20 essential music production exercises that will level up your music in less time

Improving in your music doesn’t happen as quickly as it could if you just keep making song after song. For that, you need to practice.

Here are 20 exercises that you can do, broken down into each category, that will help you improve on the things you may be struggling with.

Use it as a reference and return to it once you feel you’ve gotten good enough at the part you were struggling with, and want something new to work on.

4 MAJOR GROUPS TO PRACTICE

1. Writing and composition

1. Recreate your favorite song’s progression. Study the elements that you’re struggling with the most to learn how the PROs do it:
   • Pick 5-10 tracks and recreate the:
     • Bass progression;
     • Chord progression;
     • Leads;
     • Ear Candy.
   • Recreate an 8 bar loop of the track;
   • Recreate the whole song, including sound design and progressions;
   • Recreate the structure of the song, mapping all elements using empty MIDIs, to understand structure and orchestration.
2. Create alternative versions of your favorite progressions. Allows you to find the best ideas for your song, and create variations to avoid making it repetitive:
   • Take a lead progression you like, and create variations for the second half of the drop;
   • Change your chord progression in the break to add new vibes to the song.
   • Create completely leads for the same drop.
3. Create two melodies per week. Creativity is a muscle, and the more you practice, the better your progressions will get;
4. Hum along to your favorite progressions. Over time, this will make your voice another good source of inspiration for melodies and chord progressions;
5. Learn to play an Instrument. Playing with your hands creates muscle memory, making it possible to play leads you like, and it is also a lot more fun.

2. Sound Design

1. Work on 2-3 Sound Design tutorials a week. This will make you able to tweak the presets you use, making them more unique. Check:
   • Abstrakt’s Sound Design playlist;
   • Sound Design Channel.
2. Recreate your favorite presets by ear. Harder than just recreating, but it will teach you even more about how to make your sounds more unique
3. Be more efficient with your sample selection. Makes you produce faster, avoiding the waste of time and burning potential songs:
   • Clean your sample library, and delete sounds, restricting what’s available.
   • Limit the amount of sample packs you use and stick with the ones that work most of the time;
   • Reuse sounds that have worked in previous songs, then replace them later;
   • Go back to past projects (or to projects that you got online), and scrap them for parts so you can then re-use them later.

3. Production Habits & Workflow

1. Limit your production time, force action. Forces you to work faster and not overthink your decisions, often leading to finishing better and faster tracks:
   • Make a drop in one hour;
   • Mix and master a track you need in one hour;
   • Make 5 chord progression ideas in thirty minutes;
   • Finish a full track in under 2 hours.
2. Change your starting point. Starting them in a new way can make you a more versatile producer, and that normally leads to better tracks:
   • Start with the bassline;
   • Start with the melodies;
   • Start with the drums;
   • Start with the section of the track you’re the weakest at.
3. Make a song in a different genre. Sometimes renews your motivation to produce, and shows you different ways and techniques to make a good song;
4. Make one element from a genre you’ve never listened to before. This will expand your skills, and often make your songs better.

4. Mixing & Mastering

1. Ask a friend to mix their track. Learn how to develop emotional detachment to elements when mixing, and also how to be efficient;
2. Pick an old track and mix it again. This will expose you to past mistakes, and also teach you how to deal with them only with mixing;
3. Learn how to mix with only EQ and volume. Simpler decisions, but that often leads to better results.
   • Mix your next track only using EQ and Volume. All other plugins are forbidden;
   • Use a different kind of EQ that you’re used to. If you only use Digital EQs, like Fabfilter, try only using Analog EQs, and vice versa.
4. A/B your songs with songs you love. You’ll learn how to spot things that are missing or overdone in your tracks
   • Compare similar 8 bars in the song (First 8 bar of the Drop 1 vs first 8 bar);
   • Compare your drop 2 to your drop 1. Is it too different?;
   • Check if the kick and bass are at the same level with a Spectrum;
   • Use EQ Matching to check the tonal balance of your song.
5. Work on frequency recognition with EQ, use your favorite track to identify what goes where. Trains you to understand the main elements of the different EQ bands:
   • Low Cut with 48db cut, and sweep up;
   • High Cut with 48db cut, and sweep down.
   • Listen to different bands:
     • < 80hz;
     • 80-160hz;
     • 160-500hz;
     • 500-2khz;
     • 2k-5khz;
     • 5k-10k;
     • 10khz >.

If you need help or advice on how to do any of these tasks, get in touch with us, and we can help you figure out what might be best for you to do.

Do these regularly to find deficiencies in your process or in what skills you need to improve to make your productions better.

3 QUICK TIPS FOR YOU

What other useful exercises to improve your music?

1. Make a 30-day challenge to produce every day, even if it’s just 20 minutes. Challenges remove the ‘I’m not feeling like producing today’ excuse and can turn producing into a habit, helping you pump out more songs

2. Practice active listening. Listen to your favorite songs with a notepad and write down the things you love about them. Do that for 5-10 songs, and you’ll have a list of things you can implement in your songs

3. Collab with other producers. It teaches you how to work as a group. This will be really helpful to you when you start working with vocalists or landing a collaboration with a BIG artist.