Stepping up your output can be easy when following the right formula. We came up with 4 tips to increase your productivity as a producer.
Schedule your day
If you want to get things done, scheduling is absolutely essential. You can do it the traditional way, by writing your tasks on a piece of paper and put it on your working desk or use one of the hundreds of apps available.
We at ForTunes use Todoist. It offers a free solution and an affordable premium tier and is a great tool to conveniently manage your tasks. Be it throughout the day, week, month or even year.
Scheduling your day doesn’t only boost your productivity, it also prevents you from forgetting certain todos! Be it an email you wanted to send to your label, a beat you wanted to send to a singer or a picture you wanted to post on Instagram.
Another positive side effect is, that it actually feels really good to checkmark a task 🙂
Use midis
Yes, it is always amazing when you come up with a new chord progression or lead melody from scratch, but it can also be time consuming. For a long time producers who used midi files where not taken serious.
This trend changed in the last few years. Producers can’t be on YouTube without seeing an ad that promotes the newest midi pack.
People who still feel bad using midi files should not forget about the fact that you can change midi compositions in any way possible. You don’t have to stick with the given progression or melody. Just change it up and make it your own.
Additionally you can always save your own original midi compositions from previous projects and reuse them for later projects. This brings us to our next pointer:
Save your own drum samples
Every producer knows that searching for the perfect kick or snare can take hours. Once you’ve found what you were looking for, you often start layering it with other samples and mix them together to get the perfect sound. What many producers don’t realize is that they’re actually creating their own samples that way!
Why not curate your own libraries filled with drum samples that you know already worked in your previous songs? Once you’ve bounced a decent amount of your own drum samples, you’ll gradually start saving tremendous time finding the right drum sounds.
Get inspired fast
Similarly like using other musicians’ midi files, a lot of producers think that people who specifically look for inspiration in tracks from other artists are unoriginal.
We don’t think that this is the case. Looking for inspiration doesn’t automatically mean that someone is trying to copy another artist. It could just be the tempo, lead melody, chord progression, arrangement or certain lyrical elements that spark the idea for your own next single.
In terms of productivity it’s obviously better to look for inspiration on YouTube or Spotify, than sitting in front of your midi keyboard and frustrate over your lack of incentive.
—
Happy producing!
5 join the family and show some love for this!