2020 is a wrap – and a look into 2021 horizon

Time to see how it’s gone Patreon-wise this year (if you only want to see what's lined up for my Patreon, scroll down halfway).

In a nutshell: I've managed to put out quite a lot of content this year: videos, tips, sample downloads, etc. and at least personally I'm quite happy with that.
And I want to chew on Patreonism a bit and look into the horizon.

It’ll be a lengthy post, so grab a brew!

Well, I started my Patreon this year – in May.
Why?

For years and years, I was posting about music stuff on FB and I used to have thousands of “friends” that had requested me as a friend (I barely added anyone myself – initially I was there for a few friends and my family).
Interaction was great, but what it also brought was people asking for help on those matters.
Whenever I tried suggesting a fee for my services, I often got, “Ah, ok, I’ll look it up then” or “I thought you’d help for free”.
I never thought I should necessarily help anyone for absolutely free, now having made music for nearly 30 years, and I did get a teacher’s degree from the university as well as a certification from Ableton. I guess there is a reason that out of all people in the world, they chose to ask me, but to them, my expertise had no value – on Facebook. Can’t say FB has much of a monetization vibe in it, does it.

I’ve been posting about music stuff for years and years (and helped people with it all): tips, thoughts, plugin recommendations, videos. So in that regard I’ve changed nothing: I just took it all to Patreon, which actually promotes donating to the person whose content you like, or also technically paying for the help tier. 

I understand if this “money talk” appears crass or blunt, but I just want to put it out there for others, too, to encourage them, if they’re doing a similar thing (I know most Certified Trainers at least have ppl asking them for Ableton help). A lot of producers are doing it now.

Anyways, I kicked off in May, and at the moment of writing this, I have 80+ Patrons, so the progress is very encouraging. At the beginning I said I'd give it a shot and see.

And I want to thank anyone who has supported me to any extent so far.

What I can promise is to keep it up to the same extent. Will be doing at least one video every month, and posting smaller tips and tricks and thoughts as I go, too (not every tip needs a video, and videos always do take some time). I've been doing this (posting this stuff) for years so I know I can do it.

I'll be doing even more exclusive stuff: about to start a Vimeo account so I can password-protect some videos, and only those eligible for videos will get the password.
I'll do public stuff, too (to an extent I feel it's necessary for growth).

What else? I'm thinking of adding a mastering tier – or maybe include that in Production Tier 2. That'd include mastering one song per month and giving a few quick comments on the production. I've also been asked to sample sounds with some of my old samplers (SP 1200, MPC 60, Akai s900) that give you this amazing lo-fi vibe and I've been thinking that could be included in both production tiers.

What I’d love to hear from you is any comments, thoughts, wishes on forthcoming content, criticism – everything is welcome, and I can take it, hehe! Wishes about content especially would be very welcome.

I’ll paste below some of the stuff that will be coming in 2021. This is a bit of a copy+paste thing from my notepad, so they're not in any actual order, and some may appear a bit vague, but let that be part of the intrigue, ha…brace yourself!

LINED UP FOR PATREON:

• Metalheadz tunes [several videos]: how I made them and what I think it's important for Metalheadz (I get asked this)
• Hip hop mixing
• RX8 rebalance work: take a beat and take out its elements
• Removing bells from the classic Mardi Gras drumloop
• How to tell exactly how long to make the attack in compressing drums?
• Sound from nothing: filter/noise
• Kick boost tip from a FatGyver song
• benefits of filtering before distortion
• EQing common frequencies
• Ableton: Wavetable Reese…how to + share a preset
• Using reference songs: how to + useful reference song list
• Compression types
• Useful ableton defaults
• Psychological protip
• Ableton: midi "step recording"
• Lauryn Hill break processing challenge
• Oneshot drums
• Filterizor EQ check: EQ and see up to 8 tracks at the same time
• More useful free plugins
• Mixing Tips – part 2
• Addictive Drums, session 2
• Addictive Drums midi files and kit presets
• Ableton Live: how to do a kick sine layer
• Kicks pack
• More song stems for Patrons
• Make music only using Ableton Packs
• Why I like Ableton Live [video or a post]
• 40 protips from a 40-year old
• How to set up an efficient mastering project in live [video]
• Is louder better?
• Tips for working with a mastering engineer
• Usual processing in my songs [video]
• Why I like making music with an MPC [video or a post]

…and waaay more! There's way more in the list, but hey, if you actually made it this far without falling asleep, I salute you!

Anyways, maybe this is enough…bottom line is, I'm very excited to push this thing, so thanks to everybody for the ride so far.
Enjoy 2021, and let's hope it'll be dope!

PS: Got any new year's resolutions for music-making? Let me know!

-Janne