Music production can be a very interesting and rewarding career. If you want to get into this line of work, however, you have to keep improving because things change all the time. Improving allows you to make better tracks while helping you progress through your career. By improving your music production skills, you will get bigger gigs and you will get to work with numerous artists. Here are some tips you can use to start improving your music production skills right now.
Listen to Different Music
Music producers have to be able to draw inspiration from different music genres and this is why it is so important that you listen to music you normally would not. You can go with different genres, new music or even old music. You can also dig around to find the music that inspired some of the music you love today. In doing so, you will expand your knowledge and understanding of music, which will make you a better producer.
Collaborate
It is understandable to be protective of and territorial about your production process because the industry is quite competitive. Collaborating takes you out of this mindset and give you an opportunity to learn from other players in the industry. By seeing things from another angle and perspective, you could find the inspiration for new ideas that you use in future productions.
Check Your Effects
You should use effects to enhance your production, but not as the main element. Many beginners make the mistake of adding so many effects that the main part of the song ends up getting lost and people have to listen closely to even hear the vocals.
No one wants to listen to a track that sounds awash in reverb, muddied due to too many effects, or unnatural due to the heavy application of autotune. Many tools, software, and plug-ins popular today can help you check your effects because they are so well-tuned and balanced that you will notice if anything is amiss. Auto-Tune EFX+, the best EFX plug-in to transfer your tracks from normal to autotuned vocals, for example, has pitch correction, pattern generators, and other parameters that can help ensure your tracks sound great even with auto-tune.
Experiment
It is easy to want something that is working to continue working. However, this is the way you end up stagnating. You might have some chord progressions, drums, and sounds you use all the time; ditch them from time to time. Try things you have never tried before, work on genres you have not considered before and, most importantly, get out of your comfort zone.
Embrace Minimalism
Less is more in music production. The more you add to a song, the worse it will sound as things start to clash. Learning to edit your ideas will be incredibly helpful because you will learn to incorporate good ideas into the final mix. As you do this more and gain experience, you will start instinctively dismissing bad ideas because you know what works and what will not.
As you produce more music, endeavor to keep learning and experimenting as these are the best ways to improve. Put the tips above into action, and you should start seeing improvements in no time.
