Production production noob - i wanna learn

[thesightless]

hey yall,

ok, i want to beign to experiment with producing some tracks, you know, at learning some things..

i need to be pointed in the right direction to what hardware/software is required at the basic level.

i have a powerfu computer, PC, not mac. shold be no need to upgrade here as i have a plenty of ram, memory, and dual output soundcard that i have used with various mixing software both live and at desk.

what software should i look at? i prefer more housey applications to say a techno app.

wat hardware is out there? i saw those videos on the lemur product and needless to say im damn intrigued, what software/hardware does that thing work with?

i would prefer to avoid a synth if i can for now. nothing crazy here, just some stuff to put my feet in the door and learn.

also, if ppl have certain software in mind, that requires expansion packs of sounds, let me know.

[ShawnD64]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

for basic level the best start is reason... but honestly ableton live is not too much more.... and the capabilities far exceed that of reason. if you buy reason or live fully loaded, that should be all you need as far as software...

for hardware, all you need is a good sound card, some sort of monitor and a controller. you have a job, so its tough to say really cause you may have more money to through around....

what kind of money are you willing to spend

[jeffrey collins]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

i've got a real nice tascam 24 bit soundcard for USB 144. It has 2 ins so you can record vocals. Let me know if you are interested.

[Dungeon Keeper]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

Get Fruity Loops, not Reason.
M-Audio monitors are OK.
Thats All you need for start and you can make great music with that, you dont need anything more.
Fruity Loops has the ability to play notes via keyboard.
You could get a headphones too.

I tried Reason, but its more complicated than Fruity and you must have Midi keyboard to play or you play by clicking notes with mouse and that's not very effective.

[jeffrey collins]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

Sightless, you know how I feel bro. Ableton all the way. Why start with Numark Tables when you could start with Technics.

[thesightless]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

heh..

ok, gimme a pro/con breakdown of fruityloops , reason, and ableton. obviously im 100% new.

do i need a MIDI keyboard for all of them?

what sound packages a. come with them, b. need to be purchased>?

[ShawnD64]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

heh..

ok, gimme a pro/con breakdown of fruityloops , reason, and ableton. obviously im 100% new.

do i need a MIDI keyboard for all of them?

what sound packages a. come with them, b. need to be purchased>?

you dont need a midi keyboard for any, but i highly suggest it. clicking on a note and then going back to change parameters is a pain. and midi keyboards do work in reason, not too sure why it wouldnt work for the dungeon keeper.

reason:
pros:
* it is an all inclusive package and easy for noob's to start.
* fairly cheap
cons:
* not expandable (ie cannot add vsts)
*unless you buy ReCycle with it, working with audio loops suck (remixing is basically out)
* imo small and crappy sequencer (yes you can make it bigger, but it still sucks)
* poor sound quality

fruity loops:
** never used it **

live:
pros:
* better sequencer!
* working with audio is a dream (their big selling point)
* expandable... add vst's till you puke
* easy for dj mixes/mashups if you so desire
* not too much out there beats it (to most it is the best, i am a logic user... but it is great).
cons:
* might be hard to learn off the bat.
* cost

[jeffrey collins]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

i would say that if you really think you are going to be into making and remixing music in the far off future...2-3 years. Than get Ableton or even Logic. As those really seem to be the two major programs people use for their music.

And when trying to learn to use Ableton, there are a ton of tutorials out there for learning anything you might have a hang up on.

[thesightless]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

ok, but with ableton, what else is required? i hvae seen it being used by poto firsthand, so i get the software for mixing music for a dj mix(i have used simliar), but where is the production value of ableton. does it have a large sound library? sequencing? effects? keyboard requirements/abilities?

[jeffrey collins]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

it has all that stuff. And more. It's a full on production studio.Just go listen to anything from Zabiela, it was done on Ableton...along with tons of other producers. It doesn't have keyboard requirements. All you need is a MIDI port in your sound interface and one for your keyboard. Hook them up and there you go.

And I use the effects in Ableton quite a bit. Nice eq's, flangers, chorus, delays, filters. etc.

[thesightless]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

browsing ableton's site. prices arent bad at all as i was expecting this to run well into the 3-5K range over time.

i watched a few tutorials as well, seems fairly friendly once you get to learn what each modulation does.

any cool MIDI controllers out there for a noob? or should i stick to a shitty keyboard? (i can spend here, but not on maven lvl)

[ShawnD64]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

this works pretty well, its easy to use ect (oxygen

http://www.zzounds.com/item--MIMOXYGEN8

i am getting sick of mine and really want a novation remote sl .. more money, but looks soooo sweet

http://www.zzounds.com/item--NOVREMOTE25SL

[jeffrey collins]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

that's the new oxygen 8? Way nicer than my first generation one. The nice thing about these controllers is that you can assign the knobs to literally anything. I thought one time about taking the 8 knobs on my Oxy and setting the bottom one to volume for each of the two channels i would be mixing, then the three others to the eq settings, that way i could treat it like a real mixer. Then you can set particular samples to each key on the keyboard, so you can fly in loops all over the place.

[thesightless]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

i like that second and at a very reasonable price for decent technology.. maybe ill pick it up once i decide and learn a program.

[jeffrey collins]

Re: production noob - i wanna learn

yeah the remote's are what SPOOKY uses.