Basic production skills.

usual

What would be good to concentrate on, to have a an early understanding of how to produce.

For those that know.....
cheers

Sen

music theory is good to know, so that you understand what people are talking about when you ask for advice.

Having a common language makes discussion a lot more simple.

beat construction is probably the backbone to any dance tune.

After that, it's all about synthesis, sampling, mixing, and actual honest-to-goodness song writing skills.

DJ Fat Zed

Beats, sampling and good listening skills.

usual

Simple but helpful advice from you both.

Is it worth spending the money for a days experience in a studio though?

Sen

Not until you know what you're doing. Or can at least talk on the same terms with the engineer.

Trust that you won't get your money's worth unless you have one really really patient engineer.

Yes, the gear is cool. But if you're spending all your time drooling over the racks of machines that go ping, you're not doing what you've paid to go in the studio for...which is to record (not write) music.

Do your learning and writing at home.

Do your recording and mastering at the studio.

End of the day, you want to get in and out of a studio as quickly as possible because the cost is prohibitive.

Hint: It doesn't take a huge big budget studio to write a good song. But it does take a decent studio and engineer to make a good song sound AMAZING.