it's a bit like asking how can I be as good at football as Lionel Messi, or run faster than Usain Bolt, or write better songs than The Beatles. Some things you just can't learn. You either have the natural ability or you don't. Certainly you need to immerse yourself in lots of music, and I mean a lot ... but not stealing it, absorbing it's essence. Top producers are paid a lot of money because they have skills that most people don't and they can get any old rubbish sounding a million dollars and bring a project to completion ... people skills are very important too. knowing when to be a diplomat or when to crack the whip.

 

I can't say I disagree with all of your points but I'll just leave a quote here...

“Good artists copy, great artists steal” - Pablo Picasso

A lot of producers out there who most people would class as good aren't trendsetters for lack of better terminology. They just copy the style of whoever is very popular at the moment. That's pretty much the easiest way for a producer to blow up and get label attention anyway, if they are good enough to copy what is charting at the moment.

The longer way is to innovate and come up with your own sound but it will probably take years. I am trying to shorten this gap.

 

then why bother listen to influence from past? just copy todays "sound"

you will not have Milly Sirus on your DAW with old styles! Get that moneys and poison music some more.

 

Björk, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, MGMT, Massive Attack, Moby, Radiohead, Depeche Mode, System of a Down, Nirvana, Slipknot, Curve, Aphex Twin, Amon Tobin, Fatboy Slim, Boards Of Canada, Vitalic, Ferry Corsten, Placebo, KoRn, Deftones, Blonde Redhead, Terranova, Portishead, Hooverphonic, Oasis, Robert Miles, The Future Sound of London, Safri Duo, Ladytron, Planet Funk, Télépopmusik, Thievery Corporation, Mirwais, The Beloved, Groove Armada, Kylie Minogue, Dido, Faithless, Garbage

I listen to them 10+ years and I have trained ears as f*ck

 

This seems misguided at best and completely crazy at worst.

This is not to say it is bad to listen to all kinds of music. Quite the opposite. But if you are into music, you know what you like when you hear it. Asking someone else to tell you what your influences should be is kinda bizarre.

There are thousands of 24/7 streaming music radio channels available on the internet. Pick a channel and listen. When you hear something that really inspires you, look it up and listen some more. Figure out what exactly it is that makes you like that particular thing. Or whatever.

 

I don’t want to poison todays music that’s the point of this post.

If I wanted to do that I wouldn’t be here asking for advice, I’d just study the charts and copy their formula.

 

Thank you very much for a large response. I’m discovering that I know these artist’s songs even though I’ve never heard of most of them.

 

So what would you advise one who wants to improve in melody, rhythm & song structure (in production) to do?

It was my understanding that you pretty much just have to listen to everything to train your ear or learn theory. Learning an instrument also could help.

Some of the top producers can’t read sheet music, not learning theory and relying on the ear can mean you’re not necessarily restricted by those rules you learn in theory so one may be more creative.

Educate me.

 

Thank you so much for this advice, it has helped a lot.
Do you have any advice in regards to listening? Becuase going in to a career in music we can't just listen for pleasure, we need to analyse.
What should I be listening closely for?

 

In my opinion, what you should listen closely to is your heart. Not its beating, or its BPM, of course... hmmm actually there is something to that, too, since good music will get you excited and emotional, thus your heartbeat will start beating faster. Anyway, only then, when you can feel it, listen to it multiple times critically and analyse it. Ask yourself what made you tap? What gave you creeps? What gave you goosebumps? What made your heart race? And most important, what made your eyes wet a little, or a little more... for me, it's all about feelings.

 

Try listening to this for example... this one makes my eyes wet every fucking time, the lyrics are brilliant, arrangement is building excitement and the songs grows dynamically and draws you in, ups and downs - dynamics are very important for a great, emotional, exciting arrangement:

edited because I found even better performed and sounding version of it.

 

Last edited: Oct 11, 2020

This song does indeed change energy and mood in a way I don't see in modern music. Most music now just involves leaving out pieces (breaks) or adding in sound effects to keep the listener engaged (and it creates anticipation).

I think this is to compensate for the shortened attention span of this current generation. Older music was not just a 4 bar loop repeated. Notice most songs nowadays are only 2-3 minutes. The shorter the song, the quicker it ends and this makes it more likely for the listener to replay which leads to higher streaming numbers. Music is much more business orientated now.

 

Last edited: Oct 11, 2020

Jellyfish - Bellybutton or Spilt Milk

 

Steve Strauss

 

I think that they should listen to classic music in every genre

 

can't remember the name of the movie, but it was about the future. popular music had gotten to the point where it was about the length of a radio advertisement jingle or about 10 - 15 seconds. those days are coming soon i think.