#156: Dan Giffin on The Mental Side Of Music Production & Performing As A Live Act - a podcast by EDMProd

Our courses ? https://edmprod.com/courses

This week, Dan Giffin sat down to chat for the EDM Prodcast.

Dan Giffin is an Ableton Certified Trainer who runs the website Live Producers Online and hosts the Ableton Music Producer Podcast. Currently based in Indianapolis, he has taught Grammy-winning artists and major acts like Mac Miller, Machine Gun Kelly & The Band Perry.

He also produces under the alias Philia, where he writes bass music infused with jazz, soul, and other styles. Philia is also a band when they perform live, in which Dan does improvised DJing as well as playing the drums, along with a saxophone player and keys player.

We dive into topics such as the mental side of music production, and why he believes the key to music production is mostly overcoming mental hurdles. Later on, he also emphasizes the importance of finding a mentor and learning in a structured way.

Towards the end we talk production, some of his favorite plugins and devices right now, and some great techniques for staying creative.

Links:
Live Producers Podcast ? https://www.liveproducersonline.com/podcast
Ableton Live MasterClass ? https://www.liveproducersonline.com/masterclass
Ableton Live 11 Discount ? https://www.liveproducersonline.com/buyableton
Expressive E Touché ? https://www.expressivee.com/1-touche
Smooth Operator ? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjqAFIaXvSs

Connect with Dan Giffin:
Facebook ? https://www.facebook.com/PhiliaMusic
Instagram ? https://www.instagram.com/philiamusic
Soundcloud ? https://soundcloud.com/philia-music-official
Spotify ? https://open.spotify.com/artist/6WS2tulZgvxGCX2OnxPbMg?si=3fkWImXcSUOwJIp5_IjJnw&dl_branch=1

Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:00 Interview Start & GIFs
3:52 Dan's Background & Becoming an Ableton Certified Trainer
6:26 Practice & Collab With People Better Than You
8:26 Listening To Different Types of Music (& Moving to NY)
11:02 Should You Move to A Major City for Music?
12:24 Does Playing An Instrument Help Production?
15:08 The Problem With Tutorials & Free Resources
15:45 Running Live Producers Online
17:40 What Holds Back Most Producers Mentally?
22:19 COVID's Impact on Writing Music for Live
24:45 The US' Explosion of Live Shows
27:40 How Performance Nerves Can Be Selfish
28:57 Working With Mac Miller & Major Artists
31:24 Finding Opportunities Working At Studios
34:04 Moving Cities For Music (Again)
36:35 Online Music Communities
38:26 Dan's Music Project - Philia
41:52 The Importance of Live Show Visuals
44:16 Developing His Live Show
46:04 Accidentally Throwing A Drum Stick At A Fan
47:37 DJing vs Live Shows
49:44 Pendulum's Insane Live Show
50:58 Redundancy in Live Shows
53:30 Dan's Writing Process
55:35 What To Consider When Working With Vocals
56:50 Sidechaining Things That Aren't The Kick Drum
58:16 Favourite Plugins & Techniques
59:59 Favourite Ableton Live 11 Features
01:04:36 The Power of Stock Tools
01:07:51 What's Coming Up Next?
01:09:11 If you had a time machine, what would you change?

EDMProd:
Website ? https://edmprod.com
Instagram ? https://instagram.com/edmprodgram
Facebook ? https://www.facebook.com/EDMPsite
Soundcloud ? https://soundcloud.com/edmprod
Spotify ? https://sptfy.com/edmprod

Aden Russell (Artsea):
Instagram ? https://instagram.com/iamartsea
Facebook ? https://facebook.com/iamartsea
Spotify ? https://sptfy.com/iamartsea
Soundcloud ? https://soundcloud.com/iamartsea

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