If you happen to enjoy mixing, mastering, copying, performing, running a business, etc. it’s a blessing! I personally love learning now more than ever! You have to love what you are doing it’s the only way! Cream rises to the top! It’s not an easy business so you have to persevere to make it!

Love this video. When I look back at why I picked up the guitar in 7th grade it was because I was fascinated by the sound it could make and wanted to learn how to do that too. That wonder and curiosity has continued to be my approach with all of the many aspects of music production today, whether it be orchestration, mixing, learning new plugins, etc - I’ve always wanted to peak behind the curtain and know how to do the musical thing. I think keeping that mindset has helped me keep my head up throughout the whole journey because the satisfaction of learning is such a reward in and of itself, and I can think back to moments in my life where I was continuously validated in my journey be it from someone applauding a performance, giving me a compliment on a song, getting a great license, meeting a friend (like you!), and many others. The truth is that everyone in this business is on the same road and there is no “golden circle” of making it, it’s simply continuing to work hard and get better and find new ways to create and express what’s inside.

From my own experience diving into DIY. Get through that first song. Hammer it out. Then you know the process and can say "I can do it!" Someone said "Finished, not perfect". That has helped me in moving the ball forward. Every song is an education. Write/Record/Repeat. It can be done.

I’m just starting out as well. I got my education in performing musical theatre. We had some music theory training( mostly in site singing. However, I’m legally blind; not much use here!🤣 During lock down, I discovered MIDI. It made so much sense to me, and I could use it! I wrote my first piece, and my brain started explaining with music. I’m still slow at writing, but I’m going to seriously pursue media scoring as a career now. This video was so valuable to me; thank you!

Been thinking plenty of times to switch either to KZfaq or acting. I know all job scenarios are tough earn; but it’s the process that’s most important. While I’m still trying to understand what I want, it’s important for you to know that the time spent on something is meaningless; unless you love it, or make someone else better.

Thanks for sharing from a perspective that most of us only speculate about. As a teenager, I was confident that music is something that I wanted to do for a living. Although I started college as a music major, I listened to more cautious voices (external and internal) and graduated with a BS in Computer Information Systems. Fast-forward 30+ years and I regret not sticking with the music major -- but I've almost come to accept that its not so much that I want to earn an income from music, it's just that I want more time to spend on my music (composing, producing, arranging, sound design and exploration). So, outside of working hours (and all the other responsibilities of daily life), I'm intentionally making more time for music. There is joy in the journey.

It can all be very overwhelming and intimidating at times, but the journey itself is very enjoyable and satisfying.

Yes！ Although I am not a music professional, self-learning related knowledge and skills has given me great pleasure!

It's not the destination, but the journey!! I originally got into the music business as a technical engineer because I didn't feel competent enough as a musician. I was a double major in college... music theory and electronics technology... doing so in preparation for getting into the music business. Although I ended up on the technical side, my musical background was helpful many times during my stint in the studio. Now with the proliferation of excellent sample libraries, I've gone whole hog into that aspect of music... but still find myself quite timid to express myself. Suddenly I'm beginning to hear melodies and arrangements in my head again after many years of not hearing much at all. What I've learned is that there appears to be a particular field in consciousness that, once one taps into it, is the source of music... melodies, harmonies, and all sorts of ideas. This is the place from which great creations are brought forth. I just finished reading Leon Russell's biography and found that he was bipolar and more than likely on the autistic spectrum as well. Looking at some of the great musical geniuses of our time, among them being Brian Wilson, Leon Russell (who could arrange on the fly with great skill), and even David Byrne (who recently found that he is also on the autism spectrum). I'm beginning to realize that there are a lot of things we take for granted. At times, those who function poorly in social conditions seem to be the most able to access and perform musical ideas as though it were nothing to them... and as such often feeling like a fake because of it. The rest of us have varying degrees of success... but persistence is the key. Thanks again, Jon, for such a well thought video. I enjoy your perspective and inspiration.

The Soft Drums product placement is... #chefskiss "The journey is its own reward." I think? I didn't check. Not cheating. But I like the sentiment. Also... the mimicking your own hand movements SENT ME. Great, great, great stuff Jon. Does it sometimes feel like some of those who want to be professionals simply either 1) just aren't quite good enough or maybe don't want to do the all the work it usually takes, and/or 2) would do well to keep music as their hobby and find another way to pay the bills? The Music Dreams Industrial Complex is a sinister beast... has killed more dreams, I fear, than we realize.

Great video Jon! One thing I learned with my production company is this: Hiring people who really excel at specific roles that you might not be as strong at helps you level up like crazy. It does take a bit of experience (to manage) and financial means but it’s often times less than you think. Especially in a freelance world. I used to wonder why my work was not as good as it could be (well I still do) but when I finally bit the bullet and brought on people who were experienced with their craft it helped me grow immensely, put out better work, and enjoy the process more. I’m just sharing what helped me for my video production company which I’m now applying to my music career. Not suggesting this is a one size fits all approach.

You make me laugh whilst talking about serious stuff - that's GOLD man!

To the person feeling overwhelmed, I'd say take it one step at a time. You can't expect to master everything at once, it's all baby steps. Plenty of successful composers just write and field out other aspects of the job. I know a few who never attempt mixing or mastering, let alone orchestration. Murray Gold who does Dr Who writes everything on piano and sends it to an orchestrator. I think it's a good idea to start simple; if you're a pianist for example, just write and record some piano pieces and build from there.

I agree. I love learning about all these aspects of modern production from melodies to instruments, samples to DAW tips.. My first problem (common to many I suspect) is spending so long 'learning' on KZfaq rather than getting the DAW out and trying things myself. My second problem is that there's so much to learn and so few hours to do it in that progress is slow. But - as you say - it's about the journey! (hmm but I should try to finish a track one day too) On the subject of learning, Jon your videos are really slick. The grading, the way you cut between shots especially the little overlaps where the audio cuts in before the picture, the different angles, the comedy bits (waves hands) - the effort you go to stands out.

That was really nice to hear. I started my journey in 2021 and I totally felt the weight of what I had to learn. And as I learned more and more the circle of what was possible to learn of kept getting bigger. It was hard at first, but I do like learning which helped me a lot. Really appreciate your testimony.

Thanks, I really enjoyed this video.

Great vid. Knowing that the things you feel are not dissimilar to what others feel make those barriers feel less daunting. Thx Jon 🎉

This is a fantastic video, and your story is applicable to so many areas. It's hard to follow any new pursuit even if (or perhaps especially if) you have a passion for it. An equal mix of encouragement and reality from someone who's been there and is still going means the world to folks. I know it does to me. Side note: I've spent the last two hours setting up a new audio interface (first time with rack gear) while listening to videos. This one was one as I was checking the cables when the audio went out. I immediately thought, "What have a I screwed up now? This is way harder than it should be." When I saw that it was at your end, I had a great chuckle, and took the rest of your message to heart. Thank you very much.

Steven Tyler in _Amazing_ sings "Life's a journey, not a destination"... I don't think it's his quote, it sounds borrowed from somewhere else but that's what comes to mind for this. Anyway, thanks for the advice. I'm a life-long learner as well and sometimes new things to learn can also feel like a distraction from the previous thing you started getting into so there's a lot of organisation to do around all those fun things to learn. But they are fun and that's the important part I guess.

Thanks for the inspirational words. I really dig that you keep the imperfections in your videos, poking fun at yourself. I would love to have time to make music the way I want, but the paid job hinders the way. That's frustrating. However, I'm happy with the hobbyist version of music making. My current aerospace museum job is highly coveted by certain types of people, but it's cool. It's what pays the bills and gets me the gear I need to do the hobby. Though, at 52, I am feeling this unusual sense of urgency to produce the music in my head and get it put on a tangible medium such as vinyl, even if it's just a few copies for the historic "record". I would love to record an album at Welcome to 1979 Studios. Working on it...

Love your videos, bro! Always great, experienced advice, but being likeable, is what keeps me watching you AND learning! Thank you :-)

if you do everything yourself, it takes a long time, learning without the correct shortest direction. the road was also great and a good experience to have, only when we look back do we see. yet we can teach a young person what we know in a week these days.... dont forget, learning is fun :D

holy shit, just watched 3 of your videos and had no clue you were such a small channel. great production value in these videos man. keep it up.

I just found your channel this morning while looking for videos on reverb effects (trying to apply some concepts to live church sound). I stumbled onto this after watching your reverb and delay video. I appreciate your willingness to share both your heart and your talents. Music is such a personal thing, it takes guts. Keep on keeping on. God bless.

As I haven't quit, I can't answer your principal point. I bought my first guitar in 1974. I don't have that particular guitar anymore, but I do have a cupboard full of others. Although, piano/keyboards are my main musical outlet these days. Because the technology is now so 'cheap' you get into areas that previously would have been the preserve of professionals in studio's, but I believe it's now possible if you do the various jobs yourself to produce a better recording that would only have been dreamt of when I started out. So, yes, musicians these days may benefit from a wider skillset, but as an artistic outlet, you only need to do what is necessary to achieve your aims. Maybe the planets didn't line up, but I've never really been in a position to try to make money out of music, and now I don't have any ambition to. I make music for me, for my own enjoyment, which I sometimes put on KZfaq, Bandcamp, etc, if think maybe someone else might enjoy for a few minutes.

Well, I've been 4 years in the film/tv/trailer composing game and I've been extremely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff that must be learned. After quitting my day job in 2019, I dedicated all my full times to study and learn all these hats. The fun part is actually when I write tracks while learning, so from one side you gradually feel that you're improving and from the other side the overwhelm feeling also gradually decrease. It's exactly like the balance scale. Now, my workflow is to mix while arranging so for me mixing is not a separate phase and this alone took a huge part of the overwhelm off my shoulders. Mastering is something that I'm still improving in so I don't really consider it as an overwhelm. In short, with my current comfortable template and workflow, I can say that I don't feel overwhelmed at all and I am enjoying the composing process from an idea to a finished product. The only OVERWHELM I have right now is the slowness of this industry. I have 30 non-exclusive tracks and 2 exclusives with two music publishers. The only placement I had was on a TV show on Discovery channel and it was a gratis deal, no upfront fee. I assumed that my publisher wanted to earn the trust and gets close to the big TV giants but it's out of my control anyways. I'll still receive my backend royalties. But as you see, 1 track out of 32 got placed and the others collect dust for 2 yrs now. Very slow industry! This is really my only frustration. Thanks for sharing this, Jon and best of luck to all fellow composers 🙂

At 2:05 it felt like “And the answer to life, the universe, music and everything is:” … 👀 … “And now that I told you the secret to success, let’s move on.” Great video, though. As always I really enjoy your content. I like the tone, the language, the concepts. And throughout all of your your clips I always got a feeling of you genuinely wanting to help.

We quit because it's no longer economically viable to continue. We find a regular 9-5 and enjoy the comfort of a regular paycheck, but we miss the freedom to create and work in small teams to achieve something really fulfilling.

You are so great! Thanks for your efforts!

Been following you from 3 years. Came to know you through Spitfire arctic swells. And trust me you're the real meaning of hardwork and perfection. You've have inspired me to make cinematic music.Can't thank you enough man. You're the GOAT! Thanks again 🤟

7:40'' the essence of this video. thanks

Always love your music. Thank you also for the opportunities you gave Ian. You are a gifted music talent.

If people aren’t ready to learn endlessly, and get over their fear of networking and putting themselves out there in order to thrive in this business then they aren’t ready. To make it you need to constantly improve yourself and battle your fears of rejection because there are so many people who are technically gifted that if you can’t express your unique self then you will fall to the wayside, especially with the fast improvement of AI. While you pursue your passion of music, conquer your fears and learn what you can bring to the table because even though there are 8 billion people there will never be anyone like you.

Great vid! Thanks for your incite.

Man I love your videos! Your edits and shooting style are superb too!

Jon, I’m enjoying the quality and value of your productions. You move me… like a hit from a wrecking ball.

great word JM!

Great stuff, John. Thanx from up North

I've been doing music in some form or another since the late eighties and have never made any money from it but I still do it because I need to.

It's not the destination that matters, but the number of Buc-ee's you stop at along the way.

Great video! I’m lucky enough to work with music full time for around a decade and I still feel that overwhelming. When I started it was just about making music, later mixing, than mastering, than social networks, now AI and tomorrow there will be something else. I assume it will never go away(at least for me😂) so best advice I can imagine is really in this video! (Be obsessed with making music will also help)😊 Stay strong and good luck!

I make music. Record on this Android phone. Sing in my beat up old Honda Van. No mike. Use a $150 electric acoustic.( No amp) Send in video to a UTUBE channel. They put it up for me. Singing Security

How much do u make

Message for you from the Vice President. When you learn, you learn what you need to learn, to enable you to learn what you can learn, what can be learned, and what you can learn in the future. As each of us learn, we learn together what each of us can learn, and share so that each of us can learn from each other. Well at least that's what I learned.

Misleading video title.

I built an aeroplane in my garage from 2006 to 2012. In order not to be overwhelmed by the task in hand the advice I was given was to view the build as a series of mini projects (read across learning to play an instrument, composing, recording, arranging, mixing, mastering). After a 25 year break in home recording I effectively started over again in 2017 - the journey has been long but the joy at the end is so worth it (I do this as a hobby thankfully).

Don't quit

I think this video is a bit too focused on the creator and not the issue it’s addressing.

Music is a fruitless hopeless business for 99.97%

quitting is the best option. If you are too dumb to quit, welcome to the club.

I love the learning. I hate the culture.

I have been making music on a computer since I was in high school. I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take a music composition class during the same time I was getting into really discovering what I liked to listen to. I leaned into things like deadmau5 and daft punk, gorillaz, chemical bros, NIN, as well as bands like Clutch, Queens of the Stone Age, all sorts of inspirations. For the last 10 years, I have learned a lot and continue to learn every day. There have been many times where I make something, love it, upload it, share it, get excited about it, and then... I take it down. I definitely have lots of self-doubt. Looking back, I shouldn't expect to get perfect at it so fast. Imposter syndrome can suck. But today, I'm happy to have taught myself all sorts of things about making music I enjoy listening to. I'm currently running with the idea of electronic rock. Keep in mind it's all synths and stuff. If you'd like to listen, please download this song I made :) thanks! drive.google.com/file/d/1B1xQVoL0hcg54h_w3NJTlyZLt9Lx4P3x/view?usp=drivesdk