You are staring at your blank DAW thinking, “I can’t start another track the same way for the millionth time. I need to change things up”; You feel your track is missing the secret ingredient that makes it special; Your inspiration ran dry and you want to spark it again. – In these and other scenarios where you are lacking inspiration, as well as in the pursuit of becoming a well-rounded music producer in general, it comes in handy to have a list of inspirational music production tips and ideas. In the following you will find such a list, full of inspirational sparks. This collection of 101 tips and ideas grew over the last 5 years of my music production career and today I would like to share it with you. Come back to it every once in a while out of curiosity or out of necessity when you feel stuck in a production. You could probably spend at least 30 minutes on every point, so lets don’t waste more time and dive right into it.

1. 1. When you are almost finished with a track, take a reference track from an artist you admire, import it into your session and listen to the differences between your and his/her song and production
   2. Start with the climax
   3. Draw and plan the stereo image of your tracks
   4. Listen to interviews of Brian Eno
   5. Take a short sound sample and loop it to get a nice rhythmical texture. For example, Loop a snippet of a recording of ocean waves and loop it every 1/8 note
   6. Transform a big band recording to MIDI and play around with it using a MIDI controler
   7. Study the basics of counter point to crank up your melody and chord progression skills
   8. Take an existing percussion loop, add it to your beat but slice out some blocks of 8th or 16th
   9. What is the essence of your track? Get rid of everything else
   10. Speed it up, slow it down, double-tempo, half-tempo
       
   11. Stop for a minute and listen to music you would normally not listen to
   12. Reverse it, add reverb, consolidate and reverse it again
   13. Google polyrhythmic
   14. Take two separate song ideas that you never finished and put them together
   15. Send your vocals to a reverb bus, put a compressor on the reverb bus, sidechain the compressor with the original vocals (or use an enhancer instead of the compressor)
   16. Pan an instrument to one side, make a copy and pan the copy to the other side, delay the copy for 5-25ms
   17. Close your eyes
   18. RTFM (read the fucking manual)
   19. Layer instruments to get richer sounds
   20. Draw and plan the tension curve of your tracks
       
   21. Reverse melodies or flip them horizontally
   22. Create a chain reaction using synths and effects
   23. Add side chain compression creatively
   24. Research John Cage and be inspired
   25. See silence as an instrument
   26. Shift 1 instrument or percussion loop couple of beats to the right or left
   27. If something sounds to harsh, add a slight chorus
   28. Look around, take two objects, bang them together and record it. Voila, that’s your new snare sound
   29. Take a nap
   30. Make the dishes and play your track in the background. Don’t listen to it too consciously. What disturbs you?
       
   31. Send a synthesizer through a guitar amp or, if not available, use Guitar Rig simulate it
   32. Think about which of your instruments are responsible for the following roles: Melody, harmony, and rhythm
   33. Put a subtle ping-pong delay on your hihat
   34. Watch the documentary “Sound City“
   35. Sample parts of film music you love. Horn or string sections normally work well
   36. If you work with a rhythmic guitar riff, cut out everything in between the notes to make it sound super clean and tight
   37. Always start with high quality samples
   38. EQ your reverb
   39. Use 3 kicks to create a new one; 1 for the low, 1 for he mid and 1 for the high frequencies
   40. Always save up the samples you created in your production: Use them in new productions
       
   41. Less is more
   42. Frequencies lower than 100 shouldn’t be panned because our ear can’t hear direction in the low
   43. Be open to happy accidents
   44. When creating you are either divergent (expanding, creating new ideas, open) or convergent (narrowing down, working on the details, goal oriented). Identify which state you are in and don’t jump between them too quickly
   45. Take an element from another genre or field and use it in your production
   46. Learn about parallel, bus and side-chain compression
   47. The essence of music can be described as tension – relaxation
   48. Try to emulate the sound you are looking for using your mouth
   49. Take a walk in nature
   50. Tune your drums to match the key of your song
       
   51. Layer Snares, shift them slightly and/or pan some of them
   52. To keep your mixes clean use 2-3 reverbs and delays only. Put the effects on an aux channel and send instruments to them
   53. Download some presets for your synth plugins
   54. Put effects on your master channel like DJ’s do and play around with them
   55. Keep it simple
   56. Plan your track ahead on paper (or mind map)
   57. Study traditional music forms like fugue, sonata form, rondo, canon etc.
   58. What are you always doing? Change it up and break the rules!
   59. The Groove of your track is often defined by the hihat
   60. Trust your taste
       
   61. EQ and compression are overrated
   62. If you lack inspiration take a visual piece of art and let it inspire you
   63. Keep it fun and don’t take yourself to serious
   64. Study how tempo influences feeling
   65. Put a gate plugin on a rhythmical instrument (like a guitar) and play around with the threshold
   66. Use your wah-wah paddle on a synth
   67. Listen to your music through the ears of a fan
   68. Everything is a remix
   69. Allow yourself to create crappy music
   70. What is the unique selling point of your track?
       
   71. Don’t think you can do everything on your own. Collaborate!
   72. One thing at a time
   73. Load, Fire, Aim!
   74. Automate your master fader slightly. For example add .5 dB at the beginning of your chorus or drop
   75. Develop a vocabulary for frequencies
   76. Think about how the Digital Audio Workstation influences your creative process
   77. Add filtered white noise to your snare sound
   78. Create a mood, not a genre
   79. Let the lyrics guide your composition and sound
   80. Play with expectations
       
   81. Use a controller like the Akai APC40 and perform your track live for inspiration
   82. Use lots of automation, even when you don’t produce EDM
   83. Listen to your track while you are in a different room than your speakers are
   84. If you want to produce a hit song, produce for the ladies
   85. Always start with subtractive EQ
   86. Ask yourself what the purpose of your song is
   87. Use a multiband compressor as EQ
   88. Study psychoacoustics
   89. Reverse the first word of your vocal track, add reverb, bounce in place and reverse again
   90. Use shuffle rhythm in EDM music like this guy
       
   91. Make music tuned in A=432 Hz because love
   92. Don’t be afraid to be bold!
   93. Find out what the purpose of the loudness button on your old stereo system was
   94. As a modern music producer you are a sound designer as well! Therefore, study sound design masters like Ben Burtt. Check out this short documentary
   95. More often than not change parameters in the mix rather than solo
   96. Check out my article on how to describe music
   97. When you quantize time, automate volume to add human feel and variation
   98. Delay your kick slightly to get a really laid-back and lazy groove
   99. Don’t get stuck in the loop
   100. If you lack inspiration take a loop from a song you like, add melodies and layers and eventually delete the loop
   101. Keep on pushing, keep on moving and never give up! Promise it to yourself!