I can't pretend I'm not getting better. Knowing what makes a piece of music 'good' though is so difficult to define it's hard to see these improvements.

There are always two sides about this, the technical and the creative one. The technical aspects, like mixing and mastering should be done well enough in order for a record to be good. Although the ordinary listener will probably only recognizes really bad mistakes, so this does not need to be perfect in order to make a great record in my opinion. This technical skill can be learned but creativity itself can't. It exists inside you, and you just have to let it out and produce what you feel like producing, experiment(!!), so you really have this emotional connection with the song. I am not saying that it has to have a very specific meaning, it can be a very simple emotion too. Don't worry too much about what elements and sounds exactly make a piece of music "good" in general, but find out what these elements triggered in yourself that made you like the song. I like to get inspired by movies or by situations that I experienced in my life.

Take care,
Artless Venture

1. I stopped most of the negativity when I started keeping my music to myself lol I haven't posted anything on my SoundCloud in a while because I was so focused on making the kind of music I heard in my head. Ever since then, I've been getting closer to that ideal. Now that I'm thinking about it, I had to start making music that I didn't intend for others to hear first. That way, the pressure of hoping people would listen to it or like it went away.

This is a quite interesting thought. I can definitely agree that if you are producing with this in mind, not only the negativity would go away, but instead you would also be able to truly make the music that represents you and your emotions, plus being able to develop a more unique and personal style.

I experience the negative thoughts myself especially while trying to finish a song. Moving to the end just gets harder and harder, but quitting shouldn't be an option just because your emotional connection with the music is temporarily gone. This is probably normal since you don't hear the track as a whole but only the things you aren't satisfied yet.

After I uploaded a track I usually don't listen to it for a while, but I start to enjoy it again the further the time progresses. Yes, I cringe too when I listen to some old music, and I even deleted a Remix from Soundcloud (though I try not to do this since I want people to see that everyone is a beginner at first), but I am happy to say that I am satisfied with my music so far because I always rediscovered the emotional connection that got me started producing the song in the first place.

I'd say be as confident about your music as you can be. At least you, the producer, should like what you are doing - otherwise it wouldn't make sense to make music if you don't enjoy it, right? . Self criticism and perfectionism can be useful and healthy to a certain extend, but don't overdo it - and don't let it get you down!!

Artless Venture ♢