5 Music Producer Software Applications You Should Be Familiar With

Music Production and Editing Software Applications

In the business world, there is certain business system software for which one has to be familiar. The same goes for the field of education, the hotel industry; the medical field…the list goes on and on. The music industry is no exception.  Music producer software is an integral part of any producing environment.

DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)

A DAW is a must-have piece of music producer software. It allows a producer to record, edit and play a digital file. Imagine as you have reviewed and uploaded pictures from a camera, a few were edited to add a border or maybe change a color scheme.

What happened to the original?

Using DAW, you never have to worry about losing the original file. There are a number of programs from which to choose and it is always important when purchasing software to check the operating system of the hardware you currently possess.  Reaper is an option that has been noted as being effective in both cost and performance. For those that like to try before you buy, Cubase:

• Offers a free trial
• Runs on both Windows and OS X
• Is less than $100

Virtual Instruments

As a producer is editing a vocalist’s recording, he may decide a violin is just the sound needed to perfect the track. Hiring a violinist may not be a good idea for a number of reasons:

1. Budget constraints – it is a music producer’s job to stay on or below budget
2. Availability – there may not be a violinist available at the very moment you need one (music producers work long, odd hours)
3. Time Constraints – it is also music producer’s job to meet deadlines; there simply may not be enough time to seek out and hire a violinist

This is when virtual instruments come into play. You can purchase a software sampler with a plethora of instruments for around $400. One such software is the Kontakt, which has over 1,000 instruments and 43GB of samples.  With this software, a producer can time stretch his sounds and shift pitches with the Wave Editor.

Several dozen effects are integrated into the software, including full surround sound support. This music production software will fit nicely into your producer’s tool kit.

5 Music Producer Software Applications

MP&E (Music Production and Engineering) students at Berklee, one of the top schools for music production in the United States, are required to purchase the following software:

• Apple Logic Pro X – complete recording and MIDI production studio
• Econ Technologies ChronoSync – use to synchronize and backup files
• Celemony Melodyne Editor – for editing tracks
• Slate Digital’s Trigger – a drum sample library
• ValhallaDSP ValhallaRoom – a variety of reverberation algorithms to adjust acoustics

An aspiring music producer should familiarize themselves with each of these, as they all serve different purposes. Some software might have more bells and whistles than others, but all syncing software syncs and all editing software edits.

Mastering each type of music producer software, regardless of brand name, will allow you to learn any brand more quickly.

Free Music Producer Software

The Tyrell N6 is software used to capture polyphonic sounds. It is a freeware was initially intended to be hardware, but the process was too time intensive to develop as hardware.

Welcome to your computer-based synthesizer!

The envelope re-triggers just like the classic hardware and filter output can be fed back into the mixer. Sometimes the best things in life really are free. LMMS (Linux Multi Media Studio) is free software that records, edit, mixes. It supports Hydrogen, which is another free software used for creating music. Taking advantage of free programs is a great way to familiarize oneself with the functionality of the different types of music producer software.