7 things I wish I understood about music sooner

Howdy! I'm back from a little break, and today I wanted to have a chat about everything I learned during my time away.
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[@VenusTheory]

I'm back! What's a lesson you wish you knew sooner? 🤔 🔊 Free To Use Sounds ► bit.ly/3kIpeTz (save $5 with code: venustheory5)

[@alchemistrpm82]

It's good to have you back. One of the biggest things I wish I knew years ago is that plugins are same-ish, and there's no reason to own so many. It's so tempting to collect a ton of music software, but like you said, much of it is vastly overrated. And even when it's not, often times this cool new plugin, whatever it may be, will offer little to your actual workflow.

[@hleet]

all of them :p

[@laxplanet6046]

I heard Flying Lotus say something along the lines of "sometimes we are to hardon/put to much pressure on ourselves, you just have to sit down and ease into it, but you do have to actually sit down" after hearing this, and struggling with crippling depression I set the goal of just sitting down once a day and opening a session, that's it, just open the DAW. Now I'm back making music again after drifting for years.

[@actualkevin]

I made music. Cameron you’ve inspired this 60+ grandpa fascinated for the last half century with synths, to spend the last 6 months creating and live streaming well over 350 hours of original ambient music experiments, 3-5 uploads a week. Each of those started from a blank document. I tried to simplify to just the result, not my process. I came up with something I think is pretty cool. I think I made plenty of lousy stuff too - iterating in public. I also made some cool contacts with developers and even found bugs. Now I have to figure out what next. I tried speed running ambient on hard mode for half a year, and I’m reeling a little from that I think. Best of luck, me.

[@haus_cat]

That is very cool 👏👏

[@bricelory9534]

Awesome job! I think there's a balance of the "mania" we get when we find a new passion in our creative life and finding the pace that allows us to continue it for a long haul. For me, it's a challenge because I crave to be constantly learning something new - so when I have new things to try, I dive in. But as I feel things start becoming old hat in some way, I find myself tapering off. One way I try to pace it out is to use that interest in learning to dive as deep as possible into one of the synths/instruments I own to pull everything I can out of it- grow familiar with what it can offer, how to create with it, and so on. This helps me not get overwhelmed with finding new things to play with, which I think is both way too tempting and problematic in its own right (I think we tend to create the same things again and again if we are always just trying out new instruments. That is because I'm learning HOW to use a new instrument, I'm not trying to learn what new things can I do musically - leading to a mile wide pool that's only an inch deep.) I don't know what sort of things are causing you to reel, but I encourage you to explore something you found yourself struggling with when you were making all those tracks (for me, I really struggle conceptualizing interesting drums, so I work on exploring both how others use drums and what I like or don't like about them - it's helped me grow a lot) or learn to use a part of a synth that you've avoided/skipped over before (for my TD-3, I tend to just record one pattern into my DAW and use it there... I want to explore chaining patterns together, things like that). Music is all about exploration, in many ways. I hope you can find a great path to continue exploring moving forward!

[@Nirossen]

just subbed. Keep it up. Thank you for the inspiration!

[@actualkevin]

Thanks Haus, Brice and Hiro for the friendly support. Brice thanks for your extensive reflection! When I say I’m reeling I suppose I need to supply more detail for context. I live-streamed 100% of this, so I could say DAW-less. I employed all the stuff to “mix and master” for LUFS and TP conforming to KZbin’s specs, I utterly ignored visuals at the start until KZbin actually informed me my videos didn’t have a high enough data rate, then I would shift attention to generative visuals. My metadata game re KZbin discoverability etc is just in a dumpster. I did this in a complete vacuum with really no viewership to date. I suppose the reeling comes from looking back, realizing all that it took, seeing it went nowhere and wonder if where I take it next. That must go into music theory (as I’ve recently started to demonstrate to myself). I’m also realizing I’ve learned way more than I expected I would. That’s why I chose “reeling” as an all encompassing characterization of what feels like the end of a journey, but must become just a another leg.

[@bricelory9534]

@@actualkevin that's great to recognize - and it is amazing to look back and realize all that these sorts of things take to come together. I am reminded of KZbin musicians Hainbach, who shared a wonderful video about "burying the high" in dealing with post-performance crash/depression. It was about being purposeful to make time and space to celebrate what you accomplished with people, as a sort of "sending off," before starting a new project. From what you are describing, it sounds like taking a bit of time to reflect on all you accomplished in those six months before looking too much at what your next steps could be a helpful capstone to this leg of your journey! :)

[@co.agmusic]

Can I just add that this is filmed absolutely brilliantly and the quality is superb

[@shadvegasmusic]

his stuff is so high quality, its awesome

[@Bthelick]

That's why I release every week. You learn far more from the practice of finishing, than second guessing supposed perfection.

[@wishcloudstudios]

I agree. Also, working with someone else seemed to bring out creativity. My mom came to visit, and she plays guitar and sings. I came up with so many more ideas with her there. And we produced a song together in only 7 hours. It was probably my best work in the whole year.

[@Itsanasmusic]

You have single handedly cut out every excuse I keep making for "Why i'm not making music yet". Thank you for that SO MUCH!

[@neuromancer9k]

Some excellent advice here. As much as we might think we already "know" this, it's good to get reminded now and then. 🍻

[@mirroryourmusic]

I agree... It's definitely important to have fun and experiment. Happy accidents sometimes create wonderful, unexpected stuff! Keep up the great work man!

[@JohnNoirSmith]

I had a bit of a burnout earlier this summer, and getting back to "having fun with it" and "make the silliest stuff ever" was really very important to find my way back to my love of music. I made a song called "Goodbye" (where all the lyrics are just repeating that word over and over) and one called "I Love Her, She Loves Me" (where that phrase is just repeated over and over), and remembering how it's all supposed to be just fun and games, and if I enjoy it, then that's really what matters 😊

[@Chunda8]

There are people that have had hits with this approach. Some tunes along this line you may enjoy: "Bugatti" by Tiga, "Flat Beat" by Mr. Oizo, "Jack" by Breach, "Chunky" by Format:B and "Okay" by Shiba San. Maroon 5s big hit "Moves Like Jagger" started as a joke, nobody thought it would go anywhere, turns out to be one of their best. More than one hit has a whistled hook. Dave Grohl advises the 'Lyrics as Bumper Sticker' approach.

[@griffinqk1058]

@@Chunda8 also poland by lil yachty

[@MU6AFA]

Where can I listen to your song?

[@JohnNoirSmith]

@@MU6AFA It should be on most streaming services (Spotify, KZbin Music, Apple Music, SoundCloud for "Goodbye!", Tidal, etc), with my artist name being "John Noir Smith" 😁

[@adityabhattacharyya5971]

This one of those channels where I truly think the videos should be getting Millions of views coz what he says is INCREDIBLE, and it doesn't only apply to music. I can even get motivated to study or exercise by listening to him and his voice is soothing AF.

[@patricketp8356]

Developing a system is a great topic. I would really love to see you going deeper on this.

[@shadvegasmusic]

this was my favorite one too, systems and workflows give you more "RAM" to create stuff.

[@josesierra8793]

Agreed

[@Kaelem..]

I would too!

[@skdamico13]

I’ve had all these realizations over the last 5-7 years of making music. Fell into all the pitfalls with gear and having to overcome my fear of failure. Thank you for spreading this wisdom in a concise and honest fashion. Kudos to you!

[@SplotchTheCatThing]

6:30 adding on to that, I've learned over the last fifteen years that "perfect" ideas tend to turn out much more flawed than you imagine, and it's much easier to turn a "bad" idea into a good one just by asking yourself "okay, but what's a part of this that I do like" and building it out from that element. There's a certain danger in what we like to call "inspiration" because, quite often, inspiration only wants to show you the big picture, but your job as a creative is to assemble all the little details that will make it up, one at a time. Don't lose sight of the trees for the forest! :D Though you might want to try going to write in the forest. Great place to look for ideas, and put them in perspective too.

[@uncannyrobotpodcast]

Doing the recording, editing and sound design for an audio drama has a lot in common with composing music. I'm going to rewind and watch this one again.

[@ThatGuyWithAVoice]

Welcome back!

[@exitthelemming145]

Hope you enjoyed your break. Glad you are back doing what you do best: inspiring the rest of us

[@timburlingame3810]

Another great video and thoughtful insights into the process!

[@Konedwag]

Love your work Venus Theory! Thanks for sharing

[@l-24official41]

You're videos are so inspiring! They tick all the right boxes for me! Thanks!

[@reziahamed9255]

Cameron, man... really adore your inspirational touch on all of our music geek souls ! Thanks a ton for all of these goodies & please keep coming back to keep us all alive... much Love... :)

[@qrujvzm]

Really great video as always Cameron. Thanks for sharing this and everything else you do. Much love.

[@peterelfman]

Inspirational as always. Welcome back! I'm glad your mini vacation brought the peace of mind you sought!

[@georgewilson2865]

I needed to hear these things. Thank you.

[@stephenbreitling2327]

good to have you back, you seem a lot more relaxed now!

[@chadlategan2808]

Wow this was amazing man and honestly what I needed to see, thank you ❤

[@glenesis]

Great video, C. Lots of good advice here. Glad you're officially back. Have a great day :)

[@rebeccagoldsmith7092]

Just what I needed to hear today, thank you!

[@dlvnmedia]

So glad to see you making videos as I really thought you were going to make a several month long break. So thank you as this is one of my favorite channels to watch for inspiration

[@massufiani7467]

every video i watched of you has elevated my thought about how to be a better artist, you are the true guru of the music on internet ....much admiration

[@haus_cat]

Always learn something from this channel it's brilliant 👏

[@alguem5996]

Great video as always! It really helped me notice some problems I've been having lately when making music.

[@cthulhugravios499]

Your videos have made me improve so much as a musician. Keep up the content man.

[@DaJerseyJunkie]

Most accurate points I’ve ever heard. Everything you said resonated with me so much.

[@ranradd]

Lots of good ideas in this video, thanks. About a month ago started working on music 2 hours a day. Doesn't always happen, but more often then not and surprise, I'm getting better.

[@35mmonica]

needed to hear this. thank you

[@jmd76family]

Thanks. Been trying to get time studio setup and your video has inspired me to get it done!

[@thedonal]

Really good video. Some of these things I often tell myself (especially about gear!!), but it's always useful to hear it from someone else's perspective

[@BadbitStudios]

I've been struggling with all those things lately... thank you for the well timed advice 👍

[@DavidSmith-ne1zp]

Love these “big picture thinking” videos of yours Venus. Full of helpful info.

[@nacha8403]

WORDS, very satisfying to hear some conclusions that you come up with and fresh insights !

[@SakuraSamael]

Honestly, the gear one is what gets me. I am starting from nothing in terms of equipment/programs right now, and I'm caught in this loop of, "I need the stuff to make the music, but am I going to make the music if I have the stuff? Or will I just drop it like other past interests?" I truly want to do this - of all of my passions, music is one of the rare things that has stuck with me - but the price tag makes me so hesitant to jump in. I see my favorite artists with setups like yours, or even crazier, and I just feel like I will never be in a place where I could even start to think about investing that kind of money. The net result is that I never even try. I know I need to walk before I run, but it's hard to see where the path starts sometimes. (I'm not really looking for advice or sympathy here - just sounding off my internal thoughts, as I imagine others feel this way, too.)

[@ricwaves]

1st video I saw from u and just suscribed, ur way to see the music is inspiring!

[@yosefgewurtz114]

This video could not have come to me at a better time, fantastic vid

[@theadhdmind]

Welcome back Cameron! Good to see you.

[@fawltytenor]

This is really inspiring because I struggle so much with time management and general organization. Insanely.

[@timbyrdmusic]

I really needed this. Thank you. 👍🏾👍🏾

[@orryfishburne5326]

These videos are really helpful. Thank u!

[@MattQuattro]

As someone who mainly works in video, most of these tips absolutely apply there as well. Thanks for the great advice and reminder to keep putting in the hours!

[@rainydawnentertainment]

Thank you so much for this video and the rest of you videos in general. They are a breath of fresh air for many of us and inspire us to keep creating! Best wishes from Romania!

[@Naarly]

Love your videos man, keep it up 🎶👌

[@objectivityisourfriend9631]

Great video and so true on so many fronts. Love your presets on Pigments.

[@Bthelick]

"Mathematically speaking 50% of your tracks will be below average" - Seth Godin

[@simonmcg23]

Actually mathematically speaking 50% will be below the median. 😛

[@Jyotinanda108]

80% of my projects are garbage 😄

[@daunknown5663]

I understand what y'all mean by dat but dats not completely true family I made about 4 to 5 hundred songs from 2019 to 2022 and I ka use 80 percent of them with me I have sessions every time I get the urge to create and it usually takes 2 ta 4 hours to make a beat and the majority of them are really good I'm just selective so I put all my songs in brackets from least to greatest I was just going threw different playlist I made before I watched this video and I counted 260 songs on the dot that I'm in love with that I made. So Yea I agree the more you work on music just like anything else the better you will get at it

[@Bthelick]

@@daunknown5663 yeah I think you took it the wrong way. that's what the quote means. It's really a joke, it just means get on with it because by definition not all your tracks can be bangers. So no point hanging around trying to make a perfect one, might as well do lots and see. I've also got hundreds out there (over 600) I'm proud of most of em, but in honesty it's not for me to decide. The only certainty is you can never know who will like what

[@daunknown5663]

@@Bthelick oh I ain't know you was jokin lol 😆 ay you right tho I like mostly every song I made and dat God gave me but it's some I'm absolutely in love with and it's some that's good and I like them and it's some I would never listen to again but dey all still my baby's lol naw I only count the tracks that I enjoy so yea right now I got about 260 beautiful songs dat I wanna write to in the future ay check my page out if you wanna hear something different much love family

[@thenoizmkr]

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing🙏

[@ghosted0352]

bro.. love your videos.

[@RobCowie]

This is one of your best Ted Talks so far, Cameron. Love it! 🤟😎

[@benijajce]

amazing production!!!

[@vera8353]

These are really valuable lessons. Thank you.

[@mushprof780]

Really enjoy your videos. Great advice. I'm glad that you sharing this wisdom with the general public. I also like how most of this advice can be applied to any medium of artistic creation. Better to write a bad poem than no poem at all!

[@delusionwalker8852]

Oh man... I needed to hear that. Even though i know everything you said but still somehow your words get through my thick skull

[@stickster]

Loved all of this, but especially #6. I think your gear reviews are excellent, but my favorite content of yours is the stuff that focuses on techniques, concepts, and experimentation. Regardless this is one of the few channels where I watch every video that comes out. Glad you had a good musi-cation!

[@VentureOffroadAustralia4x4]

GREAT video and way to look at productivity. Just what I needed today. I'm well into a new edit now instead of procrastinating. Next I'll apply it to my music and get out of a very long term rut. THANKS

[@calicookstunes6530]

Great Stuff! Inspiring me to get back into music bro. Thanks for that.

[@anniealarie7147]

Very instructive Cameron, thanx for that one.

[@loel2941]

sounds so like me, everything you described (all problems mentioned) is like watching my self. Thanks for reminding what not to do brah!

[@shannonjames-music]

Thank you Cameron for all of your content!!! I also wish I had the depth of your bass voice. ha!! Cheers man.

[@Arthur.H.Studio]

All sounds like good advice, my man!

[@jravenmusic]

Full of great advice. Thank you!

[@andrewbruch5643]

Ya. 100% subbing. Ive watched a few of your videos and I am beyond impressed. Best advice, motivation, inspiration.

[@johnnycomelately2370]

Legit taking notes right now 😆 These ideas have floated thru my head for years with mediocre implementation, but your way of explaining everything gives me much better perspective on music production. Great content!!

[@cyb0rgccvbvs]

I really love these videos I was watching/listening to while drawing; I do make music, but I work as a designer, and these things apply perfectly to other artistic processes and is really nice to hear something I've been telling myself for a long time ago, mainly because college left me with a massive burnout and finding that strength to grab a pencil and sketch something out was just incredibly tiring, eventually I stop caring, about what people would think, I stopped caring about social media; I just started to think about what made me happy about drawing when I was little, and I was so simple, the answer was just right there. 🥰 Hearing this from a person I admire a lot (you) is just like a big sip of fresh air, reassuring me that my conclusions are on the right path in some way or another. I'm catching up with ur videos because I took a long hiatus from social media. 🤭 Thank you for this 💖

[@OneStepToday]

absolute words of wisdom there. Thanks

[@CamiloOsorioG]

This is actually great advice. Cheers!

[@viewduality]

We can tell you put great effort into these videos, thanks for the insight!

[@DmitryPuffin]

Good advices. After covid started I wasn't really able to finish properly any song that I started, but since this February we started a genre challenge with my friends where we randomly select genre and try to nail it every week. This really helped me to learn all the tools I got during my 'freeze' time, and it really helped me to optimize my process. Before that I was afraid of my own ideas (like 'is this riff good?', etc). But in the end I started to commit my ideas faster because I had just one week and couple of hours a day for making a track for the challenge. So, after many months of the challenge I made like 20 good tracks, where 6 of them are already released and many a scheduled for the release, and also tons of demos where I can put in little work and finish the piece. Now comparing to what I did before and what I do know - I see major improvement in quality (because I learned a lot during my freeze time), songs get on repeat, I improved my skills in various parts of music production, and the most important thing - I spend less time on things I was stuck in. To sum everything up: now I am not afraid of making a bad track. I will just not release it, but its very important for me to finish the stuff.

[@mariodionizio3780]

such a great video, listening to artists like Nino Rota and Piero Umiliani is what got me out of the idea that every song needs to be perfect ,some of their music is slightly off key at times and not everything is beautifully recorded either ,yet they find their way onto my playlists time and time again, just cause i cant help but love everything they made in the way and style they made it

[@DaveDickens]

Couldn’t agree more, no such thing as failure, it’s all experience. I live by it. Great video as always. Cheers Dave

[@thirstyrosestudio8288]

Ok, so a deep well of technical knowledge and information, a comedic force and now a philosopher, dispensing perils of wisdom. I don't know what's next but PLEASE keep it coming!!!

[@CybreSmee]

Another awesome video, cheers bud.

[@420MrPink]

Good to have you back Dave!

[@prodjxnas]

great video! good editing and message :)

[@THeDrKEvO]

Another great Video! You’ve done it again

[@VIRALBEATS360]

You are one of the most analytical dudes, when it comes to the creative process. I agree with everything here, and have adopted some of these strategies, myself... especially here, on KZbin. Keep up the good work, now that you have "officially" returned. We appreciate you!

[@hleet]

I love theses advices !

[@eilrach299]

Great advice! Working full-time etc blah blah blah I find my time for creating music is precious. I'm constantly kicking myself about watching too many youtube vids about plug-ins, samples, effectors etc.... Your's are still some of the most insightful so allow myself to indulge here!

[@inspiredearthnz]

Excellent and well considered advice. Thank you.

[@joshuamorganmusic]

Ahhh! I love that black crows doc. Chris said something about how every song ever written is part of a giant wheel that keeps spinning and all songwriters are just keeping the wheel spinning. I think if that often when I get the ‘writers block’. So much good info in this vid Cameron🤘keep up the good work

[@ricknemrecords]

Thx bro....I needed to hear this...

[@bejack4602]

Glad to see that you're back :) Thanks to your videos and advice, I managed to create a track, something I haven't done in the past two years. It's not a masterpiece but not a mastercrap either 😂 At least it's something that I am satisfied with. It's hard when you are over analyzing everything, so I just said to myself " do your best and just move forward, the flaws are a natural part of the process". Big thank you for giving me that little push to get me going again. Take care.

[@patty014]

A thing I love about your way of delivering advice is that u are not boring to listen to, a lot youtubers are so boring and it´s just long strict sessions that makes my brain burn out, so when I finally have to make music my energy is close to 0, u on the other hand sound interresting and your morals and ways of thinking really resonates with my adhd brain, it might also be that you´re pretty straight forward and yeah I guess I like your style of comedy lmao

[@loganwelty7094]

Outstanding tips mate!

[@arti808music]

break down that huge goal into small steps. always helps me :) thx for your video

[@TheDarkchum1]

I highly anticipate your coming vid on creating a unique and personalized workflow.

[@schimpl23]

Thanks again for your point of view. Almost helpful. Now a days I'm listnening more to you like a mentor then as a teacher. Nice!

[@vaz3301]

Thanks for this video. Looking at this from a software developer and architect points of view - lots of useful tips!

[@agentooe33AD]

Great video brother! I have unfinished tracks dating back a decade or so. What ends up happening a lot is, the idea I had at the time was good, but I wasn't in the right headspace to finish it, or figure out wher eit was going. Often they were only just a few measures of scratch padding. Then later on, sometimes years later, I'll go through and revisit the unfinished tracks, and one of them will spark something. Remembering the idea, but now combining that with whatever musical experience I've had since I originally wrote, I am now in the right headspace to do something with it, that I either wasn't able to do before, or would never have thought of. Never delete your tracks. No matter how short, stupid, or uninspiring they may be, they can be a source of inspiration to write something great in the future. Also, GAS is real! Don't get GAS!

[@JoolsGuitar]

I needed this. Thx

[@sunglint]

This is great! I really enjoyed the perspectives.

[@rosealmaleki9221]

You have a true talent to inspire

[@ksunflower]

Thanks Cameron. I love your videos. So inspiring. Tomorrow I sit down and work on writing something instead of watching youtube tutorials.

[@spookydirt]

#4 is really really an important one. just get stuff done, ditch the bad ones, and there will eventually be fewer and fewer bad ones. Just make ----ing music, indeed.