I think we’ve all heard every single producer and songwriter on the planet talk about how important it is to be in the studio as much as possible if you want to be successful in this business. However, the point that always gets lost is well…the point of it all. Your goal shouldn’t be to just make a beat/song a day. Your goal is become a better producer/songwriter.
You see a lot of these challenges on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook of producers taking on the 30 day or 90 day challenge of posting a new beat everyday. The exercise has many facets that are lost when it comes to these challenges. For one, making a beat everyday even for a year doesn’t guarantee you a major placement even if you post a new beat video everyday. In fact, that shouldn’t even be your focus when it comes to these challenges given that even after 365 new beats your sound design, arrangement, musicality, and more importantly your network may still not be where it needs to be to even get a placement with a local artist. One of the purposes of these challenges is that it forces you to develop a much better workflow. One of the reasons you’re seeing such a huge influx of sound packs, drum kits, and midi packs is that producers are rushing to speed up their workflow. Using these packs helps them capture their ideas so that they can move on to the next one.
One of the prime examples of this is Internet Money’s very own Nick Mira. Nick has posted videos of him making an entire beat from scratch in ten minutes, and not that’s no exageration. He literally, had a blank template and at the 9:28 mark in the video has a complete beat. Granted, some may not think that the beat was one of the best they ever heard, but the point that gets lost here is not that he made it in 10minutes but small tricks that allowed him to move so fast. What watchers should have gotten from that video was how organized his drum kits were, how his favorite presets were already selected when he opened certain VSTs, and how his mixing channels already had the certain plugins ready to go. He’s the prime example of what perfecting your workflow looks like.
I, myself, have implemented a lot of tricks I’ve learned from watching Cardiak, SOUTHSIDE, Nick Mira, and countless other producers who don’t mind showing their screens as they make their beats. I can make a beat in 15 minutes no doubt, but every time I learn something new I work on implementing that thing into my workflow. Weather its arrangement, mixing, or even how I organize my sound library. Inspiration comes and goes as fast as lightning and making a beat a day will help you capture it.
However, it doesn’t mean that you’re any good…….yet.
