Music production, recording, and sound design have been increasingly popular, and now it’s something you can do from the comfort of your home. There are a ton of online tools that can help you create your own mixes and showcase your sound design skills to the world. We asked experts in the music industry to answer the most common questions people might have when starting on this creative journey. Read more to find out everything you need to know to create your own music and excel in sound design from home.
How to Be an Independent Artist?
Independent artists nowadays must have a lot more control over the many aspects of their careers. There are many ways in which music can be produced, monetized, and promoted and we live in times when indie artists can really reach success while keeping their autonomy. In order to achieve this, however, artists will have to get a deeper understanding not only of making music but of managing it.
“Once an artist or a band has proven to manage its own business, book their own shows, distribute their songs, promote themselves on social media and establish a network within their music market, it’s when doors will start to open. That sounds like the old-fashioned Do It Yourself, but now make it Do It Ourselves and things will make a lot more sense.Even though it sounds absurd that an artist has to learn how to do a lot of things other than making great music, they don’t have to do it all by themselves. The biggest tip is: to broaden your network. Go meet other artists, designers, marketers, writers, and developers… gather them all together and create your team. Join forces with people who like your work and whose work you like too. Divide the tasks between your band members. You certainly have a very communicative friend who could help you book shows. A friend who loves graphic design and can help you with social media posts. Research the internet, look for useful digital tools and use technology in your favor. Grow together.There are many people out there who are fighting to live for what they love. Team up with those people and share the pains and gains from a career in the music industry. All that work overload will be lighter that way. Don’t just wait for things to fall on your lap. An independent artist must always put autonomy in the first place.”
How to Produce Your Music Online?
1. To create music with your computer, the primary program you will be using is one of the major Digital Audio Workstations on the market. Ableton, Pro Tools, Cubase, and Logic are a few examples of the popular DAWs you can use. Within these DAWs you will use a combination of midi and audio tracks which you will use to create your unique pieces of music.
2. Youtube is an excellent resource for learning some of the basic functions of the DAW you choose to use. The DAW is essentially a very complex instrument, so practice is key! Set aside time to learn and practice the basics of your DAW to begin producing your own pieces of music. Look into the basics of music theory and fundamentals of mixing to improve the quality of your initial projects.
3. Finally, research some virtual instruments you can use, known as VSTs. These are third-party instruments and sound effects you can utilize in your DAW to improve the quality of your music pieces. Izotope, Fabfilter, Output, and Xfer are some popular companies, which create some of the best VSTs on the market. You should also research different websites that provide royalty-free samples which you can incorporate into your music. Splice is an excellent resource for this.
-Sam Zulfer, Recording Connection
Which platform is the best to upload your original music?
First, ask yourself what you want to do with the music. If it is to promote your name and to get streams, I would recommend YouTube or Soundcloud as they are the biggest sites. This is not mentioned in Spotify and Apple Music. However, if your goal is to sell music to other artists to release and for you to earn even more money than most artists on streaming websites, Gemtracks would be the number one choice. Gemtracks allows musicians to sell their music and copyrights away at a higher price. In exchange, the buyer is able to do anything they want with the track without the need to pay royalties. Another alternative would be to simply host your own website and promote your music on it. This is for both getting streams as well as selling. Even though it may seem silly since a personal website will not get enough traffic as an established website, do keep in mind that even if you post your music on a popular website, there is no guarantee that you will get heard due. At the end of the day, it’s about marketing. You either market your own website or market your profile on an established website.
How to promote your music online?
Hi, I am DJ Jorge Gallardo from Barcelona (Spain) & this is how promote my music for myself:
Rule 01: Never buy plays on sites that upper the counter because the next natural step is to view the counter freeze.
Rule 02: Better than Meta (Facebook & Instagram) [Temporally presence] is an always online presence. Sometimes a Meta promo is a solution if your visit counter doesn´t show the numbers you want.
Rule 03: If you have SoundCloud, go to show.co, make a free register & activate 2 campaigns for SoundCloud & insert the HTML widget on your webs. For more widgets, view the prizes. Don´t forget to insert your YouTube, Spotify, and SoundCloud HTML widgets & all the links, and media you have.
Here are some options, from cheaper to expensive (Own always web presence)
1.- GoDaddy, Blogger & WordPress : Buy domains like yourname.com & redirect the domains to your blogs.
2.- Google Domains: For the Business page, I recommend a Google domain with Google web builder, optimized for Google Maps & Google Web searches.
3.- GoDaddy & Workspace (Google Sites): Buy a cheaper option of Google Workspace subscription & you have the option to infinite web builder of Google Sites, and more options like customized email, more storage, etc… Redirect there your GoDaddy domain.
4.- GoDaddy WebBuilder: There are various plans for your principal PRO Website. If you have the money to buy it it´s the better choice on you can explain your work.
How can I monetize my electronic music online?
There are many ways to monetize your electronic music online, including Bandcamp, digital sales, streaming, YouTube, live streaming, sales funnels, product bundling, merchandise, eCommerce, SoundCloud, Beatport, sample packs, VST plugin development, internet radio, PayPal donations, and more. The question is, where is your platform? Where is your audience hanging out, and how can you reach them? Finding opportunities to monetize your music is easy once you’ve answered these questions. You can set expectations around when and how often you’re going to be showing up for your audience, which should grow your social media following and email list. Once you’ve got your lists, you can put new offers in front of them monthly, quarterly, and yearly.
David Andrew Wiebe -MusicEntrepreneurHQ
How to create memorable music?
Creating memorable music is all about what the listener experiences, that’s not to say an artist can’t create a memorable song on purpose. In fact, if an artist is self-aware enough, talented enough, and has the experience they can make every song they make a memorable song. So how do you really do this? Provided you have these 3 things, self-awareness, talent, and experience, you also have to really know your fans and what they like and don’t like. The interesting thing about creating memorable music is that the songs will usually slightly push on the boundary of what you’d expect your fans to like. However, you don’t go too far from what they like. Otherwise, it’ll end in disaster.
Which are the best apps to create music?
No need to be a sound engineer or gear hoarder to make music. A few apps can help you release some catchy tunes with little experience.
Be prepared for inspiration by using your Voice Memo (Apple) or Voice Recorder (Samsung) to record song ideas when they hit you.
No need to mess around with mics, interfaces, and cables. It’s important to capture those ideas when they come to you.
When you’re ready to take your ideas and turn them into a song, Bandlab is the best place to start. The app works on iOS, Android, Mac, and PC. It’s also free.
Bandlab has all the features, including loops and some instruments, to create a track you can sing along to and then share on their network or download for your own use. The quality is great and it’s simple to use. You can even collaborate with other artists.
Once you get going with these apps remember to find a mentor or artist peer to include in your recording journey. More important than the right technology is the feedback and support you can get from others with experience.
-Kevin Alexander, Sound Engineer | Technologist | CEO & Co-founder Singdaptive
How to Create the Best Music Online?
There are many ways to produce music online. It all depends on your goals, budget, and available resources. Here are a few basic options to kick off with:
What is the most important thing about sound design?
We here at idesignsound.com brag about knowing just about anything there is to know about this fascinating and profound artistic field. This is exactly why we will insist that there is no single “most” important thing about sound design, there are three aspects that we must mention when answering this question:
1. Know your tools! They may be synths, samplers, or traditional instruments but you really need to know what they are and how they work. All the simple sounds have already been used and re-used, so to stand out from the crowd you need to get down and dirty with multiple setting combinations while keeping things coherent and interesting.
2. Go far but don’t forget your way home! Complex sound design has a lot of dead ends. Even simple synths like the Moog Minitaur have a very narrow sweet spot, deviating from it has a higher chance of sounding broken than sounding interesting. Always know what you’re going for when doing sound design.
3. Use effects! Most musicians underestimate the importance of effects when doing sound design. The truth is, most of the sounds that you hear in music or in movies rely heavily on effects. The dry sound source usually sounds small, flat, and not that interesting, but slap a reverb or a saturation effect on it and hear it catch life
As you navigate the evolving landscape of music production, let the insights and experiences shared here be your guiding light. For a deeper dive into the world of music production gear, explore expert reviews and comparisons at SoundShockAudio.
