The biggest issue for most artistes and producers in the music industry today is lack of uniqueness. It seems like everyone is trying to follow a particular style or pattern without making an effort to spice it up with their own flavor. Truth is I really don't blame anyone. In my early days as a producer, all I wanted was to be exactly like other top producers in the game. I tried to emulate their sound, and worked so hard trying to be like them. Of course I was wasting my time because first of all I wasn't on the same skill level as the other producers, and second of all there wasn't a lot of tutorials on YouTube about music production back then so you really didn't know exactly how to go about it. I came to understand that music is a form of art, and just like other forms of art, it's about expression. Being creative and evoking certain emotions in an individual. I decided instead of trying to make generic trap, and bangers exactly the way everyone else does it, I would develop my own style, something that makes me sand out from the next guy. I'm not saying you shouldn't have producers who you look up to. I'm saying you should get certain ideas and techniques here and there, recycle them and make them your own. That is the best way to improve your craft. One of my mentors once told me, "your beats should be so good that anyone who listens to it would ask 'who produced this?' " I don't think anyone would ask that question if your beats/music was an exact replica of someone else's work. Rather they'd be like "oh it's just one of em beat makers" "So How Exactly Do I Stand Out?" As an Artiste/Producer, you can begin your journey to uniqueness by creating a trademark sound. Most artiste's use adlibs in their intros. Producers do this as well. The thing is adlibs are only sufficient enough to introduce the artiste or producer so everyone knows who exactly is on the track without asking. There's still the rest of the song though. If your song is generic, no one is going to want to emulate you or look up to you as a mentor, why? because there's nothing to emulate. There's nothing they can say you are known for. You're only going to be "poppin" . You need to have your own sound. For producers, try to change the character of a kick, snare, or instrument. Use certain chords or scales that no one else uses. When people hear a particular note or element they should be able to associate it with you. I stress more on the producer because the producer plays a big roll in making the artiste stand out. That's why we have type beats. We associate certain styles to certain artistes. This is not something that happens overnight though. You have to go through the process of trial and error. Eventually you'll get there. God bless and stay positive. Copyright © 2016 Sage Sound, All rights reserved.
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AuthorKing aka King Lingo. President and founder of Sage Sound. Archives
May 2016
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