Making dance music

dcarroll

I've done a bit of djing but wanted to get started producing
Anyone know what software to use / where can I get it?
I have a top of the range pc so that's no prob, fav style is leftfield, air groove armada etc.
Anyone have any ideas / suggestions?
Thanks

Anima

Started this myself recently enough. Atm I'm using Fruity Loops 4, which is good for learning but its not great.

Reason is another good program, more detailed than FL4 but can produce much better sound.

I think most people use a combination of programs and different plugins to create there own kind of sound so just keep looking up info etc and you'll find out whats good/bad.

As I said I'm a newbie when it comes to this, so ask someone like Creed who visits here, he seems to be fairly well up on this kinda thing .

Chucky the tree

Reason is probaly the best you will get.

Fruity loops is good to start out on, to get a basic idea of what needs to be done.

popinfresh

Matlab. ATM I'm looking into using matrices to make sound. Basically all sound is is a 2 * X matrix with numbers ranging from 0.001 to 1. But that'd be more sound engineering as opposed to music production.

Your best bet is to use several programmes. I find that e-jay / fruity loops / sound-forge together give me all the features that I need to make music, and hopefully MATLAB when i learn to feckin make some progress with it.

Chucky the tree

e-jay is to amatuerish. If you have any plans of making something decent no point in using it.

popinfresh

Yeah but it lets you lay out the various wav-files to make a song, which is all i use it for.

dcarroll

Thanks guys, think i'll buy reason or fruityloops.
How much do these cost?
Do you need to have much musical knowledge eg i can't play any instruments

Wertz

A little musical knowledge helps a lot but it's easy enough to pick up the gist of what the software does without any prior experience. You don't need to be able to read music but an understanding of beats to a bar and other drum patterns will help you make better tracks. Also most of these packages use a keyboard type interface for making riffs or drumloops, but it's pretty self explanatory...

Before you go shelling out a lot of money for s/w go download the trial versions and see if you can use them first, or if you even like the interface...

popinfresh

*cough* warez

tman

popinfresh wrote:

Yeah but it lets you lay out the various wav-files to make a song, which is all i use it for.

use acid if thats all you want it for.
sooo much better than ejay

Loobz

I use Acid 5, Soundforge 7 and Fruityloops 5.

Hope this helps.

Also, can anyone could point me in the direction of some samples and plug ins?

tel922001

i have fruity loops and acid pro on disc all code free if ur interested in buying them?

Altheus

Rebirth for 303 goodness, Battery is a great drum machine

You cant go far wrong with any Native Instruments product.

tel922001

i have fruity loops and acid pro on disc all code free if ur interested in buying them?

Chucky the tree

no need to buy them lads, you should find other ways of "aquiring" them

Loobz

tel922001 wrote:

i have fruity loops and acid pro on disc all code free if ur interested in buying them?

We heard you the first time. Would you seriously consider selling something you got for nothing? :rolleyes: Shame on you. :mad:

dcarroll

tel922001 wrote:

i have fruity loops and acid pro on disc all code free if ur interested in buying them?

How much?

popinfresh

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!!

Loobz

popinfresh wrote:

ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!!!

Hahahahahahaa! Classic.

tel922001

as much as the blank disc costs me and thats not alot and the p&p would that kill the bank?

Loobz

Chucky the tree wrote:

Reason is probaly the best you will get.

What is the best way to teach yourself on how to use Reason properly. It looks very overwhelming. Is there any tutorials out there to be had?

dcarroll

Yeah a few tutorials for reason/ acid/ cunase/ fruityloops would be handy, also any samples if somone knows where to get them?

Kev_ps3

If you just want to make dance tunes that you can play to yourself and your friends then programs like Reason and Fruityloops with be fine.. But if your looking to make professional dance music that will go out on 12"/cd to record stores then it will require LOTS of time and money (especially money!)..Programs like reason and fruityloops dont cut it.

Chucky the tree

kev boy wrote:

If you just want to make dance tunes that you can play to yourself and your friends then programs like Reason and Fruityloops with be fine.. But if your looking to make professional dance music that will go out on 12"/cd to record stores then it will require LOTS of time and money (especially money!)..Programs like reason and fruityloops dont cut it.

They actually do. Alot of studios use reason as far as i know. And alot of producers have made tracks through Reason thath ave been published. Obviously they will be fine tuned in a stduio, but Reason is certainly more then adequate.

Fruity loops certainly isnt as good as Reason.

tman

Chucky the tree wrote:

They actually do. Alot of studios use reason as far as i know. And alot of producers have made tracks through Reason thath ave been published. Obviously they will be fine tuned in a stduio, but Reason is certainly more then adequate.

Fruity loops certainly isnt as good as Reason.

aye. Liam Howlett wrote the majority of "Always Outnumbered..." with a laptop and a copy of reason afaik.

dearg_doom

tman wrote:

aye. Liam Howlett wrote the majority of "Always Outnumbered..." with a laptop and a copy of reason afaik.

exactly :rolleyes:

eoin5

You can do cool stuff with fruityloops once you get into it.
My last one:
http://www.funender.com/music/bands/4268
Click play all hifi

Loobz

Programs like reason and fruityloops dont cut it.

I cant agree with that. Ive heard some quality stuff outta Reason and Fruityloops.

tman

dearg_doom wrote:

exactly :rolleyes:

eggsplain yourself

Kev_ps3

They actually do. Alot of studios use reason as far as i know. And alot of producers have made tracks through Reason thath ave been published. Obviously they will be fine tuned in a stduio, but Reason is certainly more then adequate.

Reason in ok as a plug-in to something like cubase but on its own it doesnt sound too good..Quality comes at a price..
If your serious, get some lessons in a studio and learn how everything is done. Then get some hardware and a decent computer and follow on from there.

AshleeD

Well if you use FL Studio's EQ's and compressor you can make professional sounding music, i've got a few songs made from FL Studio on my website: http://www.ashleed.tk or my artist page: http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp?AID=282573&T=7898

Chucky the tree

kev boy wrote:

Reason in ok as a plug-in to something like cubase but on its own it doesnt sound too good..Quality comes at a price..
If your serious, get some lessons in a studio and learn how everything is done. Then get some hardware and a decent computer and follow on from there.

lessons in a studio is a waste of moeny, you can pick it up along the way. Better the money for the hardware later down the line if you make it that far.

Start with reason and cubase and go from there. You might find you dont enjoy it that much, or only enjoy messing aobut with it. No point in blowing a lot of money straight away and then never using them 3 months later.

Kev_ps3

yeah, agree with you there, start on something less complicated like reason or fruityloops and go from there..

jonny68

http://www.cubase.com/home/