Music Production Tips and Tricks Summary Intro Beginners Music Production tips Boost your productivity! Get inspiration! You might not have thought about this Promote your music Conclusion
Intro Hi Fellow musicians, Welcome to my world, the world of a home based music producer. My name is Angélique and I am the creator of the website Children Of the Electronic Revolution. I am a independent music producer and although I hate to put a name on a genre you could categorize my style as Deep House, Minimal and Tech House but as I say I don t like the whole genre discussion and being myself very eclectic, I love to incorporate different styles into my music and I might be ending doing something crazy style wise in the future Why did I create Children of The Electronic Revolution? When I started off as an amateur electronic music producer a few years ago I was overwhelmed by all the information on the web. I had absolutely no idea where to start so I googled for hours trying to make out out how I should start, what DAW to use, where to find tutorials before I actually could finally start what I came there for and is producing electronic music. Years later I am still searching the net because things change fast in the music industry and you have to stay up to date with new programs, social media, to make the best out of it. 1.
How can I help you succeed as a music producer? That s why I wanted to help others giving all the info you guys need so you get all the information you need to start right away! On this website I d like to share my passion to Electronic music and bring a little bit of my knowledge to those who like me want to make it as a music producer. I will teach you how to start making music from scratch as well as teaching you how to make music on Ableton, FL Studio,... I am not a professional nor do I know everything about the music industry, (I am still learning myself and I am sure I can learn a lot from all of you guys ) but I was always searching for a community where mind related people can connect and help each other because what we do all want is be recognized for our art! To welcome you into my world I created this guide :'Music Production: Tips and tricks' and I really hope you enjoy it Enjoy the lecture! Angélique 2
Beginners Keep it simple! What do I mean by keeping it simple? When you start out you might think that the more software and gear you own, the better it is. You are wrong! You see those pictures of home studio's on internet and you already imagine yourself playing around with the latest Micro Korg and tweaking the buttons of your latest Push, but just be aware that those studios have been built up for several years sometimes. A mistake that a lot of people make is investing in gear before even being an expert at the one they already have... And never become an expert at any! Before you buy a synth, you need to have a notion of the features that this synth possess. Try out the the built in synths of your DAW and experiment or buy a basic, cheap synth that is starter-friendly. Then upgrade to VST plugins like Massive or Sylenth to familiarize with synths before you finally decide to invest in analog gear. Learn what chord progressions are and get yourself some musical back ground. Start by making simple melodies and experiment. Get familiar with technical features like oscillators, Filter, Mod Env and LFO Little by little you'll gain experience and... 'You have plenty of time to build up a home studio as you and your music grow!' 3.
Don't invest in too much software at the time... You can start for FREE! In the continuity of what I said before, you shouldn't invest in too much software or gear when you start off. In my post 'How to make music for free' I am explaining how you can start making music for free, how much a home studio cost and what budget you will need. There is no reason why you should spend hundreds of dollars at first when there are so many free options to take advantage of. All DAWS offer a free trial period of 30 days! There are some Free DAWS you can test out! The Internet is full of Free Sample Packs and VST Plugins! Read more : How to make music for free Of course you will need to invest eventually but there is no hurry in wanting it all right now! Give yourself some time to get used to your software before you build out your home studio. Music production is not cheap and it might take some time to see something coming out of your investment. Take it one step at the time and enjoy the ocean of free stuff that internet has to offer! 'The internet is full of free resources to help you start out right away!' 4.
. but invest in the RIGHT things Your DAW The most important thing when you start is choosing your DAW (Digital Audio Interface Your DAW will be the most important tool of your home studio. There is a lot of discussion about which DAW is the best to work with and people tend to claim that the DAW that they are working with is the best! The truth is that there is not a best DAW. The best DAW is the one you feel comfortable working with. Like I said before, the good news is every DAW offers a free trial period. You can try out as many as you want before making your final decision. Read more : Top 10 production software Headphones Professional Stdio headphones will be one of the most essential parts of your studio equipment! You can start out without monitors and an audio interface but not without headphones! There are some great values out there for affordable prices! And there are some very performant studio headphones for less than 100 $. Read more : 'The best professional studio headphones under 300 $' If you are not sure how to choose headphones, you need to know that there are different types of headphones and that each type has it's own function. For recording or tracking you will need closed-back headphones, while you'd preferably use open or semi open headphones for mixing and mastering. Some can perfectly handle both. Read more ' How to choose professional headphones' 5.
Building you home studio Little by little you will want to build up your home studio. You already have the 2 most important things to start with, you DAW and a professional studio headphones. Whats is the next step? The next most important gear or software to add to your home studio are An audio interface Monitors Eventually monitors stands and isolation pads Isolation VST Plugins and/or analog synths It doesn't have to be in that order, although an audio interface would be the next best thing to buy. Especially when you invest in monitors, as you will need to connect those to an audio interface. There are hundreds of different audio interface and your final choice will depend on different aspects. Read more : What is an audio interface? And of course you will need monitors. There are some great values out there and next to headphones and an audio interface, you just won't be able to do without. In Part 2 of Electronic Music for beginners I am giving you more information on monitors but also on monitor stands and the importance of using isolation pads. Read more: Building your home studio 6.
Use Sample Packs! When you try to make it as a musician the main goal is to be great at it but also to have fun! You strongly believe you are going to be the next Beethoven of the electro scene and you WILL create everything by yourself? You believe that Samples and Sample Packs are only good for shitty EDM producers with no talent or inspiration but it s not that easy Some website do offer high quality sample Packs that can help you out starting out or that can be used to recreate something new out of it for more experimented producers! 'Using Sample Packs is OK but Use them Wisely!' How to use Sample Packs? Read more: Loops and sample packs : How to use them Top 10 best websites for Loops, Samples and Sample packs? Read more: Royalty free Loops and Samples 7.
Learn! The internet is FULL of Tutorials, Product Reviews and information if you know where to look. Your DAW comes with tutorials on about anything you need to know on how to start out and much more. 'The internet is full of tutorials and resources' I know I have watched hundreds of hours of tutorials and I still do. It would be silly not to use all the resources you can find on Internet... As I started my website just recently I haven't had time to dedicate myself making tutorials right now but I will be creating tutorials for Ableton and FL Studio soon, so make sure to stay tuned! Trust your instinct Don't listen to people! You will eventually have to face negativity at some point. You are not good enough It is extremely difficult to make it in the music industry you should make EDM instead of Techno if you want to make a living out of it You should use Ableton instead of FL Studio Rings a bell? People don't always mean bad by giving their best 'advice' but if it brings you down, just let it go! 'You know best where you want to go' 8.
Take advice but keep a critical mind.. When you are beginner it is great to get some advice from more experienced musicians or pros. You will get a lot out of what they might teach you but... Remember that every one has his own way of doing things and that a method that works for someone, will not necessarily be the method that works for you. 'Not every Advice is good advice' Play your music to your friends and family. As a beginner you might feel shy at first to let someone else into your world. Your friends and family won't judge you and even though they might not share your taste in music they will give you their objective opinion. And it 's a great way to test before you blast! 'They are your number one fans!' 9.
Experiment with different things! You can create samples with house hold objects. Your home is a 'free Sample Paradise' and you can create samples with almost everything. You will need a good mic to record your sounds and with a little bit of imagination you can add effects to transform about any possible sound in a source of inspiration for your new track! Record sounds you hear in the streets or anywhere, they can be great samples for your next track! EXPERIMENT! I got the idea by watching an old time classic 'Berlin Calling' with Paul Kalkbrenner and people who watched the movie will recognize the scene I am talking about ;) If you haven't watched the movie, I highly recommend it! Watch Berlin Calling : here 10.
Music Production Tips Save, Save and Save again I don't really have to explain the importance of saving but when you are concentrated in your music you might forget! It happened to all of us... You are working on a track and it sounds great so you want to add something more to it but in the action you forgot to save and the result is a total mess! You are not sure which action caused that mess and you have no saved copy to return to... Certainly sounds familiar, so don't forget and Save Save Save! A great idea is to save different versions of your track while your song grows. If something gets fussy at some point you can still go back to an older version of it and start again! Put an alarm to help you remember to save ;) Analyze your favorite tracks A great way to 'reproduce' tracks you like or to learn form your favorite tracks is to import the track into your DAW and analyze it. Use A Spectrum or Pax Analyzer Use filters and other FX of your DAW to try to recreate or resample the track into a new one. You can analyze the tempo, the built up of the track and separate stems to get a better vision of the aspects of that track. And of Course Don't copy!!! 11.
Create groups for Mixing and Mastering When mixing and mastering, you should create different groups and Master each group separately in a new track for the drums for the bass for the instruments for all the higher frequencies This will spare you a lot of time and you'll see better results! Over-using effects? Something that is very common when you are mastering and mixing your track is adding effects to your mixes. Basically it is the right thing to do but a lot of times you you are going just a few steps too far to get that perfect mix and you end up with a big mess! Instead of re-tweaking again and again to resolve the issue, try to identify where it went wrong and export and mix every audio or midi track separately without the effects. Gradually put the song together again by slowly adding the effects one on one. Watch out with effects and go progressively. Too many can kill your mix! And of course SAVE whenever you think it sounds right before adding something else. Cluttered mix? Reasons why your mix is cluttered or sound muddy can be the result of bad EQ-ing or compression. An other reason might be the over using effects. To clean your mix, take every element separately, delete the effects and start over by gradually adding effects to each track. Start with the drums, the the bass line and so on... 12.
Take your mixes outside 'their comfort zone' You should take out your music and play it through different headphones, on different places and with different devices! It will give you an idea of how other people perceive your music. You have to know that your music will sound different in your studio with your professional headphones and monitors that in a club or on MP3. It is important to hear the differences to enable you to remix errors like latency or gain and achieve the best result possible, even with a pair of crappy headphones. Stuck in the loop? You've been working on that track for days and you have some great loop already. Sounds great and you listen to your loop over and over to get ideas on how to make a full track of your great loop. But you listen en listen again and nothing seems to come! I 'll explain you more on that in the next chapter but some quick tips are The 8 th bar theory! Adding simple changes on each 8 th bar is a must to keep the listeners attention. Our minds are made so that once we hear something we have an expectation of what will come next. To keep your listener focused you need to adapt small changes every 8 th bar. Add an instrument! Sounds obvious but you can add a second instrument playing the exact melody but with slight differences and effects to emphasize your lead on the next 8 th bar and get a progressive uplifter till the eventual drop. Add audio and/or midi effects Add an arpeggiator for example to give your melody a make over but it's up to you to experiment. There are a lot of ways to get back on track when you are stuck but the most important are to get your inspiration back! (More on that later). 13.
Boost your productivity Shut down your internet connection! Or at least your Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,... and any other forms of distraction. Leaving your FB open, even you are not really ON Facebook is a bad habit because you 'll get and check it eventually and you will probably get stuck in some post. Imagine if you do that 10 times a day? Accumulate the minutes and you will see how much precious time you have lost in that. Use a timer Use a timer or alarm and let it go off every 90 minutes to take a break. Long listening sessions are not only bad for your ears but also for your productivity. It has been proven that human beings can stay concentrated on task for 90 minutes before the level of concentration drops. You should take a break from at least 1 hour every 4 hours You need some time to let it all rest You won't be able to hear anything correctly after hours of intense listening! 'Use this method and you will see your productivity improve drastically' 14.
Listen to you music only once and let it rest. Stop listening to that track over and over! You are creating a track. Got a nice bouncy drum loop and an uplifting melody. It sounds great already but something is missing What will you do? The same as almost every one else! You will listen and listen again to the same loop over and over in the hope you'll get that sparkle of inspiration to get back on track. I know I did but it worked sometimes but I learned that the best way to get inspiration is to have 1 good listen and let the track rest for a day or more. Try to focus on something else or try to make a new track. The one you are working on will still be in the back of head and you might even surprise yourself with a see of inspiration! There is absolutely no point in dong so and you won't improve anything by keeping on working on that same track for days in a row. You will only notice that your song will only get worse. Listen once Takes notes Let it rest one day or even a couple of days Listen again and make small changes Let it rest again,... Create a deadline Make a deadline for your tracks. It will improve your productivity and it will teach you how to handle deadlines when you have a contract with a Record Company. 15.
Get inspiration Listen to music It is very important to get inspiration. You should not only be listening to your own style of music but experiment with other styles that you might not listen to. It opens a whole new world of inspiration. Just force yourself to listen to classical music, Heavy Metal, Country music or music genres you absolutely hate! It will open your ears to new sounds and you might even end up liking it! ' Listen to Music you don't like' Go out! By going out I don't only mean go out and party, but take some fresh air and discover the world! This will not only be good for your health (spending hours and hours behind a computer is not the best way to stay in shape) but it also open your eyes and ears to new experiences and it will empty your mind of all the fuss going on your head. You'll be more focussed after a good walk and breathing some fresh air! Travel! If you have the opportunity, travel as much as you can! Not only traveling alone and meeting new cultures is inspirational but you will get to know a lot of new music styles and instruments you might not even been aware existed... Inspiration Guaranteed! 16.
You might not have thought about this... Lightening Something that most producers don't think about is the lightening of their home studio. Remember you will be spending hours looking at a computer screen, which is already a very bad thing for your eyes as you probably know. If you don't use an adequate light source I can guarantee you that you are going to damage your eyes after a while and you need some glasses in a very near future. Stop working in the dark and chose some soft, nice, chill-out lightening. instead. Stretching and eye-exercises Might sound silly but do some exercises with your eyes every 15 min, roll them, look right and left, Look at something close and then something far. This will protect you from the 'computer eye' syndrome. Not only are you staring at your computer for hours, you are also sitting down all the time. Stretch regularly and exercise. Your neighbors!. Isolation is your best friend! Or bring them some cookies in case you made too much noise ;) Really, You should invest in a good isolation, that not only allows you to mix your tracks better without interferences but also out of respect of the ones in your surroundings. 17.
Promote your music Join Music Platforms SoundCloud, Youtube, Bandsintown, Song Kick, Fiverr, Spotify or Music Blogs... are great places to promote your music. Create a website or blog to promote your music Did you ever thought that maybe the simplest way is to create your own website or blog? There are a lot of advantages in doing so and It's not as difficult as it seems. The good thing is that you and only decide what happens on your website and you can be as creative as you want. Don't be afraid to contact record labels What is the worst thing that can happen? Rejection right?! Do you think your favorite artists were received with open arms when they sent their first demo? Of course not... you will be rejected and it's inevitable. Ouch, I know it hurts... But you need to face that those who signed right away are exceptions. You will learn form it and it will make you stronger. Remember that the business of music industry is a harsh world and you need to be capable to face rejection as part of your musical career. 'The day will come that someone believes in you' 18.
Ask your favorite band or artist for feedback? Why don't you ask your favorite artist for feedback? They started out just like you some day and some are accessible for a chat... yes really! Become a DJ Do some Dj-ing too, this will allow you to play your music and get a name faster. Add your tracks to your mixes and post them on your favorite music website. It is not necessary to be a DJ/ Producer but it opens more doors ad you will be able to make a living out of it faster than only with Music Production. Think outside the box If your music is not getting you where you want right now, why don't you think 'outside the box' and use your creativity to make money on another level. You can create and sell Sample packs. Making music for animation or movies Creating music for video games, Publicity, apps,... Create tutorials, product reviews and share! This isn't maybe what you want to do with your music, but they are a great way to make a name. and a living! And the most important DARE! 19.
Conclusion You need to come out of your shell and expose your music to the world! Forget about your fear of rejection and what people say and believe in what you are worth! Only the idea of wanting to create music is something beautiful and sharing your art is one of the most wonderful things one can imagine. 'Don't think money but think ART' Because at the end that is what it is all about! We might like an produce different genres and I admit that some types of music are not Art at all...but that doesn't matter because what counts at the end is the love for music. I hope you enjoyed this short guide with 'Tips and Tricks' and that it helped you out. Make sure to stay tuned for more if you liked it and I see you soon on Children Of The Electronic Revolution! Sincerely, Angélique PS: Please leave a comment on my website if you like it! Any suggestion in content or info that you'd like to see will be taken in consideration :) 20.