How to: Record Music from your Bedroom

Music creation is a process. From the idea you first capture in a voice memo, to the finished product uploaded to a music streaming service, there is a lot to do. It can seem overwhelming, but many popular artists today, such as Clairo, Steve Lacy, and Mac Demarco wrote, recorded, and produced some of their most popular songs in their bedrooms! Today, I will take you through the process of recording and producing audio from home.

Mac Demarco shows off his bedroom studio

The First Step?

Writing, recording, and producing a song can seem like an overwhelming task, but the first step is actually quite easy; listen to your favorite music. As a creator, it is super important that you understand what you want your music to sound like. This also factors into the processes you use to create your music. Are you trying to make electronic music? Will you be using any live instruments? Questions like these help guide your process so that you know the popular processes for making your music. In line with the introduction above, this guide will help teach you how to record music more akin to that of bedroom pop artists.

Next!

Write a song! It can have any structure, it can be about anything, just make something that you connect with and want others to hear! I commonly write songs with my guitar. When noodling around, I'll find something that connects with me and then build a song around that. I try to write in the basic pop structure of verse - chorus - verse -chorus - bridge, etc., but honestly, do whatever feels right to you, many people write great songs with not so much structure.

Song is done, now what?

Now that you have your basic song done, you are going to want to record all of its parts onto your computer so that you can put the whole song together in a digital audio workstation or DAW. Examples of popular DAWs are GarageBand, Ableton, Logic, and ProTools. The best way to record instruments onto your computer is with an audio interface. There are many audio interfaces in the market; however, among my friends and I, the Focusrite Scarlett line is very popular. Many interfaces come with DAWs, so after buying an interface you will have access to everything you need to produce music!

After obtaining an interface and DAW, you can use the interface to record your instruments onto the computer. Then, in the DAW you can manipulate the tracks using the tools found in the software. This manipulation can include placing more effects on the tracks, such as chorus and reverb, the introduction of new tracks via the Musical Instrument Digital Interface or MIDI instruments found on the program, and eventually the mastering of the tracks to their final form. If recording with a guitar for example, you can record your input with the interface, and then change the tone of your guitar in the program. In addition, if you have no other instruments, you can often utilize the program's MIDI instruments and plug-ins to put in drum, synth, and bass tracks.

An example of the DAW Ableton being used to create a song

Once you have all your tracks recorded, placed, and sounding exactly the way you want them to, you will have to master your track. This is the last step in the production process. This is done by placing plug ins over the master track in order to boost the sound and make it heard on all types of speaker systems. During this time, many producers will first utilize their headphones/expensive speaker set-ups to get the mix sounding correct. Next, they will move towards less-expensive and more common speaker types. For example, by the end of the mastering process, many producers will play the song back on their laptops or cell phones to make sure that the quality is maintained through the low-quality speakers in these products.

Now that the track is mastered, all you have to do is export the track and upload to your favorite music streaming service. Many services, such as YouTube, Bandcamp, and Soundcloud, allow direct uploads from the artist. For other platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, you often have to sign-up with a music distributor to have your music placed on the platform. Distrokid is a common distributor for independent musicians.

Well... that's a lot, but that's it!

The music creation process is long, but for those who enjoy music, each step is incredibly fun. After the whole process, there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your music on streaming services right next to the music you love. Now go and make some music!