Being a music producer is one of the most exciting things someone who is passionate about music can do. They are the ones who pull a song together and make it what it is. Every song that a producer creates has a little bit of their soul inside of it; it’s their sonic fingerprint.
Producers are the people that take a song from its most basic and simple form and turn it into the exciting and thrilling masterpiece that people hear on the radio, streaming services, and everywhere else that music is. Producers make the magic happen.
The job of a producer can seem impossible from the outside. These are people who often play several instruments on a song, create an entire arrangement from thin air, and turn the smallest and roughest of demos into masterpieces. Fundamentally, all producers do is make sure that a song gets across the finish line in the best way possible. How they do that is entirely up to them, and that process is often what gives each producer their unique sound.
Even though it may seem like a daunting task, the reality is that almost anyone can be a music producer. To someone just starting out in music, they may seem like overly optimistic nonsense. But the reality is that producers have come from all kinds of backgrounds and places. You don’t need to have lots of money or musical equipment to start being a producer. All you need to do is get started and stick with it. Here’s how you can become a producer.
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Mess Around
Often, the way that producers get started is by simply messing around. You can do this with a piano, a guitar, or even just your voice. Play around with whatever musical tools you have at your disposal, and find what makes you excited. Music is all about conveying emotion and energy, and so that’s all you need to do. Find ways with music that allow you to take an emotion or feeling that is inside of you, and get it outside of you through music.
There is lots of music in the world that is massively technical. Top-level jazz musicians often know how to play several instruments masterfully, understand virtually every aspect of music theory, and can do things with music that will blow anyone’s mind. But at the end of the day, it’s not the technical knowledge that creates music that will speak to people; it’s the soul of the music. If you can create emotions and feelings with sound, you’re already well on your way to being an incredible producer.
Learn How Music Works
Learning how music works is critical to being a producer. This doesn’t mean that you need to go about learning every instrument ever, understanding how every single chord is formed, and being able to sing perfectly at every moment of the day. Knowing how music works is all about understanding what is beautiful about music and how to create that yourself. You don’t need to know every chord or melody to know the ones that speak to you.
Another important thing to know is that a lot of music is all about patterns. Next time you listen to your favorite songs, really try and understand why you love those songs specifically. Is it the chorus? Is it the drumbeat? Is it the way that the singer is singing? Figuring out the things that make you tick musically will help you recreate those feelings, which is what makes a good producer.
Make it your goal to learn everything about your favorite songs, how they were recorded, how the verses and choruses are structured, and what the chord progressions are. Once you understand the more technical aspects of music, you can use that knowledge to make songs of your own.
Use Your Phone
In decades past, almost everyone had to go to a studio to record their music. People had to spend hundreds of dollars every day just to create music that was appealing to them. But thanks to the invention of the smartphone, everybody can take the capability of a studio with them in their pocket.
Several apps are available for all kinds of smartphones with different tools for recording music with. For iPhones specifically, there is the Garageband app. This is a fully-featured tool that allows anyone to record songs that they love right in the palm of their hand. Just using basic phone apps like this can get any beginning producer’s feet wet in the process of producing music.
Graduate to Your Computer
Once you’ve gotten familiar with the tools and sounds available within your phone, it’s time to move up to a computer with a DAW. DAWs, or Digital Audio Workstations, are the software tools producers use to make the music they work on. They often have tons of different instruments inside of them that open up any producer to an entire world of sound. This is truly the next step of music production.
These are the music programs that everyone from the smallest producers to the ones who win Grammys use. Some of the most popular are Ableton, Logic Pro, and FL Studio. Musicians can mess around with these programs perpetually and learn how to create songs at the highest possible level. They’re full of tons of sounds and instruments of all different types.
However, having all of these different sounds can create option paralysis for beginning producers. When there are so many different sounds available, it’s hard to pick the right ones for the job. That’s why Unison exists. Here, we make packs full of the best of the best sounds to inspire any producer.
For producers who want to make more technically complex musical notes and chords, our MIDI Packs will enable you to do just that. Our MIDI packs inspire creativity and create relatable music based on solid, proven foundations. Didn’t get a degree in music theory? Not to worry, our MDI packs will help with chord progressions instantly. For producers who just want to have the best and most exciting sounds available to them at all times, our Sample Packs are perfect. For producers learning to use Serum, we have some of the best Preset Sound Packs available in the world. Our sound packs eliminate those long, neverending searches through mediocre presents. Get sounds that are concert-ready with a click of a button today.
Practice Makes Perfect
When it comes down to it, producers don’t need the most expensive gear, nicest microphones, or the most top-of-the-line studios. Frankly, all they need is experience in knowing how to get what they want out of music. Take into consideration Billie Eilish. With only some very basic equipment and software, she and her brother were able to create some of the most exciting music of the 21st century (so far, at least). You don’t need the best of the best in terms of equipment. You just need to know how to get what you want.
Everyone has to start somewhere. And whether you’ve been producing music for ten minutes or ten years, you still have a massive amount of room to grow. The sky’s the limit. So no matter where you are, get started and start moving forward. The best way to learn to produce music is simply just to produce music. The whole world of music is in front of you; go get it.
Sources:
What Is a DAW (And What Can You Do With It)? | Careers In Music
Billie Eilish Bedroom Studio Costs Less Than $3,000 | Digital Music News
40 Chord
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