20 of the top music producers to know in 2024
20. Ann Mincieli
Ann Mincieli is a renowned recording engineer, producer, mixer, and studio manager known for her work with some of the biggest names in the music industry. She’s a longtime collaborator with Alicia Keys, and has also worked with Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams.
Mincieli is a four-time GRAMMY winner, including wins for Best Immersive Audio Album (Alicia Keys’ “The Diary Of Alicia Keys” and “Alicia”), and Best R&B Album (Alicia Keys’ “The Diary Of Alicia Keys” and “Girl on Fire”).
She’s also the founder and owner of Jungle City Studios in New York City, a state-of-the-art recording facility.
20 of the top music producers to know in 2024
20. Ann Mincieli
Ann Mincieli is a renowned recording engineer, producer, mixer, and studio manager known for her work with some of the biggest names in the music industry. She’s a longtime collaborator with Alicia Keys, and has also worked with Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Beyoncé and Pharrell Williams.
Mincieli is a four-time GRAMMY winner, including wins for Best Immersive Audio Album (Alicia Keys’ “The Diary Of Alicia Keys” and “Alicia”), and Best R&B Album (Alicia Keys’ “The Diary Of Alicia Keys” and “Girl on Fire”).
She’s also the founder and owner of Jungle City Studios in New York City, a state-of-the-art recording facility.
| Tim Cant Must-know drum fills and how to program them with MIDI
How to program a drum fill
Typically, drum fills are programmed with a drum instrument using MIDI information to sequence the pattern. Alternatively, they can be created by chopping up audio drum loops, using bespoke drum fill samples, or sequencing one-shots.
How to build drum fills
The first thing to do when building a drum fill is to decide where it will occur in the song. This will typically be at the end of a section. Secondly, the basic rhythmic idea needs to be defined, and this can be anything from a light variation on this existing drum pattern to something much more dramatic, though typically a live drummer would try to keep the groove of a track flowing through a drum fill. Thirdly, this idea can be fleshed out with extra drum sounds and subtle programming touches.
How to program real sounding drums
When your goal is realistic-sounding drums, it’s important to use drum sounds that are authentic and suited to the style of music you are creating. Also, if you’re after a natural sound, it helps to think about how a real-life drummer would play, and program the part accordingly.
How to make drum fills sound better
Steps you can take to ensure your drum fills sound their best include making sure that you’re in-keeping with your track’s groove and swing, using appropriate velocity modulation where necessary to get a naturalistic feel, and mixing them in a manner that fits in with the overall project.
Music production 101: How to start producing music
Step 1: Set up for recording your (real or virtual) instruments and sounds
The recording stage is where you capture the essence of a project, laying down elements and ideas in track channels in your DAW. This is where the jam happens, and maybe the most beginner-friendly part of learning how to start producing music. Whatever genres or forms of music you’re interested in, the two main options for recording are using live, external instruments or working inside the computer with software plug-ins.
Recording live sounds
Working with audio files is the traditional way of producing music—the first and only way, until modern digital tech came along and massively transformed the landscape. To record electric guitars, synths, or keys, you’ll need to wire them in to your DAW through an audio interface. Connect a microphone for recording acoustic instruments and vocals.
From here, the DAW offers enormous scope for arranging, editing, and processing with effects. If you’re looking for more tips on how to capture your sounds, be sure to check out our handy list of recording tips. And don’t forget that recording isn’t necessarily confined to the comforts of your studio (/bedroom, living room, or wherever your computer lives). For some field recording inspiration, be sure to watch YouTube phenomenon Andrew Huang getting out and about with a microphone, and then check out his own list of music production advice right here on the blog.
Using a MIDI controller
Epic advancements in computer tech and music production software in recent decades have facilitated an entirely new way to create music ‘in the box’. Producers use MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) notation to compose and perform with software instruments, as an alternative to recording external audio. MIDI stands for Music Instrument Digital Interface and it is the global-standard digital language for musical notation. Practically all keyboards and electronic music hardware will feature inputs and outputs for MIDI compatibility.
Using MIDI notes, you can trigger virtual instruments to play melodies and chord patterns drawn in your DAW’s piano roll window. Or connect a keyboard (via an audio interface) to record MIDI patterns live with more of an organic, human touch. MIDI keyboards and controllers provide a hands-on, hardware workflow with all the range and flexibility of software plug-ins.
MIDI regions also store data on note velocity and can be used to trigger hundreds of other parameters. If this all sounds somewhat technical—and perhaps anti-creative—don’t worry. In practice, using a MIDI controller is about setting things up once, and then playing it like any other instrument.
Our own NKS-ready controllers, the KOMPLETE KONTROL range of keyboards and MASCHINE grooveboxes, take this to the next logical step, helping you find flow by mapping everything in an intuitive way behind the scenes. Depending on the model, you’ll also get handy visual reminders of what does what via lit-up keys, color screens, and more.
How to mix with stems in Traktor Pro 4
Once the F1 is assigned to a Stem Deck, the lower row of small buttons will mute or unmute each part of the Stem. The vertical column of pads that start from the square row on the bottom act as VU meters for each stem. Try playing a Stem track, and watch the column of pads. The UV meters are a very cool feature and fun to use!
Starting from the very top of the Kontrol F1, the encoders at the top adjust the filter of each of the Stem parts. The faders control the volume of each of the parts of the Stem.
If an effect is applied to the Stem Deck, the second row of buttons determines whether the effect is on or bypassed for each part of the Stem. When shift is pressed and the lights on the second row of buttons are on, the effect is applied to the Stem parts. The effect can be bypassed for each of the Stem parts by pressing shift and pressing the button in the second row to turn it off. If a pad is unlit (turned off) in the second row, it means the Stem part will be excluded from being sent to the assigned FX unit. This is an intuitive way to work with assigning effects once you try it out!
How to apply effects to Stems
Effects can be applied to each Stem Deck in Traktor Pro 4 the same way you would apply effects to a Deck. In the Effect Preferences, select either two or four effect Units.
The best free Kontakt instruments for house music
With 100 presets covering bass, FX, leads, pads, and plucks, Analog Dreams is full of sounds perfect for creating the more synthetic-sounding styles of house music. Macro controls for filter and processing are available for each instrument, allowing you to sculpt the sound to fit your mix.
Some of the most house-appropriate patches on offer include The Bump (bass), Bubble Boi, Old Fashioned and Twisted Apples (FX), BIGGGGGGGGGG, Chorder, Hybrid Poly, New World, and Summer Hill (leads), Frosty, Ocean Wave and Warm Ensemble (pads), and Garage and Jupiter Spikes (plucks).
Compatible with Kontakt Player
20 Years of Operator: Download over 100 Free Presets from Robert Henke and Christian Kleine
*Live 12 Suite required
Ableton Live launched in 2001 as a simple, audio-only DAW, but computing power was growing exponentially, and home computers soon became capable of handling multiple voices and real-time synthesis. 2004's Live 4 saw the introduction of MIDI, and with it came the desire for Ableton to provide their own built-in synthesizer. The task fell to Robert Henke, one of Ableton's founding members.
Henke was deeply inspired by the work of John Chowning, the pioneering composer, musician, and inventor of FM synthesis. Compared to the distinctly analog nature of subtractive synthesis, FM synthesis is proudly and necessarily digital, due to the complex control and processing required of an oscillator's pitch and phase. Henke had begun to explore FM in 1997, creating bespoke instruments using Max MSP, so when the time came to develop a synthesizer for Ableton Live, one built upon the principles of FM synthesis was the obvious choice.
A presentation slide showing an early proposal for Operator, presented to the Ableton team in September 2004
For its public release, Onyx was renamed Operator – taking after Yamaha's naming convention. From the beginning, it was equipped with several innovative controls: Global Tone, which tames high frequencies by using a low-pass filter to modulate the input of each oscillator; Time, for scaling the time of all seven envelopes at once; and Spread, a stereo chorus inspired in part by the New England Digital Synclavier II. One feature Christian Kleine – then working in Ableton's Support department – helped implement was the Osc
While Operator in 2024 remains faithful to Robert's original vision, numerous additions have been included over the years, including new filter modes, improved oscillators, and the ability for users to create their own waveforms via additive synthesis. Henke hints that he still has a few ideas in mind for future updates.
To glimpse just some of Operator’s many sound design possibilities, take a look at this video by Seed to Stage and see how easily you can create your own distinct sounds. As Robert says, "There is always something new to discover, even after using it extensively all the time."
Learn more about the history of Operator on Robert Henke’s website.
Please note: the free Operator presets require Ableton Live 12 Suite. If you don't own Live 12, you can try the presets with the free Live 12 trial.
Komplete 15 is coming soon
The rumors are true… the latest edition of our legendary music production bundle is about to land.
We don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say this is a big one. It’s packed with heavy-hitters and some very exciting new additions. Get ready for fresh bass, keys, vocals, percussion, guitars, mastering tools, and a huge update to one of our most-loved products.
Take a sneak peek at some of the new additions in the video below! Plus, if you pre-order Komplete 15 now, you’ll get iZotope’s Neutron 4 mixing suite for free.
French house music explained: how to produce a funky, upbeat track
8. Make a short arrangement
Make a simple arrangement by creating a sixteen-bar loop of the elements in your track. The first section will be the intro. For the first eight bars, mute the snare, clap, closed hi-hat and the main hook. Only the kick, top loop, and bass should play.
For bars 9 – 17, try adding the snare, clap, and closed hi-hat. Let’s refer to the next eight bars (17–25) as the construction section. During this section, bring in all the parts. Bars 25–33 will be the breakdown, so cut this part down to the kick, top loop, and the main hook. Bars 33–49 will be the drop, and you’ll want to have all of your tracks playing in this section.
Label the sections of your track by creating a new MIDI track with blank MIDI files that are eight or sixteen bars in length and name each section accordingly.
How to make a vibrant and energetic Latin house track
13. Add synths, include FX, and arrange your track
Continue developing the track by adding other synths and FX. You may want to layer some of the sounds to thicken their sound. Arrange your track using some of the ideas in this guide. If your vocal follows a typical pop structure, you’ll want to create your song structure around the verses, choruses, and breaks.
You will also need additional percussion, like snare rolls, and effects, like risers, to create effective transitions. If you’d like to learn more about producing electronic music, check out our guide. To learn more about arranging music, check this guide.