I know this is very individual, but one thing that really discouraged me when I was younger was listening to producers that were way ahead of me in terms of quality and experience – their experience reflected in the subjective matter of quality, of course. I have always been ambitious and without getting too sidetracked from what I intend to write about, I do believe being ambitious is necessary to move forward and reach certain levels regardless of what you're doing. There's the occasional odd exception of truly passionate (or obsessive if you will) people who become exceptionally good at what they do and end up being successful without having focused too much on being, well, successful. To be both ambitious and impatient can be very frustrating though. If you genuinely want to sound like your favorite producers and you're in the early stages of learning how to write and produce, you might - like I did - become discouraged by listening to someone whose work is way beyond your current level of quality. My purpose for writing this blog is to attempt to dispel the notion that some people are just born disgustingly skillful, and by doing so I hope to encourage ambitious but impatient beginners.
"they devoted so much time and energy on developing their creative skills that they would have wrecked any marriage and been overqualified for titles such as "nerd" or "loser."
The truth is very simple really. To become really good at something you need to practice and you need to practice a lot. You simply cannot win skill in the lottery or purchase any genuine shortcuts for a significant amount of money. Music production - as opposed to song writing - is such a technical thing that I would argue it's not directly comparable to naturally talented song writers. There are so many young and incredibly talented song writers out there, but if you think about it there aren't as many super skillful music producers or engineers as there are outstanding song writers. Creative or not, technical things often require a higher level of practice and experience, although some people seem to "catch" things faster than others.
To people on the outside, some of the best producers may appear to have just "acquired" their skills through superior intellect and blessings from higher powers. The truth is that they have all had periods in their lives where they devoted so much time and energy on developing their creative skills that they would have wrecked any marriage and been overqualified for titles such as "nerd" or "loser." Any skills I may have is a result of ridiculous amounts of persistence and an incredible amount of time devoted to fanatical practice. I do not believe it's my destiny to be a music producer. I could have been a photographer by chance and I'm sure I'd be a decent one if I spent as much time doing that as I have doing music.
"you need a genuine passion for what you do to go beyond the ordinary level of absorbing information as a student"
Remember that everybody was a beginner at some point in time. To maximize your potential you need time. This is a rule without exception.
The reason passion is so immensely important when you want to develop creative talent is because it requires an enormous amount of discipline to go through an awful lot practice. Anybody who's been around a sound designer or music producer who is working will testify it's exciting for a couple of minutes and then you want to blow your brains out because you're hearing the same shit over, and over, and over again. It requires a lot of passion to maintain that hypnotic-like state creative people enter when they're working. To sit down and duplicate such a state through sheer discipline is nearly impossible.
However, I think it's important to remember that our genetic blueprint comes with certain limitations. I believe - and I'm sure some of you will disagree with me - that contrary to what good parents cleverly tell their children, there's nobody out there who can do anything they want to do if they just put their mind to it. While some people are undoubtedly born more creative than others, everybody has their own unique set of talents. I think a brilliant example of this is people's sense of rhythm. I've seen a 4 year old percussionist on YouTube do stuff I could only dream of doing and I've met people my age who can barely keep a straight beat at 100 beats per minute. Although I am, as a parent, obviously a fan of the saying "you can do anything you want to", it's not always entirely true, is it? It really just brings me back to the fact that you need a genuine passion for what you do to go beyond the ordinary level of absorbing information as a student (which eventually converts itself to skills). I think that weighs heavier than anything remotely related to natural talent. When you compare yourself to people who appear to have a turbo charged development curve compared to you, remember that your passion is most likely to see you through from A to Z no matter how long it takes.
To wrap things up... The producers out there who are extraordinarily talented have not achieved their level of skill primarily through luck or superior genetics. They have dedicated an embarrassing amount of time doing what they love.
Special thanks to Boom Jinx who allowed me to publish his article in my blog, I hope you enjoyed the read.
