Editors Note: You may be wondering, what does electronic music production have to do with making money with music? Well I believe that having a basic understanding of music production can go along way in helping us grow as musicians, and ultimately yes, make more of the green stuff too. Whether we need recordings for demo’s, securing gigs, communicating ideas with band members or full blown releases, having a working knowledge of some music production basics is essential. So without further interruption, here's the beginning of a weekly 5 part series on the subject authored by a young, super motivated and knowledgeable musician, Rick Lloyd.
So you heard the latest cut from your favorite Electronic Musician/ Producer/ DJ and wondered if it was possible for you to create amazing audio works of art, What tools do I need to make electronic music that even comes close to the kind of quality the latest producers, DJ's and Musicians are putting out there? Where do I even start?.
Look no further.
Welcome to part 1 of a weekly 5 part guide that will walk you through everything you need to know about electronic music production including constructing your own home studio with the latest hardware and software, where to find information to help you use that hardware and software and how to market yourself as soon as you have a batch of songs done.
You may or may not know that in the age of digital audio recording you no longer need to be a multi-platinum selling artist or producer to have a home recording studio. You can actually have a beginner professional set-up for under $2000, I recommend a $4000 budget if you are serious about making pro quality material.
In this guide we’re going to focus on the solo electronic musician, live bands have a slightly different workflow. If you are an electronic musician there are a ton of options of great hardware and software at a pretty reasonable price to get you started on expressing yourself musically.
A basic home recording set- up consists of a desktop or laptop, a midi controller, an audio interface, DJ or Studio Headphones/ Monitors, a good Microphone and a digital audio workstation like Logic Studio, Ableton Live and Reason. GarageBand is a great way to get started on music production if you are an absolute beginner, I’ll talk more about that in Part 3.
I highly recommend when buying Pro grade software like Ableton live and Reason to check out Amazon for a comprehensive guide like the Reason Power Series books, most all workstations have a guide like this available on Amazon, when I was attending a media art school for audio engineering and sound technology these were our textbooks, so you can save a few thousand dollars worth of classes by buying the books I suggest in part 3.
To get the absolute most out of your software, breeze through the exercises and learn all the necessary techniques to establish a comprehensive workflow to produce the kind of music you want in a timely and professional manner.
Remember music should be fun, it can make you money, take you places you never imagined, change your life in ways you never thought, but in the end you should enjoy doing it.
If you have an interest or true passion for expressing yourself musically with pro grade tools and want to learn how to use them like a pro, this guide will get you on the right path to build your studio, learn the software, compose your music and market it to the masses.
Go read DIY Electronic Music Production Basics: Part 2 – Hardware
Guest Post: Rick Lloyd is a Musician/Producer with 8 years of experience writing, performing, recording and producing with a variety of musicians focused in Electronic and Indie Rock music. Rick is currently getting ready to launch Ghost Print Media, an in depth media blog website focused as a reference guide and networking site for the D.I.Y artist, as well as reviews of media services, software, and equipment used to create our media. Follow him on Twitter @GhostPrintMedia
