Tired of Listening to Your Favorite Producers And Realizing Your Music Sounds Thin, Muddy...Even a Bit Boring?

“It's not about endless "nice to know" tips and tricks - It's about getting good at the right things”

UPDATE October 16 2024 - This Course is no longer for sale

It's been VERY quite on this website since I've been working, living life, making music & gigging. In 2021 I launched my own label for vinyl & digital releases. Along the way I partnered up with Italian rising star Cristina Lazic and together we're launching the educational portion of her music platform La Zic. It's not enough to DJ & produce - You need to know how to promote your music and get it heard. Same for getting booked. Together we have an 8 module course that covers production along with the marketing, business & networking modern DJs need. 






Hi Friend,


Thanks for coming by. On this page I"m going to explain exactly how I went from "trying to figure it out" to getting tracks signed on big labels like New York's Nervous Records, winning a prestigious remix competition out of over 300 others, and my latest EP getting support from DJs like Christian Varela, Fernanda Martin and more.  

That's right.


So if you want to finish more music instead of having your ideas shelved in a folder on your hard drive, aka the loop graveyard pay attention to what's on this page. 

You Don't Need to Know 417 Things About Production

There's a lot of things that are nice to know which make for interesting content on YouTube or as an article.  It's just that that stuff won't make or break your track.  


That stuff is like a nice sauce that's served on the side of a steak.  But the steak is the main dish, a nice sauce won't make a grizzly over cooked steak better.  


So if you spend a lot of time learning "neat" tips and tricks, but still not getting where you want to be....even after months and years it's time to change your approach.  


While the digital age has made it easier for us all to produce the ease of access to plugins, samples, tutorials, and software is totally overwhelming.  


Don't get me wrong YouTube is great for getting through the beginner stages.  The real challenge is moving past the next sticking point.  So if you're reading this page it's probably because you're able to come up with some nice grooves, but you don't know how to turn those loops into complete, polished tracks. 


You've been trying but come up short.  The mix lacks width and punch, the master is not quite up to snuff in terms of impact, sparkle and clarity, and at times, well, your tracks are a little boring. 


What do you do?

Some people do more of the same and expect a different result - which is quite unrealistic.  Others get smart and figure it out by trial and error. 

That's what I did over a period of several years. 

And you can too, or you can find a credible short cut I'll tell you what I did shortly.

Let's rewind..

And go way back...


I never went to a proper club till I was 20.  A friend since my early school years was into "the scene" and brought the rest of us out.  We caught the tail end for clubs like NY's Limelight and Tunnel.  He DJ'd and I was just getting into the music.


For some reason I was into production before getting into the scene.  Reason for that is a few years prior some other mates we're doing hip hop.  As a "decent" guitar player who appreciated the recording process I got bit by the bug when I saw early versions of the now defunct DAW Cakewalk process digital audio. 


From there I was hooked on producing, but didn't get into dance music till a few years later.


While I got to experience these legendary clubs which is better than nothing, they were past there prime.  


One night we went to New York's Sound Factory. It was cool. It was tall with 4 floors to wander though.  Friday nights were a younger crowd.


Saturdays were more serious.


Several months later I found myself there for the resident DJs birthday.  It was just unreal.  This was a proper NYC club experience.  Same for my nights at Dany Tenaglia's Vinyl.  and Crobar.


This was back when "dance remixes" were all the rage and the big New York jocks like David Morales, Junior, Danny, Victor, Boris, Jonathan Peters and Hex Hector were making some serious coin remixing pop artists.


Back to the Sound Factory - that was were Jonathan Peters spun his legendary marathon sets.  Parties than on special "theme" nights would start on Saturday at 10pm and go well into Sunday evening.  His birthday party was one of the more extravagant theme parties of the year.


This was like the 3rd time I ever set foot in the building.  


The night was epic, lost my friend at 9 am.  He text me saying he had to go.  I was like "OK cool I'm gonna stay for a while" and ended up staying till like noon or so.  The party was still going strong but I didn't have anything left in the tank. 


Damn.


Shortly after this I was hanging w/ the same crew that took me to Factory for the first time, one of them pulled out a business card from Jonathan's production studio in NYC. 


I called the number and asked if they hired interns.


They did.


I put together a "demo" reel of stuff I had done and I got the job.


It was grunt work at first.  But then I sat in on production sessions and doing things like sampling vinyl to an AKAI MPC.  


Then I was tasked with making mash ups and helping Jonathan prep files to be played out of Ableton version 1.o at Sound Factory.  It was very cool to see and hear stuff I worked on directly going off in a big way at the club.  


And in off hours I could work on my own stuff.  

2 Rooms and Racks Full of Gear

I was working for them but you may have thought that I would have soaked up a lot of knowledge and since I had access to all that gear during off hours that maybe I made a dope track or 2 over the course of working at that studio for a year...


Nope not 1 track done.  Some cool ideas but not 1 finished piece of music. 


Granted I was a total beginner. I could watch the pros work but it's not like they were going to stop what they were doing to teach me what they were doing and why. 


Anyhow. 


After a year I called it quits and moved on - no hard feelings.  Jonathan wanted me to sell studio time and create another revenue stream in his studio.  Quite a big task for an intern with very little studio and business experience.  Also his studio was equipped to make dance music, it was not set up for recording bands, he didn't have a big mic collection that would attract typical "studio" business.  My idea was to use it as a place for aspiring producers, but that didn't align with what he wanted.  So I moved on. All good. 

Dance Music Production Course

As I said I spent about a year working there.  About 3/4 of the way through I got my own set of turntables.  Technics, a big step up from the belt driven Numark "DJ in a Box" set up my room mate had that I learned on. 


I got to the point where I could kind of properly mix on them, but when I got Techs it was like starting over. 


After a few months on proper turntables I could mix "good enough" to go looking for gigs. So when I left the internship, I found a weekly paying DJ-gig in a trendy restaurant/lounge.  It paid well so I stuck with that for about 5 years every Friday night.  


This was in Hoboken, NJ very close to NYC. 


This also started my record shopping habit. 


One day on my way out of the store, I'd always stop and grab a flyer or 2 for whatever parties looked good.  This 1 day I found a flyer that said "Dance Music Production Course"


I gave it a read and signed up for $1,000.  It was probably the first of it's kind.  New York's Stephane K (Jon Creamer and Stephane K) made an appearance.  It was 8 weeks long and it truly covered everything you need to know.


Only back then, you only absorbed what was taught live in class and any notes I could scrabble on paper. 


It helped...


But I still hadn't made 1 good track WTF!

Through out all this time I did have more than enough gear and more than enough software.


I started on Ableton Live - like the 1st version.  I then got version 3.  Around that time the ProTools MBox came out so I got that because everyone uses ProTools and this was the first affordable version.


I don't recall doing much with that.


I had the first version of UAD's Powered Plugins.  They were nice, but I had no idea what I was doing with them.


I had a Kord Triton Keyboard, a really cool TB 303 clone, the Korg MS 2000 rack.  All of these got sold.  I also had a Roland Juno 106 - sold that but should have kept it,  And an Access Virus Classic.  Plus some essential VSTs.  


After all of that was said and done, I did manage to create 1 good track I liked and I did a remix for the teacher of the production course but it was never released.  


That's a ton of time and lots of money invested in gear which produced a trickle of music. OK maybe a drop of actual completed music.


But I started oh so many ideas and loops - that just never got finished. 


So I took a break for nearly 5 years

This was a lot of fun.  I played out weekly, sometimes did bigger events in the city. Opened for a couple notable DJs like Dave Seaman at the now defunct "Club Love" in NYC's West Village. 


But it wasn't really going anywhere, and at this point the music became very commercial because the "underground scene' was dying and pop/open format was rising, along with "Bottle Service" culture.  


So it was time to take a break and do some adult stuff. I became more career focused.  I never stopped buying music, I never sold my gear, I never sold my turntables.  All that stuff was in storage in my parents basement.  


I bought my own flat some years later which was cool.  


My my then girlfriend, now wife, moved in with me things were good.  


Some time later I started a new job and my manager was an older "British House Head."


I kid you not.  Super cool, nice guy who in his youth also used to DJ  and rent out sound systems.  Since we talked shop about music and what not the music bug bit me again. 


The headphones I had hung up, were now back on.


I sold my old Triton keyboard and grabbed a Native Instruments Maschine MK1 which is now the basis of all my tracks. 


I got reacquainted with Ableton and started making tracks.  It was fun, but I still wasn't finishing them, but I was a tad smarter and more persistent.  Eventually got my first release out on Beatport which was a remix for a friend. 


I got some tutorials, some modern sample packs.


On the night of my bachelor party which was a steak dinner followed by a trip to Output to see Nicole Moudaber, I met a rep from Nervous Records.


We talked for a while and exchanged info.  He said to send stuff so I did. 


The resulting track "Thirteen" landed in the Traxsource Top 20 Tech-House Chart.  I followed it up with another that got almost as high. 

This was a lot of fun.  I played out weekly, sometimes did bigger events in the city. Opened for a couple notable DJs like Dave Seaman at the now defunct "Club Love" in NYC's West Village. 


But it wasn't really going anywhere, and at this point the music became very commercial because the "underground scene' was dying and pop/open format was rising, along with "Bottle Service" culture.  

Things Changed Big Time

So it was time to take a break and do some adult stuff. I became more career focused.  I never stopped buying music, I never sold my gear, I never sold my turntables.  All that stuff was in storage in my parents basement.  


I bought my own flat some years later which was cool.  


My my then girlfriend, now wife.  


Things were good.  


Some time later I started a new job and my manager was an older "British House Head."


I kid you not.  Super cool, nice guy who in his youth also used to DJ  and rent out sound systems.  Since we talked shop about music and what not the music bug bit me again. 


The headphones I had hung up, were now back on.


I sold my old Triton keyboard and grabbed a Native Instruments Maschine MK1 which is now the basis of all my tracks. 


I got reacquainted with Ableton and started making tracks.  It was fun, but I still wasn't finishing them, but I was a tad smarter and more persistent.  Eventually got my first release out on Beatport which was a remix for a friend. 


I got some tutorials, some modern sample packs.


On the night of my bachelor party which was a steak dinner followed by a trip to Output to see Nicole Moudaber, I met a rep from Nervous Records.


We talked for a while and exchanged info.  He said to send stuff so I did. 


The resulting track "Thirteen" landed in the Traxsource Top 20 Tech-House Chart (it went further than what I happened to capture in the screen shot below).  


I followed it up with another that got almost as high. And later my full on techno bomb "Friction."

Now I was actually producing...

It still took me a hell of a long time to make a track but I was getting more music done.  Music that I liked and felt proud to release.


Not long after the releases on Nervous Records, I saw that Victor Calderone was hosting a remix contest on the now defunct "Play.Beatport.com" platform.  


I downloaded the pack out of curiosity - to hear what his stems sounded like.  I figured I might learn something.   


Then I was like "OK I'll enter if it doesn't kill me on time" So one night after dinner I started getting some ideas down.  I liked where things were headed. 


Keep in mind at this point in my life I had WAY less free time.  


I was married, had a child, was freelancing and looking for a bigger paying, full time gig as opposed to side gigs.  


So if you think you need all the time in the world to make great music, you don't. 


Back to the remix competition, I got something down that I liked.  Uploaded and actually won, out of over 300 other entires.  


So What Changed?

So how am I getting better music, completed faster with less time and gear?  


I got serious about the important stuff and ignored the fluff. 


NO BS Production

Time constraints of "adult' life helped me a lot.  Another thing was that during my break from music, I learned the importance of "getting it out there."


Perfectionism kills, it's better to have something very good see the light of day than to never release material because it's "not perfect."


This combined with not focusing on fluff and non sense. 


Way back it was hard to produce because the gear was expensive, but if you had the gear from there it was straightforward.  


Today the gear is less costly, I mean you can do a lot with a lap top.  The problem is that today things are digital and digital is infinite. 

There's always some "thing" you can be doing to produce

A sample to find, a tutorial to watch, a VST instrument to use, a tip to try, and technique to learn... and on and on and on.


It could go on and on and on and on.


If you get caught up in this you could easily spend more time consuming content about production - then actually making music. "wanna-producing" instead of actually producing. 


There's a ton of things that you could do, that are interesting to talk about, that may improve 1 aspect of your music a bit, but in terms of the big picture, these tips and techniques really aren't that meaningful.


If you want to make gains you have to focus on things that really matter.


Another thing is that it's easy to over do it on instruction that is helpful but totally overkill for dance music, particularly underground stuff.


For example music theory.  You don't need much theory at all for techno.


Another example is mixing.


Oh yeah mastering your DAW.  


This one is important as I often see commonly regurgitated advice for newer producers to "hunker down" and master your DAW.


Yea that can help, but mastering a DAW is really important when time is money and you're being paid hourly to record and mix a band of something.  When hourly income is on the line and you're just getting started and have to make some shitty singer sound good and you're editing a bunch of takes into 1 good sounding coherent lead vocal, then YES, there's a big pay off to being a master of your DAW and it's keyboard short cuts.


But for techno, you don't need to burden yourself with that.


Speaking of mastering things, DON'T waste any time or money trying to master your own music. 


You're gonna come up short.


You're gonna work on a track, spend another ton of time trying to self master and then you're gonna listen back and have a nagging feeling that your music still isn't up to snuff. 


Let's Focus on What Matters

Do you see how I've taken a bunch of crap off your things to do list?


In total I spent about 10 hours on my winning remix for Victor Calderone.  Sure, a bit of luck was at play.  There's always gonna be times where you get in flow and the music churns itself out.  


And that's how it is for most producers who aren't quite there yet.  It's easy to start but difficult to finish.


Right now I don't struggle to finish because I put the time into pumping up my finishing muscles.  You could do the same thing.  Sure I can help you produce some new sounds and give you some inspiration.  There's tons of that stuff.  


That's like giving you a fish. You'll be back again when you're hungry looking for a meal.


This is what most instructors do.  Pump you up with interesting tips and bits so you keep coming back.  Remember a lot of these site owners are monetizing your interest in the subject matter, they don't really show you the whole picture.  


And many tutorials are safe, not very artistic, and tend to focus heavily on copy what's hot.  The problem with that is you're not learning how to be an artist or improve your artistic skills. 


It's monkey see monkey do. 


And if you're like me a few years ago you may have realized that it's time to take a different approach.  


Forget about all the noise...


Become a Rebel Producer

Seriously, it's time to question conventional (producer) wisdom and do something different if you've been struggling at this for a while and want to actually make an impact with your music. 


Enter....

Underground Elite™

A brand new way to approach and learn production.  This no fluff, tell all course explains exactly how I work.  20 videos, 5 hours of content spread over 4 Modules, plus lots of audio files and Ableton Projects to work from.  Best of yet you'll learn from real working dance music that has rocked dance floors.  No cheesy, generic "template" sounds that are here today and gone tomorrow. 


Module 1

Idea Generation

Techniques for making modern, yet timeless techno and tech house from the ground up.  From those big warehouse techno kicks to subby tech house floor shakers.  

How to find bass parts that work perfectly with your kick - using reverb, to synth bass as well as placement of notes, and how to mix and process your low end.  And lastly how to put an initial mix on your beginning idea so you can move it to the next phase of production - Arrangement.  

You'll also see how I process my parts to give them fatness, punch, and clarity so that when it comes time to mix, the heavy lifting has been done already.

This module includes 4 Videos totaling 75 Minutes as well as Royalty Free Samples to help you start rocking, new tracks. 

Module 2

Arrangement

No longer will you struggle to finish music.  This section is all about helping you master the skill of arrangement.

  No more guesswork when it comes to turning your short 8-16 bar loop into a fully fleshed out, complete track.

You'll watch me analyze and dissect other producers music, taking lots of notes along the way.

Then you'll see me arrange my own music using this approach.  

Arrangement is a big focus of the course because speeding up these skills will help you produce more in a fraction of the time.

This module has 10 videos, over 2 hours of content, plus you get cheat sheets, and arrangement templates. 

Module 3

Automation/Ear Candy

How to make your music more interesting and compelling.  You'll see how I used effects to add energy and sparkle to my winning remix on Victor Calderone's Label MATTER+.  

You'll see how I use delay, sends and more so that the track breathes and evolves adding extra drama as needed.  I mostly worth with many of Ableton's stock plugins and some from Universal Audio.   You'll not only learn about how to use plugins like delay and distortion, but where to use such things in your tracks. 

You'll see how I added interesting content to 2 of my own productions for sale on Beatport.com ( 2 videos/41 minutes)

Module 4

Final Mix/Master

In module 1 you learn about how to "front load" your mix efforts so now there's far less work to be done.  Remember you need to know enough to be a good producer!  You don't need to know EVERY SINGLE THING a professional mixing engineer knows. 

You'll also see my show how my track "The Pulse" was completely mixed all in Ableton Plus you can download the entire section. 

Remember, friends don't let friends release their self mastered tracks.  Why give yourself another mountain to climb when you can send it out to a pro - you'll get my resources for mastering

Here's a Free Lesson - Let's "Rumble"

How About Some Awesome Bonuses

I released the track "The Pulse" a while back and you get access to the entire Ableton Project. No 3rd party plugins required.

"Waiting for you" dark tech house - you get access to all stems so you can practice mixing, remixing, and arranging. 

Remember that not everyone can teach - you can learn from a pro which is great but they may not really drive home the points that are important for you right now, because they're far past the beginner/intermediate stage.  And not all teachers have "street cred" in dance music.  


Many tip/tutorial makers don't produce dance music signed to labels, the don't DJ, they're not on beatport.  They sound design which is "neat" but many tutorial makers don't actually live and breathe underground dance music. This is why they hop around from hot sound to hot sound.  Maybe a while back they did a techno tutorial but then moved on to trap, tropical house, future bass and what not.  You've been warned.  


IMO, I think I bring together a nice blend of street cred and the ability to make this easy to understand.

"OK Great But Does This Work for Others?"

Dean Zlato from Australia went from a couple deep house remixes to making techno bombs.  He did a killer remix for me which you can see above.  Not long after that he attended Amsterdam Dance Event and won Dave Clark's Demolition Panel.  (1 Winner is selected from a room full of producers)


dean zlato dave clark

That's Dean in the middle surrounded by Techno Legends


Simon W. aka Saffaboy went from struggling course junkie to completing so many tracks he made a release schedule and is now tackling promotion and building a bigger fan base.   Dan below has just about made an album.

Are YouReady to Join “Underground Elite”

The Course Streams Over High Quality Video on Any Web Enabled Device.  Once you purchase access you'll get immediate access to the member's area.

Think About What It Would Mean If You Finished Higher Quality Music In Less Time

  • You might get signed to labels
  • Catch the attention of bigger DJs and Producers
  • Rapidly Build Your Fanbase with High Quality Music
  • Win Competitions

As of October 2024, This Course is No Longer for Sale 




Please check out my latest offering which is a one stop shop for not just production but pitching yourself to labels, getting gigs, and growing your audience

**I've put my heart into this course and have tried to make it as much of a no brainer as possible.  Unlike other schools and academies this won't cost the price of a vehicle or vacation - it's just under a hundred bucks.  I added a rent to own option to make it easier and it's backed by a big, generous no BS guarantee.**

100% Satisfaction Guarantee!

You can use this course risk free for 365 days.  There's a generous 1 year guarantee.  If you're on the fence try it free for 7 days and if you decide it's not for you in those 7 days, I'll cancel the membership and any bonus downloads are yours to keep.