Connect a MIDI controller to your computer via a USB cable. MIDI controllers let you record using synthesized and sampled sounds in the digital audio workstation. The interface is exactly the same as a standard musical keyboard, but the sounds come from the computer program, not the instrument.
Launch your digital audio workstation, such as Pro Tools, Cubase or Mixcraft. Digital audio workstations, or "DAW," let you record, edit and mix music using a computer.
Open the "File" menu and select "Open." From the drop-down menu, select the song to which you want to give an industrial sound.
Create a MIDI track. The method for doing so varies according to which program you use, but you typically click "File," "New MIDI Track." Some programs have shortcut tabs. For example, if using Apple's Logic program, click "+."
Open the instruments menu and select an electronic drum kit. Audition the different kits by hitting the keys on your controller.
Hit "Record" and play in a double-time, four-bar "kick, snare, kick, snare" loop. So beat one of the bar is kick, beat two is snare, beat three is kick and beat four is snare. Hit "Stop" and right-click the audio file as it appears on screen. Select "Copy" and paste the file into the MIDI track, so it lines up flush with the original. Then copy the two files and paste them in again, so the drum loop fills up the entire song.
Hit "Edit" and select "Quantize." This is a MIDI function that puts every MIDI note exactly on the beat. The mechanical precision of this drum beat will give your song a very industrial feel. "March Of The Pigs" by Nine Inch Nails achieves an intense, intimidating atmosphere from a drum beat similar to this.
Click on the recorded guitar track to highlight it. This assigns subsequent edits to this track only, rather than the mix as a whole.
Select "Compressor" from the effects menu. Compressors temper the dynamics of an audio recording to smooth out volume spikes. By over-compressing the guitars, you give them a squashed, harsh sound characteristic of the typical industrial guitar sound.
Set the "Threshold" setting to around 20 percent and the ratio setting to "2:1." This configures the compressor to reduce the loudest 80 percent of the guitar track to half of its original volume. This effectively "squashes" the guitar into a smaller sound wave.
Increase the "Output Gain" setting by 80 percent to compensate for the volume loss.