| Created: | Aug 2026 |
| Reviewed: | - |
| To do: | Mostly everything. Priority: put placeholders in ... then iterate to add detail. |
Pages drafted/planned: ALL (0/30), Setup (0/4), Creating (0/4), Arranging (0/5), Mixing (0/10), Mastering (0/2), Post (0/5)
To document things about music creation using a DAW, for the sake of education, rather than monetisation. That's the idea.
You've arrived early in the process!
This site will document how to create a song using a DAW. Primarily, this will be synth based, with examples based on creating a darker synth-pop style. The DAW used will be Cubase, though the processes & techniques are generic to most DAWs.
The wider context for song adjacent topics will focus on an indie style, rather than pretending we're doing this for a living, so will lean towards Mastodon over Twitter; funkwhale over Spotify; enjoyment over angst.
Although its scope is broad, it not intended to be the golden source of every topic that's touched upon. It'll be smol where possible and lean on other areas of the small internet as a preference. There's something about big tech that's out-of-kilter and if I can avoid pushing too much traffic their way, I will.
There will be no reference to the use of AI in this process, e.g. neither through generative-AI tools, nor LLMs for efficiency. It's intended to document how to do things so they're understood, rather than just done for you. TODO: describe how vocal synths fit in, or not, as per zuzai principles. They can be modelled using AI even though the melody/tone are created/adjusted directly. But are they still "AI"? Are earlier (pre v6 Vocaloid) "ok" because they're non-AI modelled vocal synths!? Anyway, summary here, more detail in a dedicated page.
The pages here will be based around a songwriting process, which sounds a bit grand but will help to break things up. Even if you don't write stuff using a rigid process, the components are still identifiable as tasks regardless of the order and the control or chaos that happens around them. Broadly, we'll move from creation through arranging, mixing, mastering. Also, what we'll describe happens once the track is complete: visualisers and videos; where to release your tracks; whether and how to promote.
Reference section for the Plugins used, during creation, mixing, mastering, etc.. They'll be directed at the Cubase stock plugins with free and paid options given a mention where appropriate. There are sites that focus on free VSTs -- this isn't one of those! -- but I'm not immune to the lure. If I've tried and use particular plug-in it'll get a mention.
What the other stuff is all about: the songs. They stand alone from the process, technology and techniques discussed on this site.
The techniques aren't documented with an expectation to be monetised, as is the modern way. It's more to spread the knowledge without tracking, selling emails, spamming with ads, training LLMs... that sort of thing. The following link summarises why quite neatly.
Indie Web manifesto
-- reproduced here without permission from indiewebispunk.