Advice for young producers

fanu

fanu

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2011

Being active on social media about music production stuff, I receive questions, “Do you have any tips for me?” on the regular. This video is about my tips to young producers.

Some of my own personal music production philosophy here.
 
hey @fanu

I like this video, truth telling, but what if someone was like "hey, I need some guidance, would you let me sit in the lab with you and learn some things that way?"
 
nafe1 said:
hey @fanu

I like this video, truth telling, but what if someone was like "hey, I need some guidance, would you let me sit in the lab with you and learn some things that way?"
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For sure! :)
I have my first international tuition student coming over this month…guy's flying in from Singapore.
 
Despite not being a young producer I've found this video interesting; I've heard mention of reference tracks a lot, but have always struggled to make the connection of how I can tweak my approach to the original mix by listening to a reference track since the latter is processed in the master in ways I can't 'reverse process' in my mind, if that makes sense? I'm not going to commit any time to learning how to master when I feel like my mixdowns still have lightyears to progress, but trying to reference an unmastered mixdown to a professional mastered track just doesn't sound like it makes any sense to me. Is it just a case of trying to achieve the closest possible product to the reference track within the original mix constraints (in terms of levels and balance), or is a deeper understanding of where a master can take the sound of a mix required?
 
put it this way, buy using a reference track, I finally got a mixdown right, and I was offered a contract...which never appeared , but that is another story...
 
CTJake said:
Despite not being a young producer I've found this video interesting; I've heard mention of reference tracks a lot, but have always struggled to make the connection of how I can tweak my approach to the original mix by listening to a reference track since the latter is processed in the master in ways I can't 'reverse process' in my mind, if that makes sense? I'm not going to commit any time to learning how to master when I feel like my mixdowns still have lightyears to progress, but trying to reference an unmastered mixdown to a professional mastered track just doesn't sound like it makes any sense to me. Is it just a case of trying to achieve the closest possible product to the reference track within the original mix constraints (in terms of levels and balance), or is a deeper understanding of where a master can take the sound of a mix required?
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From what I've read and heard (please correct me if I'm wrong) mastering is like the icing on the cake, the final 10%, the mix is what counts as a decent master isn't possible without a solid mix.

I use a reference track as a benchmark to aim for. I chuck it in the project and adjust the level so that it and my own track are at the same volume. I could go on all day about how its useful in different ways; comparing levels, seeing how much sub bass I should aim for, looking in a spectrum analyser and working out why their drums stand out so well, how much high end sounds good.

It also helps sound creation too, if you want build a drum break or layer some hits what better way to check its good than by comparing it to a track that you know works. Same for sound design too.
 
You may as well learn a bit of mastering as well, as if eventually you're sending your dubs out (before release) you don't wanna have to shell out for mastering each time, especially if it needs to be done quickly. Quick master can take like an hour. I would then pay to have a proper master done when the time called for it, but that's nowhere near for me yet!
 
WhoSayReload? said:
From what I've read and heard (please correct me if I'm wrong) mastering is like the icing on the cake, the final 10%, the mix is what counts as a decent master isn't possible without a solid mix.

I use a reference track as a benchmark to aim for. I chuck it in the project and adjust the level so that it and my own track are at the same volume. I could go on all day about how its useful in different ways; comparing levels, seeing how much sub bass I should aim for, looking in a spectrum analyser and working out why their drums stand out so well, how much high end sounds good.

It also helps sound creation too, if you want build a drum break or layer some hits what better way to check its good than by comparing it to a track that you know works. Same for sound design too.
Click to expand...

That makes a lot of sense, thanks for that dude!
 
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