Happy new year music producers!

I'm sure you're gearing up for 2025 and planning all the music you want to make. I am as well!

I start off each year by assessing what worked for me in the year prior and planning for the year ahead.

Today, I want to share with you seven things that helped me be a better music producer in 2024.

My hope is that, in sharing what has helped me be a better music producer, it may inspire you to think about what you can do to continue growing in your own music production practice.

1. I got serious about taking care of my mental health

The single greatest thing I did in 2024 was actively care for my mental health.

If you're a long time reader of this newsletter than you might now that at the end of 2023, I realized I had ADHD. Well, over the summer, I received my clinical diagnosis, made adjustments to my medication, and started building the kind of skills necessary to better function in our world with ADHD.

Additionally, after intending to for a number of years, I finally signed up for therapy.

Why am I talking about either of these things in a newsletter about music production? Because, at our core, we're artists and our purpose is to express ourselves through music.

You cannot express yourself if you do not know yourself. You can have all the tools and techniques in the world at your disposal but they are ultimately meaningless if you don't have anything to say.

I have accomplished more this year than I have in the last several years precisely because I've taken care of my mental health.

2. I doubled down on my DAW

I used to dream of having the kind of amazing, jam-packed studio you see on social media. I spent a long time thinking "ah yes, I'll finally make great music once I have all of those tools at my disposal."

I eventually realized that was total bullshit. There is a point of diminishing return when it comes to the quality of our music making tools. I've come to realize for myself that my threshold is the DAW.

I spent 2024 doubling down on Ableton Live. At this point, I use 99% stock Ableton plugins for everything. One of my happiest days in 2024 came when Ableton released the Live 12 manual PDF. I immediately got it printed.

I only use third party plugins when I need an instrument library for client work and when I use Vocalign. That's it at this point.

I'm more creative, productive, and knowledgable as a result.

Most producers would benefit from realizing their DAW is more than enough for pro level work.

3. I reduced my tech stack

At the start of 2024 I was using a lot of services to accomplish the core functions of my business. I was hosting downloads on Gumroad. I was signing up my 1:1 coaching students with Wave. My newsletter was housed on Substack and my website was somewhere else entirely.

It was a lot and having my business divided into this overly complex tech stack added unnecessary friction and sometimes required overly complex workarounds.

I spent the first quarter of 2024 consolidating everything into one platform. I've been using Podia and it's been great so far. I've been able to bring everything under one roof and also host my course offerings here.

My career is multifaceted and having just one platform that can accommodate all those different facets has already paid dividends.

I should note that I'm not an affiliate for Podia nor is this post sponsored by them in anyway.

4. I focused on one social media platform only

My students will sometimes ask me how to effectively network online and my answer has always been "Be active somewhere instead of lurking everywhere." I have always followed my own advice and, in 2024, I followed it to the letter.

I started the year off deciding that Instagram was where I would focus my time and I invested a lot of effort into making reels and content to connect with other music producers and grow my audience. As I was promoting the launch of Step-By-Step Songwriting: Music Theory for Producers I pushed hard and even invested in ads as well.

Ultimately, Instagram wasn't it. I find short form content to be a bit soul sucking and Meta punishes you if you are not also using Facebook as part of their business suite. I really only saw any sort of growth or engagement when I was paying for ads.

In the final quarter of the year, I moved to YouTube despite never really having a serious presence there before. I've released one tutorial video a week and have been consistent since early November.

That focus is paying off. My channel is small but it's growing, quickly. In the last month alone, I've grown nearly 40%!

5. I found an organizational system that works for me

As somebody with ADHD, I have always struggled with organization. This year finally changed that.

My friend, Akash Thakkar, turned me on to Tiago Forte and his concepts of a Second Brain and the PARA system. Both have radically improved how I've organized my life digitally and greatly contributed to the increased productivity I've experienced this year.

As a music producer who also creates a wide swath of content, I need to keep my information and digital assets organized and available. This system has helped me to achieve that.

6. I composed an opera

It might sound surprising but branching out into opera has had such a positive impact on the work that I do in my DAW. Let me explain.

Opera is an incredibly demanding art form. Both singers and instrumentalists are often working at the limits of their abilities because the music is so demanding. As a composer, I have to make sure that I am only demanding from them what is needed to tell the story. And, because, it requires so much effort on their part, I have to make sure that the score I'm producing communicates only and exactly what I need from them, no more and no less.

In a word, composing opera requires you to be intentional with every note and every marking. As music producers, most of our work is in the DAW, an environment of limitless possibilities and, as a result, it is very, very easy to do things without any sort of intent.

If you produce without intent, your music runs the risk of being underbaked or unfocused.

I now strive to produce now as intentionally as I compose.

In case you're interested, here's an excerpt from my opera, "Let's Blow Up A Gas Station!"

7. I was unafraid to pivot

Finally, the most important thing that I did last year was remain flexible in the face of things I couldn't control.

2023 and 2024 was a rough year for the games industry and those ripples reached freelancers like me. One of my long time clients stopped operations and a few other projects went on indefinite hiatus.

Instead of(just) panicking, I saw it as an opening to finally start making my own courses. I spent the second and third quarter of 2024 producing the over 10 hours of content included in Step-By-Step Songwriting: Music Theory for Producers.

While those six months resulted in a pretty severe drop off in income (in fact, 2024 has been the worst earning year of my career so far) I was able to make significant investment in my own offerings and have learned so much about creating, marketing, and facilitating music production courses.

I plan on running Step-By-Step Songwriting: Music Theory for Producers again sometime this spring once I make some updates. I also have a number of other courses, in different formats in the works as well.

The games industry now seems to be on a slow road to recovery and I'm excited to jump back in. I'm already working on one new game and I hope to sign on to at least one more next year.

2024 was a building year

As I look back at 2024, it's very clear to me that it was a building year. I spent most of the year investing in my skills and my business and I'm beyond excited to turn even further outwards in 2025 and begin focusing more on my output. My YouTube channel and this newsletter are the foundations of that increased output.

Take a moment and think about what you did in 2024 that helped you grow as a music producer. If you're willing to share, I'd love to hear about it.

Til next time,

ZW