What do I *actually* need to sound good?

[A.M. Gold]

You need the resolve, week after week after week, to practice constantly.

For years, most likely.

[ntom]

Take it from someone who's music was born and raised thanks to the people at KVR.

I cam here with little to no knowledge of how to produce, and though I don't think I am "super elite pro" when it comes to my production skills, I do think that within the 3 years I have been around KVR, I got pretty damn far thanks to the kind people here, and they resources they showed me.
From great Freeware stuff, Synth1, Sonatina Orchestra, TAL stuff among other greats, to insight on commercial products like MicroTonic, and the 112db stuff.
All my music has been produced with a low, very low budget. But I tried, and tried to make the next song I write to be the best I had ever written, and every song I have done, all 42+ songs I feel like I learned a new trick or two.
The last thing before I list some more physical stuffs you might want to invest is; is also learn to take everything anyone says with a grain of salt - I had some dark times when it came to some of my older songs when I listened to Mr. Stranger of Not-a-Familiar KVRer Face and truly put me in a hole because I thought he knew what he was talking about. The main thing is;

do what sounds good to you, not what people say sounds good.

As per some stuff you may want to look into investing is definately anything that can help you mix better. Up until 2013 I used some small non-commercial use speakers and a pair of Sennheiser HD280 Pro monitor headphones to mix on.
Honestly, the headphones were one of my best investments, and when I got my monitors, my mixes only improved that much more.

So aside from headphones, I would definately say get yourself a decent drum machine - whether sample based or synthesized and you should be golden.

[metamorphosis]

Greetings, I'm brand new here, and I have always wanted to make electronic
music but it hasn't been until recently that I have had the money to get
started. I familiar with the basic concepts behind the production of
electronic music, but I do not have much practical experience at all. My
goal is to make uplifting or anthem trance, and I have listened to those
genres for a long time, and I'm not sure if I have the resources I need
to produce that kind of a sound, or if developing my skill alone will get
me the sound I want. I currently have the fruity edition of FL Studio
and synth1. Do I have enough or do I need to save my money and by some
better synths and effects? I don't want to be one of those people that
pirates software or spends a ton of money thinking that its the only way
to sound good, hence my question. Thanks.

Hi Tim.
I would recommend you do some non-electronic music for a while. Get into recording and mixing vocals, drums, guitar etc. The reason for that is that electronic music is bloody easy to mix by comparison - most of the instruments sound good straight, and only minor tweaking is necessary for the most part. To really get good a mixing, get good at making bad things sound good. You will learn far more of use from that than you will spending years trying different reverbs etc. EQ is king. It will always be king. Learn to hear the frequencies and learn to do it well-
M@

[Halma]

...To really get good a mixing, get good at making bad things sound good. You will learn far more of use from that than you will spending years trying different reverbs etc. EQ is king. It will always be king. Learn to hear the frequencies and learn to do it well-
M@

I can't second that. The old rule still applies: garbage in = garbage out. The "Fix It In The Mix Option" is more or less a myth and an apologize for lazy people not doing it right from the beginning. But I second that you should also work with non-electronic stuff OR even try to record stems on your own.

It's not about making a bad recorded sound as good as possible. Instead you should try (if interested) to RECORD your stuff as good as possible.

Quintessence: record your stuff or create your sounds as good as you can and you will have lesser problems afterwards.

Regards
Sebastian

[brok landers]

"What do I *actually* need to sound good?"

- an acoustic treated room
- a good pair of midfield speakers, which give you realistic information in the range of 35hz to 22khz
- patience and by that growing, experience

"if you can't hear it, you can't do it" - alan parsons

the 3 cents of someone, wo is in the music production business as a pro (meaning, i do this for my living) since 25 years.

[faun2500]

Talent. Creativity. Drive. Passion. Time (lots of).

+ life-long learning & practicing & experimenting!

This. Its a life, not a hobby!

[faun2500]

...To really get good a mixing, get good at making bad things sound good. You will learn far more of use from that than you will spending years trying different reverbs etc. EQ is king. It will always be king. Learn to hear the frequencies and learn to do it well-
M@

I can't second that. The old rule still applies: garbage in = garbage out. The "Fix It In The Mix Option" is more or less a myth and an apologize for lazy people not doing it right from the beginning. But I second that you should also work with non-electronic stuff OR even try to record stems on your own.

It's not about making a bad recorded sound as good as possible. Instead you should try (if interested) to RECORD your stuff as good as possible.

Quintessence: record your stuff or create your sounds as good as you can and you will have lesser problems afterwards.

Regards
Sebastian

I agree with this. Good starting points are better than making crap sound like polished...

[BMoore]

...To really get good a mixing, get good at making bad things sound good. You will learn far more of use from that than you will spending years trying different reverbs etc. EQ is king. It will always be king. Learn to hear the frequencies and learn to do it well-
M@

I can't second that. The old rule still applies: garbage in = garbage out. The "Fix It In The Mix Option" is more or less a myth and an apologize for lazy people not doing it right from the beginning. But I second that you should also work with non-electronic stuff OR even try to record stems on your own.

It's not about making a bad recorded sound as good as possible. Instead you should try (if interested) to RECORD your stuff as good as possible.

Quintessence: record your stuff or create your sounds as good as you can and you will have lesser problems afterwards.

Regards
Sebastian

I agree with this. Good starting points are better than making crap sound like polished...

I think you missed the point. He suggested this only as a learning process.

[Sendy]

"What do I *actually* need to sound good?"

- an acoustic treated room
- a good pair of midfield speakers, which give you realistic information in the range of 35hz to 22khz
- patience and by that growing, experience

"if you can't hear it, you can't do it" - alan parsons

the 3 cents of someone, wo is in the music production business as a pro (meaning, i do this for my living) since 25 years.

Respectfully disagree here (on points 1 and 2), the finer points of EQ and how something sounds from room to room pales in significance to the spirit of the music. That's not to say impeccable mixing isn't important, it's just far from a bare essential, IMO (though perhaps more important in certain genres such as dance music, which is all about sonic impact). When you're moved to tears you aren't thinking "that snare could be a bit less ringy".

Much more fundamental to me is that your music should have a voice, it should have a backstory, some lore and legend, even if it's only vague and private. You need a sweeping vision to create a body of work. Most people who come to music have no real reason for making it other than they wanna do it (to be famous or just because it's what the cool people do nowdays).

When you've established your voice and built up experience, then maybe you can worry about soundproofing your studio and getting some expensive monitors, etc.

[faun2500]

...To really get good a mixing, get good at making bad things sound good. You will learn far more of use from that than you will spending years trying different reverbs etc. EQ is king. It will always be king. Learn to hear the frequencies and learn to do it well-
M@

I can't second that. The old rule still applies: garbage in = garbage out. The "Fix It In The Mix Option" is more or less a myth and an apologize for lazy people not doing it right from the beginning. But I second that you should also work with non-electronic stuff OR even try to record stems on your own.

It's not about making a bad recorded sound as good as possible. Instead you should try (if interested) to RECORD your stuff as good as possible.

Quintessence: record your stuff or create your sounds as good as you can and you will have lesser problems afterwards.

Regards
Sebastian

I agree with this. Good starting points are better than making crap sound like polished...

I think you missed the point. He suggested this only as a learning process.[/quote

I understood what he meant.

[PatchAdamz]

Just a Harmonica:



More:

[adenozin]

One thing I haven't seen mentionned :

Remember to have fun !!!!

It is very easy to lose yourself in the technicalities/conceptualization and forget why you started making music in the first place.

[PatchAdamz]

Something that is all to often overlooked is monitoring.

It is important to have not only accurate monitors but also an environment conducive to hearing accurately.

On top of this, having a way to listen OUTSIDE the studio is extremely important.

Your mind will listen differently while driving or just in a different room then your studio.

I always test my mixes on a variety of different systems (cars, TVs, boomboxes, etc).

This can make a huge difference in the quality of the final mix.

[Harry_HH]

Greetings, I'm brand new here, and I have always wanted to make electronic
music but it hasn't been until recently that I have had the money to get
started. I familiar with the basic concepts behind the production of
electronic music, but I do not have much practical experience at all. My
goal is to make uplifting or anthem trance, and I have listened to those
genres for a long time, and I'm not sure if I have the resources I need
to produce that kind of a sound, or if developing my skill alone will get
me the sound I want. I currently have the fruity edition of FL Studio
and synth1. Do I have enough or do I need to save my money and by some
better synths and effects? I don't want to be one of those people that
pirates software or spends a ton of money thinking that its the only way
to sound good, hence my question. Thanks.

Hi Tim.
I would recommend you do some non-electronic music for a while. Get into recording and mixing vocals, drums, guitar etc. The reason for that is that electronic music is bloody easy to mix by comparison - most of the instruments sound good straight, and only minor tweaking is necessary for the most part. To really get good a mixing, get good at making bad things sound good. You will learn far more of use from that than you will spending years trying different reverbs etc. EQ is king. It will always be king. Learn to hear the frequencies and learn to do it well-
M@

Very good point.
Although most of the popular music is more or less "electronic", when listening e.g. samples and performances here in this KVR site (Music Café etc.), for some reason about 90 % of the project studio stuff (according to this sample, which may not be representative, but anyway shows the direction) is synth based, electro-drum, non-vocal instrumental music. Why? My best guess is that almost only because its relatively easy to produce (although really good electro/dance/trance/hiphop music takes as much to generate as the classic rock/pop). This easiness of producing music (or kind-of-music), encreasing markets of low-price music software, has give us quantity - unfortunately this hasn't turned yet to the quality: just compare 1960-80 music to the 2010- (popular)music.
There ain't any shortcuts in creating great music - as much as you may wish it. H.

[KarmaShaman]

For the style of music you want to compose, learning automation is essential, so you can use filters, effects, pannng, volume etc to create a colourful, dynamic sound. Trance is rarely static.

And to extend upon that, if there's a single other thing to buy, you should really look into a MIDI Controller, with plenty of knobs & sliders. You can 'map' these very easily to specific elements within software devices, and physically 'play' with effects & filters. Your automation can even be recorded within your track for future editing.

You can of course do the same by manipulating parameters with your mouse, but only one knob at a time. With a controller, you have several fingers that can work at once.

I cannot tell you how M-Audio compares to other brands, but I have had a 61-Key Controller for about four years and it does the job nicely. For Trance, the more knobs, sliders & trigger pads the better. And you also get a keyboard of at least a few octaves in range for when you want to learn some basic piano playing.

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=pro ... ontrollers

For an absolute rock bottom entry into MIDI Controllers, the Arturia MiniLab seems great for $100USD if you shop round. 16 knobs, 8 pads, pitch bend, two octave range. Personally I like sliders, which this doesnt have, but for pocket change, it wont break the bank. And if you ever upgrade to a more pro controller, this will still come in handy as a second bank knobs

Note: I haven't used Fruity Loops so am only assuming that parameter automation is standard in this day & age.