Music Production Recipe: Trap Influenced Pop

Electronic Music production wiz Josh Bess delivers a tutorial video series for new producers on producing a Trap influenced Pop track from scratch. See everything it takes to craft a modern sounding electronic track, step by step with simple instruction that anyone can follow. You also get the sounds that Josh uses for free!

Getting Started

• Overview (01:20) - Josh Bess explains how simple it is to create a beat, utilizing royalty free samples and simple musical ideas.

• Using Ableton Live 10 (00:55) - Josh introduces you to Ableton Live 10, and explains how to download a free trial, if you do not already own this DAW.

• Choosing the Samples (02:17) - Josh Bess introduces you to the samples used in this video course, and explains how to choose the best samples for your music, utilizing Splice and other sample packs.

• Choosing the Presets (02:59) - In this video, Josh Bess explains how to manage your presets, utilizing the user preset library with Serum.

• Course Extras Overview (00:59) - Josh introduces the course extras available for download with this course, to allow you to dive in further with each topics explained.

Drums, Percussion, & Sub Bass

• Building a Drum Kit for Trap (01:54) - Josh explains how to build a custom drum kit in Ableton Live, with your own choice of samples.

• Arpeggiated Hi-Hat Technique (02:47) - In this video, Josh explains how to create rhythmic movement with hi hat samples, utilizing an arpeggiator.

• Creating a Low & High 808 Sub (01:47) - Josh demonstrates a simply way to energize an 808 sub bass, with saturation, stereo imaging, and compression.

• Drum Rack Choking (04:09) - In this video, Josh shows how to choke individual samples within a drum rack with the Live 10 choke feature.

• 808 Release Time (02:35) - Josh explores how to shorten and lengthen samples within the drum rack, utilizing the simpler device's release time in Live 10.

• Meshing the Kick & 808 (02:25) - Josh shows a simple technique to mesh your kick and 808 sub bass, with simple adjustments of the volume attack envelope.

• Creating a Trap Drum Groove (05:18) - Josh explains how to write and record a drum groove from scratch in Ableton Live 10.

• Compressing the Drum Samples (02:43) - Josh introduces a simple technique to keep your drum samples at a consistent volume range, with compression.

• Bringing the Ideas from Session View to Arrangement View (03:44) - Josh explores how to simply move your ideas from the Session View in Live 10, to the Arrangement view.

Chords & Rhythm

• Introduction to Serum (01:55) - Josh introduces you to Xfer Record's Serum.

• The Live 10 Scale Device (01:51) - Josh explores the Ableton Live 10 MIDI Effect, Scale, to keep your notes in key.

• Creating Chords by Note Layering (05:26) - Josh shows a simple way to create chords in Ableton Live 10 by stacking single notes, to create harmony.

• Creating Arpeggios (03:32) - Josh introduces the Ableton Live 10 MIDI Effect, Arpeggiator, to transform simple chords into arpeggiated melodies and musical background phrases.

• Freezing MIDI (01:51) - In this video, Josh explains how to freeze MIDI tracks in Live 10.

• Flattening MIDI to Audio (01:37) - Josh examines the benefits of flattening your MIDI tracks to audio tracks, in Live 10.

Basic Mix Down & Exporting

• Basic Mixing & Mastering (05:02) - Josh explains the simplicity and importance of mixing with volume, EQ, compression, and reverb.

• Exporting the Song (02:09) - In this video, Josh explores the best audio exporting settings for your music.

Adding a Little Extra

• Adding Additional Drum & Percussion Parts (03:53) - Josh demonstrates the idea of adding any instrumental idea to your music at any point, no matter what part of the process you are in.