Custom Music Production and its Relevance for Music Students in 2022

The pandemic of COVID-19 impacted the music industry; many musicians and independent artists suddenly had to find alternate ways to perform and release music that didn’t involve any live performances.

Some just had to give up their careers in music altogether because they couldn’t book gigs. Others got smart and learned more about the music production process.

Music students can find numerous benefits in studying custom music production. It’s challenging to explain since the general team implies everything from the composition of the music to the final mixing and mastering of the music.

Producers, filmmakers, content creators, and other artists need music that helps engage their audience. Finding original pieces to use that create more brand awareness and drive a message is done through custom music production.

Here is a breakdown of everything you need to know about it and how it’s relevant for students learning about the music industry.

Custom Music Production Services

Before understanding the benefits of custom production, it is helpful first to learn the process of how it works. Music plays a significant and primary role in media projects, such as television shows, commercial ads, or films. It covers every music-making phase, from composing and arranging to the final master recording.

A musician or independent artist’s process involves collaborating with producers, influencers, or other creatives to develop and create a story with a clear vision. To re-create that same effective tone within the music, you must understand the encompassing message. It includes:

  • Developing the brief through a discussion
  • Creating a story
  • Musical arrangement
  • Recording the music
  • Mixing/Mastering 

When developing custom music, you should ensure that whoever uses the final master recording is satisfied. Keep open communications throughout the process.

Benefits of Custom Production for Music Students

There are several ways that learning custom music production can provide advantages for students. One of the more obvious ways is that music students will gain inherent knowledge across the entirety of music production.

Musical Collaboration

Working with composers, musicians, and independent artists allows music students to discuss and take on new perspectives. You also get the opportunity to network, learn from others within the industry, and work to understand how music is produced.

Vincent Reina, a founder of NY based Music to Your Home, says that many of their music teachers benefit from understanding custom music production. Teaching voice or instruments provides multiple opportunities for students and teachers alike. He said, “music studies encompass all parts of the music industry, such as production, especially in the technology-driven world we live in today.” Teaching music today has evolved and can include these other parts of the musical journey.

Brand Awareness

Businesses, particularly the small ones, need to make a name for themselves. Marketing teams are always looking for creative ways to allow their audience to find a way to associate with the brand and often will use video advertisements with music as a way to make that connection.

Music has an enormous impact on the effectiveness of a brand’s content. It helps to provide a soundtrack for a story and makes videos more memorable for their audience. You can easily remember the company when you hear a brand’s signature theme song or jingle.

Music students can learn valuable marketing techniques, storytelling, and advertising tactics through music when it comes to custom production. The music has to relate to the overall theme that the business desires to achieve, so it engages and converts people into buyers and increases profitability.

Creative Control

The other added benefit of custom production is that the musical theme is entirely original. Music students who may be more technically savvy may not feel they have the most creative process when creating music. But on the contrary, the technical aspects of knowing how to mix and master audio and working with effects play a significant part in custom music production.

Plus, the control is all with the musician. The music is completely tailored to the project at hand, giving the producer(s) and musician(s) complete creative control over the entire process, from start to finish.

Valuable Skills

Music students don’t have to just study an instrument or work on their vocals. On the note of valuable skills, London based WKMT music teachers emphasize that even for the classic music students the knowledge of music production is incredibly valuable along with the marketable skill, particularly for broader career sound engineers, producers, and independent music artists.

Students can learn how to work in a home studio, create their own arrangements (or with an artist), make a recording, then mix and master the sound. They can learn each part of the production, create their own custom musical compositions, and even take their skills to television, film, or big-name brands. You’ll also learn about copyrights and licensing so that you know about music rights and understand the legal side.

Software and Hardware

The other part of music production that music students can learn and benefit from is the equipment involved. To product music, you need to have a few pieces of equipment on hand, which include:

  • A Digital Audio Work stage (DAW) – usually pairs with your computer or desktop with audio software included (audio input & output)
  • Microphone – it helps to have a microphone cable and pop filter
  • Soundproof area – usually a studio, but you can create a simple DIY soundproof spot for recording
  • Instruments – they can be digital or actual, depending on if you plan to play each one when laying down the individual tracks.

Other pieces to production may include your audio interface to bridge analog and digital audio sounds if you need it and audio software, where you can listen to the raw tracks and work to add effects when mixing and balancing the sounds.

Custom Music Production For the Future

Music production is a beneficial skill for music students to learn. It provides a way for musicians or those who want to break into the music industry with an advanced skills understanding of how to manipulate sound to get what you desire to hear. It’s also very collaborative since it works across the entire span of creating music for a designated project.

The most significant part is that the custom aspect of the music production allows you to be in the driver’s seat. You know how you want the song or theme to sound and how you plan to capture your audience’s attention, and you can quickly obtain that goal throughout the production process.

Custom music production allows music students to learn and understand music in a different light, with truly powerful results.