To all music producers and musicians and people in the music scene

[myworld_tm]

To all music producers and musicians and people in the music scene:

I would really appreciate if you would give me some advice, I'm currently in transition, just ORDed last month, and i'm looking to be a music producer in the genre of Electronic Dance Music (House/Prog/Electro). From that i aim to produce my own songs, help others produce their songs, market them, sell them, organize gigs and music festivals and shows etc, in the future.

Here's the problem, I'm really lost as to what to do next. Can anyone advice me on where i should apply too (in Singapore cause my family can't afford overseas)? I am currently looking at Lasalle music technology (BA), but i hear it is very performance arts based. I'm looking for something that could provide me with technical know-how, opportunities and jump-starts (connections etc) and credibility as a producer in the future. (Is a degree important for this?)

I have a diploma in business studies from Ngee Ann Poly and although i quit piano lessons at grade 2, i've been self taught for almost 13 years. I have also been producing alot of EDM on my own for the past few years. you can check out my soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/iamjeffhue

Also, are there any companies i can intern at currently that could provide me such work experience ?

Appreciate all suggestions! Can also pm me or email me at myworld_tm@hotmail.com

THANKS ALOT guys!

- Jeff -

 

[blueprintstudios]

Hi jeff, welcome to soft. firstly I'd just like to highlight the term "Producer" can be very vague and has different meanings in different roles in different "job scopes". from E-music perspective , the person who composes/arranges/mixes is the producer. the person who came up with the melody and arrangement but got someone else to do the arranging/mixing and then is present to engage another vocalist sessionist to the recording is also called the producer ("overseeing the process, making sure the song conveys the emotions etc etc") .

I come from a different background from you but I would have gone down the same path back in '97 if I only had some musical talent to play the piano and remember chords/alphabetical notes. hehe. thats how I ended up with a mic and did audio recording instead. otherwise as a consumer-listener, I listen to trance/electronica/drum'n'bass etc. But that's all mid 2000 stuff and is "old fashioned" now to uncles like me haha.

The advice I have is , you are lost because you are distracted by your options but no decisions and you're trying to figure out the best one out of it all. just like many youths who have walked down this path. and of course the fear of making the wrong one. You have dreams, many dreams, for the journey you are to make, but of all the things you have said - you have no clear realistic destination/goal. sure everyone wanted to be a rockstar and earn millions of dollars and live a life of sex drugs rock and roll. But ppl like justin bieber seems to have it all instead. your goal seems to be just the journey, and what you would be doing currently to the next 10 years, but not for the 20-30-40 long run. trust me time flies.

For your "aim to produce my own songs, help others produce their songs, market them, sell them, organize gigs and music festivals and shows etc, in the future." kindly consider whether you can balance that within 24 hrs daily - 8 hrs - 2 hrs eat/shit = 14 hrs to split to your own time/hobbies/dreams/friends/family/girlfriend>wife/studies>career>work/bills.
Go Art (your passion personal preference taste of what music really is) or Go Corporate/Commercial. (if the trend is dubstep, you do dubstep, if the trend is justin bieber vs one direction vs miley cyrus vs britney spears and lady gaga, you do that.. for the $$$/portfolio/fame)

And because you mentioned your family, Here's the world I came from in a few lines - "it's just a hobby stop wasting your time" , "go study a non music degree and get a real job!" , "music cannot make it in singapore one, you're going to be a nobody" , "you're going to end up pub hopping playing in bars , teaching spoilt brat instruments/in a school" , "look at all the time and money you've wasted, you could have been a doctor/lawyer" of course what others think of you is not important. I'm pretty sure the world seems less merciless now because people prefer to talk behind each other's backs or they have a cup of STFU and mind their own biz. If your parents are supportive, good for you. very good. remember to plan how to take of them when they're old.
As you can see, I'm not in any 'certification' (as a PSLE dropout) to tell you what to do next, only how to clearly look at things in a mindset on what to do next with a reality check. Almost all of us here have our own day jobs to pay the bills while feeding the family and funding the GearAcquisitionSyndrome (or like me, 1 day job and 5 sidelines + 2 upcoming.) . It's normal for us Singaporeans.

The path of EDM i'm not sure, what I recall 10 years back being involved is that usually they have a portfolio of their remixes, they get DJs to spin their music (or they do the spinning themselves and eventually hopefully become as big as dj tiesto) at events, or major online internet radiostations. and I understand some of the DJ/Producers's usual path is you start your own record label with a marketed group like www.manian.de (sorry I'm not from the EDM scene, but when Manuel came to SG I brought him around so this guy is my only reference.) and some would get involved in the geek production side by creating their own samples like vengeance-sound.com (another Manuel) but since you mentioned you're 22. you MIGHT be a little late when EDM used to be a little more popular and had stations like 91.3 wkrz which is long gone for about 8 years back. end of the line - it's all about what pays the bills. what's trendy. So networking is an important factor which an antisocial married man like me with better things to do will not bother with the scene/fame/insecurity politics , will get you somewhere eventually. depending who you meet, who will help you, and who will kick you when you're down. Be mentally prepared for it.

As for degree, if you are a tattoo artist, musician, chef, photographer, you can tattoo flawlessly on the skin, make great music for the ears, whip up amazing dishes for taste, and snap picture speaks thousand words for the eyes. who cares if you have a diploma cert for toiletpaper? Then again, who cares if bill gates, mark zuckerberg, steve jobs would have graduated from whatever college they were from if they did. The risk is, who cares about who the hell you are if you haven't done anything to change the world, vs done anything to contribute to society (graduate > intern > get job > work in the rat race). But yes, if you plan to work in a company that sees your certifications cos they think your portfolio is crap, or go back to school to teach and narrate them textbooks (or e-books). you most likely need a cert.

90¢ worth.