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I am a music production newbie but I have always been really interested in creating beats and mixes. All of my experience comes from watching friends who know far more than I do. I do have a background in music having played guitar for about 10 years now. That being said, I would like to get started in producing electronic music with an emphasis on house/electro and was looking for some advice on equipment/software. I don't want to spend a lot of money on software since I already am planning on purchasing a laptop (looking at a Lenovo ThinkPad but am not sure if that is the right choice for music production). Any recommendations or suggestions on affordable software would be much appreciated. I was leaning towards Ableton or FL Studio because a couple friends could help me out with the basics on them. Also, if there are any trial versions out there where I could demo the functionality, that would be really helpful so I don't spend money on something I am not comfortable with. From reading several pages of this thread, I feel like a common theme for people just getting started is to watch as many demos of the software as possible, which I plan on doing. Any other entry level advice would be much appreciated!
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May 20, 2013 19:21
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h_double posted:There are trial versions of both Ableton Live and FL Studio, I think the Live demo is fully functional for 30 days, while FL Studio has no timeout but you can't reload saved projects. Hmm, I have just always been a PC guy and never considered getting a Mac, but if the benefits far outweigh my preference, I could look into a Macbook Pro. My co-worker said he has one lying around that is about 3 years old so that could be a great start for a reasonable price. Also, if I go the Macbook route, my friend used Logic to do his first few remixes and it worked great for him. Would that be a good way to go?
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May 20, 2013 23:02
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Thanks for all of the suggestions and advice, it definitely helps. Since I should be able to purchase a MacBook Pro that is only a couple years old, I may go that route since it would likely be half the price of a new Lenovo that I was looking at. I honestly think its more important for me to just dive into the software at this point and learn the fundamentals of electronic music production before I start spending any kind of serious money on equipment.
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May 21, 2013 00:27
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Hey all, here are the specs for that MacbookPro that my co-worker is looking to sell me. Let me know if it looks like it is well-equipped for running DAW software and any additional things I may need for production. He was looking for $600. Macbook Pro 15.4" Glossy Widescreen 2.53GHz Intel Core Duo 4GB Ram 250GB HD nVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT 512MB Graphics
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May 23, 2013 00:46
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Hey All, I've got Ableton installed on my new MacbookPro and have been going through tutorials and demos to familiarize myself with the software and the process of creating music. I did have some beginner questions though because I am trying to get the most out of my time spent learning and ramping up. I have started to put some very simple arrangements together (kick + snare, bass, lead synth) but one thing that really bugs me is when the sample I am using just doesn't sound the way I want it to. Obviously I am going to want more samples than what comes out of the box, but was wondering what the best way of finding these samples would be. I am mostly interested in samples used for house/electro, especially drum samples and bass. The synths I was planning on using a plug-in (Sylenth) to create them myself. Also, I feel like I am pretty far behind when it comes to understanding a lot of the nomenclature associated with music production. Is this something that I will just need to learn over time or is there a good reference guide I can use when I just don't understand how a certain function/effect/process changes the sound? Thanks a lot for your help, I am sure I will be bombarding this thread with questions as I dive deeper. The biggest challenge for me is that it all seems a bit overwhelming when you open your first DAW.
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May 28, 2013 23:28
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Sweet lord, you weren't kidding about spending a lot of money. I wanted to get some monitors next but that xfer sample pack is almost a hundred bucks. I'm guessing it's that expensive because its worth it, though?
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May 29, 2013 02:56
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Poizen Jam posted:So NuDisco stuff is kind of fun. Wasn't set on the Daft Punk vocals but I felt the track was lacking without some vocal sample, especially to compliment the female vocal chops. I had to quote this from a page or two ago to tell you I have been grooving to this a lot. Excellent work sir. I would love to know how you cut up vocal samples like that.
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May 30, 2013 09:13
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Does anyone have a recommendation on a free/cheap sample pack that has electric bass guitar samples included? I'm working on a track right now and I just can't get the right sound out of an operator for the bassline so was going to try my luck with a simpler + tasty bass sample.
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Jan 24, 2016 02:09
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h_double posted:I'd be surprised if the Kontakt Player free library didn't have something useful. Thanks for the suggestion. Using the Kontakt5, I am getting closer to the sound I want. Coincidentally, I ended up completely re-writing the bassline once I got the sound I wanted. Puppy Galaxy posted:Try using the shift key next time. Did you just quote a post from 2008?
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Jan 28, 2016 21:27
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Cyne posted:Yeah, I feel that aiming for novelty before really understanding what makes the tried-and-true actually work so well is a big misstep for a lot of people just starting out. If anything your productions at that point should be derivative because that's the best way to understand the underlying structures and conventions of a certain genre, and then you can start start experimenting and twisting things around once you have that foundation. This is great advice and is actually the same thing that Pierce Fulton (up and coming Progressive House DJ/producer) told me when I asked him what his advice for a new producer would be. He said the way he started out was by trying to re-create the sounds of the artists he was really into which not only helped him learn the software but taught him how to deconstruct a song into its different elements and be able to reproduce the sounds via your daw. Another piece of advice that he gave me was to buy a cheap recording device and just start playing around with sampling different sounds/ambient noise. Its pretty amazing what you can do with something as simple as car noise or rain that can give a track some needed atmosphere or variation.
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Mar 15, 2016 17:55
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I have been making a lot more music lately now that I bought a recording mic for both my guitar and one for vocals. Before, I was writing most of my ideas out on the guitar first, and then translating them to synths in ableton. Its starting to give my tracks a little more character now that I have some guitar audio accompanying the digital synths. One problem I am running into though is my very limited sample library. Other than the native Ableton samples, the only sample packs I have are from Tom Cosm and Deadmau5's Xfer pack. While there are some great samples, I have found the kicks to be particularly aggressive/heavy. Now I have experimented a bit with manipulating the existing samples to get what I want but I feel like in most cases, I am starting from a place that is far from where I need to be. My production skills are mediocre AT BEST, so it is quite possible that I don't know how to manipulate the sample in the right way. However, I was wondering if there were any free sample packs or ones that are absolutely worth dropping some money on. My style is probably closest to Progressive House.
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Apr 12, 2016 00:24
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Not sure if this is better asked here or the "How do I re-create X sound" thread but I am looking for steps on how to make a synth sound like this: @3:12 is when it kicks in https://soundcloud.com/dawnoflight/zunorodo-one-heck-of-a-ride The sound is really full, airy, saw chords (probably layered) and it sounds like there is heavy side-chaining on the kick to give it that pumping sound. I am using Ableton and have both Sylenth and Massive (more comfortable with Massive but either will work).
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May 26, 2016 05:14
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Cross-post from the Ableton thread. I am working on a track right now and ran into a new issue that I can't fix no matter what I try, even though I have a couple theories on the problem. There are only about 4 individual tracks running, all MIDI. The tracks are: Pads (Massive) Lead 1 (Massive) Lead 2 (Massive) Kick (Simpler) Pretty simple setup right? Here is the problem. On Lead 1, I have a Macro setup in Massive to automate the Filter Cutoff, and the Filter Envelope. This is basically my attempt to re-create the classic deadmau5 "pluck" sound that when automated with the macro starts to widen out. When the track hits the point where I automate the macro, I can start to hear really bad crackling/static coming through. I checked my levels and none of my individual tracks or my master were hitting the red. I even tried throwing a Limiter on the Master just to see if that would help and it did nothing. I even experimented with just soloing Lead 1 to see if there was some conflict between tracks and it was still putting out seemingly random static. One thing I have noticed which I think could be a problem is that the CPU% in the top right of Ableton is getting really high, around 60%+. I haven't noticed it ever getting this bad before but then again I have never had this static/crackling problem on tracks that I couldn't fix through some quick adjustments.
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Nov 30, 2016 20:03
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NonzeroCircle posted:If you are happy with the part, try freezing and flattening that track to audio to see if it persists. Sorry I am a noob and not familiar with certain terminology. By freezing and flattening to audio, do you just mean recording that single Lead 1 MIDI track to an Audio Track? Or is there a step I am missing in the freezing/framing part? I am pretty sure Resonance is at 0 on the filter but now that you mention it....that does sound like it would produce the exact problem I am having. Man, if its resonance I am going to feel like an idiot.
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Nov 30, 2016 22:11
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Is there a good free hosting service for .wav files other than Soundcloud, or will I most likely need to convert to mp3 to find a host? I'm not really ready to share my music with the world on Soundcloud but would like some feedback to see if I am on the right track.
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Dec 7, 2016 00:52
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Thanks guys. Also, I have found that I am absolutely terrible at writing and creating basslines for my tracks. My problems include but are not limited to: -Bass is either too loud and redlining or too low with no character or punch -Frequent pops and clicks when using soft synths like Serum. I am sure this is my fault but I have tried a lot of the normal methods (attack, release, global settings) -Bassline doesn't sit well with rest of track (sometimes this is a musical thing which is hard to teach but some is production) -General lack of tutorials for creating basslines that are NOT wobbles, growls, future bass, and trap Any good bass sound design tutorials you would recommend to start with?
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Dec 8, 2016 04:39
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Thanks a lot for the advice, definitely going to look more into compression and basslines to help with the clicks and pops. I happen to listen to a lot of EDM, both mainstream stuff and less-known stuff so I have an idea of the sound I am going for, its just the execution where I seem to fail. I think one other thing I have found is that when I listen to a full track, it is sometimes difficult for me to separate the bassline out from the rest of the track and hear it as if it were being soloed. When I have watched some tutorials of how producers have created their basslines, I have been shocked to hear what the bassline sounds like on its own because a lot of the time, as you mention, it sounds really really simple, but the way it fits into the track makes it interesting. Your advice of keeping things simple is something I have to remind myself of when writing anything. Some of my best ideas have come from starting with a really simple tune and refining it from there. One other question I have is regarding stereo imaging. I have been doing some research on how to give tracks a wider stereo presence and have heard a lot of different advice, sometimes conflicting. I would like to know the preferred or correct way to place individual tracks in specific places on the stereo spectrum. For tracks like Toms, Hats, and FX that should not be dead center, is it really as simple as panning the individual track to the right or left? Are there any free plugins or tools that can help me to visualize a track's stereo image? Edit: Also Feed Me is one of my idols when it comes to sound design and production but I am definitely not attempting to mimic his style. MrSargent fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Dec 8, 2016 |
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Dec 8, 2016 17:45
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Thanks a lot for the help, this gives me some things to look into and experiment with when I get home. I feel like I am close to having a version I feel comfortably posting here for feedback.
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Dec 8, 2016 23:53
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I have some gift cards and money from Christmas that is burning a hole in my pocket and I want to spend it wisely. I have all of your standard gear/software including: -Scarlett 2i2 -KRK Rokits -Microphone -Keyboard -Ableton Live Suite -Serum For my next purchase, I could go one of two routes and need some thoughts. My ultimate goal is for the purchase to facilitate and enhance my production. I write my own music as well but wouldn't really call myself a musician. The two options are the Push 2 or the FabFilter Pro Package. Based on feedback from others, the Push 2 seems like an incredible extension for Ableton Live. The seamless integration, step sequencer, physical knobs, and pleasing interface make it really attractive. The only thing holding me back is that I am not sure it will really help as a beginner/intermediate producer. Please correct me if I am wrong but it feels like the Push 2 might be more suitable for a more advanced user looking to streamline his process vs. a newer producer who hasn't even released a single track yet (although I think I am close to sharing something I have been working on here). The FabFilter Pro Package caught my eye after watching the Deadmau5 MasterClass as he uses a lot of the Pro-Plugins for his EQing, Mixing, and Mastering. What I really noticed were the visuals within those plugins. For the Pro-L (Limiter), it really shows you how much limiting is happening as you adjust the threshhold. But I am wondering if these plugins are more "nice to haves" and Ableton's stock EQ8, Limiter, and Compressor are more than adequate at this point. MrSargent fucked around with this message at 19:13 on Dec 28, 2016 |
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Dec 28, 2016 17:57
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Vargatron posted:Does anybody know of a good guide on how to mix and EQ audio? I've got a track that I'm about 80% satisfied with in Cubase but I want to put some finishing touches on it before I throw it on Soundcloud. Mixing and EQing are such broad topics that its going to be hard to recommend a guide that will help you finish your specific track. For Mixing, you are going to want to learn techniques like gain staging, bussing, compression, limiting, panning, stereo imaging, and a bunch of other little things to get the most out of your mix. EQing is different for every single track in your mix so I am not sure what sort of tips you are looking for. One little mixing tip that I have found really useful as I build a track is to not go above -6dB for any individual track in the mix to allow enough headroom for the master channel. Obviously this doesn't mean you should peg everything at -6dB or you can never go above that, but its a great guideline.
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Jan 4, 2017 00:09
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Definitely agree with everything NonzeroCircle mentioned, especially listening to your track through multiple sources. I have been at a point where I thought my mix was decent on my KRK Monitors, but as soon as I listened to it in the car, it was abundantly clear that the kick was too loud. Now while I should probably have been able to tell this from my normal monitors, the car stereo made it obvious for my untrained ears. I wanted to add a few things I have picked up since I just recently started out on music production and these helped me a lot. EQ You want to pay special attention to your low end frequencies as these are usually the biggest offenders for muddy mixes. In my Ableton Template, I put an EQ8 with a LP24 filter on most tracks to start off, just to completely cut out the sub frequencies. The only track where I don't cut these out are my Sub Bass track and sometimes my Kick drum. Don't neglect the high end frequencies either as sometimes big leads can put out some really high frequencies that can eventually materialize as artifacts when mixing. Don't be afraid to cut off everything above a certain frequency. Sidechain Compression This is probably one of the most important techniques in dance music production. This is the technique that gives that pumping effect while also letting the kick punch through the mix. I am not too familiar with how this is done in Cubase but essentially you add a Compressor to a specific track, let's say the bass. If you want the bass to sit nicely with the Kick, you can usually select a Sidechain Option on the Compressor and select an Input (Kick). Then it is just a matter of adjusting the threshold until you get the right amount of pump. What this is doing is telling the compressor that every time the Kick hits, duck out the Bass for a fraction of a second so the kick punches through followed by the bass. Compression (non sidechain) can also help a lot to tighten up groups of instruments. I really like grouping (or bussing) all of my percussion and then throwing a Compressor on it to balance/tighten up the group. This helps it not sound like a different person is playing each individual percussion hit. Limiting Limiting is something I knew very little about until recently when I was watching deadmau5's MasterClass. He talks a decent amount about limiting and how to use limiters to give your tracks a volume boost. Essentially, a limiter lets you set a threshold (let's say -6dB) and will not allow sound to go above that volume. At the same time, you can boost the Gain on the limiter to bring out some of the quieter sounds while not going above threshold. This is definitely a thing you will have to train your ear on because if you push the gain too high, you will start to hear digital distortion (bad). Hopefully some of these tips give you some ideas and don't hesitate to ask any questions and/or share your work in progress here. MrSargent fucked around with this message at 19:00 on Jan 4, 2017 |
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Jan 4, 2017 18:56
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Vargatron posted:Here's a Soundcloud link: For a first track getting to know the software this is a good start dude! Here are a couple things I noticed that may help. -The percussion levels overall are too low. You have a cool percussion beat but its too dialed back for dance music in my opinion. The Kick should generally (not always) be the loudest part of your mix and its pretty subtle here. -As you mentioned, you haven't done any stereo panning and as such, the track sounds very "in the center" to me. The opening chords (strings) could be widened out to improve the stereo image as well. A neat trick for doing this is to duplicate the track and pan one hard left and the other hard right. -Side-chaining your chords, leads, and bass to your Kick should help with the clarity and the overall presence of the Kick. Also make sure you don't have sub frequencies (usually in the kick and bass) competing with each other. I'll try to take a listen on my monitors when I get home and see if I notice anything else.
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Jan 5, 2017 00:44
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Vargatron posted:Thanks man, I'll do some work on the track with your suggestions this weekend and see what I can come up with. Anytime dude! Looking forward to hearing your progress. You have given me the confidence to post a WIP here for some feedback as well, just need to export to audio and post to SC when I get home. Also, I wouldn't worry about getting "good" headphones for the purpose of monitoring. You are much better off using earbuds if you just want to have a better sense of the sound levels together and as a reference (a good mix should sound good no matter what device you are listening through). I would save the money because trust me you will have no shortages of places to spend it.
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Jan 5, 2017 03:04
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Ok, so I finally have assembled a track that I would like some feedback on. A couple notes on this: -Style is probably closest to House/Deep House -The track is not finished, I cut it off at 4:00 for this demo but there is probably a minute and half left I want to finish it with -Also planning to add a few elements to make it more interesting (lead after the drop, some random fx) -The arrangement is relatively simple, I was really trying to focus on learning and applying production techniques -Mastering is very minimal I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to listen and anyone who provides notes. This is the first thing I have ever felt comfortable sharing so I look forward to getting outside feedback. https://soundcloud.com/bradley-freeman-3/driftwalk-wip/s-9QpUI Edit: Fixed link MrSargent fucked around with this message at 22:31 on Jan 9, 2017 |
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Jan 7, 2017 06:45
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Vargatron posted:Track is showing as deleted for me. That's really weird. I click the link and it works fine for me. It's a private track so could that be causing issues? Figured it out. Was using the normal link instead of the secret link. Should work now.
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Jan 9, 2017 22:30
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Vargatron posted:Here's my take on this: First of all, thanks a ton for listening and providing feedback. Wanted to provide a couple notes on your feedback. -There is definitely a filter cutoff on the intro synth pad and it doesn't quite fully open up until the lead starts to fade in. It was my poor attempt at introducing the sound and slowly expanding it but I think I agree that it makes it sound a little flat. Going to play around with some resonance or FX to see if I can bring it out a bit more from the start while still bringing it up to peak over time. -Thanks a lot! -Thanks again! This took me forever because I had written my main 4-bar loop and an intro separately and was having a really tough time bridging them -Yah, this is pretty typical for dance music since the kick really needs to punch through the mix. I kinda like the pumping effect on the reverse cymbal but maybe its a bit too exaggerated. I could play around with the compression settings a bit so it isn't so over the top but still lets the kick punch through. Pretty much all of the synths were done in MIDI using a couple VST's (Massive & Serum). I will usually start with chords I record via my external keyboard / MIDI controller and then go into the MIDI and start moving it around manually. I used the Ableton Simpler (loaded with samples from my library) for most of the percussion and straight audio for some of the effects. Over the weekend, my wife wrote some lyrics to go with this track that I am really excited about. She also sings and I am going to try and convince her to record the vocals sometime in the next week. I really think that could take this to the next level.
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Jan 9, 2017 23:20
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well why not posted:I liked it quite a lot, but I kinda agree it's not as clear or full sounding as it could be. I'm really focussed on mixing right now, so I'm probably really sensitive to it - so take this with a grain of salt - but it seems that there's kick, synth chords, the pluck and then the other perc kinda sits on top of that. It doesn't feel like they're combined together, like there's a gap below the percussion. Thank you so much for the kind words and especially the feedback. It's great to hear that your focus has been on mixing, as I have been really trying to get better at that aspect, while also writing all of the music. Your observation about there being a gap below the percussion is very interesting for a couple reasons. First, I originally had a snare track in this mix, hitting on every 2nd and 4th beat (pretty typical), but I couldn't find the right sample at the time that really fit with the feeling of the track so I removed the snare completely for the time being and it never got added back in. I think I want to go in and play around with some different snare samples to see if I can find one that fits. Another possibility is to use a different percussive element in a similar frequency range that maybe fits better, but the only thing I can think of would be Claps. Those might fit better than a snare drum but I will have to play around with that. If you have any other ideas on what I could use to fill this gap, let me know. When you say "gap", do you mean that there is a range of frequencies that are missing from the mix? Like I have a high percussion and then nothing between that and the kick? In terms of clarity, is there a particular spot that could use some work? I will readily admit that this song is on the simpler side in terms of number of tracks in the mix because I really wanted to focus on good techniques and making something simple sound good so any tips here would be great for when I start to add more complexity.
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Jan 10, 2017 18:04
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Chitin posted:So I took about a four-year hiatus from producing and recently got back into it. I've gotten some really good feedback on this track, including someone who wanted to license it for an ad, so I figured I'd post it here: This is awesome and your production is really good dude. Followed!
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Jan 10, 2017 23:55
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FormulaXFD posted:As I'm a total FNG to the point I'm actually trying to learn music theory in order to compose my own songs, I have a question for you veterans: My personal opinion is that you are going to want to learn the sound design aspects at the same time as you try to figure out the musical components. One of the things I have found is that as I gain more experience with production techniques, sound design, and synthesis, I am able to recognize these techniques in songs that I listen to. For example, I can easily hear side-chain compression in dance music now and can even make a reasonable guess as to the ratio/threshold settings based on how much it pumps. This isn't something I had any clue about a year or two ago. I would absolutely start becoming familiar with basic concepts sooner to help train your ear to recognize them.
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Jan 11, 2017 03:41
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FormulaXFD posted:Thanks, I'll keep at it then. Part of the pisser is that I can guess my way to what I would say is a 50% mark; it's still failing, but on a given sound design I can pickup a lot of the fundamentals - general types of waveforms used, effects, unison, etc. It's just that there are aspects which are juuuuuust a little off and I can't figure out. So it was say 'gently caress it' and just go on with the reverse engineering of the song itself, or keep pushing right up front. I'll do the latter. Hmmm, based on this info, I wouldn't bang your head against the wall for hours trying to get the sound just right. That will be frustrating as poo poo. You can always ask for advice here on a particular sound. A lot of time someone has made that sound before and would know what's missing. Unless it's something where you want to do it all on your own. I wouldn't spend more than a couple hours at a time working on a single sound. Break it up and come back to it. Sometimes after listening to one thing for a long time, I lose all perspective.
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Jan 11, 2017 04:40
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Chitin posted:Thanks so much! A couple of other recent productions that people seem to like: These are also great, I think the first one you posted is my favorite though. What DAW do you use for producing? What are some of your go-to VST's / synths? Would be curious to know more about your process!
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Jan 11, 2017 06:21
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-6dB is a general guideline for mixing because it gives good headroom for the Mastering Engineer to do his thing. As I mentioned before though, this is just a guideline and you will likely (and should) have tracks that are above and below -6dB depending a lot on the genre. For example, the kick drum in House Music might be a little higher than -6dB since it is the most prominent part. You should watch a few tutorials on mastering to listen to the before/after of a master chain. You will notice a pretty significant difference in the overall "loudness" of the track. Without proper mastering, you won't be able to get your track as loud as commercial music, but without first putting together a proper mix, mastering won't magically fix it. Mixing "quiet" is a recommendation that I consistently hear from mixing engineers.
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Jan 11, 2017 17:58
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Flipperwaldt posted:-6dB on a peak meter says close to jack poo poo about how loud your track is. Perception of loudness aligns closer to average level over some reasonable interval. I recommend reading up on metering and using a decent loudness metering plugin during your "mastering" stage. Were you talking to me? I don't think I said the dB directly relates to loudness but -6 is simply a guideline level for each track to give it headroom for the master. Completely agree that perceived loudness is a much more complex concept.
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Jan 11, 2017 19:08
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Ahh my fault. Thanks for the explanation! Between you and Nonzero, those are some concepts that I need to keep hammering home.
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Jan 11, 2017 20:10
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Vargatron posted:Anybody have an opinion on the Deadmau5 masterclass? I've heard really good things and I'm considering dropping the $90 to get the we series. I have been taking this Masterclass for a few weeks now and think it is well worth the $90 price tag. I should note a couple things for you before taking the class. 1. It is aimed at people just starting out or with minimal knowledge of music production. He will likely go over a good amount of stuff you already know in the first few lessons. 2. Even though he will review stuff you already know, you get to hear his take on things which can be pretty valuable. 3. At first I was slightly disappointed in the lack of a lot of advanced content. But then I remembered I only paid $90 and for that price, I feel you get a ton of value as a beginner-intermediate producer. 4. I happen to find deadmau5's personality to be hilarious so the entertainment value was pretty high for me. I have probably watched all of the course videos at least twice, and will refer back to specific ones as needed. In my opinion it is well worth the $90 I spent and I personally learned a lot. On his live stream he talked a little about the class and said that if this one does well that he would like to do a more advanced one where he doesn't have to spend a lot of time introducing people to music production.
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Jan 12, 2017 17:55
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well why not posted:can anyone recommend youtube channels / sites that regularly release info about composition and arrangement? Ideally EDM focussed but I'm not too choosy. There's a million and one people doing synth recipes and sound design, but I specifically want info on building melodies, chord progressions, that sort of thing. I look for tutorial videos (specifically related to EDM) on a pretty regular basis and composition/arrangement are really few and far between. The videos I have seen seem to either be "guy fiddles around with drawing notes until it sounds right" or "guy with great musical theory explaining things way too technically for most people" with nothing in between. Funny enough, the best video I have watched for composition and arrangement came from Deadmau5's MasterClass. He doesn't play an instrument so his process translated well for me. Here are some of the highlights: -Most of the songs he creates start with a 4-8 bar chord progression. He will take that 4-8 bar loop once it is complete and start to deconstruct it to create bass lines, leads, drum breaks, introductions, and everything else. He uses one of his songs as an example, shows the loop that the song was created from and then starts to talk about how he deconstructs it. -Example: To make a lead, he zooms in on the notes making up the chords in his progression and starts to highlight various "middle" notes in the chord. HE copies those middle notes to a new MIDI track and then starts to tweak them slightly to make his leads. -He will take copy the low notes to another MIDI track, usually drop them an octave (or double them up across two octaves) and create a bassline. For arrangement, if you are talking about intro-buildup-drop-breakdown-drop-outro type stuff, one thing that I have found useful is to create a MIDI track at the top of your project. Using the structure of a track you already like, insert a MIDI clip that's length is equal to the intro and so on until you basically have blank MIDI tracks at the top representing each of the sections of your track. This has helped me a lot in terms of structuring my tracks and is a good guideline that can be modified as the song demands. Sorry for the long-winded reply without providing a good video series for this stuff but it is definitely a hard thing to find. MrSargent fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Jan 17, 2017 |
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Jan 17, 2017 20:58
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How can I re-create this deep subby bass from this track. Does it sound like the Kick and Sub are separate tracks? https://soundcloud.com/lidogotsongs/recruit
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Jan 23, 2017 20:55
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bad posts ahead!!! posted:Anyone else just give the gently caress up sometimes? I haven't touched any of my gear in almost a year now This is how I felt yesterday. I have been trying to complete my first track that is so close for months now. I added/modified just a few elements and completed the arrangement and now my mix sounds like poo poo compared to before. I spent 2 hours trying to look at what I did and get it back to where it was but couldn't and gave up for the night. I ended up working on a new song with my wife and that helped to "reset" myself so I feel ready to go back and tackle the mix this weekend. My advice is try something fresh and new, even if you have no intention of finishing it, like NonzeroCircle mentioned. I wish I had another producer I could work with because as a newbie I haven't quite developed my ear to the point where I trust it 100% and know how to approach "fixing" things.
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Jan 27, 2017 17:54
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well why not posted:If I'm not feeling it, I'll ditch a project and start a new one. This computer is about two years old and I have 200+ projects on here. Sometimes I start two in one day. My workflow is pretty fast at this point. Obsessing over 'your first track' is weird to me, your 'first track' should be an 8 bar loop in C major with a square wave as a synth. Second track might be 16 bars. At least, that's how it was for me. By "first track" I meant the first complete track. I have about 50 projects I have started and done nothing of note with before this one. This one is an actual complete musical idea that just needs to be mixed and mastered at this point.
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Jan 27, 2017 22:20
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 02:36 |
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I said I was working on it? I am really new to production so mixing/mastering is mostly trial and error at this point. Having a full time job and wife leaves little actual time to spend working on it so that's why it has dragged out.
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Jan 27, 2017 22:53
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