Post on 24-Mar-2016
description
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2 3
About Mike Monday -> 5
Introduction -> 7
#1/ Do Something, #2/ Be Prolific -> 9
#3/ Be The Change -> 10
#4/ Be Yourself Not Someone Else -> 11
#5/ Think About Why Before What -> 12
#6/ Less Is More -> 13
#7/ Trust Your Ears (Not Your Speakers)
-> 14
#8/ Your Tools Define You -> 15
#9/ How to Become a Better Musician
-> 16
#10/ The Difference Between Good and
Great -> 17
#11/ Make the Same Music More Effective
-> 18, 19
#12/ Stop Compressing Everything -> 20,
21, 22
#13/ How to Approach the Bass End
-> 23, 24
Index#14/ Make Mistakes and Learn -> 25
#15/ Defeat Fear with One Question
-> 26
4 5
Mike Monday is the inspirational coach
who works with musicians and entrepre-
neurs who consistently want to perform at
their best.
It is his mission to help creative people live
the life they want to lead, not the life they
think they should. He does this using his
intimate knowledge of the creative pro-
cess combined with the Neuro-Linguistic
Programming tools and techniques he has
studied as a qualified NLP Practitioner.
After getting a degree from Oxford Uni-
versity in 1994, he immediately embarked
on his own creative journey and at 38 has
already had a successful career as an
electronic musician.
Well known in the electronic music world
for his unique approach, he has produced
and released over 250 tracks & 3 albums
and performed in over 20 countries. As
a fiercely independent creator he owned
three record labels and ran his own music
publishing company. He is also considered
to be a pioneer in engaging and reaching
out to his fans through new digital media.
It is this work connecting and communicat-
ing with other creative people worldwide
that finally led him to his real passion and
purpose:
Making a difference in the lives of those
who make a difference through NLP and
coaching.
He currently lives in London, UK with his
beautiful wife and son.
About Mike Monday
6 7
Introduction
What follows contains much of what I have learnt from 17
years of writing and producing well over 250 pieces of
commercially released electronic music.
It's largely made up of articles I wrote for my website
through the first half of 2011, although I have written some
extra pieces for it and edited others.
It is a mixture of music production advice, ideas on improv-
ing your creative process and some less specific motiva-
tional and inspirational stuff.
I hope you get as much from it as I got from writing it. To get
more of the same, feel free to sign up for my free regular
email updates.
Mike Monday
London, July 2011
8 9
#1/ Do Something #2/ Be ProlificThirty Things EveryMusic ProducerShould Know... I've met a lot of budding music producers
who tell me they need to learn more
before they finish or release anything.
They say they need to go to college, do a
course or read more books.
While these are undeniably useful
activities, experience is the best teacher.
Do something, and you'll learn a lot.
Learn a lot, and you'll do nothing.
When you're prolific you have less control.
You're less certain. Less safe.
But you gain momentum. You feel more
inspired, more alive.
Which would you rather be?
10 11
We don't need another Richie Hawtin.
We don't need another Aphex Twin.
We don't need another Deadmau5, Skream,
Joris Voorn, Carl Craig, Four Tet, DJ Sneak,
Tiesto, Booka Shade, Jimpster, Flying Lo-
tus, Luciano, James Murphy, Matthew Dear,
Mr Scruff, Royksopp, Dubfire, Underworld,
Sasha or David Guetta. (We certainly don't
need another David Guetta.)
While I wholeheartedly subscribe to the
idea that talent imitates but genius steals
and have this up on my studio wall:
"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere
that resonates with inspiration or fuels your
imagination. Devour old films, new films,
music, books, paintings, photographs, po-
ems, dreams, random conversations,
Why do you conform?
To be accepted by your peers? To be
part of a tribe? To be respected by your
teachers?
But what if you don't?
Shock your peers. Lead a tribe. Challenge
your teachers.
"You must be the change you want to see in
the world." Mahatma Gandhi
architecture, bridges, street signs, trees,
clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows.
Select only things to steal from that speak
directly to your soul. If you do this, your
work (and theft) will be authentic. Authen-
ticity is invaluable; originality is non-exist-
ent. And don't bother concealing your
thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In
any case, always remember what Jean-Luc
Godard said: "It's not where you take things
from - it's where you take them to."" - Jim
Jarmusch
The key here is
"it's where you take them to".
We don't need another someone else.
What we need is you.
#4/ Be Yourself Not Someone Else#3/ Be The Change
12 13
#5/ Think About Why Before What #6/ Less Is More
The Fear loves a blank canvas. They're
best buddies. Show them who's boss by
deciding "why" before "what". It will save
you hours of frustration.
Where do you want it to be heard? Which
situations do you imagine it being played?
Who will hear it?
Is it a means of self-expression which only
you'll experience?
Be honest with yourself. You might think "I
don't care about playing it to anyone else",
but that sounds suspiciously like The Fear
talking. If you have an inkling you might
want to put it out there, acknowledge that
and go for it. Don't pretend you're just do-
ing it for fun. Because if you're doing it
right, often it won't be fun.
Less musical parts have more sonic impact.
It might seem counter-intuitive but if you
want your music to sound big, add less.
With fewer parts, each have more space in
the mix and sound more powerful.
When you think you've finished a track,
play a section and mute each part in turn.
Is it there for a reason? Does it make any
difference? Or is it just pointless fluff?
You might find that muting it does make
a difference: the music's better without it.
If it's better without, get rid of it (obvi-
ously). If it doesn't make much difference,
get rid of it. If you're not sure about it, get
rid of it. Be ruthless.
Don't fudge it and add stuff to a section
that's not working just to cover it
By thinking about your purpose it's easi-
er to overcome the moments of creative
"stuckness" that everyone experiences.
And crucially, with a clear outcome in
mind at the start you'll know where the
end is, when to get it out the door and
when you can move on.
up. If it's not working, you've either got the
wrong part(s) or sound.
You don't need more, you need different.
14 15
#7/ Trust Your Ears (Not Your Speakers)
If you haven't spent a small fortune on
the best studio monitors and acoustically
treating your room (or even if you have),
the best way to make sure your final mix
is right is by checking it on a wide variety
of systems, speakers and headphones.
Check it in your mate's studio, on the
crappy ghetto blaster in the kitchen, your
car stereo, your computer speakers (espe-
cially on these - a lot of people will first
hear your music on something like them),
if you DJ try it out in a club, on your iPod
through those terrible white in-ear head-
phones - listen to it everywhere.
I used to have just two sets of speakers in
my studio. But when I checked my music
elsewhere I was always shocked at how
different it sounded. I'd got too used to
hearing it in the best possible studio envi-
ronment. But most of the time most people
(including me) won't hear my music in my
studio on my speakers. So now I have three
extra sets in here, all of them crappy, and
I still check stuff in my kitchen, car and
shower.
While it might not be the best idea to
completely mess with your mix because
it sounds weird on your grandad's old
Walkman, if there's anything blatantly not
working make a note and adjust.
Apart from the useful perspective you'll
only get from listening in different en-
vironments, if your music sounds great
on everything (especially the most awful
speakers) you'll know you've nailed it.
#8/ Your Tools Define You
You can make music that sounds like
anything from an acid house pioneer
to a zither player. Isn't that great?
No. Because when you're able to sound
like anything, you often end up sounding
like nothing in particular.
A limitless sonic palette is a dangerous
thing.The best artists are masters at
limiting themselves to tools, techniques
and processes which make them
distinctive. And in a saturated market
being distinctive is half the battle.
Don't buy the latest kit just because you've
heard that it's amazing or that this hero of
yours uses it. These machines are merely
your tools; what matters is what you do
with them.
Look at what you've got now and how you
can express yourself with it.
There's already more at your fingertips
than the greatest musicians of all
time ever had.
Find a synth, VST plugin, sampler, control-
ler or whatever and focus on it exclusively
until you know it inside out. Try writing a
tune on it alone. Or even an entire album.
This will force you to use it creatively and
you'll find your own way of using
it which will be uniquely yours.
16 17
#9/ How to Become a Better Musician
Get out of your bubble. Take off those
blinkers. Listen widely. Because if you al-
ways listen to mediocre music, you'll only
ever make music that's mediocre.
Cheap technology means that there's now
more mediocre (ok - let's be honest - ter-
rible) electronic music out there than ever.
In fact there might be more terrible elec-
tronic music now than terrible anything
else.
But don't settle for ordinary and aver-
age just because you're surrounded by it.
By confining yourself you're missing out.
There's a world of amazing music out
there waiting to be plundered for ideas,
inspiration and perspective. Don't dismiss
it. This is music, not a religion.
If you don't already, pick a genre you're
unfamiliar with and look it up on Wikipe-
dia for it's classic albums.
Then listen to just one of them a week.
Just one of them. Once. Who knows, you
might even like it. But if you don't, you'll
certainly learn from it.
By making the effort to broaden your ho-
rizons not only will you learn more fast,
you'll have a massive advantage over many
other producers who obsessively listen to
music from their minute sub-genre.
I've made my living from writing electronic
music for the last 17 years. I'm not put-
ting it down, I love it. The best of it easily
stands up to the best of anything else. But
I've learnt more from the masters in other
genres than the masters in my own.
#10/ The Difference Between Good and Great
A good producer and a great producer have the same number of ideas -
some good, some great.
But a great producer will know the difference.
18 19
#11/ Make the Same Music More Effective
The individual parts are great. They work
together beautifully. But you've still got a
niggling feeling that the whole is less than
the sum of its parts. Face it. It sounds flat
and boring. Why?
Your music lacks contrast. There's no light
and shade. Contrast creates tension and
release, the driving force of music.
Without it your music will sound lifeless, no
matter how brilliant the parts.
I learnt this from Nirvana. The first time
I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" I was
blown away. Two contrasting sections -
the sparse laid back verse and the heavy
distorted chorus. Extremely simple yet
unbelievably effective. In much club music
there's often a slight nod to contrast in the
form of a break. The rhythm comes out.
Everyone's supposed to put their hands in
the air and then (usually with an almighty
woosh) the rhythm come crashing in again.
But there are more interesting ways you
can create contrast.
Remove almost everything
Taking stuff out is often more effective
than slamming in with everything you've
got. Not only does it make for a huge mo-
ment, it gives you somewhere to go.
Add harmonic changes
If you've got a section which stays on the
same note, add some chord changes. Or
if you already have some, do the opposite
(or change them).
Change instrumentation
How often do you hear tracks which have
exactly the same instrumentation all the
way through? If you're stuck while you're
writing something try switching it up a bit
and change a load of the sounds. This
can also work really well if you have new
sounds playing the same parts.
Simple to complex
If you make one section that's rhythmical-
ly, harmonically and/or melodically simple
then make another that's more complex
(or vice versa). You'll end up with a piece
of music that sounds technicolour, not
black and white.
20 21
#12/ Stop Compressing Everything
The music production subject I'm asked
most about is compression. So here's my
number one piece of advice: Stop using it.
Well at least stop compressing absolutely
everything because it's most likely sucking
the life out of your music.
Compression 101Here's Wikipedia on compression:
"In simple terms, a compressor is an au-
tomatic volume control. Using downward
compression, loud sounds over a certain
threshold are reduced in level while quiet
sounds remain untreated.
Upward compression involves making
sounds below the threshold louder while
the louder passages remain unchanged.
Both reduce the dynamic range of an au-
dio signal.
This may be done for aesthetic reasons or
to deal with technical limitations of audio
equipment, which is seldom able to cope
with the dynamic range the human ear can
tolerate."
So put even more simply:
# dynamic range refers to the difference
between the loud and the soft bits
# compressors make the loud bits softer
and the soft bits louder
# compressors reduce the dynamic range
of whatever they are applied to
The secret no one tells you
Strictly speaking, if you mainly produce
music in a computer (and at the time of
writing most reading this will), you don't
need to use a compressor in most situa-
tions. This is because the dynamic range
of a VST plugin isn't anywhere near as
great as a vocalist or live instrument.
Plus you can control the volume of a pro-
grammed part in a myriad of other ways
before you should reach for a compressor.
Dynamics = life
But doesn't putting something through a
compressor make it more powerful?
Well, for various complicated scientific
reasons to do with the way the human
ear perceives sound, it may appear to be
louder, but whether it's more powerful is
debatable, especially if you're
compressing everything.
Dynamics give your music life. Differences
in volume will make your music more sub-
tle, expressive, and ultimately stand out.
Isn't that "more powerful"?
When to use compression
I'm not anti-compression persay. I'm just
anti- "compressing everything at mixdown
to within an inch of it's life just because
you think you should or because everyone
else does".
Compressors are a necessary and useful
tool in music production. But they are also
the tool which is most overused and mis-
understood.
But here's some situations where you
should consider getting your compressor
out (or more likely loading it up).
# On live or analogue parts. If you've got
a vocalist, live instrument or an analogue
synths in a track, a compressor is often
essential.
# To create contrast between compressed
and uncompressed parts. Heavily com-
22 23
press a part or parts to make them stand
out from the rest of the track which isn't.
# In sound design. A compressor can be a
useful tool for sculpting a sound.
# In side-chain compression. Where you
set the compressor to affect a part (like a
pad), and another part (like a kick) deter-
mines when the compressor kicks in. This
is how you get that (all too) popular "suck-
ing" sound.
It's also often used to make vocals stand
out without having to turn them up.
# In parallel compression. Where you send
various parts to a compressor (usually at a
high setting) and feed the resulting signal
back into the mix. I often use this tech-
nique as you tend to get a much more
"transparent" (i.e. you don't notice it so
much) result.
So before you reach for that compressor
just think about it.
You might be using samples that are al-
ready compressed.
The VST plugins you're using may have
compressors built in. When you master
your track it will be compressed again.
And if you get your music onto radio or
in a club it will be compressed yet again.
So if you over-compress everything at mix-
down stage too it's going to sound awful.
Ok that's my rant over. Just please promise
me you'll stop it?
#13/ How to Approach the Bass End
I've been asked how to make fat basses by
a lot or people. And I get the impression
that they want a step by step guide on
what synth or VST plugin to use and how
to compress and EQ it.
But that would be misleading.
I've used as many methods to produce
fat bass sounds as I've made tracks. What
works in one situation won't work in an-
other. So I'm not going to give you a step
by step anything.
Instead I want you to focus on something
else. If your bass isn't working as well as
you'd like, you're almost certainly looking
in the wrong place for the solution. Instead
of obsessing about the bass itself, listen to
what's going on around it.
Find it and forget it
No matter what level you're at or what
gear you're using you will already have
more than enough to make an awesome
bass sound.
(Hint - its hard to beat a simple sine wave.)
So play with what you've got and when
you find a bass sound you like, leave it.
You don't have to love it, it's not your girl-
friend.
Give it room
Now listen to what else is playing. You might
have a kick drum, lo tom or some other
bass-y noise playing in the same frequen-
cy range. At best this will make your bass
less effective. At worst it's going to clash.
24 25
#14/ Make Mistakes and Learn
No one likes making mistakes. But are you
scared of them? Maybe so scared that you
won't do something in order to avoid them?
Don't be scared. Because a mistake is your
best chance to learn.
Accept responsibility for a mistake. Work
out why or how you made it. And you'll be
highly unlikely to make it again. And don't
let your fear of mistakes stop you.
Expect mistakes. Don't be afraid of them.
Learn.
"A life spent making mistakes is not only more
honorable, but more useful than a life spent
doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw
So what do you do about it? First off for-
get about the bass sound. You like
it remember?
Twiddling allowed here
Change the kick sound. Take out that tom.
Or use EQ to roll off a little bass end from
each. Tweak or change whatever might
interfere with your bass until it shines
through.
I know it's sometimes hard to let go of that
part or sound you really love, but do you
want your bass to sound amazing or not?
Make sure that the track still works when
that huge fat bass sound (that you've lov-
ingly done nothing to) isn't playing.
With enough time you'll be able to find
something that doesn't interfere with the
bass and still do it's job.
When you're happy, record what you've
done and check it on different speakers.
Then and only then go and tweak your bass
sound if it needs it. But I bet it doesn't.
Ok, if you insist...
I said I wasn't going to give you a step
by step anything, but I can tell you really
want one.
So here's my 3 step technique for how to
make your bass sound fat:
1. Find a bass sound you like
2. Give it room to breath
3. Done
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#15/ Defeat Fear With One Question
You're at the end of the creative pro-
cess. You're about to complete. But you
just can't get to the finish line. You keep
tweaking, perfecting and polishing. In fact
if you're honest with yourself, you're think-
ing of scrapping it all and starting over.
Sound familiar? Well don't worry, this
happens to everyone. Just stop and ask
yourself one simple question:
"If I finish this now and send it out into
the world, what's the worst that could hap-
pen?"
The answer is probably: Someone won't
like it.
Hmmm, but someone won't like it whatever
you make and however you feel about it.
And the negative repercussions of not
finishing are much worse for you and your
confidence than any amount of criticism.
So finish it. Send it out into the world.
Move on.
Because what's the best that might
happen? Well, you're never going to know
unless you finish it, are you?