Music tips

It’s not new news that Spotify publishes the stories to your friends about the songs that you listened to. And it’s a great way of discovering new tracks and singers, however, there comes a certain time when you just want to listen to few embarrassing songs without the world knowing about it. All you have to do is click on the account dropdown and select private session. Now you can listen to all the pop mixes from the 90s a hundred times, without your friends giving you that judgemental look.

This is the final stage of your production - the last bit of shine and polish to make your track ready for streaming, downloads, or for use in the club. Here, you’re going to make slight adjustments to make your track sound well put together. For trap music, you’re going to want to make your song sound huge, clean, and loud. Before we give you some tips on how to achieve this, there’s one major thing we need to note. The mastering stage isn’t meant to fix any glaring issues or problems within your track. Mastering isn’t a magical fix-all for your song. If something is wrong as you’re mixing down and mastering your track, you are most likely going to have to fix it in the mix before you move further along. It’s very important to remember this as you work through this stage. This process takes a long time to learn, so don’t get frustrated if your tracks don’t sound exactly the same as your favorite artists. Practice, practice, practice. We’re not going to go into too much detail about the mastering process, as it really deserves an article by itself with the amount of information we could go over. Here are a few quick tips to get you started.

As you create more and more tracks don’t forget to experiment as you’re producing! Take bits from the styles you love and try to infuse them into your next trap song. Experiment with all of the tips we’ve provided so far in this guide! The EDM side of trap music didn’t really begin until artists started to combine the typical structure of an EDM track with elements from traditional hip hop instrumentals. Now, trap music is everywhere. The point we’re trying to convey here is to never lose that curiosity that you’ve had since day one when you decided to pursue music production. Don’t follow everything by the rule book! Will that snare work when it’s layered with a tambourine? Give it a shot! You never know what you may develop so try everything! When it comes to trap music, this type of mentality will help your tracks stand out in the long run. Next, we’re going to go over a few important tips to help with your mixdowns and mastering.

Working in a new genre can be difficult, especially if you’re accustomed to working in a specific style of music that may not be at-all similar to what you’re trying to make. If you’re new to making trap music, use a reference track to help you out. Using a reference track is just like looking at a picture while you’re drawing. The idea is to use it as a guiding point for the layout, flow, and overall help in the arrangement of your track. The goal here is to use it as a guide - not copy the song. So, grab a favorite trap song of yours and drag it into your DAW. Mark out the sections with location markers that sound like the verses, drops, and build ups/breakdowns. Now, let’s look at further deconstructing the song so you can get a clearer picture of how to arrange a trap song by asking a few questions. How many bars long is each section? The sections that repeat, are they the same? What changes throughout the song? What elements come in and out? When each section is transitioning, what’s happening? Being able to critically listen to a song and dismantle it will only help you in your productions. It’ll not only improve your ear to listen more intently to the smaller details in music, but it’ll also help you to apply the things you hear back into your music. When you’re writing a song, the way you layout your track is just as important as how it sounds. A good arrangement means the listener will be captivated and will stick around to listen to your whole song. So, take your time and dig into the reference and learn its ins and outs. Now, start your track any way that you would normally begin, and get to work. If at any point you feel like you’re getting stuck, go back to your reference track and see how they flow each section together or what elements make up the section you’re working on. Use it to guide your decisions and help you clear through any roadblocks you may hit while writing your music. As a tip, try not to focus on sounding exactly the same as the track you’re referencing. Keep in mind their track has been mixed down and mastered and you’re just beginning to get your track up off the ground. Those stages come after your main idea is laid out, so don’t get hung up on this and let it distract you from completing your track.