How do you make electro music?

Greggy · Joined: May 04, 2004 Posts: 9

Hey guys. Noob here, but i was wondering how do you start making electro music? Are there any faqs on it? I tried searching the site, but i guess i'm missing it. If you could help, thanks. G (-:

mosc · Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 10:57 am Post subject:

Welcome, Greggy. Glad to have you here. welcome

There is no FAQ on how to make electro music here. I have a feeling some of the other members here might have some good links to point you to. I'm an old timer and started electronic music before there were synthesizers available. I used tape recorders and shortwave radios tuned between the stations.

You are in much better shape for starting off because you already have a computer. That's really all you need now days. There are several free software synthesizers you can download, and there are free audio recording programs.

Are you a musician? If so what instrument(s) do you play?

Greggy · Joined: May 04, 2004 Posts: 9

thanks Mosc...yeah I've read some stuff, but couldn't find any faqs either. looks like i'm to get fl and go from there. sadly, i don't play any instruments. i tried to find stuff so i thought i'd ask the experts...lol. seems like with most things you learn by trial and error, eh...lol?

G (-:

paul e. · Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 3:08 pm Post subject:

greggy

grab a demo of Reason...that is a good progarmme to just learn by trial and error...

if oyu have the ideas, thing can get pretty funky pretty fast

mosc · Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 7:13 pm Post subject:

Yes, that's a great way to crack the nut. Very reasonable, Paul. Laughing

Mohoyoho · Posted: Tue May 04, 2004 9:39 pm Post subject:

Welcome Greggy. Reason or Project 5 would both be good choices. The basic tools are: a computer with a soundcard and CD burner, a software synthesizer, and a sequencer (which accepts vsti and/or dxi) to record the soft synths midi data and audio tracks.
Packages like Reason and Project 5 have all this and more.

aquanaut · Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 2:15 am Post subject:

get a controller kbd for the soft synth and one hardware instrument to begin building a midi rig. with audio...gating and side chain compression are vital for percussion.

elektro80 · Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 2:51 am Post subject:

Electro(nic) music comes in a lot of different disguises. Do you have any specific examples of what you would like to make yourself?

For "electro" Reason will do just fine until you figure out on your own what you need and where to take the music.

If you would try out algorithmic music making - you can just as well get the latest version of CSound for your platform.

Perhaps you like so called dark ambient in the style of Lustmord. Then you will need good audio editing applications in order to deform and shape field recordings. if you go this route you will probably need some portable recording device and some decent microphones too.

Composition however is a different concept from the very tools you use.

jkn · Joined: Mar 14, 2004 Posts: 469 Location: La Porte, IN, USA

Yep - as you'll quickly realize there are a million options available. I definitely recommend picking just one or two things to tinker with for awhile and not to overwhelm yourself. It's easy to download too many tools. Once you latch onto something and like it - or decide it's just not right for you - then move on to something else. It's sort of like paint - you can buy little tubes or jars of tons of colors and have them all lined up - or you can have just a few and get all of the other colors just by mixing them. To me it makes more sense to just have a few things and dive in and tweak until you get what you want to hear.

I personally love Fruity as a fun tool - I use it almost strictly as a drum machine - but it has a lot of depth beyond that. A lot of people like Reason - the demo didn't excite me, but that's due to how I like to work. Everyone is different.

As elektro80 mentioned - kind of having an idea of what you're into would help us a lot in pointing you in a certain direction.

elektro80 · Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 6:02 am Post subject:

It is much easier to help out if you state that you want to make music in the style of Kraftwerk or Orbital.. or become an Edgar Froese clone overnight. Then we are talking actual styles of music and some of the advice would be related to actual composition. On the other hand, the fun part is to figure out how to make your own music.

K · Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 7:59 am Post subject:

jkn · Joined: Mar 14, 2004 Posts: 469 Location: La Porte, IN, USA

Greggy · Joined: May 04, 2004 Posts: 9

Yeah, thanks for all your help guys. I did dl fruity loops and just the beginning of learning it is drowning me...lol. I think I'll mess with it for awhile as I saw a lot of potential with this software. I guess I'm more for the beat dance music and songs like Clear and Jam On It. I never was a fan of kraftwerk. I just couldn't get it...lol. I looked into buying an audio recorder for the pc (cause I got a lot of beats in my head...lol), but I wasn't sure I wanted to do that just yet. I think like some have said I should just mess around with Fruity and slowly work my way in. I was hoping that there was like a basic tutorial, but how do you make a tutorial on so many options. So, I see what you guys are saying. I think it will be interesting to see if I'm going to be able to put beats together, mix samples, write a rhyme/prose, and put it all together to make a song. So far, I can see a glimpse of it, but it's still over my head how to do it.

One more question, what is the difference between music making software and music equipment (like the synths and keyboards, etc.)?

Oh, lol one more question you guys ever hear songs on the radio and think or feel you coulda done that song?

G (-:

seraph · Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 9:53 am Post subject: