20 Years In The Life Of A Bedroom Producer.

[Magdelayna]

*thread reseurrection from the old Trancefix*...


Hello,well i thought some of you may find this vaguely interesting,im documenting the last 20 years or so as a 'bedroom producer'.

Ive always thought of myself as that,as in not having a proper studio,no hardware synths,not even having a music keyboard or play an instrument - just me,a mouse and a copy of Logic!

The insight may be interesting for any budding new producers out there,or maybe producers who have had similar experiences and turned pro - or even ones who have quit the scene since.


Ive documented events by years :



1999-2003

I started out experimenting with production on the Codemasters 'Music' games on the Playstation - i made around 100 tracks in various styles such as progressive,techno,industrial....i started out at 150 BPM!



2004

I dabbled on Abelton & Reason before i chose Logic Express as my main program.



2005

Created the 'Magdelayna' alias and starting learning Logic from scratch with no manuals as such. I made 'early works' tracks covering progressive Trance & Chillout. I took a lot of producer advice on forums such as Trance.nu & Tranceaddict - artists such as Airbase & Airwave were big helps back then.



2006

First release on Aurora Digital with a track named 'Prolific'



2007

I developed a 'spacy' Trance style and my 2nd release on Aurora reflected that with 'Rings Of Saturn'.

My first remix release was on Bonzai with 'Aerium & Krivi - Forever Playing' this got my first major support from Aly & Fila.

My radio show 'Moments of Energy' started on Danceradio.gr



2008

My collaboration track with Richard Gale entitled 'Back To The Stars' gained massive support from Markus Schulz,Aly & Fila and also Dave Pearce,on his BBC Radio 'Dance Anthems' show.



2009

Had more Aly & Fila support with 'Second Universe' and i appeared on the very first Defcon Recordings release,with a remix of 'Trailblazer'.

I moved from Logic Express to Logic Pro.

Meanwhile my radio show moved to Afterhours FM.


2010

'The Thoughts EP' was released on Digitized Recordings - Aly & Fila supported ''Forever More'' from that record.

I started producing more Chilled Trance versions of tracks,my remix of 'Med & Phil Metcalfe - January' on Defcon being one of them.


2011

Released my single 'Hope Still In Your Heart' - the A & Z remix had Aly & Fila support.


2012

Aly & Fila played my remake of 'Transa - Supernova' live at club Eden,Ibiza as part of a FSOE show.


2013

Signed to Abora Recordings and went on to make a lot of Chilled Trance remakes,including a remix of iconic gatecrasher anthem 'Mea Culpa - Spiritual Light' which had a release on iTunes.


2014

Recorded a vocal track with Clare Stagg - also had support of my chillout material from Solarstone & Chicane.

Was one of the winners of 'The Thrillseekers - Find You' remix competition - getting a release on the Adjusted label.



2015

My remix of 'Find You' was released on Adjusted in the early part of the year.

I gave iconic tracks 'The Message' & 'Whispers' a chilled interpretation, which earned support from Solarstone.

My Chilled version of classic track 'As the Rush Comes' won a remix competition on Trancefix.

My single 'Accessing Your Memories' was released on the label tranceform Recordings - this had support from Gatecrasher legend Scott Bond and also won the 'single of the month' in December on the Trancefix forum.

The landmark 100th episode of 'Moments Of Energy' aired in December on Afterhours FM.

I released my artist mix album 'Anthology' - this featured the last decade of my original work.


2016

My chilled remake of Gouryella's 'Anahera' drew massive praise - even from Ferry himself,describing it as a 'Beautiful Rework'.

Chicane supported my chilled rework of 'Fragments Of Bliss' on his ''Sun:Sets radio show.

Triple support from Solarstone,including my chilled remake of Trance classic 'Rank 1 - Airwave'. A track he closed with in San Francisco,on a 6 hour extended set.

My chilled remix of Tom Forde's 'Im Free' was released on Defcon.

Reached 500,000 plays on my Youtube channel.

Reached 25,000 total downloads on Soundcloud.



2017

My radio show 'Moments Of Energy' reached its 10th anniversary,with a 3 hour special mix.

More Chicane support on his Sun:Sets show.

Original tracks 'Remember' & 'Lunar Totality' released myself on Bandcamp.

Made a 22 minute concept track at 30BPM - entitled 'Suspended In Trance'.


2018

My remix of 'Fragments Of Bliss' appeared on Chicane's 'Sun:Sets' compilation CD - released on Armada.

My radio show 'Moments Of Energy' finished broadcasting on Afterhours.FM - after 9 years on the station. The series still carries on over at Soundcloud & Mixcloud.

My remix of 'Whispers' was released on the Electrovoya 'Time Passes' EP.

Played at Luminosity Beach Festival,on the Sunset stage - my worldwide live DJ debut.

Reached a Million plays on my Youtube channel.



2019

Won the Neptune Project 'Pulse' remix competition,released on Mythology.

Won the Push 'No Borders' remix competition,released on Mostiko.

My remix of 'Airwave - Save Me' appeared on his landmark 20 Years CD album.

Also my remixes of Airwave's 'Sunspot' & 'Alone In The Dark' released on Bonzai.

Collaboration with Altitude (Steve Gibbs) on 'We Are One'.

My remix of 'Stage One' was released on Lost Language.

Reached 10 Million plays on Youtube.

 

[Hensmon]

Reached 10 Million plays on Youtube.

Thats pretty cool. Hans Zimmer remix the big one for you yes?I assume you cant earn any money from that one, but bet it's been great for exposure and getting new fans. Enjoyed reading that. Getting a track on Airwave - Save Me pretty sick as well. Is your set-up literally just a computer?

 

[Magdelayna]

Thats pretty cool. Hans Zimmer remix the big one for you yes?I assume you cant earn any money from that one, but bet it's been great for exposure and getting new fans. Enjoyed reading that. Getting a track on Airwave - Save Me pretty sick as well. Is your set-up literally just a computer?

Im nearly on 20 million plays now..during this lockdown my plays have quadrupled..i think my peak was 90k plays a day which is crazy!! Yeah my set-up is literally just Logic Pro and a mouse.

 

[jetflag]

"My first remix release was on Bonzai with 'Aerium & Krivi - Forever Playing' this got my first major support from Aly & Fila. "

and still a great one it is at that m8

 

[Magdelayna]

"My first remix release was on Bonzai with 'Aerium & Krivi - Forever Playing' this got my first major support from Aly & Fila. "

and still a great one it is at that m8

Yeah that was the crossover point where everything went digital like track sales - still gutted i didnt produce properly in the late 90's!

 

[jetflag]

Yeah that was the crossover point where everything went digital like track sales - still gutted i didnt produce properly in the late 90's!

its has its upsides. bandcamp for starters

 

[Magdelayna]

its has its upsides. bandcamp for starters

Yeah ive probably made more money on BC recently than i wouldve done in 10 years of digital labels haha.

 

[deVOID]

Really interesting stuff and well done for all your achievements.

Out of curiosity, in your opinion how long do you think it would take from a standing start to learn Logic Pro and make a tune of a suitable standard for release on a decent label?

 

[Magnevi]

It all depends on 3 things:
- the amount of time you invest
- the amount of money you invest
- the amount of talent you have

It can be anywhere between just a couple of months, or multiple years.

 

[Gagi]

It all depends on 3 things:
- the amount of time you invest
- the amount of money you invest
- the amount of talent you have

It can be anywhere between just a couple of months, or multiple years.

Absolutely on point. It's all up to you. Well, apart from the talent.

 

[Magdelayna]

Really interesting stuff and well done for all your achievements.

Out of curiosity, in your opinion how long do you think it would take from a standing start to learn Logic Pro and make a tune of a suitable standard for release on a decent label?

It depends on a number of things,but back then when i started in 2004 with Logic,learning it from scratch with a blank canvas - it took me around 3 years before a proper release. But nowadays anyone can get a DAW,download a template or producer sound pack and have a pro sounding track in no time - but the real talent comes with melody making and creating your own unique sound...and youll never do that with a generic template pack. Im strongly against them.

 

[Magdelayna]

It all depends on 3 things:
- the amount of time you invest
- the amount of money you invest
- the amount of talent you have

It can be anywhere between just a couple of months, or multiple years.

Ive never really invested any money for production - apart from the copy of Logic. You really need very little to make good music.

 

[Magnevi]

Well you don't need much indeed. It's not like in the hardware days, which must have cost fortunes.

But I would say, investing in semi-pro studio monitors is almost a must. Maybe an external audio interface to get the max out of your monitors. Creating music on basic headphones or PC speakers is a bad idea. If you purchase a good PC, legal software, legal plugins, legal packs, and mediocre studio monitors, it's still quite expensive.

For a starter, I wouldn't advice all that. It's just that the question was specifically towards 'professional' sounding tracks.

 

[Magdelayna]

Well you don't need much indeed. It's not like in the hardware days, which must have cost fortunes.

But I would say, investing in semi-pro studio monitors is almost a must. Maybe an external audio interface to get the max out of your monitors. Creating music on basic headphones or PC speakers is a bad idea. If you purchase a good PC, legal software, legal plugins, legal packs, and mediocre studio monitors, it's still quite expensive.

For a starter, I wouldn't advice all that. It's just that the question was specifically towards 'professional' sounding tracks.

Oh yeah,i bought Yamaha monitors and a USB audio interface...i was thinking more production hardware like synths hehe.

And ive never had a keyboard even.

 

[Nerio]

Bedroom Producer?
You Should be a normal producer your remixes are GENIAL .
Damn look on some producers they do not even know notes, and make all music through software, and what hits are they now?
Try to make living from this.
If not DJ/Producer atleast make music for movies/games.

 

[dmgtz96]

Honestly, this is some of the realest trance from the past decade

 

[Magdelayna]

Bedroom Producer?
You Should be a normal producer your remixes are GENIAL .

Cheers! Well when does a Bedroom producer not become a bedroom producer hehe?

Yes movies and games would be cool to get into - i suppose they could use a tonne of my originals if someone wanted to already.

 

[Magdelayna]

Honestly, this is some of the realest trance from the past decade

Thanks mate,much appreciated! My original stuff isnt very popular at all though compared to my remixes,not sure why. Apart from one track - Tears For Adagio...coming up to half a million plays on Youtube.

 

[Propeller]

Yeah ive probably made more money on BC recently than i wouldve done in 10 years of digital labels haha

Approximately what percentage of the revenue goes to the producer for a sale of a track on Beatport/Juno/iTunes, etc?

I've read that on Bandcamp around 80% of the revenue goes to the artist.

 

[Magnevi]

Beatport takes 50% I think.

But thats not all. Dont forget the labels that released it. Lots of small labels only pay out royalties once a certain amount is reached. For example, the first 100 euro is for the label, and only after that, you get 50% (or whatever).

The thing is, trance sales are very low. Most tracks don’t get 100 sales. You only need a few dozens to get into the top 100 (for trance).