Starting Out

[zedz]

Hey everyone, sorry if I frustrate anybody here but I'm new and I've read the bible thread before creating this.

I want to start making music and in particular dubstep (Hence why I'm here). When it comes to seeing which DAW I liked best, I tried ableton, logic, and FL studio and I found I liked FL studio the best (Yes I've heard you get flamed for using it for no reason). Now I want to purchase Massive and Battery from Native Instruments so that I have a quality synth and drum machine to back me up. However these both cost lots of money and I'm considering chipping in $100 more just to get the Komplete 7 package.

So my question really is, should I purchase these two plugins or even the whole package, or is there anything else I should try out before purchasing these. I have tried massive and liked it but it seems very complex and I haven't found any getting started tutorials anywhere yet. I haven't tried battery out but I did really like ultrabeat from Logic so if you guys can recommend anything similar than shoot.

Thanks

[EDN]

Do you have a pair of decent speakers or a soundcard.
If you want the best of both worlds I believe the NI soundcard comes with one instrument for free.
Does fruityloops come with any synths?

[paravrais]

What sort of dubstep are you looking to make? If you wanna make the 'yoiyoiyoi' style brosteppy stuff then massive is gonna be your chief weapon of choice. If your into the deeper stuff then you probably want a synth that's more geared towards making blissful pads and twinkly leads. Either way the 'komplete' package is the bees bollocks, you get a LOT of awesome shit in it. Personally I'd say it's worth getting for Reaktor, FM8 and Absynth, I'd consider the fact it has Massive and Battery as a mini bonus. What I'm saying is, if you have the money to afford it then fucking get it cos you get all those great synths PLUS shitloads of sound packs and effects units and you basically wont ever have to buy another synth again XD

That being said, since your new and just starting out it's a LOT of money to spend on a hobby you still don't know is necessarily right for you. You said you've chosen to use FL studio and there are some great synths you can get with that if you buy the top version whichever that is (just looked it up and actually some you have to pay for separately but they are still cheaper than NI stuff).

Unless you really have money to throw around all over the place I'd recommend buying the best version of FL that you can and using that for a while and see how you go then if you feel your desperately lacking things the komplete package can supply then pick it up at a later date. Also like EDN said, monitor speakers are a much more important purchase than extra synths. As is a decent midi keyboard/controller and a soundcard/audio interface.

[zedz]

I have some sennheiser headphones but no decent speakers, however worst comes to worse I can always visit a friends house not too far away and test stuff on his sub.
I've quickly checked out all the plugins that come with FL studio. Some of them are nice but the majority of them are in DEMO mode.
I bought the second best FL studio. Money is a semi issue. It was recently my birthday and christmas and my parents didnt get me anything. Now for my final year of school I am doing music as a subject and part of the criteria is music production. I have to produce 3 pieces of 4-6 minutes length of good quality to submit. So they are willing to spend money on me in order to have some quality software.

However, like you said, I'm missing a lot of stuff. So would you be able to recommend some cheap but good gear that I could get in the area of monitor speakers, sound cards, controllers?

I like Chrispy, Camo, Krooked, Caspa and Subfocus. But I want to be able to use this software in many other genres.

[3za]

Komplete is fucking ill, and I use most of it every track, but i was producing a few years before I got that, and when I first got it I felt a bit overloaded with software it took some months to get the feel for it all. If I was just starting out I would just get FL the top or second from top version, theirs lots to learn their that should keep you busy. I still learn something new about FL once in a while, and I have been using it for over 4 years now. When the synths, and efx's in FL ain't still doing it for you, then you could look at some free vst's there are 1000's about, and when they ain't doing it for you then you could start getting some payware, and then become a gear junky like me.

Monitors, and soundcards are something you will want to look in to, but I would leave them just for now if your just starting out. A nice pair of headphones are always nice though.

As for samples I would just grab some free one's, check deadly's sample swap, and the one over at the grid if it is still going.

[paravrais]

Well personally I recommend A novation keyboard (because I went through 2 keyboards that broke in the space of a year before this and now I love my novation nocturn), maybe an NI Audio Kontrol for the soundcard because that gives you some money back in the form of a voucher you can spend on anything from the komplete range.

Speaker wise I'd steer clear of subs, like you said you can make sure it sounds killer round your mates house but just a pair of monitors will make your mixdowns so much easier than trying to use headphones. I use Samson Rubicon 6As and they are really nice and really good value. A lot of people recommend KRKs to people who need something cheap when they are starting out but I used them once before and didn't really like them. Though I'm sure someone will disagree with that XD

But I feel we're getting ahead of ourselves here. There's nothing you *NEED* to produce great music. Just things that are gonna help you and there is always a cheaper option. I say look in the production bible section on freeware vsts and download some of the higher rated synths because some of them give the super expensive stuff a run for its money.

We can give you advice on what to purchase but really I would say don't buy anything until you feel like you need it, no need to get everything all at once because you will be swamped with new information. For example, monitors will help your mixdown sure but until you know a bit about how to work equalisers and filters and compression etc etc then they aren't gonna do all that much good.

EDIT: 3za said it much better than me, just get producing man. Do some tutorials and start finding your feet and worry about the expensive shit later XD

[zedz]

Thanks for the advice. Could you guys recommend a good drum machine like ultrabeat and something to make dubstep basslines with?

[hifi]

Thanks for the advice. Could you guys recommend a good drum machine like ultrabeat and something to make dubstep basslines with?

logic's stock synth plugins are really good

[3za]

Thanks for the advice. Could you guys recommend a good drum machine like ultrabeat and something to make dubstep basslines with?

Btw Ultrabeat, and Battery are slightly differnet because, Ultrabeat is a drum synth (it produces its own sound), and Battery is a drum sampler (it playbacks samples). Personally I don't use drum synths if i want to synth drums, I just use a normal synths to make hits then load them in a sampler. If your just starting out you would want to use a sampler, because you can load samples made by others, and don't have to get bogged down with synthesizing your own. All the different ways of doing drums in FL should keep you busy for now, before you need any VST's imo.

Ways of using drum samples in FL;
Fruity sampler; can be used for drums using the step sequencer
FPC; can be used to load multi drum samples, and can de played with the piano roll, or with a midi controller
Audio clips; this seemss fiddly to me, but it might work for you

List of free drum samplers;
http://tinyurl.com/34q6eh9

Payware drum samplers;
Battery; This is very powerful, and I use it alot, but because your just starting out I would get grips with FL first.
Guru; never used it, but lots seem to like it.
BDF Drums; same as above.

Free drum synths;
Drumatic; is the only one I have used, but I found it pretty good.
LIst of free drum synths; http://tinyurl.com/3xf492e

Payware drum synths;
Drumaxx by image-line; I have tried the demo, and found it to be good, not a bad price imo.
Audio DamageTattoo; Ain't tried it, but it looks great, and I love most of audio damage plug-in, also got a decent price tag.

This site is amazing for find VST's, so you should bookmark it imo;
http://www.kvraudio.com/

I will put some stuff up about synths later, if no one beats me to it, but as this post has said, and my other post has said, learn whats in FL first

Peace,
3za.

[rubiconguava]

My advice is... wait for as long as possible before buying anything that you dont actually NEED. learn the bits you;ve got inside out, i think in many ways this is good for creativity as your not constantly trying to rely on new bits of kit to make your sounds better!

[Ongelegen]

My advice is... wait for as long as possible before buying anything that you dont actually NEED. learn the bits you;ve got inside out, i think in many ways this is good for creativity as your not constantly trying to rely on new bits of kit to make your sounds better!

start with the essentials
- pc
- daw
- interface
- monitors

[Basic A]

Hey everyone, sorry if I frustrate anybody here but I'm new and I've read the bible thread before creating this.

I want to start making music and in particular dubstep (Hence why I'm here). When it comes to seeing which DAW I liked best, I tried ableton, logic, and FL studio and I found I liked FL studio the best (Yes I've heard you get flamed for using it for no reason). Now I want to purchase Massive and Battery from Native Instruments so that I have a quality synth and drum machine to back me up. However these both cost lots of money and I'm considering chipping in $100 more just to get the Komplete 7 package.

So my question really is, should I purchase these two plugins or even the whole package, or is there anything else I should try out before purchasing these. I have tried massive and liked it but it seems very complex and I haven't found any getting started tutorials anywhere yet. I haven't tried battery out but I did really like ultrabeat from Logic so if you guys can recommend anything similar than shoot.

Thanks

First, dont worry about getting flamed for using FL, only clowns do that, at this point its a more viable host for all audio applications from live performance to mastering then... well...most competitors, their just wastes and uneducated.

Second one up, youll like massive, its a BIT different then other synths, so some ofthe concepts wont be as easy to translate if yourever working in an environment that uses more typical synths... but that shouldnt keep you from buying it if suits the way your brain works. Definitely play with the demo for a bit first... If youve never produced before, or dont have much history in synthesis, Id suggest playing with the synths that come with FLStudio to get an idea of how Additive Waveforms work, check 3xOsc, its a very basic, rudimentary synth but in theory, can produce any sound known to man.

As far as Battery, I think your severely understimating how AMAZING fl's drum sequencing and sampling tools truly are! Its a drum machine and sequencer at its core. But. If you wanna... I couldnt see the point, but thats just me personally.

[bigfootspartan]

Btw Ultrabeat, and Battery are slightly differnet because, Ultrabeat is a drum synth (it produces its own sound), and Battery is a drum sampler (it playbacks samples).
3za.

Only partially true. On the bottom left of ultra beat there is a sampler section. If you load a sample into there it won't use any drum synthesis. The other parts of ultrabeat are related to using noise/fm modulation to synthesize drum sounds. I still agree that battery tends to have better sample manipulation however. The drum kits alone are worth it in my opinion.

Also, +1 that the synths inside logic are pretty heavy-duty. Sculpture alone has some really cool possibilities. I'm assuming that fruity comes with some decent synths as well.

Finally, I disagree that massive is mostly just for brostep. I use it a ton for pads/atmospheres/deep basses. It's all about how you use it. I'm sure absynth is better for pads (some of the presets are pretty cool) but so far I haven't been able to wrap my head around it, so I just use massive for most of my synth needs.

[3za]

Btw Ultrabeat, and Battery are slightly differnet because, Ultrabeat is a drum synth (it produces its own sound), and Battery is a drum sampler (it playbacks samples).
3za.

Only partially true. On the bottom left of ultra beat there is a sampler section. If you load a sample into there it won't use any drum synthesis. The other parts of ultrabeat are related to using noise/fm modulation to synthesize drum sounds. I still agree that battery tends to have better sample manipulation however. The drum kits alone are worth it in my opinion.

Stand corrected, I ain't used ultrabeat I was just going by what I heard.

Finally, I disagree that massive is mostly just for brostep. I use it a ton for pads/atmospheres/deep basses. It's all about how you use it. I'm sure absynth is better for pads (some of the presets are pretty cool) but so far I haven't been able to wrap my head around it, so I just use massive for most of my synth needs.

Yeah I agree with thats, I use Massive for all sorts, but it's more geared towards hard bass, and leads. When making pads in Massive the envelopes are one of the main things that let it down imo, Absynths is much more flexible, but as you said the interface is not the best.

[zedz]

Thanks for everybody for the advice I have read everything you guys have written and even bookmarked that site, thank you.Cross anything from logic out

[Astral]

Well atleast you're not going to burn in hell.

Despite it not existing.

[zedz]

Sorry to keep bothering but I have another question. How do people remix other people's songs? Sorry if its a really nooby question

[Aquathesis]

Sorry to keep bothering but I have another question. How do people remix other people's songs? Sorry if its a really nooby question

Typically, theyd contact the person they want to remix, and that person would make them a pack of 'stems'... these are different isolated elements of the tune, for example theyd make a .wav of the drums, one of each of the different bass patches, ect... That way when lined up, its the entire song, but split into seperate audio clips that can be mangled to the remixers pleasing... alot of the time, if its a synth heavy tune, they would also include synthesizer patches and midi files, so the remixer could tweak/edit those as well.

If your talking about doing vocal/mashups, then you could do a quick search around google for some clever accapellas and make things work, its rare youll find a good pop accapella though unless the artist delibeately let it leak, which is incredibly, incredibly rare. Still. Google, accapellas... cut them apart fit them to tempo... nothing to it. Technically illegal though, and not very good for your rep with other producers from what I understand? Could be wrong but, I wouldnt risk it.

[stereotactic]

Sorry to keep bothering but I have another question. How do people remix other people's songs? Sorry if its a really nooby question

Yeah, it's not quite as simple as just 'I want to remix that track'... It is worth keeping your ear to the ground for remix competitions, they pop up fairly regularly (Dogs on Acid is another good place to check).

Really though, if you are just starting out, just get cracking, start learning. Don't even worry about making 'music' per se, just sound, figure out what does what, make some crazy assed shit no one would ever understand, just get a feel creating. Oh and read. Lots. Every term you don't understand etc, look it up.

The learning curve is super steep at first, kinda overwhelming so stick with it. This place is golden for noobs and old heads alike, so post if you have questions that aren't answered in the bible.

Oh, and Komplete is sick, but to give you an idea, I got it a few months back when I kitted myself out with a new set up, and I haven't even scratched the surface. I mostly use Massive for all sorts, just because I am finally understanding it and getting the sounds I want from it. Overloading yourself is counter productive at an early stage, so get to grips with a small selection of instruments, then branch out.

Good luck!