Share advice you'd give to your newbie self

👍️ Practice piano

learn music theory

release more tracks, even if they are not 'perfect'

I'm also a 'manual reader', but it's also important to experiment. Sometimes you find ways to use a device, nobody considered

do more PR (Socialmedia, ...)

Don't buy the most expensive gear. A simple audiointerface, a good computer and one or two good midicontrollers fitting your needs. Thats enough to start.

If you have a track what you think is good, try to find a professional audio engineer, maybe with highend studio equipment where you can get some really good infos about mixdown and mastering, maybe if you can afford let them master your track, these people can give you really good hints for a better production and mixdown process.

Somethings also changed during time: 12 years ago, it was really a huge gap between the sound of real analog gear and emulations... so i would give the advice to buy some synths and use less plugins. Nowadays it's, especially for beginners, more easy to use plugins, because you don't have any tuning issues, or midi delay and no broken devices. Also the sound of the plugins is really amazing.

Make more music, make more music, make more music!!!

I have some:

1. Do not use too many VST's or stick to build in devices. At the end print everything to audio.
2. Backup more often.
3. Less tools = more focus, so stick to one DAW and master it. There is no perfect tool.
4. Do not trust elitist approach saying that this or that expensive ***** MUST be used to make this or that kind of music - It is nonsense for me now.
5. Tool does not define your sound - you do.

1. As many have said, LEARN AND KNOW PIANO! CHORDS!
2. Learn real percussion and rhythm theory, don't just intuit it. Intuiting works, but learning theory can be even better! Time signatures!
3. Save up and invest in hardware NOW, starting with MK1/2/3, MIDI keyboard/controller, audio interface.
4. LEARN and become proficient and at LEAST TWO DAWs instead of limiting myself to... cubase only.
5. Practice more!
6. Be less intimidated by vocals! : ) Just do it! Hum! Chant! Do poetry! Get used to your own voice.
7. If your parents trained you in something as a kid, and you moved away from it over time, GO BACK TO IT and incorporate it into your music! (in my case flute)

Going back in time to when I've started making music:

1. Newer is not always better, don't change equipment too often
2. Stock DAW plugins are good for 90% of production needs
3. Learn to play piano properly, there's no shortcuts...
4. You get what you've paid for, most of the time
5. Don't put all eggs into one basket 😉
6. Your first 100 songs will be utter ***** 🤣

Hmm.. I guess it would be "Don't stop believing".

Back then I was using Komplete 7 Elements because more was way out of my budget, though I did pick up bits like Absynth and the Finger.

Fast forward to now... Komplete 13UC & Maschine 😎

Well, I began my pc music creation journey using rebirth and cooledit2000, lol, and then after that reason and cubase vst, sx2, NI products, etc. I invested a lot of time learning cubase over a few years, and had the good fortune to have an old friend train me a little, and so I really put 'all my eggs' in the cubase basket for many years. I never bothered to learn live, logic, or really anything else.

I regret this because... steinberg has troubled me a bit in recent years. There is a hyperthreading / cpu virtual core issue that affects a wide range of CPU/motherboard combos(such as mine lol), there is less and less value found in more frequent paid updates, and there are a few minor stability issues that steinberg always blames on other companies. I wish I had a backup DAW that I knew as well as cubase so I could spend time in that environment to reduce frustration, and just to have a different take on what a DAW can be.