im starting out... badly

[simulation]

ive always wanted to make music and now decided to start making tracks from scratch which now seems like a bad way 2 start but ive been using garage band on my mac and am struggling... does anyone have any starting tips or should i start mixing? i dont really wana mix songs i want my own if that makes sense

[CBG]

try fruity loops and make tracks with samples and loops.

To make music you have to understand it. From now on, when you listen to music, think about every part of it i.e the bass, the kicks, the drums, hi hats, melody etc.

Once you do this, you'll find making music a lot easier.

Also, a lot of dance music is heavily modified, by this I mean if you have just a piano, it will sound rather plain. Add some reverb, some delay, some filters etc and you can make amazing sound. The song I'm in the middle of atm sounded a bit plain until I added some reverb to the kick AND BAMN!! Awesome kick

Hope this helps, and welcome the forums!!

[Buck_Choi]

Welcome to the forums. What CBG said. i think your talking about production =) start off with fruity loops. i played with that a while back and wasn't too hard to work. you just need a few good packs of samples and stuff.

Goodluck!

[simulation]

thanks heaps guys... yeah i tried to download fl studio but does it compatible with mac? i might try find it at a store n buy it. also thanks CBG i will try and listen to everything that goes on in a song!

[JonnyB]

nah FL dosent go with mac.

could try logic or ableton or reason, all pretty expensive but.

anyway man, a bit of advice, no one every..EVER jumps into the production game and starts making bangers straight away, infact they rarely ever make any decent tracks with in the first 2 or 3 months.

there is alot to learn

take the time to learn the program's in and out's, and you can never ever read enough information.

samples are your friend, get as many samples as you can, drum sampls, vocals samples instruments, anything, quacks, lion roars car engines. anything can be made into a musical sound with enough effects layered on it.

make sure you keep your sound library clean so you can find things when you need it.

once you have the jist of making a track down, try imitating other people tracks, get a track you like, and try to recreate it.

also making loops and putting them in an order isnt all there is to makign a track, you have to learn about mixing and mastering, compressing and limiting, dont quiet worry about that just yet though man, get the basics down first.

also, no matter how hard shit gets and how frustrated things are NEVER quit, i remember the first 3 months of my production. i didnt make a single good sound come out of the speakers, now i can make half decent music. just keep at it man

good luck!

[Cupe]

there are demo's to most of those programs in the downloads section on this website

check em out

[ChevChelios]

Yep demos are perfect for finding what software suits you, but garage band is not a bad peice of software so if I was you I would stick with that, and logically your next step would be..... logic which is absolutely amazing software and the only reason I would ever buy a mac. First and foremost a good knowledge of music theory is essential in my eyes, cause if you dont know things like proper structure and key etc, your track will be incoherent. Next thing is loops, practice making them, constanly making them longer and longer until you get a 16 or 32 bar loop, for most people this is what they build their track around (not me though) but see what works for you. Most things come with practise, like making your own basses and shit, but at the start presets are more than ok.

Practise is the only thing that will make you improve and is the main reason why people flake on producing, cause they cant be bothered with it, so just sit there and fuck around and things will come to you, listen to other peoples stuff and listen to what they are doing and copy it, to an extent. If you know what good music sounds like, in theory you should be able to make good music, its all in the observation

ps. sorry if this post is complete rambleing nonesense Im tired

[defanutley]

Yep demos are perfect for finding what software suits you, but garage band is not a bad peice of software so if I was you I would stick with that, and logically your next step would be..... logic which is absolutely amazing software and the only reason I would ever buy a mac. First and foremost a good knowledge of music theory is essential in my eyes, cause if you dont know things like proper structure and key etc, your track will be incoherent. Next thing is loops, practice making them, constanly making them longer and longer until you get a 16 or 32 bar loop, for most people this is what they build their track around (not me though) but see what works for you. Most things come with practise, like making your own basses and shit, but at the start presets are more than ok.

Practise is the only thing that will make you improve and is the main reason why people flake on producing, cause they cant be bothered with it, so just sit there and fuck around and things will come to you, listen to other peoples stuff and listen to what they are doing and copy it, to an extent. If you know what good music sounds like, in theory you should be able to make good music, its all in the observation

ps. sorry if this post is complete rambleing nonesense Im tired

words of the wise, work with garageband 09 it shows you the basic with the lessons chords/keys and all the things I should of picked up when starting out and after spending some time then make your way to logic it really is the ducks nuts

[simulation]

thanks heaps everyone for the help... i appreciate all your info. i am going to keep at my production, slowly but surely. im now going to look for a mixer and some cdj's so i can practice mixing and stuff... is this a good idea to start? or am i mixing 2 different areas of dj'ing

[ChevChelios]

DJing and production are completely different ball games and both require time and practice, but by all means go for it if you have the cash and its something you really want to do, there can be no harm done.

Feel free to ask anymore questions if you have them

[JonnyB]

yeah man, mixing decks and production are completly diffrent, but learning one will only benefit you when you learn they other, things will learn from one will rub off onto the other E.G

when you start djing, youll start to learn the structure of tracks in the genre you start mixing(guessing the same genre youll be producing) because youll be analyzing the tracks to know where to drop them and so on, youll work out how long intro's ussualy go for etc etc etc. then when you start producing you already know the generall idea of the structure your going to use

and yeah like chev said, dont hesitate to ask

[simulation]

awesome that makes sense... yeah so im gonna buy some decks but i dont have very much money, i can pick this set up for like 400 bucks i know its prob cheap and nasty but will this get the job done 2 learn?

GEMINI CDM-3600

Dual CD Mixing Console

Player Section:

- Audio CD & CD-R compatible

- Anti-shock using RAM buffer memory

- 2 Selectable Jog modes Pitch Bend/Search

- Instant-start & cue with preview

- Fader-Start capability

- Single /continuous play modes

- One seamless loop per side with reloop

- Pitch bend via jog wheel or buttons +/- 16%

- Three mode time selection

- Frame accurate search

- Large blue backlit LCD display

- Rubber jog wheels with finger grips

- Variable pitch control with a +/- 12% range

- Direct track access buttons

- Fully programmable with repeat function

- +10 track button for quick navigation

Mixer Section:

- 3-band EQ w/ Gain Control

- 1/4” headphone output

- XLR and 1/4” mic input

- Auxiliary Inputs for Phono or Line devices

- Balanced XLR Outputs

[Psycho-Delic]

my recomendation is go and study music production at tafe, absoulet easy course if you can afford a year of smokeing dope in the local park at lunch. they won't teach you how to be the chemical brothers but you will learn the ins and outs of programs whilst meeting a whole bunch of similar minded people.

also some piano lessons won't go wasted.