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Anyone else on soundcloud here? If so add me, FreshTraks. If not give me a listen and let me know what you think. Hope everyones having a good summer, PEACE!
Music production is honestly the most difficult thing I have ever attempted on a computer without instruction. I totally understand why people go to school to get a degree in it.
I never learned how to sample on ableton, sorta on logic, but not to a presentable level. I didnt have the best midi ever (8 pads 8 knobs). But I deleted ableton to make room for other software and video b/c I don't have an external hard drive.
nice beat, flows nice. i like the hi hats a lot, really bring everything together. followed you on soundcloud, if you get a second you should check out some of my songs. i just posted two new ones yesterday/ :D [ http://soundcloud.com/labelusnotorious-1 ]
FUCK I JUST WROTE THE HUGEST POST AND MY INTERNET DIED.
Anyways.... Production just takes a ridiculously long time. And hardly anyone synthesizes their own drum samples, most people use analog gear for that or they record actual hits, or steal it from a song that already exists. XFER is a great sample pack from Deadmau5 if you want to do EDM production.
The best advice I can give you is to just jump into your software, and start fucking around. If you see a knob on one of logic's software synths and you don't know what it does... Start playing around with it. Turn it all the way up and listen, then turn it all the way down and listen... Thats how you learn synthesis lol, at least at first.
There's a button in logic at the top left that says Bounce Region... This is your new best friend, use it wisely.
And try to utilize the full range of your software's capabilities... You can do just about anything with software now, especially logic, so its a good idea to learn how as much different stuff works. In electronic music especially, you need to be creative in a broader way than just like... interesting melodies. Its important to be creative with the ways you use your software and plugins, thats how you get interesting noises and cool rhythms and stuff.
This first track took me maybe 3 hours from beginning to end, I grabbed my microkorg, got a basic idea, and just banged off audio parts and crudely threw them together haha. Not the greatest song, but the finished product was fairly rewarding.
The Signal by MattStarker
This second one probably took me around 40 or 50 hours for the whole thing... This one was all done with MIDI, in logic, I made literally every single sound in it from scratch.
Mandrakes for Sid by MattStarker
I saw a post from Excision on another forum, in a thread about production schools. He basically told people that they should save their money to pay rent and buy ramen and juice boxes while they spend a year in their basment putting in 10 hour days on their software...I can't emphasize the importance of that advice enough, an expensive school or a secret plugin will not help you get that great sound or that catchy melody, its just hours upon hours of hard work.
I'm no world class producer but I know a bit about this stuff... I love to talk production when I can so feel free to ask some questions if you have any. What exactly are you trying to produce? Ie dubstep, house, IDM...
A few questions:
What do you want to make? I'm guessing electronic stuff, but is there anything in specific?
Are you using a PC or a Mac?
How much musical experience do you have?
Basically the only thing you need is a DAW (digital audio workstation) which is like.. Ableton or Logic or Cubase or FL studio, and some good headphones. I mean, you can throw down like $2000 on a ridiculous home studio but its completely unnecessary. Only buy gear when you have an idea of how you're going to use it first.
You also need a lot of time, and commitment. Making music is probably one of the hardest hobbies out there, but its REALLY rewarding when it all comes together.
just make anything but i dunno where to get started lol i've seen ppl use electronic keyboards and what not i was just interested in it ill look into those programs
I agree. I can understand how people can pick up beatmaking/MIDI so fast, but the kind of music I like to do is only done with microphones. That's where things get tricky...
Come on, don't demean electronic music because you don't need to use guitars for it... Trust me it's just as hard, you should give edm production a shot if it's so easy. Besides instrumentalists rarely produce their own music. Guitarist=\=producer and vice versatile, you know what I mean? They're both stupidly hard but they're different crafts in every way, I played piano for 12 years, I've composed for concert bands, and now I'm learning to produce and it is just as hard. Gmart I'll be back with more info when I'm not on my phone lol.
I wasn't saying it isn't hard; I'm well aware how fucking difficult it is (I've completely given up on synthesis). I was just saying that making beats/MIDI doesn't require heavy construction to acoustically treat environments, and the various pitfalls of using mics. Also, its a huge bitch that I have to crank an amp to harmful levels to get a good sound. With MIDI you don't have that problem, which is nice. Trust me, I couldn't make beats to save my life.
If I want to start producing dubstep/electronic kinda stuff and I have a Mac what software would be the best for me? I torrented ableton but its confusing as fuck haha. I would just be messing around mostly, nothing too serious. I play a guitar and drums and trumpet haha so I have a decent idea about musical stuff but I have never messed around with music production on a computer besides garageband.
A few questions:
What do you want to make? I'm guessing electronic stuff, but is there anything in specific? hip hop shit
Are you using a PC or a Mac? PC ALL DAY ERRY DAY TILL I DIEEEE
How much musical experience do you have? lil bit of piano
I dunno if it helps but i would say im decent/good with computers and stuff if that means anything.
Ahhhh I see where you're coming from. Yeah I've tried to record piano before in my living room and it just does not work lol, so much technicality to recording with mics. Whoooole other world of production stuff right thurr.
Excision and Datsik both use Logic. And you will NEED Native Instruments Massive (a software synthesizer) if you want to make dubstep haha. Search up TST dubstep tutorial on youtube, thats a really good one. You'll need to be prepared to invest a ton of time into making dubstep because the production techniques behind making the basslines are fairly complicated and time consuming, at least for the reaaallly filthy stuff.
Study these videos:
Rusko production masterclass from montani on Vimeo.
Although they're using windows and different software, the ideas that go into it are still the same, ie LFO to filter cutoff, make a bass sample, bounce, fx, etc... You can do the same things with any program, the layouts are just slightly different. I recommend logic for dubstep because it comes with such a wide array of great plugins, synths, a great sampler and a really useful drum machine.
There is a way to shortcut around all of this though... Just remember, LFO to filter cutoff. Logic has a great Autofilter.
For old school beats, it mostly started with drum machines and chopped up samples. Listen to thrown by Wiz Khalifa... Thats old school steeze, and its just a bunch of chopped up samples from old songs put together. Find something with a good drum machine and use it... I know LCP uses Cubase lol. If you're willing to put the money in though I'd honestly just find Native Instruments' Maschine, its probably all you need for the old school beats. Production techniques really range for hip hop but its strongly based around drum machines.
ABLETON if you're on PC actually... Its not a simple program but there are tons of online tutorials and a great user community... Just find the ableton forums, I'm sure there's tons of info on there for you. I don't dabble in hip hop beats very much but a lot of it is just sample chopping.
My main advice would be to listen to producers you like, and REALLY listen to their tracks. Like, hear a sound or a chord and try to figure out where its from, how it might have gotten there... Its all about using your own creative resources to figure stuff out. And when you understand the basic ideas behind beats, like the structure and stuff, you can really do it however you want.
you are one of the more helpful people i have ever met on this website. i understand the music theory end of it its just translating that into actual noises that i dont know how to do. thank you though, im gonna look into logic and cubase
This is your first test as a producer... Pirating your first software : )
Torrents for ableton are everywhere, you just have to look. Any big torrent site is bound to have them. Try pirate bay. And if you like it and use it a lot, buy it!
i have a lot of shit to make music but honestly, i made that bluebird song with just my computer. download fruityloops or reason if you can find it, then just watch some tutorials or drop me a message and i'd gladly help you out.
this is great anyone thought about starting up a producing cult...the only one im in is dead from like 05....all this info is gunna help me out a ton. I just started on ableton live 8 and i have a axiom 49 midi thinking about getting a novation....anyways heres a track i just did today and spent like an hour and a half. I really liked the structure advice im going to try that now and stuff.
My only advice would be to spend more time on the track. Like, you clearly had a couple basic musical ideas that you're using, so just take those ideas and develop them more, try to fill in your frequency range (bass, mid, highs) with different sounds, listen to songs you like and then try to imitate stuff that you liked. Once you can put down some ideas its really up to you to figure out how you want to do things. Just produce it more and you'll come up with some great stuff. Aim for professional quality and even if you don't get there, you'll learn something in the process.
I was thinking about starting another cult but production cults seem to always die... Instead i think it would be better if anyone who's into producing just posted any questions or music they made in M&A, we have tons of filmers/photographers who use it so I think we might as well add music into that too.
Making music on a computer is just way to fucking hard for me. Creating Sounds digitally just kinda bothers and frustrates me, Give me an sm57, a guitar, and a bunch of effects pedals and I'll go to town.
