Recording and producing music is a great creative outlet for anyone looking to put ideas to their songs. It can be a bit confusing to start, but that’s what you’re here for, right? Well, let’s get started!
Here’s a few quick terms before we get into the mechanics of how to build a track.
DAWs. DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation. It’s the software you’ll use to record your audio into as well as create electronic sounds in. The most artist forward DAWs are Logic Pro and Cubase. If you’re looking to create specifically EDM or software instrument based music, I recommend Ableton Live.
Plugins. Plugins are software units that you’ll use within your DAW to either make sound or edit sound. A plugin can be as simple as a piano emulation that you can play with a MIDI controller.
Audio vs. MIDI. When recording, there’s two main types of tracks you’ll be using to create sound. Audio tracks and MIDI tracks. An audio track is something that you’ll record using a microphone or a real instrument. In your DAW it appears as a waveform. A MIDI track is a software instrument track and sends note data to an instrument plugin. In your DAW it appears as a series of lines. These lines when grouped together are called clips.
A little confused? I get it! This is confusing stuff. The easiest way to get a feel for producing music is to get right in it and try to record something with both types of tracks! It also helps to watch a few YouTube videos of other producers creating tracks to get a feel of the process.
So… where do we go from here?
There’s a few ways you can prep yourself. Check out my blog How To Set Up A Home Recording Studio On A Budget to get a feel for the equipment you’ll need. While you’re at it, my ebook, The Secret 12 Hour Songwriting Technique, goes over the basics of taking a song from conception to radio ready. When producing music, one more piece of equipment that helps a lot is a MIDI Controller. This is basically a keyboard that plugs into your computer and lets you send instrument data to plugins. It sounds complicated, but once you get everything plugged in, it’s pretty straightforward.
If this is your first time trying to produce a song, I would look up a few YouTube videos on how your specific DAW works. Try to find a video that walks you through how to start a song from scratch. From there, try doing it on your own! There’s a few different approaches to creating a song, but the two most basic methods are the bottom up approach and the top down approach.
The bottom up approach is a method where you build a track from… you guessed it! The bottom up. Start with the foundation of a song, meaning the drums and bass. From there, layer on top your keys, synth, guitars, and then put your vocals on top! This is pretty straightforward and a lot of producers choose this method when writing and creating.
The other approach is a top down approach. This method works best for singer songwriter type artists. In this approach, you’ll write your song’s lyrics and melody first. From there, you’ll put it to whatever your primary instrument is. You’ll record it as well as your singing, then build your track around that! If you’re interested in this method, you should check out Max Martin and Swedish writing techniques, which are centered around building a track around a melody.
Any final tips?
Like I’ve said in other blog posts, LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN! Draw inspiration from the songs you listen to as well as the songs you don’t listen to. The easiest way to learn how to produce music is to try to copy another song and recreate something similar!
