Great Music Producers Have Both of these Traits

So many great music producers are somehow chill and high-agency at the same time.

Here’s a story about benny blanco and Ed Sheeran that shows how it's done.

So, the industry folks say, “Hey benny, you should work with this guy Ed Sheeran.” Benny hears Ed’s track “A-Team” and is like, “I want to work with this guy right away.” But instead of the usual corporate email, benny hits the entire email thread with, “I gotta take a sh*t.”

Instant vibe check.

Everyone on benny's team starts freaking out. What did you do? This is a disaster.

But then Ed replies, “Me too.”

Creative ProcessMark SamplesApril 27, 2025benny blanco, ed sheeran, high-agency

Lessons with AI from a Faculty Member

TeachingMark SamplesApril 18, 2025

The Creative Flywheel

Every creative has felt it—the frustration of starting strong on a project, only to fizzle out halfway through. The ideas dry up, the momentum disappears, and you’re left wondering what went wrong.

The truth is, most of us approach creativity the wrong way. We rely on fleeting inspiration or bursts of motivation, hoping they’ll carry us through.

But the creatives who achieve mastery—those who produce consistently for years—don’t rely on chance. They use systems.

Let’s call it a Creative Flywheel.

Creative ProcessMark SamplesJanuary 27, 2025

Go All In—Like Stevie Wonder

In the early 1970s, Stevie Wonder was already a star.

He was a child prodigy, at that point the youngest artist ever to top the Billboard Hot 100 (“Fingertips Pt. 2”). He had already recorded a string of hits in the Motown style: “Uptight,” “For Once in My Life,” and My Cherie Amour.” He had started taking ownership of his sound by self-producing his record, “Signed, Sealed, Delivered,” in 1970.

In other words, he was twenty years old and already a paragon of the Motown pop sound.

But Wonder didn’t rest on his successes. He was hungry for something more.

He wanted to create music that truly reflected his artistic vision—something groundbreaking.

Enter two unlikely collaborators: Robert Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil, a pair of audio engineers who were tinkering with a hulking, mysterious machine called TONTO (The Original New Timbral Orchestra).

Mark SamplesJanuary 20, 2025

The Perils of Monomania

Writer Benjamin Nugent, in a 2013 essay for The New York Times, described how he had what seemed like an idyllic writer’s life in graduate school.

No wi-fi. No diversions. Lots of snow. It was like he was a writer from another time.

But he found something surprising.

His complete devotion to his writing at the sacrifice of all other diversions actually poisoned his writing.

Mark SamplesDecember 29, 2024

Now Is the Best Time to Reset Your Focus Skills

Confused. Dazed. Scatterbrained.

It can often feel frustrating to make up your mind to focus, but to feel unable to do so.

To set down a path of focus—to write a song, practice our instrument, work on a design—only to be offered a gleaming off-ramp in the form of a distraction from our phone.

It even happens to people trying to write a newsletter about focusing. My phone has buzzed 3 times since I started writing this newsletter.

Each notification from our phones is part of a habit-reward loop that promises a potential dopamine release for our brains.

We know that there is a war going on in the marketplace, and that our attention is the ultimate prize. Tech companies, advertising companies, even nonprofits and other creatives. All want to win the next second of our attention.

But I want to invite you to a different path. Now is the best time to disengage from our distracted networks of notifications and reengage your focus on what really matters.

This holiday season, make a plan to practice building the skill of focus in your creative life.

Everything I Learned Writing Music for a National Ad Campaign

I had the opportunity to write music for RealTruck, Inc., the U.S.’s top seller of truck accessories.

The goal of the project was to create a 2-minute brand anthem that can be used across multiple campaigns (TV, web, social, etc.) and multiple years. To create the soundtrack of RealTruck’s brand.

After the project was over, I scribbled down “micro lessons.”

Bite-sized lessons of everything I want to remember for the next time I do a project like this.

Reply with a number and I’ll break it down in an essay or a comment.

How Tolkien Turned Boredom into a Bestseller

Be alert for creativity to strike in the midst of the mundane. Even an unexpected blank page can hold the beginning of your next masterpiece.

You don’t have to be working in a cabin in the woods to have creative insights. You don’t have to be a hermit, or to wake up before sunrise and meditate.

You don’t even have to be doing something creative.

In fact, creative insights sometimes strike in the midst.

In the midst of cleaning your kitchen. In the midst of driving to work. In the midst of formatting TPS reports.

JRR Tolkien tells a cool story about how he started writing The Hobbit. Tolkien wrote some of the most beloved fantasy novels of the twentieth century. But, like me, in his day job he was a university professor.

In a BBC interview in 1968, he recalls how the first line of his book The Hobbit came to him.

Want to Improve Your Creative Skill Today? Here's How

When you are trying to develop a creative skill, small improvements every day beat sporadic epic bursts. Every time.

Imagine two creatives, Oliver and Amelia. Both are music producers at the beginning of their careers. Both have visions of really making it—working with interesting artists, producing music they can be proud of, and supporting themselves through their creative work.

In order to have the careers they want, they both know that they need to continuously improve their skills. They need to learn new production techniques, become better songwriters, improve their mixing skills.

The list of improvements seems endless. They feel a deep skill deficit. Like a chasm that stands between them and the career that they want.

Oliver sets out to improve his skills. He works in bursts, but sporadically. Marathon sessions on weekends and late at night. After a session, he feels burnt out, and then it takes days or even a week before he can muster up the energy for another session.

Creative ProcessMark SamplesOctober 28, 2024James clear, atomic habits, creative skill, creative habit

Should Creators Focus on Quality or Quantity?

In creative pursuits, quality will come as a result of quantity. Get intelligent reps in your field and share your work before you think you’re ready.

Writer Ryan Holiday said in an interview that he doesn’t put much stock in the "quality over quantity" excuse when creating.

You know the one. You say you want to line everything up first. To get everything ready so that it’s just right before releasing it to the world.

You say you want to painstakingly get everything right before you release your masterpiece.

🕺How to Meet More Interesting People

Whenever you meet someone interesting, think to yourself—who do I know that this person should be connected to?

Write an email introducing your two friends. Say something about why you think they should be connected. Something like:

“Hey Rob, meet Jessica. Jessica fronts a rad Seattle band called Deep Sea Diver. They just released a new music video. Jessica, this is Rob. Rob has played the violin on probably some of your favorite records, from Sufjan Stevens to Bon Iver and even Taylor Swift. He just played with Sara Bareilles at the Kennedy center in a series of concerts celebrating her career and songbook. Y’all are both awesome, and I thought you should know each other!”

Creative ProcessMark SamplesSeptember 30, 2024

Don't Sit on a Great Idea

When you have a creative idea that is a ten out of ten, get it out into the world as fast as humanly possible—because you can bet that someone else in the world just had the same idea as you.

As creatives, we get dozens of ideas. Most are fleeting, average, just okay. We work our creative process knowing that most of our ideas aren’t worth pursuing.

But we pursue these okay ideas anyway because we know that they are the path to the really special ideas.

The ten out of tens.

The ideas that give you a special feeling, like the heavens have either opened up before you or come crashing upon you—or both.

6 Non-Obvious Creative Principles

Creativity is by definition non-obvious. It thrives on counterintuitive ideas and unexpected connections. Here are six counterintuitive creative principles to remind yourself of this week as you carve out time to be creative.

Routine breeds creativity. Instead of stifling creativity, developing a creative habit can establish a stable environment for you to do your best work. Establish a daily routine where you can reliably do creative deep work.

Enforcing limits is freeing. If you have every tool at your disposal, every option available to you, there is no need to be creative. Instead of keeping all of your options open, impose artificial limits on your work. Produce a song using only three musical lines. Write a complete story in 500 words. Create a design using only three colors. Having every tool at your disposal absolves you of the need to be creative.

Creative ProcessMark SamplesAugust 5, 2024

Give Credit, Don't Take It

Always seek to give credit, but never to take it.

Charlie Puth is has written mega pop hits, with multiple billion-streamers. He's worked with superstars of the music industry, and is known as a musician’s musician. He’s a self-proclaimed music nerd. He can sing, he can play, he has perfect pitch. He can write. He can perform.

He’s got every reason to toot his own horn, tout his own skills.

In fact, it was these skills that led Studio.com to create a popular online class on pop production featuring Puth.

But in the course, where Puth is supposed to be the main attraction, the Master, he instead repeatedly gives credit away to others. He names all of the great musicians and producers who taught him.

Creative ProcessMark SamplesJuly 16, 2024Charlie Puth, creativity, credit, mentorship, mentors

The Best Advice Tom Hanks Ever Got

As a young actor, Tom Hanks received the best acting advice he’s ever gotten.

It came in the form of a director who blew up at his cast.

While rehearsing for a stage production of The Taming of the Shrew, the actors were not having a good day. They were lethargic. Phoning it in. Asking for lines. Waiting for direction.

It was just about the worst kind of rehearsal a director can have: mediocre.

And it set the director off.

The Creative Wind Tunnel

In the world of creativity, there's something called the Creative Wind Tunnel. Ryan Tedder, the songwriter behind hits for artists like Beyoncé, Adele, and his band OneRepublic, uses this term to describe the phenomenon when creators get tunnel vision and start thinking their work is perfect, losing touch with reality.

When you're in the Creative Wind Tunnel, you can’t see your work’s flaws because you’re too caught up in it. This can stop you from making something truly great.

The Learning Trap—Create Now

There has never been a better time in history to learn. YouTube videos, Skillshare courses (I've even made a couple of these myself), Masterclass.com, Studio.com, podcasts—you have access to knowledge and lessons from the world’s greatest creative minds.

Learning new skills and techniques from external sources is undoubtedly valuable. It expands our horizons, keeps us curious, and helps us grow.

But there’s a hidden trap in this constant quest for new knowledge: the belief that we need to keep learning from others before we start creating. This can become a comfortable crutch, an excuse to postpone doing the actual work.

Rick Rubin on Creative Habits

If you want more creative inspiration, develop your creative habits.

Here are three insights from music producer Rick Rubin for setting up habits and routines that consistently support your creative work. These are all from his book, The Creative Act.

Organize your life to allow for creative space.

Space in your schedule to create doesn’t just happen. To guard consistent, extended time for creating takes disciplined effort. “Discipline and freedom seem like opposites. Discipline is not a lack of freedom, it is a harmonious relationship with time. Managing your schedule and daily habits well is a necessary component to free up the practical and creative capacity to make great art.” (135)

Rubin even says that organizing your life is more important than being efficient in your work. Your focused efficiency in life can open the space to be creatively messy.

Creative ProcessMark SamplesJune 10, 2024creative habits, Rick Rubin

Instants become Days become Years

Michelangelo Buonarroti started painting the ceiling of Rome’s Sistine Chapel in 1509. He painted over 300 individual figures in dozens of panels, such as the Creation of Eve, the Last Judgment, and the iconic Creation of Adam, in which God reaches out to touch Adam’s fingertip. The work took four years to complete, and has stood for over 500 years as one of the great monuments of sustained creativity in the Western world.

But none of that was how Michelangelo experienced it.

Creative ProcessMark SamplesJune 3, 2024

How to Not Sell Out, Expressed in One Diagram

Creative ProcessMark SamplesMay 27, 2024selling out, authors, creative business

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