Music Production Encyclopedia
Reference articles on the settings and ideas you meet when finishing and releasing music, organized by task. Platform specs are quoted from official documentation, with the date they were checked.
Preparing a release
What to export, what the streaming services ask for, and making visuals for the release.
Sample Rate & Bit Depth Explained
Sample rate and bit depth explained, with a comparison table and the export settings Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube publish. Check your own file's sample rate and bit depth free, in your browser.
Read article →Audio-Reactive Art: A Complete Guide
Complete guide to audio-reactive art: from Winamp to WebGL, how audio features drive visuals, rendering technology, mapping strategies, and how to create your own music visualizations.
Read article →Also before a release: the loudness and true-peak targets in Dynamic Range in Music.
Mixing and mastering basics
Loudness, dynamics and frequency balance: the measurements behind a mix that holds up on every platform.
Dynamic Range in Music
Dynamic range in music explained: how LUFS, true peak and loudness range are measured, what Spotify's -14 LUFS normalization does to your master, and how compression and limiting change dynamics.
Read article →Audio Frequency Spectrum: The Complete Guide
Complete guide to the audio frequency spectrum: sub-bass, bass, midrange, presence, and brilliance. Learn how FFT works, what each frequency band sounds like, and how spectrum analysis drives visualization.
Read article →Stem Separation: How It Works
Stem separation explained: how neural networks such as Demucs and Spleeter isolate vocals, drums and bass from a mix, what the SDR benchmark numbers mean, and what affects separation quality.
Read article →Music theory
Keys, chords, tempo, meter and form, and how software detects them.
Musical Keys Explained
Learn how musical keys work, the difference between major and minor, the Circle of Fifths, key detection methods, and which keys are most common in every genre. Complete reference with tables and diagrams.
Read article →Common Chord Progressions
Master the most common chord progressions in music: I-V-vi-IV for pop, ii-V-I for jazz, 12-bar blues, and more. Learn why they work, the Nashville Number System, and how harmony drives emotion.
Read article →BPM Guide: Tempo for Every Genre
Complete BPM reference chart: tempo ranges for hip-hop, house, techno, dubstep, DnB, pop, and more. Learn how BPM affects mood, how detection algorithms work, and how tempo drives visualization.
Read article →Time Signatures Explained
Understand time signatures in music: what 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, 5/4, and 7/8 mean, how they affect feel, simple vs. compound meter, and how time signatures influence visualization timing.
Read article →Song Structure Guide
Song structure explained: verse-chorus form, AABA, the EDM build and drop, common section lengths and how software detects section boundaries.
Read article →Harmonic Mixing & the Camelot Wheel
Master harmonic mixing with the Camelot Wheel: learn compatible key transitions, energy matching, advanced techniques, and how key relationships drive visual transitions in music visualization.
Read article →How Beat Detection Works
Deep dive into beat detection algorithms: onset detection, spectral flux, autocorrelation, dynamic programming, and deep learning approaches. Learn how beat tracking enables synchronized music visualization.
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