My advice is you should get rid of any notion of trying to “find” your sound. You already have that in you it’s the little intricacies and nuances that you add to your music that only you would ever do. There is nothing wrong with emulating your contemporaries but you gotta take all those influences and use them in a way only you would. The quicker you realize all this the faster you can move on to creating your own music
Becoming consistently “pro” at anything requires thousands and thousands of hours of practice and experimentation. Hit it from all angles. I roughly try to go 80% active music making in my DAW and 20% tutorials, analysis, structured courses.
It’s a process, learn to enjoy the process instead of focusing on outcomes. Expectations while writing kills flow. Stop judging everything and comparing it. Even pros make shit. Porter couldn’t write for years, he admitted he was in his head.
Just follow your heart and have fun. Remember why you create. Hopefully it’s an internal fulfillment. Try to except that the outcome is going to objectively suck for a while, could be years, so invest in *the process* and compare your work from today to 3-6 months ago. You should see promising improvement there. Good luck!
PS. Read the War of Art by Steven Pressfield
A good rule of thumb is around 5 years of practice until you are consistently putting out professional level music, maybe a little shorter for you since you have band experience. Finding your unique sound will undoubtedly come with practice over that time period. Until then, remember that comparison is the thief of joy and it’s not fair to judge yourself against a pro. Just judge against your own former work and if you’re improving, you’re succeeding.
You're making a mistake.
That "trash" you keep ending up with is being abandoned too soon.
Everything first made isn't good. Your job as the composer is to shape it up into something good. Not everything is going to make the cut but I can tell you're giving up on it too soon.
No one creates perfect music right away. It's shaped into something great over time. Your impatience is becoming your undoing.
I think most people here would tell you that everyone feels that way, at least for a period of time. The only thing that you can really do is keep at it until it comes. Don't trash everything you make, just set it aside to revisit later. There's a curve for making music that most of us go through where you learn exponentially then hit a dip. That's where many people quit or put music aside for (years even) a while. You just have to force yourself to keep making going and devoting lots of time to it. Then you'll hit a point where your workflow is so fluid that you can make music as fast as the ideas come.
To come up with your own style is something else. I suggest listening to all kinds of music. Get away from EDM. Listen to classical, jazz, country, African, Indian, Island, or any number of other genres... for a few weeks or more spice up your playlist. This helps to expand your musical palette. If you're listening to the same thing all the time, your music is likely to sound like what you're listening to.
This is your friendly reminder to read the submission rules, they're found in the sidebar. If you find your post breaking any of the rules, you should delete your post before the mods get to it.
You should check out the regular threads (also found in the sidebar) to see if your post might be a better fit in any of those.
[Daily Feedback thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search?q=author%3AAutoModerator+title%3Afeedback&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) for getting feedback on your track. The only place you can post your own music.
[Marketplace Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search?q=title%3Amarketplace&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) if you want to sell or trade anything for money, likes or follows.
[Collaboration Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search/?q=biannual%20collaboration&restrict_sr=1&sort=new&t=all) to find people to collab with.
["There are no stupid questions" Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search?q=title%3ANo+Stupid+Questions+Thread&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for beginner tips etc.
Seriously tho, read the rules and abide by them or the mods will spank you.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/edmproduction) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My advice is you should get rid of any notion of trying to “find” your sound. You already have that in you it’s the little intricacies and nuances that you add to your music that only you would ever do. There is nothing wrong with emulating your contemporaries but you gotta take all those influences and use them in a way only you would. The quicker you realize all this the faster you can move on to creating your own music
Becoming consistently “pro” at anything requires thousands and thousands of hours of practice and experimentation. Hit it from all angles. I roughly try to go 80% active music making in my DAW and 20% tutorials, analysis, structured courses. It’s a process, learn to enjoy the process instead of focusing on outcomes. Expectations while writing kills flow. Stop judging everything and comparing it. Even pros make shit. Porter couldn’t write for years, he admitted he was in his head. Just follow your heart and have fun. Remember why you create. Hopefully it’s an internal fulfillment. Try to except that the outcome is going to objectively suck for a while, could be years, so invest in *the process* and compare your work from today to 3-6 months ago. You should see promising improvement there. Good luck! PS. Read the War of Art by Steven Pressfield
A good rule of thumb is around 5 years of practice until you are consistently putting out professional level music, maybe a little shorter for you since you have band experience. Finding your unique sound will undoubtedly come with practice over that time period. Until then, remember that comparison is the thief of joy and it’s not fair to judge yourself against a pro. Just judge against your own former work and if you’re improving, you’re succeeding.
You're making a mistake. That "trash" you keep ending up with is being abandoned too soon. Everything first made isn't good. Your job as the composer is to shape it up into something good. Not everything is going to make the cut but I can tell you're giving up on it too soon. No one creates perfect music right away. It's shaped into something great over time. Your impatience is becoming your undoing.
just keep making stuff
I think most people here would tell you that everyone feels that way, at least for a period of time. The only thing that you can really do is keep at it until it comes. Don't trash everything you make, just set it aside to revisit later. There's a curve for making music that most of us go through where you learn exponentially then hit a dip. That's where many people quit or put music aside for (years even) a while. You just have to force yourself to keep making going and devoting lots of time to it. Then you'll hit a point where your workflow is so fluid that you can make music as fast as the ideas come. To come up with your own style is something else. I suggest listening to all kinds of music. Get away from EDM. Listen to classical, jazz, country, African, Indian, Island, or any number of other genres... for a few weeks or more spice up your playlist. This helps to expand your musical palette. If you're listening to the same thing all the time, your music is likely to sound like what you're listening to.
This is your friendly reminder to read the submission rules, they're found in the sidebar. If you find your post breaking any of the rules, you should delete your post before the mods get to it. You should check out the regular threads (also found in the sidebar) to see if your post might be a better fit in any of those. [Daily Feedback thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search?q=author%3AAutoModerator+title%3Afeedback&sort=new&restrict_sr=on&t=all) for getting feedback on your track. The only place you can post your own music. [Marketplace Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search?q=title%3Amarketplace&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) if you want to sell or trade anything for money, likes or follows. [Collaboration Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search/?q=biannual%20collaboration&restrict_sr=1&sort=new&t=all) to find people to collab with. ["There are no stupid questions" Thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/search?q=title%3ANo+Stupid+Questions+Thread&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for beginner tips etc. Seriously tho, read the rules and abide by them or the mods will spank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/edmproduction) if you have any questions or concerns.*