The 3 Commandments Every New Producer Needs To Follow

Congratulations for taking the first step in the wonderful world of beatmaking and music production!

Nothing tops the feeling of banging out a beat that sounds dope to your ears and everyone else’s. Maybe you’re here because you want a career in music production and make a living selling beats to artists. Maybe you’re a rapper who wants to stop relying on other producers and make your own beats for you to rap on. It doesn’t really matter. Whatever your goals are, this email course will get you started along that path and make sure that you’ll have the right foundations to get to where you want to be.

Before anything, we need to discuss a few basic rules so you can maximize your learning from me. Consider this to be your orientation. Let's get started.

My Journey

I’ve been writing rhymes and performing at shows for about 9 years now, and put out several projects by myself and with my group. I’m lucky enough to have been surrounded by several very talented producers who I relied on for all of the beats I used in all of my songs.

But over time, I became increasingly discontent with where my music was going. Since beats are the backbone of every song, I was basically restricted to sounding like the producers I worked with. I became uncomfortable with the idea of leaving my sound in the hands of somebody else, and wanted more control over how my music was like.

So I started dabbling into making beats. I asked my producer friends for recommendations on programs and equipment, and went on to get the same ones for myself.

The only problem? I sucked. As much as I loved listening to music and writing rhymes, I’ve had absolutely no formal music training. Worse of all, even though I would hear melodies in my head, I would have no idea how to translate it to good music on those programs. Making music became frustrating instead of fun, because every time I tried to make beats I was constantly reminded of how bad I was. Several times, I even ended up quitting and accepting that I had no talent for making beats and that I should stick to writing rhymes and rapping.

It wasn’t until I realized 3 key lessons did I start going somewhere in my music production career. For today’s lesson, I’m going to share them with you, as I think it’s crucial that we’re both clear on what you need so I can help you.

Commandment 1: It’s Part Creativity, And Part Obedience

When I first started out making music, I was surrounded by a bunch of super-talented dudes that made dope beats day in and day out.

You wouldn’t believe just how much these cats made it look EASY. They’d sit behind their keyboards, play one catchy melody after another, and bang out a loop that any MC would be inspired to write and record a verse to.

To make it worse, I’d watch videos of industry producers making beats who would do the same in less time.

While watching these guys work was good for inspiration, it was actually detrimental to my progress as a producer.

Why? Because I foolishly thought that I’d be able to do the same even if I had no training whatsoever.

Here’s the thing: some songs sounds great for a reason. There’s actually an entire science behind it that breaks down exactly why certain elements of music appeals to your ears, and why others don’t.

Some people are talented enough to know these rules by instinct. They’re the same ones that hear a melodies in their head and know exactly what to put beside those instruments to make a song whole.

But the sad truth of the matter is this: a lot of people won’t. I definitely wasn’t one of them. It took years of frustration (not to mention thousands of wasted dollars) before I swallowed my pride and spent some time studying music theory.

And it was, hands-down, the best thing I did for my career as a music producer.

Don’t get me wrong, it was boring as shit and I gave up trying several times. Most (if not all) books on the topic were not only incredibly dull, but also required you to know how to read sheet music to understand what they were talking about.

But as creative as the art form of music is, I had to accept that there is a science behind it. And before anybody could break the rules, at the very least you need to have an idea of what they are so you know which ones to break.

Commandment 2: It’s Not The Equipment, But The Man Behind It

If you haven't seen it yet, play the video above and watch J. Cole (Roc Nation artist) pump out a banging beat using nothing but his laptop and a keyboard.

I wanted to show you that video to make a simple point: even if you take a 7-year old kid with no music training whatsoever and put him in Dr. Dre’s studio, there will be no way that kid will come up with anything that sounds close to Dre beat.

I got caught up in a buying frenzy when I first started making beats. Every other week, there seemed to be a new product that seemed to be the missing link I NEEDED to have so I could make better music. I bought library after library that promised to have the best sounding sounds than anything else in the market.

But while most of the programs I bought actually were good products, it didn’t really matter because I had no idea how to use them properly. Who cares if I had a VST instrument that had the best sampled horns if I had no idea how to play a good melody with the horns in the first place?

Always keep this in mind: while it’s necessary to invest in the RIGHT equipment, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to make incredible beats. You’ll be able to create several albums worth of music with an investment of a few hundred dollars, tops.

What’s more important is that you actually spend time and effort practicing and perfecting your craft — and that’s what this course is here to help you with.

Commandment 3: Take Your Craft Seriously

There are tens of thousands of people who want to learn how to make beats. I should know, my site gets that much visitors on a monthly basis.

Here’s the thing though: most of them won’t end up anywhere. A lot of them are casual hobbyists who think it’s as easy as hitting a few keys on a keyboard and clicking a few buttons. They then get dissuaded when they realize it takes a lot more work than they thought and that it takes some investment of time and money to get to where they want to be.

Because you’re reading this, I’d like to think you’re cut from a different cloth. But while I’m here to help you shorten the process as much as possible, results won’t happen overnight. So ask yourself this: how bad do you want to succeed?

• Are you just fucking around, or do you really have the passion to do what it takes to make it as a producer?

• Do you accept that there will be a learning curve and that you’ll have to learn from those who farther along the journey than you are?

• Do you understand that you have to invest in the right tools and ignore “magic bullet” products full of false promises and empty hype?

• More importantly, are you willing to put in the effort in studying the ins and outs of making beats and the time practicing more than the next man?

Because if you don’t answer with a resounding “Yes!” to all of the questions above, then you’re in for a rough road. This game will test your resolve and make you question your own abilities from time to time.

But if you can keep on trotting along through the tough times, then oh what a rewarding journey it will be.

You might be wondering: how did my story end?

Well, it hasn’t ended yet. Slowly but surely, everything just clicked for me after years of frustration. I’ll never forget that moment when I played one of my beats and got everybody nodding their heads and complimenting me on how sick it was.

I’ve been a lot more consistent with my beats ever since. I still have a long way to go before I’m truly where I want to be, but no longer do I sit behind the equipment I spent so much money buying and get frustrated because I can’t come up with anything that sounds good.

If you have what it takes to get there (and I think you do), you’ll be there too.

Without the proper guidance, you can end up wasting a lot of time and money running around in circles. My goal is to help you get the results you’re after in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of money as possible.