Trying to start producing can anyone help?

starvinnmarvin

Howdy everybody

This my 1st post on boards, skimming thru it last week or 2 and seems to be greta place to get advice or dig out

I've been djing for the last 10yrs and really wanna start producing mny own stuff, mainly into bassy dance ie, fidget house,bassline house,dubstep etc

Anyone help me out and how to get started from scratch...ie what to buy etc...??

Sorry i know it seems like lazy way out but dont wanna make mistake of going out and buying the wrong ****

Dragan

Well, the easiest place to start is with a decent computer and a DAW. People will advise all kinds of different programs to start with. Claims will be made as to something being good and something being ****, but i've heard people make **** on a "good" program and vice versa. It's really about the sounds, how easy you find it to use, and logical the interface feels as your knowledge of production grows.

I've messed around with Cubase, Ableton and FLStudio, FL Studio is the one i use the most. I just like the way it works. I know a lot of people who really like Renoise and Logic too.

You can get demo version of most of the programs, and there are some pretty sweet free ones out there as well.

So, you'll have a host program and that will come with some VST's to make sound with, but you can also (obviously) add to your collection.

http://plugins.gersic.com/
http://www.kvraudio.com/

The above links are pretty big databases of free stuff.

You can also pay for some of the better ones. I can only really speak for Dubstep but Albino,Predator and Massive all seem to be used quite a bit. Personally i have stripped back from these and now mostly use freeware programs that do very specific things that i want done.

After that, it's practice , practice, practice. Lots on online tutorials, and Masterclasses from some of the bigger producers can be found. They can be hit and miss, people don't do too deep but when i was starting out i found them to be really helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b69DS_id-Y - This one is with Benga and covers most of the basics in a good manner.

electrogrimey

As regards DAW controllers, I can't speak for it myself, but these come highly recommended.

starvinnmarvin

Thanks lads very very helpful much appreciated

Another quick one, would u go PC or MAC??

electrogrimey

Mac, every single day of the week. And anyone who had the money to do so would say the same.

Dragan

starvinnmarvin wrote: »

Thanks lads very very helpful much appreciated

Another quick one, would u go PC or MAC??

Personally, if i wanted to explore Logic i would go for a mac. But i don't think i want the outlay.

I'd go for a nicely stacked desktop with a decent processor and some chunky ram and a pretty vicious sound card.

I'm a PC person. I use it for my photography, my music, my digital art.

I've yet to feel the need to move to Mac.

Anima

Only need a Mac (or really OSX) for Logic. PC is fine, especially for electronic music.

hubiedubie

I'd also recommend the following books:

http://www.wizoobooks.com/English-Products/Books/Programming-Synthesizers::224.html

http://www.samplemagic.com/secretsofhouse.htm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dance-Music-Manual-techniques-Techniques/dp/0240521072/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261696130&sr=8-1

Also these guys do great free plugins:
http://kunz.corrupt.ch/

Quiggers

have both, build a hackintosh, can run windows or OSX without costing silly amounts,
you can buy an aluminium case and a white apple sticker if you want to.
http://www.hackintosh.com/

empirix

macbook pro and Logic all the way, personally i don't rate fruityloops its too limited and well good for a beginner, Logic gives you a more or less professional daw with the capability of creating a pro sound. If i were you i would just buy a good daw and a very cheap midi keyboard and mess around for a while and then if you get more into it and think your not going to throw in the towel, i would then invest in quality studio monitors, personally i recommend Genelec Monitors, a good midi keyboard - Akai mpk 49 and novation remote mk ii series are the best(in my opinion), a good daw controller alesis_mastercontrol ,decent synths or vsts.

paulelectronica

i recommend that you download the demos of each daw before you buy , see which one you like the most and which one you like to work with . i myself use cubase 4.5 running on a laptop . considered getting a mac but im just going to get an audio interface and synth instead :D

rayhartjnr

starvinnmarvin wrote: »

Howdy everybody

Anyone help me out and how to get started from scratch...ie what to buy etc...??
****

Laptop , daw, headphones, midi controller!

I'd go; mac, ableton, sennheiser hd25, novation sl.

anything else you can acquire in time!

empirix

Studio Monitors are a must!

Pingu-D

Id go with a mac....i used mess around with reason and FL studio on my PC but last year switched over to a mac book pro runnin logic and live and i can honestly say it was the best decision i have ever made!

Logic is an amazing piece of software the best daw in my opinion there is jus so much depth there! after that a decent controller is a must depending if ur a mosue and keyboard person....you could either go with the Behringer BCF 2000 or the m-audio axiom pro... The axiom pro is handy because it auto maps itself to most leading daws which means its plug and play in most cases!!

I personally got sick of drawing drums in and bought an akai mpd 32 and was delighted with the results...the gear kinda depends on the music you want to make and what you actually feel you will need for example will you need to record a vocal etc! basically dont feel the need to go out and spend loads of money on gear you may find you will never use and id only worth half the price as soon as you take them out of the box! be sensible and look for reviews etc

joakley1

ide say get an mpc 1000....the best mixer you can afford.... and try spend as much as you can on monitors....like genelecs,rockets etc....

then just start sampling sampling sampling

just keep saving for as much hardware as possible....vsts tend to sound weak.although massive , albino are very good. So try get as many hardware synthesisers as you can...they are not all expensive as there are some good deals to be had out there ...ebay etc...

basically if you can work with an mpc and some nice analogue hardware you will be instantly sounding better then most....computers tend to crash and make music production very complicated...used them for years ,live and at home...and delighted i dont anymore.

i57dwun4yb1pt8

electrogrimey wrote: »

Mac, every single day of the week. And anyone who had the money to do so would say the same.

im not poor , nor am I stupid and I went PC ,
and I know a good few pro studios who use pc
so thats that theory shot down in flames.


oh and VSTS do not sound weak .

rcaz

joakley1,

It's not fair to say that hardware is better than software or vice versa.

Sure, you can't get an analogue sound out of a computer, but you can't get a digital sound out of analogue gear. Neither is superior.

Pingu-D

DaDumTish wrote: »

im not poor , nor am I stupid and I went PC ,
and I know a good few pro studios who use pc
so thats that theory shot down in flames.


oh and VSTS do not sound weak .

Yeah i know some big studios that use PC based setups but i know alot more that use Macs.....its just down to personal preference at the end of the day although Macs are a lot more secure in regards to viruses and the likes!

DamagedTrax

Pingu-D wrote: »

Macs are a lot more secure in regards to viruses and the likes!

no they're not. a pc or mac is only as secure as you make it. if you choose to go surfing around the web or throwing files onto your computer without proper anti-virus installed then you're asking for trouble.

+ anyone using a PC in a commercial situation really shouldnt be hooked up to the net.

yes there are a lot more threats out there for the pc user but its not the threats that make the pc less secure, its the end user.

Pingu-D

Yes they are, im friends with a good few ppl who have worked in apple repair and resellers shops and the number of macs with viruses pales in comparison to PC (i worked in a PC repair shop) at the moment the major threat to macs is the botnet trojan which u have to actually install! meaning u have to type in ur admin password! where as simply clickin on the wrong link on a PC has the potential to cripple ur computer! this is simply because PC's are more widely used and are targeted more!

Agreed the end user can be to blame in most cases but sometimes its just shoddy luck....and yeah a work PC with sensitive info shouldn't be hooked up to the net but this is a thread about starting to produce his own music....in this day and age the best (if not only way to promote your music to a the greater public without spending a small fortune) is to do so via the internet so not connecting there work machine to the internet mightn't be the most ideal solution!

DamagedTrax

no my friend they are not.

a pc is no more susceptable to any piece of code than a mac (depending on how the code is written obviously). A malicious code can bring an insecured mac to its knees as quickly as it can a pc.

despite popular belief, macs do not have some sort of super powers.

the ONLY factor is the end user.

code cannot exectue without an execution command. now whether this is disguised in some form or other is irrelevent. that fact remains that it has to be executed.

this applies equally to mac and pc. its just a coincidence that there is more malicious code written for PC.
PC sales GREATLY outweigh mac sales and therefore there will obviously be more viruses written with PC in mind.
that doesnt mean its the PC itself thats weak, its whatever safeguards the user has put in place thats weak.

im running PCs years and i have never had a bad virus. i had spy/adware 1 or 2 times but that was easily zapped within seconds.

starvinnmarvin

Many thanks to everyone who has posted on my query, much ,much appreciated people all info is being divulged and credit card being maxed to bits as i type

Cheers Again Mo Chairde

Pingu-D

then ur one of the lucky ones....im well aware a mac hasn got super powers what it has is a more secure operating system and a lot less virus and malware written for them.....

there no point us cloggin up this thread with im a mac im a pc debate because that has raged for years and i doubt me and you are going to settle it

@starvinnmarvin a good website for beginners guides is this

http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

hope this helps!

DamagedTrax

no debate here.

i agree 100% that its personal choice.

i just think its ridiculas to use security as an argument when debated the merits of either

José Alaninho

Don't mind that Pingu_D lad, he's only a mong.

electrogrimey

José Alaninho wrote: »

Don't mind that Pingu_D lad, he's only a mong.

In before the ban.

LeBash

Im using a PC and Ableton, and thinking of making the move to Mac. I heard most VSTs dont work on Mac though.

Is it true and where can you find good VSTs for the Mac if so.

PS.
Ableton 8 is an amazing program and i wont crap on any of the others, but i would recommend ableton to anyone