25 Years In The Life Of A Bedroom Producer.

[Magdelayna]

Kudos to you, very interesting read

Cheers,im glad someone found it mildy interesting haha!

 

[Magdelayna]

A big landmark for my Youtube channel - 75,000 subscribers!

I realised a while ago my sole purpose in life was to make my own style of music for other people around the world to enjoy,so its great to be slowly building up a good following!

In the first 8 years of the channel,it only had 1K subscribers - so that tells you...never give up!!!

 

[Magdelayna]

Original post now updated with 2024 - another good year for my music with some milestones and a release on a top Trance label.

 

[Magdelayna]

My Youtube channel just hit a big milestone of 5 Million 'watch time hours' - thats the equilivant of one person listening to my music for 571 years non stop.

 

[Magdelayna]

Today is a landmark day for me as a producer releasing tracks since 2006 - i finally recieved some track sales revenue from a 'well known' label after reaching the payment threshold!

 

[Magdelayna]

Big milestone! Ive just reached a quarter of a BILLION streams of my music across all platforms!!

 

[Magdelayna]

Below ive tried to track the major DJ support ive had over the years - as a bedroon producer,this is just a real added 'bonus' seperate from making the music....to have my stuff played by some of these guys is just a massive honour. - something you dont expect.

____________________________________________________________________

2007

Aly & Fila >> Aerium & Krivi - Forever Playing (Magdelayna Remix)
Aly & Fila >> Magdelayna vs RMG - Back To The Stars
Dave Pearce >> Magdelayna vs RMG - Back To The Stars
Kyau & Albert >> Magdelayna vs RMG - Back To The Stars

2008

Aly & Fila >> Magdelayna - Second Universe

2010

Aly & Fila >> Magdelayna - Forever More

2012

Aly & Fila >> Transa - Supernova (Magdelayna 2012 Remake)

2013

Solarstone >> John Murphy - Sunshine (Magdelayna Remake)

2014

Solarstone >> Magdelayna - La Graciosa (Adam Lester Mix)
Solarstone >> Darren Tate vs Jono Grant - Let The Light Shine In (Magdelayna Chilled Remake)
The Thrillseekers >> The Thrillseekers - Find You (Magdelayna Remix)

2015

Solarstone >> Electrovoya - Whispers (Magdelayna Remix)
Scott Bond >> Magdelayna - Accessing Your Memories

2016

Solarstone >> Gouryella - Anahera (Magdelayna’s Resurrection Mix)
Solarstone >> Dimension - Origami (Magdelayna’s Folding The Universe Mix)
Solarstone >> Rank 1 - Airwave (Magdelayna’s Resurrection Mix)
Solarstone >> Space Manœuvres (Magdelayna’s Rebirth Mix)

2017

Chicane >> Alex Blest - Fragments Of Bliss (Magdelayna Chilled Remake)

2018

Solarstone >> Aiwave - Alone In The Dark (Magdelayna’s Resurrection Mix)
Solarstone >> Jose Amnesia - The Eternal (Magdelayna’s Recollection Mix)

2019

Airwave >> Airwave - Save Me (Magdelayna’s Analog Dreams Mix)
Solarstone >> Transa - Supernova (Magdelayna’s Chilled Resurrection)
Solarstone >> Islandia - We Are One (Magdelayna vs Altitude Mix)
Neptune Project >> Neptune Project - Pulse (Magdelayna’s Perception Of Space Mix)
Push >> Push - No Borders (Magdelayna’s Chilled Unity Mix)
Jorn van Deynhoven >> Space Manoeuvres (Magdelayna’s Rebirth Mix)

2020

Solarstone >> Mesh - Purple Haze (Magdelayna’s Recollection Mix)
Solarstone >> Factoria - Revive (Magdelayna’s Chilled Resurrection)
Scott Bond >> Gouryella - Anahera (Magdelayna's Resurrection Mix)
Scott Bond >> Vangelis vs. Accadia - Blush Dawn (Magdelayna Mashup)
Scott Bond >> Electrovoya - Whispers (Magdelayna's Journey To Orion Mix)
Scott Bond >> Rank 1 - Airwave (Magdelayna's Resurrection Mix)

2021

Solarstone >> Ludovico Einaudi - Nuvole Bianche (Magdelayna Remake)
Scott Bond >> Scott Bond vs Solarstone - 3rd Earth (Magdelayna's Recollection Mix)
Scott Bond >> Adam Ellis - Napalm Poet (Magdelayna Chilled Remake)
Scott Bond >> Airwave - Alone In The Dark (Magdelayna's Recollection Mix)
Scott Bond >> Samuel Barber - Adagio For Strings (Magdelayna Remake)
Scott Bond >> Airwave - Save Me (Magdelayna's Analog Dreams Mix)

2023

Solarstone >> Conductor & The Cowboy - Feeling This Way (Magdelayna’s Recollection Mix)
Chicane >> Alex Blest - Fragments Of Bliss (Magdelayna Chilled Remake)

2024

Chicane >> Conductor & The Cowboy - Feeling This Way (Magdelayna’s Recollection Mix)

2025

Solarstone >> Legend B - Lost In Love (Magdelayna’s Lost In Chill Mix)

 

[Magdelayna]

My Chilled version of Dimension - Mangata....a funny story about this one,i made it to enter the remix competition they ran,the winner would get a release.

I never heard anything,so i put it on Youtube a while later - its now just reached 250,000 plays and is the MOST PLAYED version of Mangata on Youtube.

 

[badass]

*thread reseurrection from the old Trancefix*...


Hello,well i thought some of you may find this vaguely interesting,im documenting the last 25 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 :

The Early Years

I grew up in the 80's and the house we lived in had an old Wurlitzer jukebox,which had so many different types of music on its 8" vinyls....music all the way from the 1950's....The Beatles,Led Zeppelin,Frank Sinatra - even things like The Ghostbusters Theme and Chubby Checker! I was heavily influenced by what my parents used to listened to,so two huge artists for me early on was Queen and Michael Jackson - i remember i used to listen to the 'Bad' album on my old Sony cassette Walkman as i walked around the house.

My early memories of electronic music would be when my parents used to play Enigma on a new CD player we had bought,around 1990 - i used to think this sound was quite haunting at the time,but now i look back and i think this mustve been a huge influence regarding Ambient,Downtempo,Breakbeat music.

Into the mid 90's and i started to collect the 'Now That What i Call Music' series - first on Cassette and then on CD. I used to love the dance tracks they normally put on at the end - artists like St Etienne and N-Trance. One track that really caught my ears was JX - Theres Nothing I Wont Do...although classed as 'Euro Dance',this had some really Trancy riffs and i would say an important record in the beginning for my love of Trance.

And then in early 1999,i was working at a tumble dryer factory at 16 years old as a part time job - i heard a track that came on the local radio station - it was System F - Out Of The Blue. I had no idea who Ferry Corsten was and what Trance music is but i know i fell in love with that sound and i bought it straight away on release. And as you all know,that was the start of the Trance wave in the UK that year - tracks like Gouryella and Veracocha started hitting the charts.

Shortly after,i also saw a TV advert late at night on my small portable black & white TV - it was for the very first Euphoria CD mixed by PF Project. The only track i recognised on it was Lucid - I Cant Help Myself - i had it on a Now CD from the year before. I bought the Complilation and its the CD that changed my life,i fell in love with every track - and after that i collected pretty much every Trance CD that year in 1999,along with a host of CD singles - and the rest they,is history!

1999

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!


2001

I joined a few Trance forums,including Trance.nu,Tranceaddict & Anjunabeats. I didnt post a track for a few years,but these forums were a great place for track discussion and discovering classic i hadnt heard yet,and i could also hear what other bedroom producers were making in the production forums.

In late 2001 i bought myself a couple of Numark belt drive turntables and a budget mixer - i spent the entire first day trying to mix the only two vinyls i had....Hemstock & Jennings - Mirage & the Praha remix of Outlaw.


2004

I dabbled on Ableton & 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.

Created a Youtube channel.


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.

First support from Solarstone - on my chilled version of John Murphy - Sunshine.


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.

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.


2020

Reached 25 Million plays on Youtube.

Reached 30,000 subscribers on my Youtube channel.

Released my artist album 'Anthology II' on Bandcamp.

Solarstone & Scott Bond support on various tracks.

My remix of 'Now We Are Free' reached 15 Million plays.


2021

Reached 60,000 Subscribers on my Youtube channel.

Reached 40 Million plays on my Youtube channel.

My remix of 'Now We Are Free' reached 25 Million plays.

Solarstone support.

Started a 'Retrospective' DJ mix series,playing all my discography from each seperate year.

Started a 'Expeditions' DJ mix series,shying away from Trance a little - more Techno/Progressive based.


2022

Played at the Anomaly 'Summer Of Love' festival - my UK DJ debut,i met legend Lange backstage,he mentioned he has supported my tracks.

Reached 45 Million plays on my Youtube channel - plays took a big hit this year,due to the double whammy of the end of lockdowns and also the war in Ukraine.


2023

Reached 50 Million plays on my Youtube channel.

Reached 70,000 Subscribers on my Youtube channel

My remix of 'Now We Are Free' reached 30 Million Plays.

My remix of 'Feeling This Way' was supported by Solarstone and signed to Pure Trance - my debut on the label.


2024

Reached 75,000 Subscribers on my Youtube channel.

My remix of 'Now We Are Free' featured on over 5,000 Tik Tok videos,it also reached over 200 Million streams on all platforms.

My remix of 'Feeling This Way' was released on the Pure Trance label - and supported by Chicane on his radio show.

Met Gatecrasher legend Scott Bond at one of his Rebooted events - he has supported my tracks before in his mixes.

I finally upgraded my hardware & software to a Macbook Pro and Logic 11.

Wow that's super impressive dude. Seriously, very inspiring

 

[badass]

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.

Quite interesting. Do you know how to play the keyboard?

 

[Magdelayna]

Quite interesting. Do you know how to play the keyboard?

Not really

 

[Julian Del Agranda]

Not really

Just press the black 'n white keys mate.

Or does he mean "play properly".

In that case I also can't play. It's difficult. I still have it on my bucketlist though to learn a bit. I had a start with a tutorial-video on Youtube (no idea if it's a good one). I found it difficult though. Switching the fingers to the correct keys without slightly hitting the other surrounding keys. I guess it's just something to get used to the spacing between keys and it will become natural.

 

[Magdelayna]

Just press the black 'n white keys mate.

Or does he mean "play properly".

In that case I also can't play. It's difficult. I still have it on my bucketlist though to learn a bit. I had a start with a tutorial-video on Youtube (no idea if it's a good one). I found it difficult though. Switching the fingers to the correct keys without slightly hitting the other surrounding keys. I guess it's just something to get used to the spacing between keys and it will become natural.

I learnt as a kid,i could play a few songs on keyboard - but that hasnt translated at all to making Trance,apart from understanding chords. Ive always just messed about with the piano roll on Logic. I suppose those early learning years do put you in good stead for it.

Ive always wondered what brought us to be producers more than other people? Was it those early years and our interactions with music,or a deeper thing hehe..

For me,it was just when i started listening to Trance in 1999,and thinking 'i want to make that music aswell'.

 

[badass]

Not really

Lol same. I stamp in notes using pencil tool when making melodies. NGL it's fucking hard af to make melodies like this but I've studied enough melodies in MIDI to understand and recognize patterns and understand how intervals/rhythm/pitch influence how something sounds. Fuck itttttt, it will have to do for now until I actually learn how to play

 

[badass]

I learnt as a kid,i could play a few songs on keyboard - but that hasnt translated at all to making Trance,apart from understanding chords. Ive always just messed about with the piano roll on Logic. I suppose those early learning years do put you in good stead for it.

Ive always wondered what brought us to be producers more than other people? Was it those early years and our interactions with music,or a deeper thing hehe..

For me,it was just when i started listening to Trance in 1999,and thinking 'i want to make that music aswell'.

Same bro. I wanted to learn to make music on my own once I started listening to trance. I think it was at ASOT 450 in NYC when I officially decided to give it a go. It's been a very rough journey since then getting into making music off and on (usually more off than on). Life just got in the way too much for me, including my fears, self doubt, and insecurities. Now I'm actually considering going to an audio engineering school while I work part time. All the elements in my life right now are in alignment for me to be able to work a full time job to support myself and my family while I take audio engineering courses at night and weekends. I think after all these years I'm going to finally get very serious about production. I currently HATE what I do for a living and would LOVE to make a living making music.

 

[Magdelayna]

I currently HATE what I do for a living and would LOVE to make a living making music.

Its VERY hard to make a living from music - i make about £500-600 a month through streaming revenue,but thats nowhere near enough to go full time...i think youd have to start gigging every week or set up a tutorial/mentoring/mastering service - which some producers have.

But theres also some producers i wonder how do they get along full time,they must be worried about income a lot.