Mastering Your Weapon of Choice

What up MM?! Todays topic is all about mastering your weapon of choice. Some producers have the tendency to keep upgrading or jumping on the latest equipment. Does this really help?! My opinion is, it doesn’t. Lets face it, if you’re constantly changing hardware, you never reach the point of being the master. Your constantly the Karate KID and not Mr. Miyagi.

I am a firm believer of its NOT what you have, its how you use it. When Maschine 2.0 came out, I wasn’t ready to upgrade. I still had so much to learn on 1.8. I was halfway through my development of 1.8 and I had a choice to make. Stick with 1.8 (learn it, master it and then upgrade to 2.0) or just take the plunge and hit up 2.0. I decided the former. Why, you probably ask? Wouldn’t it be better to invest my time learning 2.0? You could be right, but I felt I would have wasted all the previous hours I had spent learning 1.8. So for the past few months I have been hitting tutorial after tutorial after tutorial of 1.8. (See our Maschine tutorials section)

It was well worth investing my time into 1.8, prior to upgrading, as my production skills have matured not taken a detour. 2.0 is a completely different interface and layout. The way it flows is very different to 1.8. At first this put me off 2.0. I was very happy with the workflow of 1.8 and I didn’t want to interrupt that, but 2.0 has some great features and will keep getting better. 1.8 on the other hand is at its peak and as far as I am aware NI wont be releasing any further updates.

So what I am trying to say is that I benefited from holding off on the upgrade. Matured my skills in 1.8 and now I am going to ease myself into 2.0. The plan is to be fully up and running by the time the November Maschine 2.2 upgrade is released.

I have seen lots of forums comparing Maschine Studio with the MPC Renaissance. Every producer has a different style, workflow and preference. Some producers will prefer the Maschine and others will prefer MPC. That’s fine, whatever works for you, but stick to it. Don’t jump around like a House of Pain track. Stick with your hardware and Master it. Upgrading your hardware before you have learned its capability will not make you a better producer. If you don’t know what your hardware’s capable of, how will you maximize its use?

I’m not saying don’t try out other hardware, because we don’t want to be left behind, but if something works for you, stick with it. The chance that your workflow will be disrupted is very high. We all want to make dope beats and if you’re making dope beats with the equipment you posses, why change? I think you will be very surprised with what your current hardware / software is capable of. I’ve heard Pete Rock and DJ Premier giving their best advice to up and coming producers and yes, its “Master Your Weapon.”

Until next time you can catch me at @UKAntSmith

Peace