After creating unique instrument sounds, the producer must compose and arrange their song, creating its core components such as rhythm and harmony.
Mixing and mastering are crucial parts of creating a powerful track. They involve balancing the levels and frequencies of different instruments so they work well together without overcrowding each other.
1. Beginner
As you begin the journey into electronic music production, it can be daunting and intimidating. At first, learning the fundamentals may leave you overwhelmed and disoriented – this step should not take too long, though. At this stage it is crucial to get acquainted with your gear and tools of the trade – having MASCHINE from Native Instruments offers great combination between physical instruments and software production while saving time with genre-specific expansions that speed up creation time.
At this stage, it’s essential to find your motivation and remain persistent with your goals. There may be many times where you want to give up, but remember the reason behind why you started producing music in the first place – whether that be an EP release, improving skills over time, or inspiring people through your work – these motivations should keep you moving forward with your efforts.
Once you’ve learned the fundamentals, it’s time to expand your knowledge into more advanced areas of electronic music production. At this stage, it may be useful to become familiar with chord progressions, melody, and rhythm; they serve as building blocks of a composition while melody provides its theme and atmosphere – rhythm keeps everything tempoed!
Now is also the perfect opportunity to experiment with various genres of electronic music. Don’t be intimidated by trying something new – it will only help you expand as a producer!
2. Proficient
At this stage, the producer has gained an excellent understanding of electronic music’s basic concepts and fundamental techniques. They know how to operate their DAW, have an in-depth knowledge of synthesis (the process of turning electronic signals into musical sounds), and have begun experimenting with sound design. Furthermore, they may have begun understanding song arrangement basics while possibly even developing their own unique style.
Beginning to produce can be an exhilarating and exciting journey for producers. They start seeing their abilities develop at an impressive rate, which can become highly addictive. But it is also important to remember that new producers may still face difficulties creating professional-sounding tracks; therefore it may be beneficial for them to work with an experienced mixing and mastering engineer(s), who can take their productions to the next level.
Beginners may only be able to produce simple beats; by comparison, skilled producers can create complex melodies and harmonies using various tools within their DAW. Once these advanced producers become skilled enough, they may venture into electronic music styles like Disco with its 4/4 beats and groove bass lines; House with its repetitive tempos and soulful melodies; Techno with futuristic mechanical sounds; Dubstep with wobble bass sounds or Psytrance with its visuals.
They’re also becoming familiar with the fundamentals of songwriting, including strong structures such as intro – verse – chorus and bridge; dynamics like dramatic build-ups culminating in musical climax and release are being focused upon as well.
3. Advanced
Once you have mastered the fundamentals of electronic music production, it’s time to venture beyond. This may involve exploring new genres or exploring how organic sounds, such as live drums or bass guitars can be integrated into your tracks for a truly distinctive sound that stands out. Creatively integrating these elements will help create more complex and individual tracks which set yourself apart.
An understanding of music theory is also key when creating more advanced tracks. Knowledge of scales, chords and rhythm can enable you to craft melodies that resonate with listeners while learning different types of synthesis can open up further creative potential for your tracks – such as experimenting with various effects applied to various instruments and synthesizers as well as sound design (the practice of creating your own unique sounds).
As technology becomes more accessible, there are now various methods of creating and performing electronic music. Beyond traditional recording and editing of acoustic instruments, new forms include laptop performances, live coding sessions, Eurorack modular synthesizers, circuit bending styles of performance as well as many others.
No matter your musical goals – from club tracks and hip-hop beats to more experimental compositions – there is a course available that can meet them. Online and classroom courses offered by experienced instructors offer courses covering key theoretical, technical, artistic and workflow essentials of electronic music production. Many even provide hands-on workshops or labs so you can practice what you have learned directly in a real-world setting – taking advantage of this can expedite your path toward becoming an electronic producer!
4. Master
At its pinnacle, electronic music producers who reach master status have perfected the art of song composition and production. At this stage, he or she has learned the basic principles of arrangement and mixing, as well as genre specific rules which create particular types of electronic music. He or she can successfully break these rules when necessary to produce excellent electronic music tracks.
Electronic dance music differs significantly from traditional forms in that its composition often utilizes looped musical samples that can be repeated until an entire song has been composed. This method allows producers to compose songs much quicker than bands would be able to record and perform complete songs live.
In the 1960s, the BBC Radiophonic Workshop (founded in 1958) became well known for creating electronic versions of musical scores composed by composer Ron Grainer for Doctor Who and Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Hymnen, drette Region mit Orchester composition. Other pioneers in electronic music during this era included British musician Delia Derbyshire who created an electronic version of Ron Grainer’s theme on Vox 120 synthesizer in 1963; Milton Babbitt also explored new technical resources with works like Composition for Synthesizer (1961).
Once a master has finished his track, it should be professionally mastered to adjust its average volume level, making it louder and more prominent. Depending on his style of electronic music, he may then distribute his tracks through online platforms such as Spotify or SoundCloud for distribution.
5. Leader
As soon as you reach master status, your brand becomes even more important than before. Your music will soon be recognized globally for its distinctive sound and production style; take this as an honorable opportunity! This momentous occasion should be celebrated.
Electronic music’s development was catalyzed by advances in audio-frequency technology. By the 1920s, basic circuits for sine waves, square waves and sawtooth waves had been devised, along with amplifiers, filter circuits and loudspeakers; mechanical recording had also been replaced with electrical recordings.
Between the 1950s and 1970s, several electronic instruments were developed that allowed musicians to create their own sounds without using traditional musical equipment like pianos, guitars or drums. Notable examples are Roland TR-808 drum machines released in the 1980s that created iconic beats; and Minimoog synthesizers, which allowed composers to play individual notes electronically while manipulating them digitally. Electronic composers Milton Babbitt and Karlheinz Stockhausen composed pieces using electronic oscillators which generated sine, square, or sawtooth waveforms respectively.
Once dance music producers started using electronic sound in various genres, such as Chicago radio jocks The Hot Mix 5 and club DJs Ron Hardy and Frankie Knuckles from Chicago as well as British band the BBC Radiophonic Workshop creating futuristic music for science-fiction series Doctor Who as well as American bands such as Devo and Aviador Dro producing synth-pop.
Electronic music has emerged as a potency force in youth culture, with artists like Skrillex making headlines for Rolling Stone and Daft Punk appearing at the Grammys. As the music industry evolves further, electronic music’s presence remains unmistakable: from casual listeners on headphones to diehard fans attending massive festivals.