Why Less is Better for Your Music Production

Why Less is Better

Simply put most people spend too much money and not enough time getting to know what they have. It does not apply only to audio plugins it runs the full gambit of music production equipment.

I am very guilty of this to, which is why today I am challenging myself and you to use less and REALLY get to know what gear you have. Take a look at what gear you use on a regular basis versus what you have. If I were to bet you utilize maybe 50% of what you have if not less. I have over 100 plugins , and I regularly use 5-10 at most, and even those I do now know as well as I could.

Take a second and really read what that says. I ran across this gem on my Facebook news feed from Pro Tools Expert’s Facebook Page. Are you guilty of this? I know I am..

What I Will Be Doing With My Plug In Collection and Gear

I encourage you to follow along with me on the quest to simplicity. Here is a list of things I will be doing

• Uninstall anything I am not using regularly
• Limit myself to only stock plugins by using Pro Tools 11.
• For drums trigger will be my last resort while mixing.
• Spend more time in manuals for the select few plugins and gear I will be using
• Really spend the time to learn how each piece of gear sounds and works
• Become an expert on said items
• Until I am an expert on stock plugins I will not buy ANY OTHER plugins or any other gear for that matter

A Few None Gear Things I Will Be Doing

So the other day I was in Pro Tools, and I realized how slow I felt. I realized at one point I knew 140 key commands in Pro Tools. I know this because I created a huge list on Quizlet and knew them by heart.

While this may be an over kill I have forgotten some of the more useful key commands. Regardless of the DAW you use make it a point to learn key commands or hot keys. It’s not only important to be good at what you do, but you must be fast as well.

I plan to use the 80/20 rule and figure out what 20% of key commands I would use 80% of the time. What 20% of key commands will make me 80% faster, efficient, and effective. This does not only apply to key commands you can apply the 80/20 rule to anything.

Here is a great video if you are a Pro Tools user and want to get quicker.

I plan to look at my work flow and see what workflows can I adapt to my workflow. For example,I finally have a session templet in Pro tools which is my go to session when starting a new session or importing audio. I plan to do a lot of research and figure out what works and what does not work.

I also realized I have not been critically listening nearly enough. I plan to go back and listen to a lot of music and work on picking out frequencies like I did in college. I also plan to use Quiztones for my Mac Mini and my Android phone. Even if I can spend 5 minutes a day practicing identifying frequencies over time this will add up.

What action are you going to take today to be better tomorrow? Leave a comment below and let me know.