Hi,
so, I just wanted to ask how to get started on producing music. I would like to make electro-house and dubstep, but to be honest, I dont really know where to start, so all I do is play around a little and then kind of just sit on something that sounds horrid.
Oh yeah, and another thing. Whenever I make some drums and a bass synth or two, I try and make it louder, but in comparison to proper tracks my stuff sounds very silent, but if I went higher, my stuff would start to clip, so thats very confusing, too.
I was hoping you guys could give me some advice on that.
Thanks in advance!

 

You have taken the first step. keep doing what you are doing, experiment. press all of the buttons in your daw and see what they do.
In my opinion this first experimental phase is pretty key to defining your individual workflow and style in many respects.
The main thing is to remember why you are making music. have fun, the music will follow

It is a long process and will take a while before your sound becomes refined.

A good place to start is perhaps online tutorials?

If you are using ableton I would sugest: www.cosm.co.nz
Tom has heaps of free tutorials and only $10 a month for pro membership.

www.tronaudio.com also has a few helpful tutorials

jump on youtube, start watching tutorials and read as much as you can.

 

Well theres a lot to do. First off I use ableton so on master bus i always have an eq rolled off below 30-35 hertz. followed by compressor with threshold lowered to about -14 db and finally a limiter to stop clipping set ceiling about -0.6 db. Also give a slight cut on the eq at around 300hertz. not too much tho.

Then u need good vsts. I recommend native instruments massive , kontakt5, sylenth, rob papen albino. Thats about all i use. When u make a bass sound you need to roll off the really low frequencies around 30hertz and boost around 80 with a slight cut at around 100 so it doesnt clash with kickdrum. also roll off as much high frequencies as you can. When youve done tis i suggest u get yourself some good effects. Ohmboys ohmicide is excellent also you cant go wrong with anything from waves. try waves Rbass on your bass track. You will need to do a lot of eq on your bass and leads but this is different for each track so just play around with settings. Then compress your sounds a bit a sidechain you bass with your kick so they dont clash and this will give you a pumping effect also. Do this with synths and pads also.

Just try these out and with eq and compression you should be able to get sounds a lot louder and fatter and avoid clash of frequencies. Happy tracking my friend. Enjoy.

 

Have a look at this:

http://www.andivax.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59:andi-vax-qmixing-secretsq&catid=34:news&Itemid=1

 

If you learn better by watching, find some good tutorials on your preferred DAW. If you learn better by reading, find some good books. Also, I think it's important to learn about Music Theory. I think too many people rush into music production without learning the fundamentals. It takes much more than a good DAW and some plugins to be able to produce quality music. Focus on mastering the basics before attempting the more advanced techniques. Remember, we must learn to crawl before we learn how to walk.

 

I know when I was first starting out it was real frustrating because I didn't know what the hell to do. I eventually started learning more and more and kept trying and reading as much as possible and going online to read and watch any and everything until I learned how to use my daw and plugin's. One book that helped me out was the Dance Music Manual and you can find it pretty cheap on amazon. There is a new one but haven't had the money to get it yet. Just stick with it and keep practicing and learning because we didn't learn to walk in a day so we definitely won't learn to write great music in a day or else everyone would be famous. Just make sure that you have fun like Monsanto said because thats why we do it at least I hope!!! Also try and stick with only a couple of synths to learn because you will learn them inside out and I know it's tempting to download everything we see to hear it but it's best to find one or two and get to know them inside and out and dissect how the presets were made so that you can see for yourself how to get those sounds for yourself. The ones that DAWOW777 suggested are probably the best out there and I mainly use Sylenth1 and Massive but those choices are up to you. Also pick up a copy of either Computer Music Magazine or Future Music and read the hell out of those because they give really good info or just d/l them from the web. I actually subscribe to CMM and d/l the other one but they are both really good places for you to start and they give you some free stuff to try if you buy the mag and sometimes you can find the d/l's for the dvd. I know they have a ton on here.

 

And then you discover drugs and beer... then its back to crawling again

 

See http://www.meldaproduction.com/audiotutorials/mixing.php and http://audiosex.pro/index.php?/topic/29-frequencies-levels-of-a-mix-and-mastering-tips/ .

Volume levels is an important aspect and is one of the thing that separates amateur mixes from professional mixes.

 

when you begin I think you can forget about mastering....and even mixing as you definitely need some proper gear and a good deal of knowledge/practice to make it out and do a proper job

...so the first thing to do is to learn your DAW and the VSTi you wish to use so that you can easily (and quickly) translate what's in your head into a reality...and that's more easily said than done

once you've done that, then you can learn how to mix your track..that is learn how to make all the instruments have their own space in the audio spectrum...but again you'll need some gear for that (ie at least good studio monitors and a good pair of cans)...

finally you can try to reach a louder volume to bring your track to a somewhat professional level (though, chances are you'll need some good hardware gear to be able to match real professional mastering volumes)

if your track sounds too quiet you can use a brickwall limiter on the master bus, it will give you an idea of what it will sound like after the mastering process, but dont compose your track with that on...just use it to check.

so my advice if you dont know where to start, is to focus on a limited number of things at a time and to learn these things inside out (use tutorials, boards etc...you'll see that you will probably be able to do much more than what you expected in the first place)...
learn all the function/shortcuts of your DAW and pick 4 VSTi (1 drum machine, 1 BASS synth, 2 other synths)...learn everything about them...that should keep you busy for a while ...and when you'll be done, you'll see a lot clearer.

 

Learning to produce takes time.
Learning synthesis takes time.
Learning how to mix takes time.
Learning to master takes time.

 

Practice, trial and error.
Follow as many tuts as you could find.
These sort of topics may help:
Notions of Music Theory / and Rhythm applied to dance music.
Structure(accordingly to the style you like)
EQ, compression, reverb.

Don't forget to have lots and lots of fun!
At the end of the day something decent might come across.

By the way this seems a very cool site.

I'm a beginner too and a pretty horrid one, but this is becoming my passion.
This site is very useful.So good luck with your next track ...

 

My 2 cents....

A beginner here too. Personally I wouldn't bother with mastering and mixing and all that jazz.......you'll get there when you get there, I imagine. [although maybe you should get there right away, judging by your post]

I found the most fun and productive way into it was grabbing MIDI files of songs I really like and changing the instruments about, seeing how it was put together etc. And how I could change it all.

Then I found the sample packs of drum-tracks very helpful, something to start from, and then just lay down synths and whatever comes to mind/ear.

Plus download a few different synths and just trying em out on top of some drums, whatever. It's good fun and you're actually learning all the time. Sure, it isn't quite making one's own masterpiece, but....it certainly is learning, and when learning is fun you're well on your way imo.

There are so many aspects to it all not the least of which is getting to know your software (DAW) and then finding a few instruments you like. Just twiddling about is learning, and it builds on itself day by day.

There's plenty of good tutorials for things on YouTube, and here. Just crack on with simple things and you'll be soon nodding your head and tapping your foot.

Oh, and I am always trying to learn some more piano and music theory as I go along too. Determination to proceed is pretty essential!

As "easy" as digital music has become, it's still an enormous undertaking imo. There are so many aspects to it, and we all surely compare our output to the professionals we hear everyday......inevitable but daft really. It's like taking up running and immediately comparing one's self to Usain Bolt, or some such. It's a very high standard - the the best in the business, using the best equipment, the best people, etc etc. It really isn't a fair comparison, and it's a disincentive to do so. Don't do it.

Really, don't be too hard on one's self. ;)

And have fun! Good luck.

 

Wow, first of all I would like to say thanks for the huge response!
Ill definitely take my time and read all of your advice.
So far, the things Ive read really helped me, so really, thank you guys!

 

I think the best thing you can do here (and I really feel strongly about this subject), is FAIL. And fail and fail and fail again. It's so funny, because this mixing music thing reminds me so much about myself when I really became serious about guitar. And that's what happens on an instrument as well. You try and you fail. Just making a specific chord can be painful in the beginning. Learning scales and practicing till you don't have to think about it? HARD. And you will make a billion mistakes till it feels natural. It's how we learn. Watch a 2 year old run into furniture corners if you need positive reinforcement of that. Sometimes learning what to do (and what NOT to do) is painful. But you keep doing it till it clicks. And sometimes it's NOT fun. But if you want it bad enough, you'll keep at it.

So expect many of your first projects and mixes to sound like ass. They probably will. But that shouldn't stop you from pouring your heart into making them the best you can. 10 projects later, you will look back at it and think "Wow, what was I thinking?!". There's so many resources out there. Use them. They can help accelerate the learning process drastically....but they won't save you from making mistakes. And there's nothing wrong with that.

 

yeah nowadays, its way easier to start than just 10 years ago...so much material to learn from

 

Oh, one more thing I wanna add:

GET THIS BOOK

If you're gonna buy one book, this is the one. It's written by the same guy that writes the monthly "Mix Rescue" article in Sound on Sound magazine. This cat knows what he's talking about. And he hits the ground running. There is no chapter 1 about "This is a PC and this is a MAC!" and crap like that. It's relevant from start to finish. There's a reason why it has nothing but 5 star reviews. There's also a kindle version if you have an iPad/Android or Kindle device.

 

yep its a pretty good summary of what there is to know indeed, good advice!

 

I recommend the 3 DVD-set "The Art and Science of Sound Recording" by Alan Parsons, especially for beginners.
Very funny to watch, and you can learn a lot of the basics.

http://www.artandscienceofsound.com/