Do You Really Need Hardware To Produce Music?

Do You Really Need Hardware To Produce Music?

Quick answer = NO, But It Does Help!

I believe that in order to produce high quality, great sounding mixes, you do not need hardware.  

However, I do think that it helps to have a MIDI keyboard as it will help inspire you into making great chord progressions. As having lots of hardware may look good and give you a hands on approach there is no massive reason why you should have it. My reasoning is that you can do most of the things you could do on any MIDI controller with a computer software. If you have access to hardware, it should 100% be used but it is not vital to be used for high quality mixes, in my opinion. From my experience as a producer 

I know people who I have collaborated with who are mad on hardware and I also have worked with people who do not use any hardware to produce. These two different types of producers produce exactly the same genre as each other and not one produces better than the other. I am not saying that hardware should never be used or that it doesn't help, I am just saying that is is not vital to be used although it can speed up the process of producing.

What To Do When You Are A Beginner

What To Do When You Are A Beginner

As some of these reasons may seem obvious, they are general things that young, new, producers don't do when beginning. I have seen producers I know make simple mistakes multiple times.

Firstly, let me start by saying that just because you have downloaded the demo version of a software in which you don't know how to use. Please save people time and take that time to learn how to use the software. Many new producers just get excited and make a terrible, out of key, badly mixed and mastered track. They then put this track on the internet (Soundcloud and YouTube) thinking that they will get instant fame and become the new Martin Garrix. IT TAKES TIME PEOPLE! Before you make this simple mistake learn how to use your software to the best of your ability, possibly buy the full version and have fun with it. 

Once you now know how to use your software, what ever it may be, they are all basically the same anyway, export your first track in a high quality format. Next, take a week before releasing it to spread the word, tell your friends, family. Post tweets telling people to listen, maybe put a short 30 second snapshot of your track on to Youtube and Soundcloud to get people excited for the release.

Now, yes NOW it is time to release your track. I recommend that you make it a free download (Soundcloud allows you do do this easily) because people will most store it on their phones or computers and will want to come back for more. If you are ok for money, you could also invest in Adobe After Effects and make an audio visualizer for your YouTube video which will help attract viewers. Whatever you do, don't submit to record labels yet as they will most probably turn you down and do not cram your music on every promotion site known to man as it will not help your exposure at all. All you need is YouTube, Soundcloud and Twitter. Facebook can be used also but I personally do not recommend it as highly as Twitter for promotion.

I hope this helped.
Please remember that what I am writing is about what I have noticed from other producers and my own experience. Everyone has a different path to success.

Best Sites For Promotion and Exposure #1 - ReverbNation

If you have a very little audience you may ask:

What are the best sites for music promotion?

We have you covered!

1. Reverb Nation - Now, this site is absolutely brilliant for new artists. One of my personal favourite features is the charts, from the home screen you can view how popular you are as a musician in your local area and where you rank on the charts. You can narrow the charts down by local area, nationally, and globally as well as by genre!

Also, the fans system allows you to see how many fans you have across all your social media sites which gives you an impression of actually how many fans you have added up.

Next, you can submit to labels and opportunities through ReverbNation and it is really easy to do, they are accessible from the dashboard.

The ReverbNation website states 

"ReverbNation helps Artists grow lasting careers by introducing them to music industry partners, exposing them to fans, ..."

https://www.reverbnation.com

The Best DAW?

So, this is the question that has annoyed producers since the beginning of music production software's.

A DAW means "Digital Audio Workstation" which is a computer software used to produce music. 

1. "A digital audio workstation (or DAW) is a computer program that is exclusively designed for the recording, editing and playing of digital audio files. A DAW allows you to edit and mix multiple audio sources simultaneously on a musical timing grid and to visually see how they line up over time."

2. In my opinion, there is no best DAW but there is a best for different genres of music and some DAW's will be able to perform harder tasks much better than others.. Many people will claim that the software that they use will be the best because of many reasons:

• Functionality
• Interface
• Simplicity
• Great sounds (Plugins, Sample packs included etc)
• Price
• Ability to do things in different, easirer ways.
• Plus more stuff!

However, they may not look it but all DAW's are exactly the same in many ways, you can produce great sounding, professional mixes with any software. You will be able to learn how to use any software, it just takes lots of time and effort. If you learn how to produce on multiple software's you will know that some of them are much better at performing certain tasks than others. I will demonstrate this by using examples of two very popular DAW's which are Logic Pro and FL (Fruity Loops) Studio. In FL Studio, in my opinion there is more than one ways of doing things which makes it easy to learn and the automation is a lot better and more advanced than Logic (You can literally add an automation clip to anything!)

Mad automation being used in FL Studio.

On the other hand, in Logic Pro, of which I have had a lot less experience of, it has great features which support audio recording and mixing and is better worth the money if you own a Mac than FL Studio.

Logic Pro being used with a keyboard.

To conclude, I do not think that there is a best DAW because they are all good for different peoples needs.

The MIDI File Remix Competition!

The MIDI File Remix Competition!

Every Month I will put a MIDI file (Free Download) on this blog, your job is to create a remix of it!

The best remix submitted will win, but there is no real prize at the moment, just being featured on the blog and the prestige of winning. There will be prizes in the future.

All Submissions can be emailed to - enthixmusic@gmail.com

This month  - Coldplay - Paradise

DOWNLOAD THE MIDI FILE FROM MIDI ZONE HERE- http://www.free-midi.org/song/coldplay-paradise.html

Raw MIDI file video below:

Plugin Of The Week - Magnus Choir

PLUGIN OF THE WEEK - MAGNUS CHOIR!

Magnus Choir is a must have plugin for all music producers. As reflected by the name of it, Magnus Choir is a Choir plugin which has many HIGH QUALITY presets including high pitch and low pitch choirs and male/female choirs.

If you want a plugin that consists of reliable, high quality, presets which lead to great, professional sounding mixes then Magnus Choir is the one for you!

You can download it as a FREE DEMO version here - http://syntheway.com/choir.htm

EDC BRASIL 2015 HEADLINE ACTS!

The headline acts for EDC 2015 in Brasil have been announced and are as follows:

Martin Garrix, Above & Beyond, Tiësto, Arty, R3hab, Krewella, The Magician, plus even more!

Are you going?

Visit the website for further information on EDC including ticket prices and where you can buy them.

http://brasil.electricdaisycarnival.com/en/