Releases are the most important thing to get people to hear your music, and weather you’re an artist, or producer helping artists, you should listen to this to hear how you can make releases better.There really is no “Perfect” way to release m

Most regretted audio gear purchases & why AVID’s sale is worrying

Aug 21st, 2023 30m 8s

We all have dumb purchases that we thought would be a great idea but weren’t quite worth it, and we also have those purchases we wish we had all along! That’s what we’re chatting about today! Plus I discuss my new laptop, what the Junos sent me

3 Things to Keep Your Creativity Fresh

Jul 24th, 2023 26m 56s

Here are 3 things that I feel need to be a regular reminder for creators in general, things I need to constantly remind myself and others. When we're so passionate about what we do, sometimes these can fall by the wayside.LINKS:Barely Holdin

How Ethan Maac Creates His Musical Worlds

Jul 10th, 2023 1h 1m

Artist, Musician and Creator Ethan Maac joins me today to discuss his creative process, how he got into production and how he thinks about everything creative that surrounds his music. He’s not only a talented musician and producer of his own m

How AI could help music production!

Jun 26th, 2023 29m 42s

This week we discuss Apple’s latest releases (and if they really are worth keeping an eye on for music production) company consolidation and news about Native Instruments and Moog Audio. I talk about Waves StudioVerse and what I think it’s all

My production method feels like sampling myself

Jun 14th, 2023 19m 13s

This week we’re talking about an exciting new launch for ANAK Creates, some news coming from the Pro Tools world and some awesome new releases from friends of the channel. I also talk about my production method where I feel like I’m sampling my

Top 5 Mixes, Using Templates and April Fools Failures [Ear Break]

Apr 12th, 2023 1h 11m

This episode of Ear Break we're joined by Malcolm Cottle to chat about the "fast fashion" of YouTube Covers and the usage of templates to enhance your workflow, and not to be a box for creativity. We also dive into our Top 5 Mixes, which is a q

Peter Gabriel's Double Mix, World Gone Mad Creation, and are the Grammys Overrated? [Ear Break]

Feb 27th, 2023 32m 56s

Welcome to the first episode of Ear Break! I series on the show that's more casual, answering questions and chatting about things around music creation, the music industry. This episode I'm chatting about my latest youtube video and the creativ

Dr. Jay Hodgson - Mastering and The Perception of Sound

Feb 13th, 2023 1h 19m

This episode I am joined by Dr. Jay Hodgson. He is an accomplished musician and songwriter, and a fantastic mastering engineer. He also has his PHD and is a professor at Western University, a published author with a number of academic books on

Emmett O'Reilly and Malcolm Cottle on their Anxious Attachment shortfilm music video and the lessons learned

Nov 30th, 2022 1h 2m

In this episode I’m joined by Emmett O’Reilly and Malcolm Cottle to chat about their latest (and most ambitious) release Anxious Attachement. This is no ordinary project, this is a full cinematic shortfilm stringing together the music videos fo

What is the perfect DAW? (For You)

Mar 23rd, 2022 25m

There's really no such thing as "the perfect DAW" (Digital Audio Workstation), however, there is a great DAW to suit everyone. A DAW needs to fit your needs and your workflow, and above all else, it needs to help you create your best, fastest,

Adding life into programmed Drums - Tips for Drum Programming

Mar 16th, 2022 48m 8s

Here are some tips for programming drums, both for drummers and non-drummers! Malcolm Cottle and myself talk about things to pay attention to as well as some techniques to improve the authenticity and realism of programmed drums.Malcolm, a pro

Let's talk about Software Piracy

Mar 9th, 2022 20m 7s

This is a problem that hurts more people than you think. Plugin cracks and software piracy is something that plagues the music industry, and piracy of the music in general. I felt I needed to talk about it, discourage it, and explain why it hur

Everyone Perceives music differently, and how that effects our productions w. Jay Riehl

Mar 2nd, 2022 41m 58s

We don't really think about the different factors that influence how we perceive music, such as our upbringing, life experiences, emotions associated with different aspects of the genre, artist or listening environment, age, and many more thing

The Authenticity of Modern Music and what's really hurting the creative process

Feb 23rd, 2022 46m 18s

Modern Music Production Techniques aren’t hurting music, modern consumption is demanding to much and not allowing artists to write properly, as much was meant to be written. This is most obvious and easy to talk about in many modern metal and r

Let's talk about Mix Notes - Guidelines to help your mix notes go smoother

Feb 16th, 2022 39m 2s

Mix notes are something that all producers, engineers, and artists have to deal with, wether giving or receiving them, they are part of music creation. However, it seems like many people don't totally know what to expect from mix notes, or what

A GREAT year of CREATIVITY! - 2021 Recap and a look forward!

Dec 22nd, 2021 15m 13s

2021 was a great year! This episode I wanted to do a bit of a recap of the highlights of the year for ANAK Creates, and a look into what next year is going to bring!What are some of your top accomplishments creatively of the last year?---

Top 5 Common Mixing Mistakes to avoid and take your mixes to the next level!

Dec 8th, 2021 31m 48s

In this episode I discuss the most common mistakes or oversights that I find people make in their mixes and productions. When giving my mix feedback, these are some of the most common threads of advice I keep giving. There's so much to cover, b

How to record yourself - As the artist, producer, and engineer w. Malcolm Cottle

Nov 24th, 2021 1h 19m

In this episode, I'm joined by our friend Malcolm Cottle to discuss the ups, the downs, and the technicals of confidently recording yourself as a one person show - the artist, producer, engineer or any combination thereof. Both Malcolm and I h

The best way to give notes and feedback - be a pleasure to work with and get the best results

Nov 10th, 2021 28m 23s

Giving Feedback, Mix Notes, Production Notes, basically giving your thoughts on someone’s creative outlet, is something that happens often, but need to be given in the right way. Well delivered thoughts, feedback or notes can go a long way to i

Budgeting a Record; Getting started with a minimal budget

1 Nov 3rd, 2021 40m 15s

When it comes to making a record, and more importantly the budgeting of the record, many new artists are unsure where to start. There are many questions, without a lot of honest answers out there. Every audio professional is out there trying to

Trailer

The ANAK Creates Podcast [Trailer]

Oct 29th, 2021 1m 28s

Welcome to The ANAK Creates Podcast! I'm your host, Alex Krotz.My podcast is all about exploring the art of engineering and music production, what that means to different artists, producers and engineers and how it affects the creation process

TOO MANY plugins! A guide to purchasing plugins for the right reasons w. Malcolm Cottle

Oct 27th, 2021 1h 2m

In this week’s episode, I’m joined once again by Malcolm Cottle to talk about plugins, one of our favorite things.We discuss how lazy engineering can result from purchasing plugins without learning how to use them. To further knowledge growth,

Don't Pay for Ego | Being cautious about who your hiring and what reason they are involved

Oct 20th, 2021 33m 17s

Someones name attached to your project is not the one reason that's going to push your songs to the next level. You need a great production and a team willing to help achieve that. Sometimes artists get blinded by the though of having someones

There are no rules in music production and creativity, find your own process

Oct 13th, 2021 26m 17s

Music Production, audio engineering, mixing, songwriting, basically any form of musical creativity has NO RULES and no Step by Step Processes that are set in stone.Yes, there are guidelines, and there and step by step instructions for certain