KVR :: Getting Started (AKA What is the best...?) » Greeting from Noobsville. Population: Me :P [View Original Topic]
There are 28 posts in this topic.

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DrMagick81 - Fri Apr 20, 2012 2:06 am

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Hi everyone

I've been recommended this forum, by a fellow user on an unrelated forum.
I checked out Garage Band on my mac the other day, and after seeing it, decided I want to learn the keyboard

When I was younger, my parents bought me a Yamaha keyboard for christmas. And I loved it. I taught myself many melodies from songs that I knew.
But unfortunately my parents couldn't afford piano lessons, so all I knew were single note melodies of songs, as I couldn't wrap my young brain around reading music on the fly or playing with both hands (I did know chopsticks and another one, forgot whats its called lol)

So, yeah, here I am. And it looks much more confusing than I remember with all these midi controllers and DAWs etc.
I've spoken to a local music shop and they were nice enough to allow me to pay of my purchase in installments. So by this time next month I should be rocking my "Novation Impulse 49". I plan to use it with my iMac, though I do also have a PC if needed. iMac is running on Lion, and PC is running Windows 7.

Anyways, I've been looking around and am finding it hard to understand all the terminoligy and jargon that is being used today.

Can anyone point me to any "Beginner Friendly: information? I did study music in highschool, but only remember some of it, lols, it was almost 20 years ago!

And any advice to a newcomer or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, i also mentioned to a friend I wanted to learn to play using garage band. He told me there are many better products out there such as Ableton, Reason....
Which one would be best for a noob like me?

Anyways, sorry for the long ass intro, lols

Cheers
DrMagickZ

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DrMagick81 - Fri Apr 20, 2012 2:10 am

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Oh yeah, if anyone can recommend some good textbooks or workbooks for me to work through and get my feet wet, that would be gr8!
Something that had exercises and examples I could work through would be awesome!

Cheers
DrMagickz

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michael2 - Fri Apr 20, 2012 6:49 am

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here's a good site for beginners on Garageband. I started out with Garageband and it was enormously helpful to me.
http://www.bulletsandbones.com/GB/GBFAQ.html

there are also a bunch of tutorials on youtube (search garageband tutorial). not sure what version of garageband you have, but I would include that in your search.

when I first started, I watched and read everything i could get my hands on, recorded a bunch of horrible stuff, asked millions of questions and had fun. garageband is pretty simple once you get going, but you can do an awful lot with it. I posted my songs on macjams.com and the people there were really friendly and helped me with the learning process an awful lot.

your setup will be more than adequate to record with, have fun. here's the songs I did that I posted on MJ, the bottom half of the list was all done on Garageband.
http://www.macjams.com/artist/michael2

it's interesting to listen back to them for me, as I got halfway decent with Garageband, switched to Logic and then started to sound like crap again. Now its finally sounding halfway decent again. Learning is fun. And for someone like you who doesn't really play keyboards (yet), you will love working with MIDI. easy, fast and so much fun to watch things take shape and come to life.

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DrMagick81 - Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:01 am

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Thanks for the reply
I actually just spent over an hour watching this lol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3lNP-rZE0M&context=C429c52dADvjVQa1PpcFNGK2QUf72NiLBlHRAH4IycwgDPxrUcx8o=
Some fella made a tutorial on how to make drum loops and beginners basics for ableton. I can't wait to get my keyboard lol

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Meffy - Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:08 am

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Howdy. Don't think "noob," think "got a practically infinite variety of incredibly cool stuff to discover, learn about, and have fun with." There can also be a heap of frustration -- which is part of what KVR's here for. Folks here can answer nearly any question.

Best of luck with it!

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michael2 - Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:09 am

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while you're waiting for your keyboard, just dive in and start using the pencil tool. you can put beats together really quickly, I even know guys who pencil in whole piano parts.

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JD Gaffe - Fri Apr 20, 2012 7:21 am

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I pencil my entire song in

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michael2 - Fri Apr 20, 2012 3:42 pm

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since the 2 kids came along, I find myself using the pencil tool and the QWERTY keyboard more and more.

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mcnoone - Fri Apr 20, 2012 4:34 pm

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Here's a great audio tutorial learning site that might help.
http://audio.tutsplus.com/category/tutorials/

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DrMagick81 - Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:44 am

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Many thanks!
I actually did find a really good one that I wanted to share in case any noobs needed it. Its from Lynda.com They do great video tutorials accompanied with exercise files that you can follow along and work through as you watch the vid.

They are really good, its how I learnt most of what I know about using Adobe Photoshop.

Ableton Live 8 Essential Training
Here is a link to the official site, in case anybody else wants it:
http://www.lynda.com/Ableton-Live-8-tutorials/Essential-Training/70663-2.html

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DrMagick81 - Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:47 am

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Lols I have no idea why, I've tried editing the link but for some reason the space keeps reappearing after I post. If you have troubles with the link try deleting the space in the address.

Cheers
DrMagickZx

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DrMagick81 - Sat Apr 21, 2012 12:59 am

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You can watch the Lesson videos for free, but if you want the execise files I think you need to purchase the lesson.
If you don't want to, or cant afford to buy the lesson, you could use your own files instead.
I hope to have a copy of them soon, that I found floating around online

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mcnoone - Sat Apr 21, 2012 4:31 am

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Well the link I posted is for free tutorials that won't require you to float around online. Which is best of course.
Floating around online can be hazardous to ones well being, in this forum.

You should be able to get a free lite version of a daw with the keyboard your getting, but I believe the Novation only gives a free lite version of a windows only daw. You should really use that imac for music if you can. Depends on your windows unit soundcard really. You can get Logic Express from the Mac App Store for $100, or Logic8 for 200usd.
Those are better than any other daw in my opinion. They certainly come with the most instruments, samples, synths, fx...etc.
An M-Audio Axiom keyboard comes with a free version of Ableton LiveLite8, which is cross-platform. I got that model, and it works great for me.

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DrMagick81 - Sat Apr 21, 2012 4:41 am

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Thankf for the info I'[ll be sure to research your recommendations

I plan on using my iMac with the Novation Impulse. My uncle has his own DJ business, and is going to donate me one of his Ableton Live 8 licenses, so I'll be saving a bundle there. I can put those saving towards other purchases for my music studio, such as microphone, earphones etc

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DrMagick81 - Sat Apr 21, 2012 4:49 am

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Oh yeah, just wonderin:

Did you guys dive into making your own music from the start? Or did you start by remixing/recreating songs? That's what i plan to do till i learn the basics...

Also, my keyboard comes with Ableton Lite.
Whats missing from the live version compared to the full Live 8 version?

lol sorry for all the Q's, but trying to learn all these new things, information overload lols

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Meffy - Sat Apr 21, 2012 5:54 am

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People who "find things floating around online" don't get to be KVR members for long. We believe in paying for what we use. Better lose them again, don't you think?

Stay 100% legit and you'll have lots of friends, advice, and help. Rip off other creative people and you get escorted to the exit. Legit is definitely the better deal.

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mcnoone - Sat Apr 21, 2012 8:44 am

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I use Live Lite, but I mostly just do sound design, so no need for the full version for me.
Here's a comparison chart.
http://www.ableton.com/pages/live_8/comparison_chart/live_lite_8

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zerocrossing - Sat Apr 21, 2012 9:30 am

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That would be "Heart and Soul."

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zerocrossing - Sat Apr 21, 2012 9:38 am

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If I were you at this point I'd use the crap out of Garageband for two reasons. 1) You have it. 2) It's a stepping stone to one of the best DAWs out there, Logic. I have a friend that does very respectable tracks using Garageband and a few plug-ins. I've asked him why he hasn't moved to Logic and he's said, "I haven't felt the need."

When I started video editing I used the free video editor that came with my Macintosh 7500. I forget what it was called... it was pretty damn good though in that Apple kind of way. Once I had that mastered and I needed more it was easy to move on because I already understood basic concepts. The same holds true in DAWs.

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kpsychedelic - Sat Apr 21, 2012 11:26 am

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While I cannot really comment on GarageBand and to add something worthwhile on this topic, if you're just starting, it would be great to have a "crash course" on music production for the home musician.
You can check out Tweakheadz Guide, which is great. The author sadly passed away couple years ago (or last year, don't remember), and the guide is written like an old website, but concepts still apply and you'll have fun goind through it on a couple weekends.

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DrMagick81 - Sat Apr 21, 2012 10:13 pm

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Thanks for the heads up. I had never thought of it as ripping off creative people before.
In the past i've pretty pretty relaxed with some piracy. Music and movies that I love, and apps that I use everyday and love, I do purchase to support the authors. Though I am guilty of downloading other stuff. Alot of it does get deleted if I don't like it or if after using it once, decide I didn't like it. I didn't think I was doing much wrong.
Since I want to create my own stuff in the future, reading your post has put it into perspective for me.

Re: the training excercise files, I can easily sustitute them with other free samples available. And if I still want them I'll purchase them on payday.

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Meffy - Sun Apr 22, 2012 5:45 am

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*thumbs up* Software and material you worked for will hold a lot more value, and you'll be justified in feeling the music you make is really YOURS.

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mcnoone - Sun Apr 22, 2012 6:05 am

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There's a lot of good and useful free software, free music, free tutorials, and free digital audio workstations. Garageband and LiveLite are plenty for you to start with. No need to dl anything else, except free legit items or demos.
Demoing software, as you get into it more, looking for something that clicks with you, then buying it.
When one can afford an imac, and pc, one can also afford netflix, or itunes too.

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DrMagick81 - Wed May 16, 2012 3:56 am

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Hi everyone.
Its been a couple weeks since my last post.
I've had my keyboard for a few weeks now. Luckily the fella was short on stock so he let me have the next model up for the same price , Got the Novation Impulse 61. Have been playing with ableton live, though alot of it was quite confusing and daunting at first.

Luckily I came across a beginners abelton tutorial, by Sonic Academy. Vids are on youtube. Really good as he explains everything very well for beginners.

If there are any other noobs wanting to learn out there, I recommend starting with these vids:
http://www.youtube.com/user/SonicAcademy/videos?query=ableton+beginner

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thecontrolcentre - Wed May 16, 2012 4:03 am

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Scenes are limited, number of plugins per project is limited too. Also some of Live's effects are not included in the Lite version. You can find a full list on Ableton's website.

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DrMagick81 - Wed May 16, 2012 4:31 am

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Yeah, I didn't realise how much it sucked until I started following along with some tutorials, lols, luckily you can use the full features with Saving disabled at least.

My uncle promised to give me his copy of ableton, I should hit him up and let him know I still want it, lol

btw, I was just wondering whats the best way to practise?
Instead of just playing around in ableton, should I maybe try to recreate songs that I know?
What do you guys think?

I have a small collection of loops and samples but am far from making any music yet, lol, so anything you can advise would be cool

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SLD Music - Mon May 28, 2012 7:42 am

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I don't know... I would say it depends on what kind of music you want to make and what kind of person you are.

For myself, I found it useful to start with songs I knew and try to do "covers" of them. For some people who do music, this is all they do, and they enjoy it. For me, I moved on from doing recordings / performances of other people's material because they legally require permission / licenses to share those recordings with others. Well, that and I really enjoy creating my own stuff. But like I said, when you're learning, it takes a BIG load off to already have a finished and well put together song that someone else wrote to record. When you add composition / creation to the equation, it gets significantly harder.

Pursuing music creation is not a linear process. You can veer off in lots of directions. There's so much to learn and discover it can be overwhelming. The trick that I've found is to KNOW that it's going to take time, to not rush yourself, and to enjoy the process.

I've also found that spending equal time on both the TECHNOLOGY of music creation (the DAWs the plugins, the synths, how MIDI works, etc.), the TECHNIQUES involved in using that technology (compression, EQ, mixing, sound creation etc.) AND the THEORY and performance of music itself (chords, progressions, melody and structure) is very important if you really want to become good at what you're attempting to do. Plus when you get bored with one, you can learn something else.

Finally, split your time both learning, and then creating music. Do an online course on youtube, and then step away from what other people are doing and create some music of your own using the techniques you've learned. Share it with some people, and then learn some more and create some more music. Over time, your music will become better, and eventually you might actually like some of the stuff you produce.

That was/is the case with me anyway. Your mileage may vary.

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InvisibleMonster - Wed Jun 06, 2012 5:19 am

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I would work on one thing at a time. Setting goals for yourself will be easier. If you're trying to learn everything at once the information will overwhelm you. I would start with drum programming and making those drums sound good. EQ'ing, compression, racks, recording, sends, sample choice, midi, simpler/sampler and arrangement are just some of the things involved with drums. It's daunting at first but once you jump those hurdles you will be free to express your creativity.

Keep learning. Never stop trying to better yourself and your music.

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There are 28 posts in this topic.