Month: September 2017

How to start your career as a music producer

If you’re interested in becoming a music producer they are many roads you can take to build a career. And your journey will on depend on the type of music production you want to do. If it’s edm production laidback luke has a video on youtube that outlines the process which makes it easier to develop your skills. just to go over it here:

  1. Start by doing edits to tracks
  2. Then move on to making bootlegs
  3. Then move on to doing mashups
  4. then start making your own original tracks
Along the way get a better understanding of arrangement and sound design and mixing and all the things needed to make a release ready track. Once you have a track that is ready for the public send it to friends and get feedback about your music and build a fanbase overtime. This will help you build demand for your work and give you leverage when you start shopping tracks to labels.
If it’s pop music production or you want to produce a band and vocalist and so forth the process is a bit different.
  1. First you’ll need a space to do recording, you can pay for studio time or you can build your own studio.
  2. Next thing you need to understand what makes a good song and the basic arrangement structures for your genre. This will help you make decisions about an artist song and what it needs to take it to the next level so it can work for its indented listeners. This involves cutting or adding stuff to the song or even changing the order of lyrics etc.
  3. Then the final bit is project management to ensure that things get done on time on budget as well as hiring the right people to do the right job.
You don’t have to be a musician to be a producer you just have to know what you want and get the right people to get it done. Because in essence, you are producing a piece of music. The early producers had a good ear and know good music they didn’t know how to play anything.
So in conclusion to start your career you’ll need to do:
  1. Find and artist who has a song
  2. Get a beat produced for the song
  3. Work on the song so it’s good and the artist knows the lyrics by heart
  4. Record it whether at your own studio or someone else’s
  5. Get the song mixed and mastered
  6. When you have the final master you essentially just produced your first song.
Do it long enough to build a portfolio and eventually a career.

PS. It won’t hurt hanging around local studios to get a foot in and meet people, the key is to be helpful and bring something to the table because you never know.

Why Rehearsal is Important before recording

Vocalists and musicians are true to their craft. They work day and night practicing to getting better at singing and playing their instrument.

If you incorporate practicing into your daily routine you’re well on your way to mastering your instrument.

When approaching a recording project same dedication should be taken. That’s why rehearsals are important. They are not only for live performances.

They’re for studio recordings as well. Here are some ideas on how to use  your rehearsal time before going into the studio

Work on song arrangement.

It’s the best way to work on the fine details of the song. Work along with your producer to fine-tune the arrangement of lyrics and parts to make singing and playing the song easier and more in sync.

Doing this saves you both money and time in the studio.  Also, it will help to bring more focus to the song.

Ensure all song sections complement each other and are not fighting for attention. Make sure no instruments are not playing in the same range to mask other parts.

Meaning each instrument should play in their own range as well as leave room for vocals.

Test out ideas.

Rehearsals should be both fun and technical. Don’t be static test ideas that you want to try, whether it’s a new melody line, a harmony section in the verse, a different drumbeat.

These ideas should either make the song sound better or worse. Keep a note of all the ideas you want to add to the song. It will be good to have a voice recorder to keep all your ideas together.

Best way to learn songs.  

Practice is the best way to learn the song or songs by heart. Mastering it will give you more time to focus on the performance.

If you practice like you’re on stage chances are when you get into the studio you already know how the song should sound, so singing it and playing the parts will be easy because you worked so hard on it during rehearsals.

Get better at playing them.

Rehearsals help with your musicianship. The more you perform the better you get. The better you get the more confident you’ll feel.

Confidence helps you give you all while recording because you know how to get the sound you want.

Knowing how to use your instrument takes practice. Practicing your songs makes you a better performer and a better professional to your craft.

If you take rehearsals seriously and give it your all you’ll save both money and time.