5 music production tips
Music production can be intimidating, there are so many things to think about... Instruments, layers, effects, parts, sections and the list goes on.
It can get very disorienting so I'm here to help with 5 hot tips to up your production!
Hot tip #1: Name EVERYTHING.
Picture this; inspiration has struck, you're 80 tracks deep into a new song, you save your session and close it for the day. You open the session a few days later and you have no idea what's going on, your kick drum track is named 1hbaDFH(1), an entire barcode! You can't tell the guitar from the piano. You spend 50 minutes trying to decipher the DaVinci code of a session you left behind only to give up and start a new track instead. This would all be solved if you had only named each track as you created it!
Tip #2: Edit your timing.
Playing an instrument is incredibly difficult but playing an instrument with perfect timing and feel is even harder. We've all been there, done 50 takes to get the take that feels just right buuut the 3rd note you played was slightly late. Don't be afraid to chop it up and nudge it forward to get that timing hitting right!
Tip #3: Leave space.
It's super fun adding layer upon layer to your productions but you don't have to have your guitar, piano, drums playing all through the song leaving no semiquaver unplayed. Listen to Last Minute by Sam MacPherson. The chorus has a nice tight groove going on but listen closely and you'll notice that every other snare hit the instrumental goes silent. The push and pull of the space being filled out only to be taken away on the next snare hit which adds a really unique and interesting effect.
Tip #4: Make your chorus... an ANTI chorus.
Hear me out. Ever since the dawn of time we've been making our choruses sound epic and larger than life. From dubstep drops to pop bangers, they all have one thing in common, the choruses HIT HARD. We've become so accustomed to this that you can almost predict what the chorus of a song will sound like on your first listen. A cool trick that has spiked in popularity in the last decade is flipping the chorus on its head. The prime example of this is Attention by Charlie Puth, the song starts as a slow build and the tension rises dramatically in the pre chorus complete with the white noise sweep we've heard a million times, the tension builds and build and builds and we're hit with the chorus which is... bass guitar and kick drum... Subverting the listeners expectation like this is a great way to make a chorus or any other section memorable and keep them hooked.
Tip #5: Listen to music!
Now I know this isn't exactly a production tip but honestly, this is one of the best ways to up your skills. When I say listen to music I don't mean reading a book or playing video games with your favourite music in the background. I mean really listening critically. Grab your favourite pair of headphones and listen to your favourite song. Where are the guitars panned? What kind of synth sound is that? Does the singer have reverb slapped on or are they dry? How many instruments are there in the verse compared to the chorus? All of these questions have answers to them and it's up to you to figure them out. The more you can figure out how something was created just by listening, the easier you'll be able to figure out what you're hearing in your own head!
Have fun and keep creating!
-Luan Meaker