Have you ever had an idea for a song, and you know it could be something amazing?
It sounds incredible in your mind…
You can easily imagine the sweeping melodies, full arrangement and depth of sonic character.
You load up your DAW excited to turn this vision into reality…
And at some point in the process, you realize it’s not going to end up anywhere near how it sounds in your head. It’s incredibly deflating and frustrating.
Trust me, this happens to EVERYONE.
The entire industry was designed to distract you away from what’s important in order to sell you more products or show you more ads.
But at the end of the day, it’s the boring stuff that matters.
It’s more fun to learn new mixing tips and experiment with cool plugins than it is to learn the fundamental skills that are required to record and produce a song that sounds professional before it’s even mixed.
But trust me, if you don’t do the work to hone this skill, you’ll still be struggling to get your music to sound the way you want decades from now.
Every day musicians come to us for help who started recording on a 4-track in the 80s… and they’re still nowhere near where they want to be.
Do you really want to spend another 20 years feeling dissatisfied with the quality of your music?
Because here’s what most people do…
They record or produce a new track, it doesn’t sound quite right but they’re not exactly sure what’s missing, or why it doesn’t sound professional…
So, they start looking for help online.
They head to YouTube and start watching mixing tutorials.
But this is where they went wrong.
Because, like most people, they’re trying to solve the problem the wrong way around, and putting the cart before the horse.
Mixing tips aren’t going to help if your source material is sub-par.
Instead, you need to focus on PRODUCTION. Or in other words, getting it right at the source.
Regardless of what genre you’re working with, whether you record real instruments or work purely in the box… it all comes under the umbrella of production. And this is where the fate of your final mix is decided.
If you could produce music that already sounded mixed…
Mixing would be easy.
Most people write this off as something that’s not possible for them…
“Of course your mixes sound great” they say… “the tracks already sounded great to start with!”
But that’s the whole point.
Because you CAN get your music to sound just as professional, even if you’re working in the box in a less than ideal room. Anyone can do it, but instead they make excuses and say it won’t be possible for them, and their fate is sealed.
The vast majority of music you hear on the radio or on Spotify now was recorded in a home or project studio — not in a multi-million dollar studio.
Go listen to any Bon Iver, Billie Eilish, Tame Impala… there are countless artists who have proven over the last couple of decades that you don’t need to leave your home studio to make world-class, impactful music.
While it may seem like the ability to make great sounding music is a talent, and many people will say “you have it or you don’t”…
I’m here to tell you that that’s complete BS, and that learning music production is possible for anyone.
However, just because it’s possible, doesn’t mean it’s easy. It takes hard work, and work ethic often becomes the differentiating factor.
Most people don’t have the patience to nail the production. They don’t have the focus necessary to avoid getting distracted by shiny new plugins and mixing tricks. After all, it can be boring and it can be arduous to spend hours finding the right mic placement, selecting the right sound, finding the right virtual instrument, and meticulously experimenting with arrangement, layering and melodies.
But if you’re willing to break the mould… if you’re willing to do the work and invest your time and energy into learning the craft of production, so you can take your artistic vision and turn it into a track that sounds great before you even start mixing… then we want to help.
In fact… after teaching thousands of students on a one to one basis, we believe that we can teach you the fundamentals of production in just six weeks. But more on that later.
For now, I just want you to imagine the impact it would have if you could get your music to sound the way you wanted before you even started mixing or mastering it.
Imagine taking your “demo” track out to the car… and it already sounds better than your references.
That’s what’s possible when you shift your focus to getting great source material. And it’s the “secret” to getting great mixes that sound like your favorite records.
At this point, you might be thinking “I get it Rob. This isn’t news – everyone knows you need great source material to make great sounding music.”
In which case, the next logical question is HOW.
Because that’s where the doubt starts to seed in. You might understand the concept… but believing that you CAN achieve the same sonic standard as the “already great” sounding mixes you hear the pros work with, even in a home studio environment…
And then, once you believe it might be possible, actually knowing HOW to get there…
Well, that’s something else entirely.
To learn the “how” of production, here are your main options.
YouTube
Pros: It’s free, and there’s a wealth of information available.
Cons: It’s overwhelming, you have to sift through a lot of fluff to find the good stuff, and it can only get you so far. Mostly tips and tricks and disjointed information. There’s no feedback or mentorship. If you only needed information, you’d already be a pro, because there’s an infinite amount of information out there — there’s something else missing.
Online Courses
Pros: Generally more comprehensive, more structured, and less fluff. Not free but usually affordable.
Cons: Again, information will only get you so far. This is a step up from YouTube but unless you find a course that also includes feedback and mentorship, it’s not that different to learning from YouTube (in fact, we have several online courses available on our YouTube channel, so they are essentially one and the same at this point).
Books
Pros: Comprehensive, affordable, timeless.
Cons: Text generally isn’t the best format for learning music production. Having audio and video allows for better demonstrations. No feedback or mentorship.
Traditional Schools
Pros: Comprehensive, usually includes direct mentorship and feedback from staff, community/networking aspect.
Cons: Expensive. Often highly theoretical or taught by lecturers that haven’t worked in the industry for decades (there are exceptions). The majority of audio engineering and music production degrees don’t actually teach mastering.
Alternatives
When I was learning, I went through all of these options. I spent over £20,000 on a university degree here in the UK studying audio production (cheap compared to the US, but the experience was awful). I spent countless hours on YouTube and bought every book I could find.
I wasn’t satisfied with any of these solutions, which is partially what inspired me to start my own audio school.
A decade later, and I’m proud to say that we’ve taught thousands of students from around the world on a 1-to-1 basis, all while maintaining a 4.9/5 rating on Trustpilot.
On Wednesday, July 23rd, we’re introducing a brand new 6-week production program that I believe blows all of these options out of the water. I have complete conviction in this because it’s what we do best. It has taken 10 years of hard work and dedication to get to this point, and it shows. The team did an amazing job with this program.
In case you’re not already aware, our model of teaching is a blend of online learning and traditional education, at a price point that anyone can afford.
Most importantly, this brand new program is heavy on mentorship. While the curriculum itself is world-class and a totally new way of teaching production… it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
The real results will come from attending our many weekly mentorship sessions, where you can speak directly to a mentor over Zoom, share your screen and open up your DAW if you need to, and the mentor can do the same.
Anyway… I’ve already said too much.
Look out for the official announcement on Wednesday where I’ll reveal all the details.
For now, make sure you’re registered for our free 5-day production workshop that starts 21st July at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK time.
It’s called Radio-Ready Single and it’s our biggest virtual event yet. Over FIVE days we’re going to write, produce, mix and master a single from scratch.
It’s effectively a fast-track introduction to production that will also give you a taste of what the full 6-week program is going to be like.
I hope to see you there!
— Rob
