I've never worked with any audio programs before so I am %100 new to this but I want to play around remixing some songs. Are there any programs that can give me a 1-click result? I just want to take some audio and maybe apply an easy setting to get a basic result of the music being mixed. A friend showed me Fruity Loops and that's way too complex for me. It looks more difficult to use than Photoshop or After Effects! (to me)

Any software out that that can give me results with minimal effort starting out? Like in Photoshop there are filters you can use to 1-click apply a look to images and don't need to know how to color balance, adjust exposure, reduce noise, sharpen, etc...you just are able to apply filters.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

audacity is free and simpler than fl studio. if you just wanna cut things or add one track over another. but idk if you can use plugins there.

look this Serato has more options but i dont know that

maybe you can use something like a program for DJs idk.

i should learn photoshop and have the same problem like you lol. takes too much time an effort to really learn. but one day I just have to do it meeeeh. DAWs may be complicated at the beginning but most programs are intuitive and your learning curve would be steep...

mpc software i can really recommend, i know and love that. not much browsing and windows, intuitive, logical structure. really cool for all kind of stuff and maybe easier for you

hope you dive into music making man. however

 

Fruity is a long-standing weirdo among pro and semi-pro audio software packages, so don't be discouraged. It's weird for everybody.

SInce you're already familiar with Adobe interface conventions and workflow, if you want some basic fun and mixing a few existing tracks together, use Adobe Audition.

If you want to go a step up and be truly creative with it, go for the MAGIX Acid software. It's quite full featured and extremely intuitive in its own way, I think you're sure to like it a lot if you work with audio cutz. Pay attention to the included help index, it's so good and terse that it replaces a manual completely and you can figure out Acid in a weekend with it, from zero to hero. A lot of "big" people used Acid in the old days, it's kind of a hidden gem that still gets some usage even though everybody has gone on to Ableton or Logic, where they're hating their lives and missing the directness & simplicity of Acid, but cannot go back to their old love.

 

Last edited: Apr 27, 2020

There is nothing like this in music production in regards mixing, no.
You need to put each piece of audio on a track, and level them yourself.
If you feel FL was too tricky for you, you won't get on with any other daw software.
One must have a passion for music, and thus a need and passion to learn a daw, which it doesn't sound like you have.
There is no quick route to this.
Audacity is opensource and free, but isn't as intuitive as some of the mainstayers of the last 20+ years.
But if all you need is as you say in your op, and you don't plan on going forward creatively in the future, then just use Audacity.

 

Personally I find FL very clean. All things are hidden and you can bring them forward by shortcuts or the icons on toolbar. And piano roll is one of the best. Although i am also an amateur with only 1+ years of experience and i know some of you will say ableton is better but looks horrible html type feeling so i never gave to much in it.

 

To keep your comparison with Photoshop, you have to understand one important thing:
In music programs filters are independent, they are called plugins, some of them are (almost) one click.
So you have to find, on one side, the program to put your tracks in, this is called a DAW, like FLStudio, given the goal you expressed, you should go for simple one.
Then search for "filters" aka one (or almost one) click plugins to apply on your tracks.
With this approach you are close to the solution.

 

You may find Garageband a good place to start.

 

If you want simple, then you want your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) to probably just have a simple interface with a clear as day timeline. FL Studio and Ableton Live, for example, are highly aimed at production, so people find them to be complex unless they know what they are doing. You didn't tell us your OS, but I will continue as if you are using Windows and I will note when there are Mac OS versions. Truth be told, if you are on a Mac, then it is probably best to try out Garageband, which is free, and try the presents for the different effects that come with it.

Like Olymoon said, you need to understand what plugins are. Plugins are effects like reverb, compression, limiting, equalization, auto-tune, chorus, delay, etcetera. Plugins have formats, but on the Windows side, the VST format rules all. So, you'd also want a DAW with VST support. The easiest things you could try with plugins, for quick results without knowing what you are doing- Trying the built in presets is one, and another would be- Finding and using plugins that are aimed directly at novice users. I call these "Mix Cheaters". Please note that, if you install plugins, you must go into the settings of your DAW and tell your DAW where to find them. They won't just appear. It isn't hard to figure out.

Cakewalk by Bandlab is a good free DAW that you should understand very quickly. It is strictly for Windows.

Cockos Reaper is another straightforward DAW that can be made as simple or as complex as you wish. It goes for 60 bucks, but the protection is just a nag screen that you can click away. Reaper is for both Mac and Windows, and as you learn, it can keep up entirely.

Some "Mix Cheaters"- The company called "Waves" makes many, and they tend to make them under the names of famous audio engineers. It really depends what you are looking to make. If you are making some kind of rock music, pretty much all of them are aimed at that in one way or another. You have Waves Chris Lord-Alge collection, which has a bass, drums, guitar, and vocals "mix cheater" plugins. Waves Jack Joseph Puig is another. I imagine that Waves Tony Maserati collection is better for pop and rap. Waves' plugins are available on Windows and Mac, in mutliple formats.

A final hint, if you are a bittorrent kind of person or a visiter of the sister site, which shall go unnamed from me- When you can't find plugins individually or in collections, it is because they are often packaged with a complete collection. So, you are not going to find "Waves Chris Lord-Alge Collection", probably, but you will definitely find, "Waves Complete" with the plugins you are looking for.

 

You picked the most shitty daw which is Fruity Loops (don't hate me for that ) in terms of workflow in my opinion. I never got my head around fruity loops. The workflow is awful.


My advice, go for a console workflow like daw. Go for Cakewalk by bandlab. Formally known as Sonar.

It is free, a professional daw, has a comparable workflow to protools, reaper, cubase, studio one, Logic. Which makes it easy for you to switch if you got the absolute basics. And you want another daw.

The prochannel ist super fun for beginners. And the best thing is cakewalk univerity/caketv is still up. A series of short video tutorials from "Get started" to"master class". You get the basics of this daw in an hour.

Here you can get cakewalk by bandlab

Here is the old sonar homepage with the tutorials

 

Last edited: Apr 27, 2020

If you want to remix songs, then go for https://www.ableton.com/en/products/live-lite/ its free.
look up some "how to remix in abelton live" on YT, and you should be off on a smooth ride.

start with small goals first, (how do i sample, how do i find tempo of a song, how do i loop a section of a song, how do i find the key of the song)

compared to other daws, i find Abelton live yields more results per mouse click

enjoy the ride!

 

Magix music maker (I know many will hate me for this )
Logic Pro X (In easy Mode)(The way I started with music production so If I can you can too )
Are the best for a beginner.
They are very limited (on Logic with the expert mode no more but that’s a different sorry )

For Remixing you'll need the Stems
If you lucky you know the composer of the work you'll remix
(And he give it to you)
If not you need a tool for Stem Separation
just as an example : https://acondigital.de/produkte/acoustica-audioeditor/

Just a legal disclaimer by the way
In some countries it's illegal to remix without the permission of a bunch of people (Copyrightholder, Composer, Songwriter and What I don't know)
In other there is a right to remix (very few by the way or just in the beginning of a Movement)

 

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 27, 2020

Agree with @Smoove Grooves on this. There's no easy route, as with anything.

Using your Photoshop analogy. That would be like me asking, I want to make amazing photos. But I don't want to take photos, buy a camera or learn Photoshop. Can't I just import a picture into something and make it look cool?

FL isn't difficult and there's a wealth of tutorials on youtube. Same with Garageband. There's also a ton of iOS apps that have quicker/easy routes.
But all of these will take a good amount of learning. It's fun!

 

@Tob +1 for Cakewalk! Used to use it late 90s before I got Logic Platinum!
Gosh. It even looks like Logic now! Layout and colours.
I didn't know it was free!

 

Maybe Steinberg's Sequel is what you're looking for. It also has a lot of content already included.

A quick demo of remixing: