How to Make Music: The Vital Tools You'll Need
Before joining the team, our Senior Editor Michael Jameson started his career as a musician and composer.
Now here at LA Media, he gets to combine his love of music with his passion for all things techy. For more than 10 years now Mike has been creating amazing and original bespoke soundtracks for many of our clients.
We understand the importance of good music. So, with Mike's help, we've put together an essential tool kit list to help get you started on your musical journey.
Let's get digital, digital!
With new technology, you don't need to be a child prodigy to be a good composer. You don’t even have to psychically have an instrument to make music. You don’t need a band, a singer or even someone who can read music. Sure, the above helps, but it’s not essential.
Thanks to technology, music is more accessible than ever. You can, in fact, make beautiful music on your computer! In this series of blogs, we look at what equipment you will need to start making your own professional music.
Ask yourself the right questions
In this first installment, we will cover some essential questions for musicians who want to go digital.
Should I go Mac or PC?
What kind of processor do I need?
How big should my hard drive be?
What is a DAW and which one should I get?
Getting the right Computer
The first bit of kit will be the backbone of your studio - the computer. Now, the type of computer required will vary depending on your usage. For the DJ who's constantly on the move, there’s the obvious choice of a laptop. For something more static there’s a desktop solution.
Unfortunately, that’s not it… The next big question is whether to go Mac or PC. Some have very ‘particular’ views on this topic! In the end, it depends on what you are used to. Personally, we prefer Macs. In our youth, we were PC geeks but were converted when OS X was released.
This opinion might be controversial but in our opinion Macs are more stable, less susceptible to viruses, etc., and easier to work with and set up. But that is just our preference and you can still make great music with a PC.
Mac options
Computers to pick from MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac Pro.
Personally, we would stay away from the ‘new’ Mac Pro. It hasn't been touched since 2013 and costs a fortune. For the DJs out there, the obvious choice is the MacBook Pro.
MacBook Pro
The new MacBook is not powerful enough as a competitive tool for production. That leaves the iMac for the Studio setup. Not ideal I know, but the new iMacs are pretty powerful if you spec them up on the CPU side, as they have the 6th Gen Intel Core i7 6700K CPU in them.
MacPro
Per core, they are nearly twice as powerful as the 2013 12-core Mac Pro’s Xeon CPU cores. With 4 of those cores that are hyper-threaded, you are essentially getting an 8-core machine. More than enough for most needs AND of course, you get that glorious 27 inches 5K screen.
iMac
PC options
Well… where to start… we aren’t going to describe the ‘perfect system’ here as there are so many different custom systems out there it would take forever. Here are, however, a couple of very good builders of systems depending on your needs!
The machine you’ll need will obviously depend on what you’re going to use it for. A general steer would be to get as high a spec’d processor as you can afford.
For workstations, Xeon CPUs are the mainstay. They tend to be a generation or so behind the latest consumer chips, but they are in general more reliable and have a much higher core count. Unfortunately, there is a caveat… they’re not cheap!
Some would argue that multi-socket Xeon machines are overkill for a home studio. Well, again it would depend on your usage. If you’re constantly running large sessions with high-quality virtual instruments, such as Orchestral VI’s, then you’ll benefit from all those cores. If you’re recording audio and not reliant on CPU-sucking virtual instruments, then a Quad-core Core i7 would do the job well.
Recommendations - CPU:High-end workstation - Dual Intel Xeon E5-2687W v4 12 Core (24 cores total with HT @ 3.00 GHz)
Consumer chip - Either the i7 7700K Quad Core or if you can afford it the i7 6950X Ten Core (a lot more pennies required here!!) Per core, the 7700K is faster, it’s just that the 6950X has ten of them…
How much RAM and Hard Drive space does a musician need?
I’d go for at least 32GB of good quality RAM. More if you can afford it! In terms of Hard Drive try to go for a decent-sized SSD here or if you can, get an M.2 module such as the Samsung 950 Pro 512GB M.2 SSD for blisteringly fast reads and writes.
Although not essential for a composer we will cover graphics. Let’s face it you may want to game on this computer too or need the system to be able to cope with post-production, then something quite beefy would be sensible.
Ultimate option - Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 8GB (Nearly as fast as the GTX Titan and A LOT cheaper!)
Mid-range - Nvidia Geforce GTX 1060 6GB
Low-end - Nvidia Geforce GTX 950 2GB
Nvidia Geforce GTX 1080 8GB
DAW - Digital Audio Workstation Application
DAW is the software you will use to create your music. This is your canvas and orchestra, which can unleash your genius. Not all DAWs are created equal and trying to figure out which one is best can be difficult.
Like the MAC or PC question, everyone has an opinion on which is king. So, with that said, we use Pro Tools and always have! It’s just what we prefer.
That doesn’t mean you must agree with us! So here are some other options.
Logic Pro
There are literally tons of loops, samplers, instruments, and basically it sports everything you need to go from scratching up ideas for a song to finishing the master mix. It’s also affordable when compared with most major DAWs. Only downside? It works exclusively on the Mac.
Logic Pro
Steinberg Cubase
German-made DAW software. Cubase has a steeper learning curve with its sophisticated interface that takes some time to get used to. The samplers included do not give you the best sounding instruments on the market, but they are usable. I find myself digging into 3rd party VSTs like Native Instruments Komplete (which is excellent) when on Cubase though. The thing I really like about Cubase was its stability. Close to no unexpected crashes when producing on Cubase. Cubase also works on the PC and MAC, so collaboration would be a breeze.
Steinberg Cubase
Ableton Live
Ableton Live is the must-go DAW software for electronic producers. The workflow on Ableton is different from the other DAWs. You can work really fast, creating lots of tweaks on your audio and tracks. If you are into electronic music, Ableton Live is a software you need to at least try. Ableton Live lacks a score editor, though.
Ableton Live
PreSonus Studio One
Studio One was said to be the easiest DAW to use because the DAW is based on a drag-and-drop structure. Everything from instruments, audio tracks, and effects can be dragged and dropped into the arranger window. Studio One was made to be the least technical among the major DAWs so you only focus on the music and not the technical parts of using a DAW. I somehow find Studio One limited in terms of effects, functionality, and features. For example, it lacks surround mixing and score editors. If you can live without having an integrated score editor and want something straightforward/easy, take Studio One for a spin.
PreSonus Studio One
Pro Tools
Pro Tools recently launched its new subscription-based plan where you can subscribe to use Pro Tools for only £24.99 a month. Known as the industry standard, most professional studios would be using Pro Tools, so if you’re thinking of joining the pro level, starting off with the lighter version of Pro Tools isn’t a bad idea at all. It used to be the case that Pro Tools only worked with its dedicated hardware - MBox, Digi 003, etc… and the various Pro Tools HD setups. Thankfully that has now changed and it will work with any 3rd party hardware. We personally like the uncluttered appearance of the software. The tools are laid out in an easy-to-understand way. Again, just our opinion! Also, it works on both Mac and PC.
Pro Tools
Anyway! That’s enough for now. Next, we’ll be dealing with picking the perfect Headphones.
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