If you’re a music enthusiast, then the chances are that you’ve also thought about producing your own. But most people realize that when they start to do the research, they’re hit with technical terms that make them turn away.
To produce music, you need both technical knowledge and a whole lot of creativity. While creativity is personal, it’s much easier to understand the technical steps involved in producing tracks. Here are some basic terms to acquaint yourself with.
The Digital Audio Workstation
The digital audio workstation, also known as DAW, is the mother of all recording software. This digital hub is singlehandedly in charge of recording, editing, and mixing audio. And all of this is done right on your computer through dedicated software!
Sounds
Now that we know the software where the magic happens, we need to know where to procure the elements that are needed to make the music. It’s important to understand that two kinds of sounds can be integrated into your DAW: external and internal.
As the name suggests, external sounds are recorded, well, externally! These sounds include guitars, acoustics, drums, violin, vocals, or electronic keyboards. Once recorded, these sounds are added to your DAW or sequencer.
Internal sounds are already present within your DAW. They mimic the sound of instruments that you can ‘play’ with your keyboard or mouse. Another kind of internal sound is a sample. However, these are melodies and tunes that are produced by third party manufacturers externally and then provided to users for quick download and use.
Mixing
Now that you have all your sounds loaded up on your sequencer, the next task you have to master is arrange them sequentially and mix them, so they feel seamless. Arranging your sounds can be divided into an intro, verses, chorus, bridge, etc.
It’s also in the mixing stage that you add ‘effects’ to your soundtrack. These effects edit your sound and give it more dimension. Once you equalize your audio to give it a more uniform sound, you can play around with popular effects such as reverb to add reflective echoes. This personalizes the audio and gives it a creative touch.
Alongside audio effects, you can integrate virtual effects into your instruments. These effects can turn your acoustic guitar audio into an electric guitar, changing the sound significantly.
A good recording software gives you the freedom to change and play around with your track as much as you desire. And once you’ve got the technical knowledge down, it’s all about how much creativity you can add to your music.
Mastering
While mastering is usually left to the experts, we believe some practice can make it easy for amateurs. The mastering process is soon followed by the mixing process and is the stage that separates a good track from a professional one.
Most of the mastering stage is EQ-ing your track to perfection. It’s essentially the process of sanding out any rough edges. It’s also the part where you unify the track with others produced within the album and prepare for distribution. Of course, this is not something for a hobbyist, but it’s an essential step for professional music producers!
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