Getting Started? Avoid These At All Costs!!

[seveneleven247]

Sometimes negativity is actually positivity, i.e. it is constructive rather than destructive criticism.....

I agree, if you truly have the intent of helping the other person then that's true.

[Rider51]

I registered just to reply to this thread.

I fully agree with the first statement and the last. It's a mistake to get caught up in which gear is better. People see the newest shiny object, get wowed by packaging and demos and have to have it. What's better is that you master whatever equipment you have. Be that hardware, software, or your own skills.

I also agree not to get caught up in negativity. That will kill you. But also don't have a huge ego and overly high expectations. That kills people as well. Just practice music at least a little a day, have fun, and if you make some money at it, celebrate that as a success. When music legend Neil Diamond was young he was studying biology in college, but he had a knack for writing songs. A publishing company paid him a pittance of $50 a week to write. He was living in a tiny flat and had almost no possessions, but said he was so happy with that, and considered himself a success at that point in life. That's how you need to view things. That's the attitude to have.

Finally, take this from someone who did major in music composition in college: You don't need to get a degree in music to be a musician, I assure you. But it would be wise to always be studying music, at least a little. Be that formal lessons, or just keeping your nose to the grindstone. Keep your ears and mind open to learning, it will pay dividends in the long run.

[djworld22]

good advice.

[NothingButHitsEnt]

If you're looking to make music your business/career...make sure you give people what they want. I grew up listening to 2pac, Big L and that style of Rap/Hip Hop but nowadays that type of music is not what sells. If you are doing this to make money you need customers and you need to know what type of product your customers want. If you only want to make music that you like...you are not in business. You have a hobby. Hope this was some good info to add to the discussion.

[Spud388]

If you're looking to make music your business/career...make sure you give people what they want. I grew up listening to 2pac, Big L and that style of Rap/Hip Hop but nowadays that type of music is not what sells. If you are doing this to make money you need customers and you need to know what type of product your customers want. If you only want to make music that you like...you are not in business. You have a hobby. Hope this was some good info to add to the discussion.

I disagree. I see where you're coming from, but for a beginning producer, I would say to hold true to whatever it is you love. I'll say that again: whatever you enjoy, keep doing it. You're not in this for the money, not yet at least.

Unless you already have one foot in the industry or something, professional decisions and deep introspection on the direction of your music and such aren't something you're gonna have to be worrying about for some time. I've been producing for a year and some change, and I still feel nowhere near ready to try and emerge into the professional scene or change my style to adapt to the industry. I can hear problems in my sounds and things I don't quite like in my tracks, and I want to get all of that down perfect before I make any kind of attempt at putting myself out there to the world for money.

First focus on learning, improving, and having a hell of a lot of fun along the way. The rest comes in time.

[Pherm B Leeva]

I agree with much of what's been posted on here, I believe if you offer up any work for critic/ comment your agreeing to both the good with the bad? If a piece has weakness it's probable there will be more than one person to highlight those flaws, critique is an essential part of everybody's learning process, reading the comments posted by others about others is equally as important as gathering feedback about your own works. Embracing ideas from each Genre and amassing information about the many different Styles, is another essential, one style = one dimensional, it's not quite as simplistic as that, but you catch my drift.

[seveneleven247]

I registered just to reply to this thread.

I fully agree with the first statement and the last. It's a mistake to get caught up in which gear is better. People see the newest shiny object, get wowed by packaging and demos and have to have it. What's better is that you master whatever equipment you have. Be that hardware, software, or your own skills.

I also agree not to get caught up in negativity. That will kill you. But also don't have a huge ego and overly high expectations. That kills people as well. Just practice music at least a little a day, have fun, and if you make some money at it, celebrate that as a success. When music legend Neil Diamond was young he was studying biology in college, but he had a knack for writing songs. A publishing company paid him a pittance of $50 a week to write. He was living in a tiny flat and had almost no possessions, but said he was so happy with that, and considered himself a success at that point in life. That's how you need to view things. That's the attitude to have.

Finally, take this from someone who did major in music composition in college: You don't need to get a degree in music to be a musician, I assure you. But it would be wise to always be studying music, at least a little. Be that formal lessons, or just keeping your nose to the grindstone. Keep your ears and mind open to learning, it will pay dividends in the long run.

Well I'm definitely glad you registered and posted this, because you're absolutely right. Too many people treat music as business when really music and business are two separate things entirely. Money is a bi-product of success, not the other way around.

If you're looking to make music your business/career...make sure you give people what they want. I grew up listening to 2pac, Big L and that style of Rap/Hip Hop but nowadays that type of music is not what sells. If you are doing this to make money you need customers and you need to know what type of product your customers want. If you only want to make music that you like...you are not in business. You have a hobby. Hope this was some good info to add to the discussion.

I disagree. I see where you're coming from, but for a beginning producer, I would say to hold true to whatever it is you love. I'll say that again: whatever you enjoy, keep doing it. You're not in this for the money, not yet at least.

Unless you already have one foot in the industry or something, professional decisions and deep introspection on the direction of your music and such aren't something you're gonna have to be worrying about for some time. I've been producing for a year and some change, and I still feel nowhere near ready to try and emerge into the professional scene or change my style to adapt to the industry. I can hear problems in my sounds and things I don't quite like in my tracks, and I want to get all of that down perfect before I make any kind of attempt at putting myself out there to the world for money.

First focus on learning, improving, and having a hell of a lot of fun along the way. The rest comes in time.

I agree with disagreeing for the same things I mentioned above. Music cannot be treated like a "product" the only product in music is yourself. In music, the money comes from selling who you are as a producer. A good production becomes marketable only after the producer makes himself marketable first.

I agree with much of what's been posted on here, I believe if you offer up any work for critic/ comment your agreeing to both the good with the bad? If a piece has weakness it's probable there will be more than one person to highlight those flaws, critique is an essential part of everybody's learning process, reading the comments posted by others about others is equally as important as gathering feedback about your own works. Embracing ideas from each Genre and amassing information about the many different Styles, is another essential, one style = one dimensional, it's not quite as simplistic as that, but you catch my drift.

I'm not talking about comments/critiques of music, because you can give a negative review without being a negative person. I'm talking about misery loving company. Many people that aren't successful don't want to see others succeed because they themselves didn't succeed, and their weapon of choice is negativity.

[js1519]

Great post all good info/points

[Dreamcaseal]

Only thing I agree with is not to spend money on fancy hardware especially software when you can obtain most of it for free through pirating. Most people never get past the hobby stage when they get into music and quite frankly the software and hardware isn't worth a penny if you can't make money with it and your projects never leave your computer.

I just bought a quadcapture audio interface. Almost 300 dollar device that I could have just bought a cheap preamp without all the lights and BS like I used to have to get the same results. I will probably be returning it after a few days. I just wanted to test it to see if it would fix a issue I'm having with my setup. Music production hasn't advanced in like a decade. All new hardware is just being upgraded visually to be more appealing. They have no additional value to anyone.

In fact id say you dont need anything besides a 50 dollar mic setup for vocals for example a Behringer XM8500 Dynamic Cardioid Microphone and XLR to 3.5mm cable to connect into your motherboard soundcard is all you need. everything else in the music production pipeline can be done through software. You can also get a cheapo USB condenser mic. Monitor speakers, headphones, sound proofing your room, expensive software, midi keyboards, etc. all a waste of money.

[seveneleven247]

Only thing I agree with is not to spend money on fancy hardware especially software when you can obtain most of it for free through pirating. Most people never get past the hobby stage when they get into music and quite frankly the software and hardware isn't worth a penny if you can't make money with it and your projects never leave your computer.

I just bought a quadcapture audio interface. Almost 300 dollar device that I could have just bought a cheap preamp without all the lights and BS like I used to have to get the same results. I will probably be returning it after a few days. I just wanted to test it to see if it would fix a issue I'm having with my setup. Music production hasn't advanced in like a decade. All new hardware is just being upgraded visually to be more appealing. They have no additional value to anyone.

In fact id say you dont need anything besides a 50 dollar mic setup for vocals for example a Behringer XM8500 Dynamic Cardioid Microphone and XLR to 3.5mm cable to connect into your motherboard soundcard is all you need. everything else in the music production pipeline can be done through software. You can also get a cheapo USB condenser mic. Monitor speakers, headphones, sound proofing your room, expensive software, midi keyboards, etc. all a waste of money.

I'll add onto this, don't go into debt over this music production stuff. Dreamcaseal is right, but monitors do make it much easier I will say that much. But i've managed without them for a while now since I live in an apartment.