I know that was very unspecific but here is what I mean. When producing a song (i'm trying to get into electronic), what are important techniques/methods that are crucial to a track. I hear a lot of producers use terms like side chaining , compression , limiting , eqing. After finding out what compression does , I'm wondering if there are any other techniques like those that are pretty crucial to all tracks. That was production wise , but talking about music now , are there also key parts that every song has? for example , every song has :drums , melody , bass , subbass(confused about this a little bit),(can you add to this list?)
What are the the main steps when creating a song?
- Thread starter wavewar3
- Start date
REFLUXger
New member
Hmmm, selection of samples, sound design, melody and harmonic structure, eq, compression, effects, automation, reverb, delay, stereo separation, panning. Soooo much stuff that's crucial!
When it comes to the music anything goes really. Depends on whether you want to make something ambient, dark, happy, a straight up banger... there's nothing that must be there in a piece of music... it just depends on your tastes.
When it comes to the music anything goes really. Depends on whether you want to make something ambient, dark, happy, a straight up banger... there's nothing that must be there in a piece of music... it just depends on your tastes.
Wallengard
Manipulator of energy
I would say every technique you use to make something that sounds great in a track is a crucial one, which could range anywhere from a simple envelope setting to which notes you're playing. There are endless ways to achieve a great sound. I tried to be as diffuse as I could be, but I think I reached the limit for today. 
KonKossKang
Ozagas
watch tutorials. Read manuals. These things will take a while to get. Sidechaining, compression and limiting are very confusing tbh.
Especially sidechaining, lol. Basically it boils down to putting what you want in the daw.
limiters seem like they are just an incredibly drastic version of the compressor, dear god. Limiters are incredibly noticeable, like the dynamics are being slammed against eachother :/
Especially sidechaining, lol. Basically it boils down to putting what you want in the daw.
limiters seem like they are just an incredibly drastic version of the compressor, dear god. Limiters are incredibly noticeable, like the dynamics are being slammed against eachother :/
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krushing
Moderator
Well, if you slam them hard like a comp, then they are. Not necessarily if you just use them to catch stray peaks.
But back to the original question - I personally think it's a bit of an ass-backwards approach to start from a string of "techniques" that are somehow needed. Make a song and then figure out what you need to make it sound the way you want it to. I've seen way too many newbies apply a shitload of processing to their beats/songs without knowing why they're doing it - the basis being that "someone said" this is what you "have to" do.
ProducerJC
IndieHost
Here's a tip, or trick; however you decide to look at this piece of advice. Learn your gear by jamming with it while trying new techniques. Do this until you know your gear well enough to become bored with it. After that, get more gear because instruments are tools for making music...
calimoose
New member
Kind of going off what ProducerJC said, but above all you learn by doing. It's a bit scary and intimidating at first, but what I would recommend you do is, instead of approaching it as "Compression, EQ, etc are crucial, I should ALWAYS use them" or "every song should have drums, bass, subbass, etc" you should first develop the idea in your head regarding what genre of music and type of song you want to try and produce. Then do your best to produce it.
It will sound like shit at first, as is always the case when learning a new skill, but then you can post your tracks on FP or compare them to professional recordings and zero in more on what techniques are IMPORTANT TO YOU and what YOU should specifically be working on.
The reason I say this is because, for example, compression and EQ are certainly extremely important, but sometimes if you just mike up your setup properly and record vox and guitar (for example), you'll find that if the source tracks are of a high quality, sometimes compression and EQ isn't even necessary.
Hope that helps, let me know if you want me to elaborate but above all, just keep trying and trying and trying while reading and watching loads of tutorials and asking questions specific to experiences you've developed while actually trying to produce music. Good luck!
It will sound like shit at first, as is always the case when learning a new skill, but then you can post your tracks on FP or compare them to professional recordings and zero in more on what techniques are IMPORTANT TO YOU and what YOU should specifically be working on.
The reason I say this is because, for example, compression and EQ are certainly extremely important, but sometimes if you just mike up your setup properly and record vox and guitar (for example), you'll find that if the source tracks are of a high quality, sometimes compression and EQ isn't even necessary.
Hope that helps, let me know if you want me to elaborate but above all, just keep trying and trying and trying while reading and watching loads of tutorials and asking questions specific to experiences you've developed while actually trying to produce music. Good luck!
bandcoach
Zukatoku - Mod Scientist
fundamentally there are probably four phases in a recording project
Phase 1
pre-production where the song is written and rehearsed if there are real musicians involved
in this stage you are probably also engaging in orchestration and arranging as well as the crucial acts of determining structure, melodic lines and harmony (chords)
any song/composition can be broken into four functional units of arrangement
Melody - any instruments you like
Counter-melody - any instruments you like plays a complementary line to the main melody
Harmony - guitar, piano, bass
Rhythmic impetus - percussion and bass
in addition you are concerned with structures like intro, verse, chorus, bridge, solo(s), breakdown, drop, etc; an arrangement will allocate different resources to different sections depending on the musical feel you want to create
orchestration is about combining instrumental sounds to create interesting passages. It usually involves the idea of layering in octaves the same melodic ideas across different instruments - closer harmonies may be appropriate it certain points - some writers refer to this as bandstration or synthstration
Phase 2
phase 2 is the recording phase where all of the pre-production work comes to fruition. every musical line is recorded either simultaneously or separately, with enough time being spent to get the right sounds and right notes recorded
for some tracks this is all that is needed, others require further steps
Phase3
phase 3 is the mix phase, where decisions relating to sonic signature and instrumental balance are made
at this stage you may need to use may different techniques including eq and compression, but you should first be concerned with balancing levels overall and balancing placement in the stereo field as well
Once these are working then it may be appropriate to apply eq as a sound design measure - if you find that you need to apply corrective eq then it may mean that either the specific part was recorded incorrectly or that something else is obscuring the sound and so you may need to revisit level balance and stereo field balance first
using compression as a sound design technique may also be appropriate but be wary of using compression to make sounds louder by applying makeup gain - this is not the best solution to the problem, which can be more easily addressed by revisiting level balances to begin with - i.e. using compression to change the volume of track is cop out imho
Phase 4
phase 4 is the one that is full of mystery for most producers/composer - mastering.
After the mix is finalised many youtube vids swear that you need to apply mastering to your tracks to improve the overall perceived loudness - nothing could be further from the truth - mastering is not about increasing perceived loudness but about preparing your track/project for distribution via your selected medium - it includes things like inserting isrcodes (similar to universal bar codes and isbn but for audio publishing) and giving the whole project a single sonic signature.
as with anything, though: experiment, note your successes and your failures and investigate how you can reproduce your efforts with new projects is the key to long term success
Phase 1
pre-production where the song is written and rehearsed if there are real musicians involved
in this stage you are probably also engaging in orchestration and arranging as well as the crucial acts of determining structure, melodic lines and harmony (chords)
any song/composition can be broken into four functional units of arrangement
Melody - any instruments you like
Counter-melody - any instruments you like plays a complementary line to the main melody
Harmony - guitar, piano, bass
Rhythmic impetus - percussion and bass
in addition you are concerned with structures like intro, verse, chorus, bridge, solo(s), breakdown, drop, etc; an arrangement will allocate different resources to different sections depending on the musical feel you want to create
orchestration is about combining instrumental sounds to create interesting passages. It usually involves the idea of layering in octaves the same melodic ideas across different instruments - closer harmonies may be appropriate it certain points - some writers refer to this as bandstration or synthstration
Phase 2
phase 2 is the recording phase where all of the pre-production work comes to fruition. every musical line is recorded either simultaneously or separately, with enough time being spent to get the right sounds and right notes recorded
for some tracks this is all that is needed, others require further steps
Phase3
phase 3 is the mix phase, where decisions relating to sonic signature and instrumental balance are made
at this stage you may need to use may different techniques including eq and compression, but you should first be concerned with balancing levels overall and balancing placement in the stereo field as well
Once these are working then it may be appropriate to apply eq as a sound design measure - if you find that you need to apply corrective eq then it may mean that either the specific part was recorded incorrectly or that something else is obscuring the sound and so you may need to revisit level balance and stereo field balance first
using compression as a sound design technique may also be appropriate but be wary of using compression to make sounds louder by applying makeup gain - this is not the best solution to the problem, which can be more easily addressed by revisiting level balances to begin with - i.e. using compression to change the volume of track is cop out imho
Phase 4
phase 4 is the one that is full of mystery for most producers/composer - mastering.
After the mix is finalised many youtube vids swear that you need to apply mastering to your tracks to improve the overall perceived loudness - nothing could be further from the truth - mastering is not about increasing perceived loudness but about preparing your track/project for distribution via your selected medium - it includes things like inserting isrcodes (similar to universal bar codes and isbn but for audio publishing) and giving the whole project a single sonic signature.
as with anything, though: experiment, note your successes and your failures and investigate how you can reproduce your efforts with new projects is the key to long term success
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thegroundabove
New member
Some excellent comments here in this thread on the topic already, but I just wanted to chime in with my quick 2 cents:
From your original post, it sounds like you were focused a lot on PRODUCTION techniques, rather than COMPOSING. If you are new to composing and production in general, I would recommend you not overwhelm yourself with trying to understand everything all at once.
I think the best way to really dive in is first to get a grip on some composing ideas. Play with writing a bassline and drum patter. Play with writing a lead part over top. Or just start with learning chord progressions, and how much they truly affect everything. Then perhaps learn different chord progressions that are common for different genres.
Remember that we truly are dealing with (at least) 2 unique skillsets here:
COMPOSING your music (actually writing the parts, what kind of instrument should play them, how the music elements evolve over time and play with each other, etc)
and PRODUCING (making the music sound the way you actually want it to sound. Do you want your drums to be MASSIVE, or intimate? Should the lead be bathed in reverb, or right in your face? And HOW should that lead be played anyway? Softly? Aggressively? - How are you PRODUCING the COMPOSITION?)
Just a few more thoughts for you.
And always remember - this is supposed to be FUN! So let it be fun!
From your original post, it sounds like you were focused a lot on PRODUCTION techniques, rather than COMPOSING. If you are new to composing and production in general, I would recommend you not overwhelm yourself with trying to understand everything all at once.
I think the best way to really dive in is first to get a grip on some composing ideas. Play with writing a bassline and drum patter. Play with writing a lead part over top. Or just start with learning chord progressions, and how much they truly affect everything. Then perhaps learn different chord progressions that are common for different genres.
Remember that we truly are dealing with (at least) 2 unique skillsets here:
COMPOSING your music (actually writing the parts, what kind of instrument should play them, how the music elements evolve over time and play with each other, etc)
and PRODUCING (making the music sound the way you actually want it to sound. Do you want your drums to be MASSIVE, or intimate? Should the lead be bathed in reverb, or right in your face? And HOW should that lead be played anyway? Softly? Aggressively? - How are you PRODUCING the COMPOSITION?)
Just a few more thoughts for you.
And always remember - this is supposed to be FUN! So let it be fun!
SwagProductionz
@SlurRty on Twitter
when it comes to electronic music... there's so much that goes into it.. what i would tell you to do is listen to electronic music critically.... like REALLY listen and learn and be able to emulate what other producers do andd ask questions from there.. that's how i got better
All those are very important, but what matters most is your ability as composer. Track structure is the number one thing you need to understand: intro, build up, drop/Chorus outro... you have to understand bars and fit the track structure logically in bars. Techniques are also necessary, but are useless if you cant compose a whole track. Once you are good with that, learn how to sidechain pads and bass (its pretty easy and any youtube tutorial will do). Make as many tracks as you can. Create a routine and use your DAE on a daily basis. Your initial tracks are gonna be shitty, but that's the way it is. I am a beginner and I have finished 3 tracks in 5 months. The composing part is finished, but there is still some mixing to do. I am still learning. But, I have over 20 projects I started and stopped before getting 3 that I considered good enough to go all the way through the end. Spend as much time as you can in front of your DAW and know it inside out. That will make all the difference.