Well there is no shortcut, Years and Years of hard work. I Read everything I could and recorded anything and everything I could get my hands on or any band that would work with me. I cut my teeth doing rock mixs. Then I interned at a small studio for a while then I moved and opened my own, then when overhead got to high I sold it and started freelancing. Right now I am also studying with Berklee school of music online to get that piece of paper I need. That has been cooler that I thought it would be. Just dive in and start doing it. Work your ass off. Learn to take criticism, thats what separates the rookies from the pros. As far as logic goes I just read the manual and started using it for production. Nothing forces you to learn a software faster than to have a client right there wanting results. lol I also seem to do well with video tutorials. Hope that helps. Also I have been at engineering for over 10 years now and I am just really getting in to making hip hop beats. My background has sure helped that process.
i really respect that man. i've only been doing this about a year now but I'm trying to learn as much as I can, its what i spend almost all of my free time doing. definitely trying to do a lot of what you said, as far as reading as much as possible and just practicing, and especially taking criticism. if you ever have a chance to check my stuff out in the showcase or on myspace (
www.myspace.com/hlbeatz), i'd love to hear any observations/criticism. and considering this logic set of manuals is like 1200 pages i got a lot to get through. its funny though- i was talking to another friend of mine who produces and telling him about logic and showing him the manuals, and he's like, man, thats too much to read, etc. i had the opposite reaction when i opened that logic box...im like this is wtf im talking about, 1000 pages of some serious knowledge to absorb. im trying to learn a little more about music in general before i delve into logic but ima get started on that soon.
i'm sure you've read a lot of em but if there are any books that stand out in particular from what you've read, just as far as really helping you with something, whether that is engineering, producing, whatever, any names would be much appreciated. thanks man