Taking Your Music to the Next Level: What I’d Do If I Were You
Taking your music to the next level is one of the hardest challenges you'll face as a producer. It demands serious time, effort, and often a bit of investment too. But from my own experience—and from working with students here at The Sound Lab—there are a few things I’d recommend that can make a real difference to your progress.
If I were starting from where you are now, this is exactly what I’d focus on to push forward more effectively and with purpose.
1. Practice More—Especially the Things You Avoid
The truth is, you won’t get better at what you avoid. If you really want to grow as a producer, you’ve got to spend time working on the things you struggle with—not just the parts you enjoy.
Here’s how I approach this:
Start with the problem areas. If breakdowns or leads always throw you off, build your next track around them. Make your weaknesses your priority.
Collaborate to hold yourself accountable. When someone else is counting on you, it’s easier to push through creative resistance and tackle things head-on.
Schedule study-based sessions. Set aside time to analyse the elements you struggle with. Listen to tracks you love, break them down, and apply those learnings to a new idea. As soon as you like what you hear, move on to the next case.
Build workflows that guide you. Whether it’s how you approach sound design, arrangement or mixing, define a set of steps and repeat them. Workflows remove decision fatigue and help you develop consistency in how you work.
Mastering your craft means deliberately stepping into uncomfortable territory, again and again.
2. Learn from People Who Are Ahead of You
You can’t level up if you stay in a bubble. One of the fastest ways to develop as a producer is to surround yourself with people who are further along than you.
There are a few ways I recommend doing this:
Collaborate with more experienced producers. Work on an idea together, then dive into the project and study what they’ve done. See how they’ve structured their drums, mixed their synths, or built tension in the arrangement.
Hire professionals to help with your songs. Get someone to mix, master, or develop your track, and then compare their version with yours. Use the differences as lessons.
Work with a mentor. It’s been said before, but it’s worth repeating—a mentor or teacher will help you solve problems faster than any course or tutorial. You’re not just learning what to do, but why it works for your music.
You don’t need to finish every song you collaborate on. If you learn something meaningful, it was worth doing.
3. Define What Makes Your Music Yours
If you want to stand out, you need a sense of identity in your music. That doesn’t mean every track needs to sound the same, but it does mean people should feel a consistent energy, mood, or vibe when they hear your work.
Here’s how to get clearer on that:
Define the mood you want to express. What should someone feel when they listen to your track? Write it down. Use that as your guide for chord choices, melodies, sound selection and arrangement.
Build a mind map around your artist identity. Choose 3–4 words that describe how you want your music to be remembered. Then come up with sounds, textures, rhythms, and visual elements that align with those words.
Develop your signature sound. This doesn’t have to be one specific synth or sample—it can be a combination of choices that create a recognisable feeling across your music. Think of artists like Simon Doty, whose signature comes from a balance of house energy and melodic flow, not one single element.
The more you reinforce your identity in your music, the easier it becomes for people to connect with what you do—and remember you for it.
4. Focus on Storytelling and Arrangement
Once your production skills reach a certain level, the biggest improvements tend to come from better composition, storytelling and arrangement.
Here are some things that have helped me:
Keep your songs tight. If a section repeats without adding something new, cut it down. It doesn’t have to be a short song, but it does need to stay engaging from start to finish.
Add movement every 8 or 16 bars. Whether it’s a subtle percussion element or a change in harmony, small shifts keep your track alive and evolving.
Don’t give away the main idea too early. If you drop your biggest hook in the first drop, there’s nowhere left to go. Tease it, and save the full idea for later in the track to keep the energy building.
Work on multiple ideas to find the strongest one. Not every idea is worth finishing—but it might contain the seed of something great. Develop a few ideas at once, then choose the most exciting to finish. You can even combine two strong ideas if they complement each other.
At this level, it's not just about sounding clean—it's about making something that people want to listen to all the way through.
One Last Thought: Longevity is Everything
Improving as a music producer doesn’t happen overnight. To truly take your music to the next level, you need to commit over the long term. That means:
Showing up consistently over years, not weeks.
Pushing yourself to grow not only as a producer, but also as a DJ, artist and creative.
Finding inspiration from multiple sources, not just one artist or label.
Listening to mixes and podcasts to keep your perspective fresh and your ideas evolving.
These are the principles we build on at The Sound Lab. If you're ready to grow, we’re here to support your development every step of the way.
Want to take your music to the next level?
We offer 1-on-1 mentoring, feedback sessions, and practical training both online and at our Lincoln studio. Whether you’re just starting or looking to refine your sound, we can help.
Book your free discovery session [here].
QUESTION FOR YOU:
What’s the one area of your production that you know is holding you back—and what are you doing to fix it?
Let’s talk about it. Drop me a message or reach out through the contact form on the site.