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I'm 22 years old, and my dream is to become a Music Producer. I'm self taught and I believe I'm very good at it. I make money from it sometimes, about 100-200 bucks a month, but there are months that I'm not selling anything. Not much but hey, it's something. My YouTube views range from 2k to 25k and the feedback I get from people is extremely positive, which motivates me to keep pushing.

My question is this: Should I go to Music School and get a degree on music production?

I currently live in Greece and I'm thinking of moving to the states and study music. The problem is that many people tell me that a music degree is useless if you want to be a beat maker, because all that matters is good beats.

Im confused. Should I go to Music School and get a degree that might be useless, or should I invest that money in my home studio? How am I supposed to progress and be a known beat maker?

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  • While I can't speak from personal experience, I can offer what I have seen absolutely every answer I have read to questions like this say from a wide variety of successful producers and engineers: don't. Music production and engineering is something where you'd be much better off building your own equipment, knowledge, network, and experience, and maybe getting some kind of apprenticeship.
    – Linuxios
    Mar 14, 2017 at 17:00
  • Music production as sound engineering, mix/master techniques? Sorry for the stupid question but a couse clarification would help. Many schools interpret music production in many ways.
    – frcake
    Mar 14, 2017 at 17:52
  • @frcake music production as in Sound engineering including mixing/mastering, but I'm interested in beat making only, plus, most of these things can be self taught, that's how I learned most of the things I know about beat making, daws, mixing and mastering, etc
    – The Mechanic
    Mar 14, 2017 at 18:37
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    I think this question would be a better fit to some kind of music discussion forum. There is no absolute answer, only opinion, & as such it's not a good question for SE.
    – Tetsujin
    Mar 14, 2017 at 19:26
  • As someone who has studied for a degree in music tech, which is similar, I'd say it's a hard question to answer; it depends on how serious and motivated you are. I thought I knew a lot, but it went past that, to things I didn't think of learning, if that makes sense. It helps me understand stuff deeper down. But I love physics too and it was a BSC w Hons degree. I loved it. My lecturers were inspirational professionals and I made some good contacts who still help me today. You're 22: still young. Look into it first, see if it suits your needs.
    – n00dles ♦
    Mar 15, 2017 at 3:16

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While i agree with Tetsujin I'd like to take the chance and maybe help you.

Let me first point out a couple of things:

 I'm self taught and I believe I'm very good at it.

You are 22 years old. I would suggest taking a step back but not too far. I'm not criticizing you and i do hope you are as good & talented as you say you are but sound is a thing that really has to mature in someones mind.

Don't get me wrong I'm 29 myself , and I'm only stating that the time you've had to learn sound is not much , not that you are just young and rubbish because of your age.

It's great what you've accomplished so far , making money , getting positive feedback all these are great and gratz for that!

Now, to the point.

You start off by saying you want to be a music producer and a moment after that you say that you are a beat maker. Beat making is a very nice style of music production but to me it's too narrow.Most successful producers have wider target groups.Also , you live in Greece, what a coincidence , i live in Greece too .. So , another part of the answer would be the hype (which is global atm if you ask me).But as a beat maker , where are you in 3-4 years from now? When the hip-hop-hype has(maybe) gone? (Without having listened to any of your music , i assume beatmaking has to do with the hip-hop scene)

The successful music producer is not only on the main path , or the main stream but in all genres(that he likes and) that he can produce good music on.Watching the music scene , ready to ride the next stream and go on.Beatmaking is not a very versatile tool to expand your horizons(imho).

Global hypes also bring competition, there are many beat makers out there producing great stuff for all the tastes, sadly this is where it all goes where it shouldn't and we start talking about PR,promotion and marketing.Generally music entrepreneurship.

About the school question .. Many people come to me asking about my 2c on their work, and specifically for beatmakers I've noticed they lack in Arrangement , Harmony , and Authenticity.

I think those are the crucial parts for someone to learn and master.These are the skills that set someone apart from the rest. Knowing when to do what and how. If you can find a school that will teach you harmony , composition and arrangement all the rest will come.

My 2c after all :)

Good luck and keep on pushing!

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  • Glad i helped! An theleis steile m na akousw ti douleia sou sto frk115@hotmail.com . Peace
    – frcake
    Mar 15, 2017 at 21:14
  • Will do brother
    – The Mechanic
    Mar 15, 2017 at 21:45
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Honestly I don't think it is. It's a lot of money for 1 to 1 tuition. There are thousands of tutorials online and thousands of music producers too. I recommend you build up contacts and reach out to more established producers (or one with professional training). I agree with what frcake says when it comes to taking a step back and actually listening to your music but let's be honest, music isn't a mathematical equation, there is no right or wrong answer, just good and bad music.

A music school isn't going to teach you how to be a better producer, they'll just teach you the science behind a synth or effect. That's cool and everything but if you can't make a well structured and good sounding chord then you're dead in the water.

There are hundreds of thousands of music tutorials and websites that walk you through the music making process, if you really want to learn from a professional then either get some friends who are professional or pay for a tutorial series off of a website like ADSR.

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