How to Make an Instrumental Music Track
There are many ways to make an instrumental music track. With musical production software, you can select from thousands of musical samples to make your own masterpiece.
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Things You'll Need
- Keyboard synthesizer
- Headphones
- Music production software (e.g., Sony Acid Pro, DigiDesign Pro Tools LE)
- Condenser microphone
Instructions
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Create a drum pattern. You can either use the drum kits on the keyboard or the prerecorded sounds in the music software. If you make the pattern on the keyboard, save it on the keyboard's song bank before you move on. The drum pattern should be a 4- to 8-bar loop consistent with your musical genre. A combination of kicks, snares and cymbals will give your track the necessary backbone.
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Make a bass line by either using the synthesizer or the prerecorded tones in the program. Both your keyboard and your production program should have a loop function that plays your composition in continuous rotation. Place your drum pattern on loop mode and listen to the sounds. Select a type of bass instrument that fits your style. While playing the drum loop, pick out some bass notes. Don't get too complicated with the bassline. It should be a steady rhythm that leaves enough space in the composition for other instruments.
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Select a list of treble instruments from the synthesizer sound bank. Most synthesizers come equipped with hundreds of instruments from which to choose. Selecting a set of complimentary instruments can be one of the most challenging parts of this task. Certain horns sound great with snare drums and heavy cymbals. String instruments work well in concert with one another.
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Either plug the synthesizer directly into the computer microphone jack using the stereo line out or use an external condensor microphone to record from the keyboard speakers. Record the sounds from your instrument list into your music program on separate tracks. Be careful not to record over your drum loop and/or bass track.
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Use your headphones to listen to all of the sounds and instruments separately. Choose a combination of sounds that complement one another.
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Record a melody line using each of the saved instruments. Play your drum pattern and bass line on loop and pick out melody patterns with the other sounds. Each instrument doesn't need to have a large part in the overall composition. Some elements of a musical track are beautifully subtle, but you might want to feature one or more of the instruments in a solo performance.
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Once your instrumental song is produced in layers of instruments and sounds, balance the different tones. Meter and mix the entire track to make a musical composition. Make your introduction between 4 to 8 bars in length. Your verses should be 16 to 24 bars. Your choruses should be metered between 4 and 8 bars. In the production program, isolate each track separately and toggle the volume levels to produce the best sound. Balance volumes track by track until the entire composition sounds balanced at any volume.
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Tips & Warnings
Copyright your instrumental track before you release it to the world.
