Understanding the music production process is important in working out a personal workflow as a beginner music producer. Lets have a look at what a typical piece of electronic music takes to get produced from start to finish. This will focus on mainly instrumental music but the process is pretty much the same when also recording vocals.
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Start with an Idea
Having an idea for what you are going to create is the first step. This can come from anything such as listening to other music, sounds you here around you, or experiences you’ve had. One thing to be sure of is that you can get inspiration at any time. This can be when you least expect it so I like to be prepared at all times to capture these ideas.
One thing I do is keep a note file on my smartphone called something like “Music Production Ideas” or “Song Ideas”. This is where I use my voice to record audio clips on the go for melodies and other aspects of what I want to go for. This way you can refer back to the notes at any time and therefore I haven’t got the issue of forgetting my idea hours later. Cloud based note taking apps such as OneNote or Evernote are great for this as they can sync with multiple devices.
The Recording Session
Sitting down with you music creation tools in you studio and fleshing out your ideas is the next step. Sometimes you’ll find that your ideas doesn’t work as you expected but this is a normal part of the creative process. Its about experimenting with your instruments and devices and eventually you will hit the mark with a great jumping off point. Feel free to record multiple clips and make changes as you go until you have something solid. Don’t worry too much about being perfect at this stage.
The Arrangement
Once you have some clips that you are happy with, the next thing is to arrange them into an actual song.
This is typically done in a format like as this but can be arranged in many different ways:
Intro – Verse – Hook/Chorus – Verse 2 – bridge – Hook/Chorus – Verse
Mixing and Mastering
The mixing stage is where you balance all the elements in your tracks to work well together and not have one overpower the other (unless this is an effect you want). All DAWs gives you the ability to adjust fader volumes and add enhancements such as equalisation and compression. All this things when done right gives your track a more professional finish.
Mastering is the very final processing on you master track which affects the entire sound as oppose to processing individual tracks in your DAW. Typically this is done my a dedicated mastering engineer who has a studio setup designed for this task. Normally they can simulate different listening environments through utilising sound treated rooms and a variety of speakers where they can add some polish and fine tuning to the sound.
Exporting Your Song
For easy sharing online I recommend exporting your track to MP3. Some DAWs do not have mp3 as an option so you may need to export as a WAV which is an uncompressed audio file then use another program to convert to MP3.
Either way having the WAV file is good for maintaining a high quality version for further conversions or editing.
Release and Sharing Your Track
So now you have your final shiny new track, its time to get it out to the world! Its never been easier to publish your own music. The easiest way is to share on social media. This way you can develop a following which helps with getting your name out there.
There are a plethora of online music publishers who can get your music on all the popular streaming platforms and online stores. The process is as simple as signing up with one and registering and uploading your track to their website. Once you go through their process, your track can be online amongst some of the biggest names out there.
In closing, there are little barriers nowadays to produce and publish your own tracks. Its extremely fun and also a great way to turn your musical talents into a fulfilling venture.
Now go make some great music!
-Article by Marlon McPherson, Media Producer.