Pay Attention Now or Your Ears Will Hate You Later - #11 of 100

This is weird and important.

When you go back to something, pay really close attention to your first listen.

I have no idea why this is, but the ideas and inspirations I get on the first listen are the most insightful and exciting that I have.

But they’re also the most fleeting and ephemeral as if in a dream.

So make sure you have a notepad and a pen to hand before you press play. Don’t stop it. Listen all the way through from beginning to end. And while you’re listening note down every thought you have on that first listen as fast as you can.

Whatever you do, don’t listen to it again until you’ve got all your thoughts down. I’d even suggest not listening to it again. Go do the stuff you are thinking about right now.

Apart from anything else, most people who hear your music will be hearing it for the first time too - you need to pay attention to how they’ll hear it.

The Most Important Question You Will Ever Ask Yourself

‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’

‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,’ said the Cat.

‘I don’t much care where’ said Alice.

‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,’ said the Cat.

- Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

If you’re engaging in any activity, in fact if you intend to engage in life at all, the first question to ask yourself is:

"What do I want?"

This might seem obvious, but when I'm coaching music producers it never ceases to amaze me how many of them have never asked this question. Have you?

I’m sure you know what you don’t want. I bet you know what you think you should want. And you’ll know what other people want from you.

But do you know for sure what you want?

Because if you don’t, how will you work out how to get it?

A Free Music Production pdf

This free music production pdf has the most important lessons I’ve learnt from 17 years of writing and producing well over 250 pieces of commercially released electronic music.

And if you like what you’ve been reading on this site, then you’re going to love it. It's called “7 Steps  Every Music Producer Needs To Take”.

It comes with a series of free training videos and together they'll reveal the most important steps you must take to make mountains of music, in record time with devastating results.

To get  the “7 Steps Every Music Producer Needs To Take” music production pdf (and the free videos) delivered to your inbox just enter your name and email address below…

The Biggest Mistake Music Producers Make With Their Bass End

I’ve been asked how to make fat basses by a lot or people. And I get the impression that they want a step by step guide on what synth or vst plugin to use and how to compress and EQ it.

But that would be misleading.

I’ve used as many methods to produce fat bass sounds as I’ve made tracks. What works in one situation won’t work in another.

So I’m not going to give you a step by step anything.

Instead I want you to focus on something else. If your bass isn’t working as well as you’d like, you’re almost certainly looking in the wrong place for the solution. Instead of obsessing about the bass itself, listen to what’s going on around it.

Find it and forget it

No matter what level you’re at or what gear you’re using you will already have more than enough to make an awesome bass sound.

(Hint - its hard to beat a simple sine wave.)

So play with what you’ve got and when you find a bass sound you like, leave it. You don’t have to love it, it’s not your girlfriend.

Give it room

Now listen to what else is playing.

You might have a kick drum, lo tom or some other bassy noise playing in the same frequency range. At best this will make your bass less effective. At worst it’s going to clash. So what do you do about it?

First off forget about the bass sound. You like it remember?

Twiddling allowed here

Change the kick sound. Take out that tom. Or use EQ to roll off a little bass end from each. Tweak or change whatever might interfere with your bass until it shines through.

I know it’s sometimes hard to let go of that part or sound you really love, but do you want your bass to sound amazing or not?

Make sure that the track still works when that huge fat bass sound (that you’ve lovingly done nothing to) isn’t playing. With enough time you’ll be able to find something that doesn’t interfere with the bass and still do it’s job.

When you’re happy record what you’ve done and check it on different speakers. Then and only then go and tweak your bass sound if it needs it. But I bet it doesn’t.

Learn from the master

If you don’t believe me let’s hear it from all round top banana and undisputed king of bass Justin Martin.

Here’s his awesome remix of my album track “Grace”:

So what do we learn from this badboy?

• The kick has virtually no low bottom end on it. He makes up for that by either choosing or eq-ing a kick with enough lo-mid thwack (technical term) to do it’s job of keeping your ass wiggling.
• Even though he uses 3 or 4 different bass-end sounds none of them play together.
• The bass stuff isn’t constant. He brings it in and out a lot. There’s no bass at all until 1m30secs. This creates contrast and makes the bass so much more powerful when it does hit you in your trousers (pants for my North American friends).

Ok, if you insist…

I said I wasn’t going to give you a step by step anything, but I can tell you really want one.

So here’s my 3 step technique for how to make your bass sound fat:

1. Find a bass sound you like
2. Give it room to breath
3. Done

Are You Scared of Making Mistakes?

No one likes making mistakes. But are you scared of them? Maybe so scared that you’ll deny making one?

Don’t be scared. Because a mistake is your best chance to learn.

Accept responsibility for a mistake. Work out why or how you made it. And you’ll be highly unlikely to make it again. And don’t let your fear of mistakes stop you.

Expect mistakes. Don’t be afraid of them. Learn.

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” - George Bernard Shaw

The Secret to Starting an Album

If you’re stuck try this. (It’s how I started my first two albums).

Every day for a week spend an hour just starting stuff. Get a groove going, add parts quickly, don’t worry about the details at all, just get a vibe.

Once you have a basic idea down, make sure you record it. Then move on and start something else. Above all don’t get sucked into one groove or sound or making it perfect.

The idea is to just get a load of ideas down as fast as possible.

When your hour is up stop. Turn off the computer. Leave the area. Forget about it.

Do the same every day for a week. Don’t listen back to what you did the day before, just sit down and get as many ideas down as possible.

By the end of the week you’ll have a load of ideas. Give it a while before listening to them. Maybe give it a week or so. When you do, listen to them one after the other. Make sure you have a notepad next to you and write down whatever comes into your head as you’re listening.

Many of your ideas will be crap, (ignore the crap) but worry not. I guarantee there’ll be some gold in there. Maybe even enough for an album.

Have a Crisis You Can Be Proud Of

It’s a horrible feeling.

Every way you look at the same problem you hit a dead end. You’ve tried everything. No matter how hard you try you just can’t crack it.

At times you thought you were close to a solution, only for it to fall apart. You’re even further away than when you started.

Gradually you feel the fear winning. Before you know it you’re in a state of near panic, and seize up. The urge to give up completely overwhelms you.

Sound familiar?

But the very last thing you should do is give up. Sure, take a break. Don’t give up.

Every time I’ve made a major breakthrough in my life it’s been preceded by a crisis.

I had one yesterday lunchtime. But as I was trying to get to sleep last night I had a major “aha” moment. Then lying there in the dark I worked through everything that had been on my mind. I virtually skipped out of bed this morning. This also happens with my studio work.

A crisis is a sign that you’re about to work it out. And how fast you work it out depends on how you respond to the crisis.

So the next time you start to freak out remember you’re probably losing your marbles because there’s a solution just around the corner.

Don’t panic. Take a break. Think about anything else, but whatever you do, don’t give up.

Have a crisis you can be proud of.

Had the same experience? Does a crisis get you unstuck? Why do you think this is?

Are You Living Your Dream?

(At the risk of shooting myself in the foot…)

What are you doing now?

Now close your eyes and focus on the most ambitious dream you have for your life.

If you could do just one thing right now to get closer to making that dream a reality I bet it wouldn’t be reading this, would it?

“Each moment of our life, we either invoke or destroy our dreams.” 
- Stuart Wilde

Fail Like The Great One

If you failed 100 times would you try again?

Most people wouldn’t. And their parents, friends and peers would tell them to give up:

“You’re obviously not cut out for it.”

But every failure is a lesson. Every disappointment a chance for growth. And failing 100 times means that when you succeed on your 101st attempt you’ll be ready. And then the same people will say:

“I always knew he’d make it!”

Revel in failure, because failing 100 times (or more) is 100% better than doing nothing.

“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” - Wayne Gretzky

5 Ways to Stop Being a Perfectionist - #10 of 100

In my last post I explained why perfectionism is an advanced form of procrastination. But if you’re anything like me, you know this but still find yourself constantly perfecting but not completing.

Here’s five ways of building and maintaining creative momentum by avoiding that niggling urge to perfect.

1/ Treat everything as a draft

Think of everything as a draft, not the finished article. You’ll trick your brain into focussing on the big picture and not the details. You don’t have to worry about the details now. You just have to finish this draft. Get it done. You can go back and perfect it later.

Because it’s only a draft, it’s not set in stone and you’ll finish it. At worst you’ll have something tangible to work on, but at best you’ll have it in the bag.

2/ Take a break

When you’ve completed your “draft” make sure you take a break. The longer the better.

Sleep on it if you can.

When you’re fresh go back to it and you’ll probably find that its not as awful as you thought.

(And it might even be done.)

3/ Rush it

Pick a creative task that should take an hour.

Set a timer for 30 minutes and attempt to complete it. Hold yourself to account here and just get through it. Even if you think it’s terrible.

Rushing it means you won’t have time to think and you might even release your inner creative genius.

4/ Multitask

Continue working while reading and replying to some emails, or reading some blog posts, or tidying your workspace. It’s amazing what you can come up with when you only have half a brain on it.

This is the opposite of what I’d usually recommend as you’re intentionally forcing yourself to lose focus. But if you find yourself getting lost in details try it occasionally and in short bursts.

5/ Play!

Take what you’re working on and mess with it. Change everything. Be ridiculous. Shock yourself. See how far you can push it away from what you were intending.

Have fun. Be stupid. Go wild.

You never know what inspiration you’ll find at the edges.

Are you a perfectionist? How do you stop yourself? Please share in the comments…

Are You a Perfectionist?

Some people say “I’m a perfectionist” with pride.

But to me the pursuit of perfection is just an advanced form of procrastination. Here’s why you should stop trying to make it perfect.

You’ll never achieve it

How are you going to achieve perfection?

You won’t, it’s not possible.

So how will never being able to achieve what you’re striving for make you feel? Confidence is key to creation and your pursuit of perfection will kill it.

Perfection isn’t the same as good

Do you assume that something perfect is better than something imperfect?

Why?

Our Western ideal of beauty and perfection probably comes from the Ancient Greeks. But this isn’t the only way to think.

The Japanese aesthetic of Wabi Sabi - beauty that is imperfect, impermanent and incomplete - makes much more sense to me than any ideal of perfection.

Failure equals growth

“Success is 99% failure” - Soichiro Honda

Your endless quest for perfection has its roots in fear of failure.

But if you build your courage you’ll learn to accept and expect failure as a natural and important part of the creative process.

Fail, fail and fail again. Because when you fail you learn.

The internet

If you don’t agree with any of the above, then consider the modern world.

All your work is either be promoted or distributed through the internet. The internet rewards transparency over secrecy. It also rewards quantity over quality. You might not like it, but it’s the way it is.

In this world it’s better to get as much as you can finished and released than tinker and tweak attempting to achieve perfection.

A caveat

I’m not suggesting that you should immediately release a load of crap. And I’m assuming that you care about what you do and make deeply, and that you always try to be your best.

But assuming this, forget about perfection. Because it is more honest, courageous and useful to your development to get on with it, finish it, and get it out the door.

Worry whether it’s any good later.

Regrets? I've Had a Few...

Why do people say they don’t regret anything?

I’m proud to say that:

“I regret not pursuing live performance.”

“I regret spending more time in airports than with my family and friends.”

“I regret avoiding the internet.”

Why? Because I’ve learnt from them.

Here's the Quickest and Easiest Way to Triple Your Studio Output - #9 of 100

It’s incredibly simple.

Forget how it sounds in your head.

If you can’t start, finish, or always get stuck, I bet it’s because you keep trying to make it sound the way it does in your head.

The music in your head is an excellent place to start. But unless you’re Mozart, striving to make it exactly as you imagine it will end in failure and frustration.

You see, the way it sounds in your head is just that. In your head.

When I realised this simple fact, the quantity of work I finished (at least) tripled. The music was better too.

4 reasons to stop

1. You’ll miss moments of genius. By concentrating on what’s in your head you’ll ignore or reject the other (possibly brilliant) ideas that come out of nowhere. These are gold dust. Jump on them. Hint - they’re what most people call inspiration. 2. You’ll lose momentum. If you’re going to finish your music, momentum is key. Trying to make it exactly the same as the music in your head will bring you to a screeching halt. 3. Danger! Boredom! You’ll tweak and twiddle for hours in your quest to make the sound in your head. And after listening to the same thing over and over you’ll get bored of it. You probably won’t even remember what you were trying to do in the first place. The only thing you’ll remember is that you didn’t do it. 4. You won’t hear what’s really playing. This is the kicker. If you focus on what’s in your head you won’t listen to what’s coming out of the speakers. Then you’re in danger of hearing what you want, not what it is. Which (because you spent ages trying to make it sound like the music in your head) is probably a pile of crap. When you say “why is it so awful this morning when it was so good last night?” - this is why.

How to forget what’s in your head

Yes - start by trying to make what you hear in your head.

But when you have a vague approximation, stop thinking about the music in your head and start listening to what’s coming out of your speakers.

Do something crazy. Be creative. Play. Have fun. That is why you’re doing this - right?

Reframe it. Play the same part on a different sound. Play a different sound on the same part. Try a different rhythm. If it’s not working, try something else.

While you’re jamming, constantly keep your ears open for the ideas that were never in your head, but which sound amazing.

When they happen (and trust me - eventually they will) jump on them, even if they’re not what you were expecting. Especially if they’re not what you were expecting.

But above all, make it sound good in your ears, not in your head.

How to Turn Your Inner Critic into Your Greatest Asset

Mark McGuinness recently explained why your inner critic is your best friend, but I have a different take on it.

Your inner critic is your most reliable guide of what not to do.

So when that voice in your head says you’ve not got the right tools, use even less. When it thinks you’ve gone too far, go further. And when it tells you it’s not good enough, finish it anyway.

Go wherever you feel the most resistance, because this is where the magic happens.

Because if you’re anything like me, your inner critic is a very nasty piece of work. It will say anything and everything to stop you from doing what you were born to do.

It wants to feel safe. It wants you to be scared. It wants you to stop.

So trust your natural critical faculties. They’ll remain intact even when you’re flying in the face of your inner critic.

In this brave new connected world, the winners are those who are unique. And trust me, your inner critic wants you to do anything but stand out.

Be The Change

Why do you conform?

To be accepted by your peers? To be part of a tribe? To be respected by your teachers?

What if you don’t?

Shock your peers. Lead a tribe. Challenge your teachers.

“You must be the change you want to see in the world.” - Mahatma Gandhi

What Everyone Should Know About Compression - # 8 of 100

The music production subject I’m asked most about is compression.

So here’s my number one piece of advice:

Stop using it.

Well at least stop compressing absolutely everything, it’s sucking the life out of your music.

Compression 101

Here’s Wikipedia on compression:

“In simple terms, a compressor is an automatic volume control. Using downward compression, loud sounds over a certain threshold are reduced in level while quiet sounds remain untreated. Upward compression involves making sounds below the threshold louder while the louder passages remain unchanged. Both reduce the dynamic range of an audio signal. This may be done for aesthetic reasons or to deal with technical limitations of audio equipment, which is seldom able to cope with the dynamic range the human ear can tolerate.”

So put even more simply:

1. dynamic range refers to the difference between the loud and the soft bits
2. compressors make the loud bits softer and the soft bits louder
3. compressors reduce the dynamic range of whatever they are applied to

The secret no one tells you

Strictly speaking, if you mainly produce music in a computer (and at the time of writing most reading this will), you don’t need to use a compressor in most situations.

This is because the dynamic range of a VST plugin isn’t anywhere near as great as a vocalist or live instrument.

Plus you can control the volume of a programmed part in a myriad of other ways before you should reach for a compressor.

Dynamics = life

But doesn’t putting something through a compressor make it more powerful?

Well, for various complicated scientific reasons to do with the way the human ear perceives sound, it may appear to be louder, but whether it’s more powerful is debatable, especially if you’re compressing everything.

Dynamics give your music life. Differences in volume will make your music more subtle, expressive, and ultimately stand out. Isn’t that “more powerful”?

When to use compression

I’m not anti-compression persay. I’m just anti- “compressing everything at mixdown to within an inch of it’s life just because you think you should or because everyone else does”.

Compressors are a very necessary and useful tool in music production. But they are also the tool which is most overused and misunderstood.

But here’s some situations where you should consider getting your compressor out (or more likely loading it up).

1.* Live or analogue parts.* If you’ve got a vocalist, live instrument or an analogue synths in a track, a compressor is often essential. Create contrast between compressed and uncompressed parts. Heavily compress a part or parts to make them stand out from the rest of the track which isn’t. 2. Sound design. A compressor can be a useful tool for sculpting a sound. Side-chain compression. Where you set the compressor to affect a part (like a pad), and another part (like a kick) determines when the compressor kicks in. This is how you get that (all too) popular “sucking” sound. It’s also often used to make vocals stand out without having to turn them up. 3. Parallel compression. Where you send various parts to a compressor (usually at a high setting) and feed the resulting signal back into the mix. I often use this technique as you tend to get a much more “transparent” (ie you don’t notice it so much) result.

So before you reach for that compressor just think about it.

You might be using samples that are already compressed. The VST plugins you’re using may have compressors built in. When you master your track it will be compressed again. And if you get your music onto radio or in a club it will be compressed yet again.

So if you over-compress everything at mixdown stage too it’s going to sound awful.

Ok that’s my rant over. Just promise me you’ll stop it. :-)

How to Dispel Fear with One Question

You’re at the end of the creative process. You’re about to complete.

But you can’t get to the finish line. You keep tweaking, perfecting and polishing. In fact if you’re honest with yourself, you’re thinking of scrapping it all and starting over.

Sound familiar? Well don’t worry, this happens to everyone.

Just stop and ask yourself one simple question:

If I finish this now and send it out into the world, what’s the worst that could happen?

The answer is probably:

Someone won’t like it.

Hmmm, but someone won’t like it whatever you make and however you feel about it.

And the negative repercussions of not finishing are much worse for you and your confidence than any amount of criticism.

So finish it. Send it out. Move on.

Because what’s the best that might happen?

Well you’re never going to know unless you finish it, are you?

2011 is the Year Of...

It’s been a long time since I’ve made New Years Resolutions. You shouldn’t either.

You’ll break them within a couple of weeks. And kicking off a year with broken promises to yourself gives your inner critic ammunition and will feed The Fear.

So this year I’m taking a leaf from Chris Guillebeau who gives each year a theme, and Chris Brogan who picks three words to focus on throughout the year.

These approaches appeal to me as when you’re not sure that what you’re doing is right, you can refer back to these words and themes.

2011 is my year of transformation. While I spent much of last year flying blind; not knowing where I was going or what I was doing, I’m now on a mission.

It involves working, thinking and acting in many ways that are unfamiliar to me and which I find hard. I think “transformation” just about covers it.

My three words for 2011 are:

• Community - building a community of like minded people who I can help, and creating a situation where they (once I’ve worked out how to make the technical side of it work) can help each other. This also extends to the broader community. For instance I gave blood for the first time last year, and will continue to do that and find other ways to give what I can this year.
• Passion - I’ve often “ended up” doing stuff, and “fallen into” projects. Many of these have been successful but I’ve never committed to anything with all of my being or for the long haul (i.e. my lifetime). This is because I’ve not summoned the courage to truly follow my passion. This changes now, even if it involves failure at first (or at second, at third, at fourth etc).
• Practise - my playing, my performance, my writing and becoming a better individual. What’s hard about practise is that it is incremental and you don’t see the fruits of your labour straight away. You’re flying in the face of the 140 character “results today” society we live in. Without immediate tangible results it’s so hard to do it every day. But here’s the simple truth - the only way I’m ever going to pursue my passion is to practise.

What about you? What does your 2011 hold?

2010 - My Year in Review

Uber overlord of the blogosphere Seth Godin just published all he’s shipped in 2010, and asked us to publish a list of what we’ve got out the door this year:

“This might be a useful exercise. Doesn’t matter whether it was a hit or not, it just matters that you shipped it. Shipping something that scares you (and a lot of what follows did) is the entire point.”

Along with half the internet, I view Seth Godin as my personal guru; even though his blog is read my many thousands (maybe millions) of people, he has an uncanny ability to talk directly to me and inspires me multiple times per week.

So when he asks me to do something I do it. Here goes…

• This website. I started working on version 1 of mikemonday.com in October 2009. That iteration didn’t do much that was useful, had an appalling design and hit the web in late January 2010. Since then I’ve done two major redesigns and numerous tweaks. I like it now.
• 10 tracks 10 weeks. This was the ultimate exercise in “shipping”. And I did it. I wrote my third album one track a week for ten weeks. I rarely had time to “make sure” and try out much more than my first ideas. This scared me senseless. But doing this made me physically experience what I’d suspected. It’s way more important to get it done than make it perfect.
• My favourite blog posts. It often takes me longer to press publish than to write a blog post. That’s because I’m scared. Sometimes I’ll wait for days after writing a piece; the longest was about three weeks. But almost without exception, the posts where I felt most fear became my favourite.
• The Music Success In Nine Weeks blogging challenge. This blog series vanished from this site when I transferred my blog to another service and I haven’t got off my ass and put them back up. Suffice to say that I read and implemented the steps in Ariel Hyatt’s book and blogged about the experience. For someone used to only writing and performing music, marketing myself was hard but talking about it in public was much harder.
• Other music. 2010 was the year where I moved from from releasing music on record labels to doing it myself, and there were some bits and pieces that went out through traditional labels. Looking back, there are some advantages to someone else releasing my music, but these are completely negated by how disconnected I am from my audience.
• My first YouTube video. I meant to do more of these but only managed one. I *hate* watching and hearing myself speak but I’ll just have to get over it. I need to work on my delivery because video is the ideal way for me to talk about and play my music to you. Expect much more of it in 2011.
• You lot. Until recently this site has been largely about me broadcasting and releasing my shizzle. But I’m shifting my focus to your shizzle. After I got over my internal resistance to writing it, I finally sent out my first mailout yesterday and got an overwhelming response. I’m in the middle of answering all your wonderful emails and they’re still arriving (keep them coming). So far I’ve received replies from UK, Iraq, Kazakhstan, all over the USA, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Russia, Portugal and Spain. And after just one mailout, this is the part of my business that excites me the most. I now have a much clearer idea of what you need and want me to do. I just wish I’d overcome my fear earlier and got on with it.
• The birth of Harry. Not a work thing, but my review of 2010 wouldn’t be complete without a mention of the little dude. Although it’s more accurate to say that Mrs. Monday did the “shipping” on this one (I guess I “shipped” 9 months earlier in 2009 - ahem), becoming a Dad is easily the most scary and wonderful event of my life.

So that’s me more or less done with 2010. If I was to sum it up in a word? Transition.

How was yours? What did you ship this year?

Oh and have a very Happy New Year…

Happy Holidays

One of the most thorny and guilt ridden issues for those who work for themselves is when to stop and have a break.

But this year my decision is much easier as I have a young son who’s about to have his first Christmas.

So I’m signing off for 2010. Here’s wishing you a very Happy Christmas and wonderful New Year!

I’ll be back, bright and early in the new decade on Monday 3rd January where I’ll continue my mission to help, motivate and inspire you to write, promote and release your music.

And I’ll let you know how you can win the opportunity to write a tune with me. Yes you! Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter to stay in the loop.