The Industry Quality Formula

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The Magic Formula

You may be reading this and thinking 'Industry Quality' is a ridiculous concept. 'How could there be a formula for Industry Quality?' You may be right. Don't look at this as a definition of what industry quality is. Define it how you want to. When I say industry quality I mean 'of the highest quality'.

This is for loop makers, and anybody that creates their own melodies. Beginners and pros can both use this information as well. Let it serve as a guide for beginners and a reminder to the experienced. This formula is about putting the areas a music producer can get better at all in one spot.

My intent is to help producers by creating a framework to help them improve faster. Frameworks help simplify complex information. Not all details are worth the same to each person. Find where you want to improve and focus on that area. By narrowing it down to 3 areas I am focusing on the most high impact areas and the most common mistakes. My goal is not to give you the answer but to show you where to look. Without further ado here's the formula:

For a long time in my journey I was making some of the mistakes that I talk about later in this article. I had good ideas but you will see that a good idea is not the same as a good melody. My ideas were not translating into good melodies because the idea is only part of the equation.

Not every melody needs to be a 10 out of 10 in each category either, but it needs to be good in at least one category. I'm also not saying that you should try to make everything fit into this formula. Use it as a guide to improve your melodies and develop your sound. Let's dive a little deeper into each category.

The Ideation Phase

The very beginning of a session is the ideation phase. Remember when you were looking for that perfect instrument? Or when you were trying to reproduce that idea you hear in your head. This phase consists of music theory and sound selection. These two areas operate together seamlessly and influence each other. In this process you're either finding the sound that inspires the notes or the notes that inspire the sound.

Music Theory

You may be thinking that you don't need music theory. So lets think of it as the notes themselves. If you are using notes then you are most likely using music theory. The more you know the more you can do, even if you choose not to use it. It's not about learning the terms and definitions. It's about learning to recreate what you hear in a systematic way. Remember you are training your ears as much as your brain.

Can you make it far without learning music theory? Sure. Does learning some music theory help? Definitely. It's your choice. Consider this one area where you could improve.

Sound Selection

When you're creating your first idea much of the time you'll hear a sound and get inspired by that. That's sound selection. It's also about knowing when to use which sound. For example picking a piano sound over a bell sound because you want to play harmony.

For this stage in the process trust your gut and go with your instinct. Stay true to what you like while listening to what's popular. Over time you will get better instruments and better at picking instruments.

In-&-Out

In a way us composers are real-life synthesizers. What we put in usually comes out in one way or another. Studying music past and present can help take your ideas to places you never thought to go. Study the melodies, study the chord progressions, and study song structure.

Study what other producers are doing currently. Our goal is to get our melodies and beats used in the end. It's better to know what producers are likely working on and what artists are looking for.

The Ear

The more you make music the more you start to analyze everything you hear. You're more than likely already on this process. This helps you get better but always remember that the audience doesn't listen like that. At the end of the day they care about the vibe and what you do with it.

TLDR; Idea Quality

The two areas to focus on for better ideas are:

1. Music theory(Notes)

2. Sound Selection.

Use music theory to find the notes that you hear in your head. Use wise judgement when it comes to picking that first sound. Study current music to know what kind of projects will be out there. Let different types of music to influence your ideas. You can't fake whether you have a good or bad idea on your hands. It either is or isn't. It doesn't always have to have a 10/10 idea but it's somewhere you can improve.

Sound Quality

We live in a society of professional music listeners. The general public can tell when something doesn't sound right. Everyone has access to high quality music now. So if it doesn't sound like what they listen to already they will know. They may not be able to explain it but they will notice.

Sound quality is the thing that most people mean by industry quality. This part is less optional than the others. Producers know this and try to fix it by buying a bunch of gear. The reality is that it will always be more about your skill than gear. Would you rather hear Hit-Boy with stock plugins or a beginner with all the sounds in the world? So before you go buy a bunch of gear learn to use what you have first.

The Sound Quality Process

The process of the idea leaving your head and getting to the final mix happens in 3 phases. If any part of these 3 phases is not good then it won't reach the industry quality we're looking for. Every sound we make goes through 3 phases. The recording phase, the sound design phase, and the mixing phase.

Source Recording

It is paramount that every sound is high quality because it effects the whole equation. The best thing, if available, is to record the real thing. If you want a guitar, hire a guitar player or collab with another producer that is a guitar player. If you can do it then it is the best option.

The second best option is to use plugins with quality sounds. I would recommend buying something like kontakt that has a wide range of instruments. Stock sounds are good but you want have a variety of tools to create with. It's like if you were to play a video game, but you weren't allowed to level up or buy anything.

The 3rd best option is to find free sounds. You can google free plugins and find some that way. A lot of free sounds are terrible so make sure to get a preview before you download if you can. Stay away from sketchy looking websites. Here is a list of free plugins provided by Landr:

The 250 Best Free VST Plugins Ever [2024 Update]

Another option with plugins like Omnisphere is that you can combine sound sources to create your own sounds. This is a skill that is worth getting good at because you can use it anytime. Especially whenever you lack inspiration. This is a way to an endless source of sounds.

Sound Design

Once you have a good source recording you can then further edit it to get the exact sound that you want. In this phase you are only editing one sound. Learn to use effects such as EQ, compression, and your limiter. These are your bread and butter.

Learn what different effects such as reverb and distortion sound like and add them to taste. The more you experiment the more tools you have in your arsenol. With effects you can turn simple ideas into things that you could have never imagined. This gives you an infinite source of sounds to choose from. This then gets multiplied even more when you add in things like guitar pedals.

Mixing

After you get the instrument to sound the way you want then you have to mix it in with the other instruments. We don't have to become mixing engineers at this stage of the process. Once the track has drums and vocals on it, then it will all get mixed together. All we need at this stage is a good snapshot of the idea. A basic mix.

Think of a 3D graph. The Length of the graph is frequency, the width is panning, and the depth is volume. Use the fader, panning, and EQ to make sure each sound has a space of it's own without going overboard.

TLDR; Sound Quality

• Use good source

• Use effects to create the sound you want

• Use volume, panning, and EQ to mix that sound into your other sounds

A loop could have the best idea, but if it doesn't sound good, then it won't sound like an industry quality loop. Make sure that you have good sounds. Make sure each sound sounds the way that you want. Make sure you have a place for each instrument in your mix.

Arrangement Quality

If a song was the same 4 bars repeating for 4 minutes you would get bored. That's why we have to have some sort of arrangement for ideas to translate well over time. So we create different sections to give the producer options to use the loop as is.

K.I.S.S (Keep Is Super Simple)

I can't stress enough the idea of keeping it simple. As much as you want to show off and prove yourself most of the time the loops that get used are simple and clean. Convey the idea in the simplest way possible. This is why studying music is important.

You want to give them a simple idea of the song. What's going to happen is there is going to be a post production phase. This phase is where they add extra instruments and finishing touches. Always remember the main instrument is going to be the vocals. Learn to leave space for the vocals to take the show. Trust me it took me a while to learn this part.

Song Structure & Loop Structure

When I am making different sections of a loop I like to think of the different sections of a song. I make 1 or 2 ideas for a verse, 1 for a chorus, and 1 for a bridge. Think of the arrangement as suggestions on how to use the loop for different sections. I also leave each instrument solo'd at the end of the loop.

There's no one-size-fits-all answer on how to do this. Study music. Listen to how many instruments they use. Listen to how they structure the verses, choruses, and bridges. The more experience you get through creating and listening the more you will be able to hear what to do.

File Organization

Export as an .mp3 for sharing. That's going to be good enough for most people to use. Sometimes people will want FLPs(Fruity Loops Projects) files. So if you use FL studio then you have an advantage there. I name the file with the following format:

I've seen some people put a genre or artist in their as well. The order of the things listed above is up to personal preference. The important thing is that everything i mentioned here is in the filename.

TLDR; Arrangement Quality

Keep it simple.

Leave space for the vocals.

Study song structure and arrange loop to be the sections of a song.

Name the file in the following format:

Song Name_Key_BPM_producer(s)

Conclusion

You have a good idea, and it sounds good, and you've given clear sections with your arrangement. You likely have an industry quality melody on your hands. If you find yourself stuck in the creation process remember the formula.

Remember these are not hard rules to follow when you create. The goal is to get creative with each area of the formula. You develop your sound by stitching together what you like from different sources. Enjoy the process and if you find yourself stuck in the creation process remember the formula.

TLDR; The Whole Thing

• Pick the right notes

• Pick the right sounds

• Add the right amount of sound design

• Mix the right levels

• Arrange the sections to match the sections of a song.

If you found this article helpful please consider subscribing. If you like what you read and would like help implementing the process I am putting together a program to help producers develop their melody game. I’ve been teaching piano for 10 years and I want to help producers in this part of their journey. If this is you then send me a dm @M3theproducer

For any of my services please visit www.m3theproducer.com.