These plugins are making you worse

Have you seen this video at all? The first minute or so is an ad I get served pretty regularly right now.

If you haven't seen it, it goes like this: a producer (who I am genuinely passing no judgment upon - this isn't about her or any one person) has dragged two loops into her DAW and then fires up a plugin that listens to what you've got and then suggests additions for you.

I find this scene so incredibly sad. In what way has this producer expressed herself artistically? In what way will this music tell us something about her? She has simply selected two loops, placed them together and then handed over what little musical agency there was in this process to a plugin.

To be clear, I'm not against sampling or using loops. Sampling is a way of expressing taste. Producers sampled records they loved, took their favorite parts, chopped them, reworked them, and simultaneously honored the records they loved while injecting a part of themselves into that musical legacy. Instead, the process outlined in this video is one that you see often now: drag in some completely finished loops and layer them until it sounds good enough. It's more shopping than anything else.

Does going to the grocery store make one a chef? It's a good question but that begins pushing us down the wrong line of thinking. That line of thinking is about invalidating somebody just trying to make music, which is not what I'm here to do.

The argument could be made, "Well, she's just not a producer." If that was your argument, I would tell you that you've missed the point about what's happening here as badly as these companies have missed the point about music making. Nobody cares if anybody's a producer or not. You shouldn't either. What you should care about is whether you're a producer or not? I'll explain what I mean momentarily.

You can't run a marathon if you never leave the starting line

Music production, like any good art form, is not a destination. It is not a manufacturing process. It is not some paint-by-numbers. It is a practice. It is a journey. It is an act of continuous devotion. I know that I sound like a pompous ass writing that, but I'm speaking it matter-of-factly.

Plugins like this and tools like Suno are focused on output. (I'm fully aware of the pun given the plugin's manufacturer.) There is no focus on you as an artist, as a producer. Music production takes time to learn and your job as a producer is to be fully present for the journey. To study your craft and be devoted to it.

The songs that you make are a byproduct of that process and journey. The songs do not get you to where you want to be musically, it's everything else that does. Taken another way, how can anybody be a marathon runner if they never leave the starting line.

If you hop on the bus and get off at the finish line, you haven't run the marathon. You've missed the point. If your only focus is finishing songs at all costs - including your own involvement in the process - then you've missed the point as well.

Why you should avoid these tools

This is the state of music production right now: companies who recognize how difficult and time consuming it is to become an expert at this craft choose to take away your agency and just do it for you instead of providing you with tools and resources to learn. Generative AI is the most egregious form of this shit but plugins like this aren't that far off.

If you're still learning to produce (and this is a lifelong practice so...) then I really would encourage you to avoid these tools. If these tools are doing things that you don't know how to do or can't explain the process of then they are black boxes. Have fun with them, but they are never a substitution for knowing what the hell is going on - but that sometimes seems like the goal of these companies.

These companies want you to understand as little of the music making process as possible because then it means that you will continue to rely on their tools. If you never learn to write a chord progression, then you need their loops. If you can't program drums then you need their MIDI pack. Now, we've reached the stage where, if you can't imagine what your music could sound like and what you want to express musically, they have a plugin that will just do that for you.

At what point do you stop being the producer? How much self-expression do you give up in exchange for immediate gratification? If the focus is just on the songs, then you don't matter. Take the focus off the songs.

What you should do instead

Practice. Experiment. Make mistakes. Throw shit together. Rely on your ears. Express yourself. Be a part of the process. Make your music. And, for the love of all that is good, learn the fundamentals.

I know the thoughts that draw people into plugins like this and I want to refute them for you to end. You still have time to make music. You do have good ideas. You are capable of learning the things you are struggling with. Expressing YOUR musical ideas imperfectly is worth 1000x more than using the same perfect Splice sample, Unison MIDI clip, or whatever Co-Producer is feeding you.

Til next time,

ZW