Making Music: Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers PDF
Contents
Discover creative strategies for electronic music production using the powerful PDF format. This guide covers everything from the basics of sound design to more advanced concepts like music theory and sound synthesis.
Introduction
Making Music: Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers PDF is a comprehensive guide to the creative aspects of music production. Written by Dennis DeSantis, an experienced producer and composer, it covers a wide range of topics essential to the creative process, from inspiration and idea generation to arrangement and mixing. The book includes detailed information on specific software instruments and effects, as well as tips and advice on integrating them into the production process. In addition, the book features interviews with a number of well-known producers and musicians, who share their own creative strategies and insights.
The Creative Process
Music is an art form that is created through the use of sound and silence. Music producers use a variety of creative strategies to create their music. Some of these strategies include using a variety of sounds, samples, and effects to create a unique sound. Others focus on creating a certain mood or feeling with their music.
Defining Your Sound
“Your sound” is the combination of all of the sonic elements that make up your music. This includes the types of sounds you use, how you process those sounds, and how you arrange them in the mix. In other words, your sound is the overall sonic fingerprint of your music.
When you’re first starting out, it can be helpful to draw inspiration from other artists in your genre. To find your own sound, try experimenting with different types of sounds and processing techniques. Once you have a good understanding of the elements that make up your sound, you can start to experiment with different ways of arranging those elements in the mix.
As you develop your sound, it’s important to keep in mind that it should evolve over time. As your skills and knowledge grow, so should your sound. There’s no need to stick to one sound for your entire career – in fact, many artists find that their sound evolves naturally over time as they explore new ideas and experiment with new techniques.
Finding Inspiration
The best way to become inspired is to find a method that works for you and stick with it. For some people, inspiration comes from other music. This could be any type of music, from top 40 hits to contemporary classical — anything that gets your creative juices flowing. If you’re having trouble finding inspirational music, try looking for remixes or covers of songs that you like. Usually, when someone else has already done the hard work of creating a catchy melody or harmonic progression, all you need is a spark of creativity to get the ideas flowing.
Another method of finding inspiration is to look outside of music altogether. Some people find that visual art, literature, nature, or even just day-to-day conversations can be a source of musical inspiration. The important thing is to keep your mind open and be on the lookout for anything that could potentially spur creativity. Once you’ve found something that inspires you, it’s time to start the creative process!
Overcoming creative blocks
Creative blocks are a common problem for electronic music producers. Luckily, there are a few strategies you can use to overcome them.
Firstly, it can be helpful to take a break from music altogether. This doesn’t mean you have to stop listening to it, but rather take some time off from producing. This will help you to clear your mind and come back to your work with fresh ideas.
Secondly, it’s important to have realistic expectations. Don’t expect to create a masterpiece every time you sit down to produce music. It’s important to experiment and try new things, even if they don’t always work out.
Finally, it can be helpful to seek out feedback from other producers or musicians. They may be able to offer some insights that you hadn’t considered before.
If you’re struggling with creative blocks, don’t despair – these strategies can help you get back on track.
The Production Process
The songwriting process
Like all art forms, the creation of a piece of music is a process that can be divided into discrete stages. Not all producers work in the same way, and there is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ way to do things – ultimately, the creative process is about following your muse and seeing where it takes you. However, it can be helpful to think of the creation of a track as a journey from idea to finished product, and many producers find it helpful to work through each stage in turn.
The first stage in any writing process is coming up with an idea. This might be a melody that’s been stuck in your head for weeks, or a concept for a track that you want to write. Once you have an idea, the next stage is to start developing it. This might involve working on the melody, coming up with chord progressions or working on the sound design.
Once you have a basic framework for the track, the next stage is putting it all together and starting to work on the arrangement. This is where you start thinking about how the different elements of the track will fit together, and how they will evolve over time. You might also start thinking about what other elements – such as vocals or samples – you want to add to the track at this stage.
After you’ve worked on the arrangement for a while, it’s time to start putting down some final takes and getting everything ready for mixing. This usually involves recording or programming all of the parts that make up the track, and getting them into an order that sounds good. Once everything is recorded, it’s time to move onto mixing – which is where you start shaping the sound of the track and making sure all of the elements fit together nicely.
Finally, once you’re happy with how everything sounds, it’s time to master the track – which basically means getting everything sounding as good as possible so that it’s ready for release. Mastering can be quite technical, but at its simplest it involves things like EQing (setting levels) and compressing (dynamic range processing) so that your track sounds loud and punchy without distortion or loss of quality.
Arrangement
When you have a basic understanding of the sound palette that you are working with and have an idea of the general direction that you would like your track to go in, it is time to start thinking about the arrangement. The arrangement is the structure of the track and how the different elements are arranged over time. A typical Electronic Dance Music (EDM) track will have a distinctive intro, build-up, drop, and outro sections.
The intro should be designed to grab the listener’s attention and give them a taste of what is to come. The build-up section is where the energy starts to increase and all of the elements come together to prepare for the drop. The drop is the main section of the track where everything comes together and the listener is taken on a journey. The outro is where the track starts to wind down and typically features a break down of all of the elements.
A good arrangement will make use of these distinct sections to create a track that is exciting and engaging from start to finish. It is important to remember that less is often more when it comes to arranging your track. It can be tempting to try and cram too much into each section, but this will usually result in a cluttered and incoherent mess. Try to focus on creating clarity and flow in your arrangements by leaving some space between each element.
Sound design
The process of sound design can be approached in a number of ways, depending on the intended result. A sound designer may begin with a raw sound source, such as a field recording, and manipulate it using effects or other processing to achieve the desired result. Alternatively, the sound designer may begin with an existing sound or group of sounds, and use inspired creativity to come up with new ways to process and manipulate them. In either case, the goal is to create something new and interesting that will serve the needs of the project.
A sound designer working on a film might start with recordings of real-world sounds (such as footsteps or traffic noise) and process them to create aural scenery that helps set the scene and mood for a particular scene. For a video game, the sound designer might start with recordings of weapons being fired or creatures being killed, then use these sounds as raw material for designing new and unique sounds for weapons and creatures. The possibilities are endless!
In recent years, there has been an increasing trend towards using found sounds or field recordings as the basis for sound design. This is likely due in part to the increasing availability of high-quality portable recording devices, such as smartphones and digital recorders. It is also due to the fact that many people are now more interested in creating music that has an organic feel to it, as opposed to music that is purely electronic in nature.
Whatever approach you take, the important thing is to be creative and have fun! There are no rules when it comes to sound design, so let your imagination run wild!
Mixing and mastering
The mixing and mastering process is the most important part of creating a professional sounding recording. This is where all of the elements of the track are brought together and perfected. The goal of mixing is to balance all of the tracks so they sound good together, while creating a sense of space and depth. The goal of mastering is to further enhance the overall sound of the track and make it loud and radio-ready.
Both mixing and mastering require a great deal of experience and knowledge, so it’s important to work with a professional who can help you get the best possible results.
Conclusion
All in all, this book is a great introduction to the creative process of making music. It is geared towards electronic music producers, but many of the concepts can be applied to any type of music production. The book is well-written and easy to understand, with lots of helpful illustrations. If you are looking for a way to jumpstart your creativity, or if you just want to learn more about the creative process in general, I would highly recommend this book.
