“To learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know” - Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Let me ask you a personal question
How many tutorials have you watched in your career as a musician or producer?
Have you implemented any of that knowledge into your workflow?
If the answer is yes, then great job! If the answer is no, then we have some things to talk about.
The quote above has stuck with me ever since I read it in the book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey
It has made me think of all the times I watched tutorials to try to learn everything about Music Production, and how I haven’t been implementing them into my practice sessions, which in turn made me not really understand what the heck I was even doing.
Now, before you say anything, I know that a lot of people have learned a lot of things on YouTube (myself included), so I’m not saying that they aren’t worth anything or that they don’t provide value or knowledge for people.
All I’m saying is if all you are doing is watching tutorials all day long, but not implementing the knowledge into your workflow in some way shape or form, then by all accounts, you just wasted a whole day that could’ve been used to do something productive.
I speak from my own personal experience.
When I first started making music, I would watch countless tutorials trying to learn everything I could about making music. Some of them were beneficial, while others…not so much.
While it was cool to gather the knowledge I needed to make my songs sound good, the main problem with me was that I wasn’t going into the studio and trying it out for myself to see how it all works. I was pretty much soaking up knowledge, but not putting it to good use.
The proper term for this is Mental Masturbation
Mental Masturbation, defined by Urban Dictionary, is the act of engaging in useless yet intellectually stimulating conversation, usually as an excuse to avoid taking constructive action in your life.
In simple terms, you talk about what you're going to do, but don't ever get around to doing it due to “reasons.”
This is pretty much what tutorials are to me at this point in my music-making journey. They are just a way for me to not take any action in the studio, all because I feel or think that I don’t know all the answers yet, so I keep searching for them.
The reality is that you actually learn more by doing things.
To quote the late great Nipsey Hussle:
“The best teacher in life is your own experience. None of us know who we are until we fail. They say every man is defined by his reaction to any given situation. Well who would you want to define you? Someone else? Or yourself?”
You have to put in the work in order to gain the experience needed to be like whatever artists you look up to. The only difference between you and your idol is PRACTICE.
There’s no secret, no sauce, no "next level" f*ckery you need to know about.
Just PRACTICE. EVERY. DAY.
Put in the reps, fail at making songs, mess around with plugins you haven’t used before, make a quirky beat, something! As long as you put in the practice every day, you will become just as great, if not greater than, the artists you look up to.
Focus on the Process, Not the Outcome
Stay creative, friends
BLAMMERZ