Information found on MusicTech : Beginner’s Guide to Music Production

Beginner's guide to music. (2013, June 26). Retrieved November 24, 2014, from MusicTech

website: http://www.musictech.net/2013/06/beginners-guide/

MusicTech is a magazine/website that brings information about music to individuals who would like to learn more about it without spending hundreds of dollars. In this particular article, published last year, the viewer is introduced to the beginning steps in the production of music. The basics are brought into focus. It also provides trustworthy information on what programs are good to use, and the programs that are not so good to use when trying to put together a musical production without going into an actual studio.

Important Quotes:

“When we talk about ‘recording’ these days what we generally mean is the process of getting external sounds – vocals and instruments – into a computer.”

**This is a very general description of recording. To really get into the definition of recording, the concept needs to be broken into many more parts.

“This virtual instrument technology has opened up different worlds of music making to whole new audiences so even if you can’t play a note on a ‘proper’ instrument, virtual instruments allow you to strum, pick, hit, tap and play, all within the safety of your virtual studio.”

**Virtual instrument technology allows people to play more “perfect” notes, rather than trying to strum, hit, or play every note on the dot.

“Arranging is simply the process of how your song develops over time, usually with an intro followed by verses and choruses.”

**Arranging involves the placement of the sounds or voices you have recorded.

Within the production of music a lot more is involved than a normal individual would guess. Many people would believe that a singer goes to a studio, records their voice, leaves, and the song is done. This is not true. Being a singer myself, I know a little bit more about the production of music. Much more is involved than just recording a singer’s voice and placing it on a track.

Within the production of a song, sounds are first recorded externally (using a real instrument; including a voice) and or internally (using an instrument created on a computer). From there the song is mixed. Within mixing the process, the arranging technique is used. Tracks are placed in order, and sometimes layered on top of each other. Generally, a song is ordered using an intro followed by a few verses and choruses. From here, the song is then mastered. Perhaps the most tedious of processes within the production, the mastering process begins as the mixing process ends. This is the process that takes the mix that was created and delivers the final “master” of the track to the end user. When mastering you should be subtle. You should never master a production just to make it louder.

This is just the basics. Each section of music production can be broken down further. Within my next blog I will delve into the basics of the distribution process and the different means of which a production is distributed.