Did you enjoy the process or not really? Be honest with yourself.
Which part was your favorite or least favorite? Brainstorming and songwriting? Layering and orchestration? Practicing? Performing? Recording? Mixing? Mastering?
On a piano or MIDI keyboard, write a melody. Focus on that one track. Record or program your MIDI performance, and save your project. Repeat the process on a few more tracks. Revisit your ideas a few days later and see which melodies you still like. Then think about which of these ideas you’d like to turn into songs.
Same exact tip as above, but instead of a melody, write a chord progression.
Same exact tip as above, but instead of a melody, write a beat or percussive track.
Load a synth instrument that has a variety of sounds. Cycle through and see which ones are inspiring to you. Hit record on your MIDI keyboard and then start playing. It doesn’t matter if your idea isn’t great, or if your rhythm is off, or any of that. The point is to capture your idea in that moment, and to practice.
Go outside for a walk, run, or bike ride, and think of a melody, or a chord progression, or a beat, etc. The point is to clear your head of noise, distractions, and devices and let your mind write it. You can also try humming and whistling for inspiration.
The Beatles are remarkable melody makers. Many of their hits are short, so they accomplish a lot in a small amount of time. Many of their songs begin with the chorus. This is an interesting technique. Other examples of this are ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and Maroon 5’s “Payphone.”
John Williams is arguably the greatest melody maker of all time. With 54 Oscar Nominations, he’s also the most nominated person in history. Let’s take a look at just a fraction of his credits, all of these which have catchy melodies:
E.T., Harry Potter (3 of them!), Hook, Indiana Jones (5 of them!), Jaws, Jurassic Park, NBC, NFL, Olympics, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Star Wars (9 of them!), Superman.
Start listening to more John Williams and your skills of writing melodies and orchestrations will grow. (p.s., plus Hans Zimmer, Danny Elfman, Howard Shore, and James Horner)
Think about your song’s story and path. Where does it go?
Do you want it to follow a path like a Pop song? A > B > chorus > A > B > chorus.
Do you want it to have a progressive path where it’s continuously changing?
Is it a song that starts soft and builds & builds & builds?
Does the tempo fluctuate throughout, or does it stay the same throughout?
Are there some really soft parts and really loud parts, or does it maintain a consistent dynamics intensity throughout?
Think about what type of song you’d like to create. Even if you’d like to simply mimic an existing song exactly as it is, that’s great! Whatever will help you practice.
Bring all faders down at least 10 dB. With this technique, you can comfortably boost any of your tracks while you’re mixing and not worry about clipping/distorting.
Get a rough mix set up with no EQ, no compression, no reverb, etc. No processing whatsoever. Get it sitting exactly where you want it using only volume automation.
Export this “No Mix” so that you can reference it later. To confirm that, after mixing and mastering, you don’t stray way too far away from the natural beauty of the original recordings and your vision.
For this "No Mix," try to get its overall peak somewhere around -6 dB.
Experiment with the Extreme. Configure settings of your plugins a certain way, and then crank it to the extreme, or cut it to the extreme.
For example, set up a compressor however you like and crank the threshold so you can hear an extreme amount of compression. Then crank various settings (e.g., attack, release, ratio) to the extreme. Listen and learn.
Do a mix to the best of your ability and export it. Compare it side by side with one of your favorite mixes. Analyze specific elements one at a time.
For example, is your hi-hat too bright or dark? Does your kick need some more low-end? Don't necessarily try to “chase” their exact sound. But just use a favorite mix or two of yours as a reference. To check your mix’s overall balance and to learn. For example, maybe on average, you’re going way too bright or dark with everything.
Duplicate a track of your choice, or an entire song, several times. Load a different EQ plugin on each track.
Try to set their frequency (e.g., 3,000 Hz) and width (e.g., Q of 2.0) as closely as you can, for each of your different EQ plugins.
Crank each of their gain boost's to the extreme, trying to get their final volume as close as possible. Now toggle through each track. Listen to how each EQ plugin differs.
There are many different styles of kick drums. For example, listen to the driving punchy kick drum in Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold.” Then listen to Metallica’s famous kick drum in “Sad But True.” Then listen to Taylor Swift’s kick drum in “Shake It Off.” Hear how differently they each sound? Think carefully about the kick you’d like in your song. Try to find a kick that sounds amazing to start, before you do any EQ’ing on it.
Experiment: 500 Hz. Q 0.5. Cut this frequency. Hear how different the kick sounds?
Experiment: 55 Hz. Q 2.0. Boost the frequency. Feel that thump & rumble getting stronger?
Experiment: 6,000 Hz+. High-end shelf. Boost the frequency. Hear the added presence?
For snare, layering can be important. Try this experiment:
Load in a dry snare. Try some subtle boosts around 200 Hz (for body), 3,000 - 4,000 Hz (for crack/whack), and 6,000 Hz+ (for high-end presence). Don’t attach any reverb.
Load in a second snare and attach a room reverb of your choice. Attach an enveloper plugin and reduce the attack a small amount, such as 10 ms. The point of the enveloper is so that the fast attack of this second snare (which we’re using to create space & depth) doesn’t compete with the attack of our dry snare.
Load in a third snare and attach a plate reverb of your choice. Attach an enveloper plugin and reduce the attack a small amount, such as 10 ms.
Now start blending these. For example, set the dry snare at -6 dB. Set the room snare at -16 dB. And set the plate snare at -22 dB.
Play back your mix, and mute each snare one at a time.
High-end cut. Start around 10,000 Hz. 12 dB/Oct. Q 0.71. If your distorted guitars are harsh, try cutting even more, down to 8,000 Hz. Listen back and hear how it sounds. Does it sound too muffled now? Then dial it back, maybe to around 9,000 Hz.
Try sweeping for frequencies and bring down what sounds harsh to you. For example, try some extreme cuts at 2k, 2.5k, 3k, 3.5k, 4k, 4.5k, 5k, 5.5k, 6k. Q of 4.0 - 8.0. Listen through the song and mute each cut one at a time. Find which areas need cutting.
Experiment with cuts in the Mids, between 300 - 800 Hz. For example, do an extreme cut of 24 dB at 300 Hz, Q of 1.0. Export your mix. Do an extreme cut of 24 dB at 400 Hz, Q of 1.0. Export your mix. Rinse and repeat all the way to 800 Hz, by 100 Hz increments. Bring your rough mixes into iTunes or your DAW, and listen back to them. See how differently they all sound because of these Mid dips at various frequencies?
Duplicate a track of your choice, or an entire song, several times. Load a different Compressor plugin on each track.
Set their attack, release, ratio and all settings identical. Set their makeup gain = 0.0 dB.
Crank the threshold to the extreme on each plugin, so you can hear an extreme amount of compression. Now toggle through each track. Listen to how each Compressor plugin differs.
Get a rough mix of your song ready. Set up some busses:
Create bus #1 and attach a bunch of reverbs that are small rooms.
Create bus #2 and attach a bunch of reverbs that are medium rooms.
Create bus #3 and attach a bunch of reverbs that are large rooms.
Create bus #4 and attach a bunch of reverbs that are small halls.
Create bus #5 and attach a bunch of reverbs that are medium halls.
Create bus #6 and attach a bunch of reverbs that are large halls.
Create bus #7 and attach a bunch of reverbs that are small plates.
Create bus #8 and attach a bunch of reverbs that are medium plates.
Create bus #9 and attach a bunch of reverbs that are large plates.
Mute all of the busses except bus #1. On bus #1, mute all of your small room reverbs except for one. Send individual tracks to each of the busses, cracking the send knobs to the max.
Play back your mix and listen to what each reverb is doing to your track.
What does that medium plate sound like on the snare?
What does that large room sound like on the hi-hat and cymbals?
What does that large hall sound like on the vocals?
You get the idea. The point is to experiment with different spaces and reverbs on all of your various tracks.
Space Design can be used creatively to make an interesting experience for the listener. Dua Lipa’s “Break My Heart” is a very cool application of space design.
Listen from 0:00 - 0:42. The vocals are pretty dry, with some subtle delay applied.
Listen from 0:42 - 0:58. The vocal reverb and delay is huge and spacious. It’s a completely different space from where we were before.
Listen from 0:58 - 1:06. They suck us in and it’s now super dry. Little or no reverb.
It’s creative, interesting, and unique. It’s an amazing sonic experience packed into one short Pop song. Play around with space. Take risks. Have fun.
Send a vocal track to a reverb bus and on your reverb plugin, set pre delay = 0 ms. Crank the reverb send so you can really hear it. Initiate playback and listen for a few seconds.
Now set the Predelay to an extreme 100 ms. Initiate playback and listen for a few seconds.
Hear what it’s doing? Predelay is saying “Wait x ms for the reverb to start acting.”
Let’s say you’d like upfront vocals for a Pop song. Or you’d like your snare drum to maintain its transient punch and to not sound as wet. Try setting the Predelay around 10 ms.
Delay is incredibly powerful for creating depth and doing cool effects.
Attach a mono delay plugin to a bus. Set the Wet = 100% and Dry = 0%.
Send a track to this bus and crank the send amount.
Play around with the delay time, to taste.
Play around with the feedback amount to taste.
Repeat this experiment with a Stereo Delay plugin.
On your delay bus, you can also experiment with adding a reverb plugin below your delay plugin. Try setting the reverb wet amount to like 20-30% for example.
