7 Tips on How to Avoid Being a Generic Producer

Genres have their specific characteristics and when you start producing music, you can easily fall into the trap of becoming a copycat of other songs in the genre you are producing in. In the following article I will give you 7 tips and tricks on how to avoid being a generic producer.

Think Outside The Box

Pretty obvious, huh? This one is for sure easier said than done. When you first start learning about music production, you are being taught how things are usually made. That doesn’t mean that other things are not allowed or wouldn’t work. The opposite actually. Here are a few examples of what has worked for other producers & me in the past and what is definitely more “outside the box” thinking:

• Jerome Isma-Ae uses conga samples for his basslines
• Orjan Nilsen often layers his clap sound with tonal layers in the root note of his track
• Spektre love to use real recordings as layers in their tracks. They often layer these recordings with their clap for example
• Spektre also use any kind of recording, pitch it down, high-cut it and use it as a rumble in between their Techno kicks. As long as it fits tonally of course
• Mark Sixma likes to use a very narrow bell boost on his kicks to give it some extra click. The frequency depends on where the boost sounds the best (doesn’t have to correspond to your root note, for example)
• Genix loves to take toms and bongos, distort them with Trash2, and then use them as a tonal beat element
• My track “Memoria” has a pad sound that was actually created by using a long vocal atmosphere in a sampler that I heavily distorted and then gave a lot of reverb
• The main arpeggio in my track “Playing With Fire” is layered with a tonal kick from Kick2. Of course thre’s a low-cut and it has a very short decay
• Most of the kicks in my tracks are either layered with a closed or open hit or even with a snare. Again, very short decay, just to give it that extra punch

Do not Copy Structures & Arrangements

Yes, this is great when you start producing music to develop a feel for the right structures and arrangements. But once you have learned that, atmospheric arcs can be built way better when unexpected things happen in your arrangement and structure. A great example for this would actually be “Camelphat – Hypercolour (Artbat Remix)”. Listen to this at 3:18:

You can start by first building a more generic structure and then think of ways on how to make unexpected things happen in the arrangement and structure. You can make it a rule for yourself to at least do 2 surprising structure or arrangement changes in your tracks. This way you kind of force yourself and learn subconsciously how to avoid being a generic producer.

Use Samples & Sounds From Other Genres

Getting inspiration from other genres is one of the best ways on how to make your music sound fresh. I often buy sample packs or soundsets from other genres and use them in a whole different genre. Fair to say that this will make your tracks sound way different.

Splice is actually really great for that. You don’t have to buy a whole sample pack to use stuff from other genres and their library is evergrowing. I cannot even count how often I have used stuff that was meant for hip hop or trap in my EDM productions.

Here are some ideas:

1. Trance music with a techno kick? Sounds great!
2. Techno with a dark trance melody and drop? Yes, please!
3. Future house with a saxophone? Ibiza, I am coming.
4. Psy-trance with Indian chanting vocals? Oh wait, this has been done already multiple times…

Use Uncommon Keys & Scales

You can really stand out by using scales that are relatively uncommon within your genre. Everyone knows the major and minor scale. But what about lydian? Maybe you have seen the word, maybe you know it’s a scale and maybe you are even more knowledgeable than me about it. But most likely you will not have heard about it.

So many tunes are being produced in either G Minor, A Minor or C Minor. And while it’s true that it may increase your chances of DJ support as these are pretty common keys, it can also decrease the chances of standing out because everyone is using these keys.

A good example of an uncommon key (and some pretty weird structure and polyrhythm stuff) is Enrico Sangiuliano’s “Symbiosis”. Enrico seems to be a master in knowing how to avoid being a generic producer. His stuff always stands out, his tracks are always different.

Find Fresh Voices to use Within Your Genre

I am usually getting very excited when I hear a fresh voice in a track where I would have expected a completely different vocal. I love getting surprised like that.

For example, I really appreciated how Avicii at one point used singers that sounded as if they were mainly singing on Country music. It worked so well and made his music really stand out in the EDM world.

Another example would be the vocalist Green Velvet on Techno music, just like Adam Beyer and Layton Giordani did:

It’s almost as if rap was being done on Techno and I love that. So fresh and unique!

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Conclusion – How to Avoid Being a Generic Producer

I hope these general tips help you overcome some of the problems you may face in being an innovative producer. Do you have any additional ideas or comments? Write us a comment. Always happy to add more to this article!