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-- It's time for me to start producing music...how??
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It's time for me to start producing music...how??
OK, I've been DJing since 1994 and I have always wanted to make music but never really had any time. Never really knew anything about about making music. Just knew how to spin good music. Well, I'm getting out of the Air Force pretty soon and I'll be getting a nice severance package. I would like to use part of it to buy something that will help me make music. I want to make music that sounds more like on the hard trance side. I want to make a great hard beat and a great bass, too. And I want to make a great flowing melody, too(check my sig to see what I'm talking about, if you like). Can you do this with fruity loops? Are there anything else, out there, that is better? Is it better to use the hardware, instead? If so, what should I buy? Anything from the Roland brand? Or is it better just to use the software? If I go software, what type of laptop should I get? I think I could come up with some nice tunes. Been in the scene for a very long time and I think I know what sounds really good.
not to be an ass but your question is kinda like,
how do i learn to play guitar ?
I'm pretty sure all your questions have already been answered.
If you knew what sounded really good you wouldn't be trying to produce hard dance. Whatever, maybe it means something different whre you come from. Something not crap.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and advise you to just stick around here for a few weeks and try and work out what your talking about. Don't buy anything until you understand what you need.
What is it with all these threads, is it because its christmas? Maybe people are all cashed up and drunk so think its a good idea to go "Oh HAI GUYZ, HOW DO I PRODUCER THE HARD TRANCE TECHNO MUSIK? LIKE BASSHUNTER OR CASCADA?" theres been 3 or 4 such posts in the last week
EDIT: I am being an ass and I know it. But seriously tired of these threads.
Read all the tutorials here, read through messageboards like these and KVR. Knowledge is what fuels practice, which is what fuels skill. Eventually you'll start feeling confident with your sound.
As for gear & software, I suggest staying 'in the box,' all software. Nowadays, PC's are powerful enough that there's no reason not to take advantage. If you want hardware, go for it. But software is more powerful, and cheaper. The simplified setup is also nice, giving better access to mobility.
The good thing about modern DAWs is that you can get pro results with pretty much anything. All it takes is lots of intimate knowledge and experience with your software. The new Reason is excellent, as is FL. Reaper is super cheap and very good. I use Cubase studio, and it's never let me down. Logic is the go-to choice for Mac.
One thing I'd warn against, however, is falling into the 'gear trap,' as I call it. This is the mindset where you become convinced that your results will be better if you can get This or That or whatever. Don't fall for that. You can make incredible things despite your gear, software, or set up. Aside from your primary DAW, you need absolutely nothing. Some things help... a midi controller, some good powered nearfields, a good audio interface, a good set of headphones, a fast computer... But none of those are necessary, certainly not needed to get started.
But I do suggest getting a solid set of headphones early on ($200+, not you $100 DJ headphones crap). This can help you forestall getting good speakers till later. I can just about guarantee that the speakers you have right now isn't good for production due to lack of accuracy. Rather than sinking a bunch into that problem now, and find out later "I shoulda bought those instead....," just get good set of headphones now. There's no buyers remorse there, much cheaper, and it's highly accurate(if you went for good ones).
As for computers, in a nutshell, any solid gaming computer will be good for it. While any pc or laptop WILL work, if you're going to buy a new one, look for something with tons of processing. Not much else matters. Fast processor is what you need. Laptops afford you mobility, and desktops afford you stability and security. Personally I favor desktop if you're serious about learning the craft. I've always ran into odd, unforeseeable trouble with laptops.
Do not buy computer store sound cards. What you want is a dedicated audio interface. Those will require research on your part. You'll find lots of info on that both here and on KVR. But no rush... I suggest waiting on this til when you're eventually ready to buy your shiny new powered near field reference monitors.
Once your DAW is up and running, download and use ASIO4ALL. This reduces your audio latency.
Go to a magazine/news store and look up magazines like Computer Music and Future Music and Electronic Musician. They often run special editions made for beginners, or have articles for beginners.
Read manuals. Consider reading books. Frequent the message boards. Make a folder in your bookmarks menu dedicated to audio pages.
This is a very in-depth craft, and it takes a ton of practice to get any good. Unlike other methods of making music, it requires you to first wade in and figure out a ton of technical stuff before you can even start making what's in your head audible. So have patience.
I wish you luck.
If you have more specific questions, fire away. But don't forget to browse around a little, and perhaps MAYBE use the search function to find the answer the question you're about to ask, which has inevitably already been asked a million times over.
I wasn't going to respond to this but since everyone else is being an ass...
Alright so first you need a sequencer, Wikipedia will give you a good idea of what that is if you don't know http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_sequencer. There are tons of sequencers out there the most popular being Reason, Fl studio, Sonar, Cubase, Ableton, and Logic if you are on a mac. Reaper as also pretty good so you may want to look into that. Try demo's of all of them, cubase doesn't have one.
Once you have chosen a sequencer it's time to talk about plugins. All those sequencers come with plug ins that create and effect audio. Read the wikipedia article for software synthesizers. You may want to buy some more right at the start but i think you should just learn what you have before you invest in more shit.
Now we'll talk about reason since it is a little different than the other sequencer. In reason it comes with everything software you need to start producing which is why it is a great buy for someone starting out. The downside is you cant use any software synths or effects other than the ones it comes with. Though it comes with everything you will need.
There are other things you will need later but for now that is a great start.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by kitphillips Don't buy anything until you understand what you need. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by pwnage1 Now we'll talk about reason since it is a little different than the other sequencer. In reason it comes with everything software you need to start producing which is why it is a great buy for someone starting out. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by kitphillips EDIT: I am being an ass and I know it. But seriously tired of these threads. |
) 
| quote: |
| Originally posted by MOK Read all the tutorials here, read through messageboards like these and KVR. Knowledge is what fuels practice, which is what fuels skill. Eventually you'll start feeling confident with your sound. As for gear & software, I suggest staying 'in the box,' all software. Nowadays, PC's are powerful enough that there's no reason not to take advantage. If you want hardware, go for it. But software is more powerful, and cheaper. The simplified setup is also nice, giving better access to mobility. The good thing about modern DAWs is that you can get pro results with pretty much anything. All it takes is lots of intimate knowledge and experience with your software. The new Reason is excellent, as is FL. Reaper is super cheap and very good. I use Cubase studio, and it's never let me down. Logic is the go-to choice for Mac. One thing I'd warn against, however, is falling into the 'gear trap,' as I call it. This is the mindset where you become convinced that your results will be better if you can get This or That or whatever. Don't fall for that. You can make incredible things despite your gear, software, or set up. Aside from your primary DAW, you need absolutely nothing. Some things help... a midi controller, some good powered nearfields, a good audio interface, a good set of headphones, a fast computer... But none of those are necessary, certainly not needed to get started. But I do suggest getting a solid set of headphones early on ($200+, not you $100 DJ headphones crap). This can help you forestall getting good speakers till later. I can just about guarantee that the speakers you have right now isn't good for production due to lack of accuracy. Rather than sinking a bunch into that problem now, and find out later "I shoulda bought those instead....," just get good set of headphones now. There's no buyers remorse there, much cheaper, and it's highly accurate(if you went for good ones). As for computers, in a nutshell, any solid gaming computer will be good for it. While any pc or laptop WILL work, if you're going to buy a new one, look for something with tons of processing. Not much else matters. Fast processor is what you need. Laptops afford you mobility, and desktops afford you stability and security. Personally I favor desktop if you're serious about learning the craft. I've always ran into odd, unforeseeable trouble with laptops. Do not buy computer store sound cards. What you want is a dedicated audio interface. Those will require research on your part. You'll find lots of info on that both here and on KVR. But no rush... I suggest waiting on this til when you're eventually ready to buy your shiny new powered near field reference monitors. Once your DAW is up and running, download and use ASIO4ALL. This reduces your audio latency. Go to a magazine/news store and look up magazines like Computer Music and Future Music and Electronic Musician. They often run special editions made for beginners, or have articles for beginners. Read manuals. Consider reading books. Frequent the message boards. Make a folder in your bookmarks menu dedicated to audio pages. This is a very in-depth craft, and it takes a ton of practice to get any good. Unlike other methods of making music, it requires you to first wade in and figure out a ton of technical stuff before you can even start making what's in your head audible. So have patience. I wish you luck. If you have more specific questions, fire away. But don't forget to browse around a little, and perhaps MAYBE use the search function to find the answer the question you're about to ask, which has inevitably already been asked a million times over. |
Dont listen to the guy above, obviously in another world.
Would you care to give us an example of a "Hard Trance" song, as this is quite open to interpretation and seems quite country specific, im just hoping its not something like basshunter / cascada \ dj sammy!
One thing I would suggest is, whatever DAW you choose, try to work within set limitations. For example if you use reason try and master say the SubTractor before something else.
Alot of people in EDM tend to try and jump in with all these funky instruments without even understanding them. Think of it another way, in days gone by, if you was trying to make a song you wouldnt try learning piano, guitar, flute, sax, trumbone, drums, bass, synth all in one go!!!, you would do it gradually as your knowledge grows, but unfortunately a lot of producers these days tend to do just that, load there DAW, then find they cant really get the sound they want so just download all the cracked VST's the can find to componstae for the lack of thier knowledge.
Try and learn things in series, ie, one after another, not all at the same time, and remember that the modern day EDM producer has to learn a lot more than your typical band member who specialises in one instrument, you have to learn a selection of instruments, drums as well as mixing, eq'ing, sound design and mastering, also some music theory knowledge will go a long way to make tracks that will have some direction.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Jimb0b Dont listen to the guy above, obviously in another world. Would you care to give us an example of a "Hard Trance" song, as this is quite open to interpretation and seems quite country specific, im just hoping its not something like basshunter / cascada \ dj sammy! One thing I would suggest is, whatever DAW you choose, try to work within set limitations. For example if you use reason try and master say the SubTractor before something else. Alot of people in EDM tend to try and jump in with all these funky instruments without even understanding them. Think of it another way, in days gone by, if you was trying to make a song you wouldnt try learning piano, guitar, flute, sax, trumbone, drums, bass, synth all in one go!!!, you would do it gradually as your knowledge grows, but unfortunately a lot of producers these days tend to do just that, load there DAW, then find they cant really get the sound they want so just download all the cracked VST's the can find to componstae for the lack of thier knowledge. Try and learn things in series, ie, one after another, not all at the same time, and remember that the modern day EDM producer has to learn a lot more than your typical band member who specialises in one instrument, you have to learn a selection of instruments, drums as well as mixing, eq'ing, sound design and mastering, also some music theory knowledge will go a long way to make tracks that will have some direction. |
Try the "hard trance" mixes in my signature, if you want to hear the music that I would like to make. I want to make songs more towards that way. I wouldn't mind making a couple of hardstyle tunes, like the ones in my hardstyle mix, ether.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by kitphillips If you knew what sounded really good you wouldn't be trying to produce hard dance. Whatever, maybe it means something different whre you come from. Something not crap. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by RichieV that was kinda ignorant. Unless the tracks on your facebook are 10 years old, i would probably keep your opinion about what kind of music is good or bad to yourself. I think hardtrance is plagued by bad music just as much as any other genre. There are some great artists that are quite innovative. I think that being less mainstream allows some artists to explore production as an artform a little further than the more mainstream trance. |
Stormbringer, good work on creating the funniest thread I've read on here in ages. Pure gold.
Richie, ya know, at least I'm game enough to actually post what I produce rather than just slinging off about other people's art
. And I'm entitled to say that theres a lot of shite in hard dance if I like, in sydney hard dance is a filthier word than trance. Maybe its different elsewhere.
Seriously though, we need a method of stopping these sorts of threads. I really admire the work that MOK's gone to to help this guy, but he'll be turning around and writing it all over again tomorrow, which is really annoying. We need a better search function. I'm down with helping people, but answering the same question the same way every other day is really boring and obscures what decent topics might be around to discuss.
well when the advice starting appearing on this thread this was a really good read and has given me one key insight.
just buy your DAW until you need to buy more. I agree that things will need to be bought and I'm glad that people understand you can buy it bit by bit. Most people tend to say buy this that and the other as well as this that and then some of this...like were all made of money.
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| Originally posted by EgosXII not at all: i've started a number of stupid 'n00b' help threads, but even i think there's been some really bad ones lately.. hence i've just been using tutorials, and the search function to find stuff instead of spammin the forumz (edit: with new threads, still spam it with pointless posts ) |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by smaulpaul well when the advice starting appearing on this thread this was a really good read and has given me one key insight. just buy your DAW until you need to buy more. I agree that things will need to be bought and I'm glad that people understand you can buy it bit by bit. Most people tend to say buy this that and the other as well as this that and then some of this...like were all made of money. |
The reason why I made this post is because there is a certain sound that I want to make. And it's not the "club trance" sound...though I do like club trance. I want to make that "hard trance" sound. I've read past posts before but none of them really explained about the sound I wanna make. I just wanna make sure that if I buy Fruity Loops, I will be able to make the sounds, after a lot of practice and work, that I want to.
As said above, don't buy anything until you have researched the subject quite a bit.
But, it may be worth buying yourself a cheap keyboard and start learning some music basics like chords, keys basic tonality ect.
Read the tutorials in here and also check out some of the tutorials on the Computer Music website: http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page...m_tutorial_pdfs
Maybe try out some software demos until you find something that you can work with.
But most importantly of all, you'll need a LOT of patience!
Good luck!
| quote: |
| Originally posted by kitphillips Nah, most of what you post is reasonable, because you go to the trouble of checking the page before you to see if similar questions have been asked first. Rather than just joining and hitting the post thread button. I can respect that. If someone asks a question which is noobish but not covered in detail in the last week or three, its legit IMO. I just have very littl patience with people asking the same question several times in the same week. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by MOK Read all the tutorials here, read through messageboards like these and KVR. Knowledge is what fuels practice, which is what fuels skill. Eventually you'll start feeling confident with your sound. As for gear & software, I suggest staying 'in the box,' all software. Nowadays, PC's are powerful enough that there's no reason not to take advantage. If you want hardware, go for it. But software is more powerful, and cheaper. The simplified setup is also nice, giving better access to mobility. The good thing about modern DAWs is that you can get pro results with pretty much anything. All it takes is lots of intimate knowledge and experience with your software. The new Reason is excellent, as is FL. Reaper is super cheap and very good. I use Cubase studio, and it's never let me down. Logic is the go-to choice for Mac. One thing I'd warn against, however, is falling into the 'gear trap,' as I call it. This is the mindset where you become convinced that your results will be better if you can get This or That or whatever. Don't fall for that. You can make incredible things despite your gear, software, or set up. Aside from your primary DAW, you need absolutely nothing. Some things help... a midi controller, some good powered nearfields, a good audio interface, a good set of headphones, a fast computer... But none of those are necessary, certainly not needed to get started. But I do suggest getting a solid set of headphones early on ($200+, not you $100 DJ headphones crap). This can help you forestall getting good speakers till later. I can just about guarantee that the speakers you have right now isn't good for production due to lack of accuracy. Rather than sinking a bunch into that problem now, and find out later "I shoulda bought those instead....," just get good set of headphones now. There's no buyers remorse there, much cheaper, and it's highly accurate(if you went for good ones). As for computers, in a nutshell, any solid gaming computer will be good for it. While any pc or laptop WILL work, if you're going to buy a new one, look for something with tons of processing. Not much else matters. Fast processor is what you need. Laptops afford you mobility, and desktops afford you stability and security. Personally I favor desktop if you're serious about learning the craft. I've always ran into odd, unforeseeable trouble with laptops. Do not buy computer store sound cards. What you want is a dedicated audio interface. Those will require research on your part. You'll find lots of info on that both here and on KVR. But no rush... I suggest waiting on this til when you're eventually ready to buy your shiny new powered near field reference monitors. Once your DAW is up and running, download and use ASIO4ALL. This reduces your audio latency. Go to a magazine/news store and look up magazines like Computer Music and Future Music and Electronic Musician. They often run special editions made for beginners, or have articles for beginners. Read manuals. Consider reading books. Frequent the message boards. Make a folder in your bookmarks menu dedicated to audio pages. This is a very in-depth craft, and it takes a ton of practice to get any good. Unlike other methods of making music, it requires you to first wade in and figure out a ton of technical stuff before you can even start making what's in your head audible. So have patience. I wish you luck. If you have more specific questions, fire away. But don't forget to browse around a little, and perhaps MAYBE use the search function to find the answer the question you're about to ask, which has inevitably already been asked a million times over. |
I'm not trying to be rude, but have you honestly been "in the scene" for nearly 15 years? Normally people around that long would know a bit more 
p.s. You should look at the "Master List"
| quote: |
| Originally posted by kitphillips If you knew what sounded really good you wouldn't be trying to produce hard dance. Whatever, maybe it means something different whre you come from. Something not crap. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Owsey2008 I'm not trying to be rude, but have you honestly been "in the scene" for nearly 15 years? Normally people around that long would know a bit more p.s. You should look at the "Master List" |
...and master list?
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Stormbringer haha...Not everyone who joins the scene ends up being a DJ....Just like not everyone who ends up being a DJ ends up being a producer....Anybody who's been in the scene, for a while, should know that.. ...and master list? |
..Everything you'll ever want to ask is already been asked a thousand times on here
| quote: |
| Originally posted by kitphillips Seriously though, we need a method of stopping these sorts of threads. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by lenieNt Force I'm not saying it's not ok to make threads, but I will give you a well meaning advice. Browse the forum ..Everything you'll ever want to ask is already been asked a thousand times on here Master list: http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...7&forumid=48&s= |
Just saw the master list!
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