Welcome to my 30 Day Journal experiment.  Below are 3 of the 30 videos available in my full Ableton video collection. Over the course of 30 days I forced myself to record at least 30 minutes of producing everyday journaling my full creative process for 2 songs and a DJ mix. I also show you how to take a song from within or outside of Ableton and prepare it for live performance.

Be aware that due to the volume of video material I’ve recorded (20 or more hours), there are no zooms or tricky video effects. I am also aware that there may be some imperfections & volumes may fluctuate with my voice from video to video. In this case I’m going for a wealth of content instead of perfection. It is recommended that you enlarge this video to fullscreen for best results. Enjoy and please share this with your friends through word of mouth, email, Twitter & Facebook. I’d like to share this free content with as many people as possible.

Day 1 (Song 1 begins)

Download completed songs & the Mix at the links below(right click and save):

Song 1

Song 2

Jason Timothy – DJ Mix August 2010

Final thoughts:

Realize the songs & dj mix were not abandoned at the point of perfection as reaching that can require far more than 30 days. Also be aware that reaching a level of satisfaction instead of perfection may be just the discipline you need. I know many people who spend years on their work and by the time it’s close to perfect, they realized it now sounds outdated to them thus starting the cycle all over again.
At the end of the day, completing your creative works takes a level of skill, patience and most importantly confidence. If you can’t muster the confidence in your work, you’ll never be able to say “This is finished”.
I took a huge gamble when starting this 30 day video journal. I had no idea what I would accomplish, if anything. I had no idea if I would be well received as I stumbled through each day trying to share an honest reflection of my creative process. I knew I would be far from perfect and that I would have several of my weaknesses exposed for all to see.
For me, this was a test of will, persistance and courage. I completed the challenge and I came out alive on the other side. As a sidenote I’ve pushed my comfort zone out quite a bit and have become less resistant to facing my fears. I want to thank you all for the support and the positive feedback. I hope this process has inspired you to have the confidence to create and complete your work.

Special thanks to Nick from NicksTutorials.com for loaning me the space and bandwidth to make this possible. I highly recommend you stop by his site. His Ableton tutorials are fantastic and he has loads of free vids as well.

For those who are interested, all the songfiles, samples and final mixes of the songs available immediately if you decide to order this full collection   (you’ll need version 8.1.3). The full collection will soon be priced at $79 but is reduced to $59 for a limited time. (Keep in mind that the songs used for the DJ Mix are not included due to obvious legal reasons).

I hope you enjoyed this 30 day experiement.

Happy Music Making

Jason

P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).
All your feedback & support is appreciated!

30 Day Music Production Video

If you've ever wanted to look over my shoulder while I make songs, THIS is the collection for you! In this collection you get me producing 2 full songs and a DJ mix from start to finish over a 30 day period. I take you through the good the bad and the ugly. It's the most honest video collection I've ever made. It includes every Ableton songfile for each day, every sample used and about 20 hours of Video(Video is being edited and will be delivered once complete). It also includes mixdowns of the 2 completed songs and DJ Mix.

Ultimate Ableton Collection 1

A must for anyone new to Ableton or wanting to dive deeper into the depth of this program. Over 4 hours of the most in depth yet easy to follow tutorials on the market!

Ultimate Ableton Collection 2

This collection makes an incredible companion to the first collection and gets into the newest features in Ableton. There are also 20 professional custom drum kits and a full Drum Racks replication of Roland's famous R-70 drum machine.

Advanced Warping Collection

This collection is a must for DJ's and remixers! If you find yourself warping full songs on a regular basis, you are going to run into warping issues that can really bring your production to a halt. These simple secrets will get you past that with ease and back to doing what you do best.

Dj'ing and Performance Collection

A must for anyone wanting to DJ or perform live in Ableton. Includes 17 in-depth Videos on Warping, Organizing files, Setting up midi controllers (including APC40) and lots more! As a Free bonus, it also includes my Ebook "Mixing with your Mind - Make your best DJ Mix".

Ableton Remixing Walkthrough

New Reduced Price (from $37)! For those who want to see exactly how I approach a remix. From editing the original sounds, to dropping them into Ableton and building ideas. Then adding to these ideas to compliment the original material and finally working it all into a song. All edits, effect settings, automation, and arranging procedure is included in the information packed video collection. (Now with a bonus 2 hour video walkthrough with songfile)

Producer's Deluxe Collection

Get all 3 of my full video Collections (Ultimate Collections 1 and 2 and Advanced Warping Collection) Producers Deluxe Collection

Ultimate Drum Machine Samples

This is a gold mine of sample collections from 70 vintage drum machines. This varies from the most popular to the obscure. All kits made into Drum Rack presets that are easily installed to your library. For a full list click on the title link or picture to the left. This collection will easily give you every sound you could need for electronic drums. If you are looking for THAT sound, I guarantee you'll find it here!

The importance of a reference CD for mixing

Are you in the market for a new pair of monitor speakers for your studio? Are you going to be working in other studios with monitors that are unfamiliar too you?
Have you ever mixed music on an unfamiliar set of Monitors only to find out later that the speakers exagerated the highs or lows, and now your mix sounds muddy or dull?

How do you tune your ears and get the perfect mix in most studio environments without spending any extra money?

I have been introduced to a fantastic way to solve this issue. After reading Michael Stavrou’s “Mixing with your mind” . I had a huge “aha” moment that has never left me. I will admit upfront that I’ve been a bit lazy about what I am going to share, so commiting to this will be a challenge we can all share. Also I figured that this tip is too valuable to not write about. I certainly am accustomed to having reference songs when I am mixing but I haven’t quite taken it to this level. I look forward to us sharing our collective results sometime in the future.

Reference CD
A reference CD should be a collection of preferably unmastered songs that you know a mixed well. since you know your reference CD really well, you will easily be able to distinguish the differences in monitor systems. some may be a bit brighter, some may be a bit darker but you will now have a reference that tells you when a song is mixed just right. This will really come in handy when you work in others studios, or when you move my studio to a different location. Also if you ever help someone set up their studio, your reference CD can reveal what placement works best for their monitor speakers.

Somebody else’s reference CD would most likely be useless to you as you really need to have a close relationship with each song on the CD. You need to have heard it enough times to immediately be able to pick up on a control room’s strengths and weaknesses. You and only you will know how your reference CD should sound. As you become more and more comfortable with this CD of yours, you will want to hear it on as many systems as possible. Each new environment will teach you more about the room you are working in and also about the subtleties of your reference CD itself.

advantages of a reference CD

*regardless of the sound of your monitor speakers, you know what a good mix is supposed to sound like in that studio

*It beats lugging around a ton or gear everytime you have a project outside of your own studio

*Enormous time saved in discovering advantages and disadvantages in an unfamiliar studio environment.

*This can save you alot of unnecessary spending on new gear.

How to create a reference CD:

The songs you use for your reference CD are very important, but only you can determine which songs fit the bill. Create a collection of your best unmastered mixes. Mastered material is not a realistic sound that comes out of a mixing studio. Masters have a risk of making you play the loudness game on your mixes, over EQ’ing andovercompressing. You also run the risk of your mastered material masking the transients you are going for. It’s important to use your own mixes because you will be familiar with all the little nuances that’ll reveal the most to you. If you have no mixes of your own that you are yet proud of, you might consider using mastered material just as a more general reference, but once this leads you to better sounding mixes, ditch the mastered song as your reference. You will only need small 60 second-90 second clips of each song you use. 6-8 songs should be plenty. Some songs should reveal the accuracy in the highs while others might be a good way to test how much extra reverb the room is creating. Another song could reflect the dimension or imagery of the room. Still another might reveal the best location to pick up accurate bass response. The better you know your CD, the easier it will be to familiarize yourself with the strengths and weaknesses of the room.

Once you have made your CD, you want to listen to it in as many professional studios as you can. Most studios will be happy to show off their control room if they think you may be a potential customer. Soak in all of that information. The more studios your hear your CD in the better. Make sure to make this the first thing you do when you walk into a new studio. You don’t want your ears to have too much time to adjust to the new environment. When you come back to your home studio, you may find you want to make some adjustments to your own monitor placement and settings. Also NEVER play your reference CD in a home system or a car stereo system. This will only stand to ruin your perspective of what sounds professional and what doesn’t.

Dial in your monitors:

Although I haven’t yet used a reference CD to it’s full extent described above, I have used reference songs in another way.

Everyone hears a bit differently, and everyone has a certain amount of tolerance of different frequencies. When I am using an unfamiliar set of monitor speakers, or working in a new location, I will play a reference song to hear how the speakers sound. Although I know, for example, that the hi-hats on this reference song sounds perfect to my tastes, it may come across through these speakers as too harsh or bright, or too dull. If this is the case, I will see if the speakers have EQ adjustments on them for highs or lows and adjust them until it sounds good to my ears. Alternatively, I can make small adjustments to a master EQ on the master track of my Digital Audio Workstation (Ableton, Cubase, Pro Tools etc). By doing this, I will have a better idea of when a certain frequency is right. Once the mix sounds great to my ears, I will turn off the master EQ and then mix the song down.

Before trying this technique myself, I would find my mixes were sounding a bit on the dull or muddy side. This is simply because my ears are pretty sensitive to high frequencies, so I wouldn’t mix them quite as loud as I should have for a great sounding mix.

Be very careful with this technique as it doesn’t take much to lose more than you gain. Small adjustments on a medium to wide Q can be all you need. If you find yourself changing your EQ by anymore then 2-3 DB, you may want to consider purchasing another pair of speaker monitors after all.

I hope you are able to use these tips to improve your mixing results and save you money or at least give you some things to consider before you fork over your cash needlessly.

Happy music making,

Jason

P.S. – Don’t forget to comment & tweet (down below) & “like” (up above).
All your feedback & support is appreciated!

Ultimate Ableton Collection 1

A must for anyone new to Ableton or wanting to dive deeper into the depth of this program. Over 4 hours of the most in depth yet easy to follow tutorials on the market!

Price: $37

Ultimate Ableton Collection 2

This collection makes an incredible companion to the first collection and gets into the newest features in Ableton. There are also 20 professional custom drum kits and a full Drum Racks replication of Roland's famous R-70 drum machine.

Price: $37

Advanced Warping Collection

This collection is a must for DJ's and remixers! If you find yourself warping full songs on a regular basis, you are going to run into warping issues that can really bring your production to a halt. These simple secrets will get you past that with ease and back to doing what you do best.

Price: $17

Dj'ing and Performance Collection

A must for anyone wanting to DJ or perform live in Ableton. Includes 17 in-depth Videos on Warping, Organizing files, Setting up midi controllers (including APC40) and lots more! As a Free bonus, it also includes my Ebook "Mixing with your Mind - Make your best DJ Mix".

Price: $37

Ableton Remixing Walkthrough

New Reduced Price (from $37)! For those who want to see exactly how I approach a remix. From editing the original sounds, to dropping them into Ableton and building ideas. Then adding to these ideas to compliment the original material and finally working it all into a song. All edits, effect settings, automation, and arranging procedure is included in the information packed video collection. (Now with a bonus 2 hour video walkthrough with songfile)

Price: $27

Producer's Deluxe Collection

Get all 3 of my full video Collections (Ultimate Collections 1 and 2 and Advanced Warping Collection) Producers Deluxe Collection

Price: $59

Ultimate Drum Machine Samples

This is a gold mine of sample collections from 70 vintage drum machines. This varies from the most popular to the obscure. All kits made into Drum Rack presets that are easily installed to your library. For a full list click on the title link or picture to the left. This collection will easily give you every sound you could need for electronic drums. If you are looking for THAT sound, I guarantee you'll find it here!

Price: $37