1. Build your sample library
2. Pick good samples
3. Layer drum samples
4. Use transient shapers to add punch to drums
5. Stretch samples insane amounts and bounce them for weird effects
6. Try pitching or stretching samples, processing them, bouncing, stretching and processing again, etc. (resampling)
7. Make sure your “fades” aren’t automatically cutting the front of samples (Ableton users)
8. Use samplers to improve your workflow and audition/edit samples quickly
9. Don’t “overmix” samples that already sound great
10. Use bigger MIDI to get bigger sounding chords
11. Bounce things to audio as soon as you can
12. Cut reverb tails to tighten up your sound
13. Use group compression to add a bit of glue to your mix
14. Don’t let your drums miss out on the benefits of NY compression (parallel)
15. Remember that your abilities are more important than your plugins
16. Don’t work if you’re not feeling inspired
17. Take regular breaks to prevent ear fatigue
18. Monitor at low volumes to protect your ears
19. Monitor at low volumes to make sure that your music sounds great at reasonable levels
20. Know what key you’re in so that you can avoid clashing notes
21. Treat your room for acoustics if you’re using monitors
22. Bookshelves (filled with books) and soft furniture can help room acoustics
23. The “car test” is a fantastic way to check the club-integrity of your tracks
24. If you’re sending a track to mastering, don’t have any compression or limiting on the master bus
25. Keep peaks at -6 to -8 db when preparing a song for mastering
26. Only send labels and management your absolute best work
27. Finish everything
28. Release only your best tunes
29. Don’t be afraid to email your music out to blogs and promoters (if it’s good)
30. Pay more attention to the creative/musical aspects of your productions and pay less attention to the technicals
31. There are no rules, do what you want
32. Record your own random samples (especially weird percussion)
33. Let tracks sit for a week or two before you take another listen and finalize them
34. Make the music you want to hear
35. Never give up, you’re going to sound terrible for a very long time, but you’ll get where you need to be
36. Collaborate with people who are better than you are if you want to learn
37. Always be open to feedback, but use your judgment and take things with a grain of salt
38. Watch Twitch and other live streams to learn from other producers
40. Work outside or switch up your environment to spark new ideas
41. Cut lows that you don’t need in order to make room for the bass
42. Use saturation to thicken sounds instead of unnecessarily layering
43. Distort/saturate your subs if you want to give them a more prominent place in the mix
44. Use frequency key charts to match up fundamental frequencies (especially useful for sub boosting)
45. Use frequency charts to pinpoint where certain instruments and sounds are on the spectrum
46. Work on two projects at the same time so that you can easily bounce back and forth if you get stuck
47. Knowing how your monitors sound is more important than purchasing high quality listening equipment
48. Wear earplugs at concerts and festivals to protect your hearing for the studio
49. Don’t put any time into your branding until your music is fantastic
50. Focus on writing MIDI before you get too caught up in sound design
51. Structure your tracks before you dive in for a more planned approach
52. Use fast hi-hat patterns to give your songs more energy / a sped-up effect
53. Compress reverbs to make them more prominent and draw out the tails
54. Be sure to use sidechain compression if you want your kick to punch through the mix
55. You can also use volume automation programs like Nicky Romero’s Kickstart
56. Add life to your leads with pitch bending at the beginning of notes
57. Add movement to your leads with vibrato modulation on longer held notes
58. Use short stereo delays to widen your mix
59. Put a utility plugin on sub channels to keep them in the mono field
60. If you’re using mid/side eq, keep the highs on the side and the lows in the middle
61. Never give up, even if you hate your music
62. You will hate your music – keep pushing
63. Don’t worry about playing gigs until your music production is stellar
64. Kicks should have body at around 100Hz
65. Snares should have bod at around 200Hz
66. Network with as many producers as you can with the intention of learning new techniques and being mentored
67. Pull a reference track into each of your projects and use it constantly as a mix reference
68. Add vocals to your track when you can in order to give it a clear and powerful message
69.The best pitch-correcting is the tuning that you can’t hear without a/b comparison
70. Go to shows and concerts to get inspired and stay motivated
71. Be prepared to put a huge chunk of time into learning how to produce
72. Read the manual for your DAW and learn it inside and out
73. Make a list of production techniques that you keep constant in your mix in order to develop a sound
74. Make a list of creative techniques that you keep constant in your mix in order to develop a sound
75. Save presets you make for later use
76. Exercise regularly to keep your motivation and creative levels high
77. Keep a positive mental attitude
78. Don’t compare yourself to others in an unhealthy way…
79. … but don’t fool yourself into thinking that your music is great – reference other tracks
80. Don’t be afraid to delete instruments, tracks, or whole projects if something isn’t working
81. Use decaying white noise as a tail for your snares
82. Remove bass frequencies before any sort of climax (drop, chorus, etc.)
83. Use transient shapers on percussive synths
84. Less is more
85. Mute individual tracks in your project and determine whether or not they are needed
86. Give every instrument that you add a purpose in your song
87. Cut high frequencies on certain instruments if you need room for cymbals and crashes
88. Experimentation is the key to good sound design
89. Save or bounce processed and layered samples for later use
90. Close your eyes when listening back to something in order to focus more clearly
91. Listen as objectively as you can – listen as a first-time listener
92. Learn to play an instrument. This will give you something musical to do when you need a break from production
93. Listen to the iTunes top 100 charts to stay relevant and diversify your tastes
94. Remember that artists have succeeded on all digital workstations – stop switching your software and blaming your mixes on
plugins
95. Stop caring so much about your sonic quality and remember to make good music
96. Organize the tracks in your projects with grouping and intelligent naming
97. Organize your project files by name and type (finished, remix, collaboration, etc.)
98. Try moving volume faders around before using processing to fix an issue
99. Try deleting unnecessary tracks or completely re-making a sound before using processing to fix an issue
100. Sometimes you can add crowd noise in the background of your songs to help fill them out
101. Work as fast as you can when you’re inspired
102. Spending too much time on the details early on in a project is a sure fire way to get stuck
103. Try using smaller, shorter reverbs on bassy sounds and longer, bigger reverbson higher sounds
104. Listen to your favorite music and try to differentiate the different parts and break down how it’s built
105. If a certain technique doesn’t make intuitive sense to you, don’t use it indiscriminately
106. Sometimes, people on forums have absolutely no idea what they’re talking about
107. Work on your music every single day in order to rack up experience and improve quicker
108. Don’t use your age as an appeal, no one cares if you’re ten years old or thirty years old if the music is good
109. Creating remakes of other tracks (re-creating your favorite songs) can help you build an understanding of how they are put
together (and is great synthesis practice)
110. Work as an independent artist until you get an offer from management or a label that really blows you out of the water
111. Numbers don’t mean very much – focus on producing instead of increasing your Facebook page engagement
112. Automate everything you can if you want to breathe life into your tracks
113. Use contrast to differentiate drops and choruses (wet to dry, quiet to loud, no bass to huge sub, etc.)
114. Back up all of your projects – you will thank yourself later
115. Sometimes you have to account for the fact that you hate your music when comparing with reference tracks
116. Load weird samples into samplers and use them as instruments to get insane results
117. Add small shuffle elements to give your track a stronger groove
118. Only layer instruments if all of the layers are necessary and fit in their own spaces
119. Use vocoders with no external input to give sounds a more “wet” feel
120. Listen to LUMBERJVCK and try to get half of his production value
121. Try to tell a story with every song that you create
122. If you’re having a hard time getting creative on a certain day, build samples and presets to stay productive
123. Look out for when your favorite producers are conducting Q&A sessions
124. Try writing the drop/chorus of your song before the intro and breakdowns / builds
125. Trial and error is one of the most effective ways to improve
126. Use processing chains to transform basic sounds instead of trying to create complex synth patches
127. Pay attention to the flow of your song and the quality of your transitions
128. Downlaod Free EDM Kick Samples Pack here
129. Try everything on your tracks, even if you don’t think it will work in your head
130. Make a lot of different kinds of music until you find your strengths and your style
131. Focus on what you do well and amplify that (is it rhythm? Melodies? Structure?)
132. Reference your finished product on all kinds of listening systems
Conclusion
We hope that you found some tips and techniques that you had not seen before!
Leave a comment if you can think of a tip that we missed!
