3 Strategies For How To Become A Music Producer without spending $160K on a Music Degree

Last Updated on September 24, 2022

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We live in a world surrounded by music, and we understand why you to get in on it. It’s exhilarating, isn’t it?

Whether you already have a job working full time or someone who is really interested in knowing how to become a music producer, then you’re in the right place.

Many music producers online have never seen the inside of music class. Most of them are self-made, created their own structure, did the work necessary, and achieved what would have cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. All they did was focus strictly on most of the methods to be discussed here.

Those were the days when you need to pay thousands of dollars to learn music. Now, the internet has made it very convenient. You don’t need to a huge monetary investment. What you need is the right mindset, a strong work ethic, and the willingness to keep going when things get tough.

Therefore through tireless research and analysis, we have gathered all the methods essential for how to become a music producer without breaking the bank. We are only sharing our opinion based on the data collected from success stories of real people who have become successful without getting a music certification.

In order to do so, you need to understand three major concepts.

Making up your mind.
Seeking to understand music production.
How to work in the music industry.

If this sounds like you, let’s try our best in helping you achieve your goal.

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Strategy 1 – Make Up Your Mind

All learning endeavors start with a clear and determined mind.

Set Your Goals

Music production is a broad field. Without having a clear structure in mind, you will soon back out. However, if you stay focused and set goals for yourself, you will improve your odds of succeeding.

The goals should be manageable and long-term. Short-term goals are not effective. Most people yank themselves out of any learning endeavor when problems start arising. Due to this, long-term goals are way more effective than short-term ones.

To set up an effective goal, follow these steps:

Explicitly write out your goals.
Make it clear to yourself.
With the goals in mind, build a plan to help you get there.

Remember, the goal of becoming a music producer is not short-term. You need to focus on the long term. According to many of the music producers we found, it’s one of the main factors they become successful.

Work Harder

In addition, to setting your goals, know that your journey to becoming successful in this career needs a strong work ethic. What this means is that t you need to work hard and smart. Don’t treat it casually as a hobby. For instance, making only a couple of beats per month will lead to slow growth. However, making more mean growing exponentially. The more beats you make, the more practice you get, and the more confident in your goal of becoming a successful music producer.

The competition is fierce in this field. If your competitors are making more beats than you, then you will fall back.

Have A Positive Mindset

Following working harder, a positive mindset should be adopted. Dive into it like your full-time job. No matter how many times you fail at it, you need to keep going.

Strategy 2 – Seek To Understand Music Production

After having the right mindset, now focus on learning the core of this profession.

Experiment With Musical Instruments

Be constantly practicing instruments so that you get a feel of their tunes and beats. The more you experiment with them, the better you move into the melody of their songs which makes it easier for you to create better beats. It will help you understand the rhymes of those instruments better.

Although the music industry is like a rabbit hole, you need to have an open mind to absorb as much information as possible.

Study Professional Music Producers

There are other professional music producers in the field.

Look for some of their work and go through them. You will come to understand their failures and success stories. Know this, you will learn more from the works of others, than going through a thousand music production books. Not that they can’t contribute to your knowledge, but standing on the shoulders of giants will give you more insights.

Each and every music producer you collaborate with will have their own style. Their different vocabularies and expertise will lead to you becoming better than you could have been on your own.

Visit Professional Recording Studios

In your quest to learn, take constant visits to recording studios. Doing so will give you the feel of how professionals in the industry work. You will learn a lot from these studios than you will learn on your own.

Start Writing Music Lyrics

If you want to truly understand the intricacies of music, then start writing out songs and rhythms. As you experiment with new instruments, write out lyrics to go with them. Play with different genres, mix them and create amazing pieces.

The more you write lyrics, the better you get. This makes it easier for you as a producer to keep up with artists. If not, you will be like fish out of water, unaware of basic ideas and skills.

Learn About Core Music Production Concepts

Producing music means learning a lot of new concepts. And the field is constantly growing. However, you should strive to understand core concepts like mixing, mastering, music theory, and many others.

Continually be Listening To Music

As you play new instruments, also listen to music from a variety of artists. It will keep you familiar with the trend in the industry.

And the more you listen to new songs, the more it is easy to produce quality beats and rhythms.

Learn Music Software

Start learning and mastering the programs used to produce music in the industry. Programs like FL Studio and Pro Tools are a good start.

Some of the best music production software are:

Ableton Live
Image-Line FL Studio
Apple Logic Pro
Steinberg Cubase
Bitwig Studio

Strategy 3 – Understand The Music Industry

Build A Studio

To be successful in the music industry you need to have a setup that will give you the freedom to work at your own pace. Spend some money on the necessary equipment essential to running a studio.

After setting up your studio, you need your own audio workstation, recording instruments, and software to get started.

To start building a workstation you need the following:

A Recording Program
Look for popular DAWs like FL Studio or Pro Tools.
A set of tutorials to help you start filling in any gaps you might have.

Build A Brand

To be a successful music producer, you have to gain exposure. That’s the name of the game. Without having an online presence, you can not show your portfolio to the world. Therefore, all successful music producers online have their own professional website coupled with their own custom-made logo. In addition to that, they have a unique name which will help them gain credibility in the industry. For instance, a popular YouTuber I am reminded of is Katonthetrack. This name is his Channels name, the name of his website which is custom to him alone. No one else can take that name.

Creating better music than the competition will also help your brand stand out. Be creative and give your best.

Collaborate With Other Producers

Link out with other producers in the industry. You can start producing songs with them. This will start giving you the necessary experience and mastery you need to effectively produce top-notch beats and rhythms.

You can find producers on LinkedIn, popular music studios, and even YouTubers.

It provides a great opportunity to tap into their expertise which is a sure factor in becoming successful.

Work With Artists

In addition to collaborating with music producers, link out artists. Start working with new artists for more exposure. Put more of yourself out there.

There are a lot of musicians out there who you can collaborate with to build your portfolio.

Being a successful music producer means having eyes on you. So, work with every kind of musician you may find. Any genre, whether classic, hip-hop, or rap can bring the spotlight on you.

For instance, Katoonthetrack after building his portfolio from scratch is now working with popular music studios and musicians.

Deal leniently with Difficult Artists

Some artists can be a pain. Have the heart to deal with their requests and desires as best as you can.

Always test your mix

In recording and making music, never forget to look over your work. If possible, pause and come back later. Doing so will give you a fresh perspective on how to make the song sound better.

Don’t give up

One final tip is that this road is not set in stone. So, strive on and never change your mind. Keep learning and growing.

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