Please help with starting out in music

FiveBoro89 · Joined: Oct 29, 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Milwaukee

Hello everyone. I have been a fan of electronic music for quite some time and I have recently wanted to compose my own. I am looking to make music that is like Build Buildings' music. Can anyone tell me what hardware and software I need? I have toyed around with Fruity Loops but that turned out to be a disaster because of the limited and lame sounds. Currently I am getting the feel of Magix Music Studio 2005. So any help will be appreciated.

Mohoyoho · Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 3:25 pm Post subject:

Check out Reason (Propellarhead) or Project 5 (Cakewalk). I believe they have demos.

FiveBoro89 · Joined: Oct 29, 2005 Posts: 2 Location: Milwaukee

Well I know lots of the software available, but I have no clue on what hardware to buy.

Done Studio · Joined: Dec 09, 2005 Posts: 4 Location: USA

Fruity Loops isn't that bad because you can individually shape the sound you want, but it is a pain, shaping each file. I use reason for that but I have found instead of a straight midi keyboard, a combo board like the Yamaha PSR 350 or better does a good job, since you can use the midi out or go through the aux out into a mixer - I use that and get the best of both worlds.

I found it gave me more flexability.

Instead of Fruity Loops, like I said, Reason is good, but i also use Acid and Sound Forge. I found I could integrate that with my keyboard, do my composition and come out with some pretty good sounds.

What i like too is that for pre-recorded loops I could change the pitch, timber and overall sound to create a very unique sound that is truly my own without sounding too "pre-packaged"

As far as other hardware - I use a PC (shhh don't tell my MAC friends Very Happy

) a AMD 64x2 3800 with two gbs of RAM. Saeta drives etc however I started out with an AMD 1700+ with less than a gig of ram and had no problem. I also tie in a basic 6 channel mixing panal for my keyboards, video audio (I do some work with Vegas Vid.), turntable and microphone for my shoutcast.

I hope this helps -if you like check out some pieces I did at my site. www.radiodonestudio.net for some electronic/ambient sound.

If you need any more help feel free to give me a shout.

s/ Done

Kassen · Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 5:15 pm Post subject:

If you are basing it all around a computer I think a good place to start in buying hardware is one controler that feels realy good. I don't care wether you get keys, knobs, pads, faders or some mix but get something that feels good when you close your eyes; you'll be touching it a lot.

If you can't afford monitors use speakers that you know realy well.

In the end the most important thing is listening well. Fans of music concentrate on listening and older engineers do too. Sadly for many producers there is a stage inbetween where they mostly care about how a sound is made and that blocks out the actual feel of the sound in their mind. I sugest you try as hard as you can to skip that stage. Listen as much as you can. Most of the gear you'll buy will break some day, in five years hardly any of the software you use now will be up to date/ usefull or even compatible but nobody can take learning to listen away from you.

Personally I'm partial to Ableton Live 4 because it's very powerfull but simple in actual use. I also think that if you do decide to get a mixer a Spirit Folio is a good investment. I've seen Folios thrown with, I've literally seen them being taken around the world and back, being covered in beer spills, ashes and smoke and they don't break down. The fader knobs will bend. Knobs will get lost but they keep running and they sound fine for what they cost.