In this article, I will show you how to produce your very own dawless music. It means to produce beats without a digital audio workstation (DAW) such as Ableton, Pro Tools, or Reason. By following this comprehensive beginners’ guide below to dawless music production. Start creating your own tracks now!
Are you ready? Let’s get started.
As always, I will add some of my beats below so you can listen to them as focus music while reading. In this case, I will add an album I have fully produced DAWless.
When I started working on this article, I gave myself some of the questions I had, when I decided to (occasionally leave) DAWs. They were questions like: How? What are the equipment I need? Is it going to be different? If so, how?
Gather the Equipment You Need
Before you can start producing dawless music, you’ll need to get the right equipment. However, this step is pretty uneasy – at least is was for me. I mean with all the great shops like Amazon and Thomann (etc.) you can choose from a wide range of hardware and instruments to create your tracks.
On the other hand, most of you are likely to own a decent laptop, a midi controller as well. So why bother going DAWless?
Well, because those beats will feel completely different. Not to mention that you can choose where to get inspired and compose them.
My biggest advice would be: read, read, and read. Think about your genre, check the biggest artists (especially those, who perform live), check their videos, and see what they use. Read about those and make a shortlist.
Start DAWless music production in small
Producing music offscreen is not just different and first uneasy, but can be pretty expensive. I can share with you 2 tools to consider if you are interested in DAWless music production but not willing to spend fortunes on it (at first).
PO-33 KO – aka Pocket Operator 33 Knock-Out by Teenage Engineering. A simple and budget sampler you can grab under 100$, which is a good way to test your dedication. I mean if you master it, if you can produce some dope LPs with it, I guess you may consider further steps.
The good part of it is that PO-33 KO is pretty cheap, the bad part is that it is pretty limited for a stand-alone live performance from my point of view.
Another gadget is PO-128 by the same company. While the previous one is a sampler, this one is a synthesizer. Before looking for a Nord of Korg, I guess it is worth checking how to produce music in small.
Familiarize Yourself with Music Theory Basics
Have your list of gadgets? Cool. In order to create your own tracks without the use of a DAW, you’ll also need to have a fundamental understanding of music theory.
Bad news, I will not go in-depth here and now. Maybe later as this topic could take up 3-4 major articles. On the other hand depending on taste you can find articles, books, and even videos on this matter. The point is to take some time and familiarize yourself with basic elements such as note duration and values; harmonic and melodic intervals. Of course, don’t forget scales and chords either.
As an example, check the variety of scales of a simple under 100$ PO-128:
Learn How to Sequence Your Tracks
Once you have your instrument and come up with some good melodies or riffs, it is high time to learn about sequences. In short (and in my own words) sequencing is like repeating a block (let it be one instrument only, or more) in order to create a bases for you in the song. You may start singing, playing the lead melody, etc. once you have a great set of sequences ready.
Here are some examples of patterns/sequences to give you a flavor.
Practice Performing and Mixing With the Analog Setup
You read hell much now. Owning the perfect instrument. Hopefully, you have a solid basis of music theory – at least enough to play melodies along with the right chords. You are now most likely to know at least kick and snares (maybe open hi-hats?).
What comes now is practicing. Even if you are not going to perform. In order to enjoy producing music offscreen, you are to own your instrument as much as possible.
Practicing is a key component of any music production workflow, and it’s especially important when you’re working without a digital audio workstation. I mean on the laptop you can change this pretty easily even after the record – when you record a DAWless song, you have less space for mistakes.
