musical knowledge

mae · Post by **mae** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:23 pm

Hey everyone

i'm pretty new to production (just spare time on my laptop) and was wonderin how much knowledge u guys had of music before u started producing?

like can u play instruments etc? and how important is it to have a background like that? i'll be honest alot of the stuff i read on this forum goes over my head!!

also anyone else here making hip hop beats too? this is what i've been making but trying to recreate some of the 'dubstep sound' over hip hop beats.

future producer · Post by **future producer** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:50 pm

I have no musical background and cannot play any instrument unless it has a piano roll attached to it or it has a tone arm with a start/stop button

.

It's far better to know how to play an instrument like a piano before hand, makes things a bit more easy as you'll also have some understanding of music theory. I don't know any music theory, I just go by ear and if it sounds right it probably is. I am teaching myself to play the piano at the moment though.

I don't really make Hip-Hop but I do love to make the beats in my sampler, that's fun and can spend hours making crazy loops.

feasible_weasel · Post by **feasible_weasel** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:57 pm

nothing......u just need to listen to alot of different stuff......

dubdisciple · Post by **dubdisciple** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:59 pm

Having a musical background surely can't hurt. I have a little musical training. I played trumpet as a youth and took some piano lessons. Most of that knowledge is fragmented at best. Knowing how to read music has come in handy. With that said, some genres do not require musical training. I would suggest at the very least , browsing the internet or getting a book that covers the following areas:

Rhythm
Chord Progressions
Scales

There are many other helpful things to learn, but IMHO that's a good start.I also think the degree of musical knowledge needed depends heavily on the genre. Obviously, producing classical would be mostly impossible without musical training (I say mostly because one could use a bunch of loops and create very weak "classical"). Hip-hop songs can consist of nothing but drums. I think dubstep has more flexibility than most genres of music.

I'm new to dubstep and will hopefully post a track to be shredded by everyone soon. I am struggling to create something that does not sound like a poor imitation of what's out there. I also do hip-hop and have an interest in incorporating a dubstep feel to it.

future producer · Post by **future producer** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 7:04 pm

Yeah, like know when I listen to music I can think "well that sounds like two arp'd saw waves with an automated lo-pass filter attached to an LFO blah blah blah".

The more you play around with things the more you get used to them. The best thing to do is read the manual and Google for things on your synth like ADSR, Amp Env, etc. Sound on Sound have got some free articles on there - http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/csound/synth_secret.html

And of course, raven spirals guide to music theory
http://www.ravenspiral.com/ravenspiralguide.pdf

feasible_weasel · Post by **feasible_weasel** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 8:06 pm

Future Producer wrote:Yeah, like know when I listen to music I can think "well that sounds like two arp'd saw waves with an automated lo-pass filter attached to an LFO blah blah blah".

The more you play around with things the more you get used to them. The best thing to do is read the manual and Google for things on your synth like ADSR, Amp Env, etc. Sound on Sound have got some free articles on there - http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/csound/synth_secret.html

And of course, raven spirals guide to music theory
http://www.ravenspiral.com/ravenspiralguide.pdf

dubdisciple · Post by **dubdisciple** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:31 pm

musical training certainly has not helped me create a wobble bass

djake · Post by **djake** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:34 pm

played guitar for a few years

could play a little on the drums and i mean the basics

dunno if its helpd at all but then if i didnt play the guitar i dnt fink i would av ever got into production

rekordah · Post by **rekordah** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 9:36 pm

mae wrote:trying to recreate some of the 'dubstep sound' over hip hop beats.

yeh thats kinda along the lines of what i've been trying recently...check the link in my sig.

dubdisciple · Post by **dubdisciple** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:10 pm

rekorder wrote:
mae wrote:trying to recreate some of the 'dubstep sound' over hip hop beats.
yeh thats kinda along the lines of what i've been trying recently...check the link in my sig.

Good stuff. Can you suggest any of the ones on the linked page that specifically combine dubstep and hip-hop?

auan · Post by **auan** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:18 pm

djake wrote:played guitar for a few years

...

dunno if its helpd at all but then if i didnt play the guitar i dnt fink i would av ever got into production

x2

rekordah · Post by **rekordah** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:22 pm

mmm... well there my remix of Ikonika's "Phonelines" (Dubstep Artist) . The Slum Village remix is quite stripped down and minimal which was kinda influenced by dubstep. Hip-hop is one of my passions so i feel it influences me in a way on every tune i make.

future producer · Post by **future producer** » Sun Nov 25, 2007 10:35 pm

Rekorder I cannot get your tunes to play on Virb man.

somejerk · Post by **somejerk** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:35 am

attended performing arts school from 3rd to 7th grade for piano. stopped playing piano but picked up bass guitar in 10th grade, played in punk bands and eventually started using a computer to make beats. fast forward 7 or 8 years worth of self teaching on and off and here i am.

computers died and data was lost, interests shifted and wanned. however after 2 years of consistently reading and trying to make dance floor music, i think i'm doing okay.

best advice i can give is to get a keyboard or piano and just start playing. if you have the patience, get piano tutorials that will teach you basic chord structure, time and composition. these things will help you write electronic music just as well as non-electronic music. or be completely avant garde and just make noise. some people fall for that.

rekordah · Post by **rekordah** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:36 pm

Future Producer wrote:Rekorder I cannot get your tunes to play on Virb man.

Shizzle, sorry man. Must be the site try again later i guess, either that or u dont have flash......

mae · Post by **mae** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 8:33 pm

somejerk wrote:attended performing arts school from 3rd to 7th grade for piano. stopped playing piano but picked up bass guitar in 10th grade, played in punk bands and eventually started using a computer to make beats. fast forward 7 or 8 years worth of self teaching on and off and here i am.

computers died and data was lost, interests shifted and wanned. however after 2 years of consistently reading and trying to make dance floor music, i think i'm doing okay.

best advice i can give is to get a keyboard or piano and just start playing. if you have the patience, get piano tutorials that will teach you basic chord structure, time and composition. these things will help you write electronic music just as well as non-electronic music. or be completely avant garde and just make noise. some people fall for that.

yeah im planning on getting a midi keyboard in the new year - hopefully i can pick up the basics quickly

somejerk · Post by **somejerk** » Tue Nov 27, 2007 11:08 pm

search for tutorials, i'm telling you! there's so much knowledge on the internet. even if you just find one telling you how to place your fingers and basic chords, you'll have a good start.

mae · Post by **mae** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:55 pm

rekorder wrote:
mae wrote:trying to recreate some of the 'dubstep sound' over hip hop beats.
yeh thats kinda along the lines of what i've been trying recently...check the link in my sig.

yeah im feelin those - similar kind of sound to what im aiming for - although atm mine are more traditional hip hop beats with some slight dubstep variation (playing around with timestrecthing and things like that)

future producer · Post by **future producer** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:39 pm

This is where I am getting some help from http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/

I can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Start and everything lol.

daft cunt · Post by **daft cunt** » Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:52 pm

Future Producer wrote:This is where I am getting some help from http://www.looknohands.com/chordhouse/piano/

I can play Twinkle Twinkle Little Start and everything lol.

Best resource for chords and scales.

And yes learning musical stuff is definitely a big step forward. I mean some people can go without it but most of us will take benefit of it.

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