Are you someone who purchases new music on iTunes and immediately looks for the liner credits? Maybe you find yourself watching music award shows and you’re more interested in hearing from the winners of Producer of the Year rather than Artist of the Year. Or perhaps you find yourself spending quite a bit of time online looking for software such as Pro Tools so that you can start making some tracks of your own.

If you are someone who can relate to any (or all) of these scenarios, then you are someone who shows some of the signs of what it takes to become successful producer. However, before you start practicing your acceptance speech, we wanted to provide you with five tips on how you can get your foot into a production studio door.

Embrace all genres of music. The best kind of music producers are those who don’t listen to only rock or only R&B or only country. Being that a good music producer wants to cultivate a signature sound, that tends to require mixing all kinds of styles of music together. So if you only know about one kind of music from one particular era, it’s a good idea to do some research into other forms as soon as possible.

Think about learning a musical instrument (if you don’t already know one). As technology is becoming an even greater part of music, some people confuse programmers with actual music producers. The former help to come up with concepts while music producers can do that and also lay the tracks down too and that sometimes means being able to play an instrument. If you want to get work done a lot quicker (and usually for much cheaper), it can definitely be beneficial for you to know how to play on a keyboard or the guitar (for starters).

Study the craft (yes, in a classroom). We’ve all seen interviews with famous producers who claim to have never stopped their foot into a classroom. However, in most cases, they are the exception and not the rule when it comes to doing well in music production. That’s why it’s a good idea to at least take a few college classes whether it’s in music theory or recording industry management. There are also schools that are solely devoted to music production such as the Darkhorse Institute in Nashville, TN or the Recording Connection that has several campuses across the country.

Study the business side too. It’s not only important to know about music but also the business side of the industry as well. The reason why there are websites like www.djcontract.com is because they provide a certain amount of information and protection for those who use their musical talent; it’s to prevent others from taking advantage of the services that they offer. Schools like Full Sail have degrees in music business or you can contact your local colleges to see what kind of courses that you can take online.

Do some serious networking. Even if you are the best producer around, it’s not going to matter much if no one knows that but you. All cities have local clubs and bars that feature independent artists and other musicians who are usually just as eager get some professional work done as you are. Get a local arts paper, check out events going on around town and take a few business cards along with you. Once people get used to seeing your face and you develop a few relationships, there’s a pretty good chance that an artist will be interested in cutting a demo with you and who knows? That one small chance could end up being your first big (music production) break!