Category: Production

There are many powerful and good sounding synthesizers available that are capable of creating a full sound for a song element by itself. Yet, many people can still choose to use multiple synthesizers for the sound design of a single song element, such as a melody or a bassline.

Many EDM (electronic dance music) tracks have vocals in them. When producers want to add vocals to their tracks, then they have many options to get those vocals. This post explains many of those options.

We can use distortion effects on our hi-hats to make them more personal. However, using a distortion effect on a hi-hat can be hard since the resulted sound can easily become an unusable noise. Moreover, we need to place an equalizer after using one or more distortion effects, at least most of the time.

We can use distortion effects on our percussions to make them more personal. However, using a distortion effect on a percussion can be hard since the resulted sound can easily become an unusable noise. Moreover, we need to place an equalizer after using one or more distortion effects, at least most of the time.

In many EDM tracks (songs) is the bassline the most crucial element. There is an extreme amount of music theory and information about making basslines, which can be very overwhelming. In this post, you can learn some music theory and some practical steps with methods by which we can make a bassline relatively simple.

A white noise riser (elevator/white noise whoosh) is a common, nice to hear, and a useful sound effect. There are many explanations about making (producing) such a white noise riser, but I haven’t found one that is complete, in my opinion.

Producers like to modify the sound of snare drums/claps to make it more personal, which we can do with audio distortion effects. However, using a distortion effect on a snare drum/clap can be hard since the resulted sound can easily become an unusable noise. Moreover, we need to place an equalizer after using one or more distortion effects, at least most of the time.

The TR-909 drums are very popular in EDM, but also outside EDM (for example, Madonna – Vogue). Obtaining a Roland TR-909 is not an option for most people since these machines are very rare and expensive. However, we can also make (program) similar drums with different tools, such as AudioRealism Drum Machine and D16 Group Drumazon.

Every element in music we hear has a rhythm, and many of these elements consist of music notes, and many people name such a rhythm a “music note rhythm.” People find such rhythms important since it is related to our heartbeat and our body wants to be in resonance with the surroundings. If our heart rate goes up (for example with running), then we typically also like faster songs more, and vice versa.

A chord progression can be the foundation for a full EDM song. Such a progression can be a guideline for one or more musical parts like a melody, but we can also use it as a musical part on its own. There is much theory about chord progressions, but the most common in EDM is using only the basics of that theory, which is the focus of this post.

How to make a basic chord progression for EDM songs? A chord progression is a sequence of musical chords. Therefore, when we place at least two chords behind each other, which can be random, we have a chord progression, and we can call it basic. However, it doesn’t mean that such a progression sounds good, but that is opinion-based.

After this introduction, this post goes more in-depth about how we can make basic chord progressions for our songs.