9 Essential Skills for Electronic Music

Producers
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Every great producer has spent significant time and energy perfecting their craft and
creative approach. Below are several areas to consider in your personal quest to
become a successful music producer.

1. Technical Ear Training

Knowing when something sounds good and knowing why it sounds good are two
completely different ideas. The first is intuitive and generalized. Anyone can claim an
opinion about music and there are many common adjectives that people use every day.
But knowing the specific language of audio is crucial for effectively communicating with
artists, musicians and engineers. But knowing how to refer to the particulars of a
process like filtering or compression is just one-half of the issue. Knowing how a
particular process or parameter tweak will affect the sound before implementation is key.
Jason Corey speaks of the term isomorphic mapping as a means of connecting “technical
and engineering parameters to perceptual attributes.” (Corey 6)
Put simply, this refers to the idea of knowing the ramifications of a parameter change or
a specific process before it occurs. Without this knowledge, the production process
would be an everlasting hunt for the perfect sound through blind trial and error. So it is
crucial for producers to know the effect of the tools at their disposal and one way to
improve these type of skills is by using technical ear training apps such as:
1. Quiztones (from The Pro Audio Files)

2. hearEQ
3. StudioEars
In as little as 10 minutes a day, these handy little apps will get you familiar with the
effects of processes like EQing/filtering, compression, reverb, delay, saturation, etc.
They will also fine-tune your sensitivity and ability to identify frequency ranges and
subtle changes in amplitude. Of course, the very best way to practice is by doing, so
find as many mixing resources as you can to get practice working with raw session
recordings. Here are a couple of resources for unmixed session tracks:

1. Cambridge Music Technology

2. Live From The Lab – Telekunken
3. Pro Audio Files On Demand 

2. Musical Ear Training

Traditional musical ear training is equally important for a music producer. At a bare
minimum, you should be able to distinguish basic chord qualities, intervals, common
chord progressions, meters and rhythms. The more advanced your understanding of
theory, the more engaging your work will be since you will have more tools and ideas in
your musical mindset.
In the same way that technical ear training helps you communicate with an engineer,
musical ear training can significantly speed up the creative process. Poking around a
keyboard to find a nice voicing that works is fine. Sometimes a little free improvisation
can yield amazing results. But once you find the chord, being able to identify it takes
things to the next level. Writing a simple lead sheet can communicate a piece of music
to a trained musician in literally seconds, as opposed to painstakingly describing every
note you’re playing chord to chord. There are several apps and resources for musical
ear training such as:

1. Tenuto
2. Good Ear
3. Ear Master
Think of this kind of work as aural calisthenics. Daily jumping jacks for the ears.

3. Understanding the Genre

If you are working in specific genres you should be aware of some common
characteristics that identify the musical category: tempo, texture, instrumentation, form
& structure, idiosyncratic audio processing techniques and major artists. In the excellent
book, Making Music — 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers, Dennis
DeSantis mentions the idea of making a catalog of attributes (DeSantis 22). This involves
taking a favorite piece of music and meticulously analyzing everything about it —
tempo, harmony, melody, instrumentation, form, processing, etc. Then using this
information as a sort of template, you can create your own music based on the
underlying concepts that resonate with you. It’s a great way to write a piece and has the
added benefit of giving you a deeper understanding of the genre.
4. Mistakes Can Be Great!
The ability to recognize serendipitous events in the process of producing can be
extremely fruitful. Even when you try to do everything “correctly,” you may come across
a sound or aberration that produces unexpected and exciting results. When you do,
don’t dismiss it because it’s “wrong.” Explore it as a new possibility. Even if it doesn’t fit
the current project, make note of it and store the idea away for future use. Although
artificial intelligence technology may be just a few years away from passing the Turing
test, I’m not convinced a computer can be programmed to recognize the beauty of error.

5. Ability to Inspire a Great Performance

There are no rules for being inspiring because every artist and engineer is different. But
I think in terms of leadership in general (and you can think of a producer as the leader of
a project), there are a few simple things to keep in mind:

Be positive and energetic — this can be infectious

 Be a good collaborator — willing to listen to and try new ideas

as they emerge

 Be a good communicator — know when to be specific and

when to be open

 Be a constructive critic — know how and when to offer

alternatives and solutions

 Be creative — thinking out of the box will inspire others to do

the same

 Be wholeheartedly committed to the project — anything less

will be obvious and counterproductive

 Be confident — this too is infectious

  Be a rebel — rules are great because without them there
would be nothing to break

6. In-Depth Knowledge of the Software

and Hardware
Knowing everything about the available software is clearly essential, not just for creating
a successful project, but for accomplishing that in a reasonable amount of time. The
creative moment can be fragile and stopping to look something up in a manual can
quickly put a halt to an otherwise creative flurry. If you need something to happen and
you’re not sure how to do it immediately, make a note, find a quick workaround and
keep going. You can flesh out the details later. The time to look things up and educate
yourself is between projects. Use that time to experiment, read about those few
mysterious parameters you keep seeing, figure out how to do repetitive tasks faster with
key commands, watch some tutorials, etc. There’s a time and a place to explore the
technology; choose that time wisely.

7. In-Depth Knowledge of Creative

Mixing and Recording Techniques
As with software, it is important to be autodidactic and learn more about your craft every
day. Again, learning new techniques is best left for the time between projects, except for
those that emerge serendipitously as discussed above. There is no shortage of articles
and videos on the subject of audio production. It has never been easier to acquire new
knowledge given the unprecedented accessibility to anyone with a smartphone. So to
paraphrase a quote from Carl Schroeder, the great jazz pianist and a former teacher of
mine, I’ll share these words: “while you are sleeping, someone else is learning.” Sweet
dreams.
8. Music Theory
Related to musical ear training discussed above is the area of music theory. This term
makes many producers cringe. I’ve heard more than one person say to me: “I play by
ear and I’m happy with the results” or “I’m worried if I try to make sense of it, everything
will be spoiled.” This to me, whether conscious or not, is an expression of pure laziness.
The idea that not knowing is better than knowing is counterintuitive and ridiculous. As
someone who has been on both sides of the fence let me say it’s definitely better to be
on the side that knows. I have never heard anyone say that knowing music
theory spoiled their creative vision. In fact, just the opposite. They were suddenly able to
understand their purely intuitive choices and were able to expand on those ideas even
more. Also, a knowledge of theory allows you to dig deeper into the work of others and
uncover their creative approach — very eye-opening and inspiring! Lastly, it radically
speeds things up when having to communicate ideas to performers, arrange vocals,
make changes on-the-fly in a session, etc. Time literally is money when people are on
the clock, so be prepared. Take the time to learn the fundamentals of music theory, I
guarantee it will pay-off somewhere down the road.

9. Management and Leadership Skills

Time management, money management and people management can all be part of a
producer’s role. Things to consider:

 Be organized — have all pertinent contact and scheduling

information for all parties immediately accessible

 Be clear — make sure everyone knows their specific role and

expectations

 Be respectful — of the time, craft and creativity of all those

involved

 Be calm — this too can be infectious; panicking or freaking out

never helps a situation
  Be a leader — this means simply taking responsibility, being
proactive, sharing success as well as failure, instilling
confidence and being easy to work with

Conclusions
Being a great producer is about creating great music. But like any area of expertise,
there are particular skill sets that will facilitate a better result in a shorter period of time.
Many of the things mentioned above are common sense and can be extrapolated to
other endeavors beyond producing music. When dealing with people there are many
areas of crossover regardless of the nature of the project. Do not think that the music
business is somehow different. If anything, it may be more difficult in this regard since
the ego of the artist must be considered, not to mention your own. The technical skills
and theoretical knowledge essential to producers are probably easier attained than are
communication skills, which cannot be readily learned from a book. To increase your

probability of success — just be good at everything. How’s that for advice