Why Does Finding the Right Mix Engineer Feel Harder Than Finding a Spouse? These are my unfiltered thoughts as someone who’s mixed for and worked with over a thousand artists and bands over the course of my career. I can’t claim to fully understand the experience of searching for the right mix engineer. After all, I’m usually sittin …
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” That’s what I used to tell myself as I listened to my favourite music and immediately felt worse about my own. Maybe there was a little toxic positivity happening there, but for a long time I genuinely tried not to compare myself too much when it came to music. On reflection, I think I was trying to protect my own cra …
3 Songwriting Lessons That Will Change the Way You Write I’ve been making a conscious effort to write more of my own music lately. Some sessions have given me songs I’m genuinely excited about. Others have involved three hours of playing the same few chords and wondering whether I’ve forgotten how songwriting works altogether. But both kinds of session …
How Music Producers Help Artists Find Their Sound A lot of artists assume they need to fully “figure out” their sound before working with a producer. In reality, many artists discover their sound through the process of collaboration itself. Finding Your Sound Is Usually a Process Creative identity rarely appears all at once. Most artists build their sou …
How Musicians Stay Creative Without Burning Out Creative burnout rarely happens all at once. More often, it builds slowly through small patterns that disconnect artists from the reason they started making music in the first place. Burnout Doesn’t Always Look Like Stopping Many musicians experiencing burnout are still technically creating. They’re: openin …
Why Songs Often Feel Worse Before They Feel Finished There’s a stage in many creative projects where the idea suddenly loses its shine. What once felt exciting now feels awkward, repetitive, or underwhelming. Artists often interpret this feeling as proof that the song isn’t working. But in reality, this emotional dip is extremely common. The Beginning …
Why Overproduction Is So Common Modern music tools make it easy to add more. More layers. More effects. More detail. But more doesn’t always create a better result. What “Natural” Production Feels Like Music that feels natural usually has: space between elements clear focus on the vocal or core idea intentional, not excessive, arrangement Nothing feels like …
Are You Overworking Your Music? How do you know when to stop? There’s a fine line between improving a song and overworking it. At first, changes feel helpful. The song gets clearer. Stronger. More defined. But at a certain point, those same actions can start to take something away. Why overworking happens It usually comes from care. You want the son …
When a Song Feels Close But Not Finished There’s a specific kind of stuck that happens in music. The idea is there. The parts exist. But nothing feels like it’s fully landing. You’re not starting from scratch, but you’re not finishing either. Why Songs Get Stuck It’s rarely because of a lack of ideas. More often, it’s because: too many directions are comp …
Why You Lose Perspective on Your Own Music There’s a stage in almost every song where things start to blur. You’ve listened to it too many times. You’ve made small changes that no longer feel meaningful. You’re not sure if it’s improving or just changing. This is where many artists lose perspective. Not because the song is bad, but because familiarity …
Momentum Looks Different for Indie Artists For indie, folk, and indie-pop artists, momentum isn’t about volume. It’s about alignment. Releasing more music doesn’t help if it pulls you further away from your voice. Playing the algorithm game often creates pressure that disconnects artists from why they started. The most sustainable careers I see are bu …
Why Creative Progress Feels Messy Most artists expect progress to look like steady improvement. Each song better than the last. Each session clearer than the one before. That’s almost never how it works. Creative progress tends to move in loops. You advance, doubt yourself, regress emotionally, then move forward again with more clarity than before. Thi …
Studio Chaddy is a professional music studio situated in the South-East of Melbourne. We specialise in producing, mixing and mastering Indie-Folk and Alt-Pop music.