Quick Start Guide To Producing Music

It does not take much to be bedroom producer these days. With a handful of software and a computer, anyone can produce quality tracks with a little training. This guide will get you up to speed with current technologies and what you need to start producing.

Step 1. Choose your main software

Your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) is where you arrange and put together your final tracks. Therefore, it is important to research different DAWs and choose one. Below is a list of the most popular and sophisticated DAWs. The list has been ordered in terms of personal preference and overall popularity. Choose wisely.

1. Apple Logic Pro/Express – (MAC ONLY) Logic Pro has the cleanest and simplest interface and its bundled instruments and effects units are extensive and the best. Logic Pro is the best all around producing software. This program is my personal favorite. The only downside is that Logic Pro is mac only.
2. Ableton Live – Ableton Live is the the new kid on the block and it is gaining massive popularity. Ableton Live allows one to produce music on the fly by superimposing musical clips on top of one another. Producing with Ableton Live is very fun and allows one to brainstorm ideas very quickly. The learning curve is relatively easy. I highly recommend watching their demo video: Ableton Live Demo Video
3. Propellerhead Reason – Reason is another relatively easy program to pickup. It is designed to model classic audio equipment. So when you open it and you see 200 knobs and sliders, It can be very daunting. Despite the way it looks, Reason has an amazing library of instruments and is easy to use. Reason is limited in that it does not allow you to record vocals inside the program. Reason is usually used in tandem with another DAW such as Ableton Live or Logic because it can not naively record vocals.
4. Digidesign Pro Tools – Pro Tools is the industry standard. Every professional music studio has it installed and it has been the de facto software for many years. Despite its popularity in the studio, Pro Tools is not that popular in the consumer world because the software only runs if you have one of their audio interfaces (200+ USD)
5. FL Studio (FruityLoops) – FL Studio gets a lot of criticism for being a novice tool. However, FL Studio is used by many professional producers and is a powerful tool with a big community of support.

Step 2. Get some hardware…. or not.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need any special hardware to produce great music besides your computer loaded with a DAW. It is completely possible to produce great tracks with just a computer and software. Despite this fact, having specialized hardware will make your life MUCH easier.

One piece of hardware that is highly recommended is a MIDI keyboard. A MIDI keyboard will allow you to play your software instruments using an actual musical keyboard. MIDI keyboards can range from sub $100 to $500+. Below is a list of great entry-level MIDI keyboards.

• Keyrig 25 and Keyrig 49 – sub $100 dollar keyboards that are great for mobile production or in the studio.
• korg nanoKey- sub $60 dollar keyboard that is tiny enough to fit in your laptop bag. Great for new or mobile producers.
• There are so many MIDI controllers out there. Do some research and find a nice one in your price range.

Step 3. Get some samples and patches.

Samples are great when first getting started with producing. Most producers use drum samples and a drum sampler to produce the beats for their tracks.

Here is a list of some recommended sound libraries:

• Vengeance Sound Packs – These packs are great for anyone planning to produce club or electronic music. These sounds have been used so much by so many people that many of them have started to sound a little cliche. Despite how overused they are, these sound libraries should be in your collection.
• Loopmasters – Loopmasters.com is a site specially dedicated to providing high quality electronic, disco, funk, hiphop, and RnB samples. It is  a source worth checking out.

Step 4. Start reading tutorial sites.

The type of music you want to create will largely determine how your entire producing process will go. Tutorial websites will help with producing sounds for specific genres of music and accomplishing effects. Below is a list of recommended tutorial websites:

• Audiotuts.com – Great website that offers tutorials ranging from sound design to music theory.
• Musicradar.com – clear step by step tutorials covering all aspects of music production.
• Nickstutorials.com – video tutorials for Ableton Live.
• Boyinaband.com – Complete song production video tutorials in Reason.
• Sonicacademy.com – Complete song production video tutorials with Ableton Live, and Logic Pro.

Step 5. Learn music theory and composition.

This one seems very hard and boring. If you are a techie like me, learning the basics of music theory sounds like a very daunting and boring task. Learning music theory is an essential part of producing music. No matter how good your tech stuff is, your tracks will not sound good unless you know the basics of melody and harmony. Computer musicians do not need to learn all of music theory. There are many books specialized on teaching music theory to computer musicians. I highly recommend these books:

• Music Theory for Computer Musicians
• Composition for Computer Musicians
• Dance Music Manual, Second Edition: Tools. toys and techniques