Guest Blog: Platinum-Selling Producer Bradley Denniston Shares His Best Tips and Tricks for Making Music As An Indie Artist

Platinum-selling producer, singer, engineer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Bradley Denniston has been sharing his spectacular music skills with the world for years, working on and for blockbuster movies, Academy Award-winning projects, Netflix originals, and major mainstream artists such as The Lonely Island, Gotye, Tegan and Sara, and G-Eazy.

Earlier this year, the multi-faceted industry powerhouse made his official debut as a solo artist with the release of his playful single “Stolen Love,” which he quickly followed with the dynamic alt-rock summer single “15 Minutes To Midnight.”

As the head engineer, composer, and music producer for Mark Mothersbaugh at Mutato Muzika, Denniston has built up a wealth of knowledge in regard to best practices when making music. Today he shares his insight with Musical Notes Global readers. Check out his advice below.

To think I started this whole musical journey over 22 years ago makes me feel really old in this music game!  Haha…

It really all started with a complete love for how music could change the way I felt.  Almost instantly.

My mom sang at church…she was in the choir then the worship band and was always doing her strange vocal warm-ups in our living room. I can still hear them, “ah, ah, ah!” “oh, oh, oh!”…It was a daily thing to have music playing at the house, in the car, bedrooms, really anywhere and everywhere!

My dad put me on to all the latest music back in the ‘90s and 2000s. He showed me and my brothers bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, and Everclear, and would play The Beatles, The Who and tons of other classics when we went to work for him at the age of 14.

Music production came much later for me. First I wanted a guitar (electric, of course, with tons of distortion), then it was a drum kit, microphones, playing in bands in high school and writing songs and fronting bands.

Once your band breaks up after high school (inevitably), if you’re really about this music lifestyle, you find ways to continue to create music and your art. It’s really an innate part of you when you’re a musician and music lover.

Learning music production, engineering and computers came out of necessity for me. I absolutely HATED computers! I learned them and all the software because I knew it would be thee tool for music. Otherwise, I would’ve never touched a computer! 

Now, everything is done on the computer and music today is really just manipulating 0’s and 1’s, which totally bums me out. Computers are not musical but I think the secret to how I’ve had some success with music and this industry is that I really dedicated my life to learning the technology so well that I don’t have to think about it anymore. The technology should be invisible—you really have to study, practice and teach everything with the tech.

Once you master the computers, software, plugins, microphones and gear…You start to really be able to tell your story with the art again. I think it must be how Jimmy Hendrix felt once he really mastered the guitar and tone. Like, it was just part of the way he communicated after mastering it.

This really is why I have fallen in love with teaching others about music production, mixing, mastering and song creation. I think anyone setting out to make music today or in the future should master the tech and be able to express themselves without it getting in the way.

I’ve invested the most money on my knowledge and myself. I’m still paying a $100,000 loan balance from going to a private sound arts college and I really wouldn’t have it any other way.

Anyways, music and creation makes me the most happy. I would rather be in the studio, shooting a music video, or messing around with plugins and moving my speakers around over chilling at the beach any day!  Just ask my wife… she can confirm.  ;)

I just put out the official music video for “15 Minutes To Midnight” and actually convinced my wife to make a cameo…She crushed it and is a total natural on camera, despite being super shy in person.

Here it is if you want to tune in:  

Oh, one last thing…If you really want to be successful in music, you have to trust your gut and be yourself 100% of the time. Don’t be afraid of people hating your music; real art should cause a massive change in how you feel, even if it makes you cringe.

For all of Bradley Denniston’s latest news and updates, follow him on social media:

Instagram: @bradleyhd

Facebook: facebook.com/bradley.denniston.3

Twitter: @mr_hugh_prod

RELATED POSTS