Frustration, uncertainty, and disappointment are unavoidable for someone who pursues music as a career. With so much out of our control as songwriters, producers, and performers, it can be tempting to think that we don’t have any say over what happens to our music. In reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth. When you focus on the things you have direct control of in music, you put yourself on a path towards fulfilling your creative potential and reaching your goals.

Recording can be a grueling process even when a professional audio engineer is at the helm. But when an artist acts as a performer, producer, and recording engineer, it gets even trickier. Between the affordable cost of DIY recording equipment and a modern listening audience that’s come to expect a constant stream of new music, more artists are recording their own sessions than ever before. Self-recording is by no means an easy process, but you’ll be far better off if you remember these basic tips:

If you’re an active songwriter, it’s safe to assume you have a lot of unfinished ideas rolling around inside your brain taking up space on your hard drives. We think if we write a ton of music, we’ll eventually stumble on a couple ideas that are really good, and this is true. However, there’s one important caveat that often gets left out of this conversation. Without transforming your ideas into finished songs, you’ll make it harder to write your best music and reach your full potential as a songwriter.

If you’ve always wanted to write music but have never tried it, you might be wondering if you need to master a musical instrument first before you give it a shot. From a non-musical perspective, there are big costs of entry to learning how to write music, and this is true to a degree. From the price of recording equipment or studio time to not knowing where to start, it isn’t always easy to get into songwriting if you have no experience. Luckily, when it comes to experience using an instrument needed for songwriting, you probably need a lot less than you might think.