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Becoming a Music Producer What You

Need to Know
Sam Matla / February 25, 2014 /
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5 years ago after buying a trance & dance compilation CD I decided I wanted
to produce music. There was something magical about the way music was
created, and being a musician already I thought itd be an easy path to take.

Like any normal person I went to Google to nd out how to get started and
what I needed. Unfortunately it didnt go to well, I ended up downloading a
weird program without any idea of what it was or how to use it. Confusion set
in.

Ive decided to write this post for those wanting to become a music producer.
Youll learn about what a music producer does, things you should know about
being a music producer, potential career paths, and most importantly how
to get started.

What does a music producer do?

By the traditional denition, a music producer is someone who oversees,
manages, and guides the process of producing and recording a song. But over
the past 10-20 years, music production has become a lot more accessible.
Quality music can be made on your standard laptop, and expensive hardware
isnt required.

Which leads us to theBedroom Producer.Im a bedroom producer (I dont

literally produce in my bedroom), I dont have expensive hardware, and I dont
own a massive studio. The Bedroom Producer is what Im going to refer to in
this post.

So, what does the bedroom producer do?

Everything.

At least, most of the time. When recording and producing a song for an artist
of high calibre (think top 40, commercial music) youll normally have a number
of people working on the record. One person may be working with the artist(s)
and training them, another may be looking for ideas, and another may focus
on the sonic quality of the track, mixing it down and getting it sounding right.

The bedroom producer typically does all of this. They come up with musical
ideas, arrange those ideas, and nalize them.

A few things that a bedroom producer does:

Mixing and mastering (http://musicians.about.com/od/musiciansfaq

/f/mixingormaster.htm)
Sound design (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_design)
Creating or recording musical ideas (melodies, harmonies, vocals)
Arranging ideas

Heres a typical set of steps that I might go through when producing a track:

1. Come up with a hook or melody. Something memorable.

2. Create drum section with individual samples and loops
(http://edmprod.com/loopmasters).
3. Design sounds for musical ideas such as basslines, melodies, and chord
progressions.
 4. Arrange the track, working on breakdowns, build-ups, verses and
choruses.
5. Mixdown the track, using EQ and compression among other eects to
make the track sound clean and ready for mastering.
6. Master the track, bringing up the volume to a competitive level and
preparing the track for release.

Three things you should know about being

a producer
1. Its dicult
2. Its diverse
3. Its rewarding

If youre looking for an easy hobby, this isnt it. But if youre looking for
something that will positively impact your life, cause you to think critically and
artistically, and give you the joy of creating something then its the hobby for
you.

Being a music producer is dicult for a number of reasons. The rst one is
that it takes a long time to get to a level where your music is actually worth
releasing. There are intricacies involved in music production that not only take
a while to understand in theory, but require deliberate practice. Even if youve
got great musical ideas, your mixing skills might not be great, or your sound
design may not be up to standard.

Music production is also a very diverse eld. Certain producers may excel in
sound design, others may be gods at mixing and mastering. This means there
are a lot of career opportunities, but it also means its dicult to master as
described above.

Most importantly though, and despite the diculty, being a music producer is
rewarding! Theres nothing more satisfying than nishing your own music and
having people appreciate it. The rewards outweigh the frustration by far.

Are there job opportunities?

There are many dierent career paths that are closely related to music
production:

Audio engineering:mixing and mastering music, live sound at events, etc.

Commercial production:producing music for advertisements, games,
lms.
Teaching:teaching others how to make music.
Sound design:designing sounds for games, lms, etc.
Artist career:touring, album sales, and more.

How to get started

Its all good and well knowing what a music producer does, how dicult it is,
and if there are potential careers but how do I even get started?!

Gear, what do I need?

My advice to new producers would be to not stress too much on gear. A new
piece of production gear, whether it be a MIDI keyboard, software plugin, or
headphones is not going to make you a better producer. These things may
certainly aid your creative process and help with the technical side of things,
but they wont automatically make you a better producer.

With that said, there are a few essentials. Ive written a post that you should
check out:

Read Post:Starting Electronic Music Production on a Budget

(http://edmprod.com/music-production-budget/)

Learning Resources
After downloading a DAW and playing around for a bit, you want some
guidance, right?

Having a selection of learning resources is essential. Here are a few paid and
free resources I recommend.
Courses:

FL Studio Introduction Course $59 (http://edmprod.com/introductory-

course/)
Ableton Live 9 Beginner Course YouTube/Free (https://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=1eHZMv_XwF8&list=PLa9ASr8n5idDC9UnO--pNNSClDQDkhvmv)

Books:

Dance Music Manual (http://edmprod.com/dancemusicmanual)

Mixing Secrets for the Small Studio (http://edmprod.com
/mixingsecretsbook)

YouTube Channels:

EDMProdTV (https://www.youtube.com/user/EDMprodtv)
Sadowick (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj0-
W75RL3AS_psDlWBqu1w)
Seamless (https://www.youtube.com/channel
/UC2mgCVJWitRUTIpgd7pLung)
ADSRTuts (https://www.youtube.com/adsrtuts)

Must-read articles:

100 Essential Tips for the New Producer (http://edmprod.com

/100-essential-tips/)
Why Quantity Should be Your Priority (https://medium.com/better-humans
/3bc2b16fe3f5)

Looking for more resources? Check out my Resources page

(http://edmprod.com/resources/).

Conclusion
Now that you know what a music producer (or bedroom producer) does, how
to get started, and a few things you should be aware of its time to take
action!

Download a demo of any DAW and start playing around. I recommend FL

Studio or Ableton Live due to the amount of educational content out there for
the two.

While youre at it, you might want to join the newsletter. (http://edmprod.com
/sign-newsletter/)

Free 30-day email First Name

course
Learn how to overcome Email Address

creative block and make

more music with this

8-email course. Go
No spam, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Tags: Beginner (http://edmprod.com/tag/beginner/)

8 Comments
1

Zeltyc

Thanks a lot!

Binny Sharma Singer

Thanks Mr.Sam
Well written post..For starting any of the things relating to any of the career some of the
steps are surely going to be taken.You had listed a very such nice,clear and
understandable points in becoming of an music producer..Will be helpful to many of the
people...Really Admirable..!!!!!!!!!

Sam Matla

Thanks Binny! Really appreciate the comment.

Ella Cally

Hey mark,
Am very good at coming up with god EDM sounds in my head, infact I knew how to come up
with sounds I thought was "werid" even before finding out what EDM was. I just have a
problem of not knowing how to fully operate my DAW software (fl studio) , how to bring
those sounds to life, as I dunno how to play an instrument. Its really frustrating. Or even
how to control the software.

Mark S

Hi Sam,
I've recently started attempting to produce EDM and I have found a lot of your articles
incredibly informative.
On one of your articles you mentioned it was important to have other people critique your
work - as it helps you learn and grow, and also helps remind one not to see their own work
as perfect; I was just wondering, where can I go to get (valid) critique on my work, from
people that know what they're talking about? (As one of your points in an article mentioned
to make sure you get advice from people who know what they're talking about, or have
some idea). I'm not too keen on just creating a soundcloud, chucking some music on it and
spamming the world through youtube or any other place, and having everyone and
everyone say 'wow this is great' or 'wow this sucks ass' - real helpful guys.
Where can one go to find some genuine like minded people that will give honest and
constructive criticism?

Thanks
Mark

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