Exploring the music production landscape
Music production has changed significantly in the last two decades. Before, a musician required the assistance of a music producer. You’d go to a studio to meet with a series of technicians who’d play around with mixing equipment that cost as much as your car or house. Then, you’d sign a deal locking you into a music contract for the foreseeable future. The studio would control how your album got released and what royalties you got paid. You had very little negotiating power.
Digital Audio Workstations (known as DAWs) changed everything. Software came out that revolutionized the music playing field. It became possible to be a music producer in your bedroom using just your computer. Nowadays, most music producers create music on their own long before they venture into a recording studio (if they do at all).
Studios started to decrease their investment in developing artists from scratch. They preferred artists that already had success and popularity with fans before considering them. ITunes appeared, along with iPods and smartphones that could hold an entire music catalog in your pocket. Consumers wanted to get their music online instead of from physical stores so that they could download music directly onto their phones. Independent artists gained the ability to sell their music online on their own. Artists could now release their own music and collect their own royalties.
Music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube became mainstream. Why buy individual songs when you can access all of them, all the time, anywhere you go? Consumers now have their own personalized playlist recommendations, filled with songs that suit their own personal taste. New artists can find their way onto a playlist by accident, subject to the whims of mystical algorithms behind the scenes.
All of this poses a powerful opportunity for the independent artist. You can promote yourself using tools equivalent to what record companies use. You can produce a song on your own, get your music into households around the world, and market your own brand. That’s what this book is about. It’s a handbook to show you the ins and outs of music production and jump-start your musical career. By the end of this book, you will know how to compose, record vocals, mix, master, market your music, and sell it online. This can all be done from home on a minimal budget.
The DAW we’ll use in this book is FL Studio. FL Studio is a music software suite that contains all the tools you’ll need to produce music. It’s one of the, if not the, leading music production workstation software currently on the market and is used by professional musicians all around the world.