1

2 3

About Mike Monday -> 5

Introduction -> 7

#1/ Do Something, #2/ Be Prolific -> 9

#3/ Be The Change -> 10

#4/ Be Yourself Not Someone Else -> 11

#5/ Think About Why Before What -> 12

#6/ Less Is More -> 13

#7/ Trust Your Ears (Not Your Speakers)

-> 14

#8/ Your Tools Define You -> 15

#9/ How to Become a Better Musician

-> 16

#10/ The Difference Between Good and

Great -> 17

#11/ Make the Same Music More Effective

-> 18, 19

#12/ Stop Compressing Everything -> 20,

21, 22

#13/ How to Approach the Bass End

-> 23, 24

Index#14/ Make Mistakes and Learn -> 25

#15/ Defeat Fear with One Question

-> 26

4 5

Mike Monday is the inspirational coach

who works with musicians and entrepre-

neurs who consistently want to perform at

their best.

It is his mission to help creative people live

the life they want to lead, not the life they

think they should. He does this using his

intimate knowledge of the creative pro-

cess combined with the Neuro-Linguistic

Programming tools and techniques he has

studied as a qualified NLP Practitioner.

After getting a degree from Oxford Uni-

versity in 1994, he immediately embarked

on his own creative journey and at 38 has

already had a successful career as an

electronic musician.

Well known in the electronic music world

for his unique approach, he has produced

and released over 250 tracks & 3 albums

and performed in over 20 countries. As

a fiercely independent creator he owned

three record labels and ran his own music

publishing company. He is also considered

to be a pioneer in engaging and reaching

out to his fans through new digital media.

It is this work connecting and communicat-

ing with other creative people worldwide

that finally led him to his real passion and

purpose:

Making a difference in the lives of those

who make a difference through NLP and

coaching.

He currently lives in London, UK with his

beautiful wife and son.

About Mike Monday

6 7

Introduction

What follows contains much of what I have learnt from 17

years of writing and producing well over 250 pieces of

commercially released electronic music.

It's largely made up of articles I wrote for my website

through the first half of 2011, although I have written some

extra pieces for it and edited others.

It is a mixture of music production advice, ideas on improv-

ing your creative process and some less specific motiva-

tional and inspirational stuff.

I hope you get as much from it as I got from writing it. To get

more of the same, feel free to sign up for my free regular

email updates.

Mike Monday

London, July 2011

8 9

#1/ Do Something #2/ Be ProlificThirty Things EveryMusic ProducerShould Know... I've met a lot of budding music producers

who tell me they need to learn more

before they finish or release anything.

They say they need to go to college, do a

course or read more books.

While these are undeniably useful

activities, experience is the best teacher.

Do something, and you'll learn a lot.

Learn a lot, and you'll do nothing.

When you're prolific you have less control.

You're less certain. Less safe.

But you gain momentum. You feel more

inspired, more alive.

Which would you rather be?

10 11

We don't need another Richie Hawtin.

We don't need another Aphex Twin.

We don't need another Deadmau5, Skream,

Joris Voorn, Carl Craig, Four Tet, DJ Sneak,

Tiesto, Booka Shade, Jimpster, Flying Lo-

tus, Luciano, James Murphy, Matthew Dear,

Mr Scruff, Royksopp, Dubfire, Underworld,

Sasha or David Guetta. (We certainly don't

need another David Guetta.)

While I wholeheartedly subscribe to the

idea that talent imitates but genius steals

and have this up on my studio wall:

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere

that resonates with inspiration or fuels your

imagination. Devour old films, new films,

music, books, paintings, photographs, po-

ems, dreams, random conversations,

Why do you conform?

To be accepted by your peers? To be

part of a tribe? To be respected by your

teachers?

But what if you don't?

Shock your peers. Lead a tribe. Challenge

your teachers.

"You must be the change you want to see in

the world." Mahatma Gandhi

architecture, bridges, street signs, trees,

clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows.

Select only things to steal from that speak

directly to your soul. If you do this, your

work (and theft) will be authentic. Authen-

ticity is invaluable; originality is non-exist-

ent. And don't bother concealing your

thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In

any case, always remember what Jean-Luc

Godard said: "It's not where you take things

from - it's where you take them to."" - Jim

Jarmusch

The key here is

"it's where you take them to".

We don't need another someone else.

What we need is you.

#4/ Be Yourself Not Someone Else#3/ Be The Change

12 13

#5/ Think About Why Before What #6/ Less Is More

The Fear loves a blank canvas. They're

best buddies. Show them who's boss by

deciding "why" before "what". It will save

you hours of frustration.

Where do you want it to be heard? Which

situations do you imagine it being played?

Who will hear it?

Is it a means of self-expression which only

you'll experience?

Be honest with yourself. You might think "I

don't care about playing it to anyone else",

but that sounds suspiciously like The Fear

talking. If you have an inkling you might

want to put it out there, acknowledge that

and go for it. Don't pretend you're just do-

ing it for fun. Because if you're doing it

right, often it won't be fun.

Less musical parts have more sonic impact.

It might seem counter-intuitive but if you

want your music to sound big, add less.

With fewer parts, each have more space in

the mix and sound more powerful.

When you think you've finished a track,

play a section and mute each part in turn.

Is it there for a reason? Does it make any

difference? Or is it just pointless fluff?

You might find that muting it does make

a difference: the music's better without it.

If it's better without, get rid of it (obvi-

ously). If it doesn't make much difference,

get rid of it. If you're not sure about it, get

rid of it. Be ruthless.

Don't fudge it and add stuff to a section

that's not working just to cover it

By thinking about your purpose it's easi-

er to overcome the moments of creative

"stuckness" that everyone experiences.

And crucially, with a clear outcome in

mind at the start you'll know where the

end is, when to get it out the door and

when you can move on.

up. If it's not working, you've either got the

wrong part(s) or sound.

You don't need more, you need different.

14 15

#7/ Trust Your Ears (Not Your Speakers)

If you haven't spent a small fortune on

the best studio monitors and acoustically

treating your room (or even if you have),

the best way to make sure your final mix

is right is by checking it on a wide variety

of systems, speakers and headphones.

Check it in your mate's studio, on the

crappy ghetto blaster in the kitchen, your

car stereo, your computer speakers (espe-

cially on these - a lot of people will first

hear your music on something like them),

if you DJ try it out in a club, on your iPod

through those terrible white in-ear head-

phones - listen to it everywhere.

I used to have just two sets of speakers in

my studio. But when I checked my music

elsewhere I was always shocked at how

different it sounded. I'd got too used to

hearing it in the best possible studio envi-

ronment. But most of the time most people

(including me) won't hear my music in my

studio on my speakers. So now I have three

extra sets in here, all of them crappy, and

I still check stuff in my kitchen, car and

shower.

While it might not be the best idea to

completely mess with your mix because

it sounds weird on your grandad's old

Walkman, if there's anything blatantly not

working make a note and adjust.

Apart from the useful perspective you'll

only get from listening in different en-

vironments, if your music sounds great

on everything (especially the most awful

speakers) you'll know you've nailed it.

#8/ Your Tools Define You

You can make music that sounds like

anything from an acid house pioneer

to a zither player. Isn't that great?

No. Because when you're able to sound

like anything, you often end up sounding

like nothing in particular.

A limitless sonic palette is a dangerous

thing.The best artists are masters at

limiting themselves to tools, techniques

and processes which make them

distinctive. And in a saturated market

being distinctive is half the battle.

Don't buy the latest kit just because you've

heard that it's amazing or that this hero of

yours uses it. These machines are merely

your tools; what matters is what you do

with them.

Look at what you've got now and how you

can express yourself with it.

There's already more at your fingertips

than the greatest musicians of all

time ever had.

Find a synth, VST plugin, sampler, control-

ler or whatever and focus on it exclusively

until you know it inside out. Try writing a

tune on it alone. Or even an entire album.

This will force you to use it creatively and

you'll find your own way of using

it which will be uniquely yours.

16 17

#9/ How to Become a Better Musician

Get out of your bubble. Take off those

blinkers. Listen widely. Because if you al-

ways listen to mediocre music, you'll only

ever make music that's mediocre.

Cheap technology means that there's now

more mediocre (ok - let's be honest - ter-

rible) electronic music out there than ever.

In fact there might be more terrible elec-

tronic music now than terrible anything

else.

But don't settle for ordinary and aver-

age just because you're surrounded by it.

By confining yourself you're missing out.

There's a world of amazing music out

there waiting to be plundered for ideas,

inspiration and perspective. Don't dismiss

it. This is music, not a religion.

If you don't already, pick a genre you're

unfamiliar with and look it up on Wikipe-

dia for it's classic albums.

Then listen to just one of them a week.

Just one of them. Once. Who knows, you

might even like it. But if you don't, you'll

certainly learn from it.

By making the effort to broaden your ho-

rizons not only will you learn more fast,

you'll have a massive advantage over many

other producers who obsessively listen to

music from their minute sub-genre.

I've made my living from writing electronic

music for the last 17 years. I'm not put-

ting it down, I love it. The best of it easily

stands up to the best of anything else. But

I've learnt more from the masters in other

genres than the masters in my own.

#10/ The Difference Between Good and Great

A good producer and a great producer have the same number of ideas -

some good, some great.

But a great producer will know the difference.

18 19

#11/ Make the Same Music More Effective

The individual parts are great. They work

together beautifully. But you've still got a

niggling feeling that the whole is less than

the sum of its parts. Face it. It sounds flat

and boring. Why?

Your music lacks contrast. There's no light

and shade. Contrast creates tension and

release, the driving force of music.

Without it your music will sound lifeless, no

matter how brilliant the parts.

I learnt this from Nirvana. The first time

I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" I was

blown away. Two contrasting sections -

the sparse laid back verse and the heavy

distorted chorus. Extremely simple yet

unbelievably effective. In much club music

there's often a slight nod to contrast in the

form of a break. The rhythm comes out.

Everyone's supposed to put their hands in

the air and then (usually with an almighty

woosh) the rhythm come crashing in again.

But there are more interesting ways you

can create contrast.

Remove almost everything

Taking stuff out is often more effective

than slamming in with everything you've

got. Not only does it make for a huge mo-

ment, it gives you somewhere to go.

Add harmonic changes

If you've got a section which stays on the

same note, add some chord changes. Or

if you already have some, do the opposite

(or change them).

Change instrumentation

How often do you hear tracks which have

exactly the same instrumentation all the

way through? If you're stuck while you're

writing something try switching it up a bit

and change a load of the sounds. This

can also work really well if you have new

sounds playing the same parts.

Simple to complex

If you make one section that's rhythmical-

ly, harmonically and/or melodically simple

then make another that's more complex

(or vice versa). You'll end up with a piece

of music that sounds technicolour, not

black and white.

20 21

#12/ Stop Compressing Everything

The music production subject I'm asked

most about is compression. So here's my

number one piece of advice: Stop using it.

Well at least stop compressing absolutely

everything because it's most likely sucking

the life out of your music.

Compression 101Here's Wikipedia on compression:

"In simple terms, a compressor is an au-

tomatic volume control. Using downward

compression, loud sounds over a certain

threshold are reduced in level while quiet

sounds remain untreated.

Upward compression involves making

sounds below the threshold louder while

the louder passages remain unchanged.

Both reduce the dynamic range of an au-

dio signal.

This may be done for aesthetic reasons or

to deal with technical limitations of audio

equipment, which is seldom able to cope

with the dynamic range the human ear can

tolerate."

So put even more simply:

# dynamic range refers to the difference

between the loud and the soft bits

# compressors make the loud bits softer

and the soft bits louder

# compressors reduce the dynamic range

of whatever they are applied to

The secret no one tells you

Strictly speaking, if you mainly produce

music in a computer (and at the time of

writing most reading this will), you don't

need to use a compressor in most situa-

tions. This is because the dynamic range

of a VST plugin isn't anywhere near as

great as a vocalist or live instrument.

Plus you can control the volume of a pro-

grammed part in a myriad of other ways

before you should reach for a compressor.

Dynamics = life

But doesn't putting something through a

compressor make it more powerful?

Well, for various complicated scientific

reasons to do with the way the human

ear perceives sound, it may appear to be

louder, but whether it's more powerful is

debatable, especially if you're

compressing everything.

Dynamics give your music life. Differences

in volume will make your music more sub-

tle, expressive, and ultimately stand out.

Isn't that "more powerful"?

When to use compression

I'm not anti-compression persay. I'm just

anti- "compressing everything at mixdown

to within an inch of it's life just because

you think you should or because everyone

else does".

Compressors are a necessary and useful

tool in music production. But they are also

the tool which is most overused and mis-

understood.

But here's some situations where you

should consider getting your compressor

out (or more likely loading it up).

# On live or analogue parts. If you've got

a vocalist, live instrument or an analogue

synths in a track, a compressor is often

essential.

# To create contrast between compressed

and uncompressed parts. Heavily com-

22 23

press a part or parts to make them stand

out from the rest of the track which isn't.

# In sound design. A compressor can be a

useful tool for sculpting a sound.

# In side-chain compression. Where you

set the compressor to affect a part (like a

pad), and another part (like a kick) deter-

mines when the compressor kicks in. This

is how you get that (all too) popular "suck-

ing" sound.

It's also often used to make vocals stand

out without having to turn them up.

# In parallel compression. Where you send

various parts to a compressor (usually at a

high setting) and feed the resulting signal

back into the mix. I often use this tech-

nique as you tend to get a much more

"transparent" (i.e. you don't notice it so

much) result.

So before you reach for that compressor

just think about it.

You might be using samples that are al-

ready compressed.

The VST plugins you're using may have

compressors built in. When you master

your track it will be compressed again.

And if you get your music onto radio or

in a club it will be compressed yet again.

So if you over-compress everything at mix-

down stage too it's going to sound awful.

Ok that's my rant over. Just please promise

me you'll stop it?

#13/ How to Approach the Bass End

I've been asked how to make fat basses by

a lot or people. And I get the impression

that they want a step by step guide on

what synth or VST plugin to use and how

to compress and EQ it.

But that would be misleading.

I've used as many methods to produce

fat bass sounds as I've made tracks. What

works in one situation won't work in an-

other. So I'm not going to give you a step

by step anything.

Instead I want you to focus on something

else. If your bass isn't working as well as

you'd like, you're almost certainly looking

in the wrong place for the solution. Instead

of obsessing about the bass itself, listen to

what's going on around it.

Find it and forget it

No matter what level you're at or what

gear you're using you will already have

more than enough to make an awesome

bass sound.

(Hint - its hard to beat a simple sine wave.)

So play with what you've got and when

you find a bass sound you like, leave it.

You don't have to love it, it's not your girl-

friend.

Give it room

Now listen to what else is playing. You might

have a kick drum, lo tom or some other

bass-y noise playing in the same frequen-

cy range. At best this will make your bass

less effective. At worst it's going to clash.

24 25

#14/ Make Mistakes and Learn

No one likes making mistakes. But are you

scared of them? Maybe so scared that you

won't do something in order to avoid them?

Don't be scared. Because a mistake is your

best chance to learn.

Accept responsibility for a mistake. Work

out why or how you made it. And you'll be

highly unlikely to make it again. And don't

let your fear of mistakes stop you.

Expect mistakes. Don't be afraid of them.

Learn.

"A life spent making mistakes is not only more

honorable, but more useful than a life spent

doing nothing." - George Bernard Shaw

So what do you do about it? First off for-

get about the bass sound. You like

it remember?

Twiddling allowed here

Change the kick sound. Take out that tom.

Or use EQ to roll off a little bass end from

each. Tweak or change whatever might

interfere with your bass until it shines

through.

I know it's sometimes hard to let go of that

part or sound you really love, but do you

want your bass to sound amazing or not?

Make sure that the track still works when

that huge fat bass sound (that you've lov-

ingly done nothing to) isn't playing.

With enough time you'll be able to find

something that doesn't interfere with the

bass and still do it's job.

When you're happy, record what you've

done and check it on different speakers.

Then and only then go and tweak your bass

sound if it needs it. But I bet it doesn't.

Ok, if you insist...

I said I wasn't going to give you a step

by step anything, but I can tell you really

want one.

So here's my 3 step technique for how to

make your bass sound fat:

1. Find a bass sound you like

2. Give it room to breath

3. Done

26

#15/ Defeat Fear With One Question

You're at the end of the creative pro-

cess. You're about to complete. But you

just can't get to the finish line. You keep

tweaking, perfecting and polishing. In fact

if you're honest with yourself, you're think-

ing of scrapping it all and starting over.

Sound familiar? Well don't worry, this

happens to everyone. Just stop and ask

yourself one simple question:

"If I finish this now and send it out into

the world, what's the worst that could hap-

pen?"

The answer is probably: Someone won't

like it.

Hmmm, but someone won't like it whatever

you make and however you feel about it.

And the negative repercussions of not

finishing are much worse for you and your

confidence than any amount of criticism.

So finish it. Send it out into the world.

Move on.

Because what's the best that might

happen? Well, you're never going to know

unless you finish it, are you?