing connection or affection for something already made. One can trigger the other, but they’re not the same beast.

What Is Writer’s Block?

Writer’s block is the psychological state in which a creator—a writer, musician, or artist—cannot start or continue creative work despite wanting to. It’s not a lack of ideas per se but a disconnect between intention and execution.

Common definitions include:

  • The mental state of being creatively paralyzed.

  • A psychological inhibition prevents the production of new work.

  • A cognitive or emotional barrier that disrupts the flow of ideas.

How They’re Related

  1. Aversion → Writer’s Block
    When you lose faith in your current music, it can lead to avoidance. You hesitate to open your DAW, fearing that anything new will be “just as bad.”

  2. Writer’s Block → Aversion
    When you’re blocked and nothing sounds good, your existing tracks can start to feel like reminders of failure, creating a feedback loop of negativity.

  3. Common Root: Self-Judgment
    Both often come from internal criticism, fear of imperfection, or loss of creative play. You’re evaluating instead of exploring.

Let’s break it down.

The Brain Is Wired for Novelty

 

When you first start a track, your brain is stimulated by newness. Sounds feel fresh, and ideas flow. But repeated exposure leads to desensitization—you stop hearing the magic. This is known as hedonic adaptation: what once felt exciting now feels bland simply because it’s no longer new. When I make music, I’m always looking for new ideas and by searching through loops, samples and jamming, I will encounter multiple sounds that make me think I want to make a song with it. I’ve come to understand that with time, my music production comes in phases and that I would rather slow down the process by isolating each phase, where I work on one task at a time.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that one of my focuses on production aims to make sure artists break the emotional entanglement towards their art and be more neutral towards how the songs are. The issue with emotional attachment comes with these thoughts:

  • “This is the song that will make me known.” Giving the song importance, purpose and a destiny before it is done.
  • Having a strong first impression of the song. If the artist always develops a music appreciation that they easily like and understand, it will make them more prone to simple ideas. The issue with these is that you might get fed up with them faster.

A lot of successful electronic music is also quite simple. Simplicity is an art, often accomplished in grace/flow. It was created quickly, and it worked. The issue with these songs is that you can’t go over the details over and over to fix things, as this will ruin the initial spontaneous effort.

This is when I also share a mode with producers who have mastered that way of working, which I call a Spike, inspired by the Agile System.

If working in non-linear mode makes you move through phases, taking breaks between songs and starting a new one to the point where you forget about the previous songs you made, a Spike is more about finding an idea and then quickly shifting it in a mockup, acting as fast as you can. Working fast and putting all doubts, while not aiming for perfection, is another way to counter the novelty envy and bottling down your ideas to move on. Usually, the main challenges people have when they’re doing a spike are:

  • Having an idea but not knowing what is missing.
  • Feeling limited by the sounds selected.
  • I didn’t know how to arrange the idea into a song.

These challenges usually stall you in the loop stage, where you play ad nauseum the hook you found and end up overexposing yourself to your sounds. This will likely tire you out, while your song has nothing wrong. When you work in Spike mode, you trust the process of having some adjustments later, and you focus on what you can do with what you have. This is also called working in layers, as you put down your main layers and have the option of adding what can emerge in a future session.

 

Focus: Taking distance from your ideas will be the right judge of their true potential.

 

New tastes, New influences

 

I think it’s in any musician’s best interest to appreciate multiple genres. One can’t bring anything new to a genre if they’re not getting inspiration from elsewhere. Imagine you grow up in the countryside and are only exposed to country bluegrass music; it might take a huge opening of your mind to discover new things, and once you do, you might have problems identifying social cues. What I mean by social cues are the ability to pinpoint what works in a song or what will please an audience. Label owners, for instance, have this internal radar for musical social cues because they’re in tune with the market, their audience and perceive the ups and downs of the label’s releases.

Being open to various music genres creates a general understanding of these cues, or the common patterns used within and across multiple genres. This is how the guys behind the Maurizio project translated the essence of Dub into making a new genre named Dub Techno in the early 90s. It was audacious, and it worked flawlessly. Honourable mentions were made to The Orb, who combined multiple genres, influences, and ideas in the same way, creating a genre that has taken over chill-out rooms.

The downside of venturing into different aesthetics or falling in love with a specific kind of track that one wants to emulate, you might have a hard time achieving it, which results into 2 issues:

  1. Achieving the tasks halfway, creating something that is not you, with a technical level that fails to meet the reference. The results will be easy to dislike.
  2. Creating a writer’s block where one doesn’t know the nature of the sounds, freezing in front of how to start.

In the face of new directions and challenges, you have more chances to dislike the music you make. This is common with newcomers to music making, especially people who have been DJs. They’ll know what quality music is and will be impatient with their own development.

In the spirit of using my non-linear approach, I always recommend consolidating your skills slowly and moving on. If you overtake a task that implies no use of the skills you have and requires a new definition of how you work, it will be harsh. I would encourage you to always start with a basis of what you know how to do and build on that, as a solid basis. This will ensure that you have one part of your exploration with elements you love and make room for new ideas that are in progress. Again, this is one reason I encourage using premade samples and loops. It’s to ensure that whatever you do has this basis of certainty, where you can add uncertainty.

 

 

Perfectionism Creeps In

 

As the track evolves, so do your expectations. You start comparing it to your favourite artists or your past work. The “inspired you” made the track; the “critical you” now evaluates it. And that inner critic is never easy to please. That good old internal critic is always trying to save your honour by finding all the faults, missing out on some essential points:

  • The typical listener to your music will listen to it 1-2 times, not finding the issues you’re hunting.
  • Imperfections are not what the listener pays attention to.
  • Some issues, if minor, might be interpreted as an artistic intention/decision.
  • Nothing is perfect, no matter how much you search for.

Perfectionism is something I could write an entire post about. It is an issue in many spheres of our lives and can cause mental health issues if not addressed. Some use the term OCD lightly, but that is a serious illness that requires intervention from a healthcare provider. The only thing one can do to address if it stops you from doing what you’re supposed to do is to go through the points I shared and perhaps print them, post them on your desk.

One advantage I shared earlier about working in layers or doing a spike is that you force yourself to be in the writer’s position and then you can revise later.

Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art. (Andy Warhol)

While you can’t reach perfection, that doesn’t mean you overlook issues. You can fix the obvious and let go of arbitrary things.

Tip: Separate creation from evaluation. Don’t mix these phases. Write first. Judge later. (analogy: right/left brain)

Emotional Projection

 

Sometimes, it’s not even about the music. You might associate the track with your mood during its creation—frustration, stress, loneliness. When you revisit it, you unconsciously relive that emotional state. This is the same for anyone you ask for feedback about your music; they might not be in the right state of mind to provide proper feedback. A critical point about putting an idea quickly in song form is to capture the intention and mood you had at the very moment of creating the song. While it’s important to take distance to judge the potential of the song, sometimes you won’t be able to jump back into the project because your emotional state has completely shifted from where you were. Making music under any influence can cause this issue, where you’ll feel a disconnection between where you were when you made the song and where you are when sober. It’s not always making sense.

I like to say that I see my songs as a statement or a Polaroid snapshot of where I was at a specific moment in my life:

  • My tastes.
  • My mood.
  • My influences.
  • My skills.
  • A current finding.

 

Once I adopted this way of relating to my music, I tend to be less interested in changing anything since I make a lot of music. Compare it to posting pictures on Instagram, for instance. Imagine you want to constantly retouch past pictures you posted by removing a tree in the background or changing the colour of your t-shirt. Would that alter the intention and context of the moment you captured? How important would it be?

If you can take that approach to your music, you’ll feel more at peace with whatever you create and see it as a milestone, with its flaws, innocence, and soul.

 

Tip: Change your environment when working. Pair each track with a fresh mindset and clear intention.

Your Skills Evolve

 

You might dislike your track because you’ve improved. What sounded “good enough” two weeks ago now feels amateurish because your standards have moved up. That’s a good sign. I don’t like to finish my tracks, which always surprises people. My goal is always to aim for a level of completion of 90%. I like to finish my songs when I have a context of release. If a label approaches me to release an EP, I’ll go into my folder of unfinished tracks, pick the ones that would match the label’s direction, tweak them, mix them, and share them. This approach allows me to review specific technical issues I didn’t know how to fix when making the song or perhaps change something I didn’t realize wasn’t working. Sometimes I show the music as is to the label and we both decide of the micro changes. It always works better.

With this mindset, I can trust that my future-me will have the wisdom and resources to do whatever needs to be done when I need to let go of the song to the outside world. I teach new producers this mindset, encouraging them to say “that problem is already fixed, but in the future,” for anything that seems like a decision to take or a technical challenge. What is important to fix in the here and now is more about articulating the hook/idea and selecting elements to support it, to the best they can do.

We always evolve. Each song I make, I try to learn something new or practice a new approach. Something learned can then be applied to past projects, but if you always follow the same recipe and routine, you’re not training your future-you to make better decisions later on.

Tip: Instead of trashing it, freeze the track as a snapshot of your progress. It’s a milestone, not a mistake.

How To Make An EP

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In my coaching group, someone asked:

So, how do you make an EP ( I ask this thing regarding the atmosphere, like all the tracks should be in the same way let’s say, or create a story)? I find it really hard, if I count my last 10 projects, all of them are really different. How can I approach this kind of vibe for more tracks? Can you tell me how to make an EP?

I replied a quick answer but I thought it would make sense to expand on this because the real answer of how to make an EP is a bit longer and covers multiple things. Why? Because as a producer, a music lover and label owner, there’s nothing that frustrates me more than having an EP that has no soul, no concept and no direction. It feels bland and empty. There are different kind of EPs you can find out there and all of them will find an ear but I get picky. Let’s see some successful EP types:

The utility:

This type of EP is more for DJs and has a collection of tracks with the function to be played in sets.

The compilation:

Either various or 1, this one is simply a collection of random tracks picked from unsigned material.

The conceptual:

Sometimes an artist has a patch, a system or a way of working that will make a series of songs sound the same, which a few songs will united because of the direction.

The last one is the preferred type of EP I want. If I listen to it on Spotify, I sometimes like the non-linearity experience of shuffling it. To me, it is successful if I can listen to this EP that way in repeat and not get bored or even better, wanting to dig for more music from the artist. As there are multiple people who enjoy an EP just as much as an album, there is value to make one. People were saying that streaming services killed these types of releases but I really think otherwise. As a label owner, if I see someone who put enough energy to do an album, it certainly shows a lot of maturity that makes it special to my eyes. These, whether instinctual, or planned, are perfect examples of how to make an EP.

 

Chicken Or The Egg: How to Make An EP from What I Have Vs Starting From Scratch

Many people make music on a regular basis with the idea to eventually publish it. If you think about it, if you go from one project to another, you certainly will explore different moods, techniques, softwares and ideas. If you work on hardware gear, your music will mostly have some sort of common aesthetic though but with the computer, it gets pretty much all over the place since you have access to so many tools and samples.

It’s a bit more difficult to keep something coherent and you can easily start making music that is completely different from previous song you did. If you remember some past posts I did about my approach of working in a non-linear way, you’ll be working here and there and you may borrow some ideas from a song that is not working to another one that needs something specific.

The idea of how to make an EP is, to my understanding, is to try and propose 3-4 songs that have the same direction and aesthetic. This is one of the idea behind my approach to always try to work on multiple songs, bring them to about 90% and export them to a folder as a reference.

Later on, when working on an EP or album, I’ll go in that folder, listen to the tracks. Then I’ll know which ones have relatives and similar ideas, so I can work on the last 10% that is lacking to call it done. Whenever clients come to me that they can’t finish songs, there’s need to clarify that it is not necessary a bad thing. You can practice wrapping them but it is not essential. Same thing for all the fuss about what if I do this or that. I believe those questions can be answered once you have let the song ripe for a few weeks.

 

How To Make An EP – Purpose And Direction

photo of how to make an EP record

Credit: Blocks

One of the things we talked about a lot on this blog is how there’s not many secrets to music making if you can analyze a reference song. When it comes down to it, how to make an EP is sometimes as simple as referring to previous artist’s formulas. Many people I work with are concerned that a reference track will taint their art direction in a way that will make them not sound like themselves.

The thing that is making smile is how those people are more likely to come to me and share they’re lost. You can use reference EP/LP as a way to pick your songs that are going to be part of the same project. For instance, perhaps a very important EP for you had 5 tracks, where 2 songs were ambient and the others had a different take. Perhaps that is something that you can consider.

The way I see the use of a reference project in this condition is that you get your framework around it and then discard it. How many tracks on an EP is a matter of preference, based on whatever your goal is for the EP.

A thing that boggles people a lot are when they start thinking about what the listener expects. There’s equally a balance between people who want the same type of music from an artist from release to release, and another who wants the artist to keep a core but evolve, change, and not repeat formulas. This can also be the same kind of balance of how people want an album or an EP – All tracks slightly the same or all the tracks very different from to another.

Where do you situate yourself in this?

Wherever you feel like. You don’t have to worry too much because no matter what, some people will like and some will dislike anyway. One approach I have is to imagine the project for a friend in particular. How would they like it? Or a DJ… what is it that they like?

Sometimes I find that a good exercise to compile some tracks all together for an EP is to think of my current purpose. How do these tracks answer my own need, today, when recording an EP?

 

Mindset

How to make an EP starts and ends with mindset. There are different moments where you will have time to make music. I like to approach my session with an intention otherwise I quickly lose my session either troubleshooting issues or getting lost in details that aren’t useful at the end of the day. The different intentions could be listed as:

What I Do

The mistake a rookie producer will do is to approach the use of his time without an intention and deal with whatever comes up. It works most of the time but you’re not using your time wisely. If you start a session with one thing in mind, you won’t get distracted by chasing something else that is taking you away from what you’re trying to achieve. Your mind can do something really well if you put all your energy to it. In that sense, I have developed a natural self-confidence that whatever happens, a future-me is going to fix it or recover it at some point.

photo of how to make an EP

Credit: Nguyen Dang Hoang Nhu

Having this approach is an open call to work on multiple projects and songs all at once, and makes the process of how to make an EP easier. You’ll create a huge pool of sounds and ideas that is ready for the moments where you want to feel creative and make loops, core to a song.

It’s important to capture the song mood and try to finalize it quickly so you don’t overwork it but you can also create a bunch of skeleton ideas that you’ll wrap later. Keep in mind that if you make music on a regular basis, you’re improving yourself and the future-you will be more skilled that your current-you.

That mindset has been my best approach in the last year when thinking about how to make an EP, allowing me to create a lot of music. To grind my skills to a point where I can, in full inspiration, make a song from scratch, gets easy. The other mindset I find useful is to record little live moments as often as possible.

The reason behind this is to know how it feels to jam, to play, to live the song instead of mouse-cliking it away. This is particularly important so you can perhaps imagine your music fitting an artist’s podcasts and sets. You want to have that fun factor as well as being essential for an artist to have your music in his arsenal.

Another benefit from having a focused mindset is that when it comes to working on an EP or LP, the 2 mindsets that will really benefit that will be the optimizing part as well as the finalization. I’d rather have 10 unfinished songs and then pick 4, wrap them based on a single aesthetic to unify them than have 10 finished songs that are not really coherent all together. If you shop for music often and look for EP, what grabs your attention and what kind of EP makes you go wow on it?

 

Aesthetics

Now that you know that you can have a bunch of songs almost done and that the last 10% of polishing can bring your entire project in a direction, I hear you asking how that last detail can be achieved. There are different things you can do but usually what unifies a project, if we refer to techniques, we can classify that into different clusters:

Sound design related

A good example is how the use of a same set of sounds can create unity. For instance, a 808 drum kit for all the songs gives a sense that all songs are the same for its core but you can add different ideas around it. Same for a synth in particular, where Mathew Jonson is a good example. In that sense, building a percussion kit is really useful.

There are multiple ways to build one but my favourite way is to use XO by XLN because it creates a map of all the sounds I have and also put them in a way that similar ones are closer on that map. So you can not only create a kit based on another but you always have the flexibility to search a huge selection and not go to far off. It’s the kind of tool that I’d be dreaming about but not only they made it happen but they made it better than what I would I have done it.

how to make an EP effects photo

Effect driven

The main effects that can bring a project together, from subtle to drastic, are the ones that are coloured. Think of reverb for Dub and distortion for breakbeats or lofi effects for some old school house. They are the key the the key signature of the genre, and help define how to make an EP that’s similar. Sometimes it’s interesting to grab all tracks part of the EP and use the same effect rack that you can create. It’s easy to import into each of them and you can save a few presets that are easily set.

There are multiple aesthetic related plugins you can use and try. I would also not hesitate to simply drop it ON the master bus (yes, I’m serious) which will give you a very coloured version that you can dial back after. But like I often say, you need to push things exaggerated to see how far you can otherwise, if you go with 2-3% of wet signal at a time, you’ll never really see the full picture. I find that a multi-effect like RC-20 by XLN can give you a really good idea of your song in a new space. It adds saturation and noisefloor. It makes your song sound as if it was taken from a dubplate. Pretty impressive.

Tone

One thing I see when I master an EP from an artist is a coherence with the tone. When there’s not, I usually emphasis it so it feels better. It’s weird to have a super bright song amidst a few dark ones. If it’s artistic, ok it can work but it makes the listening experience a bit bumpy. If you use Fabfilter Pro-Q3, You can apply one EQ curve from a song to another. Sometimes you can have a curve for an EP that you apply on all songs. That can provide some interesting results.

Complementary stories

In a past post I was saying how you can layer all your tracks and see how they would be mixed from a DJ’s point of view. Have you tried layering them to see if some nice combinations are possible?

Templates

As explained before, I like to save the arrangements of a song to keep them as templates for future ones. Really handy to speed up the process from a loop to a song.