A Beginner’s Guide To Music Production: From Bedroom To Studio

Posted by Mike Schumacher

Music production is the process of creating music, specifically, the composition and recording of the instrumentals and lyrics. A producer can be referred to as the musician who creates the song, the person who assembles the team to create the song, or both.

Music production today is a highly specialized field. In fact, most music producers have education or experience in audio production and/or engineering. This is because most music producers do not have formal training in music composition or lyric writing.

Today, you can learn how to produce music at home on your computer or mobile device. There are many resources that teach you how to produce music on different software (called DAWs) and how to assemble a team to produce music.

Choose your genre

Before you start producing, make sure you have an idea of what kind of music you want to make. Is it jazz? Blues? Classical? Techno?

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These are broad genres that have many sub-genres. For example, techno has hard techno, acid techno, dubstep, and more. Jazz has smooth jazz, traditional jazz, and west coast jazz.

Knowing what genre you want to produce will help you choose the right sounds to use and how to create them. It will also help you market yourself once you are ready to share your music!

Check out music production blogs or other producers in your genre to see what kinds of sounds they use and how they are produced. There are plenty of resources for this online as well.

Learn about common instruments used in your genre

A Beginner's Guide to Music Production: From Bedroom to Studio

Knowing what instruments are used to make music in your genre or which are the most popular is a great way to start. You will learn how to use them and how they work together to create music.

For example, if you are working on hip-hop music, then know how to use the rap rhyme scheme, how to make a beat, and how to edit a hip-hop vocal are important things to learn.

If you are making pop music, then know how to use the main vocal takes and editing programs like Logic or Ableton to create layers. How to use synthesizers and studio equipment is also important for this genre.

Getting even basic knowledge of these things will help you down the road when you progress in production.

Find sample sounds to use

A Beginner's Guide to Music Production: From Bedroom to Studio

Once you have a good idea for a song, it’s time to find sounds to put into the song. You can find sound samples from many places online, as well as from other music.

There are several websites that offer free sound samples and professional quality sounds that you can download to use in your projects. A few of these sites include SoundKit, SampleScience, and FSB sample bank.

Some music genres have specific sounds that are associated with them. For example, dubstep music typically has heavy bass sounds that make it feel like you are feeling the music.

Choosing appropriate sounds is another way to add more depth to your music. Some musicians share files of their own samples so that other artists can use their sounds in their songs.

Create a signature sound

A Beginner's Guide to Music Production: From Bedroom to Studio

Once you are comfortable with music production, you can start to add your own touch to songs. This is when you should start experimenting with your own sounds and genres.

Creating your own sound is something that takes time and lots of practice. You will not get there right away, and it may take years for you to feel like you have created something unique.

Try picking some songs that are in your favorite genre and try to recreate them using your own tools. This will help you find your style and sounds, which you can then use for future projects.

Music is a very wide field with many opportunities to be unique. Try to be subtle in your differences though, as others may not catch on quickly.

Create a unique melody

A Beginner's Guide to Music Production: From Bedroom to Studio

A melody is the set of notes played or sung in a particular order to create a particular emotion. A song can have many different melodies within it, depending on how many different sections there are and how complex the notes are.

Music is a complex art form and the best musicians have mastered the art of creating a great melody. Some even say that music is about the melody, and the rest is secondary elements.

Just like any art form, it is very hard to tell someone how to do it well. But here are some tips to help you start developing your own melodies!

Start with some simple notes and work your way up to more complex ones. Start with one note, then add another, then start combining them to create a chord, then add some more subtle notes in between the chords for texture.

Listen to lots of different music and take note of what sounds good- what sets one song apart from another is typically its melody.

Incorporate rhythmic patterns

A Beginner's Guide to Music Production: From Bedroom to Studio

Rhythmic patterns are an important part of music. Even before you add other elements like melody and harmony, rhythm is what keeps people moving and dancing.

Rhythm is a way of describing how a musical element repeats itself. It can be in the form of a repeated drum beat, the repetition of a chord, or the timing of when something is added or taken away.

Many aspiring music producers learn how to produce beats and create new sounds and textures, but very few learn how to add interesting rhythmic patterns.

It is important to learn how to add different types of beats and how to sequence them so that they keep your music moving and grooving.

Ensure good quality output

A Beginner's Guide to Music Production: From Bedroom to Studio

Even though you may master music production in the sense that you can create your own original music, mix and match music genres and styles, and add your own unique touches, this is only half the battle.

The other half is making sure your output is of good quality. This includes making your songs sound good on all listening devices, ensuring they are not too long or short, and adding appropriate lyrics.

Music should also have a good rhythm and beat, which requires some expert timing skills. Adding in sounds such as effects and transitions are also crucial for producing quality music.

Your songs can look and sound great, but if they do not sound good on every device then you have still failed to produce quality output. Make sure to test your music on many devices to check for any audio issues.

Share your work with others

A Beginner's Guide to Music Production: From Bedroom to Studio

Once you feel comfortable with producing your own music, the next step is to share your work with others. This can be done in a few ways.

You can create your own music videos and post them on YouTube. You can create music remixes and post them on SoundCloud or other music sharing sites. You can create party songs and give them to friends as gifts.

Any of these will help get your name out there and promote you as a producer. Your fans will enjoy new music or videos that you make and share them with their friends, increasing your exposure even more.

If you are not comfortable posting your work online, then have close friends or family members listen to your music and give them feedback. Take their comments into consideration and improve your work to help you gain more recognition.

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