I’ve been producing for about a year now and I’ve explored a few genres - ambient, melodic techno., etc. I’d be interested in people’s thoughts on this point:- do you think you develop further as a producer by experimenting with different genres, or do you think you’re better off concentrating on one or two and try to hone them instead? Is less more? Can you spread yourself too thinly?
By “develop” I’m thinking of technical skills, (polished and solid production,) rather than being rich, famous (although that would be good.,) or anything else that motivates your need to create.
Damn, the site is wigging out on me while I type this. This is going to be a doozie.
Developing skills isn’t always genre-dependent; think about developing mixing or mastering skills – creating lots of different music under various genre umbrellas can actually help you learn how to deal with various problems with mixing different frequencies, how to handle certain instrument sections, etc. Obviously you can borrow friends’ tracks for this, but it can be great to experiment and create these genres for yourself if you’ve got the time and energy.
(I will say that some of my best mixes were for others though, so you might actually have some luck working on other peoples’ music just to create a little bit of distance when you’re really trying to level up your mixing or mastering skills)
With that said, focusing on certain genres can bring out new skills entirely. I got really good at guitar (or up to my peak, probably) when I was writing metal albums, for example, and likewise produced completely different music when I was doing a lot of livecoding and modular (I might still be in that headspace actually). You can’t really do it all at once (it would be nice if life allowed for that!), so I guess having an area of focus in general is probably your best bet – but you can change focus areas, of course. I’ve personally gone through a lot of ‘phases’ that I don’t regret.
I think that whatever your goals are, you can kind of target and accomplish them. Even if you only have a few minutes to spare here and there. It kind of feels like working out, some days, but it’s always worth it.
I think phases is a good way to do it. For myself, I started off in more experimental styles just to figure out structure and theory first. Then I pivoted into ambient as I was weak at drums and wanted to focus on my strengths in tonal music writing and reverb/ambiance. Then I took those strengths and pivoted into house/techno so I could work more on drums and structures again. Now I’m kind of back to more experimental stuff, but it’s been 10 years and I’m a lot better at music as I push myself to do more complex rhythms at higher BPMs. In short I’m still trying to get better at drums but house/techno are getting a bit boring for me.
Each of these phases lasted 2-3 years, and that’s not to say I didn’t work on anything else at all when I was in a certain phase. For instance, I definitely did some ambient or experimental stuff while I was doing house. Even if you’re focused on something, sometimes you need to take a break from that one thing but you still want to work on music, and doing a different genre can be a great way to take a break without taking a break from music as a whole.
Agreed, experimenting is key. One day I may want to do some fast 160+ bpm stuff, the next day I may want to slow way down and make some beatless ambient. As long as I’m having fun while learning and developing as an artist, that’s all that matters to me.
so take this with a grain of salt as i can’t figure out what my “style” is and I’ve never had a desire to “nail it down.”
i think it all depends on what your goal is. if you want to become really good at one particular style, then you are going to need to focus on it. however working on other styles will be a huge benefit when it comes to having said style sound different or like your version of it. i dont think i’d be where i am with music if i hadn’t spent the time exploring all the different styles i have. it’s largely ended up with me pulling different pieces from them all to make what i consider to be my music.
but most importantly there isn’t a right or wrong wrong approach here.
I think this is a terrific post and find myself nodding in agreement. My initial question was sparked off by seeing media references to “Techno producer, X” or “House producer, Y” and it made me think about the merit of specializing in one genre. I suppose it’s all about experimentation and enjoying the process, whatever the style and learning along the way.
