How to Make Your Own Music On a Shoestring Budget
There are a lot of songwriters out there, all with different ideas, talents and abilities. Many people enjoy writing a song without the use of technology, which is great, but it definitely helps if you want to learn how to play and record an instrument, including a vocal and or melody.
Once you’ve got a good core song idea and you’ve decided to make a song, I would recommend recording it in some way, mainly so you don’t forget it but also so you can hear it back and get feedback from others.
Yes, you can record a vocal idea on your mobile phone, but the best approach is to look at creating music online using an online music maker, which in turn will help you understand the song structure and basic production process.
For example, the simple reason is that you can put it down and come back to it at any point without having to remember where you left off, or where you put that notebook you wrote the lyrics in!
Where is it best to get started?
There are so many online music mixers and recording studios that you can use to make music online for free!
When it comes to making your own music it helps to have a few basic things to get you started, so go get yourself the following:
– A condenser microphone (if you are going to be recording a vocal or instrument for your tracks) and a second-hand Shure SM58 are ideal for getting your ideas down. As you are just starting out, a quality recording isn’t really the aim, it’s all about recording a home demo, an idea.
- An audio interface (just so you are able to connect your leads to your device, again only if you plan on recording onto your tracks).
- A DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software tool
- A computer – Here’s a guide to investing in a cheap computer for music production
- Free VST Plugins for your software and computer – check out this handy blog listing the best free VSTs available.
- A preamp (for recording vocals and guitars) we put together this handy guide to help you choose.
- Find someone online or local to write music with!
Making music is a collaborative exercise, and although the idea of writing, recording and producing everything on your own sounds cool and impressive and may work for a short amount of time. Realistically it is impossible to keep it up!
If you want to learn a bit more about collaboration, if it’s something you haven’t really thought of doing before, check out one of our previous blog posts about why collaboration is one of the best things to do to further your career!
Music Production
If you are a complete beginner to this whole songwriting music thing, or you’ve been doing it for ages and just want to brush up on your knowledge, it may be an idea to do an online course.
E-learning has a few courses and training that you can use to learn more about the music industry!
Now, let’s talk about all the best ways to make your own rap beats, house music, or acoustic love songs!
There are a lot of online recording studios, music mixers, electronic music software sites and the occasional music mashup maker! You can use a song maker app to mix music online or be a beat maker online!
Or maybe you’re looking for a music maker jam online or you want your own home studio. There is so much to choose from and loads of it you can find for FREE!
Just Google song maker and loads of options will pop up!
Soundtrap
If you’ve been thinking of writing a few tracks or just want to mess around and have some fun doing some music production with free music maker software, Soundtrap is your very own online studio and song maker online! It’s a free music software for Mac, Microsoft and Android.
You can record into it using your microphone and use some of the power features to create the next big hit!
Soundtrap is an online studio where you can write music and collaborate with other artists online!
The basic version is free however, there are three further steps you can take and start paying a monthly fee for more features to work with.
Magix Music Maker Download
Magix music maker is downloadable software that can be used to write music! There are three different packs (one of which is free!) which can be used in order of ability and experience.
As per many of these things, the more money you pay the more you get. Magix music maker does put their packs on sale where you are able to save quite a significant amount so keep an eye out for those sales to save some money!
It’s a great piece of software which will enable you to really broaden your musical experience and also get super creative!
Reaper
Another great music production software tool, read here for a great beginner’s guide to this beast of software.
Splice
Splice is one of the more innovative music startups and is primarily targeted in its electronic space as a remix maker online. If you are creating or interested in creating electronic music then this is your place to play and find everything that you would ever need!
The firm allows musicians to get feedback on what they’ve been working on and collaborate with other artists. There is also an enormous library of free samples to use at your will or you can purchase one-by-one for a cheaper price.
A great thing about splice is that a lot of the money made by splice from the creators is poured back into the artist who created sounds and samples themselves so everyone can feel really good about using it!
What happens next?
So, you’ve got your song… now what? How do you know if it’s any good to release? Is there anything you could have done better?
One thing I would suggest doing if you’ve just started making music is getting people you don’t really know to listen and ask for their opinion. Remember not everyone is going to have the same music taste as you but this is a good way to judge whether you’ve created something that the consumer wants to listen to or not.
Another thing to think about is whether you can add anything to your track to make it a bit different. Does your song include vocals? Is there anyone that you can ask to sing on your track for you as a lead singer or maybe as a backing vocalist?
Maybe you could add different instruments to your track, a violin or saxophone can you link up and collaborate with anyone who would record some parts for you, You could even get in touch with session musicians which are especially useful to keep in contact with if you plan on doing any live performances.
These are all things that you can think about in order to improve your track and make it a bit different. So give it a go and good luck!
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