Listen buddy here’s the deal, you are one of the most underrated you-tubers I’ve ever seen , your content has immensely helped me throughout and keeps doing so, much love mahn

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

I absolutely love this comment - thank you so much, and THAT right there is the win... if this stuff is helping you - win.

@Rhythmattica

Жыл бұрын

@@NathanJamesLarsen Im am Devils Advocate

Song structure (form) .... A-freakin'-men !! When I started the Berklee songwriting program, my professor told me, transcribe the #1 hit on billboard every week (#2 if it repeats from previous week) and answer these 20 questions (handing me the questions), mostly about what's happening melodically and harmonically. 4 weeks in, lightbulbs started going off!! Today, there's an additional 20 questions about the production techniques. Hit songwriting is a craft...a learned set of skills.

You know what?? This gives the constructive criticism while actually explaining a ton. I loved this, video thank you!

Man, I wish this content was out 10 years ago when I first started producing because my biggest problem has been not knowing what is production concept and what was a mixing concept. It took me years and years to just start understanding the difference and your videos lay it so clearly. Thanks for all you do!

@Bittamin

Жыл бұрын

Hope everything is going well for you! What do you like to produce? Have you done a lot of genres over the decade or did you find your sweet spot early?

@celticdistortion

Жыл бұрын

Totally agree!!!👍👍👍

@PTQ4Q4Q4Q4

Жыл бұрын

Could you explain this? I didn't catch how he explained it.

@celticdistortion

Жыл бұрын

Yeh, it's one thing getting the layout and structure of a composition...but then the mixing in itself is an art and talent. I'm still in the early learning process but these videos really help a TON!!

@Bittamin

Жыл бұрын

@@celticdistortion yeah definitely make sure your sound choice and design is solid and then mixing will be easy. I actually don’t consider EQ boosting to be part of the mixing process but EQ reduction is. Reason being a lot of my sound design choices I will boost frequencies to make new sounds, but when I’m adding a high or lowpass filter most of the time I’m trying to make more headspace for the master

Excellent advice, and you're absolutely right about these song structure and length points, but one exception. I would point out that if a song is slower and has an 8-measure intro, it will likely hit 28-30 seconds. Many great hits are right around 30 seconds for the intro. A few examples from the 80s, 90s and now: Michael Jackson- Liberian Girl 44 seconds The Weeknd- Blinding Light 28 seconds Def Leppard- Women 39 seconds The Police- Wrapped Around Your Finger 30 seconds A Perfect Circle- Judith 36 seconds Thompson Twins- Don't Mess With Doctor Dream 48 seconds Tears For Fears- Shout 30 seconds Marilyn Manson- The Beautiful People 44 seconds The list could go on, but the point is these are all hits and well-loved commercial songs, but these all have one thing in common. The intros are good and aren't boring. Everything else you said- dead on.

This man never fails with the content on his channel ... 10/10

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much - working hard to bring you value.

I've been playing for decades as an amateur, got my first 4-track in '86 and first ProTools in 2002. I really liked this video. The amount of info per minute is about as good as I've seen on KZread. May I suggest a companion piece: what's NOT important? (For instance, mic's are less important than room treatment and maybe preamp. New strings are almost more important than good guitars, etc.)

Good musicianship is crucial to being a great producer. Some people just prefer to take the shortcut.. not willing to learn and understand musical instruments, music theory or other musical knowledge. They think if they can play with the DAW they can make create good music.

Awesome video mate and super informative, thanks for sharing! 👍👍👍

Great stuff as usual Nathan! I love how you speak with so much passion let alone an excellent fund of knowledge. Keep it up!

SO useful! So many recognizable issues here. Love your rapid fire approach, you managed to squeeze ALOT of great insights/suggestions into a moderate length video. I will be rewatching this many times... :)

Huge note to take home if you’re a producer and focus on the actual production: you do not need to spend years and money learning guitar or vocals and being the one who performs great, you need to make friendships with great performers. It’s the best

@cameron8619

Жыл бұрын

idk I've been playing guitar for about a year and a half now and been playing piano for basically my entire life. it's really handy to just be able to record things and not have to get people to do it for you

@rashika19music

Жыл бұрын

@@cameron8619 well said !

@rashika19music

Жыл бұрын

Umm...I actually did not get your point?

Having watched a few of your videos, I've come to the view that a lot of your advice is focused on specific genres - namely, pop/edm. That said, that's perfectly fine, and the clear presentation means I've still been able to pull out some great insights that I can apply to what I'm learning, and trying to achieve. Thank you!

It really shows that bro knows his stuff and is passionate about making great music. Keep up the content!

Awesome tips buddy! Thanks.

Much appreciation Professor. your advices are Gems in the production world. maybe we will not meet face to face but know you are great inspiration to many!

I'm glad you say it like it is. Lots of good information where I see these mistakes time and time again; I'm not perfect either but I try to shoot for everything you said. Kudos to you!

Yo. I’m not even in the music production yet like I want to be. This content is just so useful. Thank you !!!

Very well done!!!!

Just now starting to internalize all these concepts, and they all help soooo much. thank you for distilling this in a really digestible and straight forward manner

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely and happy to do it! Glad it's helping you!

LOVE your videos. I LOVE making music. And your videos help so much :)

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

That's the real win for me - if the videos are helping you, then they are doing what they were intended to do. Thanks so much!

Great stuff man.... awesome!!!

Yes man! Nicely done.

I like your video. You are on point. It is all about the music first then the gear and mixing

Such a great video man🔥

Loving some of these tips! I love how this information really applies to ALL genres of music production. Keep this stuff coming. ❤️ Unsolicited advice from someone with ADHD: add captions/overlays for which tip you're discussing (OR provide a blog version in the description). When watching a longer video of someone talking, it's really hard to focus AND track which tip you're explaining as the video goes on. For example, my brain starts thinking about how a tip applies to something I've worked on, and by the time I re-focus on the video, I don't know how much I've missed. Simple "lower third" overlays would be a HUGE help. Do what you will with this info. 🥰

Nice tnx Nathan.

Thanks for all you ve taught me it helped me alot

Great points and reminders, I wish this platform was available in early 2000's. Ya maybe it's a slap in the face to people who went to school to learn all this information but it's nice being able to make good music better for people with the passion but are unable to dedicate the time on a school level. Let's make music great again

Every word of this video is pure gold!

You're one of my favorite among my top 5 Music producing mentors..

Nathan could you do a video on drum grooves and drum programming? That would be really insightful for those of us who aren’t drummers - loving the videos btw!

As a starter, I just feel lucky to find your channel

Thank you so much, like really. I'm new at producing and I've been wondering on my previous track why it sound pretty bad and not enough "pro". Now I know. I recognize myself a lot in what you said. I discovered many youtubers producers telling that such VST and such VST will make your production better but it's false. Contrary to many people, you're talking about real producers problems and I appriciate that you brought me to the right way, so thank you

Great summary, thanks! I have a lot to learn it would seem.

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

We all do - even I'm still learning a lot from others ahead of me.

This one video holds the essence of one thousand videos out there.

Nate! I love you, man! Your tutorials and commentary videos are loaded with truth. I foresee a day when your name is spoken on the same breath as Greg Wells, Mutt Lang, Butch Vig, Warren Huart, Daniel Lanois, and Roy Thomas Baker! Keep doing it!

great tips man

Thanks a lot! Awesome!

I have to give a thumbs up to this video, amazing!

Awesome video man! I've been producing for a year now, writing and producing pop songs, and there are two things that you mentioned, that I need to work on a ton. (Of course everything else needs to be worked on too). 1)First being the sound selection, I usually put a lot of different instruments in the same frequency spectrum and then it goes very muddy. Especially when I'm using pads and brasses. But also kick and snare and bass synths and bass guitar. 2) Second is the drum programming. I use the ableton stock drums most of the time. And sometimes I layer them with drum loops from samplefocus. But most of the time they sound amature and muddy in the song. And lot of the time I don't have a clue, when I should use shakers, tambourines, percussion loops, rimshots, open hihats and etc(and how I should pan them too). This is very confusing still. And also which reverbs to put on them. But I'm working on it and learning from tutorials. Practise makes perfect. Love your vids, keep it up man! :D

@okachobired5856

Жыл бұрын

EQ is essential to reducing muddiness with frequencies.

Fantastic. Thanks.

Thank you, my Teacher ❤🎉🎉🎉

You have great videos

I don’t have a drummer or access to a drummer so I use Logic kits. I like the unmixed producer kit because I can make it sound however I want it to

Amazing !!! Keep it up

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

Ohhhh yes! We ain't slowing down

great tips!

one tip man - make your thumbnails a little brighter and more catchy color wise, it will help you get the traction and views you deserve

Nathan, thank you! for this important public service announcement :) OMG, people! THIS is the brutal and inconvenient truth about writing, producing and recording music. If you're serious about it, listen to this guy! and keep listening and learning :)

Your advice only makes perfect sense. Too many people wish they were musicians, but aren't.

Thanx man. You got me on the edge…

Great video, Nathan! If I might mention I have created over 80 libraries for the most popular plug-ins and developed my own plug-in called Unify which comes with over 600 world class patches for a very reasonable price (it also loads and lets you layer every plug-in you own which takes things even farther!) This is great advice that will make everybody write better songs in the end, again great job! Cheers! - John "Skippy" Lehmkuhl

@kelvynification

Жыл бұрын

I love your plugin:) Sneaky plug for your plugin though;)))) Unify has been a great bridge for plugins that weren’t working on the new Mac M1’s. Kudos:)

OK, so a corollary here is that there's some things you can easily get right if you just focus on them: song structure, arrangement. Even if you've never recorded a song before, you can make an interesting song structure and hit a home run your first time at bat. In contrast, if you're self-producing your own stuff, you just cannot easily become a far better player or (especially) have a better voice. Ideally we'd be great at all these things, but we're not. So I'd counsel a fledgling self-producer to spend a few hours on song structure and arrangement, as that is the low-hanging fruit. Nothing else will improve a tune as fast as these.

Nice work 👏

@nivinmax

Жыл бұрын

Thanks

I can’t thank you enough for stressing song structure often as possible. It’s completely grounded me in the mentality that I can make 100s of tracks with only stock sounds in logic and make my own library too, and if I arrange it right it’s gonna sound tight!

@Bittamin

Жыл бұрын

I know you said it’s much more difficult but limitations breed creations!!

One of your real fan

Hi, Nathan, very informative video and yup.. the thing that I always did was eq'ing one bass pluck to death for example and not paying attention to songwriting, arrangement, sound choice etc. I am very happy that we have people like you, talking about the most important aspects which makes a a good product and not just a lifeless song. One question by the way. After 3 years of producing, I am still struggling a bit with musical keys, harmonies etc. (I don't play any instrument, just know a bit more than the basics of music theory). What do you suggest for making basslines, melodies kinda "fit around" the vocal, how to become better at hearing every nuance of note relationships? For example, I am still highlighting my piano roll to a specific key, while other producers seem to get away just by ear (even if they don't know how to play any instrument too). Thanks in advance and good luck with music and teaching ! 🤠

I wan a full course! Clear dude!

Great video men! When it comes to picking kick and snare samples or even layering them in order to work within the context of the specific song, what is the criteria you have to pick/ellaborate those sounds?

It‘s not easy to implement all these tips in a production. Listening to them is much easier than making a production that includes all the necessities of a good song.

I learned within the last few years as a writer that at least in the streaming community people will bail on a song if it doesn't have hook within the first 30 to 60 seconds. I would say that applies mainly to Pop. If you're a Rock, Indie, Prog or a Metal musician I wouldn't worry if you have long intros or songs that lack a definitive hook. I'm in an Indie/Post Prog band and we are in our own niche or community. The same goes for the other genres I mentioned. If you're not a Pop act DON'T write a song to trip the algorithm because that song will probably be boring, predictable and forgettable. Most likely you're getting more fan appreciation anyway from sites like Bandcamp vs Spotify which means you're actually making money considering that Spotify pays .00 shit per stream.

Wow. Every single time you upload a new video i Discover how many times I have focusing on the wrong things. The things you mention in this video can I only agree on because I know I'm making these kind of mistakes, in my own production. So again Great video as always.

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

🙏🙏🙏 love this and happy it's helping you!

Dam I wish I'd known, I'd love your input on what I'm probably missing in my mixing..

good video

Good advice. In regards to the advice on more expensive instruments, sometimes, it is not that you need a new instrument. Sometimes, you just need to have someone fix, repair, or properly set up the instrument that you have. I have an extremely expensive acoustic guitar but I do not like to play because even after having a set up done on it, it still doesn’t feel good in my hand, but a friend of mine has a $200 Chinese copy of the same guitar that he set up himself, and it plays like a dream! I would buy it from him if he would sell it! I guess my take away is make sure that you are getting the most out of the equipment that you have before you try to buy some thing to fix a problem. Sometimes your money would be better spent on getting the equipment you have running at the highest level instead of buying another piece of equipment that is going to require more money and work to get it running at the highest level.

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

Definitely agree with

8:00 what do you mean by "layering drums?" I'm in total agreement with every word up to this point.

I totally agree with everything you said, and I am working hard to make sure all those tips are constantly applied while producing, BUT there is on thing I do not agree with and that is "You need to layer Drums, all big producers do it" is that really a good argument? What if I get few samples that already sound amazing. What if i use the sol drum kit and I over distort it a little? Do you really think that the average listener will really have a problem with it? Since first of all I have a science background, I propose a test. Same song. One made with layered drums, one made with a great fitting kit. Post it somewhere were people can vote and I will bet that not even you audience that is mainly people that work with music will not have a preference.

This are some Important issues you noted out here..the biggest problems I think most of us have is going through the arrangement process and layering too much stacks in the same frequency range mostly mids).. It would be great to have your take on layering sounds on a future video of yours..

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely - check out my video "Stop Mixing" and I talk about this more

Great video Nathan. Totally agree on your point about arrangement. Do you have an arrangement “process” you follow? The concepts you mention are helpful but basically I find myself doing a bunch of trail and error rather than following any sort of plan. Do you develop some sort of arrangement plan?

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

This is something I talk quite a bit about in my workshop that I mentioned in the video - definitely worth going through. go.produceracceleratorcourse.com/pl/2147597893

3:05 I would say a $50 mic with $750 (or 2 days) of room preparation will sound a heck of a lot better than a $10,000 mic with no room preparation, or a $1000 mic with just $100 (or 2 hours) of prep.

It's also great to figure out what style music you want to do and learn everything you can about that style and only get sounds that would work for that style. Doing this will save you years. I went into this with a diverse attitude and got sounds for every style but I'm new to making electronic music and audio engineering. I should have learned a style of electronic music rather than just blindly programming stuff for experimentation. Don't get me wrong experimenting is great but randomness is not.

Half of them are not truth. Music is not a bank's software program, it cannot be results of meticulous calculations, it suppose to have imperfections, that is why we love it.

It also depends on your intentions, too. There's plenty of extremely successful musicians including Dolly Parton and Taylor Swift who have used cheap gear to creat absolute art. I'm sure you agree with this sentiment, but I didn't hear you touch on that. Also, a lot of stock VST plug-ins are slept on and sound super cool. 🤩 I'd say as long as you branch out and not only stick to that. I'm by no means a professional producer, though so I'm just speaking how I feel. haha

I can't tell you how much I've argued with artists over length of intros, verses etc. I didn't have spotify at the time, but I told them I skip over songs within the first 10 seconds if they aren't interesting, and 20 if the verse hasn't started yet. Okay, guitar. A 200 dollar guitar can sound excellent when setup properly. Don't let brand name fool you. Take it to a tech who can setup the intonation (where the guitar falls out of tune evenly) correctly. Replace tuners (maybe) and pickups but most importantly, the sound of the guitar is coming from the speaker. A 5k guitar isn't going to sound better then a 500 dollar guitar with the same pickups if the speaker sucks. Also, I bought a Fender Gemini II acoustic used in Seattle for 115 dollars. Street price new was 200. It was Prince's favorite acoustic guitar. I had it setup by Eric's Guitar shop 7 years ago in standard tuning and it has been in an alternate tuning and stays in either. One of the best acoustics I own. Performances, I send them home if it is too bad to work with. Back in the day you could hire Kenny Arnoff for a track. Check out Fivvr for real drummers, then stack samples. Roy Thomas Baker, "baked" everything into the recording and the mix would start with faders at 0. Then it was micromixing.

Some good advice here. Song structure, however, shouldn’t have to be a recipe…unless you are writing a pop song.

Mannn did i get told off XD cheers for the advice bro

I love your channel, and take your point (#1) more broadly, but this rigid devotion to a two minute song structure is why we used to have awesome songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, Paradise By the Dashboard Lights, Band on the Run, etc.dominating the radio and now its relatively rare to hear music that's interesting 🤷‍♂️

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

When did I say anything about being rigid about 2 minute songs? The point about song structure is "keep it interesting" - not "just keep it super short" So your example of Bohemian Rhapsody - that song is INCREDIBLY interesting all the way through. I'm coming at this from the perspective of listening to a huge amount of songs from amateurs - and the overwhelming majority do not have the ability (yet) to create longer songs that can TRULY hold attention in that way. The point I am making is NOT to hold to a rigid "length" for a song but instead to keep things interesting. If you are repeating a phrase 3-4 times that is not interesting. Go listen to Bohemian Rhapsody and you'll find that the song is continually pushing forward with new ideas. It's basically multiple songs in one. This advice regarding structure is not a rule - it's not black and white. It's advice based on what I see as major problems in my student's music.

2:49 disclaimer: this issue can be easily solved with a proper set up done by yourself or a tech. Any guitar will sound bad if it isn't setup properly. The price of a guitar isn't the sole indicator that it will be good or not. In this case invest in getting whatever instruments you have set up properly before dropping cash on a more expensive option

2:03 if you use fl studio maybe lol. Ableton stock is GOATED

What happens when the next DAW takes all the sounds available and puts them in their library making them stock sounds. I say that to say this, if you can pick good sounds, pick good sounds.

So I have a question for you. How would you rate the long version of “Freebird” if it came out today?

This guy would probably hate Desert sands are warm at night.

Oh man I was doing well until you got to that comment about recognizing the logic drum choice they used.. I might be in trouble with that one. Does tuning the drum samples and adding automation/distortion/Phat FX count as layering?

I got you late , but Thank god I got Before going to much unwanted mesh

Exactly !

I would totally send my production in but I don’t want Nathan’s hair to fail out 🥴

God I miss the 90's.

I BURST out laughing at 7:28 - guilty 😬

Hello. How many tracks is a small production? a lot to keep in mind then if everything has to be good.

My main issue is that my tracks lack dynamics, groove and interest. My own performances just aren't good, I play very basic stuff with basic rhythms. The sound design isn't really that catchy either. I don't really know what to do. I have so many weakpoints and don't know where to start.

I partly disagree. For example one of the wonderful features in Radiohead’s music is that you don’t usually notice which part is chorus. Still, the structure in their music feels strong, it’s just not as obvious as in all those formulaic pop songs. Maybe it takes exceptional talent to be a bit ”vague” and still strong in your music, but anyways I don’t want all the musicians to make music according to such rules as ”not long intros allowed” or ”there must be a distinct chorus”.

@DeanOlin1

Жыл бұрын

I think the general point he is making is "You must first understand the rules well, before you break them." The vast majority of the time, the song structure needs to follow a certain pattern, but someone who has mastered it, knows exactly how the pattern can be broken, and still work (e.g. Radiohead). Most people are not Radiohead, so when they try to go out and be a non-conformist just because they "don't want to follow the rules", their music ends up sounding like garbage. There's a reason that the vast majority of successful songs have a very apparent structure, and, in fact, most Radiohead songs have a clear structure, although it might not be as recognizable as in other artists.

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

Groups like Radiohead are very intentional on their structure in what they want to accomplish - what I'm referring to is structure that is poor that is clearly not intentional. And this is coming from observing - so these are observations and not "truths" - I've had numerous songs I've given feedback on that "broke these rules" that did it in incredibly artistic ways that I absolutely love. So these are not black and white - but one bottom line question is this -- is it intentional? For most when they have poor structure _ it is not

Can you do a vid on getting good performances

Hy mate, You’re giving really great infos and advices and your vids help a lot. Was wondering it there s some sort of monthly subscription to your platform ? Cause the lifetime engagement is a bit too much for me right now. Thanks Anyway

SoCal Kyle is my golden boy!!!!😂

@NathanJamesLarsen

Жыл бұрын

Lol!

Link isnt working for producer course..how do I access?

Why anybody says step by step i hear travis scotts voice 10.13. Very informatine video.

what's drum layering?

So how do we get a song to you for listening?

Hello Nathan My name is Rose Covered🥀Gas Mask I'm a musician fighting for the rebirth of bluegrass... It's missing In today's electronic music 🪕🎻🎚🎹🎛 I'm trying to make this happen but 2 years ago I was just a drummer that didn't know shit about computers... I'm only on bandlab for now... To develop my character as a whole... Blessings to you brother great channel I'll be around 🥀🥀🥀🥀

Good advice, well made. Main one for me - ARRANGEMENT!!!!! Work on your arrangement!!!!! Take sh*t out, everywhere. All of the time.