The 7 Mental Shifts That Made Me a Better Music Producer

Lessons on drums, taste, sound selection, and why joy matters more than perfection

If you’re a music producer, chances are one (or more) of these will hit uncomfortably close to home.

1. “Don’t fuck up the drums.”

“The drums, bro. Don’t mess up the drums.” — Travis Scott

In a 2015 Clique TV interview, Travis Scott was asked what mattered most in mixing. His answer was blunt: Nothing matters if the drums are wrong.

That stuck with me.

You can get a million things wrong in a song — but if the drums knock, people listen. If they don’t, nothing else saves it.

Mental shift:
Drums aren’t just another element. They’re the foundation. Get them right, and you buy yourself forgiveness everywhere else.

2. Drums are worth stealing (because they’re that valuable)

In Collect Call with Suge Knight, Suge claims Interscope copied his drum archives so Dr. Dre could use them.

Whether or not the story is 100% true almost doesn’t matter — the implication does.

Drum patterns, textures, and bounce are intellectual property. They’re valuable enough to copy, archive, and reuse at the highest levels of the industry.

Mental shift:
Great drum selection isn’t lazy. It’s strategic.

3. Most sounds are cheap — but your ear doesn’t have to be

“Splice is like Canal Street.” — !llmind

In 2019, !llmind told me why he disliked Splice: too many low-quality sounds. He compared it to Canal Street — counterfeit Louis Vuitton everywhere.

At first, I resisted that take.
Later, once my ear improved, I couldn’t unhear it.

Yes, Splice has a ton of trash.
But it also has gems — if you know where to look.

Oliver, Pelham & Junior, X10, DopeBoyzMuzic. That’s where my sounds actually started hitting.

Mental shift:
The problem isn’t where you shop — it’s whether you know how to recognize quality.

4. It’s not how you make sounds — it’s what you do with them

“It’s not how you make the sounds; it’s what you do with them.” — Diplo

Diplo once made a hilarious ad where he questioned whether using samples was cheating… then whether programming drums was cheating… then whether using store-bought drumsticks was cheating… until he ended up planting a tree.

The punchline was obvious.

Authenticity isn’t about origin. It’s about execution.

I stopped romanticizing making everything from scratch. I started romanticizing song structure, arrangement, and results.

When I go to the grocery store, I didn’t grow the tomato — but I still made the meal.

Mental shift:
Curation is creation.

5. Outsourcing weaknesses is a strength

I’m not precious about programming my own drums.
I’m not precious about making every melody.

If I can’t do something well, I don’t force it — I select better ingredients.

That mindset alone leveled me up.

Mental shift:
Your job isn’t to prove you can do everything. It’s to make something that works.

6. Efficiency unlocks creativity

Once I realized how much drums mattered, I paid attention to which loops I consistently loved.

Eventually, I noticed patterns: certain BPMs, certain textures, certain grooves.

So I made lists — my favorite drum loops by BPM.

Now, when I find a melody, I already know which drums will work.

Less friction. More flow.

Mental shift:
Efficiency isn’t cutting corners — it’s clearing space for creativity.

7. Taste and joy matter more than accolades

“Sound selection is what separates the amateurs from the professionals.” — T-Minus

T-Minus once said the difference between big producers and small ones is sound selection. The first name he mentioned? Timbaland.

That’s when it clicked.

The real skill is taste — knowing what hits, where to find it, and when to stop.

And honestly?
My favorite moments as a producer weren’t big wins or great beats.

They were late nights with friends, tired as hell, vibing to something half-finished, talking about life.

Winning a Grammy at 80 feels just as good as winning one at 30 — if you stick around long enough to enjoy the process.

Mental shift:
If you’re having fun and creating with people you care about, you’re already successful.

Final thought

If all I ever did was make mediocre beats with my friends and have a great time doing it, I’d still consider that a life well spent creatively.

Fuck the accolades.
Protect your taste.
Don’t mess up the drums.

Hope this helped,

DJ Smet