2. Stages of Music Production

Music production is split into several distinct stages, each requiring their own expertise. This includes:

• Composition (also sometimes called “writing”)
• Lyric Writing (also sometimes called “writing”)
• Recording
• Arrangement
• Mixing
• Mastering

Composition

This stage includes placing the notes, chords, melody, etc… that will eventually become your full song. It also includes writing the tune that the vocals will sing, but does not include writing lyrics.

Lyrics Writing

This is the part where you write the words to a song. They can be simple and literal or they could be complicated and metaphorical. This is somewhat similar to poetry but requires a deep understanding of the structure of the syllables in order to make them fit properly within the context of the song.

Recording

Recording is the act of playing all of your instruments, singing the song, and recording that onto whatever device. It’s pretty self explanatory, but there are some ways you can go wrong. Particularly, if you have background noise in your recordings, try the following things:

• Record under a blanket or in a closet
• Make sure your mic is very close to the source of the sound
• Make sure your mic isn’t too close to your computer (especially if it has an active fan)

Arrangement

Arrangement is simply choosing/designing what instruments your song will use, and shifting them to the correct point in time to accommodate the verses, chorus, or whatever parts your song will require.

Mixing

Mixing is where you apply various effects and plugins to your instruments and vocals in order to give them the exact sound you want, and make sure that every instrument is at a good volume within the context of the song. This is a very feely kinda art, and it’s not something that you can easily break down into a formula. It’s very subjective and changes on a case by case basis. A “remix” is technically literally just this, and it’s often confused with a “cover” which doesn’t use any of the original tracks from the song.

Mastering

Mastering is probably the most overhyped part of the music making process. Mastering is simply applying effects to the master bus (the final mixed audio) in order to make it sound right. Usually this is just an EQ, a limiter, and sometimes a compressor. If you’re really lazy there’s a Muse Group plugin that can do this more-or-less automatically for you with... okay results.