Tips on (amateur) production of electronic music?

[PokémonTrainerFour]

I decided to start producing a little bit of electronic and got the demo of FL Studio.

Are there any general tips on sounds, using FL, anything? I already downloaded a buttload of samples, and a couple of VSTs.

Nothing too over the top, I'm not going professional

 

Also, as a bonus question: Are there any decent headphones/IEMs for this kind of stuff under, say, $80 USD? Currently I'm just using crappy $10 earbuds.

[killcomic]

Yeah, you may want to invest on a good set of cans. You want bass response because if the bass clashes, your music will sound like arse. Gotta make sure you can pick that up.

[PokémonTrainerFour]

Yeah, you may want to invest in a good set of cans. You want bass response because if the bass clashes, your music will sound like arse. Gotta make sure you can pick that up.

do you know a good one maybe?

 

preferably one with a colder sound signature, as that's what I'm going for

[SAV1OUR]

before anything choose what style edm, triphop etc then start 

 

edm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGA2IgOrlXkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGA2IgOrlXk

 

tiphop

[killcomic]

do you know a good one maybe?

 

preferably one with a colder sound signature, as that's what I'm going for

Not particularly. Anything with an OK bass response will do and it doesn't have to be stupidly expensive either. 

[PokémonTrainerFour]

before anything choose what style edm, triphop etc then start 

 

-snoop-

never said edm

 

might go for it, I don't know

but I was leaning towards electronic rock

[PokémonTrainerFour]

kind of a bump i guess

 

does anyone also know of good electronic rock samples?

[helping]

do you know a good one maybe?

 

preferably one with a colder sound signature, as that's what I'm going for

What do you mean colder?

You don't buy headphones that sound like the music you want, you make the music sound how you want on a given pair of reference headphones.

 

Yeah, you may want to invest on a good set of cans. You want bass response because if the bass clashes, your music will sound like arse. Gotta make sure you can pick that up.

You don't want bass response particularly more than anything else, or else your music will sound terrible because it's poorly mastered.

[PokémonTrainerFour]

What do you mean colder?

You don't buy headphones that sound like the music you want, you make the music sound how you want on a given pair of reference headphones.

 

You don't want bass response particularly more than anything else, or else your music will sound terrible because it's poorly mastered.

that makes sense

 

a reference pair is probably the best option

is there anything good under $80, like i've asked before?

leaning towards AKG K 204s right now (or ATH M30x's)

[helping]

that makes sense

 

a reference pair is probably the best option

is there anything good under $80, like i've asked before?

leaning towards AKG K 204s right now (or ATH M30x's)

MDRV6 or 7506

unparalleled for the price.

see if you can find a decent pair of either used.

[iTzPrime]

I decided to start producing a little bit of electronic and got the demo of FL Studio.

Are there any general tips on sounds, using FL, anything? I already downloaded a buttload of samples, and a couple of VSTs.

Nothing too over the top, I'm not going professional

 

Also, as a bonus question: Are there any decent headphones/IEMs for this kind of stuff under, say, $80 USD? Currently I'm just using crappy $10 earbuds.

Learn music theory. It will help you a lot, and you will have more ideas

[teddyteddyteddy]

Watch tutorials on youtube to learn how to program synths. FL studio has some pretty good synths built in, but the vst massive is really good.... But it costs money..

I would try to get a midi keyboard, you don't even have to be good at piano or anything, it just helps you make things up and find notes that sound good and stuff.

Search Google for "best headphones for music production under <your budget>" and read through threads on the head fi forum to find the best headphones for you.

[Feveredbike]

Try and get a neutral set set of headphones! If you get a headphone with too much bass, or any other frequency, you'll find the final sound of the song to be lacking in bass because the headphones are overcompensating for what is actually being produced.

[PokémonTrainerFour]

Learn music theory. It will help you a lot, and you will have more ideas

already a musician (i play clarinet), but I have indeed been looking more into music theory and harmonies and melodies and such

 

 

Watch tutorials on youtube to learn how to program synths. FL studio has some pretty good synths built in, but the vst massive is really good.... But it costs money..

I would try to get a midi keyboard, you don't even have to be good at piano or anything, it just helps you make things up and find notes that sound good and stuff.

Already found some nice free VSTs like Ultrakiller and T-Force.

Can you recommend a midi keyboard?

 

 

anyhuay thanks everyone for the help

[BoredErica]

It's lame to suggest taking questions to another forum, but Gearslutz is centered around gear for music production and general music production... Most of us here don't make music. You might wanna try asking there or some other music production forum for tips in addition to LTT. For example... all of my knowledge is around music consumption, not production.

[iTzPrime]

already a musician (i play clarinet), but I have indeed been looking more into music theory and harmonies and melodies and such

 

 

Already found some nice free VSTs like Ultrakiller and T-Force.

Can you recommend a midi keyboard?

 

 

anyhuay thanks everyone for the help

look at the 4 chord structure (there is more than just one 4 chord structure - looking strangly at pop) and also at the Jazzscales and Churchscales

[ChaosGoW]

There are a whole bunch of videos on youtube about how to get started making music. Just don't fall into the gear trap. You can make a great sounding record on cheap gear and don't let people tell you otherwise. You will however want a few core bits of kit for your budding studio.

 

1. Good pair of flat monitors. Not the kind with pixels, monitors are speakers in the audio creation world. You want them to have a flat response so that you get an honest representation of what you're making. If you're speakers are lying to you, it's harder to get it to sound how you want. You can mix on headphones but it's not easy, you'll find that your music doesn't sound right on speakers, even if it sounds great on headphones but it's much easier to get it to translate the other way around. You want to make sure your ears are getting the exact same information your computer is producing - That's the singal chain you want to keep on top of.

 

2. A good Interface. Since you're making EDM and wont be using external sound makers, you wont need to spend a lot to get something great. What you'll want is something with a couple of ins and a couple of outs. The benefits of using an interface over a gaming sound card or entertainment DAC is that you get something designed for that job. That means better software support as well as better control over the device in the drivers. FL studio will know how to use pretty much every audio interface on the market but it'll get tounge tied if it tries to use anything else.

 

Well that's pretty much all you need to get started. If you want to make your own loops you might want to look into a midi keyboard and maybe a midi fader bank but you can do all that with a mouse and keyboard if you absolutely have to.

 

Don't get me wrong, my way is by no means perfect but it'll point you in the right direction. I've been doing it for years on and off. I make rock music, not EDM but the idea is still the same. 

[teddyteddyteddy]

 

1. Good pair of flat monitors. Not the kind with pixels, monitors are speakers in the audio creation world. You want them to have a flat response so that you get an honest representation of what you're making. If you're speakers are lying to you, it's harder to get it to sound how you want. You can mix on headphones but it's not easy, you'll find that your music doesn't sound right on speakers, even if it sounds great on headphones but it's much easier to get it to translate the other way around. You want to make sure your ears are getting the exact same information your computer is producing - That's the singal chain you want to keep on top of.

 

2. A good Interface. Since you're making EDM and wont be using external sound makers, you wont need to spend a lot to get something great. What you'll want is something with a couple of ins and a couple of outs. The benefits of using an interface over a gaming sound card or entertainment DAC is that you get something designed for that job. That means better software support as well as better control over the device in the drivers. FL studio will know how to use pretty much every audio interface on the market but it'll get tounge tied if it tries to use anything else.

studio headphones are going to be a lot better than studio monitors when you have a lower budget.  for $100, you can't get decent speakers, but you can get pretty decent headphones.  I would try to get headphones unless I had closer to $400 ish  to spend.  More expensive speakers can be much better than headphones, but with a lower budget, headphones are the best choice. That's what I've gathered from all the research i've done, which is a lot...

 

An audio interface would be nice, but isn't entirely necessary if there isn't any audio being recorded.  I have the focusrite scarlett 2i2, but you wouldn't necessarily need something like that.

 

 

Can you recommend a midi keyboard?

if you don't play piano, then you don't need a really nice keyboard with a lot of keys.  I play piano and I have the M-Audio Keystation 49,  but you might be better off with a 25 key if you just want to make up some melodies and find notes/chords. 

 

I think this one seems good, there aren't any reviews yet though.  It has full size keys and some extra buttons and knobs and stuff:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/V25

 

this one is a little bit cheaper, but has mini keys.. that shouldn't be much of a problem though unless you actually play piano, or have really big hands..  It also comes with the "Korg m1 LE software synth"  I don't know if that's any good, but it might be cool.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/microKEY25

 

this one is cheapish, has a lot of knobs and buttons, mini keys, and no reviews.  I don't know if it's good or not, but if you want the extra buttons and stuff, it might be a good choice

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GraphiteM25

 

this is what I have, it takes up a lot more space and doesn't have any extra features, but I like it 

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Keystation49

 

 

if you don't play piano, I would probably go with the first option or the second option.  first has more buttons and stuff and better keys, second option takes up less space and comes with a software synthesizer, and is a little bit cheaper.  

[ShearMe]

Make it loud and put lots of bass in it.