The world of music production has changed.
Decades ago, if you were a musician, and you wanted to record an album…
You and your band played your asses off in bars and clubs every night…
And prayed that some big-shot producer in the audience who would impressed enough to give you a shot.
But not anymore.
Today, the trend in music production is shifting more and more toward home studios.
Great music is being produced all the time in bedrooms, garages, and basements by normal folks like you and me…
Often with little more than a computer, a USB mic, and some headphones.
Record a song, post it online, watch it go viral… and you’re famous overnight.
While it’s not that EASY, it is that SIMPLE.
But before any of that can happen, you must first know the process of how music actually is recorded.
And so in today’s post, I break it down for you in 4 steps…from start to finish.
Let’s begin…
Music Production: Recording
In the earliest days of the music recording…
The process was much simpler than it is today.
Entire performances were recorded in single takes, sometimes with just 1 or 2 mics.
Today though, we use a more sophisticated process known as multitrack recording…
Where each instrument is recorded separately and combined later in a “mix”.
This offers two BIG advantages:
- It allows engineers to mold and shape the sound of each instrument independently of the others.
- It allows each instrument in a song to be recorded one at a time.
With this new method, it meant that one man could now do alone, what used to require an entire team of engineers and musicians.
While the actual steps in the process vary from engineer to engineer…
Here’s a general guideline of how it works:
1. Create a Track to Follow
The first step is creating some kind of guide for the other instruments to follow along with.
Most people use a simple click/metronome to set a tempo. But since not all musicians can follow clicks, you could also use a pre-recorded drum loop instead.
And since not all songs have steady tempos, a third method is to create a scratch track…
Where an instrument or group of instruments are recorded as the guide, then “over-dubbed” one at a time, until the original can be deleted or “scratched“.
2. Record the Rhythm Section
As any musician knows, the rhythm section is the foundation of any song. When bands play together, everyone follows the drums/bass.
It makes sense then, that these be the first instruments you normally record.
In songs that lack drums/bass, another rhythmic instrument (such as acoustic guitar), can be used instead.
3. Record the Harmonies
Once you’ve built a good foundation, next it’s time to add to it by creating a chord structure.
Depending on the song, that could mean adding rhythm guitar, piano, synths, horns, etc.
With a basic chord progressions now in place, next it’s time to…
4. Record the Melodies
Since most songs use a combination of instruments to form the melody…
It makes sense that whichever ones are most dominant (usually lead vocals/lead guitar) be the ones you record first.
Then afterwards, you can fill in the gaps with all the supporting melodies.
After that, all that’s left is…
5. Add Color
To put the finishing touches on your song, you add all those little nuances that add color and flare to the main tracks.
Common examples might include:
- background vocals
- percussion fills
- piano fills
- sampled sound effects
Can’t Do It All Alone?
As I’m sure you already know, one of the hardest parts about recording all this stuff is finding competent musicians to play all these different instruments.
If you ‘re lucky, you have a band…or you at least have friends willing to help out.
However, many of us DON’T. Luckily, nowadays remote music collaboration is easier then ever with tools such as sound better or kompoz.