The "how do I make electronic/club/DJ music" Megathread!

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MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Yah of course. I just got really frustrated when I had a pretty good mix going, then added just a couple elements to fill it out, changed a couple samples that weren't quite right, and now the mix sounds way off from what it was. I know I like the track its just a matter of getting it back to the mix-quality that I had before.

# ¿ Jan 27, 2017 23:42

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 06:23

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

That is definitely something I thought about but of course it was after the fact. I didn't really think about it before-hand because I wasn't making massive changes or anything. Oh well, all part of the learning process. It also lead me to look up some more tutorials on EQing, Compression, and Limiting and I have picked up a bunch of new tips and tricks from watching them. That is definitely something I would recommend to anyone if they feel like they are getting bored. Watch a tutorial using some effect that you either haven't or rarely use and then see how you can incorporate it into a track. I hadn't touched Ableton's Glue Compressor until I watched a video demonstrating it last week.

# ¿ Jan 28, 2017 00:30

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Chitin posted:

Thanks, I'll give that a shot - the mute group thing especially is great info, I'd never heard of that!

Yeah, the vocals are me in my little drywall bedroom studio. I need to look into treatment, until then I'm taking the "drown it in reverb" approach.

I really like your voice man. I am always jealous of vocalists because I love to sing and can usually sing in key but don't have a "good" voice or much training so anytime I try and record myself, it just comes across as super bland and boring.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2017 04:45

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Not sure if this helps but one technique I have seen used in a recent production tutorial is to create a dedicated Sidechain track that literally just contains a compressor that is sidechained to the kick. Like you mention in your post, I would then put tracks into groups (incredibly easy in Ableton) like Synths, Bass, Drums, Vocals, FX, etc. On the group channels, instead of sending it to the Master, send it to the Sidechain track you created (make sure to select In on the Mixer settings). This makes it incredibly easy to toggle the Sidechain for everything with one click. You can also easily add effects to an entire group which will affect the sound pre-Sidechain. Hope this gives you some ideas!

I think having Sidechain on is pretty pivotal for dance music at the early stages because of the tendency for stuff to drown out the kick, giving you a bad reference.

# ¿ Feb 9, 2017 03:20

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

I really need some help with bass sound design because I am having all sorts of problems. Here are a couple questions to start off:

How do you generally approach writing/creating the High Bass vs. the Sub Bass. I find when I start to write a bassline that I tend to always go for a sound that has some good sub frequencies. However, this generally ends up with the bass taking up too wide of a range of frequencies, and not having enough "pop" in any one area. Should I be splitting these into two tracks and if so, how should I process them to get them to fit together?

After I write the bassline, I also have a hard time getting it to sit well in the song. I feel like one note will have have a nice deep reverberating sub sound, while the next note that goes up a few semitones is flat with very little sub. Not sure if this is pretty standard or if there is a way to balance it out so that the sub in each note is more even. I have been using Limiting to set a threshhold and pump the gain up a bit but am wondering if this is a bad technique before the master.

Lastly, I have a hard time reconciling the sub-bass in the Kick Drum with the actual SubBass. I mean, I don't want the kick to be completely devoid of sub frequencies because then its just a thwack with no thump, but I have a hard time getting the two to play nice even using Sidechain compression.

# ¿ Feb 10, 2017 19:52

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

I have great monitors (KRK Rokit 6's) but poo poo acoustics so that could very well be the problem. The wife and I just bought our first house and will be moving in over the summer and there is a perfect bonus room downstairs for all of my music stuff. Really looking forward to having a proper room for production instead of 1950s construction with hardwood floors. I'll try using headphones as a reference point and monitoring at lower volumes, thanks!

# ¿ Feb 10, 2017 22:56

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Hey for all of you Serum users out there, I created a dedicated thread for Serum here:

https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3809652

Come share your patches with us on the Google Drive I created!

# ¿ Feb 11, 2017 22:01

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Not sure if this is the best thread but I have been looking into getting a record player for some time now and primarily wanted it just for listening to old records. My parents gave me a huge collection of records and I thought it would be fun to start collecting. Since I have been getting into production a lot, my focus has shifted to wanting a record player that is good for listening but can also be easily connected to a computer for recording samples into Ableton. Does a hybrid like this exist? I would never be using it for performance if that makes a difference and my price range is probably 200-400.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2017 02:23

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

JVNO posted:

So whenever I look at a mixing tutorial, they usually have the drums bussed into two tracks, usually 'Drums' and 'Percussion'. The distinction between the two has always seemed a bit arbitrary to me; is this a vocabulary thing or one of those 'feel it out' things? Most often I'll see bass, snare, clap, and maybe simple closed hh in the first category, whereas the more rythmic/groove elements are usually in the latter.

And as a matter of taste- do you goons prefer to bus your snare rolls, reverse snare/crash, and crashes up with the drums or with your effects?

To me, Drums tend to refer to anything that is barrel-shaped with material wrapped tight over one or both ends like Toms, Snares, Bongos, etc. When I think percussion I think Open & Closed Hats, Cymbals, Crashes, Gongs.

If I am using a drum/percussion sample for my reverse snare/crash, I tend to bus with the other drums. But if I create one with a synth or something, I will usually bus it with the rest of my Effects.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2017 20:50

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

It loving figures that I would finish my first track ever, only to have Soundcloud's upload services down since this morning. gently caress you SC, trying to cast a cloud over my impending super-stardom.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2017 21:40

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

I finished my first song ever last night and man, it feels really good. I wrote the whole thing in one night and the second night was mostly spent filling it out and mixing/mastering. It really showed me how far I have come in that I was able to take an idea from its infancy and see it through to completion in a very reasonable amount of time.

It's definitely a dance/electronic track but isn't your typical 4 to the floor beat. As always, any feedback is appreciated and most importantly, I hope there are some of you that enjoy it!

https://soundcloud.com/bradley-freeman-3/hayes-valley

Edit: Updated with public link

MrSargent fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Mar 1, 2017

# ¿ Mar 1, 2017 00:52

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Eric Danger posted:

Very uplifting, and I especially like the sucking noise. Seriously. And cross-post from the serum thread, I'm still waiting for you to hit me up on ICQ or specify some other IM (apparently ICQ isn't very cool, but as I don't use any IM on a regular basis, the point is somewhat academic)

Yah sorry dude I've been meaning to hit you up but I literally worked on that track and then work has gotten busy. I deliver some client training on site next week and have been doing a lot of prep so I haven't even opened Ableton since I finished that track I posted. I have a couple ideas I should be able to send your way this weekend.

Thank you for the kind words on the track. It's the first thing I have finished and it feels great.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2017 07:03

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

cubicle gangster posted:

My rate of work is practically non existent at the moment but i forced myself to sit down and throw some ideas around last week. i've not gone through the painfully slow & feels like work process of meticulously detailing and cleaning up yet, cant decide if the idea is worth it or not.

https://soundcloud.com/downpour/170309-techno-modular-slower/s-ueHNL

Would very much appreciate any feedback!

I don't generally listen to the more techno stuff but I am really digging this dude. It kept me interested throughout the entire track and that is something I usually have trouble with when it comes to this genre. I think the idea is really good and you should keep working on it! I'm only listening to it on headphones so ill give it another listen in my car so I can get a better idea of the sub frequencies.

# ¿ Mar 17, 2017 17:52

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

I have honestly never heard of SONAR, what was the reason for going with that DAW vs. the big ones like Ableton, FL Studio, Logic, Cubase?

# ¿ Apr 25, 2017 18:54

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Hamelekim posted:

What would be a good low latency audio interface if I need one?

I have had a lot of success with the Scarlett series by Focusrite. Had a 2i2 for a while and just upgraded to an 18i8.

I haven't used one but the Scarlett Solo is only $100. I would definitely recommend the 2i2 at $150 though.

# ¿ Apr 26, 2017 06:02

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Are you talking about just the saw sound, or the sound it makes when he does a filter sweep? For the raw saw sound, he layers a lot of notes across multiple octaves which really widens out the sound and gives it the tone you are looking for. It's really hard to see and I don't know the SH101 very well, but it sounds like when he does a filter sweep, there are other parameters that are modulated besides the filter (think there is some slight LFO linked to the filter).

Edit: Could you point me to one of his tracks that has the sound you are looking for? It's hard to tell what sound you are going after in the video because he keeps moving poo poo around.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2017 00:14

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Random note from the above discussion; OTT is a pretty awesome plugin written by Steve Duda (creator of Serum) and its completely free. The compression is quite extreme (hence the name) and you can make some pretty interesting stuff with it. Works great on individual tracks and your master chain.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2017 00:44

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

well why not posted:

OTT is an Ableton Multiband Compressor preset, which was then duplicated into a VST version by Steve Duda which he then semi-replicated into Serum and Serum FX as the multiband option for their compressor.

If you are using Live you may as well use the built-in one as that should use less CPU and have a native UI.

I found OTT way more intuitive than Ableton's Multi-Band Compressor personally but ymmv.

# ¿ Apr 28, 2017 16:11

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

What DAW are you using? If you are using Ableton, I would at least take a look at the Launchpad series if you just want to be able to finger-drum patterns. I have created several Drum Racks in Ableton for various styles and its incredibly easy to just Select the Launchpad as my input device, click over to user mode and start poking away.

# ¿ May 8, 2017 21:28

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

They are more or less universal but I can't really comment on how easy it is to set these up in Cubase. Maybe someone with more knowledge on Cubase can comment on using the Launchpad in that DAW but I can't imagine it is any more difficult than setting up an AKAI.

Edit: NonZero is correct that the Launchpads are tailored for use with Ableton so you will probably be missing out on some functionality. Whether that actually matters for your purposes though is for you to decide. I believe the starting model is $99 so its pretty affordable. The new ones are velocity sensitive as well. Sounds like the AKAI might be the way to go though.

MrSargent fucked around with this message at 22:57 on May 8, 2017

# ¿ May 8, 2017 22:50

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

NonzeroCircle posted:

It's probably not too aggravating to set one up in Cubase as a general midi device apart from maybe the LED functionality

I don't know if this is how it is "supposed" to be done in Ableton, but I set up a MIDI track with input from the Launchpad and Output to the Launchpad to get the pads to light up when I press them. Would actually like to know if there is a better way (also how do I change the colors so it looks cooler).

# ¿ May 9, 2017 00:09

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

wayfinder posted:

My friend Ronny wrote a bunch of rules as a challenge and I took it (well, almost... I broke a few of them)

https://soundcloud.com/wayfu/wayfinder-sneakin-in-yo-house

The rules were these btw
code:
- 135 BPM
- max 10 individual tracks
- distortion on *every* track (you decide the amount, but it should be audible)
- no reverbs
- no delays
- timebox: 4 hours

This is good stuff dude. Makes me want to try this challenge but unfortunately all of my time lately has been spent teaching myself to DJ and practicing for a family friend's 50th bday party. I have had basically zero time to do any writing/production lately which is a bit sad but I am kinda pumped for my first "show".

# ¿ May 11, 2017 02:15

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Was wondering if anyone else has this problem and felt like this thread was probably the best place for it. I use a Launchpad S with a drum rack in Ableton for sketching out drum beats a lot of the time because I am way more creative finger-tapping than drawing poo poo out. However, one issue I am having is that the Launchpad S has velocity tracking and I find it very difficult to have a consistent (not looking for perfect) velocity so you don't have noticeably loud hits followed by a quiet hit. I am using Ableton so I could edit the velocity points but that would take forever, especially across several tracks. Any suggestions?

I have a simlar issue when using my keyboard as a MIDI controller but that has more to do with me sucking at playing keyboard.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2017 17:57

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

I am quite ignorant of Live's MIDI effects so thank you for the reminder that I really need to dive into those and experiment. I will definitely check out the Velocity effect and report back.

# ¿ Jun 20, 2017 19:02

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

giogadi posted:

I'm a complete newbie to electronic music production, and I'm having a lot of fun messing around with the trials for Ableton and Serum. It's easy for me to see that, if I need a synthy lead or bassline sound, Serum is perfect for that. But when you have more than a dozen tracks going, is it common for people to just use a synth like Serum for every single one of those? Is it common to use Serum to make all your drum sounds too, or do people typically use samples for drums (or are there synths that are more amenable to making drum sounds?)?

I guess what I'm saying is: it feels like I can do everything with Serum. Is it common to work this way, or are there other instruments/tools that I should try to learn to be more productive?

It's not very common to use only one tool (like Serum) to create all of your tracks. While Serum is incredibly versatile and you COULD create a track using nothing but Serum, you are going to find that while it is great for a lot of things, there are other tools (even Native DAW tools) that will provide a better workflow or a more intuitive method for certain elements. You can definitely make drum sounds in Serum and it can be a lot of fun, but unless you want to spend every waking moment creating your own samples, this is going to get boring quick. You are most likely going to want to work with samples at some point and for that, you will want to use something like the Ableton Simpler/Sampler or work with the audio directly.

In addition to the instruments you will use to build tracks, each track is going to have its own set of effects and routing. There are a lot of effects that come with the various DAWs as well as an overwhelming number of plug-ins. I would highly recommend creating a splice account and experimenting with some of the free plugins they have on their site.

The gear that you get is going to be directly related to what you want to do with music. Are you interested in sound design? Production? Mastering? Writing music? Or some combination of those? Depending on your goals, you will want to prioritize gear that will help you best achieve them.

# ¿ Jun 30, 2017 03:00

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

I really want to re-create the bass in this Razer Tutorial with Metro Boomin. It is just a preset from Nexus called "Pridz Sidechain Bass" but it has a deep, subby tone that I am looking for. I don't have Nexus but am looking to re-create it in Serum if someone can give me a few tips. I am terrible with bass sounds.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2017 02:46

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

I meant Razer tutorial as in these: https://youtu.be/jnt7GddUSDM

The sound is from the Nexus VST synth he shows in the video.

Edit: Yah, exactly what well why not posted.

MrSargent fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Sep 1, 2017

# ¿ Sep 1, 2017 16:00

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

giogadi posted:

I'll echo this. I'm still pretty new, but I've had a lot of fun with just Reaper and its built-in software keyboard and the Serum softsynth. I'll admit that reaper is not as immediately intuitive as Ableton Live, but if you stick with it and just Google any questions you have, you get the hang of it pretty quickly and it's very powerful for a very low price.

Alternatively, Ableton Live also has a free 30-day trial. 30 days is probably plenty of time for anyone to decide whether they like music production, and it's nice to get a feel for it without spending a penny.

The only thing I would say about the 30-day Live Trial is that the full version of Ableton just has so many more features and native instruments/effects than the Lite version. For someone on a $100 budget, it would suck to use the full version and then after 30 days realize you need to pay $800 to continue using all of the same functionality.

Don't get me wrong, I am a Live user and I absolutely love it, it's just not cheap.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2017 20:51

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Sent you a PM, MrPeanut.

# ¿ Sep 25, 2017 23:31

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

MrPeanut posted:

Looking for a nice blend, starting with the structure of a 4/4 beat in an electro/deep house feel, then branching into a more general electronic, airy chill music (with some silky female vocals at some point).

Artists of inspiration for me:

EDM side - deadmau5 basically, but occasional tracks pop out for me in the general spectrum of dance
Electronic - Air, Royksopp, Zero 7, Hot Chip, and Massive Attack

If mau5 is one of your main influences, I can't recommend Serum enough. Also, you can go to Splice.com and sign up for their Pay-to-own subscription plan which is 10/month until you pay off the VST and own it free and clear, no interest. Serum is incredibly versatile (although a tad heavy on the CPU use).

Edit: This youtube series by Steve Duda (creator of Serum) is a really good look at the synth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rf4Dj3FSCjc

# ¿ Sep 26, 2017 17:08

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

cubicle gangster posted:

haha, where did you hear this? Running it as a VST is 100% identical to standalone except significantly better because of routing/mixing etc.
maschine is rock solid and the best thing I ever bought. I've had the mk1 for 7 years now and it's still trucking along fine, and is still the first thing I go to whenever starting a new project (e: the vst version)
It's what I recommend people buy first before they even have a DAW because nobody needs to work on complex arrangements at first, then when you want to make a song you can open up your old files in the vst version and bounce them down to do some more in depth arrangements. I dont know a single person who has one and doesnt think it's the most versatile thing in their setup.

I have to echo this about the Maschine. My intro to it was the iPad App, which from what I can tell is pretty drat close to the the VST version. I started making beats on my iPad and was really shocked by how intuitive everything was and how easy it is to use and sequence some beats together. It had a surprisingly wide range of features for an app and I recently got to play on the hardware version and had a blast.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2017 17:41

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Yah Dillon Francis has always stood out to me as being perceptually loud. The producer that I literally have to turn down my car stereo for when tracks come on though is Mord Fustang. His latest track made me think of this again.

https://soundcloud.com/mordfustang/because-of-you

# ¿ Oct 27, 2017 17:02

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

The explanation above is incredibly good. The only thing I would like to add is that the "variance in volume level" of a particular piece of audio is called its dynamic range. Compression essentially reduces the dynamic range or "variance" of a piece of audio.

But compression is just one of the many tools that make a song "loud". There are many important steps in the production, mixing, and mastering process that will contribute to making a song perceptually loud. Over-compressing a piece of audio can actually make something have less impact. If everything is at the same volume, your ear can't perceive any piece as louder or quieter, so it ends up falling flat.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2017 17:12

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Southern Heel posted:

And that is exactly why I keep thinking to myself it would be a better option to go with hardware - $600! For software! Obviously I'm going to need Analog/FM Synth emulators, Arpeggios, etc.

Ummm, hardware is almost never going to be a cheaper option than software.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2017 18:20

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

killhamster posted:

So Propellerhead had a sale and I finally jumped from Reason 7 to 10 and really dig it. The big deal for me though is finally being able to use VSTs, so what are some good free/trial VSTs and VSTis that are worth having or buying?

Here is a list of free ones that I use a lot:

OTT - Multiband Compressor from Xfer Records
Dimension Expander - Chorus/Stereo Imaging from Xfer Records
Synth1 - Excellent digital synth by Ichiro Toda
Luftikus - EQ

I have a bunch of other ones that I got for free during specials and I imagine that's how you will get some of your favorites. For example, I got the Little Alter Boy Reverb from soundtoys.com recently because it was free until the end of November (if I remember correctly).

# ¿ Dec 13, 2017 18:16

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

I had an idea for a thread and wanted to see if there was any interest from others in ML. One thing I have been really trying to do as of late as part of my production education is expand my library and knowledge of music. I can be a creature of habit and get stuck on one type of music or one genre for a long time and then move to the next when it starts to feel stale. For example, starting in High School I went from emo (lol), to punk, to classic rock, hip-hop, electronic music, and now am trying to keep a variety of things at all times in my current playlist.

I recently got a record player as a gift and have been accumulating a LOT of records from various stores in the area. My focus has been on music from the 60's, 70's, and 80's, and a bit of the early 90s concentrating on Soul, R&B, Jazz, Rock, early Hip-Hop, Funk, and even some electronic. Its been really incredible discovering so much amazing music that I had never heard before. For example, I knew that Kool & The Gang and The Isley Brothers were popular bands, but I had no idea just how many hits they both had. I have probably 8 albums between the two of them and could listen to them all day long. There have even been some records that might not have seemed like something I would enjoy, but when I play them I found tons of potential for sampling different bits and pieces.

I thought it could be interesting to start a thread where we could discuss new or old songs from a production perspective. We could discuss specific production techniques used in the track, analyze the various elements/equipment used, or even just give praise to an album with exceptional production. This could be a cool way to discover new techniques and tricks or even just learn some cool production stories of some our favorite albums.

I would be down to put together a solid OP with some examples of my own but would like to see if there is enough interest first.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2017 18:43

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

Southern Heel posted:

Either way I'd like to get started again sooner rather than later, but I need to ensure whatever DAW I pick up again is cross-platform (new work machine will likely be a MacBook).

It seems Ableton is a good option for this since I'm not really looking to record instruments; i.e. primarily electronic music. From the face of it , it seems the session view with/without a Push is the greatest divider between Ableton and other tools, but I'm not clear how much of a gimmick this is? If performance and 'easy testing of clips' wasn't a priority, how would Ableton stack up to say, FL Studio? I've got experience with the latter and with Reaper; but as per my post a few months ago really I'm looking to go a) legit and b) for the longer haul than a few tutorial tracks.

Ableton is cross-platform, while I believe FL Studio is still working towards an OSX version with no release date yet. I'm not sure what your statement about recording instruments is from, because you can do that just fine in Ableton. There are plenty of EDM producers making quality records in both FL Studio and Ableton so it really comes down to a matter of workflow preference. I would recommend downloading a free trial of each and see which is more comfortable. Ableton has more features than FL, but that is reflected in the price as well.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2018 19:30

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

You do not need a MIDI keyboard to get real use of a DAW. Hell you don�t need one to get full use from a DAW. Plenty of electronic artists produce while touring and basically just use a laptop and nothing else.

That being said, I used a Launchpad until I got the Push2 and they are both a ton of fun and definitely make a DAW feel more like an instrument.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2018 06:04

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

actionjackson posted:

What's a good number of keys?

I tried a 25-key controller and I found it to be too small. 49-key is the perfect size for me, but I am not a piano player. I have heard from piano players that they don't like going under 61 keys.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2018 19:00

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# ¿ May 22, 2024 06:23

MrSargent: Dec 23, 2003; Sometimes, there's a man, well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there. And that's Jimmy T.

actionjackson posted:

I got a pair of studio monitors. I plugged them into my MBA which was fine except there was some buzzing. Apparently I need an audio interface. What would you recommend here? Focusrite?

A Focusrite 2i2 was my first interface and it worked great. One thing to consider is how many inputs you will need. Are you planning to do any recording either from a microphone or instrument? 2 inputs is usually plenty for someone starting out since there usually isn�t a great need to record multiple instruments simultaneously.

# ¿ Jun 24, 2018 05:42

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > No More Drake > Musician's Lounge > The "how do I make electronic/club/DJ music" Megathread!

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