Director of Industry Programs Lacey Harris writes on the five most essential skills electronic music production program students will learn while enrolled at Musicians Institute.
This day and age, an artist needs to have many skills to help them secure success in many parts of the music industry. Electronic music continues to be one of the most popular genres of music globally, now spanning many different genres and styles within it! Our Electronic Music Production program was developed to prepare students in every facet of electronic production, so they can graduate with the knowledge and confidence to step into any studio or stage setting.
Thinking about studying electronic music? Read on to learn the five ways electronic music production program students at Musicians Institute develop their skills.
1. An understanding of music theory, tailored for the modern producer and songwriter’s mind.
There is a huge difference between the effectiveness of a repeated 8-bar loop which drones on for minutes at a time, and a fully-realized song which has a unique and memorable melody, smooth transitions and clear emotions expressed through the chord progression, and a bass line which gives a solid foundation to the chords and complements the rhythm and the melody. Although it’s certainly true that hardcore music theory training is not required to make a great-sounding song, it certainly helps with the process if you know the fundamentals of how to achieve these key effects with your song.
2. A diverse study of multiple electronic music genres, and how they are assembled and arranged.
The road to making memorable, lasting electronic music in your chosen genre(s) begins with understanding the way certain genres are constructed—you must learn what is effective and impactful to that audience, and give it your own twist. Beyond understanding what is already working for a given genre, learning about other genres and how they are assembled is a sure way to spark inspiration and experimentation. From house, disco and techno to drum & bass, dubstep, or trap, getting familiar with a diverse palette of styles means that the possibilities for creating fresh ideas are endless. Command of a wide variety of styles also strengthens your value as a producer for hire!
3. Fluency in the technical side of music production, mixing, and mastering.
Creativity and ideas are only one small part of the process. If a producer is not technically savvy, their job becomes exponentially more challenging—especially now that most producers are working primarily alone, and doing the work themselves all the way from composing, recording and tracking to mixing and mastering for release. A producer must be extremely comfortable in their tools of choice, no matter how simple they may be. An expensive studio filled with gear, while certainly a lot of fun, can be very overwhelming, and is not necessary to create greatness. In fact, some of the most legendary electronic music in history was created with one or two instruments alone, but the artists’ command of those tools was what set that music apart from the rest. Whether it’s hardware, software instruments, or plugins, getting comfortable with wearing the technician/engineer hat will only ease the creative process and spark more and more ideas for how to make a track amazing.
4. Sound design, synthesis, and sampling fundamentals, applied to current styles of music.
One of the most crucial details of electronic music production is the ability to create sounds which are unique, effective enhancements to the overall story of a song. If ten producers load the same few presets from the same synthesizer, sure, they might make something decent–but where’s the originality? Is that stock electric piano sound really telling a story? What about a lo-fi keyboard patch which has been enhanced with tape FX and combined with a layer of audio samples which were recorded in the producer’s own neighborhood? Or, consider that mediocre trap beat with an 808 drum kit which came stock with the DAW software, versus a drum kit which was made of edited and re-tuned slices of a recording of the producer dropping their car keys on a table—one is more memorable and leaves a longer-lasting impression than the other. Understanding the fundamentals of synthesis, sampling, and sound design will allow a producer to shape their own sound, rather than sounding like everyone else.
5. Essential understanding of the modern music business and its main elements and players, and how to jumpstart your career.
Sure, we can all make art for the sake of making art. However, the majority of music artists want to get their music heard by the right audience, gain fans, work with other artists, perhaps even perform for huge audiences–and of course, fund the dream to keep it going! None of that can happen without a clear picture of our artist career goals, an idea of which audiences we are trying to reach, and an understanding of the main components of the music industry and how they work and interact with one another. Learning how record labels function will help determine whether to pitch the music seeking consideration for release on a label, or stay independent and do-it-yourself (DIY.) Understanding international distribution will arm the producer with the knowledge of how to self-release, and where. Understanding managers and booking agents will allow the artist to make informed decisions regarding the timing or necessity of hiring them. In an industry which shifts and changes almost weekly, it seems, the more knowledge an artist has about the inner-workings, the easier it will be to get their music to the right places and people.