Very New looking for advice

[Michaelangelus]

Hi Gearslutz! So I am desperately trying to get into Music Production, mainly on the EDM side. I just wanted to know: What do I need to learn first. If I knew nothing about what a DAW does, nothing about MIDI, nothing about music in general where would I start? what would I learn first? I have FL Studio and Massive and have an AKAI MPK mini controller. I really love music and I've always toyed with it but I just can not seem to get started or really learn anything. Anytime I ever get anywhere I hit a wall and just get demotivated and stop. For some reason this has the biggest learn curve I've ever experienced but at the same time I feel like its easy to learn if you know a few key things first. I know just the very basic knowledge of how to work FL studio if its even all of it. I can fool around in massive but it's very uncoordinated and I never really produce a real professional or even semi-professional sounding synth. I used to be able to do a good drum line but I could never make a song past a minute long and that was pushing it.
For some reason I have troubles with making a beginning, then building up to a drop, then continuing on from there. I just basically make clips of what could be a good song but never know what to do from there. I don't know if I am missing anything or if there is a basic starting point I should start at or terms I MUST know before doing anything. I see the words timing and such thrown around but have no clue what they are or how to apply them and everywhere I learn there's no real structured learning to be found, which is what I really need to just get started. If I had a class on the basics I could always go from there but so far nothing outside of a college in NYC lol. I really love music, nothing would make me happier then to make it and just play it for my friends or just throw it on Youtube I don't even care about making money off it. If I do that's just extra and honestly I've always wanted to be one of those guys on stage just making everyone have a good time with what they've made.
So TL:DR I really love music, I want to make it more than anything, but I really just can't work through my own problems with structure to just start from scratch, so any advice, starting points, tips, videos, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[DJ Warmonger]

You can't get much success if you don't understand how things work. Learn the following:

1. Music theory
2. Basic synthesis
3. Arrangement
4. Acoustics

Basically, find some good books (blogs, tutorials) covering these topics and try to learn something every week. Try new things, but don't hurry - it takes years to get anywhere. Good luck

[rod_zero]

1.- Learning to play an instrument (piano/keyboard)
2.- Music theory.

Or

1.- Skip the above and Get Ableton Push


then:

1.- Arranging
2.- Sound design
3.- Mixing

[ghettosynth]

Everyone jumps to music theory and playing an instrument, ok, good things to learn. Can you DJ the style that interests you? Think in terms of "32s", or sections that contain an 8 bar loop that repeats 4 times. Each bar contains 4 beats so: 4 beats * 8 bars * 4 repeats = 128 beats. So, at 128 bpm this section takes one minute to play. So, it varies by style, but EDM is generally five to seven of these 32s. Make it easy on yourself, go for five for that first track.

So, you have 5 little one minute songs, what do you put in them? Well, for some styles, it could be anything, but let's assume that you're interested in house/trance/techno, etc. where the music will be mixed by a DJ. You have an intro, an outro, and a breakdown in the middle so all you really have to do is write two one minute songs join them with a breakdown and thin them out for the intro and outro.

So get started! The DJ is going to want some time to mix your track in with the previous track so start with a basic beat loop, make it groove for 8 bars, then copy it four times over. That's the first draft of your first section. While you're at it, since the DJ wants to mix out, so, until you get through this, copy it to your last section as well.

So, we now have three minutes of music to write in the middle. Here you need an idea, that's where playing an instrument comes in, but, whatever, a lot of music is made without that skill, you have to decide if that's right for you, but, whether you use loops, play a riff, poke around with a step sequencer until you figure something out, you need to get the basic idea of that track going on that second 32.

Now, if you just want to get this thing going, you can copy it to your third and forth 32s, deleting the beat from the third 32, and adding something else over the top of the forth 32. Otherwise, you can just copy the beat and come up with a related but different idea for the forth 32.

Now, this is pretty bland, so you are going to go through the track and add different transitions between segments. Pick something simple, like a white noise transition, find a youtube video, and put that in between your 32s. Listen to the track, where is it boring, where does it lose you?

Once you're kind of happy with this basic track, then there's a lot of work to do to improve it and that's where learning about production comes in. There are many many variations on this but fundamentally writing EDM is about coming with a one and a half good ideas, framing those ideas in some 32 bar sections and joining those sections together with intros, outros, breakdowns, drops and builds. Rinse wash repeat.

To keep it interesting try to change something, at least in a subtle way no less than every 8 bars. Try to add little percussion hits here and there that don't repeat. If you're having trouble getting it to groove try pushing and pulling some of your percussion tracks against the main line. Many sequencers have timing offsets for tracks, we're talking milliseconds or tens of milliseconds here.

DJing really helps you get what works and what doesn't. When you're listening to a DJ it's not always clear what track is what, but when you're DJing you know and you learn how people tend to mix your style.

One of best things that you can do to take the mystery out of the process is to watch the studio videos that are on CM magazine every month. Watch one that's in a style that you like. I think that most of them are on youtube.

Hope this help.
gs

[dsan@mail.com]

Michaelangelus,
Welcome to the forum!

You may want to know though this is KVR

Gearslutz is located on page 2.

Hi Gearslutz! So I am desperately trying to get into Music Production, mainly on the EDM side......

Happy Musiking!
dsan

[EnGee]

Gearslutz is located on page 2.

[Touch The Universe]

maybe copy paste from another thread

[ras.s]

Try googling "<your favourite artist's biggest tune> MIDI" (look for .mid-files) and if it pops up any results, load that MIDI file into the sequencer, assign some instruments to the the channels and start analyzing what makes it tick. You'll get an overview of an arrangement, you can see/hear how that drum beat is made and you'll find out about how chords are formed.

If you have trouble 'gluing' different parts to each other, consider doing drum fills and other kind of build ups. ghettosynth over there gave a pretty good explanation about bars, beats and sections; just add fills at the end of such parts. Our ears are fairly trained to expect a musical change after a drum fill.


And get a pair of bongos. Seriously. Even though you may never need the sound of bongos in your music, it's worth the less-than-30-whateveryourcurrencyis. You get a musical instrument that isn't tied to sitting in front of the computer screen, one that you can play over all your favourite songs and one that will hone your rhythmic skill, if you give it the time.


For structured learning, go see a professional educator.


A thing about music is that you just have to do it and do it and do it again; it's very much about repetition. After enough repetition (say, a thousand loops), you'll learn how to instinctively do certain kind of things and improve on them. It builds up your arsenal, so to speak.


Welcome and enjoy the journey ..

[Michaelangelus]

yea sorry about the gearslutz reference i wasnt thinking lol. But thank you all for the advice It really helps to have a basis and all this gives me a great place to start

[Michaelangelus]

[quote="ghettosynth"]Everyone jumps to music theory and playing an instrument, ok, good things to learn. Can you DJ the style that interests you? Think in terms of "32s", or sections that contain an 8 bar loop that repeats 4 times. Each bar contains 4 beats so: 4 beats * 8 bars * 4 repeats = 128 beats. So, at 128 bpm this section takes one minute to play. So, it varies by style, but EDM is generally five to seven of these 32s. Make it easy on yourself, go for five for that first track.

I dont even know what a 32 is or how to DJ whatsoever lol. Im as newbie as you could get

[thecontrolcentre]

If you don't understand what a bar is you are going to struggle writing music. Some basic knowledge about structure, melody, rhythm is essential imho. Learn to play an instrument. The rest will follow (10,000 hours of practise) later ...

[Sendy]

Ghettosynth pretty much told you what a 32 is and how a DJ works. Think of your intro and outro as little more than a "DJ tool" - something that's designed to be primarily rhythmic and musically ambiguous, to maximise it's chances of fitting with any other records. Then the middle of your tune can be where you express your ideas more freely, since the DJ will most likely just play it straight.

Though I honestly don't envy you guys who are coming at this anew, facing off against this wall of perfectly mastered and marketed, tried-and-tested formula-based music and feeling like you have to learn everything at once. You know how I learned to make music? By writing crappy songs on an Amiga that by their very definition were never going to be published, played by a DJ or make any money. That allowed me to focus on just the notes and samples, and forget about mixing, mastering, FX, etc - because the technology simply didn't allow that.

This also taught me to use sequencing and synthesis to solve problems, before turning to effects. Working in a very limited meduim is THE WAY to learn, IMO. You learn to sketch before you create your masterwork. Succeding to make something unremarkable but effective is infinitely better than trying to create something amazing right off of the bat and never getting anywhere. Dance music is ultimately rooted in utility, it's in many ways like architecture in that it's designed for bodies to use. Getting to understand that utility angle and how people use dance music (even how they dance to it) is more important at an early stage than focussing on a finished product.

[Tricky-Loops]

Always remember: Whenever you confuse a sequencer bar with a chocolate bar, it's time for a break!

[cryophonik]

Here's my advice. You've got a long road ahead of you and learning your DAW/gear, music theory, sound design, arrangement/structure, etc. can seem like an insurmountable task at this point, so take things in small chunks and always work with achievable and realistic goals in mind. You don't have to learn everything before you start making music - actually, you'll probably find that you learn best by just making music and building your knowledge upon each new track.

As for learning your DAW, I highly suggest going to Groove3.com and paying the$15 1-month All-Access membership and setting aside a day or two (depending on your schedule) to just watch and follow along with the FLS tutorials. They also have tutorials on music theory, sound design, Massive, etc. that you will probably find useful, but my advice would be to only focus on getting the most out of your main composition tool (i.e., FLS) before tackling the others. They are taught in a very structured manner and will get you over that learning curve far faster than you will from trying to read the manuals, or flipping through the countless random, unstructured, amateur youtube vids. I can't stress this enough - get the DAW hurdle out of your way now and things will be much easier for you because you don't want your DAW to be the obstacle that is preventing you from getting your ideas out of your head.

Start with a song, and finish it, and always try to work toward a complete product. Yes, the first one (or 20) will suck compared to the songs you listen to, but you'll be proud of it, and you will have a starting point to build upon. Show it to the world and ask for honest criticism, then be prepared to deal with people telling you that your baby is hideous. Seriously, though, tell people that it's your first track and that you want some honest criticism/advice and you will get it. Keep a thick skin, though, because there are people out there who will insult you just because of their own insecurities. Ignore them and apply the good advice that you've received to your song, then finish it and move on to the next. You will improve with each new song.

On a related note, don't fall into the common trap of "loop-itis" - where you work in isolation and just come up with countless simple 8-bar loops/snippets and never finish anything. You don't have to look very far to see how common it is for beginners to fall into that trap. So, again, always think in terms of a finished product and force yourself to start with the bigger picture and work your way down to the details.

With each new track, reassess where you are and set new goals and take on new challenges. Again, keep your goals achievable and try to focus on just a few specific areas with each new track. For example, for you first few tracks, don't worry about sound design and just use presets instead so that you can focus primarily on learning something about chord progressions and melodies, or working on playing the parts with your keyboard.

So, overall, my advice is to recognize that you've got a long way to go (and always will have a long way to go!), so don't try to tackle everything at once. Take things in small chunks, learn from your success and mistakes, and always work toward completing something. HTH.

[DSmolken]

Though I honestly don't envy you guys who are coming at this anew, facing off against this wall of perfectly mastered and marketed, tried-and-tested formula-based music and feeling like you have to learn everything at once. You know how I learned to make music? By writing crappy songs on an Amiga that by their very definition were never going to be published, played by a DJ or make any money. That allowed me to focus on just the notes and samples, and forget about mixing, mastering, FX, etc - because the technology simply didn't allow that.

You can still do things one piece at a time. It just takes a lot of discipline and a willingness to sound real boring for a while. Not many people really have that.