Music In The Margins

Knowledge vs. Action

Do you ever feel like you spend more time learning about music production than actually producing music? I have. Over the years I’ve become a serial information gatherer. Which isn't a bad thing in and of itself. Being curious and wanting to learn more is a valuable trait. Where it becomes counterproductive is when you just keep amassing knowledge without putting it into practice.

I’ve heard it said that “knowledge is the booby prize”. In other words, knowledge is only really valuable when you learn to put it to use effectively. And I believe that to be true. It’s the difference between knowing something in theory and knowing something in practice. I certainly learn best by doing. Sure, there have been times where a particular explanation of a production tool or concept has given me a true moment of clarity. But the real value was in taking that clarity and using it to actually do the thing.

For example, Graham Cochrane of The Recording Revolution helped me finally understand the core concept of compression. But the nuances of how a compressor works and affects sounds in context can only be really learned by turning the dials and using your ears.

These days it’s easier than ever to keep on consuming tips, tricks, and training about making music. There are a lot of people telling you what you should or shouldn’t be doing to get “professional results”. This can be helpful, but it can also be a bit stifling. When there are tutorials on how to do specific things effectively, made by masters in the industry, it’s wise to take that to heart. Your learning curve can be shortened that way as opposed to just trying to learn how to do things blindly by trial and error.

However, in the pursuit of searching for all the “right” ways to do everything, you can miss out on the joy of exploration, and the satisfaction that comes from figuring things out for yourself. And with all the options and information that’s floating around, there’s a tendency to be dissatisfied with your results so you just keep looking for another tip or trick.

I started learning to record on the computer almost 25 years ago while I was in the Army. There was no YouTube at the time, and I didn’t have access to the internet anyway. So it was just me, a homemade gaming PC with an “unofficial” copy of Cool Edit Pro, and a random assortment of whatever gear I could afford at the time.

I was working fast and cheap. Doing whatever I could figure out to achieve the desired result. I recorded my guitars and bass through the same amplifier setup. I used the same distortion pedal for everything. Since I only had two inputs on my USB interface, my drums had to be recorded through a 4-channel mixer to a stereo track.

Before I understood what plugins were, I would literally copy a vocal track and offset it from the original in order to create my own vocal delay. Or I would use my Alesis NanoVerb and affect the sound as I recorded it, which had its own set of complications.

I had no preconceived notions of what I “should” be doing to get good recordings. No basis for comparing myself to anyone else, other than the albums that I was constantly listening to. It was just exciting to experiment and try to get my ideas out of my head and into the computer.

In something like a year and a half, I was able to record about 12 demos. They sound pretty bad, but there’s a very obvious difference in quality between the first one and the last one. The point is, I got in there and got my hands dirty. I learned by doing. And I learned a lot.

Then YouTube came along and opened the floodgates. Suddenly, everything I wanted to learn was available for free. So I dug in. And I learned whatever I could about EQ, Compression, Vocal Production, and anything else that would help me make my music sound better.

As amazing as that was, there was a downside too. It became way too easy to bounce between creators and collect random tips with no real continuity or context. Slowly over time, I got sucked into consuming more than I was producing.

There are a few psychological principles at play here. The Paradox of Knowledge and The Paradox of Choice.

The Paradox of Knowledge says that the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know. And that can keep you digging for more info instead of acting on what you just learned.

In his book The Paradox of Choice, psychologist Barry Schwartz argued that the more options you have, the less likely you are to be satisfied with the choice you make. When you know that there are thousands of “secrets of the pro’s” videos online, it’s easy to keep jumping from one to the next, for all of eternity.

Both paradoxes feed the same trap, and keep you searching instead of working.

It’s become clear to me that more information isn’t always better. We need better filters. Instead of trying to learn anything you can from everyone, pick 1–2 teachers or platforms that resonate with you, and go deep. Follow their workflow. Apply their strategies. See what sticks.

Here are a few that helped me personally:

Producing music at a high level is hard, especially if you’re trying to learn how to do all the different parts of the process. You’re not going to become a pro overnight, but you will get better if you keep learning and finishing. That means taking what you learn and actually doing it. Take the action, see (or hear) the results for yourself, and you’ll actually learn the concept you’re trying to learn.

Give yourself the time to get your hands dirty. Don’t be afraid to be bad at it for a while. If you really get stuck, then go back to your references for a specific purpose. Don’t keep hoarding information you aren’t going to implement. Learn one concept and put it to work.