🎛️ Spotlight Series: How to produce music with @AllanSamuel7 #TonyTries #Mixing #SP1

22 May, 2022

Today's post is an interview with a multi-instrumentalist, music producer, arranger, and mix engineer who has worked with various artists across the globe, Allan Samuel. Over this interview, I hope you get some insights into his working process, inspiration and routines. Hope you go away from this post inspired to learn more about this art form!

This interview has been mostly untouched.

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About Allan

Could you introduce yourself and describe what you do in one sentence?

My name is Allan Samuel Vetha and I am a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, engineer and a wannabe songwriter.

What is the skill you have, can you link us to some of your work?

My primary skill would be mixing and mastering which stemmed from me being a part of a band at church and playing the keyboard there. When you mix for a while, you also unconsciously learn how to arrange and produce.

Cary has a really great analogy that explains all the different hats. You can read about that here to get a better idea.

In terms of the projects that I’ve worked on, you can find all of them here.

Describe your creative process

I don’t have a set process to be honest. It’s always different. For the most part, I do have a general sound in my head of what I want this song to sound like and I just use the tools to get there.

Who is your inspiration?

There are a plethora of musicians that I draw inspiration from. Most recently I’ve been listening to a lot of John Mayer, Chris Stapleton, The Doobie Brothers and Allen Stone just to name a few. Again, inspiration is a revolving door, it can come from anywhere. In terms of the engineering aspects, there are a few engineers that I look up to. Andrew Scheps, Chris Lord Alge and Josh Gudwin among others.

About His Skill

How did you first get started?

My dad had always wanted to learn the piano but he wasn’t able to at the time. However, he made sure I had the opportunity to learn something that he couldn’t and he put me in keyboard classes from a very young age. Looking back now, learning keyboard was a preparation for the things to come. Later on, our Sunday school teachers encouraged the kids to play for the services at church. They taught us how to play together as a group, they shaped us and moulded us both musically and spiritually. Long story short, I am an inquisitive person by nature which led me to meddle with the mixer in the back of the room and that just pushed me down the rabbit hole of discovering recording, editing, production, mixing and mastering.

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Crazy setups like these are worth perusing, if you can identify what you are currently lacking in

What makes your skill feel fulfilling

There are two perspectives I have when I think about fulfilment. One is that you work along with the artist to help bring to life what the artist envisioned and when you’re able do that, that’s inexplicably satisfying. The other perspective is that the songs that I work on, especially the ones I am a co-writer, I know that this song puts into words what someone is going through but not able to express or this may help someone who’s going through a rough patch in life or to some it may give them some sense of closure, a sense of hope and maybe just maybe, turn that frown upside down.

It’s different for everyone but for a lot of people, music is something that is really close to our hearts, it helps them get through tough times and it’s a blessing that God has given us and ultimately I just want to help contribute to that in whatever little capacity that I can.

What’s the inspiration for the skill you have?

There are a plethora of artists that inspire me. In addition to the song writing, I love the sonic qualities of certain records. Stuff that just sounds different, engineers who threw the rule book out the window and just created something unique. There’s also a difference in the way that something sounds and the way it feels and that’s something that I’ve been really pondering over recently and that serves as inspiration as well, to not just make good sounding records but records that make you feel something.

How do you keep up the motivation to learn and improve your skill?

Passion and persistence. When you’re passionate about something, it’s generally pretty easy to stay motivated. With every song that I work on, I compare it with the songs that have won Grammys, engineers that I look up to and with every project, you strive to get as close as you can to that. Learning is a lifelong process, begin each day with that curiosity and strive to be the best at your craft.

About teaching others

If someone was an absolute beginner, what one aspect of the skill would you have them focus on first?

Start by learning an instrument. You learn a lot if while doing so, it builds your musicality and by doing so, you also start to pay attention to your instrument’s parts in songs. If you already are a musician then I would encourage you to “LISTEN.”

Listen in the sense, be critical. Close your eyes and try to identify what each instrument is doing, where they’ve been panned, try to listen for the reverb and delays, and just make note of every single thing that you can. Production, Arranging and Mixing all boils down to you being a good listener. Apply the same critical listening to all genres, in doing so you not only obtain a sonic perspective but also pick up on production and arrangement cues.

What is an ideal routine for their first week?

Listen to as much music as you can. As I mentioned earlier, the skill boils down to you being a good listener. Experiment a lot, especially in the beginning. YouTube tutorials help you a lot as they did with me. Use them as a guide but don’t let your creativity and imagination be limited by just that. Experiment as much as you can. Remember, there are no rules, make whatever you like and whatever you feel sounds good. Read up on basic terminologies like what an EQ is or what a compressor is and so on and so forth but also try them out. There are a bunch of free DAW’s, download them, import any piece of audio and just get hands-on with it. Add an EQ to it, add a compressor, mess with the knobs and “LISTEN” to what it actually does. This way, you do a lot by yourself and this will also help you create when you want to make something that sounds different, sounds unique. You’ll have a much different approach and perspective than someone who’s just read a book about the topics.

What hurdles do you anticipate they may have in their first week?

Listening, when you define the term seems simple enough but your ears are not machines. Depending on your listening medium (headphones, earphones or speakers), volume levels and the duration of your listening, your ears tend to become fatigued. So as soon as you feel that, stop listening, take a break and get back to it in a little while. It’ll also take a little while for you to understand what you’re listening to, but as you experiment, learn and be hands-on, you’ll soon be aware of those elements. When you do begin, there’ll be a lot of technical terms thrown your way, it may seem overwhelming at first, but in due time, you’ll learn them.

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Crazy setups like these are worth perusing if you can identify what you are currently lacking in

What are some tricks to keep up motivation?

This is quite hard to answer. I was intrinsically motivated about all of this, and so, I have not pondered on this as much, but what I would say is to implement what you learn as you keep learning them. You’ll get a lot more of that “Aaha, light bulb” moments which will further encourage you to keep learning. Take on challenges, whether that’d be mixing a local band’s record or trying to recreate your favourite artist’s record. These challenges take you into uncharted territories, you learn more about what you need to learn and this also motivates you to become better at your craft. The last point works more so when your interests are aligned.

Take on challenges, whether that’d be mixing a local band’s record or trying to recreate your favourite artist’s record. These challenges take you into uncharted territories, you learn more about what you need to learn and this also motivates you to become better at your craft.

What are some of the pitfalls to avoid when first starting on this skill?

This is not a syllabus, there’s no book that you read and then you’re a master of the craft. Learning is a lifelong journey. Don’t feel like the first week that you work on a song or a piece of music that it’s going to sound incredibly amazing. That’s rarely the case.

We all start with crappy mixes but that’s the process and you have to just trust that by doing it over and over, learning new things and implementing them, your mixes will eventually start to get better. This skill can’t be mastered overnight. Be patient but persistent. Another thing I would advise you is, don’t overwork yourself. Your ears get fatigued easily. Don’t push them to that point, because, you’ll eventually just burn yourself out.

What are some of the free / reasonably priced resources that could help achieve mastery of this skill?

YouTube, YouTube & YouTube. There are a bunch of really good channels out there that teach you everything basically. There are some good courses out there for people who want a more structured pedagogy of learning. Some channels that I would recommend are The Recording Revolution, Mix with the Masters, Produce Like A Pro, Pro Audio Files, Sonic Scoop and many more. In terms of courses, a lot of these channels also offer courses directly on their websites but you could also refer to these places like Coursera, Berklee Online and many more. Once again, use these as guides, don’t limit your creativity to this framework.

If you could say one sentence to your potential mentee, what would it be?

Be inquisitive, try to figure out stuff on your own for the most part and expect the unexpected.

Any closing remarks?

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Don’t overthink, just start. The rest you’ll figure out on the way. It’s never about the destination, it’s the journey. You’ve got to trust the process.

Key takeaways

Learning music production is done mainly through exploration and experimentation.
Don’t be discouraged by crappy mixes at first, stay persistent with it.
LISTEN!

That’s all for this week. I hope you enjoyed this new series where I interview people and showcase their skills. If you hear some of Allan’s music, it sounds very professionally made. Do check out music he has mastered and co-written through the link above.

Until next time,

Tony

Resources Mentioned:

YouTube: The Recording Revolution, Mix with the Masters, Produce Like A Pro, Pro Audio Files, Sonic Scoop

Courses: Coursera, Berklee Online

Allan's Socials:

List of songs by Allan: https://linktr.ee/AllanSamuel

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllanSamuelMusic

Instagram: https://instagram.com/allansamuel23

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AllanSamuel7

My Socials:

LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/tonytriesstuff