GEAR

[ImpossibleMachines]

You know how most people say you don't need expensive gear to be a decent producer, well my question is what are the must haves, i literally just have some shitty non flat frequency response headphones and my laptop.
thanks as always

[dark water]

For dub reggae music, get yourself these:







For ambient, get a hang.
This actual hang is mine although it's my friend playing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCnzosp6Gkc


For electronic music, you might want something with buttons and a power plug.

[DJ Warmonger]

For sure studio headphones or monitors are a must.

To record anything, you will need audio interface. If you are into electronic music, you will need MIDI controller. Now if you can't play any insturment or a controller, you won't get far anyway

[thecontrolcentre]

What is it you want to "produce"? What type of music? Do you play any instruments? What software are you using? C'mon, give us something to work with

[ImpossibleMachines]

What is it you want to "produce"? What type of music? Do you play any instruments? What software are you using? C'mon, give us something to work with

Electronic music, i use Fl studio alpha for composing(waiting for the mac release), its so fast when it comes to getting the idea down and i love the piano roll, and then i bounce the midi and any other audio like kik drum, loops etc into wav and produce it in logic. Its just when i end up finishing something i don't believe its a decent mix and its most likely isn't. Student ATM wondering if there like a certain way to produce with limited gear, I'm guessing monitors are must.

[ImpossibleMachines]

For sure studio headphones or monitors are a must.

To record anything, you will need audio interface. If you are into electronic music, you will need MIDI controller. Now if you can't play any insturment or a controller, you won't get far anyway

little bit of piano, I'm aware of the music theory etc, not sure you have to play an instruments, i do play the daf and the Goblet drum; arabic drum instrument

[ImpossibleMachines]

For dub reggae music, get yourself these:







For ambient, get a hang.
This actual hang is mine although it's my friend playing it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCnzosp6Gkc


For electronic music, you might want something with buttons and a power plug.

that video was awesome man,

[dark water]

little bit of piano, I'm aware of the music theory etc, not sure you have to play an instruments, i do play the daf and the Goblet drum; arabic drum instrument

Cool

TBH, in terms of electronic hardware, you'll likely get many competing suggestions here. I'd probably just scour through existing KVR threads to see if there is anything which is in a similar vein.

As for monitors vs headphones, given you're a student (and therefore presumably in rented accommodation?), I would forget about decent monitors and instead get yourself some excellent headphones costing between £100-250 as well as a headphone room plugin, such as Redline Monitor etc.
As you can expect, there are quite a few people with different opinions about headphones...

Unless you're in your own apartment, there's not much point in buying monitors and trusting them explicitly as you'll lack any acoustic foam to help you make sound decisions. And I mean a LOT of acoustic foam to do that.
Also size of an apartment (and frankly chances of most student digs getting burgled) would deter me from getting decent monitors.

So get yourself some decent headphones.
Get yourself a reasonably cheap Audio-Technica microphone to record your drums (you'll have more fun) and the rest of the software issues can be tackled by getting some really great legally-free effects and instruments (source them here on KVR).

If you REALLY want a hardware synthesizer costing around £250, get something by Novation or check the 2nd hands at SoundonSound.

[ImpossibleMachines]

little bit of piano, I'm aware of the music theory etc, not sure you have to play an instruments, i do play the daf and the Goblet drum; arabic drum instrument

Cool

TBH, in terms of electronic hardware, you'll likely get many competing suggestions here. I'd probably just scour through existing KVR threads to see if there is anything which is in a similar vein.

As for monitors vs headphones, given you're a student (and therefore presumably in rented accommodation?), I would forget about decent monitors and instead get yourself some excellent headphones costing between £100-250 as well as a headphone room plugin, such as Redline Monitor etc.
As you can expect, there are quite a few people with different opinions about headphones...

Unless you're in your own apartment, there's not much point in buying monitors and trusting them explicitly as you'll lack any acoustic foam to help you make sound decisions. And I mean a LOT of acoustic foam to do that.
Also size of an apartment (and frankly chances of most student digs getting burgled) would deter me from getting decent monitors.

So get yourself some decent headphones.
Get yourself a reasonably cheap Audio-Technica microphone to record your drums (you'll have more fun) and the rest of the software issues can be tackled by getting some really great legally-free effects and instruments (source them here on KVR).

If you REALLY want a hardware synthesizer costing around £250, get something by Novation or check the 2nd hands at SoundonSound.

awesome, thank you for the information, i think step 1 is just getting some decent headphones like AKG or possibly some monitors, meantime ill just mess around with sound design. thanks mate

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

...even with 'crappy' headphones, if you get to know how they're 'shaded' ('boosting' some freqs and 'cutting' others'), you can do ok with mixes. good headphones are step up, and then good monitors, and then a good room, etc... but even at the basic level of $5 headphones, you can work with them if you know their quirks.

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

also, look around for some good plug-ins for free, or inexpensive. toneboosters are a great low-cost option but 'essentials'. there is a lot of free stuff out there too.

say you get a simple midi controller, or even play (or step sequence) through your computer keyboard, VSTIs like synth1 and charlatan can get you on your way.

[skipscada]

For sure studio headphones or monitors are a must.

To record anything, you will need audio interface. If you are into electronic music, you will need MIDI controller. Now if you can't play any insturment or a controller, you won't get far anyway

little bit of piano, I'm aware of the music theory etc, not sure you have to play an instruments, i do play the daf and the Goblet drum; arabic drum instrument

Mic suggestion:
http://europe.beyerdynamic.com/shop/m-201-tg.html

Interface suggestion:
https://audient.com/products/audio-inte ... /overview/

Don't take my word for it. Check reviews etc to see if its something for you.

[ImpossibleMachines]

...even with 'crappy' headphones, if you get to know how they're 'shaded' ('boosting' some freqs and 'cutting' others'), you can do ok with mixes. good headphones are step up, and then good monitors, and then a good room, etc... but even at the basic level of $5 headphones, you can work with them if you know their quirks.

Thanks for the reply man, this is what i was wondering, i provided a link for a drop i made with no top lead, I'm never confident that its decent, its a .wav file, maybe you can confirm if the current setup is compromising my decision making. new to this game
thanks



https://www.dropbox.com/s/ppjkxfwrweagx ... e.wav?dl=0

[skipscada]

...even with 'crappy' headphones, if you get to know how they're 'shaded' ('boosting' some freqs and 'cutting' others'), you can do ok with mixes. good headphones are step up, and then good monitors, and then a good room, etc... but even at the basic level of $5 headphones, you can work with them if you know their quirks.

Thanks for the reply man, this is what i was wondering, i provided a link for a drop i made with no top lead, I'm never confident that its decent, its a .wav file, maybe you can confirm if the current setup is compromising my decision making. new to this game
thanks

There's a lot to be said for working with what you got. In terms of checking mixes, a good strategy is to listen through all the systems you have access to: hifi, media player with buds, car stereo, phone speaker, any system that's relevant. They'll emphasise different things, and any serious problems are likely to become very obvious in at least one of those playback systems. If your mix sounds decent on all available systems, it should be ok, of course depending on how upmarket your expectations are.

[PurpleCatfishBettie]

i provided a link for a drop i made with no top lead
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ppjkxfwrweagx ... e.wav?dl=0

it sounds pretty good, maybe not as clear overall as you might like it (cut out some low-mid?). the kick could be more prominent but that's a tough call. it's just i've recently heard some djs live-streaming from clubs and my response usually is 'wow it's like a giant kick and then some other things swirling around with it... but that kick, wow'

as mentioned, after mixing you want to listen on as many systems as possible. understood that such can be a sort of chicken and egg thing, but if you have a car stereo for instance, check it out in the car, or if you have a friend with access to a club p.a., give it a go over there, or on tiny earbuds which is what a lot of people are listening on, or through a phone speaker which some people do...

anyway, it sounds pretty good.