I am creating a music production course. I need your opinion :)

[handbookofmagic]

Hey guys,

I am currently starting to develop a comprehensive electronic music production course. I would love to know from you guys what you'd think is the biggest sticking points for beginners. What should be covered in that course? What is something that's often missing in tutorials or courses?

Thanks a ton!

[enroe]

I think too many EDM-musician-beginners start with a drum-loop
and then stick to that loop forever - and never surpass this loop.
So the capital question is:

"How to overcome the drumloop-disease?"

Or, the same thought in other words:
"Always start with a melody, not a drumloop!"

[Benedict]

Fear. Fear. Fear...

That leads to getting stuck in the loop pool (see what I did ) and endless obsession over genre and other formulas like those so willfully hammered in forums and on overly short (and always heavily edited) Tuts.

Good luck with that tho as that is far harder to sell than giving people exactly the wrong but easy to swallow advice all about following Tips & Tricks to achieve that exact genre formula that MC Shizzy Jizza is getting plays on Spotifry this month.

All the best and happy to help if you want my assistance.



p.s. I say this having been doing this for 10+ years https://benedictroffmarsh.com/tutorials ... guidebook/

[harvon]

I think too many EDM-musician-beginners start with a drum-loop
and then stick to that loop forever

I'm a cover and composer -beginner; never thought to start a piece out of a drum loop But I could believe that choosing where one starts will very much influence what one finishes with. Might be good to deliberately break the personal habits.

[Dasheesh]

stop telling young people to do what they are told.

[darreno]

I think if you're doing a beginner orientated course it would be helpfully to spend some time on goal setting and getting clear about their intentions, musically or career-wise and corresponding routes for further developing toward those goals.

[jeremyh]

Encourage getting comfortable with stock DAW devices so they don't get sucked into trying to improve their sound by buying plugin after plugin.

[frank1985]

Getting discouraged by poor mixes. Sometimes I just want to give up. It’s a long road from conscious incompetence to unconscious competence.

an unwillingness to experiment / find one’s own sound. I once tried using electric egg whiskers to strum a guitar. It didn’t quite work but it was a step in the right direction

[mguerrero90]

Well the importance of creating a good loop cannot be understated, its the main focus of the whole track. Dance music is meant to make you dance, sometimes melody is just a tool to have energy and keep the progression going, not really the whole point of the track.

[DJ Warmonger]

Well, it depends. For uplifting, I need to start with strong motiff. However, for psytrance main loop with good groove and punch is the key and the rest of the track could be just random noises. I guess similiar workflow applies to all non-melodic styles, like deep house or techno.

I would ask a different question: how to make main loop not boring?

[DMG68]

To take the time, and it takes a lot of time, to develop their skills to where they’ll be able to produce quality. Also, not to run after the ‘magic’ plugin that will make your production sound professional, that comes with the skills. The comment above about using stock DAW plugins (basic effects like eq, compression, saturation etc., instruments is a different story) is a good one. Now that I’ve spent time learning, and bought a set of 3rd party effects, I could get pretty much the same results on a mix with the stock cubase devices.

[Tom35]

You don;t need lots of plugins and effects to begin with. Just learn how to mix using levels and automation etc.

[Benedict]

Oh I forgot: teach people that doing absolutely everything makes absolutely no sense and is a pretty sure indicator for failure whereas the opposite is true.

Before you explode, look at successful people and you find that they specialize in the thing they are best at and bring in others to do what they are best at. So when you look at Bowie you were actually looking at Bowie, Ronson, Alomar, Eno, Fripp, Flowers, and an almost endless list of talented people he worked WITH. Same with Sting. Same with Pink Floyd. Same with Eminem...

Build relationships where a team of people do what they are best at so overall you deliver something that is greater than the parts. Not great at mixing, work with someone who is.