Pro Producer REACTS to His WORST Song Ever

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[@NathanJamesLarsen]

2 things I've noticed in the comments: 1. A lot of you want me to recreate the song - to be honest, I just do not want to do that. What I make today is radically different than the past - and I am totally okay letting that song be a remnant of my past. Yes, I could make it better but the songs I work on now are songs that are either actually being released by myself or songs for artists / publishers / TV stuff - so I would have have no real means of "using the song" beyond a youtube video and that just isn't where I'm at in my life / career. 2. Some are saying I should not be "bashing my old songs" as if my songs have feelings lol. Songs don't have feelings - it's gonna be okay. There is nothing wrong with having a good laugh over what was made in the past. If you can't have a good laugh about your old "crappy" songs then you are probably taking things WAY too seriously. Lighten up a bit :) it's all good. I wouldn't change a thing about my journey - it's MY journey and I'm good critiquing it in some areas and being proud of how it all happened. Thanks for watching :)

[@braydendukes6633]

Totally valid. My old singing videos before I majored in music and got voice lessons from a university literally give me hives 😆. I showed them to my voice professor a few years down the line and we both just laughed so hard. Reflection is healthy and, let’s be honest, really encouraging

[@darioparisi6863]

Nah who says you shouldn't blame your old work, I'm disgusted by my old shit everytime lol

[@1fehghon]

زدم ادامه مزاحمت راهنمایی جستجو ببندید ببخشید سریع نوشتن آغاز ساعت جلو تاریخ از ثانیه های رویدادهای من کاری ندارد میکث متوقف کردن حرکت آنلاین ها بتوانند گوگل نزدیک شما نشان نشود.

[@nazshev]

Your first produced song is better than my 50 😢how am I supposed feel now

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

@@nazshev we all start in different places. I was already a very experienced pianist and guitarist so it was probably easier since I already had a great music foundation. Don't be discouraged! Keep going!

[@dshredmusic]

Do a remake of it now and a before and after comparison!!

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

ehhhh if the song was actually good sure - but the song is better left in the past.

[@dshredmusic]

@@NathanJamesLarsen oh come onnnn man!! 😂 it's still part of you though!

[@ProducingInTheBox]

@@NathanJamesLarsenBRO DO IT

[@vudaman2000]

@@NathanJamesLarsen You must do it

[@Larry_Druhall]

I agree with the others. That first song had a human, positive, unique and catchy drive and spirit to it. It might be challenging to retain that while improving the production like you discuss in your video. Sometimes improving the production quality comes at the expense of other things. It would be incredible to get Rick Beato involved in this. kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWbZi4evqM2Ah6c There is a generation gap here but Bach remains incredible.

[@jakestagg]

You should do an old vs new remake series man

[@briandusell961]

No need to tear apart your efforts from when you were 15. Everyone has to begin somewhere. Be thankful that your current efforts show 15 years of learning and aesthetic refinement.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Im not bashing my old self. Im enjoying the moment and laughing about it.

[@wildbird78]

why do people always do this? Bashing their own work just because it's old. This is originally what came out of your soul before you learned how to make music "the correct way" 10 years later. Love it. Not overdone, not over-mixed / over-produced / over-tuned / over-compressed. Sounds like an original piece of art with tons of vibe that you should be proud of. The 2 songs are completely different genres. Our music doesn't get "better" it just matures and changes. Listen to bands like Dinosaur Jr. or Fugazi and you'll see their albums from recent years don't have all the OTT, side chain, guitars hard panned, riser fx etc. It's just a different genre.

[@mikemakebeatz3340]

❤

[@MrAflac_1]

When you get better at something, you will always say your old work sucks. But it’s a really good thing too, if you are able to call your old work bad, that means you’ve gotten a lot better.

[@jimmyjay977]

Maybe a cool idea remake Someday Soon with the skills you’ve now and make your first song again but make it sound epic. 😉

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

i mean - honestly the song kind of just stinks. One thing I've learned is that bad song still ends up sounding bad even with good lipstick. but it WOULD sound "better" but yeah... just not even remotely interested in that genre/style anymore though. I did a remake of a 10yr old song in my course but i could possibly make a video about that.

[@patrick5301]

This is the stuff AI has been training on

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Okay that is hilarious.

[@jsnell126]

Haha. Totally.

[@scottbaroniecki8901]

I listened to some songs I produced back in the early 2000’s recently and had the same reaction. It’s actually great to see how far you’ve come Nathan.

[@ThouArtAGeek]

Love you for doing this!! I have done just 3 songs so far.. this gives me hope that I can get better.. but honestly it is not that bad, especially for 15!!

[@3miria103]

It's a time traveling experience

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

indeeeeed

[@michellesieders1352]

Oh my gosh I love this 🤣Such an encouragement!

[@braydendukes6633]

Apologies for so many comments, but I love that you have 15 yrs worth of content to look back on and see the growth

[@digitaldroo]

This is a more important video than some people may realize. We almost always hear the resulting work of people who have done the years of learning and doing, and rarely hear where they started. This results in people giving up thinking they'll "never be as good as…" Nathan pretty much says all this in his own words at the end, so watch it all.

[@pattysmusic524]

I think its important to continually be making new songs and then moving on. Like not spending too long on one song. The process of creating an entire song gives you so much experience, and then when you compare your songs you can see how far you have come production/writing/mix wise.

[@valtteriahonen7850]

I would honestly be quite happy to make something like this myself!😅

[@AlexDMast]

well thats encouragiing. lolol. Also so relatable about tenth avenue north

[@therealderekdaly]

You should hear some of the wannabe rappers here in North Dakota, SMH

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Rapper and North Dakota in the same sentence is a major red flag already LOL

[@mikemakebeatz3340]

A lot of native rappers I bet

[@minsoolee7540]

Thank you for sharing your past! As you meant, it gives me courage to keep going on!

[@cornholes]

I think its pretty BASED to be vulnerable and show other dudes out there where you started. For most successful folks it takes years and years of putting in the hard work. I think this is a great peek behind the curtain. You've put in the work.

[@ShilohKeeling]

I released a song back in 2022 and it is AWFUL! Everyone keeps asking me to remake it. I’m like NOOOOO are you asking me to torture myself?!??? 😂😂😂 You said don’t discouraged but it made me feel the exact opposite that I CAN GET THERE. I can look back just in the last four years that there’s been MASSIVE improvements since I started.

[@peterelfman]

I think you should challenge yourself to remake that first song with all of your current abilities, improving what you can, without changing the core of the original. :D

[@Jason-xh4hz]

Honestly I have first songs I made when I was 30 that sound worse. I think it’s impressive you made that at 15, and I didn’t think it was terrible- it has its merits and showed a lot of promise. I know you wouldn’t judge so harshly if it were someone else’s song. We can be our own worst critic. Thanks for sharing it!

[@jm52hz]

this is golden content right here 😭😭👏👏👏

[@braydendukes6633]

The ending definitely sounded like the end of the intro song/ video from a long running beloved TV show. I can just hear a *”but mom, you said I could go the party!” Mom: “I said you could stay home with Marty” *cue laugh track

[@peterchamplin8767]

I wonder how long it would take you to fix it to something acceptable.

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

ehhh not long but also just not interested in remaking this to be honest.

[@klanglabor1997]

​@@NathanJamesLarsen just do it 👍🏼

[@jayakumar-qh8rq]

bro u Nast song I'm waiting bro good job

[@javawocky]

Man this video is entertaining. Had a couple OMG and WTF moments - especially when the synth came in so loud.

[@marcsmith3739]

A cowbell should fix the whole thing

[@josiaharteaga3270]

When I was 17, I made an EP in my friend’s garage using Reason DAW on Windows XP 🤦🏻‍♂️. Definitely had the Someday Soon vibes, but I was sure that I would get a call from Switchfoot asking if they could open for me on tour or something 🤦🏻‍♂️✖️♾️ HUGE shout-out to my parents for trying to sell copies to their friends for $5 though 😂 For real, thank you for making this video! It’s brilliant!

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

Hahaha!! Good ole switch foot

[@ashaiian_]

people who make music and hate his first music

[@Larry_Druhall]

Nice video. I think that first song has tremendous potential. It would be fascinating to see if you could take the basic idea of first song and make some production improvements to it while still retaining the drive and spirit of it.

[@seekandcrush]

I'm glad the professional music industry is being destroyed. Music should be enjoyed without a bunch of business men.

[@liampugh]

Yep, instead of old business men deciding what will be popular, it will be machine learning algorithms instead. The old dudes that control the industry aren’t great but I’d rather have them any day over a computer.

[@kevinsmoore1172]

We all start somewhere,

[@erezavroya5]

Be proud of yourself man because of your consistency You are where you are today A lot of people quit very quickly . Persistency is key to success :) Keep up the good stuff

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

@@erezavroya5 funny you say that cause I never really saw it like "I'm being persistent" in the moment - I just legit loved it so my excitement was the main thing. Sure - had moments of frustration (still do sometimes) but it was all fun so never really even considered quitting

[@andrewjacksonmusic]

I’m so glad that this sounded light years worse than what you produce now. So many producers say their first songs were bad (compared to their current stuff) when they still sound great. This for a first track is still a good attempt but compared to now you’re right, it’s bad. It would be cool to see how you would change now, not so much in adding loads of extra cinematic stuff but how you may change the structure of the song, and adjust performances of the instruments you have there. Great video and it gives people like me hope that my songs and productions will get better. 😊

[@mainsailsound983]

I was fully expecting a humble brag. But no, things have come a LONG way.

[@alessandrosummer]

We can all relate to that! Tomorrow I'm gonna release a cover of "Titanium" and to promote it I’ll publish a short where I compare it to a 2020 version that sounds like 💩 - to show people "hey look how much I improved!"

[@RobinDamronII]

I want to share too! Every producer in this thread should share their oldest track and newest, it could really encourage new producers who feel like their stuff will never be good enough. My oldest surviving recording is from 2006, I wrote it for my wife, whom I was dating at the time. I didn’t have a DAW, so I produced the music on my PlayStation and recorded my vocals into my computer while the track played in the background. It’s a horrible production, but I got the girl! 😂 Oldest: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnfbnoajdqqKfJY Most recent: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bp-7kIGFjbSmnKM

[@i_luv_mariah_carey]

The cymbals are CRAZYYYY

[@dylanpaulmusic]

Exactly what im making right now😭😂😂😂💔

[@chasebethersonton5169]

Thanks!

[@braydendukes6633]

Wait, but this actually sums up all of the 2000’s era Christian music. Production aside lol, you actually nailed your own assignment 🤣👏🏻

[@loadsa]

Genius tbh love you to get the stems out and redo it. In fact don’t. It’s funny

[@onion69420]

Ah the long intro where nothing interesting happens, i think every songwriter and composer has done this at some point

[@NathanJamesLarsen]

@@onion69420 haha amen

[@abel7536]

Everyone has to start somewhere. Considering it’s your first, it’s actually not bad. Specially for a 15 year old.

[@dmug]

I kinda got the impression even without really understanding mixing at your age, you were hiding your vocals in the mix out of confidence or lack thereof. I’m guessing if it’d been the other way around, with confidence in the vocals and lacking in the instrumental , the vox would have obliterated whatever the instrumental was doing

[@choisam20]

With respect, i think it's a great song. just reverb out the lead synth and put it in the far back in the mix (@3:25) (if you don't like the dry lead in the face). Don't make fun of your own old work. I think it sounds pretty cool now. And, with the right polishing, you can make this song even more complete and shiner.

[@shan5445]

Its one of the best songs you have done.

[@MattLeFaitMusic]

That laugh at 2:13 😂

[@BobSchoepenjr]

mmm for a 15 y old not bad at all. Remake this song I would say!

[@Narumasano]

It's better than most producer's first songs!

[@skywolf1036]

I’m gonna be that person and say, yes it was pretty bad….😂 like it sounds like “high school musical” however I will say it’s much better than my first song I ever did.

[@meruski7759]

The intro is cool until the vocal came and the synth😂. The vocal sounds like without pitch correction or else its good

[@stevescooking]

Yeah mate, certainly don’t make a newer version of it. Best left in the past with its own unique rustiness and charm…move on…good video though 👍🏻

[@jakeofalltradesmusic]

Trust me. I’ve made worse

[@marcsmith3739]

A cowbell should fix the whole thing