quote:

Originally posted by Constantin 5th step: LCR mix, watch this if you don't know what is that http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDp8rsdmdEE

great advice as well, nice video share. that guy has a great informative channel. though im not sure how useful LCR mixing is gonna be in dance music, maybe i'll try it out sometime

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quote:

Originally posted by meriter Your primary focus should be making good music. That's all. No one gives a shit how you do it. And the people that do are fags.

My best piece of advice would be the same as Cryos really. learn piano or guitar AND music theory. You learn fastest when your younger. My one biggest regret is that i stopped piano lessons after a few years and took up with computers instead...

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That's easy. Music theory.

I have been 'producing' for a little under 2 years, but I have played guitar since the 80s...when, of course, it was a perfectly manly thing to wear neon spandex, women's clothing, makeup and not be considered a tranny

Back then in guitar land, speed was king. Malmsteen, Vai, Satriani, Friedman et all were Gods and that's all we tried to do. Be faster than the next guy. Musicality for the most part was right out the window *funny since all the above mentioned guitarists were quite knowledgeable on theory.)

Today I liken it to production chops and GAS. People crave top end gear and the ability to one-up their buddies with tech chops rather that the fretboard variety. And again, musicality, harmony, melody etc suffer because all the little wannabee Pensados' and Lord-Alges' can produce the crap out of....crap. But a lot is still droning crap regardless.

Advice? Learn to actually play an instrument as previously stated, but don't do it like I and a million others did. Short of taking lessons, get a good video piano/guitar course (Play Piano Today is good if annoying) and the Groove 3 Music Theory videos - Total investment, under $100 USD. Add a midi keyboard for another $100 off ebay (49 key or better) or a Squier Strat or cheap acoustic for another $100 and you have all the things you need outside to get a decent start on the right path.

And yes, you CAN make music without a lot of theory and yes, 'pros' get rich and famous all the time without it. All I can say is that every time I watch those vids, read tutorials and another 'light goes on' I find that making music I actually WANT to make rather than am forced to make due to lack of skill/knowledge, becomes easier. Had I put a few of those years into learning theory then, I wouldn't be playing catch-up and kicking myself in the ass now.

Trust me.

quote:

Originally posted by MIKE333ACE What would simply be the best piece of advice that you could give a 14 year old producer thats been going at it for 9 months??? Cheers.

Thanks to everone that replied to this thread. The main bit of advice that I'm picking up is to study music theory. So if that's really what everyone thinks I should do, then I'll defenitely give it a shot.

Once again, thankyou to all who posted

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Listen actively to more music. This is probably the most helpful thing that pays off the quickest. Learning piano and theory is at minimum a 2 year commitment and you will not k ow anything that useful. I say this every time but theory is a double edged sword. Learning too little tends to make you think inside the box. You really have to learn it inside and out for it to pay off. Making EDM, I honestly wouldn't recommend theory unless the person is curiosity.

Playing an instrument can also be rather useless at low levels. Just Puttingfongers where the sheet tell you is not going to do much. But listening to music, then hacking out thenotes and chords on a piano will probably help the edmmusician.

But really , listen to music. And don't just listen while doing other things. Listen and really pay attention say the first time to the bass and kick , next time, the kick and lead.

Do this one hour a day. You will learn.

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oh and the LCR panning thing works sometimes and other times it doesn't. Following it 100% is somewhat silly but it can work. I find the biggest downside is headphone listening. And this is/should be your target audience. People listen to music on ipods. LCR doesn't really excel at that sort of medium.

I think following RULES or hardlined prescriptions is somewhat a bad habit. The important thing is to understand why LCR has some advantages, and just use that knowledge when panning. As an exercise, great idea but already deciding your panning scheme before you finish a track doesn't really seem like the best strategy.

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"This is why Superman works alone." GC
old stuff from days gone by (2001-2004)
Mad For Brad's gay little contest

Color me confused (not an uncommon occurrence really . This isn't meant to question your knowledge or ability because you certainly have it, or start a pissing contest as I'd lose, but would not simply copying songs to learn as you said here, without learning the 'why' behind it (at least some of it theory wise) lead to the kind of derivative crap everyone detests? Or have I misunderstood? I just can't wrap my head around how you see (or seem to at least) see theory as almost an all or nothing proposition.

Also, simply banging things out on a real instrument takes the mind in directions that the mouse/piano roll method would never allow.
For me at least, even the basics of theory (and I mean real 'basics') opened up a whole world. I don't find it limiting/boxy at all.

quote:

Originally posted by Looney4Clooney Listen actively to more music. This is probably the most helpful thing that pays off the quickest. Learning piano and theory is at minimum a 2 year commitment and you will not k ow anything that useful. I say this every time but theory is a double edged sword. Learning too little tends to make you think inside the box. You really have to learn it inside and out for it to pay off. Making EDM, I honestly wouldn't recommend theory unless the person is curiosity. Playing an instrument can also be rather useless at low levels. Just Puttingfongers where the sheet tell you is not going to do much. But listening to music, then hacking out thenotes and chords on a piano will probably help the edmmusician. But really , listen to music. And don't just listen while doing other things. Listen and really pay attention say the first time to the bass and kick , next time, the kick and lead. Do this one hour a day. You will learn.

because theory at the basic level is very prescriptive. You think it opened up a new world , it really just made you make chord progressions like everyone else. The manner in which you learn it , doing choral exercises also tends to affect how you write. You think in chords, you think about rules and it will affect how you write whether you like it or not. I would say the guy bangin stuff out has a greater odd of doing something unique.

Trust me, everyone that learns theory goes thru this.

And i encouraged playing an instrument. I was just explicit in how to play.

Look it all depends on what you want. If you want to just do EDM, and don't see yourself doing anything else, theory isn't going to do much. You will learn a set of rules that make you sound like a book of progression paradigms.

And i'm assuming you already know the basics. The best music schools, the first year and the theory they teach is really not that usefull other than to sound like everyone else. Now this would probably take a normal person 2-4 years. Thats alot of time.

If you want to be able to do everything, then yes, you will need to put in the time It will take you about 5-10 years of daily rigorous study to be adequate if you are learning on your own and you don't really know anything at the moment. I just don't think people have that in mind. I say this as someone that knows theory and studied it more than you can imagine. I'm not one of those people that shuns anything that isn't rock and roll. I wanted to be able to write like wagner and mahler, and you need to know alot more to pull that off.

you just have to realize the time you spend learning theory, well you aren't learning other things. And even with 2 years of harmony under your belt, unless you go to a proper school which you won't since you can't play an instrument, you will know enough to do what everyone else is doing.

I'm not saying don't, i'm just giving my honest opinon on what would help edm artists the most keeping time and opportunity cost in mind.

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"This is why Superman works alone." GC
old stuff from days gone by (2001-2004)
Mad For Brad's gay little contest

NOW I get you Can't argue that. Makes sense.

i think that is why I was pretty heavy on the listening bit. This will help you. I made some dance tracks knowing nothing about harmony, and everything about it was I suppose what you would learn in theory including secondary dominants. I used my ears. If you listen to music, you will know what sounds good to you and what doesn't.

here , this was one of my first tracks i made in 2001 ish. Now that progression you hear, , like when the trance comes in , that was just me messing with a keyboard. I knew absolutely nothing about theory in any formal way. Granted i played instruments and listened to alot of music. And i'm not dumb to think well i did it , so can everyone. I think my point is that this track, well if you learned theory, this is the kind of stuff you would write. Generic. Alot of work to be able to do something that won't pay off as much as you think.

DivShare File - PressureMaste.mp3

And that was when melody was important. I think EDM got tired of those lame cheesy lines so when i think about an EDM producer today, i think groove and production are just more relevant.

I will close by saying it is unfortunate EDM producers don't learn theory properly and not just western tonal theory but jazz and other styles of music but given the money people make, it is understandable and it is not really realistic to ask someone to spend 10 years learning just 1 small component that might help.

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"This is why Superman works alone." GC
old stuff from days gone by (2001-2004)
Mad For Brad's gay little contest

The best advice I can give you dear friend, is to get good monitors!! If theres one thing you should spend money on as a producer, its just that, and treatment of your room! Else, if this is not in place, all other tips and suggestions people give you will be superfluous and redundant, since you will never be able to hear properly for yourself, what they are talking about. First make sure what your listening through is top notch monitors, and then you can take in and understand others advice properly. I spent waay too much time in my early days mixing on crap speakers that color the sound. This, is the best advice I can give you. Hope you take account of it :)