Why you might not ever make great music

Howdy! Today I want to talk about why you're a failure, and why that's your superpower as a creator.

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#musicproducer #musician #musicproduction

[VenusTheory]

Homework's due at the end of the week! Go out and get to it!

[tylerlannan]

John Mayer had a great quote about this. He said, "It's my failure to sound like my heroes that's allowed me to sound like myself." and I think about that a lot. Great video on a topic that is not often discussed. Thanks Cam!

[macsikkila]

Your heroes also had heroes and their influences. Realizing that was exciting for me. Every song produced today is there only because of ever growing line of people influenced by their heroes before them.

[davidmfry]

"Your artistic signature is always going to be the result of a combination of influences"

I've heard so many people talk about "finding your sound" as this experiment where you do something no one's done before, so I'm glad to hear you acknowledge this specifically.

Also, the outro music is dope.

[RitusG]

This is so true. Every time I hear a song and think 'I cant make anything that good', I have to remember that it's important to do 'me'. I need to make music to my strengths and still be inspired by others.

[NormanTiner]

Being an artist is really fucking hard.

[ja.martini]

I've been searching for my "signature" sound for years, went from standard 19th century orchestra to metal, and from metal to piano trap, but then I discovered the world of synthesizing and fell in love with Vital, so i guess my journey's not come to an end yet

[aloneaflame]

As someone who enjoyed maybe 80% of my music career in a duo project with a guy I never actually met in real life, I could never find the same excitement again for music after our project fell apart.

There was nothing more fun than constantly receiving and sending these little bare bones ideas between each other: Sometimes a guitar riff, other times a synth line, then a simple beat pattern.
It really helped with finishing these tracks, big time.
We both had our own influences, too, yet with similarities; he was into Burial and UK 2-step/future garage, I was into Boards of Canada and post-rock stuff.
And when you think of the infinite pool of influences mashed together, you really start to understand just how many different outcomes you can get with collaboration.

[DrMarlowski]

Not only are you inspiring, but you're helping people with mental health problens as well.

Being a creator can be freaking rough if you're alone. By you Cameron, reaching out and being personal, we all become better and feel better 😊

Thanks again for another great video.

[SerenitySoundsCentral]

Great advices. Just landed on your channel and, this 10 minutes of information are like the sum of a course in the purpose of electronic music production. Very enlightening and inspiring information. Not only music inspires to make music. Thank you so much. Great channel!

[spkldgecko]

Just like anything in life that you work hard at, you will go down the path emulating your heroes until one day, after working persistently hard, you realize that you have forged your own path. One that is uniquely your own.

[lordownanglo]

Your videos are so cosy and informative. Inspiring man, keep doing what you do

[Dofakind]

This man is genuinely amazing. Ridiculously intelligent, wise, humble, friendly, a great teacher. Thank you for these videos that you make <3

[Kilohearts]

Great video and a FANTASTIC Content Bank. A pleasure to work with you, as always, Cameron... looking forward to the next time! ❤

[DavidStarrUSA]

My heart upon seeing the "Oh look, it's the mustache music feelings man" 😂 dude... Love the content.

[Sharpened_Spoon]

These recent, particularly candid, videos have been resonating in an especially freakily way. Thanks for the guidance, and confirming/organizing some uncertain thoughts.

[Creative_Spasciz]

Man, I love this channel!! Keep bringing great content bro!!

[awmaas]

Easily and instantly my favorite video of yours. This is such incredibly important advice for creatives, thank you.

[dani_salguero]

Tbh, when you say that it could hit to the Ego, for me its refreshing to hear this, I always was afraid of the copycat thing cause I never want to sound like someone else... seing 2 min of your video, makes me realize that our problem is that we want to go deep into the ecploration of the unaffiliated sound, but we never go deep in our selves, and maybe the principal problem is because we thing that we are not enough to be unique as posible as our heroes, for me, Virtual Riot, Moody Good, etc.

[SinisterShadows-hjnd]

Commented on another video about this exact thing.

Played covers for years, my originals weren’t all that great. One day out of frustration, I said to hell with it, grabbed a favorite cover song and reworked it, new chords, new key, new melody, new rhythm or very close to original’s rhythm but different. The idea was to just see if I can take another song and completely change it but still sound good. The aim was to retain the originals lyrical structure and the originals spirit. And hit record on the iPhone after piecing it all back together, and the playback blew me away, Hit me with an epiphany and opening up a well of creativity, I got hooked and did it with every song I knew, felt inspired and started journaling, and pretty soon I had some new material to work with, and it was a consistent flow. Of course I hit a wall eventually, due to the stresses of life. But I keep journaling, bought a laptop and daw, midi etc. and currently back at it, with the aim of making an album of all new original material.

Throw yourself a curveball and do the unexpected things. It might get you in that zone. In doing what I did I learned a lot about songs, structure, content, and theory. And mostly I’ve learned a lot about myself and my abilities.

Also open up to other genres and ideas if you haven’t already. Soak everything in.

Learn. Write. And stay consistent with it.