Finish an EP in the next 30 days

 

Information overload

There is so much information out there for aspiring music producers.

Tips, Tricks, Techniques & Secrets galore.

A lot of money is being spent in DAWs, synths, effects, hardware & training in hopes that these will be the correct moves toward a path of success in music.

I am 100% behind making an investment in yourself, which I can attest can dramatically speed up the process of going from A to Z. The downside is that it’s very easy to overload yourself with so much information, that you once again find yourself stuck.

There are simply too many options & everyone has differing opinions of what that option should be. With all of this going on, it’s easy to become a neverending follower & never have the confidence to follow your own voice.

Sometimes more information can make you weaker.

I personally went years knowing more about production than most of my peers, but accomplishing far less. I’d finish a couple songs or remixes here and there, but nothing that would help be develop me own voice in the scene. I was following instead of leading & I constantly had a fear that I needed to know more before I could write a quality tune that a label would actually want to sign.

When I finally got my head together & made a commitment to writing more songs & developing my own sound, I realized it wasn’t all these tip & tricks that made the difference. It was knowing the essentials for my sound & clearing my head of everything else.

There are so many cool tricks & neat equipment out there to tempt you that if you don’t know your own vision, you can easily be derailed. I’ve seen it happen far too many times to many of my peers & of course myself.

 

A new path

In developing new habits & new ways of approaching my music making, I had to figure out what wasn’t working with my current approach. This wasn’t easy to detect at first. Nothing seemed broken, it just seemed that the end result wasn’t happening.

When I finally did discover my own pitfalls, I realized the solutions were not going to come from a new Synth or plugin, not from more youtube videos & not from hanging out in forums.

It was my creative habits that needed to shift. I needed to create a ritual that was applied in a specific order. Like unlocking a safe, changing the order of your process will change your results dramatically.

Before even opening my DAW, I spent several days getting my brain tuned for the work ahead. I didn’t want to go strong for 3 days only to start making excuses on the 4th. I also knew that I had to let go of perfection and overthinking.

Want to hate your song before you ever share it? Overthink every detail endlessly. Put it on the sidelines when things get difficult.  This is a sure path to failure.

Diving in

When I finally did open Ableton, I knew I was committed & refused to give in when things got difficult. Since I had heard about the 80/20 rule & how it applies to every aspect of your life, I began to analyze the 20% of my music production habits that were giving me 80% of my best results. Most of the remaining 80% of habits I was able to put away, or completely ignore.

I stopped listening to my 16 bar loops endlessly. That was a waste of time. I’d open the session, give it a couple listens & then decide what I was going to get done in the next hour. I turned off all distractions, set a timer & went to work.

Like everybody, I went through some serious challenges, but instead of stopping, I forced myself to actually think creatively. Instead of asking “how would (fill in the blank) solve this problem?” I instead thought “How can I solve this challenge with the set of tools I currently have?”

Surprisingly, by asking better questions, my brain was much more useful & resourceful. Of course, when I was completely stuck after using all my resources, I would give myself 15 minutes to hunt for a solution & immediately after I had found a technique, I got back to my song & immediately put it to use.

By setting a timer, I was made much more aware of my progress & what time was being wasted. My music production predictably went through the roof!

I found that by repeatedly coming up with solutions to songwriting challenges, my brain stopped stressing & I was almost able to sleepwalk my way through problems that would have stopped me dead in my tracks.

The power of repetition can not be underestimated

 

Where are you?

So where are you on your music making journey?

Are you full of shitloads of information that isn’t serving you well?

Have you taken courses & still find yourself lacking willpower & focus?

Have you finished a few songs, but just aren’t happy with the results?

Maybe you’ve never even learned Ableton, but have dreams of finishing songs, getting signed & playing music out at some of the world’s best nightclubs.

I assure you that with an attitude & habit change, you are much closer than you think. I ‘d like to help you plant that creative seed & reach your potential.

 

Can you write an EP in the next 30 days?

I think the better question is “Are you willing to put in the work required to finish an EP in the next 30 days?”.

There is no doubt in my mind that if you answered yes to that question, that you can most certainly accomplish this, even if you have never used Ableton before.

Since the beginning of 2015, I’ve been privately working on a very intense Master Course that promises exactly that. I feel like this is my life’s work up to this point & will be the most focused music making course I’ve ever made!

I’m very proud of my past work & know that it all has helped 1000’s of people, but after finishing 52 songs in 13 months, I feel I had a LOT more to say on the subject.

If you are completely new to Ableton Live or if you just haven’t gotten the results you are looking for yet, I’d love for you to be among to first to experience my new course.

Not for everyone

Like anything, this intense course is not for everyone reading this.

Some of you are just hobbyists, others are already cranking out amazing songs & some of you just aren’t committed enough to go through this Master Course.

This course will require at least 1 hour of your time everyday for 30 days.

Each day there will be handbooks, detailed video training, homework & then a Q&A session for anyone who has further questions. I will be completely active during the whole process, making sure that everybody stays on track & understands each module of training.

This course will require a lot of effort on your part & I am committed to putting even more effort in to make sure everyone stays involved, motivated & focused.

There will also be a private group that you will have lifetime access to, so you can all continue to help each other & have me there to guide you further as well.  We can all not only help each other finish songs but also share contacts & connections to put your music in the right hands so it gets released on good record label & get professional feedback to help you get even better.

Join me

I still have about 40-50 hours of work before the Master-Course is finalized, so if you would like to know more about this as I get closer to a release date, I encourage you to sign up for the waiting list (totally free).

You will get updates as we get closer to launch & I’ll be sharing an outline of the course, so you will have an idea of how things will be laid out (as I said before, it’s going to be intense!). I look forward to helping a small group of people take their passion to a whole new level.

 

Sign Up Below

With that said, if you are benefiting from these posts, you will absolutely love my 2 bestselling books:

The Mental Game of Music Production
The Process for Electronic Music Producers

You can also Check out the: Ableton Courses & Instruments

If you are looking for personal guidance with your music production or Ableton, you can set up a free chat with me to go over exactly what your best next steps are to create the best music of your life. If it seems like a good fit, we can move forward from there.  https://musicsoftwaretraining.com/private-coaching

Happy music making!
Jason