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    Music Production Tips, Tricks, and Secrets: for all Producers, Musicians, Beat Makers, Songwriters, and Media Composers
    Music Production Tips, Tricks, and Secrets: for all Producers, Musicians, Beat Makers, Songwriters, and Media Composers
    Music Production Tips, Tricks, and Secrets: for all Producers, Musicians, Beat Makers, Songwriters, and Media Composers
    Ebook111 pages55 minutes

    Music Production Tips, Tricks, and Secrets: for all Producers, Musicians, Beat Makers, Songwriters, and Media Composers

    By L. J. Howard and Tommy Gordon

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    About this ebook

    Here's a collection of tips, tricks, and secrets for music production covering everything from your skills, productivity, inspiration, and gear. This is the first book in a new series of titles related to music production, mixing and mastering, digital audio workstations (DAWs), sample libraries, stock and third-party plugins, and getting to the process of how to make pro-sounding music, and more. If you're focused on producing electronic music, or how to produce and release your own music (in any software), you'll find valuable timesaving ideas, tools, and tips here.
    


    Commercially released music needs to be competitive in terms of its overall volume and dynamics, its EQ (equalization), effects (reverb, delay, and more), processing, mixing, and mastering. That's why serious musicians continue learning all they can to make each project better than the last. This book contains several creative and timesaving tips which will be useful to:

    • producers
    • musicians & vocalists
    • beat makers
    • singers & songwriters
    • aspiring recording, mixing, and mastering engineers
    • media composers

    Get your copy today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFretboard Media Group
    Release dateAug 15, 2019
    ISBN9781393451792
    Music Production Tips, Tricks, and Secrets: for all Producers, Musicians, Beat Makers, Songwriters, and Media Composers

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      Music Production Tips, Tricks, and Secrets - L. J. Howard

      Introduction

      We think it’s a really great time to be a producer, mixer, or songwriter. It’s definitely a 21st century world of digital tools, global access, and social reach, so the process of making music and releasing music to the entire globe is easier than it ever has been.

      The audio software available now is a game-changer for musicians. Applications like Pro Tools, Studio One, FL Studio, Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, Cubase Pro, MOTU Digital Performer, Propellerhead Reason, Mixcraft Pro Studio, Reaper, Bitwig Studio, and countless other DAWs (digital audio workstations) make it just as likely for great new recordings to be made at home or on the go —laptops and tablets— as in recording studios. (No disrespect to those big pro studios in Los Angeles, New York City, Nashville, Atlanta, Seattle, Chicago, London, Paris, Berlin, Toronto, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, and elsewhere, and the geniuses who work there whose skills are on a completely different level. Props and all love, audio professionals!)

      Right now, if you have an original track of your music in WAV audio format (16 bit, 44.1 kHz minimum) and a high-resolution JPEG cover image of 3000 x 3000 pixels, then you can release a single on the biggest streaming platforms all across the world. If you have at least three tracks you can release an EP, and with at least seven tracks, or a half an hour’s worth of music, you’ll launch an entire album. (We said original track because releasing cover songs is relatively easy now too, but that process takes a little more time, effort, and fees.)

      Within a few days to a week or more, depending on your distribution channel —companies like TuneCore, CDBaby, Distrokid, Ditto Music, Soundrop, CDBaby, BandCamp, and many others called music aggregators— your new music track(s) or album will be available to stream (or download) on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Google Play, YouTube, Amazon, Tidal, Deezer, and other platforms.

      Simple.

      Yep, it’s a very simple process.

      But the fact that it’s so simple means that many producers, songwriters, composers, musicians, beat-makers, and bands are following that same process. So let’s not ever forget that what we release also has to be good. Really good music that has a good melody, interesting lyrics, a strong beat, nice bass line, cool chords - whatever your genre expects.

      And if you want to find listeners, or expand the reach of your current audience, what you release to the world has to also sound really good.

      How?

      The overall balanced music has to have an exciting (and logical) mix, slamming drums, clear vocals, general warmth and pleasing tones, just enough saturation, pleasant distortion and grit (if applicable), interesting panning and spatial width, and a competitive, radio-ready, glossy coat of mastering,

      And perhaps the biggest test of all:

      If you play your track back to back with high-fidelity, high resolution CD-quality recordings by your favorite artists or bands does your track sound as well-produced, balanced, clear, bright, loud, full, and… professional?

      Of course, you’re reading this because you know that sounding as good as the major labels is the key for broadcast stations like terrestrial and satellite radio, TV and cable networks, and on the streaming platforms. And it’s the key to getting your music on the biggest, most-followed playlists on the biggest streaming platforms on the planet.

      Ask yourself: Does your music consistently sound as full, loud, balanced, and complete as those other tracks?

      No?

      Well, then read on.

      One

      The Basics

      Well, my almost wonderful music (and Tommy’s tracks) —recorded, mixed, and mastered in our respective home studios— didn’t always sound that great either.

      Less. Than. Stellar.

      To be 100% honest, I’d say sometimes my recordings even sounded downright awful, suffering from a range of various mix and mastering problems that included being :

      too muddy

      too distorted

      too loud

      not loud enough

      out of balance

      boxy-sounding

      harsh-sounding

      tinny

      boomy

      too wet

      too dry

      too dynamic

      too flat

      kind of boring

      too busy and cluttered

      It’s true. I’ll admit it. I had —and still have— so much to learn.

      And that’s what sent me on this relentless QUEST to learn as much as I could about sound, recording, mixing, DAWs, music production, and more. And from my regular tracking, mixing sessions, mastering attempts(!), and sound design experiences, talking to every professional I could find, and reading, watching, listening to everything I could get my hands on for clues, my music output is now (finally!) on a whole new level.

      And lately I’ve had some tiny bit of (social) proof that my tracks, my music, my recorded productions are definitely getting better.

      That proof, for me, is in finding an audience for my new projects. (Or should I say the beginning threads of an audience!)

      Here is the

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