Workflow with Headhunterz: Basic mind traps

By Hard News 24 March 2016

Headhunterz is very active on Instagram and he likes treating his fans to daily updates. While he isn’t as active in the Hardstyle scene as he is on Instagram, he has been giving extremely valuable studio-tips for a few weeks now.

‘Workflow Wednesday’ as he calls his tips are something that a lot of our readers will find interesting, because many of them have an interest in pressing buttons and turning knobs. That’s why we’ve decided to publish them on our website whenever he decides to deliver a new one. Yesterday he explained something about ‘Basic mind traps. Read and learn!

“I’m going to keep it straight forward this week and remind you of a few basic mind traps that I had to uncover myself over the years. Let me line up some advice. – You don’t need expensive gear to make music. Some of the best producers in the world use nothing more than a laptop and headphones. Become a master of what you own instead. Having lots of gear can even distract you, slow down your creative workflow and thus take away the fun. – Don’t try to fix a song that’s not quite working out by throwing more sounds in and making more edits. Instead focus on the IDEA of the song as long as needed. Then when that’s perfect break a leg at making edits. The idea is infinitely more important. – Don’t be afraid to use reference. Everything that’s being made is a combination of stuff that’s already done. Be a good cook in the studio and throw in all kinds of different flavors to make a new recipe. You don’t have to invent the wheel, don’t make it too hard on yourself because you’re going to end up feeling frustrated and lost. – This one is very personal, but I try to never let people hear an idea I’m working on before I’m done with the creative process. I want to be able to let my creativity flow and have it put down before letting anyone hear it because people might not be as enthusiastic as you had hoped and that can be discouraging. It doesn’t matter if what you made was good or bad.

Everything is better than not making anything, so make it first, then judge it and let others judge it. – Don’t think that if you JUST understood this tiny detail of making music, for example how to make a good kick, that your productions would be perfect. It doesn’t work that way. Training your ears goes gradually and incapsulates the whole spectrum of understanding music. Face the fact that there are no shortcuts. 10.000 hours baby, better get started!

Good luck you can do it.”