avatar

Music production a minimal approach

This is my no nonsense guide to creating music by taking a simplified and minimal approach. I have spent an ungodly amount of money on plugins and tools over the years and while its fun to get new stuff it hasn't really helped me write songs any faster. Over this past year I have taken a different approach and slimmed down my tools and simplified my approach. This has allowed me to worry less on the tools and more on the quality of music I'm making.

Now this is only my experience and opinion so take it with a pince of salt and good humor.

The commandments of simplified music making

1. Pick your tools

Go through everything you own and pick up to 5 things from each category so if you have 100 EQs pick your 5 favourites.

Tool categories I'd recommend:

I have this list on my phone and now when I need to reach for a tool I go through the list and pick the plugin from this list.

Learn the selected tools

Sounds obvious, but it really helps if you know the tool your using lol I have spent too long throwing random crap on a channel and flicking through presets, not really understanding what's going on.

Once I slimmed down my toolset to my favourites and started learning them, I can now confidently open it up and get going without breaking my flow.

Don't care what the tools are, pick them because you like them.

I feel like this is more for me, then you the reader right now but either way there is so much influencer crap online at the moment that says you must use tool x otherwise your not "pro" I mean what a load of shit. If you like the tool then use it and don't care what other people think. To quote the classic phrase "if it sounds good it is good".

2. Remove all barriers

This really helps speed everything up, and it's really easy to implement. Basically make everything you normally do when writing songs as accessible as possible. So if it takes 5 clicks to do an action then find a way to reduce it down to a few clicks instead.

For example in FL studio you can favourite a plugin which adds it to the starred section of the browser. Do the same for everything you normally do when writing a song. So if you have a vocal chain you normally use or an eq setting that works for your voice etc. save it as a preset and save that in a pinned folder so you can just drag / double click to load it.

3. Use placeholders

This was a game changer for me. Basically (I feel like I say this a lot) you create placeholders or stand ins that are close enough to what you want and then replace it later once the arrangement is done.

But why would I want to do that I should just do the real thing now?? Ahhh yes well for me, I take the broad stroke approach to songwriting. I put all the elements in place and then replace after so I don't break my flow when im in the heat of the moment. My creativity drops to zero if I have to start creating the perfect kick or tweaking eq settings.

I have a goto list of samples that I drop in to act as placeholders, so this could be build-ups, drum loops and synth fav presets that have worked well in previous songs. I have also just used pure saw waves for every synth part in the past! so I can focus purely on the musicality which was a great experience.

4. Write the core idea with only a few elements

When writing a song I like to express the core idea using only a few elements and then build upon it once I have something I really like. As mentioned I take a broad stroke approach and I like to think that if I can express the idea (and make it sound great) with only a few elements then I must be on to a good thing. I mean there are lots of classical songs out there that sound amazing and only use the piano.

5. Presets are your friends

Now some people don't like to use presets because of the whole you're not a "real" producer if you do etc. and I have fallen into this mindset a few times ill admit. Nowadays, however I don't really care! if it serves the song then I'll use it and if I cant find something that does then I'll make my own and then save that as a preset, so I can use it again later.

It's all about speed for me and if someone has already done something that is or close to what I want then I'm going to use it and move on.

This is where choosing your tools can make an impact here. If you have a popular synth in your top 5 then more preset packs will be available and for the genre you create, so you can use those and save a bunch of time. If not then I'd recommend setting some time aside to create presets you like so you're ready to go when writing your next song.