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stay content during your day

Stay Content during your Day and Increase Music Productivity

“I have learned, in whatsoever state I am in, therewith to be content” (Saint Paul)

If it was our choice, we would write songs and make music every second, every minute, and every waking moment of every day. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. The majority of time it seems like day-to-day activities come first and whatever time leftover at the end of the day is spent on music…

This week, no matter how busy your schedule is, stay open. Stay content during your day. During the times of other activities, keep your mind on your songwriting and your music. Always keep a pen and pad of paper with you to jot down any ‘idea flashes’ that flash on your ‘brain screen’ before they can escape. If you have access to a portable recorder or smartphone, keep that with you for sudden melody ideas too. Start a song idea list and maintain it daily.

Even though our time feels wasted doing other non-musical activities, that time is actually the most valuable. You will be itching to write songs or make music and that will increase your music productivity. When our mind is occupied doing non-musical activities or taking a break, we allow ourselves available to new song ideas, melodies, or any other type of creativity…

By staying open and positive in any circumstance, we can make music all day long and still have time to live…

If there is anything we can help you with, setup a free training consultation below.


sound design training

Sound Design Training and Daily Ear Training Exercises

When you hear of ear training in music schools you may get images of classical orchestra music compositions or trying to guess what note an electronic beep is.. at least that’s what I used to think ear training was.

However, ear training has become almost as exciting for me as music production. I firmly believe we have ear training exercises and sound design training opportunities around us in every moment that will take your music production to the next level. The challenge is recognizing them and then learning how to put them into action.

Here are 3 unique ear training exercises and sound design training assignments to grow your ears and ultimately take your sound design and music production to the next level.

1) Listen to Pandora 
Pick a style and get a feel for how long the songs are, analyze the arrangement, listen to the patterns of melody, drum patterns, tempo, seasoning and all other details that give that style its name. The goal is to listen and develop a running tab of tricks in the back of your mind to experiment on in each new music production. This is a conscious way to develop your unique style.

How do you develop your music production style?
-Blend your own version of everything you enjoy listening to into a technically sound and professionally expressed ‘radio master’.
-Study the greats and everyone in between until the subtleties of your style naturally emerge. You’ll learn by hearing what details make your favorites, great. It could be a signature drum sound, vocal sound or anything in between.

2) Listen to Classical Music:
Bach, Mozart or any of the classical music greats provide an immense source for melodies and instrumentation composition. One classical music composition probably contains 20+ pop song melody ideas and bass lines.

There are two types of music listening:
1) Enjoyment, relaxing times, set the mood whatever that may be.
2) ‘Feed your creative artist ear candy’ that makes you want to lock yourself in the studio for 24 hours.

When you feed on classical music, moments later new ideas naturally brew when you show up to create music.

3) Listen to BT (Brian Transeau):
BT is considered the Beethoven, Bach and Mozart of Electronic Music in our day. His sound design, music production, melodies and mixture with organic instrumentation will blow your producer mind and get you inspired to vibe. Words don’t do his music justice. BT was playing piano by age 2, studying composition at the Washington Conservatory of Music by age 7 and going to Berklee School of Music by 15.

He has also built a company that has developed an iPhone application, Sonifi™, which is the first application for a mobile device that users can create, collaborate, effect and save remixes of a song in real time. Sonifi is the environment to release artists songs for end users to create their own audio and visual mixes (His numerous other achievements listed below).

My point?
He is a mad scientist music producer, sound designer, composition and technology genius..

The ultimate ear training exercise and sound design training is listening to music that changes your perspective to give you a freedom and an awareness of the many possibilities you have laid out before you every day to create music.

Your 3 Sound Design Training and Ear Training Exercises:
1) Once a day or week, spend 10-15 minutes on focused listening on music outside of your ‘comfort zone’. When you get to the studio, experiment with what you heard. Go for sounds, options you wouldn’t normally reach for.
2) Study the length, melodies, drums and sound choices. If a song is a hit, why? Is the song ‘Really’ that good, was it good marketing or both..why?
3) Put it in action. At some point you need to take a break from study and apply what you learn. Try emulating sounds. The goal isn’t to emulate or copy but instead to experiment and push through to new sound possibilities.

If there is anything we can help you with, setup a free training consultation below.


More on BT (Brian Transeau):

He is considered the Pioneer of Trance Music and also created the common ‘glitch’ music production effect widely used today. His music ranges from Trance to Hip Hop/Breakbeats. BT has produced and written for artists such as Peter Gabriel, N_Sync, Sting, Blake Lewis, Tori Amos and Tiesto. As a film composer he has worked on films such as The Fast and the Furious and Monster. He has also performed his Laptop Symphony where he does live remixing on the fly to hundreds of thousands around the world.

He from my understanding is also one of the first artists to release an album in 5:1 surround, on cd, on dvd and in movie theaters around the U.S. (this binary universe).

BT – These Hopeful Machines

This is his newest work. 2 CD set, 12 songs.
Great example of an eb and flow of creation, buildups, breakdowns, letting music breathe amongst ‘I don’t know where to start explaning’ programming and sound design.

BT – This Binary Universe

“In a hundred years, it could well be studied
as the first major electronic work of the new millennium. It’s that good….”

I am still learning new things after listening to this for 4 years! 🙂


take a risk

Take a Risk and Write a Song that is Different

“NOT ALL WHO WANDER ARE LOST.” (J.R.R. Tolkien)

You know you are a true songwriter and music producer when you go to work, out on the town, on a date or even when sleeping and all you can do is think about making music. The love of music includes networking, finishing your music and working on your music business, all which can be both mentally and physically draining when thinking about it ALL the time..

This can both be good and bad…

To most people around you, it may appear that you are extremely dedicated to your love but the reality is having music on your mind to that extent can reduce making music to just thinking about it. When I used to work a day job, I used to fantasize all day about playing my guitar – from when I got up to on the way home… Then when I got home I procrastinated and some days didn’t even play!

It’s so easy to spend all day planning and talking about music non-stop but never take action and write a song, pick up your instrument or make a beat.

Instead of doing your norm this weekend, do something you haven’t done before or something you haven’t done in a long time. Go for a walk, take a trip to a park you have never been and walk, or drive around town in an area you enjoy. Then watch your thoughts, watch your emotions, and watch your fears… Just pay attention, see what they’re doing… If the urge comes to write about them or if you have no desire to write but want to indulge the moment, so be it…

By stepping outside of the norm and doing something different, take a risk and write a song that is different, it will push different thoughts, different emotions, and give new inspiration to life and music… In turn this will start a whole new dialogue of songwriting ideas, melody ideas and new approaches to making music productions.

If there is anything we can help you with, setup a free training consultation below.

the fame drug

The Fame Drug; When Fame Addiction is a Block to Music Success

“Fame encourages us to believe that if it hasn’t happened yet, it won’t happen. Fame is not the same as success, and in our true souls we know that.  Fame, the desire to attain it, the desire to hold on to it, can produce the “How am I doing?” syndrome. This question is not “Is the work going well?” This question is, “How does it look to them?” Julia Cameron

Flip through a Rolling Stone magazine or watch the Grammy’s and you’ll soon discover the fame drug at work. It eats at the artist child within whispering, ‘You’re not good enough, your music sucks, you’ll never achieve music success.’ If you peruse these forms of entertainment you have to watch yourself and be careful with these destructive inner thoughts of fame addiction you might have. Be on guard. Always when you have a big project you’re working on or when starting a new music project, someone with more talent, more affluence and more fame will come across your path to try and discourage you. Be careful that you don’t compare your ‘newly hatched’ creative work with someone who has years of experience and a little fame under their belt. In other words, don’t compare your rough sketch drawing to a Van Gogh painting. Don’t compare your newly laced track to the latest Timbaland beat. Yes, it’s good to make sure your sounds are up to par and to study technique, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about comparing yourself to those that are famous and doing it so much that you doubt yourself. If you’re a student or have been doing music for ten years, you have to allow yourself time to be ‘just OK’. You have to let yourself make mistakes, you must allow your inner artist room to grow without comparison or judgment.

When we wish for fame what we are really wanting is acknowledgment and love. We seek affirmation as artists, “Is my music really good? Do people understand me?” Many artists have achieved high levels of success without becoming famous. So if this is one of your goals: Become a famous musician. Than beware. Striving to become famous is the fame drug that can hurt you more than help you. Yes, of course being famous is good. But it should only be a by-product of first being true to yourself, and becoming amazing at what you do. Being able to create something new and fresh and innovative.  Wishing to attain fame only hinders this delicate process. How can you be true to yourself when you have one eye on your competition? How can you create something fresh when you’re worried about what people may think?

When on the fame drug, fame addiction sets in and you feel lost to it’s grip, discouragement leading to writer’s block then sets in. The best thing to do is go to your studio and create. Write a song, play with music production, sing, rap or write a song. Creativity for the pure love of art is the only thing that can snap you back to reality.

Music success is not fame. Music success is when you are doing what you love every day. Music success looks different on everyone – your success is not going to be another’s success. Every day make time to pat yourself on the back for staying focused, playing, practicing – reward yourself with every little step of progress. This is your personal music success.

Remember, 85% of people do not know how to stay focused and keep moving forward no matter what the obstacles in your path. You are among the 15% of successful musicians and music producers.

Tutorial: When Fame Addiction is a Block to Music Success
1) When listening, studying or watching other artists, identify the temptation to compare and stop the thinking patterns that follow. If possible, stop listening to others music the day or hours before working on your own music.
2) Go to your studio, turn everything on and just start. No matter what your mind tries to tell you, stick it out. Its like going to the gym. The first 15 minutes you fight with ‘why am I here, I can’t stand this, this is boring, etc’. But after 15 minutes it changes to ‘I forgot how much I love this, this feels great, so glad I stuck to it’. So it is the same with music. Just turn it on and keep going.
3) Read articles and books, watch movies and videos that encourage your goals and creativity – no matter how different they are from those around you. Make a note of info that discourages you or brings ‘comparison thoughts’. Being mindful of these things during a music project, song, deadlines, etc will help keep you creative and inspired.

If there is anything we can help you with, setup a free training consultation below.