Producer and sound engineer Appiah Dankwah, better known as Appietus, is worried and unhappy about what he perceives to be an influx of self-taught sound engineers who he believes would eventually bring the Ghanaian music industry to its knees.

According to him, in order for these self-taught sound engineers—who assert that they learned their craft from YouTube and other new media platforms—to have any real impact on the Ghanaian music scene, they must improve their skills by obtaining professional instruction.

Appietus exposed the significant crisis facing Ghana’s music business as a result of these self-taught sound engineers undermining the caliber of sound production on a Tuesday, July 16, 2024 in an interview with Graphic Showbiz.

The seasoned producer emphasized that poor sound production was preventing Ghana’s music industry from making a name for itself on the international scene, and he pushed the self-taught sound engineers to go above and beyond for superior results rather than settling for mediocrity.

He declared, “You have to comprehend sound engineering, the dynamics, the range of decibels you can go, the frequency range listeners can perceive, and all the technicalities. These are all things that you must comprehend. People that claim to have learned sound engineering on YouTube are unique to our field.”

“You cannot go to YouTube and learn how to become a surgeon or medical doctor. No one will lie down and declare, “Okay, this is my stomach; operate on me,” just because they saw it posted on a social media site. However, there are those in Ghana who claim, “Oh, I learned it on YouTube, so I know.” Please, come on. You cannot learn the actual stuff from these online networks,” he said.

Works by these amateurs, in his opinion, are part of the reason why the majority of our songs aren’t becoming international hits.

“The global market recognizes quality, and will reject products of inferior quality. Come on, they’re going to toss your music away if you don’t have what’s known as industry standard sound.”

BY: APPIANIMAA MERCY