I never used to be too big on podcasts. While most people listen to them at gym, while in the car, or at work. I’ve always just listened to my favourite tunes.
It wasn’t until the likes of Joe Rogan came around that I started getting into podcasts. And when I picked up music production as a hobby my obsession quickly lead me on a hunt for the best music production podcasts on the internet.
I found some really great, informative podcasts that truly helped me improve in my music and in my career. I’ve listed them below, along with my favourite episodes and a write up on why I love them so much.
Here are the top 5 best Music Production Podcasts:
- The EDM Prodcast
- Behind the Daw
- Gear Club Podcast
- Sonic Scoop Podcast
- The Six Figure Home Studio Podcast
The EDM Prodcast
Hosted by Sam Matla, the EDM Prodcast was the first music production podcast I came across. It was recommended to me by a friend in the community and is by far my favourite podcast. Sam interviews loads of different producers, engineers and DJs. From names such as DROELOE, Bad Computer, Said the Sky, Hyperbits, and Haywyre to name a few.
He also talks about the music industry, making money as a producer, marketing and branding, and more.
My favourite episode has to be #90 Perfecting Mixdowns and Finding Your Artist Direction with Bad Computer. Bad Computer is one of my favourite electronic artists of all time, getting to listen to him talking about his approach to music production, hearing about how long it took him to get to where he is and getting advice from him is a dream come true for me. So thanks Sam and Craig!
Behind the DAW
Behind the DAW is a music production podcast that has a YouTube series called In The Daw where the host, Wyatt Troy, sits down with well-known producers, opens up their project files and discusses things like the sound design, music theory, mixing and mastering in detail. If you aren’t aware of this then you should be FREAKING out with excitement right about now! How often do you get to peek inside a pro’s project file and see exactly how sounds were made, sequenced, mixed and mastered?
This is incredibly valuable. There are interviews with producers such as Said The Sky, Trivecta, Culprate, KSHMR, Au5, TYNAN and more.
My favourite episode of the audio podcast is the one with Elderbrook. I loved hearing about how he approaches song writing and creating interesting stories with his music.
From the video series I loved watching the episode with Culprate. I don’t even make DnB but I always learn so much from watching his masterclasses and videos. He explains his processes and methods in an easy-to-understand way, and his approach to mixing quite clearly works wonders.
Gear Club Podcast
While not geared specifically towards EDM production, the Gear Club is a music production podcast that has loads of really interesting interviews with grammy award winning artists and engineers from a range of different genres. They seem to focus mostly on the art of recording so it leans slightly more toward traditional band recording and mixing.
I really enjoyed listening to the episode with electronic music pioneer Suzanne Ciani. Throughout her career she’s won 5 Grammy awards and her creations have been featured in commercials, TV and film. Remember the Coca Cola “pop fizz” sound effect? That was her creation.
Sonic Scoop Podcast
A great music production podcast for all producers to follow. Justin Colletti, a highly experienced engineer, talks about music production, mixing and mastering. Not only that but he also goes into other subjects like making money as a producer and how to manage your finances.
I loved the episode where he discusses the 80/20 rule. The rule basically follows the idea that in any aspect of life 80% of the work gets done by 20% of the people. He talks about how to apply this rule to audio engineering. It isn’t the small, minute changes like 0.5db eq changes that make or break a record. Or the difference in 2 compressors and the way they colour sounds. People tend to focus on all the small details instead of focusing on the big picture.
The Six Figure Home Studio Podcast
“Learn how to run a profitable home studio, keep your schedule consistently full with paid work, and finally GTFO of your parents’ basement.” This podcast is for any bedroom producer who is looking to make a living out of music production. There are so many great episodes that talk about starting a home studio business, managing finances, increasing your prices, building portfolios and more.
My favourite episode is #59: How To Build An Audio Career 100% Online From Anywhere In The World: With Austin Hull. A story about a guy who managed to build a business through facebook as an audio engineer. A really interesting story about a college kid who started mixing for his friends, built a facebook group for educational purposes, and eventually monetized the group and managed to go full time as an online based engineer.
Honorable Mention: Brian Funk
I recently happened upon Brian Funk‘s music production podcast, specifically an episode where he interviews Jonathan Bailey, the CTO of one of my favourite plugin developers, iZotope. I really enjoyed the discussion, Brian’s interview style is enjoyable and the discussion was interesting.
Brian is a musician, producer, songrwriter, and Ableton Certified Trainer, he’s worked for Berklee College of Music teaching Advanced Music Production with Ableton Live, and begun the Music Production Podcast in 2017.
There’s a bunch of interesting episodes that I need to get stuck into and his podcast will definitely be on my radar this year.
Conclusion
Its hard to choose a favourite as each of these podcasts have their own valuable lessons and awesome episodes. If I had to choose I would stick to mostly EDM Prodcast and Behind the DAW purely because they have the most content geared towards EDM production. The Six Figure Home Studio Podcast is also perfect for anyone, like myself, who is currently making a living or trying to make a living in the music industry.
If you are aware of any other great podcasts for music production please comment below and share them, I will be glad to add them to the list!