10 Music Production Exercises That Don’t Suck

I love making music. But that doesn’t mean it’s not without its ups and downs — especially when it comes to producing and sharpening my skills.

So I like to use music production exercises to build better habits, learn new skills and increase my musical confidence. This post shares my favorite ones and why they help so much.

Becoming a production pro isn’t an overnight thing, but anyone can get better at anything with the right practice and time.

So let’s do this!

What Are Music Production Exercises?

Music production exercises are ways to learn and practice new production techniques, improve your creativity and build important skills.

Since music production requires a lot of creativity and technical know-how, consistent practice is important. And exercises are a great strategy to stay on track.

It’s like going to the gym to build muscle. It takes time, but it works.

The Benefits of Music Production Exercises

• Expand your skill set and learn new techniques

• Challenge yourself to get better and think differently

• Discover weaknesses that you can focus on improving

• Boost your creativity and come up with new, fresh ideas

• Gamify the songwriting process

• Promote better habit formation

• Strengthen your workflow

10 Music Production Exercises I Love

1. Active Listening

This exercise is good for: Ear training and creative inspiration.

Ever since I started producing music more seriously, I listen to it differently.

I pick apart songs and try to understand their components and the producer’s or songwriter’s motivations.

This is active listening and it’s a great way to practice music production (outside of your computer).

To practice active listening, you can try:

• Imagining how you would recreate the sounds and effects

• Consider what you would do differently

• Think about why the songwriter/producer used certain sounds and effects

• Practice hearing frequencies and sound design choices

2. Remake Your Favorite Tracks

This exercise is good for: Sound selection, workflows and overall skills.

This exercise is the perfect followup to active listening.

Remaking your favorite track is the music producer’s version of doing a cover song. You try to reproduce a song exactly as you hear it.

It’s an awesome way to improve:

• Your instrument and sound selection skills

• Your process for building out a full song

• Using plugins and effects

• Sound manipulation

3. Do A Music Production Challenge

This exercise is good for: Confidence, speed and specific skill work.

Songwriting challenges are an awesome way to level up.

They’re fun and push you past your comfort zones, which is a great place for growth.

I did a song-a-day challenge in 2023 where I wrote one everyday for one year. One of my main goals was to improve my music production skills.

It worked.

So doing a challenge is a great exercise I can confidently recommended. Here are a few ideas:

• Write a mini song everyday

• Do time challenges

• Add constraints

• Use a new software, technology or tool

• Write a song in a different genre

4. Make the Most Dynamic Song You Can

This exercise is good for: Making your productions more detailed and interesting.

Song dynamics make your music more interesting and memorable. It’s like the storytelling part of sound.

It adds life and rhythm to your track.

So for this exercise, you’ll want to focus all of your attention on making a song (or a few) that use every trick in the book. It may be overkill, but it’s a great way to practice the different techniques.

Here are a few ways I like to make my projects more dynamic:

• Add rhythm without drums (for example, using an arpeggiator)

• Use silence

• Add automation effects

• Use reverse reverbs

• Add ear candies and nuances

• Play between loudness and softness

• Change note velocities

• Use modulation

• Use side chaining

5. Master One Synth or Plugin

This exercise is good for: Improving your sound design skills and speed.

This exercise is also great for focus.

Because there’s always going to be a new and sexy plugin that promises to change the game for you. But the truth is, sticking to one at a time and learning through and through is the best move.

Once you’ve mastered it, then move on.

So choose one plugin or synth (I like Serum by Splice) and learn everything there is to know about it. Become a pro.

This gives you awesome flexibility and freedom to create any sound your head can dream up, completely from scratch (rather than wasting time sifting through thousands of sounds until you find the right one).

6. Master Your Staple Effects

This exercise is good for: Learning your DAW tools and improving your track’s sound quality.

There ae some staple tools every music producer should know how to use. These are the core effects.

So this exercise will solidify your music production foundation.

Some effects to focus your attention on include:

• Reverb

• EQ

• Delays

• Compression

• Chorus

• Distortion

7. Remake Old Mixes

This exercise is good for: General practice and getting perspective on your growth.

It’s fun to revisit your old mixes (well, sometimes fun).

If you’ve been spending some time sharpening your music production skills, a great exercise you can do is go back and see what you would do differently to your old songs.

Sometimes, the improvement you’ve made is glaringly obvious. This can be a great boost in confidence and motivation.

It’s also fun and good practice to see how you’ve evolved as a musician.

8. Make Music Without Any Instruments

This exercise is good for: Your music-making flexibility and DAW agility.

Being able to make music without instruments is an important skill as a producer.

It also makes you a more flexible songwriter. Being able to write with nothing more than your computer means you can write from anywhere.

A cafe, an airport…anywhere.

So spend some time scripting ideas without your MIDI controller or instruments. It’s a great exercise.

9. Produce Vocal-Centric Songs

This exercise is good for: Improving your audio and recording chops.

A vocal-centric song is one that has exclusively vocals or incorporates a lot of vocals to fill out the instrumental space.

For example, having lots of vocal layers, adding harmonies and using very minimal instruments would be a vocal-centric song.

Vocal production and live audio recording require specific skills and practice. So this exercise will sharpen your skills for capturing great performances and layering effects.

10. Use Unique Sounds

This exercise is good for: Resourcefulness, creativity and storytelling.

Everything can be turned into music. So this exercise is a great way to practice this idea.

From turning the sound of running water into a reverse reverb to making a crying cat into some high-pitched ear candies, unique sounds are a fun way to get creative with your music.

They also add an interesting storytelling element to the mix.

For example, I like to capture sounds while traveling and use them in my songs. This blends my love for travel and songwriting into one place.

So what unique sounds could you turn into music magic?

Later ✌️

Music production is an amazing skill. It totally opens up your musical opportunities and songwriting control. But there’ll always be new techniques and tools to learn.

Music production exercises are ways to gamify and practice new skills. It makes the process more focused and fun.

Some of my favorite exercises are rewriting my favorite songs, writing vocal-centric projects, using unique instruments and sounds and gamification.

But it’s important to try many different ideas depending on your goals, skills, preferences and mood. So what will you try first?

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