5 Tips for New Music Producers

Becoming a successful music producer can be a challenge.

There are lots of factors to consider, ways you must tread and trends you must follow if you really want to become successful. For new beat makers and music producers, the pressure to do and sound like the established and well-known music producers seems like and a tempting, effortless and a straight highway to success. But finding your own path might be all you need to solidify yourself as an innovator and a true artist.

Our partners at Musicinstrumentscenter know that producing and selling music can be pretty challenging, especially for new beat makers or music producers. That is why they have created this article to provide you with 5 essential tips to help you find your way and become successful in the complicated world of music production.

Love, respect and embrace all kinds of music

This is a very important element that will help you to be successful as a producer.

If you are not passionate about music, but only entering the music production business for the promise of fame, money, prestige or glamour, you are unlikely to be successful enough to achieve any of those things. First, you have to love, respect and embrace all kinds of music and allow your passion for great sound to be your main drive.

The best kind of producers are not the ones who only listen to R and B or rock music; they are those who embrace all genres of music and commit themselves to knowing as much as they can about it.

This helps them to cultivate and develop a signature sound that may require the incorporation of different styles of music to achieve great sounds. So, if you are only familiar with one particular kind of music, you have to research and learn about other forms of music as soon as you can.

Listen critically to millions of records and commit yourself to knowing all that you can about the songs to the extent that you can easily identify what weakens a song and what makes it work.

On every single track or song you produce, the goal of making great music should be your top priority. Respect the craft of recording, performance, and songwriting, and maybe you will end up making a huge difference in the industry. You can save the worries about buying a new house or a new car until the checks start rolling in.

Watch tutorials and learn mixing and engineering skills

Most people see tutorials as detrimental to their innovative and creative process, but that’s not 100% true.

One thing you must remember while watching tutorials is to see them not as a specific guide on how to make music but as a tool that will help you understand how to interact with your chosen DAW. There are lots of tutorials on YouTube; you might even be surprised to find some interesting and inspiring guides which may be helpful and useful for your style of production.

Another thing you need to learn is the mixing and engineering skills.

Of course, learning this skill is not the only way to be a successful producer, but most of the top music producers in the industry today have some background in mixing or engineering. When you know how different musical elements work together in a sonic manner will help you when it comes to making decisions on how you want the piece to sound like ultimately.

Be distinct

Why should you keep following the same old path or obeying the rules that you can simply break to create your own lane and set new records?

Producers who have really made a difference in the music industry all have something in common: they discovered their own lane and inputted their sense of individualism and creativity into the music they produce. Sure, there are lots of people who know how to produce a song, but you need to strive to be a producer who can produce music in such a way that only you could’ve produced it.

Guys like Jack Douglas, Phil Spector, and Rick Rubin approach making records in different ways, but they all produce music with their own signature sound and musical aesthetic to the tracks they produce. Bring your own point of view, and creativity into your production game, and you will be distinct from the crowd.

Write down what success means to you and do whatever you can to achieve it.

You cannot be successful if you quit, and you cannot be successful if you cannot define what success means to you. Ask yourself what success means to you, define it, and figure out what you want. You may even write it down in a place where you can see it often. This will help you remember your goals and commit to achieving them.

If you want to be the best producer in your band and make records on your own terms, or if you want to be the go-to guy for rappers or bands in your locality, commit yourself to it, and you will make it happen.

Just don’t give up, persevere! Sure, it takes thousands of hours to master a skill, but you should not be discouraged if you cannot achieve the sound you have created in your head instantaneously. A time is coming when you will eventually get to that point and produce any music that you want without delay.

You can watch or read about music producers who sounded terrible at first and learn how they overcame (this is a good way to reassure yourself if you feel the same). Keep trying and improving on yourself, and you will become successful.

Network (build and maintain healthy relationships)

The success of the music production business is built on relationships. So, you have to network and build new relationships.

Even if you are the most skillful music producer around, it won’t matter much nor is it going to pull a string if no one knows this but you. You have to be seen and heard!  There are lots of independent musicians and artists in various local bars and clubs who are eager to get their work done by a professional like you.

Check the events going on around you and take some flash drives with your work (not the outdated CD’s) and some business cards along with you. Once you build a nice relationship and people get to hear you and see your face, there’s a chance that a musician would be interested in working with you and who knows if that could turn out to be your first big musical production.

Final words

Everyone wants to be successful, but only a few are walking on the path that leads to success.

While there are many more people making beats and selling themselves as producers, you should not allow discouragement to set in. Always remember that you are in competition with no one but yourself. If you are truly passionate about music, success is nearer to you might have imagined.