bedroom producer

From Jazz with Love: On Capturing the Moment

I love jazz. It’s no secret at this point. It didn’t use to be that way, though. For the longest time, I was very intimidated by it. The players’ skill and the complexity of the music was scary to a self-taught, alt-rock musician. I was trying to understand the music, but couldn’t. I thought it was show-offy and too complex for no goddamned reason. Then, at some point, it flipped. I started to enjoy it. I understood. I understood there was nothing to understand. Some sub-genres of jazz are quite intellectual and still too complex for my taste. But most… Read More »From Jazz with Love: On Capturing the Moment

Turning off Your Brain: The Key to Creative Decision Making?

Sleep. It’s a complicated topic. And one particularly close to creatives’ hearts. In my experience, we tend to come in two different groups: the big sleepers and the little sleepers. The ones that can go for a full circle around the clock after finishing something great, and the ones grabbing only a few hours before the crack of dawn, waiting for sunrise as they start working on something new. I lean towards that second category myself. By the way, when I say falling asleep in the studio, I don’t mean the post-session naps. You know, the ones you take on… Read More »Turning off Your Brain: The Key to Creative Decision Making?

Mastering Your Own Mixes? Think Again

Mastering your own mixes makes zero sense. There, I said it. I see so many young cats these days doing everything themselves. Everything. On the one hand, I’m proud of them for not being afraid. On the other, I resent them for not realising their mistake. Mastering your own tracks is the biggest de-service you can do them. There is a reason why we have mastering engineers. There’s also a reason why mastering studios cost a fortune to build. These days, though, none of that seems to matter anymore. Anyone with a laptop and a (cracked) license for Ozone will… Read More »Mastering Your Own Mixes? Think Again

The Only Secret to Writing Hit Songs.

Wow, now that’s the most clickbaity headline I’ve ever written in my short writing career. I apologise for this, but at the same time, I do believe in what I wrote in this title. Let me explain. What makes a hit song? There’s many a theory about that. Years ago, some lads even developed an algorithm to find out if your song was going to be big or not. It was called hitsongscience.com, and it’s not online anymore. The program considered parameters such as key, bpm, chord changes… Then it would compare it to a database of hit tunes. Weird,… Read More »The Only Secret to Writing Hit Songs.

Layers: A Brief Chat on the Lost Art of Arranging.

Arranging is a hard way to make a living these days. It used to be a proper craft, but people don’t even think about it anymore. Nowadays, it’s one of those things that, as a producer, you need to do, but don’t really get credit (or get paid) for. Yet you have to do it. A song without an arrangement is like a bloke who went out shopping for clothes. He bought loads of nice things, but he doesn’t have a clue about how to put them together into a coherent outfit. I don’t care who you are: if you… Read More »Layers: A Brief Chat on the Lost Art of Arranging.