Journal 012: Experience Doesn't Count If You Stop Learning

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

20 years in music doesn't automatically mean 20 years of growth. And experience doesn't count if you stop learning.

How long have you been doing this?

It's one of the first questions people tend to ask when they're talking about experience in music.

“How long have you been producing?”

“Twenty years.”

“Oh, fucking hell. You must be really good.”

Maybe.

But not necessarily.

And that's something I think we don't talk about enough.

Because time served isn't the same thing as experience.

You can spend twenty years doing something and genuinely become exceptional at it.

But you can also spend twenty years doing exactly the same thing, in exactly the same way, without really developing at all.

And I think that's a trap that is particularly easy to fall into in music production.

Especially when you've been around for a long time.

THE DANGER OF THINKING YOU'VE ALREADY MADE IT

Let's say someone started producing in the late 90s.

They've been making music for twenty-five years.

They've got releases.

They've got a reputation.

They've got a back catalogue.

They've been around.

People know their name.

And somewhere along the line, they start thinking:

“I know what I'm doing.”

Which is understandable.

You've spent decades doing something.

You've built a career around it.

You've developed a style.

You've developed a workflow.

You've found techniques that work for you.

You've probably got a very good understanding of your particular corner of the industry.

But here's the problem.

The industry hasn't stopped.

Technology hasn't stopped.

Music hasn't stopped.

Production techniques haven't stopped.

Software hasn't stopped.

Listening habits haven't stopped.

And the people coming through behind you certainly haven't stopped learning.

While you're still doing what you've always done, somebody who's been producing for five years might be learning at a fucking ridiculous rate.

They're watching.

They're experimenting.

They're trying different techniques.

They're learning new software.

They're studying other people's work.

They're listening differently.

They're questioning everything.

And eventually, they might overtake you.

Not because they've been doing it longer.

Because they've been learning longer.

FIVE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE, REPEATED FOUR TIMES

I've thought about this a lot.

You can have twenty years in the game and still only really have five years of meaningful experience.

You just repeated those five years four times.

Same workflow.

Same techniques.

Same assumptions.

Same references.

Same equipment.

Same way of thinking.

Same approach.

And because you're still making music, you tell yourself you're still progressing.

But are you?

That's the question.

Because doing something repeatedly isn't necessarily development.

Repetition can make you better at something.

Absolutely.

That's how you build fluency.

That's how you develop speed.

That's how you develop instinct.

But repetition without reflection can also make you incredibly comfortable.

And comfort can become stagnation.

THE BLINKERS GO ON

I think ego plays a massive part in this.

Especially when you've been around for a long time.

You start to develop an identity around being experienced.

And once that identity becomes important to you, admitting that you don't know something can feel uncomfortable.

Someone who's been producing for three years tells you about a new technique.

You think:

“What the fuck is this kid going to teach me?”

Someone shows you a new piece of software.

You think:

“I've been doing this since before they were born.”

Someone challenges something you've been teaching for twenty years.

You think:

“I've got twenty years of experience. I know what I'm doing.”

But that's exactly when you need to stop.

And listen.

Because that person might know something you don't.

EXPERIENCE SHOULD MAKE YOU MORE HUMBLE, NOT LESS

This is something I've come to believe more and more.

The longer you do something, the more you should understand how much you don't know.

You should become more curious.

Not less.

You should be more willing to ask questions.

Not less.

You should be more comfortable saying:

“I don't know.”

Not less.

And you should be able to say:

“That's interesting. Show me.”

That's not weakness.

That's fucking confidence.

Because if your entire sense of authority depends on always being the person with the answer, you're going to stop learning the moment somebody challenges you.

And that's dangerous.

I'M NOT EXEMPT FROM THIS

This is where I have to bring it back to myself.

Because it's very easy for me to sit here and talk about other producers getting complacent.

But I'm not immune to it.

I've been doing this for nearly 30 years.

A huge part of what I do now involves repetition.

I mix.

I master.

I mentor.

I teach.

I explain the same principles.

I hear the same mistakes.

I answer similar questions.

I go through similar processes.

And that's part of becoming good at something.

Repetition is valuable.

But I have to make sure that repetition doesn't become autopilot.

I need to keep asking myself:

Can this be done better?

Can this be done more efficiently?

Has something changed?

Is there a better way of approaching this?

Is there new software I should understand?

Has my thinking changed?

Does this thing I teach still hold up?

Can someone challenge what I'm saying?

And sometimes the answer might be:

“No. I still believe this is the right way for me to approach it.”

That's completely fine.

But at least I've challenged it.

CHALLENGE YOUR OWN KNOWLEDGE

I think this is one of the most important things you can do as you get older in music.

Challenge your own knowledge.

Don't just challenge other people's.

Because it's very easy to sit there watching somebody else explain something and think:

“That's fucking wrong.”

But when was the last time you looked at something you've been teaching for ten years and asked:

“Is this still the best way to explain this?”

That's harder.

Because now you're questioning yourself.

And that requires humility.

But that's where growth happens.

You don't have to throw away everything you've learned.

You don't have to suddenly decide that everything you've done for the last twenty years was wrong.

That's not the point.

The point is to remain open enough to investigate whether there might be something better.

THE NEW GENERATION ISN'T WAITING FOR YOU

This is another thing I think people need to understand.

The people coming through now have access to an incredible amount of information.

They can learn almost anything.

They can watch producers work.

They can study tutorials.

They can analyse music.

They can download software.

They can experiment with tools that didn't exist when some of us started.

They can communicate with people all over the world.

They can learn incredibly quickly.

And some of them are fucking brilliant.

So being older doesn't automatically put you ahead.

Being around longer doesn't automatically make you better.

Having more releases doesn't automatically make you better.

Having a bigger reputation doesn't automatically make you better.

Your current ability is what matters.

And your current ability is affected by what you've done with all those years.

ARE YOU ACTUALLY EXPERIENCED?

This is the question I keep coming back to.

If you've been producing for twenty-five years, but you stopped actively learning ten years ago...

Are you really a twenty-five-year experienced producer?

Or are you a fifteen-year experienced producer who's been repeating the same methods for another ten?

That's uncomfortable.

But it's worth asking.

Because experience isn't simply a number.

Experience is what you've learned, tested, challenged, adapted and absorbed over that period of time.

And that doesn't mean you need to constantly chase every new plugin or every new trend.

That's another trap.

Learning doesn't mean downloading every new piece of software that comes out.

It doesn't mean changing your workflow every six months.

It doesn't mean abandoning your own sound because somebody on Instagram says there's a new way of doing things.

Sometimes the most experienced person in the room is the person who has looked at the new thing, understood it, tested it...

And decided:

“Nah. My way still works better for what I do.”

That's experience too.

The difference is that they tested it.

They didn't reject it because their ego wouldn't allow them to learn something new.

STAY A FEW STEPS AHEAD

For me, this is becoming increasingly important.

If I'm going to teach people, I need to stay ahead of what I'm teaching.

Not necessarily miles ahead.

But a few steps.

I need to know what's changing.

I need to understand new technology.

I need to question my processes.

I need to keep developing my ears.

I need to keep experimenting.

I need to keep listening.

And I need to be willing to change my mind.

Because imagine teaching somebody something for ten years without ever checking whether there's a better way.

That's not experience.

That's just repetition.

And that's the distinction I think we sometimes miss.

THE MOMENT YOU THINK YOU KNOW EVERYTHING IS THE MOMENT YOU STOP GROWING

I don't care if you've been doing this for thirty years.

I don't care if you've got a hundred releases.

I don't care if you've worked with huge artists.

I don't care if you've got a wall full of records.

None of that guarantees that you're still developing.

It proves you've done something.

It doesn't prove that you're still learning.

And this isn't about disrespecting experience.

Quite the opposite.

I fucking value experience.

I've built my entire life around it.

But I think genuine experience should come with humility.

It should make you curious.

It should make you want to understand more.

It should make you realise that there are always people who know things you don't.

And that's exciting.

Not threatening.

NEVER BECOME TOO EXPERIENCED TO BE A STUDENT

That's probably the biggest thing I want to take from this.

Never become too experienced to be a student.

Never become too established to ask a question.

Never become too respected to admit you don't know something.

Never become so attached to your own methods that you refuse to test anything else.

And never confuse time served with growth.

Because twenty years in music can mean twenty years of development.

Or it can mean five years repeated four times.

Only you know which one it is.

And that's the uncomfortable part.

Because nobody else can answer that question for you.

You have to look at yourself.

Look at your work.

Look at your methods.

Look at what you've learned.

Look at what you've stopped learning.

And ask yourself:

Am I still moving forward?

Because the industry is moving forward whether you are or not.

The people coming through behind you are learning whether you are or not.

Technology is changing whether you are or not.

And if you're standing still while everything around you is moving...

Eventually, you're going to get left behind.

So stay curious.

Stay humble.

Challenge yourself.

Challenge what you teach.

Challenge what you believe.

Keep learning.

Keep adapting.

Keep moving.

Because experience isn't how long you've been doing something.

Experience is how much you've grown while doing it.

And if you stop learning?

Those years don't count for as much as you think they do.

⸻

Raff Di Renzo

Founder, Eleven One One Audio