Music production 101
MBABANE – The knowledge of music production is of utmost importance when pursuing this career path.
Music production is an umbrella term that covers a wide aspect of making a song. It includes; songwriting, arranging, recording, mixing, mastering and anything in between. Simply put, it’s the entire process, from start to finish, of recording music.
Before the actual production of a song, it’s mandatory to get all the equipment necessary to set up your analog studio in order to begin your journey as a producer. First and foremost, you will need a room or space where you will set up. Depending on the magnitude of your studio set up and the space at your disposal, you can either have a bedroom studio or a full studio set up.
A full studio set up will require you to have the following equipment:
A laptop or PC.
Speakers or studio monitors. A Sound card – an audio output device used for producing sound on a computer and then heard through the speakers or headphones.
Reflector - which you connect your microphone to, it keeps the sound evenly distributed. Software - used to compose the song.
Piano - used to play the keys and melodies you want to add in the song.
Microphone - used to record the vocals.
It’s advisable to get a sound engineer to help you make all the necessary connections needed to get your studio going. Getting to the composition part of things and understanding how to make a song is the next step.
Composing a beat consists of understanding the software used to make songs. There are numerous kinds of softwares available that the industry has to offer including: Logic, Fruity loops, Magic Acid Pro, Ableton Live and Garageband to mention a few.
There is a general way that songs are produced, yet different producers use their own methods too.