ProducerHead

toru
  • 5.0 (34)
  • Music Interviews
  • Updated Biweekly

Welcome to ProducerHead. A podcast for the Music Producer, Artist, Creative, and, Entrepreneur. I’m excited to present the ProducerHead podcast in the form of a series of conversations with accomplished producers who will share what’s in their heads to help you unlock your own. Whether you’re just getting started or you’re a professional producer, these conversations are here to offer information, encouragement, and community — a place to belong. ProducerHead will explore the entire spectrum of topics that are experienced as a producer. So, whether you’re interested in Growing your social media following Improving your Spotify release strategy Or Managing impostor syndrome ProducerHead is here for you. Connect at with ProducerHead at torubeat.com and @torubeat on social media. producerhead.substack.com

  1. 056. Are You Making Art or the Idea of Art? | feat. Matt Wyatt

    2d ago

    056. Are You Making Art or the Idea of Art? | feat. Matt Wyatt

    The real tragedy would not be failing to achieve mastery, but that in the process you lost sight of what’s most important: realizing your own voice. A relentless pursuit of mastery can distract from the purpose of art: a unique and personal perspective, expressed freely. Art is the artifact, the expression of the voice, not the voice itself. We commonly parrot: “learn the rules, so you can break them.” In this conversation, Matt Wyatt says “Honestly, I think that’s overrated. I was certainly taught that, but some of the artists I most revere seemingly didn’t do that.” That isn’t to say competency doesn’t matter. It is not in your best interest to ignore rules, patterns, or convention altogether. Ignorance will likely lead to conventional results. The problem is that mastery is often talked about as a destination. A level to be reached before the art begins, when it is actually an ongoing commitment to develop your voice. You know enough words to write a book. Expanding your vocabulary will not write it. The technical blocks you encounter exist on the path to making it. As you write your book, you check the thesaurus for alternative words. In music, you may learn that what you need is not a new chord, but an inversion. Do not set out to master music. It is a clever way to avoid the real work: to understand you and your craft well enough to present it as a vulnerable artifact for the rest of us. ProducerHead is a publication for independent music producers. Subscribe free and get access to Sonic Stimulus Vol. 1 — a free sample pack, The Invisible Instruments — a series of creative frameworks for producers, and The Practice — behind the scenes production sessions from guests on the show. Get full access to ProducerHead at producerhead.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 39m
  2. ProducerHead Loops: The Finger Trap | feat. Moo Latte

    May 27

    ProducerHead Loops: The Finger Trap | feat. Moo Latte

    Buried in the process, your habits take over. Your automatic selection of instruments and sounds leads to predictable patterns. If you begin with your fingers you are immediately filtering your imagination through your chops. Instead, ask yourself: What do I hear? As you hum a melody or beatbox a groove you hear in your head, you are not thinking about whether or not you can play it. This is an honest map of your idea. Record it, not because it will necessarily become part of the song, but because it provides you with direction. The way that you sang this melody will imply more than the notes themselves. You will hear tone, timbre, and texture. That can guide which instrument you use, instead of forcing a part through the instrument you already loaded. When you begin from your imagination and what you hear, you provide a path for fingers to follow, instead of the other way around. Full Episode: 049. Ideas Over Everything | feat. Moo Latte Subscribers get access to The Practice — a growing archive of in-studio sessions from guests on the show. Watch how they work. Free to subscribe. Get full access to ProducerHead at producerhead.substack.com/subscribe

    2 min
  3. 055. Did You Plan to Finish? | feat. Fog Chaser

    May 20

    055. Did You Plan to Finish? | feat. Fog Chaser

    The thing about art is that it’s never finished. It’s a fact that presents a fundamental challenge: you have to decide to let go. To accept imperfection. To move on or to live inside the maze of one project your entire life. Fog Chaser’s song a month project addresses this challenge directly. His commitment to deadlines and accountability to himself resulted in four, 12-song volumes completed in succession over the past four years. Now, with thousands of subscribers waiting for Volume 5 he faces another form of the same question. Does he repeat the cycle expected by his audience or change directions? We make music wanting it to be heard, but what do we do once we’re heard? Fog Chaser acknowledges the privilege and gratitude for the audience and the pressure that accompanies attention. He reminds us that the attention arrived because he began by creating something deeply personal and meaningful to him. The point is to create and to gift and then repeat. Because the work is never done. ProducerHead is a publication for independent music producers. Subscribe free and get access to Sonic Stimulus Vol. 1 — a free sample pack, The Invisible Instruments — a series of creative frameworks for producers, and The Practice — behind the scenes production sessions from guests on the show. Get full access to ProducerHead at producerhead.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 27m
  4. ProducerHead Loops: POV: You've spent 30 minutes looking for a kick drum | feat. ELPHNT

    May 13

    ProducerHead Loops: POV: You've spent 30 minutes looking for a kick drum | feat. ELPHNT

    ELPHNT is an Ableton authority. His extensive experience as a producer, performer, and educator has allowed him to see a common trope play out over and over again. It’s accepted as the norm, but as he explains here, it doesn’t have to be. On the one hand, scrolling endlessly for the perfect kick drum is funny. On the other, it is creative self-sabotage by disorganization. Here, ELPHNT provides a clear and direct path forward. Hear the full conversation in Episode 035 — Soul-Crushing Success feat. ELPHNT. What are ProducerHead Loops? Gems from past conversations worth running back. Perfect for when you need a quick hit of inspiration. ProducerHead is free to subscribe. Subscribers get access to The Practice — an ongoing video archive of in-studio sessions from guests on the show. Get full access to ProducerHead at producerhead.substack.com/subscribe

    6 min
  5. 054. Make Good Music, Lie, and Don’t Be a Douchebag | feat. Late London

    May 6

    054. Make Good Music, Lie, and Don’t Be a Douchebag | feat. Late London

    Show up to the studio 100 times and make 10 dope songs. The pressure to create content distracts from the basic truth: making good music is the goal. In order to make good music, you must find yourself in the studio. If you’re not showing up to the studio, you’re not going to make anything, let alone anything good. Late London says: “Show up to the studio 100 times and make 10 dope songs.” This perspective also speaks to respect for the challenge inherent in making good music. It represents a conscious setting of expectations to prioritize showing up, removing pressure, and enjoyment in the experience of making music. Output is an artifact of process. Late’s respect for the challenge of making music is also seen in the way that he participates and interacts with his community. Not having seen each other since college, he immediately asked me to send him a track and did not hesitate to say “this vocal should be loud and proud.” He limits himself to three working sessions on tracks to avoid over-thinking and exchanges works in process with other producers. They help each other across the finish line to get the best — not the perfect — version of a song and then they move on. This is because he also values forward motion. More can be learned and experienced through continuing than from staying in place. All of this is filtered through his expansive and dynamic lens of what it is to be a professional. Late London regularly shape-shifts between DJ, Music Producer, Event Producer, Engineer, and Educator — he is mentally flexible in how he arrives. There are many ways to make it as an artist, he reminds us that how we define it is our choice. ProducerHead is free to subscribe. Subscribers get access to The Practice — an ongoing video archive of in-studio sessions from guests on the show. Late London built a track from scratch in 30 minutes and it is available now. Get full access to ProducerHead at producerhead.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 13m
  6. ProducerHead Loops: Define Success or Be Doomed to Fail | feat. Freddie Joachim

    Apr 29

    ProducerHead Loops: Define Success or Be Doomed to Fail | feat. Freddie Joachim

    Freddie Joachim has placements with Joey Badass and J. Cole. Those are proud achievements — but not what he set out to do. They’re a consequence of defining success on his own terms, within what he can actually control. Define success or be doomed to fail. Hear the full conversation in Episode 042 — Craft Over Clout feat. Freddie Joachim. What are ProducerHead Loops? Gems from past conversations worth running back. Perfect for when you need a quick hit of inspiration. Get full access to ProducerHead at producerhead.substack.com/subscribe

    10 min
  7. 053. Music Without a Plan Is Silence | feat. Brainorchestra

    Apr 22

    053. Music Without a Plan Is Silence | feat. Brainorchestra

    Brainorchestra is a producer, rapper, and vinyl archivist from New Jersey. He puts out records independently, runs a devoted Patreon community, writes a newsletter, and holds down a job outside of all of it. In this conversation we get into how he digs, how he structures his time, what sustains his belief in himself as an artist, and what it actually looks like to build something independently with intention. Find Brainorchestra: brainorchestra.net patreon.com/brainorchestra brainorchestra.bandcamp.com ProducerHead is a podcast about the creative, psychological, and business dimensions of independent music-making. Subscribe free at producerhead.substack.com — subscribers get access to The Practice, an ongoing video archive of in-studio sessions from guests on the show. Brainorchestra's session is already up. Get full access to ProducerHead at producerhead.substack.com/subscribe

    1h 30m

  8. Apr 15

    ProducerHead Loops: Maybe You Don't Want This Very Much | feat. Basic Printer

    What are ProducerHead Loops? Gems from past conversations worth running back. Perfect for when you need a quick hit of inspiration. Basic Printer has a term for the gap between making music and doing something with it. Interfacing with the world. And in his view, that interface is a Rubik’s Cube most independent musicians haven’t even picked up yet. The full stack mentality isn’t about doing everything alone. It’s about understanding enough of the whole picture to have a real plan, not just a dream. Because as he puts it, there’s a road to run between here and that dream that won’t just show up for you. What landed for me was how he thinks about the plan itself. Not as a rigid structure but as a trick of the mind. Something to get you out of the chair and moving. The plan leads to the next question, which leads to the next skill, which leads to the show. And by the time you’re there, you’ve already become someone different in the process. He also said something that doesn’t get said enough: if you keep laying plans and can’t find the motivation to execute any of them, maybe the honest answer is that you don’t actually want this very much. Not as a judgment. As permission. The world asks how serious you are the moment you make your first song. Not everyone has to answer the same way. The part I keep coming back to is a moment he described on tour in San Diego. Mid-run, out of nowhere, a dip in confidence. Suddenly convinced his music sounded like the Wiggles. Talking to his keyboardist, genuinely questioning whether he could stand behind the stuff he’d made. He said you just know when that’s a real voice or just the dragon you’re slaying. The fact that he went on stage anyway tells you everything about what kind of stress he’s dealing with. The good kind. ProducerHead is a podcast and publication for producers who want conversations that go beyond gear. Subscribe free below and you’ll get access to two tools I made for this community: The Invisible Instruments, a creativity framework for in and out of the studio, and Sonic Stimulus Vol. 1, a royalty-free sample pack. You can also submit music to be featured or send in a work-in-progress for feedback. From Episode: 038. The Full Stack Musician | feat. Basic Printer Get full access to ProducerHead at producerhead.substack.com/subscribe

    14 min
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5
out of 5
34 Ratings

About

Welcome to ProducerHead. A podcast for the Music Producer, Artist, Creative, and, Entrepreneur. I’m excited to present the ProducerHead podcast in the form of a series of conversations with accomplished producers who will share what’s in their heads to help you unlock your own. Whether you’re just getting started or you’re a professional producer, these conversations are here to offer information, encouragement, and community — a place to belong. ProducerHead will explore the entire spectrum of topics that are experienced as a producer. So, whether you’re interested in Growing your social media following Improving your Spotify release strategy Or Managing impostor syndrome ProducerHead is here for you. Connect at with ProducerHead at torubeat.com and @torubeat on social media. producerhead.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    toru
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    98
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © toru
  • Show Website
    ProducerHead

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