Any Producers In Here

I go to school for music and i dabble a little bit I got protools with m-audio monitors and axiom keyboard as well as a maschine midi controller I mostly just make beats to practice soloing over though lol

 

Yeup.

 

Just curious, what's a good program for a beginner? I have FL Studio 10 and VirtualDJ Pro. I write and flow to some old school beats Hip-Hop beats, but there's not many out there. I like stuff like Mobb Deep, Atmosphere, Living Legends, The Grouch, etc. I really have no idea to make beats, but I want to mess around with it. Any advice? Thanks

 

Well in all fairness you're starting with the correct DAW to learn on. I spent two years gaining a dip and dipHE in music production, however in terms of 'making beats' or composition, nothing beats good old YouTube tutorials. The best thing you can do if you are starting out is to begin by emulating other people's sounds. Take an artist you like such as md, and look for tutorials on sounds/patterns that are used in specific tracks, there should always be a whole bunch for fl studio.

Hope you start rocking FL brother.

Peace

 

WOW dude!!!! That's fucking brilliant. Never thought about that. The tutorials that set on FL suck and don't help me out very much. Also, does it help to have some kind of piano keyboard with midi inputs for the computer? I almost feel like it would be easier if I had one.

 

I'm from a solely classical background - I can play piano, clarinet & alto sax. I didn't so much as look into EDM 'til I was in my teens. On this basis you'd think I'd be a good candidate to be pro midi-keyboard, but no.

I'd say it very much depends on what you make and how you want to make it, but I have done 100% of my compositions in the last 5 years on a QWERTY-keyboard. You just have to get used to slowly inputting notes, I've found this to be preferable as you can make more intricate changes where needed.

Search around for appropriate FL tutorials is the only advice I can give you. I personally am a Logic user, however I am 100% certain there are just as good tutorials out there for FL. Keep looking!

All the best brother, may your quest to learn be fulfilled.

 

I should point out that unless you're huge on music theory, you may want to consider a keyboard for working out the structure of chords etc. I can understand it's easier to noodle around on a physical keyboard if you're looking to jam/work on chord progression etc.

 

Easy nuggit.

Having a basic understanding of music theory in general is only ever going to be of use to you - so definitely look into brushing up on some. I notice that you're from the UK, so you should easily be able to hunt down an Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (normally abrv. to ABRSM) Music theory text book. If you're new to theory, you should start at grade one. This is the typical way most kids learn theory in the UK, and how I was taught. It can be very dull though so you would be forgiven for medicating beforehand.

I understand that at first glance, every DAW looks like a nightmare to learn. The best advice I can give in this area is to become comfortable with areas of the DAW you're most likely to use.

For example, if you're looking to jam on the keyboard and just record chords and melodies then hook-up your midi keyboard/synth to your DAW (lots of tutorials via google for this) and learn your way around the arrange page. This would assume you're looking to predominantly song-write and record jams etc.

If you're looking to become an EDM synth-nut/bass design or general tecchy engineer, then I urge you to become competent with all VSTs and Plug-ins that you can get your hands on. Again, google is always your friend.

It's also worth bearing in mind that most genres of music vary quite widely in terms of production technique (ie, an indie-rock engineer/producer is going to make his music vastly different to say, a drum and bass producer), and that you should find a guide/tutorials tailored to your type of music.

PM me or post here if you have any other q's buddy.