A Mostly Thorough Guide to Learning Electronic Music Production

Let's talk about learning music and music production.

Full List of Resources:

Genre

Synthesis

Music Theory

Drums

Mixing

Listen and apply. As you learn new things, listen to music with those things in mind.

00:00 intro
01:24 genre
08:25 synthesis
12:30 music theory
21:29 mixing
26:17 wrap-up
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My Music:

Connect:

[ToyKeeper]

Instead of "learn music in 30 minutes", it's "learn the table of contents for how to learn music, in 30 minutes".
Thanks for a welcome dose of realism. <3

[ImprovingAbility]

As a long term follower I finally understand what you did. First you built your financial existence with the creation of music videos, and now you are finally free to focus on your true calling: teaching, which you do exceptionally well.

[KamilKraz]

For all people that feel overwhelmed by amount of knowledge they need to get - “Slowly, is the fastest way to get you where you want to be”

Thank you for this video!

[kegstandjesus]

I think the best part of this video is that it doesn't even mention a single technical thing about music production. Makes every second of this video that much more evergreen

[argosfe]

It's one of those times I don't know what I'm looking for exactly and then suddenly I magically stumble upon it.
Really great video, thanks.

[ryokokofficial]

Jeremy coming with the fire. I took a few months of lessons with him and even took Huang's class and came out a techno god. So I can attest to all of this. The Ishkur link is also a profound resource. Also Roland has their new Boutique series out of cheap hardware copies of their classic instruments like the 808 and 303. The genre approach is so important. You find the exact thing you want to make and then break down where all the components in it came from. Its illuminating. Really amazing resources he is providing here.

[synthmage]

When I first started taking my own music production more seriously, someone (I unfortunately can't remember who) recommended "The Mixing Engineer's Handbook" to me, and it literally changed my life. It put words to things that I had already figured out on my own, explained tools I thought I understood but was using wrong, and taught me a ton about the tools I was scared to use early on because I thought they were "too advanced" for me.

I haven't read "The Recording Engineer's Handbook" yet, but I know Bobby Owsinski's writing is super approachable from reading his Mixing book, even as someone who generally doesn't learn well by reading.

[yhn]

I've been an avid electronic music fan for the last 24 years. Started DJing about the same time and lived through the golden era of house/trance. I've always dreamed of learning to produce and release a track on a label. I've always doubted myself, knowing I have zero musical background, and thought this was just a pipe dream.

Thanks for all links and tips you've provided; I felt 10x more motivated and will finally give this a go! Looking forward to commenting again in a few years once I'm signed and tell you I've kicked this bucket list down the road :)

[therealfaintinggoat]

Jeremy, you’re a human treasure. So much content to absorb. Thank you thank you

[glowingrectangles]

Dude, fuckin sweet!
It's like magic.
Take something awesome yet all too often overwhelming/ frustrating, unpack it, and look behind the curtian. A perfectly distilled, organized, birds eye view on the whole thing. Excellent resources and links to the sections of the video.

This brings me much need relief and perspective. It's so easy to stay in the gratifying process of doing what I'm already familiar with at the same time being frustrated about not "getting anywhere" neglecting other crucial aspects. this helps me step back and think about whats uniquely important and what my blind spots may be.

Thank you for being awesome and doing what you do. Your cat is hillarious btw.

[danfozmusic]

Red this video made my day. I've taken composition, theory, guitarist for 20+ years and gotten deeply into production since covid. Now getting into hardware, MPC, Digitone and Microcosm. Sometimes I feel like a total electro-poser. Like I'm wasting my time turning knobs and not shredding. But your breakdown of being genre-specific is super important to me, guides how and why I would want to make the music I want to make. Also the idea of learning vs application is super important. I can sometimes bury myself in tutorials to avoid the actual making of music, so thanks for that. Great video for a immensely complex subject.

[katlegotladi]

With regards to music theory I think another great resource is the plugin Scaler 2. It lets you learn chords and scales while you make music. Preeeety noice.

[Klintebjarnen]

This is with no doubt the most inspiring and informative video on music production i've ever seen. Thank you so much for doing this!

[AvianBreak]

Your recommendation on Dan Worrall’s channel closed the loop on music production for me. I’m already applying his techniques, and it’s so nice to finally really understand sample rates and how plugins work under the hood.

[mare]

I saw this video because I’m a fan of electronic music, however I realize that I knew little about genres and the more I feel more conected to certain type of music the more I want to go deep inside the basics of it. Im no producer and no dj, but god I enjoy this music.
I just need to learn more about the things that makes my heart happy.
Thank you for this! This is my very first lesson ever!
Love from México

[thomasbaker]

Damn. This has got me fired up about making music again. Love this so much.

[jakeoleson]

What an absolute treasure trove of a video. I've been going HAM learning production the past 2 years but your focus on truly learning the genre you're interested in, along with Syntorial has helped me immensely in just the 24h since I've watched your video. Also didn't realize that so much of the music I love falls under the "Microhouse" genre, as broad of a camp as it seems to be.

Thanks for taking the time to help save fellow musicians time. A few of my favorite artists on their reddit AMAs are always like - "there are no short-cuts" when asked about any aha moments along their journey or notable resources that have helped. Thanks for sharing all of these :)

[johncaccioppo]

I really appreciate the focus on genre here... it's not something I've seen universal agreement on, though. It seems like we don't need it to make or enjoy music but we definitely need it to be able to talk about it in it's evolution, to find it, to have a sense of what direction to go into and to develop the appreciation of music for the wider public.

As a musician, I definitely care about what has and hasn't been done before and where my target audience might be lurking and as a civic-minded person I feel like it gives the public taxonomical skills that our current political climate has sanitized out of our heads. It's not easy to sell propaganda when people understand history and know how to talk about it.

[chrispuhl]

So today I was thinking “Red Means Recording” should be publishing another video soon. In parallel I had been looking for a resource (or resources as it turns out) to help me along learning music production (and particularly mixing and genre-based ideas). And then this video pops up. Funny old universe we live in.

This, sir, was incredibly useful while also being entertaining.

Thank you!

[kinggnarles]

Came to learn, got a bibliography. Dude saw me coming and knew exactly what I needed. Five stars, thanks man!