Insights Of An Artist's Journey

by PLV Music

Hi Reader 👋🏻​

We live in a new digital world where learning music production online or at home has never been more accessible!

But it is a blessing and a curse at the same time

❌ We don't know which videos we should watch and in which order
❌ We don't know where to find the right resources
❌ We don't have a structured learning path to follow

All of these obstacles, challenges and traps results in a slow learning curve 👎🏻

But you and I have goals and dreams to achieve so this is not an option! 🏁

This is why today, I want to share 7 different ways that you can use in order to speed up your learning of music production:
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​(If you prefer to watch the video version of this, click here otherwise keep reading.)

1. Read books (Yeah, they still exist!)
​Books are a very underrated way of learning and digesting knowledge. I've seen this quote say that "If you read 3 books about 1 topic, you will be in the top 10% of knowledgable people on that topic". How crazy is that!
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Here are a couple books I recommend:
- Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers
- The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook
- The Modern Recording Techniques
- Mastering Audio: The art and science

2. Remake songs
​The idea here is to learn from the best. Remaking songs from your favourite biggest artists will allow you to learn professional production techniques and train your ears to achieve a professional sounding track level. You will have to find ways to achieve the same sound through sound design or mixing which will teach you a lot!

• Pick 12 of your favourite songs that you wish you would know how to produce
• Aim to remake 1 per month for 1 year!
• Watch your skills skyrocket!
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3. The 80/20% rule
​Watching tutorials is a good thing but you need to practice and do in order for you to really grasp the concepts taught in the tutorials. This is where you can use this rule to avoid the trap of the "illusion of progress" when watching too many tutorials and not practicing enough. Aim to spend 20% of your time watching tutorials and 80% of your time producing in your DAW

4. Follow a plan
​When learning on our own, it is hard to know what we should do in order to progress, what we should focus on, what we should learn first etc... I was there and I know the struggle. In order to help you have a more structured way of learning, I wrote down everything I know and packaged it in an easy 12 Months Plan to follow.

5. The Feynman Technique
​As per the Feynman rule, if you can't explain a topic simply to a 5 year old, it means that you don't know this topic well enough. Try to explain some of the things you do to make music to your friends and family and if you notice that you have trouble explaining compression or saturation for example, then go back to it and learn more about it. Use this as a tool to identify topics that you don't know well enough. It will push you outside of your comfort zone and help you grow your skills faster.

6. Give feedback
​In the same idea of the remaking songs, giving feedback to other people will push your ear to analyze songs. Over time you will start to recognize what sounds good, what doesn't sound, how the stereo needs to be, if a song is too compressed or is missing reverb etc... You can join Discord servers and connect with other music producers to do that and give each other feedback, it's also a great way to connect with other people!​
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7. Take Online Courses

Online Courses are honestly THE main reason I was able to learn music production fairly "fast". It saves you time, helps you to avoid making unnecessary mistakes and provide a structured way to learn while keeping you accountable and productive. The best investment you can do is in yourself and your knowledge.

Here are the 2 I took and recommend myself:

• ​Studio (previously Monthly)
• ​Black Ghost Audio​

Phew! That was a lot! I really hope those were helpful for you and you were able to pick a few useful tips!

💌 Now tell me, what is your biggest takeaway from these 7 tips and which one(s) will you be implementing to your learning routine? Feel free to reply to this email and let me know!

Now, I have some new music findings and resources to share with you 👇🏻

🎶 | MUSIC DISCOVERY ZONE

🌆 "Gotta Be" - PLV​
​My new song is out now! As I was saying, when creating this song, I didn't try to fit into any "genre" or "music style", I don't even know what to call it, I just let my creativity and inspiration do the job for me! "Gotta Be" is the perfect representation of the type of music I want to make. I'm one step closer to finding my own artist style!

Gotta Be PLV Music PREVIEW   ​

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🎧 Riptide - TWOPILOTS​
​I'm guessing you'll see the inspiration to my latest track but I'm in love with those chill EDM tropical covers these days. This one is the latest I've been putting on replay!

Riptide TWOPILOTS PREVIEW   ​

💫 | RESOURCES & INSPIRATION ZONE

🔊 [GEAR] - Synido​
​Synido is a relatively new company that offers music gear such as audio interface and microphones at a very cheap price. It is perfect for someone that doesn't have a huge budget and need some gear to get started or portable gear.

📕 [BOOK] - "Superfans" by Pat Flynn​
​​Speaking about books, the last one I am currently reading is "Superfans" by Pat Flynn. I am still in the first half of this book and it is already filled with gems! As artists, it is very important for us to develop our fanbase. But to make a living, we need "Superfans" that will stream our music all the time, buy merchandise from us and come see us on our gigs. For this, they need to be converted from followers to Superfans and this book explains exactly how to do so. Great read that I highly recommend!

🎬 | NEW YOUTUBE VIDEO

5 Music Production Tips I Wish I Knew Earlier!​
​In my new video, I share with you 5 music production tips (+ 1 bonus tip) that will level up your production level instantly and will save you tons of time! Don't miss this one! 👇🏻

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👋🏻 Enjoying this newsletter and want to learn more from me?

When you are ready, here are 4 ways I can help you:

📕 - Grab your 12 Months Plan To Learn Music Production AT HOME​
→ A guided path if you are overwhelmed by the amount of info online​​

💻 - Book a private 1 on 1 coaching session​
→ 60-90mn call with me​

🎬 - The Producer Social Media ​Kit​
→ ​My complete YouTube Ebook for music artists and content calendars​

🎓 - Become a Patreon Member​
→ For unlimited access to feedback, private community, behind the scenes and more...​

That's it! I can't wait to hear what you think. What was your favourite? What do you want more or less of in this newsletter? Just reply to this email 💌 Also, if you have anything interesting to share, I want to know about it!

I hope these help you in your music journey,

See you in the next one,
- PLV 🚀

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113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2205
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