Part 1 of this article dealt with an overview of what is needed to create your musical masterpieces, now we are going to look a bit more in depth at exactly is required.

Presuming that you have some melody’s, lyrics, drum beats or just ideas floating around in your head, we need to get that down into a digital and recorded format. Obviously the type of music will determine exactly what equipment you will need but the basics will include your instruments – guitar, microphones, keyboards etc as well as the software we previously mentioned.

If you are serious about your music, you should be serious about your equipment. Don’t take shortcuts here as quality of sound and the end result are important. Make your first port of call a quality MIDI sequencer. There are cheap varieties available on the market and they may have the same features as their fully-fledged counterparts but they are not the same as a high end (and more expensive!) version. Do not substitute a top of the line sequencer for a cheap alternative as you may not end up with the results that you would have gained otherwise.

A top level sequencer will ensure that it would be hard to determine whether your music came from a professional studio or not. Keep in mind that the goal here is to be able to translate the music in your mind into a sequence of digital data. If the sequencer you are using makes this task difficult then the chances are high that music will suffer.

Now you have your high end sequencer, you must first learn its basic functions. A failure to do so is a waste of your time and money. Quality equipment such as this can be hard to master and the learning curve is steep, however your time spent getting the most out of it is an investment in your output. The end result of your recording or album will more than pay off the hard sweat and tears of your time investment with the software.

These basic functions start with the bare minimum commands such as ‘Stop’, ‘Pause’, ‘Rewind’ and ‘Record’. Move on to learning a Piano Roll and Drum patterns but above all learning to process these commands at speed is a key skill. You need to be intuitive as well as fast. One oversight of many is that the artists and users of such equipment rarely read the instruction manual! This is crazy on such complicated kit. Even a quick flick through the manual will likely be very beneficial and once again it comes down to self-investment. Invest in yourself and your end product will benefit.

So far this exercise may not sound like fun and it may seem too serious, that is exactly what it shouldn’t be. Make sure the learning and use of the software and equipment is fun. If you are having fun making music, it might be likely that it is fun to listen to also. At the same time though try and gain a positive and mental attitude of high quality. If you strive for the best possible sounds and use the best quality equipment then your sequences will unify together better. Use all of the mixers, effect, programs and controllers at your disposal to ensure the highest quality output. Make quality a part of your foundation and always ask yourself how you can improve what you are doing. Your music and skills will benefit from it.

If you are brand new to creating your own music or have just set up your own home studio, you may be wondering exactly where to begin in starting recording your album, CD or mp3.

Below we give a good outline to help with this, but it is of course this is not a set-in-stone procedure:

•  Drums – Start with a drum beat. Add one or two bars of a hi-hat for example. Use a quantized grid and input different notes at different speeds.

• Set some bars of the bass drum. For Rock music you may want to use beats 1 and 3, for dance music 1 through 4.

• Add some leading notes to build the foundation of the track.

• Choose the snare type and position it correctly, often this is beats 2 and 4.

• Ensure the basics above are perfect before adding anything else. Play around with different settings for the backbeat.

• Copy the sequence for the duration that you need it, say up to 20 bars.

• Add bass for the chorus. Remember the catchiest basslines from the past are usually the simple ones; there is no need to over-complicate this process. Simply try altering the scale or if producing dance music often the same note is applied across the scale with a few random notes raising half a note. When you are happy with this move on to the next step.

• Now it’s time to add the melody and this will likely be a time consuming part of the process. Be inspired by the beats and bass that you have constructed so far. If the melody doesn’t ‘come’ to you after a while maybe alter the bassline. Try different tempos and rhythms. You may well need to be patient with this until it ‘clicks’. Again don’t over-complicate the melody. Popular songs often have simple yet catchy melodies.

• Repeat the same process above for the verse. Make sure this builds up nicely to the chorus. Give the listener tension leading up to the chorus to release it, or ask questions in order to answer. These are ideas as there are no rules when it comes to producing music.

• Make sure your new masterpiece is arranged properly and has a good structure. Listen to successful music and work out their structure. A typical set-up could be like this – intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, break, verse, chorus, ending. This can be altered until your heart is content and a structure is found for your particular tune.

• How does the piece sound so far? If it’s not quite right, alter what is wrong with it. If it’s awful consider starting again. If it’s prefect, move on.

• By now the basics should be together in harmony. We need to add the finishing touches that may come in the form of any instrument. Keyboards, saxophone, strings, guitar? Find the best areas to include these, change frequencies and make sure sounds do not clash. Are the instruments going to be played live by musicians and the output funnelled into the sound booth software or will the instruments sound be created on the PC? You could use a mixture of both, just one, or even none! Remember there are no rules here. Using real instruments with your computer studio software is usually very straight forward and often means you just connect or record the music via the digital inputs of the computer to add it as a musical file in your software. This can then be manipulated however you wish.

• Lastly create a more minimal section of the verse section that can be altered slightly for the break. Decide how long and what should be included in this part of the tune.

• Develop an introduction no matter how long or short there needs to be some kind of build up to the main event. In addition the opposite needs to happen with the ending.

• Once the intro and ending have been completed, so is the song!

Congratulations, you now have your own musical masterpiece. Now it is best to leave the project for an hour or so and go back to listen to it with a fresh mind. What are your first impressions? Does anything need tweaking? It could be that the tempo simply needs changing. Act accordingly.

Remember, the more time and effort you put into the process the better you will get with each attempt. Don’t worry if your first or second attempts are not world conquering. Just keep trying.