Afrojack Mentor Session:: Watch Full Length Video
Mixing My First Beat:: I downloaded everything illegally. I started with downloading everything illegal. My real change came when I started focused producing music. Figure out what basket you want to aim for before you throw a ball. And then release your first song.
David Guetta:: Dutch producer David Guetta produced Takeover controlled control. The record featured Eva Simmons. It was his breakthrough record. He says his music was very heavily influenced by pop music.
If My Song Is More Successful:: There's a thing as successful music and unsuccessful music. Something that you like, but also something that other people like, so you can come together. Music is about community, so it's not just having something that you love.
Guetta on Having A Mentor:: The rapper says he learned a lot from mentor Guetta. He says it's possible to have successful business relationships in the music industry. He's also trying to get producer David Morton on board with an educational program.
The Dance Scene's Congruency:: A person always needs to be congruent. If I like it and I'm still going to do it, people notice. We put out dance songs just for fun that did more streams than this. Even though people are like, yeah, progressive dance, maybe we were too early.
Mixmaster: It's Okay to Make Mistakes:: It's okay to make mistakes. Congruency eventually gets you the factor that keeps your fans. How did you seize the opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in the world?
Afrojack on Becoming Successful:: Afrojack: You don't need that much success to be great. If you handle your business right, you can get 100 x out of the same success. Eventually we want to create people around us that appreciate us for who we are as people.
The Secret To Remaining Happy On The Tour:: The musician says it starts with mindset and information. You have to figure out what makes you happy and bring that with you. One piece of information can reactivate a whole different system within your brain. You need to stay true to who you are.
The Hard Work of DJing:: DJing is so much harder than I ever thought. How do you stay fresh and how do you find new songs to play and put together your sets? It starts with assessing the situation and finding a solution. You always want to make sure the people are happy.
How To Get Your Music Out There:: You're in a very competitive industry. The only way to make people go wow is by making stuff that they did not expect. You need to know their history. What I do is, okay, what works? What do I love? Figure it out. I hope you like it.
David on His Music:: If you want to have a career in music, people need to actually fund your career. Or you make music that people like and then make music for fun. It's still a challenge.
What Makes You So Successful?:: The key to becoming successful is making great music, says Afrojack. You have to accept the opinion of people and use it to your benefit, he says. "You have to be mindful of everyone's feelings"
Stargate on How To Get Success:: It's okay to make shoddy records, but accept that you can make better stuff. As you learn more information, knowledge, learn about chord progressions, you're not a melody guy. If you're successful or you're perceived as successful, you don't have to do great stuff.
Afrojack on Being Modest:: The DJ says it's important to have the right team behind you to enforce your success. Be modest. In business, you have to be very vocal about your success or have people on your team to be that.
How to Build a Team in the Music Industry:: If you have the right team around you, you can get everything amazing. The most important thing is you need to get people that you trust. Companies that are financially self sufficient, independent, you have a lot more chance of not getting screwed over.
Collaborating With Artists:: I send my music years before it comes out to see what's their reaction. I also send it to my grandma. All their reactions make up the success of a song. It's actually a business of keeping artists credible. The business is really in young artists and the longevity of that.
How to Get Out Of The Gray Area:: In the music industry, you have the pillars, the label, the publishing, the management, the agency. And then there's like, you see all these artists falling in the holes in between the pillars. How you can truly have a transparent working relationship is transparency.
Lawyers: Sign the Contract:: "Lawyers have an interest in conflict, right? They just want to rack ours and just try to find things to comment on, " he says. "So sign the contract "
Afrojack vs His Lawyer:: A lot of times it's a waste of time because you spend hours and a lot of money on a contract. Instead, to this day, all the contracts that I do in my label, I do myself. They're super simple.
Other than FL Studio, what else do you need to know to:: Motif XF five. Yamaha. That's my favorite keyboard. I just switched to a MacBook Pro Mac version of FL studio. Now the only thing I need is that headphones monitoring is super important.
How To Make Your Dance Record Successful:: Make sure that the energy imagine 200 subwoofers don't have a constant. Every frequency needs to dance. I get the most creative with analog gear. First thing I do always research. Am I working on my festival set? I'm working on a pop record.
Calvin Harris at the 2013 Summer Jam:: I saw you for the first time at UBC at the Coliseum. It was my first big gig in America. For me it was like, wow, there's so many people that get to see me. Calvin Harris. Harris. That's your new nickname. Thanks for being here.
Knowing Your Partner's Intent On A Deal:: Knowing that information, do you know, move differently and no ways around that? It keeps the parties you're working with at the time also more hype to actually provide quality product. You can use this type of information to your benefit to create new deal structures.
Can Copyright a Chord Progression?:: Most chord progressions have been done already and you cannot copyright a chord progression. There's even an AI company who have an algorithm that makes every chord progression possible. You can't sue someone for yeah, there's no infringement for chord progression because it's already been done by the AI.
How to Make Fun Vocalizations:: Mikkel: There are interesting notes in there that are very unexpected. In the guitar, you have voicings that you would never use in classical piano composition. You have to do research. Figure out voicings. Look at songs you love. Put them into EDC Las Vegas.
Submit Demos on Discord:: There's a place to send demos. Of course you have your label and do you have anywhere to submit material? Yeah. We have a discord while recordings discord and we can put it online. But more importantly, we have all these amazing writers, producers.
How To Promote Your Music:: For promotion and building relationships, you always want to send your promo to Mikkel or Afrojack Skrillex. But if you look closely, not even very closely, look at social media. If you make something great, they will listen to it and they will play it to the people they're with. That's how virality works.
Don't Give Up:: "If you want to get to these certain chord progressions, you have to do research, research outside your craft " You have to learn about something you're not good at to become better at that. That's how you become great enough to make it a business.
Jay-Z on His Assignment:: Jay Z is looking for great material, great songs, great artists every day. If you make something great, you'll be featured on the next record. Always realize that when you send something great to a big artist or a big producer, they want you to win.

Afrojack Mentor Session

Afrojack

Afrojack, is a Dutch DJ who made waves with "Take Over Control". A leading figure in EDM, he's famed for thrilling performances at Tomorrowland and Ultra Music Festival. His hits like "Give Me Everything" and "Hey Mama", and collaborations with David Guetta, Pitbull, and Ne-Yo, underscore his influence. Winning a Grammy for Best Remixed Recording, he owns Wall Recordings and recently announced his "Jack to the Future" US tour.