Make beat 1 or the downbeats obvious.
There needs to be a hook.
Write a great melody.
Don’t repeat too much.
Disguise your effects processing.
Make it sound like music that is already out there.
Make it danceable.
Make the drums “punchy.”
Make sure everything is in tune.
There’s an achievable “pro sound.”
Make it relaxing and easy to listen to.
The groove needs to swing.
Presets are bad.
Less is more.
More is less.
You should like your own music.
The musical tastes of your audience matters.
Your audience cares about what you do.
Some sounds date more easily than others.
Software sounds worse than hardware.
Hardware sounds better than software.
Real music is music you make with others.
Music performed in real time sounds better than programmed/sequenced music.
Music production isn’t composing.
Musical structure is the only way to musical rigor.
A chord progression needs to progress.
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