Perfect practice makes practice perfect

When I started producing music, I had no musical theory knowledge, no technical mixing expertise, and no real background in software-based production platforms. I didn’t know how; I only had my why I wanted to learn, and it was simple – I wanted to be one of the greatest producers of my generation when I started. This goal made me take action and learn the how as I went on, day in and day out. I gained my experience and eventual mastery of FL Studio through daily repetition and trial and error. There were no “how-to” guides at the time, no videos showing tips and shortcuts, and no guru in my ear to tell me the how. I learned these processes over almost two decades spent working with the software.

Quite simply, even though you have access to this book, you need to start creating daily habits in FL Studio that will allow you to program your mind to become so familiar with it that it becomes a part of your everyday schedule. You must be teachable and open-minded to grasp the concepts. To be teachable, you must not only be motivated to read this book and act immediately after each chapter but also ask yourself, “What am I willing to give up to learn about these frameworks?”. If you are motivated to read and apply this knowledge but not willing to change your life to make time for its contents, then you aren’t teachable. This is a key point – teachability is where willingness to learn and willingness to sacrifice come together.

I intend to help guide you through a system framework that will lessen your own trial and error (although some trial and error is good for creative experimentation). In this book, I will walk you through each step in leveraging FL Studio’s robust system to give you a framework of how successful industry producers make records that work in the marketplace. Although this book is full of tips and tricks on how to maximize your output when using FL Studio, the key point in truly benefiting from this book is that becoming a master of any skill set requires mastering the basics.

Over the last 17 years, I have charted on American and Canadian billboard charts over 12 times, and dozens of times more globally. I have achieved the pinnacle of recognition in our industry with awards and nominations (including a JUNO nomination – the Canadian Grammy equivalent) and have led a career that allowed me to work with some of the most influential artists, songwriters, and producers of all time. This is a direct result of my dedication and “perfect practice” of FL Studio. FL Studio is one of the best digital audio workstations (DAWs) ever created, and if you can truly grasp the concepts I’m about to share with you, you are well on your way to becoming a master of FL Studio.

I say this humbly, but I say this to make a specific point as it relates to “perfect practice.” A concept I was introduced to very early in my career is, “Listen to those who have been where you are and have achieved what you desire.” If you wish to work with legendary artists, chart on billboards, receive awards and recognition from your peers, and be respected as a top creative, then you have come to the right place. In the modern era, there are many “gurus” who teach tips and tricks in their respective fields, yet they have never actually achieved the success they advise on. If you are to truly learn the concepts that work, you need to understand that the saying “practice makes perfect” is a misnomer, for it’s “perfect practice that makes perfect.” Therefore, this book will be your guide on what practical information you need to create “perfect practice.”

I would suggest that if you are to benefit from the framework presented in this book, you should read and reread the book until you fully grasp the concepts. Every time you read the book, you will be at a new place and have a new perspective, as in the case of ingestion of new knowledge, a reader rarely fully grasps all the meta points in a single read. This section is dedicated to setting the mindset that will help you get the most out of what I’m about to share with you. I want to introduce you to a concept that I didn’t invent but stumbled upon early on in my career, which helped me take steps in truly mastering FL Studio. That concept is “the four steps of learning.”

There are four steps of learning that every person goes through when ingesting a new skill set:

1. Unconscious incompetence – the stage where you don’t know what you don’t know.
2. Conscious incompetence – the stage where you are aware you don’t know what you don’t know.
3. Conscious competence – the stage where you are conscious that you must consciously input effort to achieve results.
4. Unconscious competence – the stage where all masters of skill sets live. You are unconsciously competent and performing the task as if you could perform that skill set while not having to think it through.

Masters of FL Studio utilize it as an extension of their creative arm. So, it is vital that if you are to gain the full benefits of this book, you must practice each step until you have fully grasped each concept to be able to perform the process of record creation unconsciously competently. This is easier said than done – in fact, you should note that you never truly become a master, as you are constantly mastering your skill set. Perfection is but an idea, and it’s subjective in nature. It is the practicing of the correct frameworks that enables you to truly ascend toward the ever-elusive “perfection.”

In addition, these mental framework concepts take five minutes to learn but a lifetime to master (no pun intended). You should know that a master is simply someone who has mastered the basics and continues to build upon their solid foundation upward. It is not that one great record you will create that will enable you to have a career in the music industry, but rather the catalog of work that you will create that will define your accomplishments using FL Studio.

When approaching production in FL Studio, it should be noted that there is, technically speaking, no right or wrong way to create records. Some producers will take a purely technical approach while some may take a totally unorthodox approach, but all arrive at the promised land. Ultimately, music is subjective – its beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The framework I will share with you is what enabled me to have success using my creative approach, but it will be your own creativity coupled with this framework that will drive yours.

Now that we have discussed the concept of perfect practice makes perfect, we will now dig further into the power user’s mindset by discussing what makes the correct mindset and how it will lay the foundation for your technical efforts.