How to Organize Music Production Tutorials
Without Losing the Creative Spark
As a producer, I’ve lost count of the number of tutorials I’ve watched that vanished from my memory weeks later. Some people will say that those must’ve been the ones that weren’t important enough.
I disagree.
That’s what led me to experiment with building a lightweight system to track and revisit what I was learning. I put mine together in Notion, but the idea isn’t tied to any one platform. The bigger point is this: if you’re self-taught, some kind of structure will go a long way in keeping your learning from slipping through the cracks.
Why Organize at All?
“Don’t complicate it, just make music.” It’s advice you’ll hear often, and it’s not wrong. Exploration is essential.
But here’s the facts: brains are for ideas, not storage. As productivity expert David Allen puts it: “Your brain is for having ideas, not for holding them.”
That means if you’re relying on memory alone, a lot of what you learn will evaporate.
A system doesn’t box you in, it frees you up. By offloading the storage job, your brain is clearer for creativity. And this isn’t about Notion specifically; you could do the same thing in Obsidian, Craft, Evernote, or even a spreadsheet.
The Setup
Here’s the backbone of the system:
Title & URL – where the tutorial lives.
Topic / Technique / DAW – quick tags for filtering.
Status – To Watch, In Progress, Applied, or Archived.
Notes & Action Steps – the 3–5 bullets I want to try in my DAW.
Review Date – so key ideas resurface before they fade.
This isn’t about making the perfect database. It’s about shifting tutorials from a firehose into something you can actually use.
Why It Works
Shifts you from passive to active. A tutorial doesn’t “count” until you log an action step.
Builds recall. Scheduled reviews keep ideas fresh.
Creates a map. Instead of 200 random videos, you can filter: “Show me only mixing techniques I’ve applied at least once.”
How to Try It Yourself
Start as simple as possible:
Make a table.
Add “URL,” “Topic,” “Status,” and “Action Steps.”
Every time you finish a tutorial, write down one thing you’ll try today.
That’s enough to feel the difference.
And if you want to make capturing smoother:
Use the Notion Web Clipper (browser extension) to save tutorials directly into your table with one click.
Share to your list straight from YouTube with one click. On iOS/Android, when you hit Share on a YouTube video/article → choose Notion.
That way, you don’t lose ideas in random bookmarks or endless “Watch Later” playlists — everything goes straight into your system.
Want to Skip the Setup?
👉 Duplicate my Notion tutorial tracker here and start organizing your own library today.
If Notion isn’t your style, mirror it in Obsidian (folders like Tutorials/Applied vs Tutorials/To Watch plus tags like #mixing), Craft (tables + cards), or even Google Sheets. The tool doesn’t matter, the structure does.
The Bigger Picture
For self-taught producers, the missing piece isn’t motivation or resources. It’s structure. A system like this can help you make sure that knowledge doesn’t just evaporate, and that every hour you spend learning has a chance to show up in your tracks.
TL;DR
We don’t struggle with a shortage of tutorials. But we might struggle with recall. A simple system can transform random videos into a learning path you can follow.
Do you have a system that helps you keep track of the tutorials you watch? I’d love to hear how you organize your learning, or if you don’t organize at all, what works for you instead.
And if you’ve got tips that could improve this approach, even better.
Let me know if you found this useful, your feedback helps me keep refining and sharing ideas that actually matter to producers.