Biggest improvement on your music production....????

C

Chew_Bear

New member
For me.....It is 'Proper Gain Staging'.

I spent pretty much all of last month practicing just this alone in Ableton and I feel it has tremendously improved the sound and quality of my beats thus far.

Even though I am just making simple loops with drums/percussion, some FX/one shots and a simple bass line......I can confidently say that learning how to properly gain stage each track/sample with just a gain plugin alone has been the biggest improvement in my music production so far.

It finally revealed to me what I was doing wrong and what I needed to change in order to have all the elements in my mix 'sit' correctly with one another. When I first started...my beats sounded really 'muddy'. Now...I can clearly understand which instruments need to be louder and which ones need to be quieter.

Most importantly...Proper Gain Staging has had a 'snowball effect' on my music production and has lead to other benefits, skills and improvements as well.

For example...it kind of 'trained' my ear and made me have a better 'perspective/critical-ness' that I never had before. Therefore now....I am more critical of the sounds/samples I pick and can therefore make better choices of samples for different layers, instruments, fills and transitions/impacts.

This training of my ear has also lead to figuring out what certain frequencies sound like and where they live in the spectrum. Therefore trying to figure out how to fill up any needed frequencies I might be lacking somewhere in the mix. (Spectrum Analyzers are very helpful)

So....

What has had the BIGGEST improvement or impact on your sound/songs thus far in your music production journey.....????

Trick or tip you learned from someone else....??? Some aspect or concept you just recently discovered/mastered....??? Acquiring new gear maybe....???
 
I think just telling myself to start practicing everyday no matter what. Treating production more like a future occupation rather than just a hobby has elevated my sound a lot. I'm always learning new tricks within the studio (virtual or physical) which help in production, but I think the mindset of being professional is the biggest step I'm taking.
 
It's hard to pick just one. So ... here are a few different types:


I think the biggest overall improvement from my songs in the last six months resulted when I started to focus on making sparser mixes, opposed to denser mixes. Most popular music is more sparse than you'd think. Yet it's so fun to make busy, dense mixes that just don't sound as clean and focused. Though it's fun, I'm learning to focus less on how much fun the track is to make, and more on how much I'll want to listen to it a week or two later.

Three months ago, I finally got an EQ with a spectrum analyzer, like Chew_Bear mentioned. I've probably got 30 EQs in my DAW, but this is the first with a spectrum analyzer! I'd say it helps me identify problem areas in about 1/10th the time it took me before. And I'm often surprised how much low end exists, though I don't notice it, in higher-spectrum instruments. It's teaching me to roll off the lows in many more tracks than I otherwise would have, to make for cleaner, clearer bass.

I finally bought amplifiers so I could start using the passive subwoofers I built. My low end is accurate and deep now. For the first time, I have a clue where the low end in a mix actually sits. That cuts down reference checks on other systems by a factor of four!

I finished the book The War of Art. And it's amazing. The author describes the obstacles that keep every creative person from actually creating, how to identify these obstacles, and how to work around them. My limited music time is already more productive because of this. And these lessons will be exponentially more meaningful to me when I start making music full time later this year.

And lastly, I listened to a podcast that shared the 80/20 rule: 80% of your productive time should be actually making tracks, making music. Save 20% or less for learning new techniques and training. Because actually practicing and creating does so much more to improve your skill level. Also, researching tools and gear should hardly even register. Yes, tools help, but it's a black-hole for time and does nothing to improve your craft. The 80/20 rule is less important to me at the moment, because I have limited time for actually making music, yet I can still read articles on my lunch break, skim the forum between meetings, and listen to music production and artist marketing podcasts on my commute and while doing household tasks. I'm still learning way more than creating, temporarily, but at least now I'm committed to doing the bare minimum of training with time that could otherwise be used to make music.
 
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I'll check out the War of Art. haha I've read the Art of War, but this looks interesting as well! Thanks for sharing.
 
By Stephen Pressfield. He's a novelist, but his tips apply to all creatives.

He's not a public speaker or psychologist or somebody with an angle. He doesn't make his living writing motivational books. He makes it actually creating art.

I've actually bought two versions of the audiobook. The one from Audible has a a so-so narrator, but includes the very helpful forward and book introduction (what he actually does each work day). The one from Black Irish Books is actually narrated by the author, which is great. But for some reason, they cut the forward and the introduction and replaced it with something that sounds like a bad infomercial for the book the listener already bought. Ick. But if you can make it past that (and can read the intro bits they missed on the e-book or hard cover), the Black Irish Books audiobook is just fine.
 
I will read on Gain Staging. For me its been pretty constant improvement but I had a few plateaus and breakthrough. Learning to EQ properly was a big one. Along with limiting and stereo imaging. Still learning the ins and outs of automations. Layering samples was another great discovery. On a more hardware note came the day I bought a sub to go along my monitors. Still alot more to learn, I am just begining!
 
JeSuis,

How did you learn to EQ properly? How did you know you arrived?


Anyone else willing to share a breakthrough?
 
Milo Burke said:
JeSuis,

How did you learn to EQ properly? How did you know you arrived?


Anyone else willing to share a breakthrough?
Click to expand...

The the individual aspect the entire song don't interfere with one another, particular on the low end. Kick and baseline frequencies clash unless you properly EQ them.
 
Bass guitar lessons.
I've been playing an acoustic for nearly 20 years. But self taught and had no clue as to scales or any real theory.
Since taking a course (for about 4 months just before my kid was born) in bass guitar my regular guitar playing and keyboard skills have also made massive gains.
Half hour (usually 45 mins tbf) and £12 on a Saturday morning well spent.
 
Learning how to use the cutting tool in ableton sure helped me alot.
Gave me a whole new avenue to editing vocals for that real chopped up effect.
Real good for experimentation too
 
First major improvement was way back, when I found out that hip hop and electronic music were "true" music, just as much as "instrumental" music, back in the late 90s
Second major improvement was when I began to listen to opera and romantic music (Wagner, Mahler etc...)
 
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