Learning music production has never been more accessible than it is today, but it comes with a lot of challenges, obstacles, and traps that often result in a slow learning curve. You and I have ambitions and goals to achieve, so this is not an option. This is why in this blog, I will be sharing seven different ways for you to speed up your learning of music production in order to finally see the progress that you deserve.
The first one, and you might be surprised, is to use every medium of learning at your disposal—AKA books. Yes, they still exist! And before you skip to the next part, no, you don’t even have to pay for them. Libraries exist for that very reason, and trust me, they are very helpful. I’m thinking about masterclass books like The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook, Modern Recording Techniques, and Mastering Audio: The Art and Science. All these books are filled with gems in an organized and structured way, written by the biggest experts on the subject.
If you prefer reading on tablets or eBooks, you can still find most of those books in apps like Kindle. Another great book on my list is Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers. Here’s a little cool secret for you—it’s given for free as a PDF on the Ableton website. Instead of being $150, it’s completely free! I’ve included a link for you to grab it. It’s not sponsored or affiliated, just me genuinely sharing a cool resource with you. Next to it, you will also find a list of all the books I have read or recommend, so check that out if you’re interested.
The second tip I have for you is to learn from the best. Let me explain it simply: your goal is probably to get to the point where you can make a professional-sounding track and be considered a real artist, right? Then just remix songs. Pick songs from your favorite artists that you would love to be able to produce and think are the best. The idea here is that it’ll push your ear to analyze every single aspect of that song—what is the arrangement, any tricks in the intro or the build-up, which instruments the artist has chosen and for what purpose. But that’s not all. It will also push your ear to find ways to recreate the exact same sound through mixing or sound design and will teach you a lot of different production techniques.
For it to be really efficient, here’s how you’re going to do it: pick 12 songs and aim to remake one per month for the next year. I guarantee your own music skills will shoot through the roof after that.
The next strategy to learn faster is to use the 80/20 rule. This might sound complex, but it’s pretty simple. Watching tutorials might feel productive because you’re learning, but overwatching them might actually hurt you more than you think. At the beginning, you need more quantity to achieve quality, and that starts by actually doing—practicing and implementing what you learn in those tutorials. You need to make that lead preset you saw in a tutorial to really understand how it works. You also need to add those synth layers to understand how all the layering works together.
This is where the 80/20 rule comes in. Aim to spend 20% of your time watching tutorials and taking notes, and 80% producing in your DAW. As Ed Sheeran said, it takes about 10,000 hours to truly master a skill. You just have to put in the hours, roll up your sleeves, and do the hard work.
Without the next step, though, you might neglect a major part of the equation. One of the biggest struggles for self-taught music producers is the lack of an organized and structured way to learn or learn in the right order. We just don’t know what we’re going to need. Here is a structure or a plan to follow: one thing I used to do was keep track of every tutorial I needed to watch in a Google Sheet to have everything organized by categories. For music production, it could be music theory, composing, arrangement, mixing, mastering, business, or marketing. The idea is to be more intentional about what you focus your time on, depending on the category you want to work on.
If you still need help to cut through the noise and choose the right resources, I’ve compiled everything into this website for you. Instead of spending hours searching the internet for the right information, I’ve done it for you. Just follow this plan with actionable steps throughout. This website is meant to give you clarity, direction, and help to produce and finish more songs. If that interests you, there will be a link for you to check it out.
Next is my favorite technique, the Feynman Technique. The basic idea here is that teaching what you learn to others helps you deeply understand and grasp the concepts yourself. Einstein also said, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” When I started learning music production, starting a YouTube channel was the best thing I could have done, even though I didn’t know it at the time.
To implement this in real life, join communities with other producers on platforms like Facebook groups, Reddit, or Discord servers. Share tips and tricks you’ve learned and verify your knowledge by answering questions. You should be able to explain it very simply, even to a five-year-old. If you can’t, it means you don’t understand it enough and need to go back and learn more.
Giving feedback to other producers is another underrated aspect that most skip, yet it is so important. We need to train our ears to recognize what sounds good, what should be loud, and how instruments should be panned for a professional sound. Joining Discord servers and giving feedback every week can immensely help develop your ear. Many music producer servers have feedback rooms.
Lastly, let’s talk about the easiest strategy, which is to ask for help. While being a completely self-taught producer is possible, it’s not the fastest or easiest way. Grabbing online courses can save you time, help you avoid mistakes, and give you a better structure to learn. Some courses I recommend are from Studio (previously Monthly), particularly by Kygo, Blanks, and Charlie Puth. These skyrocketed my skills in just 30 days.
If you can’t afford courses yet, here are three tips: wait for sales, grab discounts from influencers, or find ways to invest in yourself. Sell your services on Fiverr, save birthday money, or start a side job. Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do.
The bonus tip? Learning music production is a mental game, not a technical one. It requires time, patience, hard work, and self-discipline. Arrange your life around your creative passion and prioritize it. Overcoming excuses and challenges is up to you.
While these seven strategies are important, there’s always more to learn. Keep growing, and I’ll see you in the next blogpost!
