5 Habits I Had To UNLEARN To Become A Better Music Producer

"if the reference track sounds terrible, all you have to do is make your track sound terrible in the exact same way, and you are good!" this is probably the most underrated advice you can give someone

hell yea, i knew after 10 years the reason my music sucks is because of my car

I lost it all, my confidence, my girlfriend, and no bangin boogies to get down with the boys. It wasn't until I visited Dr. Underbelly that I was diagnosed with loopitis and had it for the last 5 years. Rest assured I'm now on track to get at least one song completed by the end of the month. Thanks Dr. Underbelly!

the "ok so check it" gets me every single time. no matter how many videos i watch that confirm that i suck at producing

Leaped for joy when I got a notification for this. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This guy is THE best resource for genuine and relevant music production information without being bored out of your mind 🐐

4:48 I was diagnosed with loopitis but then I started getting in those broad strokes during the session. After hours of hard stroking it finally happened! Thanks to Mr. Overchest I am no longer a loop-virgin!

One thing I've come to learn over the years is to not drown your music in instruments. Like good cooking, a few ingredients made well is good enough and can bring the flavour of that particular vegetable or meat savory and perfect. Same for sounds. The most common mistake I did in my early days was to add too many tracks with instruments. Another thing is to not let an instrument dominate too much, it should support the music not dominate it.

Your last tip is so underrated! You might be the first person that I've encountered to talk about this. It's true, you gotta give up trying to make your song sound perfect on every playback device. It's an endless trap of analysis paralysis.

I agree with the drum samples. Sound selection is a very fundamental thing people sometimes forget. This applies most for samples, since it's the most literal example of "sound selection" possible, but it also applies from synth patches too. You want your "starting point," whether it's a preset or an original patch, to be as good as possible. Like 90% of the way there. Then process from there.

One thing I must stress to new producers to break out of loopitis is to work with vocals ASAP. Vocals can give a clear direction for a song rather than an instrumental. For instrumental music you need to have really solid motifs that act how a vocal would. Solar System by Sub Focus is a good example of this.

The two i'm currently working on are loopitis and reference tracks. The last one, has never really been a problem for me, but i think laziness actually helps me avoid falling into that bad habit. I have a desk with cheap (decent) speakers and a sub on the floor. I would usually get on there to create, but i have a pile of shirts n stuff on my desk chair that i'm too lazy to move/put away. So for the past year, i've just been producing on my bed with my headphones and recently, a bluetooth/3.5mm jack speaker. I test out my mixes in my car and it's been consistently good with this setup. Just don't think about it too much is what I would say lol

Happy recovery from loopitis guys🙌

"Just make your track sound terrible in the exact same way" <- Some golden advice right there, thanks for sharing.

So glad you’re releasing this kind of content again! Been following the channel throughout my entire production journey and the fact that I’m somewhat half-decent now is thanks in a large part to you.

ur a legend been watching since forever so happy ur still uploading

you're so great bro even after ten years plus of producing I still watch ya. love ya 💜

Addictive editing style and video format. Great video. Subbed

Here’s a bonus tip I’ve learned over 17 years. Yes, don’t over process your drums. Maybe one distortion. Maybe one compressor. Maybe one EQ. Not always all three, not always in a specific order, but that’s about it. Also, underrated tip but equally important, ADD REVERB TO ALL OF YOUR DRUM SAMPLES. If everything else in your track gets room to sit in, why not your drums? And ik, some of you are gonna say “yOu CaN’t PuT rEvErB oN a KiCk DuMbAsS,” and to you I say, “ever cut the low end of your reverb bucko? Probably not if you’re saying this.” I tend to use two reverbs. One very very very wet reverb (still full dry) that has a short decay and physically mimics a 4-walled room, and another one with slightly more decay, larger room, and less wet.

as a visual arts student I love to see comparisons between different arts like what you did with Bob Ross. keep it up <3

Your descriptions are the best, thanks beat man.