How to produce music like Hans Zimmer or Marting Garrix, basics.

Do you want to create music like Hans Zimmer or Martin Garrix? In this article I’m going to tell you the absolute basics and how to get started with creating music on your computer.

What do you need?

1: A computer:

Mac or Windows, it doesn’t matter.

2: A DAW or Digital Audio Workstation:

 This is the software you are going to use. There are a lot of DAW's so you need to find out which one fits with your working style. For Mac, there are DAW’s like Logic and ProTools and for windows, there are DAW’s like FL Studio and Ableton. You can choose one of them but eventually, they all do the same, they create music. You can create the exact same thing in any DAW but in for example Ableton, it is easier to do a live performance while in ProTools the mixing and mastering process is faster.

3: Headphones or speakers: 

Of course you will need something to listen to your music. To get the best result on any speaker or headphone it is the best option to get a pair of headphones that have a frequency output that is the same volume at any frequency. A study showed that music sounds the best if it is created on a “Flat” frequency spectrum. Studio monitors are also a good option, the only problem is that if your room is not treated well the sound will get more reverb which will result in a very dry mix. A dry mix means that you will put less reverb on it because you were already hearing it in your room.

These are the three main things you will need to start producing music in any style. Maybe you want to produce EDM or maybe classical. Everything is possible.

Things that can boost your music:

So there are a lot of things, software and hardware, that can really help you to speed up the process of creating your own music.

Software

1: VST Plug-ins:

A VST plugin is a program with a sound or an effect. You can download software synthesisers or a reverb effect plug-in. There are thousands of VST’s to discover. Famous synthesisers in EDM are Sylenth1, Serum, Massive and Spire. 

2: Samples: 

Samples are pre-made sounds that you can buy or download that you can use in your songs. You can buy vocal samples, guitar samples or almost anything you can imagine.

Hardware:

1: A MIDI keyboard: 

Midi keyboards are keyboards that can play any sound. Usually, there are no sounds in the keyboard itself but you can play the sound that you are currently using on your computer.

2: An audio interface: 

An audio interface is great for better sound quality and you can plug in your microphone to sing or record an instrument.