For Beginners: 8 Perfect Steps On How To Start Producing Music
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Written by Jaron Lewis
Perhaps the most common hang up of a novice producer is an understanding of the process. Unless you’ve seen a professional in action you rely on trial and error. Whether you want to know how to start producing hip hop beats, how to start producing electronic music, or how to start making music at home- there are eight steps to get you there.
There are plenty of software options, and recording equipment that you can get for affordable prices. When you think about how many artists have used YouTube, SoundCloud, SoundClick, BeatStars, and before that MySpace, to gather attention you can see why so many people are interested in producing.
1. Software
You don’t need to fork out a fortune, your best bet is to start off with a basic beat making software, something like Fruity Loops. It allows you to learn the process step by step while you make your beats. It’s a great starting point and because it offers an excellent quality of sound kits and special effects.
2. Midi Keyboard
This will hook up to your digital audio workstation and let you play melodies from it, as opposed to using your mouse and keyboard. It’s more enjoyable, and far more efficient.
Most basic music production software is compatible with a MIDI keyboard, but double check and avoid any software that doesn’t.
3. Don't Rush
The learning process is vital to your ability to produce excellent beats, do don’t push yourself through that too quickly. When you feel like that time is right, then advance to a more technical software.
You can find interfaces on YouTube to see whether it’s up your street before you make the purchase. You may find that certain sounds or drum kits might not be to your exact liking, but you can upload new samples and sounds into your software to make up for any shortcomings.
4. Practice Makes Perfect
No matter how busy life gets… you should make time for it every day. The only way to become great is to push yourself to practice, and practice and get better.
5. Listen
You need to invest in a quality set of studio headphones to be able to listen effectively. The only way to hear all the sound elements of your beat is to shut everything else out to listen carefully. Once everything else is shut out your mind can hone in on all the different sounds.
6. The Drums
This is especially true of rap and hip hop music, drums are everything. You’ve got to make the drums hit hard to make a listener’s head bop. Not just any drum sound will do, it must pack a punch. A great place to find hard hitting drum sounds is The Producers Choice.
7. The Instruments
You want great sounding instruments that pack a punch, reflect emotion and sound live. The drums are vital, but so are the instrumentals. It isn’t about the melodies, it’s about the sounds. Buy some high quality piano loops or synth loops, chop them to create your own melody, add drums and you have a winning formula.
8. Know Quantization
This allows you to slide MIDI notes to particular points of tracks so they don’t sound off key. If you’re freestyling your melodies it might not sync with the beat, and that’s when quantization comes into play. Don’t overuse it, because you don’t want it to sound machine made.
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© 2024 Omari MC, LLC. All Rights Reserved.