It’s a new year! What can we do to make our studio life flow smoother? When I go into the studio, I’m in my own world. This is my spot! This is the one place I can go where all the music, rhythms and beats can finally be released from my mind. Maschine, keyboards, mixers, plugins! I’m in the zone! Me personally? I work a nine to five. I use my iphone and go in corners and record my ideas into the phone. Then when I go to the studio I play back my ideas and lay out my trax. We all have our own methods to the organized madness.
This leads us into something we need to focus on. Our environnment. Trust your boy Rushaa when I say this! The better your surroundings, the better the results. These are just some of the methods you can try to achieve that flow.
Check it out:
- Clean out your studio space. Our brain is constantly at work, and even if you don’t think your paying attention to the clutter in the room, it does have an effect on your focus.
- What kind of chair are you using? The chair plays a bigger part in the studio than a lot of people realize. We sit for hours at a time. Make sure you stay comfortable. “This is one of the greatest parts of your studio arsenal!”
- Don’t use bright lights in your room. This can cause you to be irritated. Then your flow goes straight out the door.
- If you have your equipment in your bedroom, try getting a divider. Mixing the studio with the bedroom can cause insomnia or you may get sleepy while trying to work out that Maschine.
- Spend a little time organizing your sounds on your hard drive. It’s frustrating to have to remember where you put those new samples you just picked up.
- Defragment your computer. Our hard drive is set up to use all the space on the drive. The more you use it the slower the computer becomes trying to find things. When you defrag your computer, it reorganizes ‘like’ files, which equals a faster responding computer. Do this once every two months. If you are a studio beast, once a month!
- If you’re married or have a significant other living with you, ‘make sure they are aware this is your time to focus’. You are not being mean. If they think you are, show love and let them know how important this is to you. If they don’t care…well, that’s another story! lol Unless this is a hobby, we can only get better at our craft with real time and effort.
- Make sure you take a break. Rest your ears. Get some air, go for a walk. Then when you get back in the studio, you’ll be amazed at what you hear. And trust me, your focus will be clearer after.
- Get inspired! Go to the book store, go online and look up some of your favorite producers and see what new advice they may have. We don’t have to copy them, but we can get a boost from their skills. See the place in life you want to be. (Have you seen Timbalands house?! I want that!)
- Finally, love what you do. It’s a gift. You are the only one in the world that can do what ‘YOU’ do. It’s only one me and one you!
And with that Maschine Master family, welcome to 2013!
“Holla at cha later!”
Rushaa
These are some great tips homie! Definitely guilty of not applying some of these myself. Thanks for bringing them back to my attention!
Thanks bro. Truly appreciated!
Great advice fam, Happy New Year!
Thanks bro!
This is truly some great advice.
Daysun what up! Thanks
Great read! 🙂
Thanks. I always wished someone would have let me in on this when I started.
Definitely needed this. Good look.
No doubt fam. Thank you
True. Very good tips here fam.
Thank you bro.
Keep an eye out! We have some tight things coming soon!
Nice article exempt for one point.
Defrag is a Windows problem, not specifically a Computer problem. Mac and Linux don’t have Defrag, so it doesn’t really help in any way.
Here’s what I propose instead:
6. Treat your computer as a Working Instrument. We know computers can do a lot of things today, but if you’re making music with it, just treat it as an instrument.
Take care of it, clean it physically and logically (defrag), keep it running with proper software (no cracks, virus, etc…), have some backup (to not loose your precious work) and don’t mix-up your time for music with the time you’re wasting with any distraction sources such Facebook, YouTube, Forums, Games, etc…
My 2 cents contribution 😉
Good added info bro! thanks for sharing!
Thank you for your input. We at MaschineMasters.com pride ourselves on informing the people correctly. We have years of experience in this field. *****To ALL MAC USERS***** You CAN defrag your Mac as well. Due to the OS of a Mac, it writes ‘smaller’ files. Thus, you DON’T need to defrag your Mac any where near the amount you do a PC. Defrag your Mac 3-4 times year depending on use. I will be more specific on more technical matters in the future. Thanx Maschine Master Fam! Peace
Rushaa
No problem Rushaa, let me just add:
However, there’s no real need to defrag a MAC and you’re risking more by trying to do it, mainly if you’re using FileVault and/or SSD drives, just like it’s often the case with last Macs. It’s actually even very dangerous if you don’t have backups of your work.
MAC Users, be warned it’s different from Windows and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you should better not do it until you follow more detailed instructions about it.
PS: I also do have years of experience on both PC/MAC and producing (having done the Timbaland Edition keyboard and working with him for his sounds). That’s the only reason why I wanted to add my comment on your great article… and definitely not trying to devalorize your work. Peace
Great info Phil! Each one teach one. Good job on that Timbaland board. Tight sounds!
Rushaa
That’s the whole purpose of the Internet, Forums, Blogs, etc… We never stop learning 😉
Thanks for the compliments the TSE. It’s getting old stuff now, still good thought.
Too bad EMU never really followed the development of the Proteus plugin (including for Mac). It would have been good to use them with Maschine.
The Kontakt/Dimension LE versions isn’t exactly the same because they’re missing the nice EMU filters (but that’s another story). They’re still very usable thought, I just made a beat two weeks ago with them…
That could be another point to improve the Studio Workflow
11. Stop chasing for “Another Perfect” Instrument/Sample/Plugin… you probably already have it. Believing you need to spend (waste?) all your money on new toys that will help you to make music is a myth. If you aren’t good, no piece of hardware or software will ever help you. If you are good, you can make music with almost and virtually anything… you just need some good inspiration.
Of course, new (better) gear might help you to increase the quality of your work (better sound quality, better mix, better vocals, etc..), but gear doesn’t replace talent.
Also:
12. Be yourself (which is close to your #10)
Don’t let others to bother you on your art work. Be yourself, express your talent how ‘YOU’ want to express it. Don’t let other to lead you on what you should do or not do.
Realize your dream or someone else will hire you to realize theirs. Don’t try to become a follower, be a leader, be yourself.
Sorry for being talkative… I was just taking a break (slightly being distracted… Do what I say, not what I do ;))
Time to sign off and get back to work.
Peace
One more add guys. If you have an SSD. There is no need for a defrag. Peace MM Fam!
Rushaa