Semi noob wanting to learn everything possible

[Frodo Bassbins]

First id like to say I'm not 100 percent new. i picked up this hobby of electronic music production about 6 months ago after about a week after hearing my first dubstep set. my immediate thoughts were.. "i need to make music like this" anyway since that realization i have made it my goal to learn everything i can, in order to be able to put out QUALITY sounding tunes. and by that i mean professionally produced sounding tunes. that's my main goal, after that or at the same time or whatever i want to THOROUGHLY learn the ins and out of a specific synth , either albino 3, massive, or blue, or a combination of the 3. about 3 months ago i went out and bought a midi keyboard(oxygen 49) and FL studio. however i still have not got around to buying an audio interface or monitors and just use a decent pair of speakers with a sub. (will be buying these things in the next month or so) i have been having a lot of fun with this hobby and love jamming out on my midi keyboard and what not. HOWEVER, being the generally unorganized a.d.d. type person that i am i have had a tough time learning the technical side of production as far as things like how to eq, compress, buss shit together, side chain shit together and all the other things i hear people refer to on this and other forums.i learn little bits here and there (through tutorials and reading forums mostly) and when i learn something new it always results in me immediately wanting to go test it out and then i get lost in a session and it doesn't really result in much. but i don't feel like i've made alot of progress as far as making my tunes sound good. all of my tunes that i've made so far all have a muddy un-sharp sound to them. (usually the bass-line and synths) i can fuck about with the EQ sliders on my percussion(hats snare) to get them sounding pretty damn clear or the way i want them to sound , but cannot do the same with the bassline regularly. is it just possibly the way i program the synth? sometimes they sound a lot clearer then others and i don't know why, although my general guess would be i just dont know how to program the synth. (sytrus and massive) and anytime i try and program a synth for either pads or chords or something they never sound as silky / clear/ bright / overall just more catchy and better sounding as tunes that i hear on mix's or the radio shows.
I dont know how to select a synth that takes up a different freq range than the bass-line , sometimes they overlap and its hard to distinguish the 2 sounds and they interfere with eachother. on nearly every tune i listen to i can distinctly hear every aspect of the song. and sometimes it really amazes me how people can get things to sound so perfect and fit together so well. I would really like to learn how to do this and would like to know what my best approach to this would be? Just keep looking for random tutorials? any book suggestions? i have been hesitant to buy books so far but will deffinately buy them if i get a good recomendation. Im pretty sure i need to learn everything about eq/compressing/limiting/. and have attempted to learn these things but like i said tutorials only seem to be getting me so far and havent been getting decent results and the things ive learned havent seemed to stick very well. How did you guys hear learn how to EQ shit to make it sound perfect. also how did u learn how to select sounds that take up certain ranges. do u select the sounds you use based on freq range before anything? or eq them to make them fit the freq range that doesnt interfere with anything else?

Basically i just feel like there is so much technical stuff to learn with this hobby ( all of which i am very interested in and find enjoyable to learn) its just the way im going about learning it all doesn't seem efficient. i want to learn everything i need to know (at a reasonably fast rate) to be able to put out HIGH QUALITY TUNES!!! I have tons of great ideas but the end result is terrible cus technically i do not kno what im doing and the quality of the tune is shit. Should i just stop entirely writing tunes and strictly go into learning mode? all my time dedicated to learning production techniques and basics , taking notes and what not. and if i i did do that, do you think its possible to learn everything needed to know to put out tunes high enough quality to be played out at shows in 2 months or less say 6+ hours a day every day? Or should i be practicing the techniques i learn to understand them better? theres so many options of how to go about this and i just dont know what i should do honestly. And also i wonder if i should do the same thing for sound design and learning how a synth works and how to use a specific one to its full potential.

bolded question = really would like an answer to.


TLDR

What is the best most efficient way to thoroughly learn the basics of the technical side of electronic music production. and advanced techniques once i get those down. to get my tunes sounding well polished and professional. and what is the best way to learn sound selection as far as being able to hear every element of the mix perfectly, or at least to the desired effect of how i want it. thanks for your time

[collige]

http://www.dubstepforum.com/production- ... 32399.html
"Search these before you ask"

Almost everything you need is there.

[Frodo Bassbins]

http://www.dubstepforum.com/production- ... 32399.html
"Search these before you ask"

Almost everything you need is there.

So you are saying the most efficient way to learn the technical aspects is through reading forums then? Fairplay just seems like i have to read alot of things i dont want or need at the current moment which leads to learning at a slower rate then i would like. but if thats the best way then i will keep at it. any other opinions?

[phrex]

give yourself some fucking time to learn it naturally.

it's a process you should enjoy!

[collige]

http://www.dubstepforum.com/production- ... 32399.html
"Search these before you ask"

Almost everything you need is there.

So you are saying the most efficient way to learn the technical aspects is through reading forums then? Fairplay just seems like i have to read alot of things i dont want or need at the current moment which leads to learning at a slower rate then i would like. but if thats the best way then i will keep at it. any other opinions?

The most efficient way would be something like this:
http://beatelite.com/
I'm sure they'll have dubstep on there eventually.

That's no fun though, you'll develop your own sound more by experimenting on your on rather than following some sort of guide. Keep the resources in mind when you have a specific question.

Just keep writing track and they will progressively get better. It's not like your tracks are suddenly "good enough to play out" and you're done. Production is a journey, not a means to an end.

it's a process you should enjoy!

[legend4ry]

When I started making music I tried to learn and I didnt' get anywhere for like a year...

One day I opened up my DAW, loaded in random samples, found some presets and made my first dubstep tune.


From that day on, I decided to never, ever read a forum or watch youtube or buy a magazine for help on how to do something UNLESS (very important) I was interested in other peoples techniques.

Not to blow my own trumpet but I think I get on pretty well without learning from other people, apart from my very small network of producers who I get feedback from.

Sure, the process might of been slower but it was never fustrating nor did I have a dull moment and still today, 4 years later when I do something new off my own experimenting I feel pride and inspiration.

Fuck learning, just write!

[meer]

Don't put too much emphasis on all the technical geek jerkoff stuff, spending hours eqing snares will be a waste of time. Composition and arrangement are way more important, but figuring out craploads of technical crap will make you feel like you've progressed a lot. Read all the help files in FL, seriously. Not all at once, but screw around and if you don't know what something does, look it up in the manual and understand. Never look for the 'right thing to do'. Think about stuff.
Learn how to use a subtractive synthesizer, it isn't that hard.

[yellowhighlighter]

firstly that wall of text was almost impossible to read. and secondly you are making it sound like music is some sort of chore. making music should be an enjoyable experience. now obviously learning the technical ins and outs of electronic music production is important and it's great you are eager to learn.

but you said you've been producing for only 6 months and you're wondering why your tunes don't sound as good as the stuff you hear on mixes and radio shows? those tunes you're probably listening to are probably by people who have a lot of experience and there is also a high probability that the tunes was professionally mixed and mastered.

personally speaking i was making tracks on hardware first. mostly sampled based hip-hop beat sounding stuff. i used to just record my stuff straight to an 8-track so i wasn't really worrying about eqing, compression, etc. but when i moved to software i too was a bit overwhelmed with all the technical aspects that come with working with any modern DAW.

i've bought a couple of books relating to music production but tbh i find that i just read passages of them from time to time. i've honestly learned more from just randomly reading forums and watching videos on youtube. i don't watch videos in an attempt to learn a specific technique or anything, i just like watching them. and after reading and watching a lot of stuff relating to music production your brain will start picking things up and putting them together.

[iambullet]

Regarding the the bass: I usually start with a pure sine that peaks at about 50 Hz or something. Depending on your speakers and experience you can tell when the bass is deep enough as you want but frequency analyzers never hurt. This way you made sure the sub bass actually sits the below the kicks. Then I go and add the midrange stuff, more saws, squares etc. Which naturally sit higher than kicks but still the final bass sound will have sounds in the frequency range of the kick. The main punch for club kicks is something like 100 Hz or something so you can easily give room for it by EQing this part "out".

In a different thread (the 24 page gain structure one) someone wrote about another approach, namely band splitting the bass from like 30-90 and 150-up with smooth slopes. This naturally produces a frequency window for the kick drums.

Regarding synths: This is where I struggle myself a bit. I've been playing around with Massive for quite long and read the manual and everything but creating bass patches still consisted of educated knob twiddling and it probably won't get any better unless you have years of experience with sound design. Also, I would like to have one-synth-to-rule-them-all. As a matter of fact, I don't think this works. Albino is cool but has a different feature set from Massive and the new cool synths like ACE etc. are a whole different story. So my unexperienced advise would be trying to learn a decent amount of a variety of synths because, there is no do-it-all one as far as I know. I recommend reading through each synth's manual at least once. Not in like you have to know it by heart afterwards but just to give yourself an overview of what is it capable of then keep playing around. There are days where I fire up my DAW, throw a synth in and fondle the knobs for an hour or two. Sometimes I'm fond of something, sometimes I seemingly wasted time, it happens!

[Echoi]

OP your post was way too long so i read the first sentence then skipped to the bit where you said your learning process is crap or something

best thing you can do to begin with is read the entire manual for whatever DAW you are using. sit back, think about the things that stick in your mind, then read it all over again, rinse and repeat

[phrex]

OP your post was way too long so i read the first sentence then skipped to the bit where you said your learning process is crap or something

best thing you can do to begin with is read the entire manual for whatever DAW you are using. sit back, think about the things that stick in your mind, then read it all over again, rinse and repeat

did you do this?
i'd get bored of producing after the 2nd page...

i used the manual just for specific problems i had.

[Echoi]

OP your post was way too long so i read the first sentence then skipped to the bit where you said your learning process is crap or something

best thing you can do to begin with is read the entire manual for whatever DAW you are using. sit back, think about the things that stick in your mind, then read it all over again, rinse and repeat

did you do this?
i'd get bored of producing after the 2nd page...

i used the manual just for specific problems i had.

i was introduced to production when one of my mates was signed to storming productions about 4 years ago. that was pretty much the first piece of advice he gave me, and no i didnt read the entire manual in the end, but i gave it a good go and seeing as i had zero knowledge what so ever it did help. good advice all the same though if you can sit there and do it

[yellowhighlighter]

when i first jumped to software i started using reason and i pretty much read the entire manual. it is extremely well written though.

[phrex]

ableton manual is also ace though

[ASu]

When I started making music I tried to learn and I didnt' get anywhere for like a year...

One day I opened up my DAW, loaded in random samples, found some presets and made my first dubstep tune.


From that day on, I decided to never, ever read a forum or watch youtube or buy a magazine for help on how to do something UNLESS (very important) I was interested in other peoples techniques.

Not to blow my own trumpet but I think I get on pretty well without learning from other people, apart from my very small network of producers who I get feedback from.

Sure, the process might of been slower but it was never fustrating nor did I have a dull moment and still today, 4 years later when I do something new off my own experimenting I feel pride and inspiration.

Fuck learning, just write!

Hey man this is kinda unrelated to the thread but I listened to the track in your sig and you have amazing kicks going on there. I've lately been somewhat obsessed with making the perfect kick drum sounds and yours are pretty much spot on.

My kicks always come off as sounding a bit thin, I can get good punch but they're never quite fat and smooth enough. I dunno maybe I just need to use more bass on em.. Care to give any tips? would be really appreciated!

[Echoi]

When I started making music I tried to learn and I didnt' get anywhere for like a year...

One day I opened up my DAW, loaded in random samples, found some presets and made my first dubstep tune.


From that day on, I decided to never, ever read a forum or watch youtube or buy a magazine for help on how to do something UNLESS (very important) I was interested in other peoples techniques.

Not to blow my own trumpet but I think I get on pretty well without learning from other people, apart from my very small network of producers who I get feedback from.

Sure, the process might of been slower but it was never fustrating nor did I have a dull moment and still today, 4 years later when I do something new off my own experimenting I feel pride and inspiration.

Fuck learning, just write!

Hey man this is kinda unrelated to the thread but I listened to the track in your sig and you have amazing kicks going on there. I've lately been somewhat obsessed with making the perfect kick drum sounds and yours are pretty much spot on.

My kicks always come off as sounding a bit thin, I can get good punch but they're never quite fat and smooth enough. I dunno maybe I just need to use more bass on em.. Care to give any tips? would be really appreciated!

he records the sound of himself banging his own head against the wall when people spam the production forum

[Depone]

First of i would like to say that using fruity loops isn't like using your conventional DAW. Its quicker granted, but i find the signal flow weird, so this may or may not help you to learn the fundamentals.

You sound like your really trying to rush into learning, and you want EVERYTHING NOW!!!. Trust me, it takes mote then 6 months to become decent. More like 4 years to become amazing (Banana bomber is an exception )

Even producers who have been working for 10+ years are still learning new tricks. So basically... Stop being impatient and enjoy the learning process.
To be honest your coming off as being quite frustrated with your current level. As us British people say... "Keep calm, and carry on"

[phrex]

When I started making music I tried to learn and I didnt' get anywhere for like a year...

One day I opened up my DAW, loaded in random samples, found some presets and made my first dubstep tune.


From that day on, I decided to never, ever read a forum or watch youtube or buy a magazine for help on how to do something UNLESS (very important) I was interested in other peoples techniques.

Not to blow my own trumpet but I think I get on pretty well without learning from other people, apart from my very small network of producers who I get feedback from.

Sure, the process might of been slower but it was never fustrating nor did I have a dull moment and still today, 4 years later when I do something new off my own experimenting I feel pride and inspiration.

Fuck learning, just write!

Hey man this is kinda unrelated to the thread but I listened to the track in your sig and you have amazing kicks going on there. I've lately been somewhat obsessed with making the perfect kick drum sounds and yours are pretty much spot on.

My kicks always come off as sounding a bit thin, I can get good punch but they're never quite fat and smooth enough. I dunno maybe I just need to use more bass on em.. Care to give any tips? would be really appreciated!

he records the sound of himself banging his own head against the wall when people spam the production forum

i always get way too much reverb on it when i do it

[legend4ry]

When I started making music I tried to learn and I didnt' get anywhere for like a year...

One day I opened up my DAW, loaded in random samples, found some presets and made my first dubstep tune.


From that day on, I decided to never, ever read a forum or watch youtube or buy a magazine for help on how to do something UNLESS (very important) I was interested in other peoples techniques.

Not to blow my own trumpet but I think I get on pretty well without learning from other people, apart from my very small network of producers who I get feedback from.

Sure, the process might of been slower but it was never fustrating nor did I have a dull moment and still today, 4 years later when I do something new off my own experimenting I feel pride and inspiration.

Fuck learning, just write!

Hey man this is kinda unrelated to the thread but I listened to the track in your sig and you have amazing kicks going on there. I've lately been somewhat obsessed with making the perfect kick drum sounds and yours are pretty much spot on.

My kicks always come off as sounding a bit thin, I can get good punch but they're never quite fat and smooth enough. I dunno maybe I just need to use more bass on em.. Care to give any tips? would be really appreciated!

he records the sound of himself banging his own head against the wall when people spam the production forum

i always get way too much reverb on it when i do it

lololol at you two.

My kicks are pretty simple really, I layer a electronic drum ontop of a acoustic drum and EQ to fit, run into a bus, compress then I export - I do this when bored and thus I have like 94 kick drums I have made through layering I just click through those when making tracks, I know they're all good cause I made them to my taste. Also if I remember rightly, I cut that kick drum at about 60hz so there actually isn't a lot of bass in there, though I feel it works well with the sub

My advice is to make your own kicks and process them to fit your tastes, not during making a tune but just randomly when bored, that way you get a collection of kickdrums you like.

P.S there is a funky house sample kit I bought about 2-3 months ago, it has the most beastly kicks in this world I would reccomend it - once I am back home i'll get the actual name (though that won't be for a few weeks)

[ASu]

When I started making music I tried to learn and I didnt' get anywhere for like a year...

One day I opened up my DAW, loaded in random samples, found some presets and made my first dubstep tune.


From that day on, I decided to never, ever read a forum or watch youtube or buy a magazine for help on how to do something UNLESS (very important) I was interested in other peoples techniques.

Not to blow my own trumpet but I think I get on pretty well without learning from other people, apart from my very small network of producers who I get feedback from.

Sure, the process might of been slower but it was never fustrating nor did I have a dull moment and still today, 4 years later when I do something new off my own experimenting I feel pride and inspiration.

Fuck learning, just write!

Hey man this is kinda unrelated to the thread but I listened to the track in your sig and you have amazing kicks going on there. I've lately been somewhat obsessed with making the perfect kick drum sounds and yours are pretty much spot on.

My kicks always come off as sounding a bit thin, I can get good punch but they're never quite fat and smooth enough. I dunno maybe I just need to use more bass on em.. Care to give any tips? would be really appreciated!

he records the sound of himself banging his own head against the wall when people spam the production forum

i always get way too much reverb on it when i do it

lololol at you two.

My kicks are pretty simple really, I layer a electronic drum ontop of a acoustic drum and EQ to fit, run into a bus, compress then I export - I do this when bored and thus I have like 94 kick drums I have made through layering I just click through those when making tracks, I know they're all good cause I made them to my taste. Also if I remember rightly, I cut that kick drum at about 60hz so there actually isn't a lot of bass in there, though I feel it works well with the sub

My advice is to make your own kicks and process them to fit your tastes, not during making a tune but just randomly when bored, that way you get a collection of kickdrums you like.

P.S there is a funky house sample kit I bought about 2-3 months ago, it has the most beastly kicks in this world I would reccomend it - once I am back home i'll get the actual name (though that won't be for a few weeks)

Cool, thanks. That's pretty much what I've been doing except that I've cut the kicks bass around 100hz. I've always thought it'd mess with the subbass if I went lower but it seems to work for you. I'll dedicate today to just making a bunch of kicks, maybe I'll figure it out.