Resources for Industrial Music Production, Recording, Writing!

(Trippingonacable Studios)

These days there really isn’t a lot of Industrial music production forums and blogs anymore, so I thought I would share the resources from as many sites I could find, that have been archived or are still around to help anyone who is interested in getting started in writing, producing, recording, or performing industrial music. I figured I would try and compile all the resources I could from places that I frequented on the internet, and various sites and such, from when I was younger... I hope you find these helpful!

New York Industrial Front: this site is now archived... but I found this site very helpful when I was getting started, and to kinda get perspective when doing industrial music, and performing live and all that stuff. Here is the site: https://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/studio/4696/

Here is a couple of resources from that site:

How to make industrial for free: https://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/studio/4696/howto.html

How to make industrial for next to nothing (You’re all spoiled): https://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/studio/4696/howto2.html

Advice for Industrial bands playing out: https://www.oocities.org/sunsetstrip/studio/4696/howto3.html

Note: I do realize the content from these links are a little dated, but the advice is still solid, so take a read and apply this to a modern industrial band.

Knobs & Sliders: This blog is/was run by Michael Arthur Holloway, you probably better know him as Dead When I Found Her. You can find tips and info regarding industrial music production, especially when creating sounds that are reminiscent of older Skinny Puppy: http://knobsandsliders.blogspot.com/

Koney-Industrial Blog: now this blog was a little more geared to industrial techno, and industrial hardcore, but they listed a lot of cool VSTs (software synthesizers for you noobs), and the odd production technique and such: http://koney-industrial.blogspot.com/

Gearslutz (Charlie Clouser forum): I’m sure some of you are aware of this but, Charlie Clouser of Nine Inch Nails fame (The Downward Spiral, and The Fragile Era’s) participated in a very long discussion regarding gear and such that was used for the various eras of Nine Inch Nails… the forum posting is quite massive, but there’s a lot of good stuff there if you are patient and curious… you can find it here: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/electronic-music-instruments-and-electronic-music-production/605445-nine-inch-nails-synths.html

WaveFormless Blog: This blog was run by Tom Shear of Assemblage 23... there's gear reviews as well as reviews of VSTs and stuff like that, all stuff pertaining to the electronic/industrial/ebm type scenes, you can find it here: http://waveformless.blogspot.com/

There are also Reddit forum topics discussing this as well, but I am not too familiar with Reddit, and have only used it a couple of times (but not for industrial music production itself)... so, I'll leave it up to you to find those specific posts!

Here are a couple of Reddit posts that I found about Industrial Music Production:
https://www.reddit.com/r/industrialmusic/comments/2eexk3/anybody_else_starting_to_make_industrial_music/

https://www.reddit.com/r/industrialmusic/comments/9wih9w/industrial_music_makers_how_do_you_make_your_music/

https://www.reddit.com/r/IndustrialMusicians/

Note: There are also a ton of resources out there on Youtube and such, when it comes to general knowledge in music production, mixing, and mastering! There are not a lot of resources for industrial music production specifically, but there are tips and tricks for general music production.

One word of caution; if you are new to industrial music writing/recording/production/etc... don't get too caught up in who used what gear to achieve what sound for what album type shit. In the end, it really doesn't matter what gear you have or don't have, be resourceful and create those sounds with what you have. I find too many people get caught up in the "What gear should I buy to achieve 'x' sound?" syndrome... nowadays it really doesn't fuckin matter (if you read through the New York Industrial Front stuff above, you will understand where I'm coming from)... get creative, and maybe you'll create a sound that sounds like you, rather than someone else!

Anyway, let me know if you find these links helpful! And, if you have any other resources that should be added to this list, please leave those sites in the comments… I would like to make an exhaustive list of all the available resources online that we have today!