Why Learning Music Theory Will Transform Your Production Game

All right , all right , welcome back everyone to another great episode of Teach One Tuesday podcast .

I want to dive back into sound libraries , but this time I just want to touch on just how creative you guys can be with the sound libraries and um the ability to manipulate um tone and and EQ and just , uh , many different parameters that's given um different techniques , you know um that are used . For instance , a bass player with a slide .

You know there are different things um that they add so that , so that it sounds , you know real and and and if you're dealing with strings for an orchestra , then the different techniques that uh , uh , violin and viola um players use .

That all that is inside the vst , of course , and so , um , I'm very excited to continue to talk about sound libraries because I think that it opens up a whole new world , a whole new world of possibilities and creativity

. Now what I want to say , though , before I dive too much into this is that it's a good idea to have a level of understanding of music . The VSTs themselves will not take the place of you having knowledge and understanding as it pertains to the musical creative process . Yes , they have VSTs and sound libraries and packs , and , and you know plugins for chords .

They have libraries and packs and all , and , and you know plugins for chords . They have all this stuff for you that you know and it does a lot for you , which is fantastic . I think it's great . But at the same time , you still need to have an understanding as to how instruments and melody and rhythm , um , how they all fit together .

Just you know , just like an engineer needs to know how a song needs to be cohesive and what fits where and how to pan and where to compress . You need to have an understanding of music itself .

So I still encourage , as I've said in my past episodes , I still encourage people to take some time to learn some basic theory , because it will enable you to really expand and enable you to really realize the possibilities that you have . The VSTs just adds to what you already have or what you already know , At least it should .

It should do that All right , and so it's it really . For me , it's so exciting to dive into sounds .

I mean , even without any other sound libraries I have , I have Logic is what is a DAW that I use , and Logic , of course , as some of you already know , comes with a lot of sounds , and there are a lot of times where I use sounds right within the DAW , even though I have complete and have other things .

I can use a lot of sounds from here and it sounds fantastic . Now , what adds to that is that I am also an engineer , audio engineer , and so I am able to manipulate , I'm able to create the , the atmosphere , if you will , or the right sound textures , um , to make my recording process , um , sound so much better

. Now , when I've recorded my first ep authentically me , I did not know these things . I kind of things were just raw , um , it was hard to hear because I didn't know really how to set things in motion . This was happening around , um , goodness gracious , around the pandemic .

Yeah , around the pandemic is when all this was happening and I was just learning and I just wanted to get my first project done .

I knew the basics , but there was so much more to learn and even still , there's so much more to learn now , but learning engineering and learning about compression and EQ and saturation and burp and delay , and you know all and and all the amazing plugins and automation and all this stuff has really helped me , uh , during the recording phase of my process and also

, and then now , as an engineer , you know , to really bring my music together . And so I'll say all that to say a couple of things Don't neglect your education , you learning basic theory .

Also , you taking some taking the time with these sound libraries , you taking the time to really just sift through and listen to these sounds and and see what you like and see what you don't like . I I will tell you that there are many times during the

recording phase where I will uh , reach for an eq quick , fast , in a hurry , if something's too bright , if something is too muddy , uh , if I need to make room for the vocals in the mids , you know I'll reach for eq quick and I will do some what I call rough mixing , uh , so that I can .

So I said I said I can create the , uh , the layers , and I can create the atmosphere that I need to be able to record , make sure that I'm able to hear , make sure that , uh , um , I'm able to hear vocally .

That was another mistake that I made when I created my first project , even though it sounds , I had a great guy engine uh , I had a great guy mix and master myself back then but , um , the mistake I made is , is not , you know , I wasn't able to hear there were , there were things that were , they were masking each other . It was just so much going on .

So so to say all that , to say that you know , um , but I continued to learn , continue to grow , and I took time , um , but I continue to learn , continue to grow , and I took time . I took the time to continue to further my education and sharpening my , my skills and my tools .

So today , my process is so much easier , and , and and , and I just say , and that's just , uh , me taking time with my plugins and I need to take more time with it . I still need to take even more time to continue to learn , because there's so much to learn in one plugin .

It's , it's , it's crazy , and so , um , but the possibilities of the possibilities are literally endless . Take time with your sounds , take time with your strings , your , your percussion , and today , in today's music , percussion is so important . Uh , on the on the mixing and mastering side , I mean , people want stuff cranking .

I mean they want their , their bass and bass , drum and bass coming through your chest . You know , that's just where we are now . And and there's a loudness war at one point . Um , we didn't have the loudness war we were , we were exporting or not , excuse me , we were bouncing at 24 bit and 41 .

That's where we were bouncing at , and now we are bouncing at higher levels , at 32 , 48 and above . And all that for more clarity and making sure that we are having . You know , the music is loud and people can feel it , you know . So it's a different , it's a different world , it's a different time .

But , um , but so I want you to uh to , but I want you to know everything is at your disposal and , um , I want you to to really take time to , uh to to get to know what you have . Don't rush to something else , don't feel like , and also don't feel like you need to buy everything because there's

so many libraries out there . Um , don't feel like you have to buy everything . Buy what you need and spend time , uh , spend time learning that you know . And and and again , uh , for for others , I've already mentioned learning some basic theory , but I will also urge you to learn some basic audio engineering .

I mean , at least as it pertains to compression and EQ , just some basic things . Um , I can't tell you how much this has changed my process , um , the clarity that I have , um , and how I'm able to , just , you know , get things done quicker and it's just , it's phenomenal .

And so even my covers that I'm doing now do some covers on my channel , the Tony King experience , where I'm covering some songs , doing my own version , I create a rough mix for those songs . I don't do a full mix , but a rough mix , but enough that it sounds good and cohesive and together , and so that people can listen to it and enjoy it .

And so , um , I wanted to drop this on you because it's it's very important to be in the mindset of of , uh , of continuing to learn and to grow and to read right , and and and take your time with these things . I'm not telling you to , um , you know , try to cram and learn everything all in one day . You're not going to learn everything all in one day .

It's going to take time and um , and and as you do this , you will thank yourself as you , as you continue to mature in your process as a songwriter , as a music producer , as an audio engineer . So many amazing things , man . So I look at my life as a testament to continued learning .

And , man , from where I started to where I am now , I have grown so much and I want you to experience the very same thing . But you have to start somewhere , and I feel like in this moment , someone needs to hear this Start somewhere . Don't feel like you need to do everything all at once . It's not too late .

It doesn't matter how old you are , it doesn't matter . Start where you are and go forth and do what you need to do and you will be where you want to be . And don't listen to negative voices , whether it's your own or whether it's outside voices . Listen to the part of you that knows you can accomplish anything you set your

mind to All right . I want to thank you so much for checking this out . I hope you're having a wonderful day . If you're not having a wonderful day , you can change that by your mindset . Thanks so much , tony King out you .