by Evdog » 13 May 2014 00:14
Well since I was a child, I've loved music, and have been a singer for as long as I remember. I actually have memories of both the first time my dad let me use a DAW (it was Cubase) and of when he was teaching me to play guitar.
I started making my own stuff (and remembering it and writing it down) at 13, which I look back upon and find really cheesy and amateurish (and I do not plan to ever release in their current states :P ). A few years later, I started learning to produce my own tracks, and tried to make tracks for OverClocked Remix (ocremix.org) but since I knew nothing about mixing, and didn't know how IRC's worked, I kept on getting forum feedback saying "Good arrangement, but you need to make it more dynamic". Nevertheless, I kept up doing songwriting and practicing (You would probably never guess, but back then I wrote a lot of Acoustic-sounding CountryPop).
It was honestly only after I found the Brony Music scene that my production abilities improved. I got harsh, but fair, criticisms and helpful tips from more advanced artists and when I compare my pre-2011 works, I say exactly the same as what was said to me "Good arrangements; Horrible mixing". There was a point, somewhere around mid-late 2012 where I was finally able to listen to my own tracks, and objectively say "Wow. This is pretty professional sounding", and that's when I knew that I wanted this to be more than a hobby.
I actually wanna ask the same question: How do you think you've progressed in music over the years?