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The Most Important Question You Will Ever Ask Yourself

Mike Monday — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 14:17:42 +0000

‘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 coaching creative people 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?

My First Free Music Production pdf

Mike Monday — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 16:36:41 +0000

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 comes in two parts and is called “30 Things Every Music Producer Should Know”.

It’s largely made up of articles I wrote for my website through the first half of 2011, although I have written some extra pieces for it and edited others.

It is a mixture of music production tips, ideas on improving your creative process and some less specific motivational and inspirational stuff.

To get both parts of the “30 Things Every Music Producer Should Know” music production pdf delivered to your inbox just enter your name and email address below…

Featured Regular #1: Joe Silva

Mike Monday — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:23:17 +0000

Here’s something different.

I’ve decided to doff my hat to karma and feature the occasional post on some of the people who I know frequent my little corner of the web. This is as a thank you for the comments, forum posts and general all round good vibes I receive from them.

From time to time expect to see a little shout out for whatever cool and interesting musical projects some of my readers have got going on. Starting with Joe Silva.

Unlike most of my regulars I actually met Joe in the flesh while doing a DJ gig in Winnipeg, Canada just under a year ago. We got talking after my set and it turns out that apart from being a true gentleman, he does a lot of music for TV and film.

And when I saw he’s just released 2 great albums of music from a TV show I thought him an ideal candidate for the first feature.

You can listen to the albums below and here’s what they’re all about in Joe’s words:

The Outdoor Life Network has a unique travel show called departures. They’ve filmed three seasons so far, and the show has become quite popular.

One of the reasons for this popularity is the music. Unlike most shows, where one composer writes all the music, the producers have instead built a library of music licensed from a variety of musicians and composers.

The editors draw from this library when creating an episode. The result is a wide variety of styles and sounds, making each episode feel fresh and different.

After getting requests from fans of the show, I decided to self-release a soundtrack album on my bandcamp site. I hadn’t realized, but as it turned out, departures has used about 34 of my tracks over the three seasons. I thought this would be too long for a single album, so I created two. Early Departures has all the mellower, more laid back tracks, and Late Departures the faster, upbeat ones.

The timing of all this coincided with the events unfolding in Japan after the devastating tsunami. I wanted to help in some way, so I decided I would donate 50% of sales to Japan relief.
Early Departures by Joe Silva
Late Departures by Joe Silva

The Biggest Mistake Music Producers Make With Their Bass End

Mike Monday — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:54:24 +0000

Number thirteen in 100 Things Every Music Producer Should Know

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:

Find a bass sound you like
Give it room to breath
Done

Are You Scared of Making Mistakes?

Mike Monday — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 06:10:54 +0000

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

Mike Monday — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:19:01 +0000

Number twelve in 100 Things Every Music Producer Should Know

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

Mike Monday — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:10:47 +0000

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?

Mike Monday — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 18:17:48 +0000

(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

Who Wants Free Advice on Music Production, Promotion and the Creative Process?

Mike Monday — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 14:29:31 +0000

My inbox is getting increasingly stuffed to the brim with requests for advice.

This is great. I’m surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed responding to these requests, but as my readership grows (it’s more than doubled this month - woohoo) it is going to become impossible to respond to everything. Although so far I have.

So in anticipation of that I’ve set up a simple forum where you can talk to me and the other people who frequent my little corner of the web.

I’ll be hanging out there most days and will answer as many of your questions as I can and (if I have the time) give you feedback on your music.

I’m sure it’ll take a while to properly get going, but until it does if you post something now you’ll get my ears all to yourself. Lucky you!

But the main idea is for everyone to help everyone else. It would be great to build a community of like-minded people sharing their shizzle don’t you think?

I know for a fact that I don’t have all the answers and I’d love to hear your ideas, opinions, methods, tricks and techniques.

So click here now and say hello. I’ll be waiting…