VDT Seminar on Pop Music Production: Turning the Studio into a Music Factory

The participants and instructors (center-left Marco Breidenbach, center-right Hans-Martin Buff) enjoyed themselves immensely

How is a pop song created? Unlike productions of classical music, pop songs often only begin to take shape in the studio. Starting with a fragment, a notion, a beat, the music is then developed in close cooperation between the musicians, producer and sound engineer, the basics created, arranged and ultimately finalized in the mix.

Recording engineer and producer Hans-Martin Buff together with drummer and studio owner Marco Breidenbach illustrated this complex process during the two-day VDT Seminar "Pop Music Production: Turning the Studio into a Music Factory."

Hans-Martin Buff comparing mics

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Loads of practical tips, audio samples and a sizeable amount of hands-on experience made the seminar an exciting and informative event. There were eureka moments aplenty, for example when comparing different mixes of the same song, which were first created exclusively on a computer, then conventionally on a mixing desk, and then a third time with the two tools combined. "It's events like these that make VDT shine," Ingo Weismantel, one of the seminar's twelve participants commented in the end.

Hans-Martin Buff explains how production is organized. What is the best way to set up a session?

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Seminar lecturer Hans-Martin Buff felt that the seminar with its focus on pop music was helped by taking place at the same time as the Music Messe trade fair. "Several participants combined the visit to the Frankfurt Musik Messe with our event. We were blessed with an excellent mix of old hands, students and newcomers in the group," he explains, adding, "Looking back at the good experience I'm sure this won’t be my last VDT seminar!"

The seminar took place at Noble Sound Studio in Linsengericht (near Hanau) on April 17 and 18.