Here are 3 things to jumpstart your music-making!

1 - From Sweeping Studio Floors to 10 Billion Streams

William Garrett is a mixing and recording engineer and producer, and studio builder and manager. He managed a studio for Sony in New York City for 15 years and was Senior Music Producer for Spotify Singles, recording and mixing more than 900 tracks that have over 10 billion streams to date. William has worked with countless artists like Jack White, Miley Cyrus, Shania Twain, John Cale, Cyndi Lauper, The National, Norah Jones, Elton John… the list goes on and on… it might have been easier to mention who he hasn’t worked with!

William shared his story from humble beginnings sweeping the floor of a studio to working with some of the greatest artists of all time.

William Garrett on the Music Production Podcast

2 - Play Music; Don't Work Music

I'm only a couple chapters into Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned and have already been deeply inspired.

A major point of what I've read is we have to be open to new ideas and unexpected pathways during creativity.

"When you go out into the uncertain world sometimes it may be wise to hitch a ride with serendipity."

When we are creating we shouldn't be so focused on a specific goal that we miss golden opportunities that pop up along the way. Check the book here.

3 - Sound Design in The White Lotus Theme Music

We just started watching the HBO show The White Lotus season 3. One of my favorite parts of the show is the music. There's a ton of really cool production and sound design, especially vocal sampling and manipulation.

The video above features Cristobal Tapia de Veer breaking down the theme song inside Ableton Live. It's a really cool look into some creative and inspiring production. You can see how he embraced the "hitch a ride with serendipity" philosophy in his workflow. Watch the video here!

It reminds of a free Ableton Live Pack I made called Telephone Voice, where I sampled a bunch of singing vowels through a telephone microphone to create an expressive and lively vocal instrument you can use in your music. Download it for free here.

Want 365 5-Minute Music Making Activities?

Thanks for reading and make some great music!

Best,

Brian Funk

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