It is hard to learn music production in the sense that there are a lot of concepts to learn, but if it is something you enjoy thoroughly then the learning process can be very fun!
You can learn music production on your own provided that you get the right tools and develop the appropriate skills.
Tools
To begin learning how to make music, you don’t need a lot of sophisticated equipment, but you do need a few things.
You’ll need some music creation software first. This is referred to as a “DAW” or “Digital Audio Workstation” in the industry. You may begin with something free, such as Garageband for Mac or the light/free versions of popular DAWs for PC.
The Audio-Technica ATH-M50x Headphones are the ideal headphones for novices in music production.
If you only want to record beats or instrumental music, you don’t need a microphone or an audio interface. You may just take a MIDI Keyboard and play the notes you wish to record.
Skills
To get started composing music, you need to invest some time in learning the music production process. This includes the four steps of music production:
Songwriting
Song structure may vary depending on your genre, so I recommend researching some of your favorite songs and attempting to create a song that follows the same song structure (number and order of choruses/verses) and even employs the same chord progressions.
The fastest way to learn is simply to copy what you know works, and then you can branch off from there when you go to create your original music.
Recording
If you only make instrumental music, there isn’t much to learn here. Simply press the red record button in your DAW while connected to your MIDI keyboard, and you’re ready to start.
However, if you intend to record voices or other instruments, you will require recording equipment as well as knowledge of optimum recording methods. A microphone and an audio interface are required at the absolute least to record. When you use an interface instead of hooking straight into your computer through USB, you receive considerably better audio.
You’ll also need some acoustic treatment before recording vocals or an instrument. Acoustic treatment is when you place things in your space to assist reduce the amount of “reflection” or echo, which can contribute to a poor-sounding recording.
The next step is to master mic positioning. This is critical if you want professional-sounding recordings. Each instrument has several “sweet spots” where microphones may be placed to produce the finest sound.
Mixing
Learning how to mix is the third step in the song-creation process. This is where you take all of the songs you’ve recorded and make them sound exactly as you want them to.
Editing, altering tracks, and adding effects are all part of the process. Mixing entails:
- Altering loudness
- Track editing to reduce noise or other distracting elements
- Panning tracks left and right.
- Saturation\sEqualization
- Compression
- Reverberation
- Including a delay
Mastering
Mastering is the final step in the process. This is where you merge all of your recordings into one final stereo mix track, and then treat that final track to bring it up to commercial loudness and frequency content standards.
This may include adding saturation, equalization, and compression, as well as picture widening and limiting. Image widening makes the music sound broader and wider in the stereo spectrum, whilst limiting allows you to select the song’s max volume.
The Takeaway
Learning music production is not that hard as long as you are putting in the time and gaining experience through daily practice.
