Your current life is the result of all of your previous decisions. and the choices you make now will determine your future.
This philosophical value applies not only to your personal life, but also to your professional life.
I've made a number of mistakes myself and have seen others make some as a keen novice in the world of music production.
And, as an aspiring music producer, knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do.
Here is a list of common mistakes that people make in the early stages of their music production careers.
1. Ego is the enemy.
"Ego is the enemy of what you want and of what you have: Of master a craft. Of real creative insight. Of working will with others. Of building loyalty and support. Of longevity. Of repeating and retaining your success. It repulses advantages and opportunities. It's a magnet for enemies and errors. It is Scylla and Charybdis." - Ryan Holiday (Business Person & Author)
Does statements like "Why would I hire a lyricist when I can write lyrics myself?" or "Why Should I pay that mix engineer for mixing my track, when I could have done that for free?" sound familiar?
Many people make the mistake of wanting to take all of the credit by doing everything in a song. There's nothing wrong with it, and if it works for you, great.
However, you must take into account the fact that, in comparison to someone who has spent years honing their mixes, you, as a person who is able to write, compose, produce, record, mix, and master a track on your own, can't be that excellent of a mix engineer.
That one expert engineer spent years honing just one ability while you spend all your time honing several ones.
And as Bruce Lee once said "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
Although you might be nice at crafting the lyrics, the professional lyricist might be much more better.
The quality of your product will only increase by working with a pro. People will seek you out for their upcoming projects if you are one of those who produces high-quality products (in this case - songs or mix).
2. Not Finishing the projects.
I've been guilty of this and are so many of my fellow music producers. When you start producing a song, you're full of ideas. you're overwhelmed by the ideas that are coming out of your head. You can't believe what a genius you are.
and now you are so much into appreciation of this song and with your imagination, you have seen what the big picture would look like. And after playing the demo 600 times to your friends, you now lack the thrill to carry out the post production of the song.
You then decide to do it later and for now, you will start another song's production. But guess what, That later never comes. And 2 years down the line you have 0 songs released and need to buy a new hard disk as your old ones are
full of great but unfinished songs. If you follow the same path for long, that 2 years will eventually become 10 years with 0 songs released.
In order to avoid completing the task that you know you should be doing, you actively opt to do something else. And that is called Procrastination. Which could be a result of poor time management skills, lack of motivation, exhaustion or deep psychological reasons.
The only solution to this problem is to commit to the task at hand. Make it a standard for yourself that you will start another project after the one that at your hand is completed. Unless you're willing to deal with the consequences.
3. Not Knowing when and where to invest your cash in.
You're new and fresh into the world of music production and audio engineers. You've been visiting a lot of studios, collaborating with a lot of new artists and are mesmerized the equipment that they have.
Now you want that expensive microphones and preamps and studio monitors. but since you're a beginner, you lack that amount of knowledge and cash. So you decide to buy whatever cheap equipment you can get your hands on.
And this decision leads you towards you owning a studio with cheap and lower quality equipment.
And as you grow in your respective field and as your ears train, you begin to realize that your microphone sucks, and your speaker sucks harder in particular. Then kicks in the regret. And you realize that you should not have given up to your impulses.
Now, buying a piece of device is like a one time invest thing in the field of audio engineering. This is not something you buy or change everyday. as they are expensive and it takes time to adapt to a device such as microphone or speakers.
So make sure you really understand what your requirements are. do a detailed research in the market about the best product that fits your description and your finances.
4. Understanding the value of a recording studio.
Recording in a bedroom studio with minimum acoustic treatment and no expensive preamps will eventually lead to a muddy and unclear mix which will haunt you through your mixing session.
Whereas when you record in a professional recording studio that is acoustically treated and have good equipment will result in better quality product than when it was recorded at your home studio.
In this way you're going to meet a lot of new people. When I started bringing my clients to a recording studio often, the studio started giving me hourly discounts and clients are happier as they get to record in a professional environment.
Later I become one of their go to music producer that they can trust.
5. Not collaborating enough.
When you release your solo songs, you'll gain some audience, and that audience comes from your friends and their friends. But you're going to reach a saturation point after this as everyone who knows you have already heard your songs.
And this would be the best time for you to collaborate with some new artists. So that you both get a chance to impress each other's audience. More often than not, we tend to self reject ourselves, or we simply do not think as the idea of collaborating with other artists as beneficial as such.
But the fact is you'll get to learn a lot by collaborating with another artists.
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