As you know I’m all for sharing knowledge and I do a lot of learning myself. But there is a very fundamental issue about advice that I wanted to address.
10 years back when studying music technology I had the chance to learn from Tipi Tuovinen. He is one of the most respected music producers/mixing engineers in Finland and has a very impressive professional track record dating back to 1975. He was working on big things before I was born. He’s worked on tons of albums and movies and won numerous industry awards.
And he had a lot to say. You can imagine I was excited – the stuff I was learning truly was groundbreaking for me at the time.
Of course I tried to take in as much as I could, and of course I anxiously started applying all of the freshly learned magic on my music.
However…
Turns out I was so excited that I had forgotten about something VERY important. I was blinded by all this knowledge and had accepted the advice as such, without applying it to my own individual situation.
FAIL.
Obviously my teacher knew what he was talking about, there’s no question about that. So I EQ’d exactly like he said. I started doing compression the same way, and so on. And of course I was thinking everything sounded so much better.
Then it hit me:
Every situation is different, and mine were drastically different from his.
The knowledge had worked against me, as I didn’t fully understand the mechanics behind the tricks I was using. I was making things worse by trying to apply the same solution to everything.
By the time I started to understand these things, I had already built this stuff into strong habits in my production routine.
I actually had to learn out of those habits, which was a job on it’s own right!
Only after that was I able to really make use of the things I had learned. Some of the stuff I could adapt into my way of production, some simply didn’t work for me at all.
This was an important lesson for me:
It is imperative that we learn to identify the real issues before taking action.
Do why first, then how.
Whatever you do, always have a reason for everything. Don’t fix what isn’t broken. Advice can be harmful unless you have a real understanding of how, where and when to apply it.
It’s natural for us to learn the hard way, and failures are part of gaining experience.
But remember when getting advice:
You are the only one who can have the full understanding of your situation. Learn to trust yourself with confidence.
Welcome good information but always follow your own gut with execution.
What do you reckon? Have you had a similar experience? Let us know in the comments…
Followers
1940 Likes
It wasn’t until Ink & Loxy’s Horsementality LP that I really came to appreciate the technical side of how these tracks are produced and mastered. With tracks like Vertigo Reprisal by Loxy & Resound to Bloodline by Fade…These sounds push the game that much harder for getting that overall unique newschool Dub Out Drum’n'Bass sound.
I am at a period where I am really trying to learn what to listen to in relation to the tools I have to work with in my particular studio. I find it’s very important to apply what I have learned the day I learn it in order to have more of a productive learning process. Reading more in the morning before I get too high or crowded by the people and stresses of my life is a good trick for almost certain success. Balancing human life with being a music producer is one of the hardest things to date that I have been presented with. One full time job followed by a 7 day a week part time job eats at your time, motivation and energy. By the time I get back to my studio to produce my idea’s for the creative morning thoughts are smothered or rather overwritten by the tracks that I intake throughout my day…I like the complex balancing act or joy and pain. I like the stressful path for excellent sound…It’s only makes us stronger. Fear not.
Thanks for the comment and the kind words Matt… Much appreciated. Believe it or not these days I am very much struggling with not having time to write my own music as well. But as you say it’s a balancing act. And somehow you always find time for the things you love the most.