Electronic music covers an expansive and ever-evolving world of technologies, production techniques, subgenres and subcultures that is constantly expanding and diversifying. This guide is here to help you gain some grounding in this dynamic genre landscape.
Synthpop is a genre of pop music characterized by heavy use of synthesizers. This genre often features smooth pads, chord extensions and jazzy voicings in its tracks.
Origins
Electronic music has an extensive and longstanding history that predates its relatively recent prominence as a genre. Its origins may be traced to various developments at the turn of the 20th century that allowed musicians to experiment with sound using electrical devices – specifically signal generators – with circuits for sine, square, sawtooth wave generators as well as amplifiers and filter circuits being constructed by 1920s; these allowed more expansive timbre experiments beyond those previously limited by mechanical instruments or recordings alone.
After World War I, composers like John Cage experimented with different sounds and combinations of instruments. His composition, Imaginary Landscape No. 1, utilized two variable speed turntables, frequency recordings, a muted piano with cymbals, as well as other non-electronic components – these experiments led directly to the modern electronic musical instrument which produces sound based on digital representations of physical objects such as vibrations.
Musique Concrete began in the mid-1950s and further broadened this instrumentation, incorporating tape manipulation and emphasizing atonality and just intonation instead of traditional scales like Gregorian chants. By 1960s Moog and Buchla had created modular synthesizers more advanced than their earlier predecessors.
In the 1970s, electronic music emerged into mainstream popularity through artists like Kraftwerk and Lime and Men Without Hats who utilized synthesizers and drum machines to craft their distinctive sounds. This led to EDM (or electronic dance music), an emerging genre which combined elements of disco with synthpop. Furthermore, this movement revived interest in atonality and non-manual control through digital technologies such as MIDI.
Styles
At this time, new forms of music emerged and experimenting with electrical instruments became more widespread. Kraftwerk, a German group fusing acoustic and electronic elements, had an enormous influence on Hip Hop, Post-punk, Techno and Ambient genres; their blend of acoustic and electronic influences also had an effect on Hip Hop, Post-punk, Techno and Ambient music genres alike. Their influence extended across genres including Hip Hop, Post-punk, Techno and Ambient genres alike; its influence extended through genres including Hip Hop, Post-punk Techno and Ambient genres as drum machines like Roland TR-808 replaced drumming techniques which made for incredible dance tracks; artists such as Grandmaster Flash would use turntable tricks like Grandmaster Flash who would chop records by Queen and Blondie into his beats when producing dance tracks based around them to bring about huge change within club culture which lead to his famous turntable tricks which would chop records like Queen/Blondie records into his beats using turntable tricks from artists such as Grandmaster Flash would use turntable tricks from artist Grandmaster Flash who would chop records such as Queen/Blondie records into his beats for production of course!
As technology advanced, drum machine music diversified into various styles – most notably Hip Hop. This genre combines elements of Rap and Rock music with bass lines heavily emphasised for danceability melodies spliced together with catchy hooks that create danceable melodies. Hip Hop also took advantage of new electronics company technology by employing synthesizers and drum machines as replacements for bass guitars and drummers in their compositions.
The 1990s witnessed the rapid rise of Drum and Bass/Jungle music. Emerging from UK rave scene culture and sound system culture, its fast tempo is defined by bass lines which pulse or drop out, producing an incessant head-nodding rhythm and frequently including vocal samples or synthesized effects for added impact.
Liquid Drum & Bass is a subgenre of Drum & Bass which draws influence from other genres such as Dubstep and Footwork. This style typically has slower tempos than its counterparts (120-150 BPM) with warm bounce basslines instead of harsh whomps that characterise other styles, plus multi-layered automation techniques and risers leading up to drops.
Genres
Electronic music producers have created a wide variety of genres. These genres can often be distinguished by the use of synthesizers, synthesizers, drum machines and other electronic instruments in their compositions – most popular examples being dance trance ambient techno and glitch hop.
In the late 1960s, popular musicians like the Beatles or Beach Boys began incorporating electronic instruments such as oscillators or theremins into their songs and musical styles, leading to new genres like psychedelic rock, progressive rock and experimental rock. Over time, other musicians also began experimenting with such electronic instruments for further experimentation, leading to subgenres like electropop and synth-pop being created.
Electropop and synth-pop are forms of dance music which incorporate electronic instruments. Both genres are typically distinguished by catchy melodies with danceable rhythms that often combine elements from other genres, such as pop or hip-hop.
Glitch hop is an electronic music genre characterized by distorted and auto-tuned vocals. Influenced by other genres such as hip-hop, trap and house music genres, glitch hop is known for its fast tempos and hard kick drums.
Breakbeat is an electronic genre which utilizes sampled drum breaks from funk and soul records pitched up to an engaging BPM for danceability, creating a versatile form of music with different forms and genres in its wake. Common examples include drum and bass, jungle music and garage.
Future bass is an electronic music genre derived from Dubstep, Trap and Footwork that distinguishes itself by its warm bounce and absence of heavy, distorted basslines often found elsewhere in EDM genres. Furthermore, Future bass features synths which often add harmonic complexity to its soundscape.
Instruments
Electronic instruments allow composers to explore sounds not possible with traditional musical instrumentation. While modern electronic music’s roots lie in electrical audio-frequency technology of the 1920s, its development advanced dramatically following digital recording and the MIDI interface’s introduction; now many different manufacturers’ devices could work seamlessly together.
As early electronic instruments used vacuum tubes to generate signals that controlled magnetic fields in metal pickups on rotating drums and other mechanical devices to produce sound, early instruments were bulky and cumbersome; with smaller vacuum tubes becoming available musicians created small, portable keyboard synthesizers. By the 1970s electronic music had become widely popular. Keyboard synthesizers became especially popular among rock and pop bands; even classical orchestral instruments started using synthesization techniques.
Choruses are an integral component of most songs, serving as their energetic centerpiece and often featuring their main message and melodic motif. When creating electronic tracks, often writing the chorus first is beneficial since this part often offers the most extensive and complex compositional options.
Producing dance tracks requires including a build section to build up energy and anticipation before introducing the chorus. This serves to stoke up excitement before its peak moment arrives.
Nearly all modern music production utilizes technology to alter and shape sounds. From Jimi Hendrix’s guitar sounding like his signature voice through to Beyonce’s vocals being given space with reverb, electronic production techniques have revolutionized how we make and listen to music.
Mixing
Mixing is often the hardest and most time-consuming part of the production process, requiring detailed work by both producer and engineer alike. Here, the mix engineer has the opportunity to make a substantial impactful change to a track’s sound through techniques like fine volume automation, EQing, panning and effects. A mix engineer can take it from good to great in an instant!
Utilizing layers and reverbs to produce a full and immersive soundscape is essential to EDM mixes. Be ruthless in editing out unnecessary elements; too much going on could overwhelm listeners and cause unnecessary confusion.
Gain staging is often one of the biggest difficulties producers encounter when mixing. Less is always more when it comes to mixing, so don’t be intimidated to turn down your master fader; this will save time so that you can spend your energy working on other details of the track like EQing, automating levels, mutting or panning instead.
Saturation should also be taken into consideration. Saturation is a musical sound creation technique that increases harmonic complexity of sounds and provides warmer, analog-sounding frequencies that add thickness and warmth.
At the final stage of mixing is the stereo bus, in which all individual track outputs are combined into a left and right stereo output signal. This step can help create an immersive atmosphere in your mix by adding time-based effects like reverb and delay; additionally, experimentation can include changing decay times, damping rates and panning parameters for some unique soundscapes.
Electronic music can generally be defined as any form of musical composition that uses electrical processing, although this doesn’t automatically qualify any conventional piece played on electronic instruments as electronic.
EDM music is distinguished by its futuristic sounds, innovative sounds and international fan base that spans multiple cultures.
It is a form of dance music
Electronic dance music (EDM) is a form of popular music frequently heard at nightclubs, radio stations, shows, and raves. The genre can include various modern styles like techno, house, acid house and hardstyle as well as hybrid genres like hardstyle drum and bass or electro. Electronic dance music can often be identified by fast beats with vocals accompanying heavy basslines. Although the term dance music has various definitions within society at large it typically refers to any musical form which involves dancing.
Since the early 20th century, electronic music has provided composers with an outlet for exploring unexpected sounds. Composers must identify non-musical qualities in sounds to develop new concepts and structures in music. While traditional instruments require musicians to perform them skillfully with skilled fingers, computerized instruments rely solely on computer sound management systems – this necessitates working from imagined recollections of sounds while accepting that different performances might result in drastically different results.
Early synthesizers provided musicians with access to sounds not available from traditional instruments, enabling them to compose melodies and chord progressions more easily than before. Later on, drum machines provided rhythmic backing while sequencers allowed for easier composition of songs by musicians.
As the music industry evolved, dance music quickly became an integral part of its culture and remains a global form of entertainment today. However, many have misconceptions about electronic dance music (EDM). A common assumption is that EDM is equivalent to pop music; however this is far from accurate since EDM spans various genres such as trance, techno and big room house.
EDM differs from dance music by having an aggressive sound designed to get large crowds moving and dancing. Its synths and beats are louder and more intense; their tracks may blend together over time into similar sounds from producer to producer.
It is a genre of music
Electronic music is a genre of dance music which utilizes digital synthesizers and computer software to produce unique sounds, ranging from white noise sweeps to kick drum thumps and alien-like bleeps. Electronic music has long been popular in dance clubs with disc jockeys (DJs) playing it. Recently however, electronic music has also gained widespread acceptance from listeners of all backgrounds; electronic songs typically contain fast beats with repetitive melodies as well as high levels of energy.
Electronic music encompasses various genres such as Hip-Hop, Techno, Dubstep and House music genres, each having their own distinct sound and style. Four Tet’s song may fall within EDM as a genre but is closer related to house than hip hop or techno; nevertheless, “EDM” is often used interchangeably between all these subgenres.
Producing music usually involves using computer programs like Ableton Live, Logic Pro X and FL Studio known as Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs), which allow producers to manipulate and create their own songs using these DAWs. They may also utilize MIDI controllers to manage instruments as well as trigger various functions in these DAWs.
Even though many may perceive Electronic Dance Music (EDM) to be relatively modern in origin, its roots date back centuries. Early 20th-century composers began exploring electronic forms as they sought new technical resources and expression mechanisms beyond conventional 12-tone thinking.
Early forms of electronic music, including musique concrete and tape music, focused on altering natural sounds into musical forms that composers could discover new musical qualities within. Electronic music methods also gave rise to musical ideas which couldn’t be expressed via traditional instrumental instruments alone.
It is a style of music
Electronic music is a style of musical composition which utilizes electronic processing to generate sounds and structures. Electronic music has grown increasingly popular over time, becoming known for its variety of styles that range from beatless ambient to 200 BPM hardcore EDM. Producing successful electronic music requires technical knowledge of digital audio workstations, sound design tools, song arrangement programs and more – often taking months or even years for producers to produce quality pieces comparable to established artists.
Electronic music encompasses several subgenres, such as House, Techno, Drum and Bass, Ambient Trance and Vaporwave. Each sub-genre has its own distinctive sound and structure; yet all share some common elements, including synthesized/sampled voices/percussion/bass guitar/guitar as well as live instruments for an additional organic touch to their productions.
Techno music, with roots in funk and early hip hop, is an electronic genre characterized by complex rhythms, lack of traditional melodies or lyrics and use of modulated, distorted and filtered synthesisers. Techno has grown over time to incorporate influences from other styles like Jazz and Classical music into its soundscape.
Drum and Bass music originated in the UK. It features fast drum beats, bass lines and melodic or robotic vocal styles; as well as influence from other genres such as Techno and Dubstep. Drum and Bass music is usually performed at dance clubs or DJ-controlled dance parties.
Ambient Electronica is a genre of music which combines elements from Electronic, Synth and Artistic musical concepts. This style can often be more experimental, cerebral and varied than other types of electronic music; typically performed by electronic musicians who play multiple genres simultaneously within one DJ set with variable BPMs.
To create great Electronic Dance Music (EDM), one must understand its core components. In order to craft an unforgettable, emotive, and captivating track, one should have an idea of their intended goals when writing a track and how this will be accomplished through musical means.
It is a form of art
No matter its artistic status, electronic music has had a tremendous impact on more traditional musical forms. Furthermore, its influence continues to spread with new subgenres like EDM (electronic dance music) coming onto the scene regularly – something which only serves to increase its global popularity further.
As the 20th century progressed, composers sought out new technical resources to express themselves musically. This led to numerous experiments in audio frequency technology; sine, square and sawtooth wave generators had already been invented by 1920 as well as amplifiers and filter circuits; these innovations provided the precursors to modern electronic music but mainly served experimental purposes.
Composers explored the musical qualities of “non-musical” sounds and attempted to develop new structural concepts. Edgard Varese’s Poeme electronique (1958, 8 minutes) is an assemblage of short sounds spanning environmental (church bells, voices and jet plane), instrumental (rattles chains drums) and non-instrumental sources (buzzing electricity and the gurgling of water), suggesting mysterious multiple meanings with its otherworldly quality.
Frankie Knuckles pioneered house music during the 1970s by combining elements of more traditional genres like rhythm and blues, funk, and soul into his innovative genre characterized by pulsing beats, distorted vocals, and synthesized sounds. This new genre was quickly adopted worldwide.
Electronic music’s rise can be traced to technological advancements in audio recording and production techniques. These advances allow producers to explore various sonic combinations with unparalleled precision while maintaining high standards for quality and precision. Producers utilize various tools – synthesizers, drum machines and samplers – as well as MIDI controllers and digital audio workstations (DAWs) – when producing electronic music.
Producing electronic music can be an amazing way to expand your creativity and push the limits of sound design. To make the most of your production skills, it’s crucial that you understand key musical concepts like chord progressions and song structure as well as basic production techniques like granular synthesis and modular synthesis in order to add depth and dimension to your tracks.