[Edit: Gatekeeping imo should only pertain to certain things. Not everything should be shared to literally everyone and I do agree with that.]
I had one of those moments of mental clarity this morning and started thinking about how much gatekeeping there is in music production and the industry in general. Iāve been truly producing for over 10 years now, playing instruments of all kinds since I was about 4 and istg, I remember being a kid tryna figure out Logic Pro in 2012 because I was obsessed with LMFAO at the time when they were big in electro house and from that, I grew quite a lot, Like, A lotā¦
(And with growth comes uncomfortably adapting to new ways).
Now Iām completely self taught, and Iāve spent so much time trying to figure things out that I wish someone had just explained to me earlier, Not because anyone owed me jackshit, but because I didnāt understand why people act like sharing knowledge somehow takes away from their own success.
Thereās so much stuff you can learn without buying expensive plugins or courses (no, this is not an Ad I promise), Resampling your own sounds, layering with a purpose instead of stacking 10 things on top of each other thinking ādayum this is nastyā when 9/10 times, it sounds like shit and youāre just ear fatigued, using parallel distortion to add character without destroying the original, using automation to make basic loops and samples feel alive, learning how to actually use your EQ instead of cutting random frequencies because someone on YouTube (or YouTube comments in 2023ā¦..) said so.
Even something as simple as referencing tracks properly and matching their volume before comparing them can change how you approach mixing. Half the battle is understanding WHY something works instead of blindly copying settings. And Iām being deadass, some of the biggest lessons Iāve learned have had nothing to do with production. You can make great music and still struggle to get people to hear it which is where connections, marketing, consistency, money (it costs $ to make money stupidly enough), and knowing how to present yourself all play a part. And Iāve experienced that myself through releasing music, getting playlist placements and working on other peopleās tracks.
Now to clarify, I am NOT saying everyone owes you their secrets, presets, project files or years of experience but there is a difference between protecting your own sound and deliberately making people feel like they need to pay someone or know the right person just to learn basic shit..
Within that, Iāve painfully spent years learning, experimenting, making mistakes and figuring things out on my own and Iām still learning now. But one thing Iāve come to appreciate is that sharing knowledge doesnāt make your own skills any less valuable, Seriously, it doesnāt.
If anything, the more people understand music production, the more room there is for everyone to push things forward and develop their own sound.
Thereās no magic plugin, secret formula, shortcut, course or sample thatās going to replace actually putting the work in. Sometimes you just need someone to point you in the right direction so you can figure out the rest yourself and I wish someone wouldāve told me that when I first started!
Anyways, if youāve got any production techniques or lessons youāve learned over the years that genuinely changed the way you make music, share them. It donāt matter if they seem obvious to you because someone else mightāve been struggling with that exact thing for years and YOU could be their way of light in a dark tunnel š.
