Technology was once a foreign entity but is now a standard tool at our disposal. With that in mind, does the typical music producer have to be tech-savvy when producing music?
The answer is a solid yes. I will go into detail on How Technology Changed The Music Industry below.
Familiarity
Now, do you necessarily need it in writing music? Nope. You can honestly start with your instrument and a simple recording device that you can always find on your phone. So long as there’s heart and soul, there shouldn’t be a problem.
So when does savviness come in? If you want to jump into the world of music production, you will need to know how its technology works.
As mentioned earlier, the computer is the most critical technology in music production. The computer is where you will be using your digital audio workstation (DAW), the main program used for putting your ideas in the hopes of making a clear final product.
So at the very least, you should know how to use your computer. These include how to use the mouse and what key command shortcuts can make your work more convenient.
You will also come across other important pieces of technology. It is crucial to understand things such as studio monitor settings, sound card features, and microphone setup when pursuing music production.
Moving on from the computer, the next thing you should know is the program used for making music. It is vital to have a primary mastery of the layout of the DAW to avoid confusion and feeling overwhelmed.
The layout of every DAW is similar, even if their presentation and design may vary. The top layer has the play, stop, and record buttons. You will use these to record your audio and midi tracks.
The first portion may sound simple, but the next one might require more understanding. The next thing you will notice is the audio/midi track sections.
Some audio tracks come with separate sections. There are frequency bands, inserts, and sends, to name a few.
You can achieve this through practice. Spending time using your DAW will help you familiarize yourself with all the features and tools presented.
To better explain the importance of tech-savviness in using the DAW, I’ll be talking about it in the context of music production.
Music production is more than just hitting the record button and calling it a day. That is just one step in the overall process. You will be encountering other vital steps in music production.
Arranging
Once you’ve written a song, you already have an idea of how it will sound. Arranging is being able to put the framework of your song in the project. When you open up a project, you can add the tracks you feel are necessary to your song.
Now, this usually comes in tandem with the tracking step. You usually record the instrument as soon as you put up the track. Sometimes, even after you’ve tracked most of the song, more ideas may come to your head in the hopes of enhancing the song.
Tracking
This step is something everyone is familiar with. A more straightforward way of saying this is recording. This step is where you record your instruments or vocals in the DAW.
Editing
After tracking comes editing. This is the part where you can slightly change certain parts of the recording depending on your preference.
Some editing tools you will use include cutting, pasting, reversing, and comping.
You usually avoid this step if you feel the takes you took are great on their own. Before you consider editing, it is crucial to track the best take. However, it wouldn’t hurt to tweak it a bit after recording.
Mixing
Apart from tracking, this is the part many people think of when it comes to music production. Mixing is where you combine all the tracks you recorded and edited into one 2-stereo channel mix.
Some things that are done in mixing include raising the volume of certain tracks, adding plugins, panning, and adding delay and reverb.
The main thing you need to know about this step is making sure all the tracks go along with one another.
Mastering
Now mastering is in a realm of its own. If you make music in your bedroom, then it is mainly viewed as the last step in the mixing process.
While it is more than enough to understand if you make your music at home, it wouldn’t hurt to know more about the mastering process as a whole.
Mastering is responsible for making your songs listenable commercially. From car speakers to headphones, this step ensures consistent quality.
Deepening Knowledge
So with all these steps in mind, why should you be tech savvy in music production?
1. Editing
Let’s start with editing. As mentioned earlier, there are many editing tools that you should be familiar with. One example is in comping vocals. It’ll be inevitable to have some slip-ups during your vocal takes.
For example, you recorded three takes. The first one is good up until the middle point. As for the second one, it only shines in the middle part. The last take did a pretty good job with the first and middle portions, but the previous two takes sound better in comparison. However, it did much better in the end.
Luckily, you can edit the three takes and combine them into one solid take instead of redoing all of them at once. You can get the best part of one take with the best part of another and make it into one take.
That way, all the good parts flow seamlessly. You no longer need to redo a whole take, saving up on time and effort.
This is just one of many editing tools to make your work easier.
Editing tools are not just there to fix some takes. You can also edit it to add some effects.
One way of making your song more exciting is by reversing a take. This can create an ambient vibe that can be used for transitions or just add more variety to the song’s sound.
2. Mixing and Mastering
Mixing and mastering require deep knowledge of the practice and the tools needed. These tools come in the form of plugins that either come with the DAW or are downloaded separately. They will help make your raw takes cleaner, clearer, and more sonically pleasing.
Not knowing how they work will definitely affect the outcome of your music. Even if this requires more ear training and intuition, randomly fiddling with the frequencies might ruin the quality of certain tracks if not done right.
There are a lot of knobs and meters present in plugins, so having an understanding of how to operate them is necessary.
File Management
The last notable thing that hammers home on the importance of tech savviness is file management. Yep, even in music, this is necessary.
All of your music projects will be stored on your computer, and the one thing you should do with any project that uses the computer is to save. It will be a shame if all the hard work you’ve put into a track goes to waste.
1. Internal Hard Drive
There are three places where you can save your files. The first is the internal hard drive or your computer’s storage. There should be more than enough storage in your computer except for files that require storage space.
2. External Hard Drive
If you want to save on space, you can also save your files on an external hard drive. Apart from more storage, the advantage of having an external hard drive is better reading/writing capabilities.
Having a hard drive, especially the ones made for this particular thing, will help significantly in processing all your music files.
3. Cloud Storage
The last place you can store your files is in cloud storage. Storage is now no longer limited to physical drives. Cloud storage lets you keep files on the internet, which could come in handy if you want to archive your work.
Apart from knowing where to save, you should also be able to organize your files. Things like folder consistency and naming conventions will help you immensely.
Being organized isn’t just limited to making music on your computer, it also includes storing your music projects. Knowing all the possible places to save your music is essential to ensure you don’t get lost and forget where you put your work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Don’t skip this section if you still have more queries about the music industry.
1. Do I need to be familiar with every DAW to be tech-savvy?
Luckily you don’t have to. Most of the layouts will be the same for every DAW.
Focus on mastering the DAW you have right now. If you have that figured out, you’ll have an easier time navigating other options.
2. Should I learn Mastering?
When starting out, it is okay not to master this step. You can always hire someone to master your tracks. I might even recommend having someone else do the mastering since unbiased ears will help improve the quality of the song.
If you want to be a full-time producer, then this is something you should learn down the line.
3. Do I need to learn more complicated music equipment to become tech-savvy?
If you are sticking to a home studio layout, then there’s no need to learn such advanced equipment. Start small with the gear you have. These will be enough to give you an understanding of how you will be producing music.
If you want to take it up a notch and have a set-up be likened to a professional recording studio, then that would be the right time to study up on more advanced studio equipment.
4. Which storage should I go for?
That will depend on how much storage your computer has. If you have a desktop or a laptop with storage of around 500 Gb, then you can definitely still store your files there.
However, if you have a laptop with relatively small storage space, you should save those files in cloud storage or consider getting an external hard drive.
5. Should I put everything into one folder?
When you save a music project, a folder will appear containing all the takes you have recorded in the form of wav files. This should be enough; however, if you have more than one music project working on, you wouldn’t want to lose those files.
You can create one big folder for all your music project folders. That way, you know where to locate them and be organized with your music projects simultaneously.
Conclusion
It may not look like it, but being tech-savvy is vital if you want to develop your skills as a musician and music producer.
That is all about How Technology Changed The Music Industry. Although it may be challenging, the payoff of becoming tech-savvy is too good to pass up.
