That's cool. Nobody would pretend to be me, so I'm not entirely sure I need it. Also, I'm not famous... feels good.

you're pretty well known and that comes from another artist almost entirely disconnected from the style of music you do, imo dudes like you should definitely be verified this is definitely a difficult thing to quantify

i've done a good bit of mixing & mastering as freelance work. the most difficult things i've come across are people refusing to do WAV stems and want me to mix down their project as is - problematic when missing plugins/they're not working on the same DAW/32 bit vs. 64bit etc.etc... i actually try not to take jobs like this anymore or put my foot down in the first place.

also, there are people that obviously want you to mix/master the track exactly how they would. "it sounds great, but could you make it sound more like my mix/master as heard here? *128kbps stream link*". even though it's almost always against my better judgement, the client is always right...so i usually supply them with another version in those cases and allow them to choose between the two in the end. thankfully most times it's ended with them using my first mix/master anyway lol

edit: surprisingly, the easiest jobs for me have been outside of 4/4 electronic music. i've done a few bands, rappers, and even some film score stuff that went off without a hitch and no problems. the most difficult clients are almost always techno producers, who absolutely insist their entire track be centered and dry...what a headache.

paid packs:

sunny lax kick packs
black octopus monster kicks
zenhiser trance drums 1/2

free packs (and also awesome):
hyperbits sample pack
bastian salbart free kick pack

i really love collecting kick samples, i could go on for days. these are at the top off the top of my head, though

as far as processing goes for my kicks i keep it very minimal, generally finding the right kick + shaping the sample ADSR + balancing the kick & rest of the mix in volume with maybe a bit of EQ is all i do. otherwise, if i have to do more i can almost always find a better kick to work into the track in the first place.

honestly these days i mostly finish a track then go back and swap the kick out til i find one that fits just right with the bassline/groove and then adjust as necessary

- Complete my first artist album
- Complete at least 4 new singles & remixes outside of the album (not counting yet unreleased finished material either which is now 5 singles and 2 remixes in the pipeline)
- Have at least 2 gigs / month
- Play my first international gig
- Play at least one festival
- grow, grow, grow...

lumped together the production & djing goals for the year on paper seems like quite a bit but i think within reason especially once i get some more bits for an album going (already have 4 or so solid projects that i'm stowing away for it)

yeah the chords and shit are taking up way too much headroom - kick needs to come up a LOT in the mix to anchor the track and then the rest of the elements need to be adjusted accordingly in volume. eq/sound design/mix sound decent otherwise! i would also sidechain the lead so that way when the kick is brought up in the mix everything pumps nicely around it.

huge fan of the tokyo dawn labs freeware EQs/compressor:

http://www.tokyodawn.net/tokyo-dawn-labs/

i sent in a DM the other day suggesting a similar idea, or at least a forum section dedicated to the business side of things ie. labels/promoters/management/events/whatever. lots of talented guys in this forum who i'm sure can benefit from open discussion on various topics relating to the actual business side of music - but maybe just a bit of a stretch from what this forum is for?

I think, especially when starting out, you need to just sit in your daw and grind out the hours.  It's like learning any new skill, it just takes time.  I always try to make sure I have at least 2 hours to sit in Ableton and do whatever, whether it's sound design or mixing or writing

i think this is a really important thing to realize: yeah, eric prydz can get away with creating only when he's inspired. but if you haven't unlocked the prydz mastery achievement in your music production journey, it's unlikely that following that rule is going to work as well for you as it does for eric prydz haha

that said, i think what OP is doing implies he's still working on music in some way shape or form regularly - just not starting out for the purpose of writing music every time. i think that's a fine approach. just sitting and doing music production in any capacity is what most of us should be doing

personally, i think i spend a little too much time in the DAW as i'm  very consistent in working on music but i could probably spend more time reading/refining my stuff in other areas :x