Celebrating 100 articles in the advice series

What I’ve learned and what’s next

In August 2015 I launched the advice series to help aspiring producers and spread the knowledge. And last week I posted the 100th article in this series. Hundred articles on music production, sound design, DJing, industry insights, marketing, and career advice. This is huge.

I thought such a round number would be a nice moment to thank everyone who sent me the questions and contributed to the blog. So thank you guys, thanks for your curiosity and strive for knowledge which drives this series forward. You’re awesome! <3

And taking this opportunity I would also like to tell a bit of what I’ve learned for the past two years of writing this series and what comes next.

What I’ve learned

1. Good always wins
   When I introduced the advice series, all sceptics were saying that people will steal the tricks and ideas I share, that I will look stupid by trying to teach other people whilst I’m still an uprising producer myself (“You know nothing, Jo... Lesden”) and more criticism. Well, I had no doubts that none of this will happen and I was right. I was amazed by how many people found this blog useful and genuinely shared their own techniques as well. I have a feeling that over time we’ll see more producers sharing their knowledge, too.
2. Knowing ≠ understanding
   I realised that knowing things is not the same understanding those things. When you explain things to other people, your mind process it differently and you certainly learn something new even if you thought you knew it before. I can’t stress enough how much I’ve learned from this.
3. Content marketing works
   This whole advice idea came out purely out of the altruistic initiative, I didn’t think about it as a marketing tool. But turned out, many people — including industry professionals — have discovered my music because of this advice blog. A kind of a side effect but in a good way. I certainly recommend other producers to start blogging, it helps people and increases the overall awareness about your name with no money investment needed, something that a classic advertisement can never do.
4. Writing consistently is tough, but boosts your skills
   Back in 2015, I asked myself: can I possibly write a new article every week on a regular basis? Frankly, it was quite a challenge. I’m not a full-time writer nor a blogger, I’m a musician and DJ that writes about music and that’s a totally different thing. Writing a single article is tough, but writing a new piece of advice every week is quite a challenge indeed! Nevertheless, I have to admit that consistent writing helped me learn how to explain myself clearly and even become a tiny bit better in English.

What’s next

The advice series will continue to come out on Wednesday, but probably not every Wednesday. More like of When-I-can-s-day.

I want to keep delivering a thoughtful and well-made content that other producers hopefully find useful while experimenting with its frequency a bit — sometimes weekly, sometimes bi-monthly, sometimes less often.

I also have a few really cool projects on the way (won’t spoil it here), but sacrificing the quality of one project over another is the last thing I want to do. Quality > quantity, not the other way around.

As a consequence of this changing schedule, more questions will be stacked up in the queue. If you ever wanted to send me a question, I would suggest doing it today as from now on it will take a longer time to post a reply.