Electronic dance music has made its mark in so many places and is even used in film scoring. From parties to festivals, electronic dance music is desired by all age groups around the world. It sends energy through your spine to make you move.
The boom of electronic dance music started with the emergence of pop music welcoming the electronic dance music styles. When the collaboration of Electronic dance music and pop music started, a lot of music producers started producing electronic dance music.
There is a large variety of software available to start producing electronic dance music. There is a popular saying in audio production, that “it’s not the type of gear you have, it’s all about how you use it.”
When it comes to audio production, electronic dance music producers mostly use Pro Tools, Ableton and Logic Pro X. Even though there is a wide range of software available, these three are preferred by music producers all around the world.
Just knowing the names of the audio production software is one thing, but understanding why they are used is a completely different ball game. This article will look what makes these three types of software the preferred choice of music producers. Let’s dive right in.
Ableton Live
Ableton Live is audio production software used by electronic dance music producers. Ableton Live is complete audio production software that allows its users to not only record songs but also gives access to many other elements of sound design. This makes it stand out among all the other software in the world.
Ableton Live comes in three versions. The first version, Ableton Live Intro, introduces all the functions needed to get started in audio production.
Ableton Live Intro is usually regarded as beginner software, no matter which genre you are going into. Most people who want to become producers start with Ableton Live.
The second version of Ableton is Ableton Live Standard. As the name suggests, this version is the standard for any professional music production as well as mixing and mastering.
This software’s license has a lot to offer to a producer. If you opt for this version of Ableton, you won’t have to upgrade for a few years.
The ability of Ableton to work with samples and sound design is one of the main reasons why the name is always brought up in electronic dance music production.
When compared to other audio production software, you will find that Ableton can work well with samples and manipulate them much better.
The ability of a producer to navigate through a screen of the software is very important in a recording studio. When it comes to electronic dance music, the user interface of Ableton is really easy to learn and work on.
Looking at the third and high-end version, Ableton Suite, you will find that it offers a whole new world of tools for music producers and mixing engineers to exploit in their projects. This puts Ableton in a completely different league.
Even though Ableton Live has an easier interface compared to other software, it takes a while to get used to when you’re starting out as an electronic dance music producer.
When you first interact with Ableton, it will seem like it is the most difficult software to navigate. Eventually though, you will find that the tools are arranged in a particular way that saves time and makes the production process smoother.
This is one of the reasons why professional producers use Ableton from when they are making the beat to recording the vocals. Electronic dance music was pushed by artists like Skrillex, who first started showing people the ability to use Ableton to achieve amazing sounds.
Pro tools
Pro Tools is the pioneer of all the audio production software in the world right now. They started with hardware components (by Avid Technology) and then developed amazing software that can be used for audio production in studios.
Pro Tools is top of the range software because of how versatile the software can be in the recording studio. Pro Tools First, is a free version that can be used to make music on the go, without spending money on audio production software.
The free version software offered by Pro Tools made it accessible for lots of people to get into audio production and to make incredible music. The Pro tools interface is easy to use as well. The arrangement of tracks as well the effects in Pro Tools makes it easier for any producer to understand it faster.
You are only as effective as your tool especially when it comes to electronic dance music. Electronic dance music is one of the more complex genres where you would require more sound design rather than just putting some sounds together to achieve cohesiveness.
This is where Pro Tools took their experience in hardware production and put it into the software. They made pro tools able to handle all sound design needs which makes it ideal for handling electronic dance music production.
One of the other reasons why Pro Tools is often highly praised is its ability to handle large files in a complex project without crashing. Most audio production software struggle to handle large files and is prone to lag in a complex project like film scoring.
Pro Tools rose above Ableton because of the introduction of cloud collaboration. The ability to collaborate in Pro Tools via Amazon cloud, took it to a greater standard than it had previously been.
This helps producers from different cities and countries to collaborate on the same project. This has been taken advantage of by producers all around the world for scoring music for films.
Logic pro x
Logic Pro X is software that is made for the MAC operating system. It’s exclusive to MAC users. It’s started to gain popularity as soon as it was used by professional electronic dance artists for mixing and mastering.
The interface and the performance are on par with other software for audio production. One of the most important aspects of Logic Pro X is that it’s the cheaper software among all the audio production software available in the world.
Even though it’s cheap, it doesn’t lack in quality or performance. This has made logic pro the audio production software of choice for many producers who are into electronic dance production.
The recording function for instruments in a logic pro is a notable feature that makes it stand out from the other software.
The new live function that was introduced in 2019 made logic pro more desirable for people who are into electronic dance music production.
The live function allows you to perform or DJ on stage using the clip play button and gives access to your songs and projects.
You can also start your DJ session for EDM songs using the effects library that comes with Logic Pro X. If you are a MAC user, investing in Logic Pro is a better option for electronic dance music than Ableton and Pro Tools.
How do EDM artists make money?
Electronic dance music artists make money through licensing their tracks to DJs and selling albums. The other methods include merchandise and live shows. Others also to get well-known brands as sponsors, as their brands grow.
Why is EDM so popular?
Electronic dance music, is a part of many cultures where festivals of part of life. EDM has an upbeat rhythm that makes revelers move their body to the beat. This is what makes EDM so popular around the world.
What Software does Skrillex use?
In both performances and home studio, Skrillex uses Ableton live. He has had a number of pop and EDM hits through Ableton. The ability to do sound design in Ableton is what has made Skrillex stick to Ableton and get so many songs in the top 100 charts.
Conclusion
It doesn’t matter which software artists use. If you are trying to get into audio production, start with what you have and you can later upgrade your software. Learning more about the production techniques makes your production better no matter the software used.
If this is your first year in audio production start learning about audio production techniques and practice them with whatever software that you can get your hands on.
If you master the skills, you can exhibit them no matter which tools you use.
