Never played an instrument in my life, and in fact I always told myself through music class in elementary school I hated music and had no musical talent.

In 8th grade I took a General Music course (either an art or music was required, and I can't even draw a stick figure). Tried to play the guitar in class and gave up, absolutely hated it, never paid attention.

I love producing music now. I can spend endless hours experimenting and enjoying myself. Funny how life works.

In addition to what I mentioned before..

Look on Beatport Top 100. Every song has a listed Key signature.

Music Theory. All over.

This is awesome thank you 

I try to download a new sample pack every week, this definitely fulfilled that haha

Compression is a difficult topic to cover, and often many producers struggle to grasp the capability and an effective use of compression.

What is compression?
When should you compress?
How do you even compress?
What is Dynamic Range?
What is Uplift Compression?
Why Do Attack & Release Matter?
Why Use Gain-Compensation?

These are only a few questions and topics that are covered below. I highly suggest reading these articles, as they are imperative to having a concrete understanding of compression in its entirety.

Two articles which were essential to my knowledge, understanding, and application of compression in my mixes were written by Mike Senior and Hugh Robjohns from SoundOnSound. Below is a link to these articles.

If you have your own articles or any relevant information, feel free to pass it along and I will modify the table of contents for quick and easy access to all those who are interested.

** I was debating to make an entire table of contents and compression guide, however I feel as if this information is so readily available via Google searches, so it may be redundant.

I have a Word document of nearly every compression article I have ever read.. If you think it is a good idea, let me know and I will gladly put in the work to collect and organization all relevant compression information, and will even make a concise organized list of all relevant compression tips, tricks, and threads on TPF.

Parallel Compression
http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb13/articles/latest-squeeze.htm

1. Downward Compression
2. Dynamic Range Reduction
3. Uplift Compression
4. Upward Mobility
5. Parallel Compression


Compression Made Easy
https://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep09/articles/compressionmadeeasy.htm

1. Dynamic Range
2. Compression, Peak Reduction, Threshold & Input Gain
3. Gain-Compensation Controls
4. Balancing, Multing & Compressor Choice
5. Starting to Mix with Compression
6. When Compression is Not the Answer
7. All Other Controls
8. Ratio
9. Why Attack & Release Matter
10. Snare Compression: Three Different Settings
11. Side-Effects
12. Summing Up
13. Compressor or Limiter
14. Which Parts Do I Need to Compress?
15. EQ or Compressor First?

Andivax's Compression Tutorial

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-EQzY8hzCw

You do not need to know music theory to produce music. But there is a reason professionals use music theory. You know what I'm saying?

Below is an excerpt from a comment I posted on someone else's thread. I am keeping this post short because I believe a lot of people before me have already adequately answered the question, and I agree with a lot of what was said.
----

I have been producing for 8 months now so here's how I first began -

I watched a lot of tutorials. I had no idea what I was doing and spent a majority of my time watching ADSR Courses and YouTube tutorials to learn Sylenth and Massive masterclasses, sound design, EQing, mixing, mastering, parallel-sidechain compression, so forth.

(Good YouTube accounts to follow: SeamlessR, ZenWorld, DigitialVideoFX, Sound Design Tutorials)

What I realized was i had all this "knowledge" but no way to apply it. I ended up watching EQ tutorials, mixing, mastering, compression, and all this other stuff that was "way above my pay grade." Let's be real. I was just beginning to produce, I had no use for any of that.

Some suggestions:

1. Masterclasses (LEARN YOUR SYNTH) - Sylenth, Massive, Serum, whatever it is, KNOW IT. Know every single damn function of your synth so you can control every parameter to the ultimate precision.

2. "Music Theory" - Learn to write melodies and chords. No, you do not need to know music theory, but it helps. If you're going to write music one day at a professional level, you WILL need to write in key. There is a reason music theory exists. It is harmonics, mathematical breakdowns of frequencies, which chords sound good together.. it works and it sounds better. You may disagree here, but any professional musician will tell you music theory is there for a reason.

3. "How to make X genre" - Watch a full hour long video production of a song. It may sound like a long time but ask yourself this... how many movies have you watched in your lifetime? A lot.

4. KNOW YOUR DAW - How can you manipulate your sound through a multitude of parameters? How can you use a filter cutoff to transition from your introduction lead to a full, fat, supersaw? How can you use everything your workstation offers to make a more complete track? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH3RJBUZ_f0)

If you want to be successful at producing music, you need to make this your life.
What do I mean by that? You watch four hours of TV a day. You play three hours of video games a day. You go hangout with your friends every single day of the week.

No. I learned the hard way. You will have to make sacrifices. Success does not come easy, and one of the hardest parts if telling your friends that you don't have time to hangout because you want to be successful

Sounds crazy. Easier said than done. But it's the truth.

I've spent about 20+ hours each, on 10 different tracks.. and they're still not done