"Summoning Sound from Thin Air: The Highs, Lows, and Mind-Blowing Magic of Music Production"

Isn’t music production just magic? You’re literally sculpting ideas out of thin air and molding them into something people can feel—like actual goosebumps-level feel. It blows my mind every time I sit down to work on a track. But let’s be real: as magical and fulfilling as it is, music production can also send you spinning into a vortex of self-doubt and plug-in hoarding. Been there. Still there some days, honestly. So I thought we could talk about some of the highs, the lows, and a few things that maybe no one told you when you started this journey.

First Things First: The Gear Is Not What Makes The Music

Stop obsessing over the newest synthesizer or whatever the trendy VST is this week. Sure, gear is fun—we all love a shiny new toy—but the heart of music production is the idea. Some of the greatest producers can use stock plugins or even crappy desktop speakers and still create something incredible. Why? Because they focus on the vibe, not the tech.

Instead of chasing products, spend more time chasing your ears. Train them, challenge them. If you can make something sound great on a barebones setup, imagine what happens when you do splurge on the fancy tools. Moral of the story: don’t wait for the perfect gear; just make music.

Rules Are Nice. Breaking Them Is Nicer.

You know all those tutorials that say, “You have to EQ this way,” or “This compressor setting is the secret sauce”? Yeah, take that advice and file it under “make-it-sound-cool-but-do-whatever-you-want-actually.”

Music production is art, not engineering. Sure, you might mess up some technical rules along the way, but sometimes those so-called "mistakes" lead to the coolest sounds. Who cares if your drop comes in two beats early, or your snare sounds like a malfunctioning fax machine? If it works, it freakin’ works.

Stop aiming for perfection all the time and just experiment. Bend the crap out of a sound until it becomes something so weird you can’t tell where it started. That’s how innovation happens.

Don’t Forget to Finish

Raise your hand if your hard drive is a graveyard of half-finished, almost-polished, I’m-definitely-coming-back-to-it-soon tracks. (Yep, I see you. Same.) Here’s the thing: you learn the most by completing songs, even the ones that suck. Especially the ones that suck, actually.

Finishing forces you to make decisions, commit to ideas, and develop your workflow. Plus, putting your work into the world—even if only your best friend hears it—builds confidence. Not every track will be a masterpiece, but every finished track gets you one step closer to mastering your craft.

You're Your Own Worst Critic

Here’s your daily reminder: the little nuances no one else is going to hear? The kick drum frequency you’ve been tweaking for HOURS? Yeah, chill. No one listening on Spotify or watching your TikToks in 3 a.m. doom-scroll mode cares as much as you do. What they care about is how your track makes them feel.

Obsessing over the finest details is normal, but don’t let it stop you from putting your work out there. Would you rather finish 100 imperfect beats, or one perfect beat that no one ever hears because you think it’s still “not good enough”?

Have Fun With It

We all started producing music because it seemed fun or cool or like some wild fusion of creativity and tech. Don’t lose that spark by turning it into a chore.

Take breaks. Try genres you’ve never touched before. Sample something stupid, like your dog barking or the hum of your microwave. Make music that makes you happy, and eventually, it’ll make someone else happy too.

So now I’ve gotta ask: what’s your biggest struggle as a producer, and what little breakthrough changed the game for you? Let's talk! And also, don’t forget to shower today—you’ve been in the DAW too long.