Music Production Made Simple

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Music
Production
Made Simple
YOUR ROADMAP TO BETTER MUSIC PRODUCTION
Music producton is the underlying foundaton of why a song sounds the way it does.
It’s what dictates the selecton of instruments and the arrangement of the song
structure. It’s a part of everything, from pre-producton to the fnal mix. You make
a producton decision whenever you decide on which microphone to use, which
instruments to record and what sound you want.
Before you even think about the technical side of things, you need to think about
the musical side.
Take these two terms, ‘music producton’ and ‘audio producton’ as an example.
I would say ‘audio producton’ is the more technical, engineering part of the recording
session, while ‘music producton’ is the more musical aspect of the whole process.
Without a strong song to build your engineering decisions on, your technical skills
won’t count for much.
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WHAT ARE THE ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS
OF GREAT MUSIC PRODUCTION?
How do you take your great idea for a song and create an awesome music
producton out of it?
I mean, from a few simple chords to a full-blown producton, that’s kind of hard to
wrap your head around isn’t it?
I’ve ofen wondered how great artsts and producers have taken a basic but
memorable melody and translated it into a classic hit song.
Seems like the steps are endless right?
Music Production from A - Z
Break a song down into a few chunks and analyze what makes it so good. It’s easier
to think about each part individually. It also makes your brain hurt a litle less.
Song Structure
If you have a great hook, or a verse and a chorus it’s tme to think about what the
overall song structure will be.
Let’s look at it in terms of ABCs, where A is a verse, B is a chorus and C is a middle
part or a bridge.
The most basic is the ABABB structure, where you have the verses broken up by a
catchy chorus that doubles at the end.
It’s really simple, and can work well if you have great lyrics and an infectous melody.
Another classic is the ABABCBB, where you lengthen the chorus at the end by
breaking it up by a bridge. The simple trick of breaking the end up with a bridge
gives the song variety and lengthens the hook (chorus) of the song.
If you have a catchy chorus that stcks in people’s head then you want to repeat and
repeat and repeat. There’s nothing wrong with it, and a catchy melody will never
get old.
Of course, unless it’s over-played on the radio and you can’t go anywhere without
hearing the song. Then you might get tred of it.
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But on the fip side, imagine how successful that songwriter must feel, when you
can’t go anywhere without hearing his song?
Whatever your structure is, make sure it’s not an endless maze of diferent parts.
Unless you’re a mathematcal prog metal group like Tool. Then you can do whatever
you want.
Arrangement
Arrangement is a litle diferent than song structure. Although it’s sometmes used
to mean the same thing, I like to think of arrangement as the ingredients of the
song structure.
Figuring out the arrangement is basically fguring out what kind of instrumentaton
you want in your song.
Diferent instrumentaton can take a song to completely new places. A song can be a
sof acoustc pop song or a heavy rock song by just changing out the instrumentaton.
For example, Ingrid Michaelson’s “Parachute” has two diferent versions: the original
rock/pop version and the folky version. It’s the same song, but the arrangement
and instrumentaton is diferent.
Sometmes, a sparse arrangement is the right way to go, as Joe Gilder rightly points
out in his post, Less is More.
A Paint by Numbers Approach
Now that you’ve wrapped your head around the song structure and fgured out the
right instrumentaton you can start building your song.
Start by building around the simple chords and melody. A great way to start is to
record the drum beat and work from there.
Whatever your approach is, keep a few things in mind.
Contrast - Keep your producton interestng with contrastng elements. The call
and response approach is efectve for creatng a contrast between a vocal and an
instrument. You can also try the tme-tested approach of quiet verses contrasted by
loud choruses.
Foundaton - Every song needs a strong foundaton. You can have the greatest guitar
sounds in the world, but if your drums and bass suck then your song will suck.
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Rhythm and Rifs - Working from your foundaton, instrumental rifs on top create
the harmonic structure for the song. Whether these are simple guitar chords, heavy
rock rifs or syncopated piano stabs, a great rif secton creates the structure for the
most important thing of all...
Melody - A strong melody is really the key to everything. If the melody fails to
impress, the song fails.
Pure and simple.
The frst melody you come up with in a song doesn’t have to be the fnal one. If
you’re confdent with your song then you can work on the melody to make it more
memorable, or change the chord structure underneath to make it more interestng.
A great melody can wrap everything up nicely. It makes the song memorable, you can
create contrast with backing vocals and you can add rhythmical elements with it as well.
Spend the most tme making your melody magical and everything else will fall into
place.
Do you Need Help with Your Music Production?
I know producing a song is difcult, and you can’t learn every aspect of it by
reading blog posts. Sometmes you need a step by step guide that helps you
through the entre process, from idea to mastered song.
If you need that kind of help, please check out Joe Gilder’s Producton Club 2.0.
Act Now, Start Finishing Your Songs
If you’ve ever needed an excuse to complete all those half-fnished songs on your
hard drive, this is the tme.
Joe is ofering a 90-day money back guarantee so that if you’re not happy you’ll get
your money back, no questons asked.
Click here to check out Production Club 2.0
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WHAT CAN THE CHESHIRE CAT
TEACH YOU ABOUT MUSIC PRODUCTION?
I’ve said it before in Mixing Strategies, and I’ll say it again, when it comes to recording,
mixing or any other aspect of music producton:
“Strategy without tactcs is the slowest route to victory.“ -Sun Tzu
If you don’t plan your recording, mixing, or mastering session, then you’ll have a
much harder tme getng to your destnaton.
Like the Cheshire Cat says to Alice when she asks him to help her get to her
destnaton. If you don’t know where you’re going:
“Then it doesn’t mater which way you go,”
You’re sure to get somewhere, if you walk for long enough, but wouldn’t it be easier
to plan ahead and get there quicker?
Music producton starts with the pre-producton phase.
It’s about planning ahead so it doesn’t take you forever to get to the sound you
have in your head. Just like any other task, having a good plan is invaluable to an
efcient executon.
There’s Always a Quicker Way to Get There
If your plan is to plan as you go along, then everything is bound to go wrong. Don’t
take my word for it, just believe Murphy’s Law:
“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”
It’s the same thing with music producton. If you haven’t done any pre-producton
or planning before your session, you’ll inevitably get screwed.
Some cable won’t work, your microphone will break, your computer will crash and
your clients will hate you.
Not to dramatze the whole thing of course, but think things through and make
plans before you decide to charge people for your tme.
Because if you charge for hours in the studio where everything went wrong, do you
really think those clients are going to come back?
So before anything, think about the best way you can accomplish things.
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Planning Your Recording Session
If you’re getng ready for a recording session, keep these things in mind.
Your Gear - Is all your gear working properly? Is your computer backed up and
ready for a serious recording session?
Make sure all your equipment is functoning properly, before the session where you
need it the most. It’s just so typical when that Distressor stops working just when
you want to use it on a track.
What Kind of Sound - Is your client looking for a specifc sound in their recordings?
Did you foolishly say you could ofer it because you were going to research how and
then you forgot?
Well, make sure that you’re able to accommodate the sound your client is looking
for. Doing a litle research on how to capture a partcular sound is pre-producton.
Who knows, maybe the research will even spark some ideas to pitch to the artst.
Be ready - Is your studio set up and ready for the recording session? Don’t make a
client wait for you to set up the session afer he gets there.
Make sure everything is as close to ready as it can be before the musician walks
through the door.
It’s all about creatng a comfortable atmosphere where tme doesn’t get wasted by
hanging around waitng.
Getting Ready for Mixing
Mix with the end in mind. It›s so much easier to stay on track during mixing if
you›ve put some thought into where you›re going.
Think about what you want to accomplish from the song you’re mixing, and plan
that perfect mix.
Think About the Arrangement - Arrangement is the heart of music producton. Is
the song a sparsely arranged guitar and vocal piece, or a thumping electronic dance
song with 30 clashing synth parts?
The more instruments a song has, the less space each one can have in the spectrum.
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Just by analyzing the arrangement you’ll get a beter overview over how drastcally
you have to EQ, how much space each instrument can occupy, and generally how
much work you have to put into gluing it all together.
Use Groups - Setng up subgroups for instruments can simplify your mix substantally.
If you have a few diferent guitar parts for example, group them together afer
you’ve mixed them all individually.
That way you can easily control them as a group instead of moving fve diferent
faders each tme.
Set up sends - It’s also a good idea to set up all the sends you’ll need.
Create a few aux sends and insert your favorite reverbs or delays. If you know you’ll
be using a few standard things, like a plate reverb for your snare drum, or a short
delay for your guitars, then setng them up before you start mixing makes the
mixing process faster and more fuid.
Plan Ahead and Pre-Produce
You might think music producton is this big process of sitng down and thinking
very hard about the session. In a way that’s true, but don’t think about it so formally.
Pre-producton is simple awareness.
It’s about being aware of what you’re going to do, and planning for the session at
hand. During mixing, it’s just about thinking about how you want your mix to sound.
Think about the structure and how you can set up a session for an easier workfow.
Pre-producton is simply an integral part of the music producton process.
The Cheshire Cat had it right all along. If you don’t know where you’re going, then
it doesn’t really mater which you go, you’ll eventually get there.
But if you plan ahead, everything will become so much simpler.
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THE 4 P’S OF MUSIC PRODUCTION
AND AUDIO ENGINEERING
Marketng experts will be familiar with the 4 P’s of marketng: Product, Price,
Promoton and Placement.
But do you engineers know the four P’s of Audio Engineering & Music Producton?
- Click to Tweet!
Production
There must be some level of producton involved with any level of audio engineering.
It’s called music producton for a reason.
Without a sense of producton there is no goal and you don’t know where you are
going. It’s great to experiment, but if you have no end to it, there is no way you will
know when you’ve achieved what you are looking for.
Power
Your audio must be powerful enough to compete. That means enough low-end and
bass to give your tracks a good foundaton.
With power your mixes won’t sound weak and whiny but powerful and strong.
Punch
Your mixes must pack some punch and grab the listener. Whether that means
a rocking snare drum sound or a punchy guitar track your tracks must have some
punch.
Presence
Just like your tracks need low-end, they also need high-end. A full-bodied mix with
every frequency range represented efectvely will result in a beter sounding mix.
Don’t skimp out on the high-end.
It’s a litle more tricky to add high-end without just piling on the treble, but try to
fnd the delicate balance that your mix needs.
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HOW MEXICAN SALSA HOLDS
THE SECRET TO MUSIC PRODUCTION
I’m a big salsa fan.
Mexican food is defnitely one of my favorite foods and I can’t get enough of the
diferent types of salsas you can get with it.
But it’s also easy to screw up a good salsa recipe if you want to make your own.
The simplest mistake is to simply use too many ingredients. Or add too much of
lime or some other ingredient. It has to be balanced.
All the favors need to work with each other to create that perfect mix of favors.
Which is exactly how you should approach your sessions. You want that perfect
balance of instruments, just like salsa needs the perfect balance of ingredients.
Drums - Tomatoes
The mix always starts with a good foundaton, just like there won’t be any salsa
unless you dice up those tomatoes.
In your song this is usually your drum beat or some sort of percussive element that
creates the groove.
But don’t overdo it on the tomatoes or they’ll drown out the other ingredients, just
like overly loud and aggressive drums will cluter up your mix.
Rhythm - Onions
The onions enhance the taste of the tomatoes. They give a litle crunch and a sweet
or pungent taste to the mix.
These are your main instruments like guitar, bass and other rhythm instruments.
Depending on what onion you use, white, yellow or green, you’ll have a slightly
diferent taste. Exactly like the vibe you would get from choosing an acoustc guitar
over an electric, or an organ sound over a piano.
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Melody - Chilies
The chilies are what makes you sit up and take notce, exactly like a great melody.
It’s like that moment when you’re listening to a cool intro to a song and when the
vocal comes in you’re just taken away by how awe-inspiring it is.
That’s what the chili does to salsa.
It takes the simple palete of tomatoes and onions to a completely diferent level.
And depending on how strong you want your salsa, you can use Serrano or Habanero
peppers.
You can also mix and match, adding “backup” peppers like you would with backup
vocals.
Is this analogy going too far? I don’t think so.
Interest - Cilantro
Cilantro is my favorite part of the salsa. I probably overdo it, but I like it so much I
don’t really care.
Cilantro is like those extra elements you scater around your song to create interest
and variety.
It could be extra percussion on the choruses, a rippin’ guitar solo or a melodic piano
line that weaves in an out of the vocal phrases.
Effects - Salt
No salsa is complete without a sprinkle of salt. Salt opens up all the favors from
each ingredient to make that perfect blend of tomato-crunchy-spiciness.
It does exactly what reverb, delay and other efects do to your mix. Those efects
create depth and space in your music, making all the instruments and musical
elements ft together perfectly.
And the same goes with space as it does with salt, too much and you’ve ruined it
completely.
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Variety in Your Music Production
Of course, there are diferent variatons of salsa, just like there are diferent genres
of music.
But the same rules apply: balance your ingredients and make them work together.
Your productons should be beter than just the sum of each individual instrument.
Together they should bring your mix to a diferent level.
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HOW TO GET THE LISTENING SKILLS NEEDED
FOR AMAZING MUSIC PRODUCTION
One of the most indispensable tool to great music producton are our superior
listening skills.
For many musicians or engineers, having phenomenal listening skills come naturally.
For some, listening skills need to be learned.
Luckily, even if you have no listening skills, you can stll train yourself. However, it
does take practce and tme to implement.
Once gained, superior listening skills will bring your work to a higher level. Here, are
5 ways to get the listening skills needed for great music producton.
Relax
When listening to music, relax. Take it all in. Many people hear music, or hear the
sounds, but to listen is entrely diferent.
To take in the music, set up a separate area to listen. This can be an area of a room,
or a diferent room.
A great way to listen to music is to set up a room that has a comfortable listening area.
Noise
When trying to take in the sounds, minimize outside sounds.
This can be done by soundproofng a room. An easier way is wearing a pair of
headphones. Many headphone companies make noise-cancelling versions that
block out excess noise.
Anyone living in a city will no doubt hear plenty of noise, whether it is cars, neighbors
or even planes.
To get into the listening, it is important to have no outside annoyances.
It’s also important to make sure your room isn’t lying to you with unnecessary sound
coloring.
Acoustc treatment helps reduce the room sound so you really hear what the music
sounds like.
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Concentrate
You can’t listen if you’re not concentratng on the music. To listen, rather than hear,
it is pertnent for anyone to concentrate on every note.
Like I said before, you can do this by relaxing and avoiding noisy areas. When
listening to music, make sure to make this the only task at hand.
The room should be free of distractons. The only goal of listening to music is listening
intently to every part of it: the melody, the producton, the individual instruments
and the overall sound.
Comfort Zone
When listening or working with music, to gain knowledge, you should get out of
your comfort zone. This can help you listen to music beat for beat, word for word.
When listening, fnd some music that you normally don’t listen to. Either from a
diferent era, or from a diferent genre than you normally enjoy. This can cause your
brain to work overtme to hear the beauty of the music.
Enjoy Your Music Production
Anything that is done with enjoyment will be done much more efciently. Make
sure when listening to music to get something fun out of the actvity.
If it is done purely to improve, you’ll get bored.
Get out of your comfort zone, but also try to really listen to music you like. This
shouldn’t be difcult because you probably love diferent kind of genres if you’re
working in music or audio.
When trying to become an incredible musician or engineer, don’t neglect listening
to music.
This can have a signifcant, long-term efect on your abilites. This can open your
minds up to diferent melodies, while helping you improve your skills.
Any great listener of music should in tme, become an accomplished musician.
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HOW TO ACHIEVE ECONOMIES OF SCALE
IN YOUR MUSIC PRODUCTION
Let me get a litle deep for a second. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.
“Economies of scale” is an economics term that pops up in all aspects of business.
Wikipedia defnes it as:
“Cost advantages that an enterprise obtains due to expansion.”
With efciency your costs go down while you can stll charge the same price.
Simply put, if you produce a lot and sell a lot(think Apple) you get the parts at a
lower bulk cost so you can earn higher proft.
Economies of Music Production
Now, redefned for your home recording studio, it’s the best way to do something.
Economies of scale in the studio are your workfow advantages you get due to
increased skill and efciency.
This can be done the hard way when you get fooded with work.
You remember this from school; you have ample tme to do three essays and study
for 4 tests but then you decide to do it all the morning before they’re due.
Sound familiar?
The fact is, when you have a lot of work, you usually fgure out the most efcient
way to do things.
But you shouldn’t have to get stressed out with work to create a good workfow.
You can already plan things out as efciently as possible, even if you don’t have a
deadline.
Just create a blueprint of the best ways to approach your music producton.
Possible Time Savers
It’s easier to become efectve at recording by using good startng points, standard
techniques and things that have worked for you in the past.
If you have tme to experiment that’s fne, but usually it’s beter to stck with good
practces.
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With mixing it’s all about setng up your session. Do you have a specifc chain of
plug-ins on your vocal? Save it to your DAW so you can recall it.
For instance, I have Ian’s multband compression preset saved for my mastering
session so I can just start from there. You can do similar things to any part of your
mixing process.
Ask yourself this:
• Can you use one microphone instead of two?
• Can you set up your instruments so they’re within easy reach?
• Can you delete plug-ins you never use so they’re not distractng?
• Can you save processing power by using groups and busses?
• Can you save a mixing template so you can always hit the ground running and
get a mix together in no tme?
These are just some of the ways to achieve economies of scale in your music
producton.
How efcient is your workfow?
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ELECTRONIC MUSIC PRODUCTION -
DRAWING THE LINE BETWEEN COMPOSITION AND MIXING
This next chapter was originally a guest post by Mark Dowdell
The process of mixing has so many dimensions, there’s no queston that keeping
track of everything is a task in and of itself.
The tracks, the returns, the efects, the overall groove... it all piles up quicker than
we’d like.
Taking all of this into account while stll writng the compositon?
That’s where things get stcky.
The greatest advantage of in-the-box electronic music producton is also its greatest
weakness. Afer the past few years of utlizing Ableton Live for almost 100% of my
musical endeavors, certain issues have reared their ugly head tme and tme again.
For one, having a library of thousands of real-world instrument samples, sound
manipulaton devices, and efects is as convenient as it is paralyzing. Not only do I
ofen fnd myself unsure of which drum kit to use, I tend to forget whether I’m in
mixing mode or compositon mode.
No mater how ofen I tell myself that I’ll separate the two processes, they inevitably
end up reunitng in some form or another.
I’ve come to appreciate my way of doing things, however, and realize that although
it might not be the way you’re supposed to do it, it’s efectve for me.
Nonetheless, I make sure to approach the two processes separately, joining them
when the compositon is nearing its fnal form.
Step Back and Record
In general, I approach mixing in the way that an engineer working in a brick and
mortar studio would.
The frst step in any producton is getng the musician in and recording the
performances. It’s the same idea in my virtual studio, but the mics and other
recording instruments have already been set up.
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First of, I imagine that I’m that musician entering the studio, unaware of the magic
behind audio producton. I purposely put out of my mind any noton of the way
the sound is coming out of the speakers, focusing only on the compositon that my
heart fnds beauty in.
I develop the basic structure of the piece with MIDI keyboards and translate
melodies, harmonies, bass lines and rhythm sectons to their appropriate virtual
instruments. In the way that a band has multple members, I build each performer
from the ground up.
While in the beginning stages of compositon, the closest I get to producton entails
adjustng the tmber, or the characteristc sound, of each instrument. Because
Ableton has such robust instrument creaton tools, it’s easy to get lost in tweaking
the knobs to get the tmber I’m looking for.
Beyond that, I allow momentum to build, and the compositon takes shape. It
normally takes a few sessions of intense song-writng before I’ll even begin touching
compressors, EQ or panning the tracks. Even efects such as reverb, delay or spatal
processing will confuse the mix if they’re used too early on.
Going for the Mix
When the “recording” process is done, I make sure that I keep the structure of my
MIDI compositons in their current form, as an engineer would have to do afer
fnishing the tracking process.
Sometmes, if I’m being partcularly picky, I’ll resample the tracks to audio fles so
that I won’t get distracted from the new task at hand. I essentally step back into the
engineer’s shoes and try to forget the fact that I’m a musician, the total opposite of
how I approach the mix in the beginning.
Right of the bat, I make sure that I’m mixing at an appropriate level, usually at
conversaton volume.
This makes it easier to pick out things that aren’t working together, as I’m of the
opinion that if it sounds good when it’s quiet, it will sound beter when it’s loud.
Compressors usually go onto some of the tracks, and I tweak each one depending
on the type of instrument their assigned to.
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I usually then strap a spectrum analyzer and EQ onto each track and carve out a
space for each instrument to sit comfortably in.
From that point, it takes a few sessions to get things sounding the way they should.
I’ll make sure that the mix sounds appropriate on diferent sound systems, as my
home studio can’t take into account every listening environment.
I’ll listen to the mixes in my car, on my Sennheisers, even on the litle iPod dock in
my living room. This gives the mix room to breathe in diferent situatons.
Organize Your Electronic Music Production
While home recording and in-the-box producton will never replace the work done
by the big boys, it can stll yield a high quality product.
Even with the generic tools found in most DAWs, the aspiring electronic music
maker can bring even the worst of recordings to a listenable level.
The hardest part of it, however, isn’t learning how to use compressors or EQ, it’s how
to most efectvely handle your style, how to organize your thoughts and translate
them into good sounding music.
It’s an aspect of creatvity that I’m stll working on as an electronic musician, and I’ll
probably never stop trying to get it under control.
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THE MUST-READ BOOKS
ON MUSIC PRODUCTION AND AUDIO ENGINEERING
If you’re like me you probably get super busy during most of the year.
Sometmes I feel like I need to plan my day to the millisecond just so I can kick back
and relax.
Work can really get in the way of learning something new but there’s nothing
catching up on your favorite topic, audio producton!
I’ve read a small shipping container’s worth of audio engineering material over the
years but there are some books that stand out from the rest.
The following books are my all-tme favorite books on audio producton, books that
I couldn’t have lived without when I was startng out.
Modern Recording Techniques
This is the recording bible. If you want to get one book that
has a broad overview of everything you need to know, this
one comes closest.
I grew up on the ffh editon, but I believe the 7th is now
out. It can get quite technical at tmes, but don’t get put of
by the equatons.
Most of the info in this book is easy to understand and
the techniques are easy to implement.
Instrument and Vocal Recording
I use this book as a reference book whenever I’ve forgoten
how to approach a specifc recording situaton.
This book is a part of the greater Hal Leonard Recording
Method of books, each book teaching a specifc
subject. Instrument & Vocal Recording goes into details
of how to record the most common instruments, such as
drums, vocals and guitars.
The coolest thing about this book is how it gives you
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diferent solutons for diferent possible scenarios, like how to record drums if you
only have one microphone. Defnitely a great read for a solid understanding of the
various recording techniques.

The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook
The Mixing Engineer’s Handbook is a goldmine of great
mixing informaton.
I partcularly like the producton analysis secton, something
Bobby Owsinski stll does on his blog.
It has a bunch of great interviews and great go-to startng
points for compression and EQ’ing. The handy EQ charts
are great for understanding the EQ spectrum as well as
the jargon that goes along with it.
It really helped me out when I started mixing because it lays everything down in
simple to understand terms.
The Art of Mixing: A Visual Guide to
Recording, Engineering, and Production
This book is awesome! Whether you like text or diagrams,
this book combines the two for a much easier understanding.
It combines the mixing jargon with diagrams to show you
how each genre is mixed diferently. Just the diagrams in
the middle are worth the price of the book, and it has so
much more to ofer!
By using a three-dimensional diagram you can beter
understand how various genres are mixed and how they
all ft together in a 3D sound scape.
It’s just a great book for a diferent perspectve on mixing.
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Master Handbook of Acoustics
All of the books in this round-up are books that I have
read and recommend highly. This book is on this list due
to the recommendatons of others.
I bought it afer a few engineers recommended it as the
great bible of acoustcs and I am currently reading it.
Acoustcs is defnitely one of the more important things
to get right in your studio. If you record in rooms with
lousy acoustcs your sound will sufer.
Similarly, if you mix in a control room with lackluster acoustcs you are more likely
to EQ incorrectly, add too much(or too litle) bass or generally create an unbalanced mix.
The Master Handbook of Acoustcs explains all the aspects of acoustc environments
and teaches you how to create your own. Yes, it does have a bunch of math, but it
also explains everything really well.
It’s a great read for those that are looking into creatng their own studio and want
to know how to treat their rooms.
Behind the Glass: Top Record Producers
Tell How They Craft the Hits
This book is stock-full of great informaton from the leaders
in the feld. It’s flled with insightul informaton from
famous producers that share their secrets and approaches
to making some of the greatest records of modern music.
It’s a pure interview book, there are no diagrams,
equatons or complex techniques to understand. It’s just a
dialog between Howard Massey and some of the greatest
producers of all tme. Inspiratonal and insightul, it’s
defnitely one of my favorite books about audio.
There’s also a Volume II that›s equally awesome and has some of the newer
producers responsible for the more recent hits in history.
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Recording & Mixing Strategies
If it weren’t for all these books and all that knowledge
freely given out there I would never have writen
my Strategies books for you.
It sums up my what I have learned over the years, learning
through doing and by reading these books.
Recording Strategies is flled with easy to use, practcal re-
cording tps to get it right at the source.
Mixing Strategies is my take on how to mix, and I’ve tried
to outline everything in practcal and simple-to-use terms. That’s how I learned
from all those books, and that’s how I want you to learn too.
Best of the Best
I think all the books above are some of the best-selling books about audio on the
market. I hope you can learn something from them.
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WHAT EUROVISION CAN TEACH YOU
ABOUT MUSIC PRODUCTION
Chances are, if you’re from the United States, you have no idea what Eurovision is.
If you are from Europe, you›re probably cringing at the thought of Eurovision.
Eurovision pits all European countries against each other in a song competton. The
results are varied, weird and sometmes prety embarrassing.
If this sounds new to you then know that it’s been going on since the ffies.
But bear with me. There’s a lot you can learn about producton by analyzing the
European Song Contest.
Techno!
Electronic music in some form or the other rises in popularity every year. It’s come
to the point that even the folkiest of songs has a techno beat of some sort.
Many European countries were born with techno in their blood, and a well-executed
electronic foundaton underneath a catchy melody can’t be beat.
It’s defnitely something to try out in your productons. If something isn’t working,
how about throwing some electronica in there?
Contrast
Just like with songwritng in general, contrast works in a producton. Like putng
electronic beats on top of folk songs or adding unusual instruments to the
arrangement, it’s all about creatng contrast.
Many of the European countries use this to great efect. They use their natve
instruments in a typical pop song arrangement to create contrast and interest.
Build-ups
An enormous amount of these songs follow the build-up formula of startng sofly
with a constant build-up untl the chorus punches through.
It’s the age-old trick of sof/loud that shouldn’t be shunned because it can
work so well.
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The techno beats increase in volume or complexity that really bridge the gap
between the slow and quiet verse and the pounding techno chorus.
Catchy Hooks
Songs in Eurovision die an embarrassing death if they don’t have a catchy hook or
a melody.
Even if you do all the other things really well, if no one remembers those hooks by
the tme Europe calls in their votes, you’re doomed.
Music Production the Eurovision Way
In 2012, Sweden won Eurovision with “Euphoria.”
It has everything that I talked about above:
• Swedish techno(which may or may not be a good thing)
• A sof/loud contrast between the verse and the chorus
• A sof verse that builds up into the chorus quite efectvely and then again
during the bridge
• And fnally that ridiculously catchy “up, up, up...” hook that has every club
dancer screaming in sync with the music.
Pop music changes with the tmes and you really never know what’s going to be
popular.
Swedish techno-babes can win one year, but back in 2006 monster-metal rock gods
from Finland took the ttle.
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Music Production Made Simple
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THE 19 MOST OVERUSED MUSIC
PRODUCTION CLICHÉS EVER RECORDED
There’s an old thread on the Gearslutz forums (*cringe*) on popular and clichéd music
producton techniques.
These techniques have been used so ofen that they’re almost laughable.
So I took some of them to share with you and made up some of my own along with
some great input from Jon Tidey on Twiter.
Have you done any of these? I know I’ve been guilty of at least a few.
Top 18 Music Production Clichés
• An intro with a fltered or distorted secton before it “opens up” into the
verse.
• Distant electric guitar soloing in the background.
• Reverse cymbal leading into the chorus.
• Metal vocalists that “whisper-scream”
• Modulated drums, chorused or fanged to change the feel of a certain secton.
• A breakdown chorus instead of the breakdown afer the bridge which then
turns into the fnal double chorus.
• A megaphone efect on the vocals.
• A modulated drum loop on top of an actual drum track.
• Dubstep breakdowns
• Doubling acoustc guitars with a mandolin.
• Not doing a cliché technique because it sounds cliché. It’s sort of like not
liking a band because they’re too famous. It‘s stll a good technique, even if
it‘s cliché.
• Leaving in the count-of or the band yelling afer the song because it sounds
more live-y.
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• Using Melodyne in rap vocals. Ugh.
• Handclaps instead of the snare.
• A reversed, reverbed phrase leading into the verse or chorus.
• Using samples from movies or weird poems in metal breakdowns.
• Side-chained, gated reverb 80’s snare drum sound.
• A whole tone change up in the fnal chorus(I know this as the Eurovision
chorus enhancement)
• and fnally, white guys clapping on 1 & 3
P.S.
If you want solid, non-cheesy, easy to understand music producton techniques,
check out my music producton bundle, Recording & Mixing Strategies.
Here’s what a recent reader, Jean-Baptste Collinet had to say:
I’m loving it! It’s crazy how close I got to an ORTF dual-mic setup in many cases!
You’re also tackling the issues of angling! It’s an amazing book! The interviews are
fantastc! Slau’s one is for me, damnit. I’m gonna mic up my good ol’ piano properly!
Grab a cliché free copy here: www.audio-issues.com/strategies
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ARE YOU TELLING YOURSELF
THESE 10 AUDIO PRODUCTION LIES?
There are so many things we engineers say to ourselves about our audio produc-
ton that simply aren’t true.
We’re trying to justfy some shortcoming we have, and we usually end up lying to
ourselves instead of fxing the situaton.
Lie #1 - I Don’t Need Acoustic Treatment
Yes, you do. I’m sorry to break it to you, but you really do.
Do you tell yourself, “I don’t need acoustc treatment because I mix at such low levels?”
Well, lower levels help keep the refectons away to a certain extent, but what about
the tmes you want to crank up your mix to see how it really sounds?
Yeah, that’s right. Your walls will come crashing down with all that futer echo, your
mix won’t sound even and your bass response will suck.
That’s why bass trapping and absorpton is so important. You need to tame the
lower frequencies and reduce the refectons.
Lie #2 - I’ll Fix It In The Mix
No you won’t.
Especially if your source sounds terrible to begin with. You can only mix a bad
recording up to a certain level. It will always sort of sound mediocre.
Great source sounds and recordings will only result in beter mixes. Fix it at the
source and get it great from the start.
Lie #3 - Compression Can Fix This
If you look at compression like some miracle cure for a wimpy kick drum sound or
an un-even bass guitar, you’re mistaken.
Compression can’t really fx anything. It can make things sound beter, punchier and
tamer.
It won’t fx an already broken recording. Compression can’t fx it, but it can make
something cool even cooler.
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Lie #4 - Nobody Will Notice This Edit
Yeah, they will. Especially if it’s a misplaced drum hit, or an of-tempo chord strum.
Music loving people will notce when something is wrong with the music. They’ll
notce your bad edits.
Lie #5 - It’s Probably In Tune
Probably is not enough.
You have to be absolutely sure it’s in tune. Just try recording a guitar part over a
slightly out-of-tune bass guitar.
It’ll sound terrible, trust me. Make sure your instruments are in tune.
Lie #6 - We Won’t Go Over The Budget
You probably will. That’s why budgets are estmates. They usually don’t hold in the
long run.
Also, if you underestmate the amount of tme needed on a specifc instrument, you
will most certainly run out of tme, and over budget.
Lie #7 - Reverb Will Make Everything Sound Bigger
Big reverbs can certainly make things sound big, but they can also cluter everything up.
Interestngly enough, shorter reverbs or delays make things sound bigger, not the
other way around. Big reverbs have their place, but don’t think it’s the only way to
make your mix bigger.
Lie #8 - Louder Is Better
No. Just no. If everybody is screaming at you at the same tme, you won’t listen
to anybody.
Don’t try to make the loudest record of all tme. Have faith in your audience. They
will turn up your music if they want it loud.
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Lie #9 - An Hour Is Enough To Edit Drums
Tedious tasks like editng can take forever.
Don’t allocate an unrealistc tmeframe to a task you know is going to take longer.
Drum editng ALWAYS takes longer than you think.
Lie #10 - Better Gear Will Make My Recordings Better
Finally, beter gear will NOT make your recordings beter. Your skills make your
recordings beter. Don’t think a beter EQ will make your EQ’ing skills beter.