Complete Noob Seeking Help

[mentalstrike]

Hello there! I am quite possibly this forum's worst nightmare (which is why I seem to post in here a ton). I have zero musical training, nor do I fully understand most of the stuff that Fruity Loops is capable of. I do, however, have Fruity Loops Studio 8, and an intense desire to learn about it, as well as gain any amount of musical training I can. If you feel like helping, read on as I elaborate, otherwise, thanks for taking this much time out of your busy life! Oh, and if this is in the wrong forum, please feel free to suggest better ones for it.

Okay, for those of you that are still here, the rest of this post will break down my assets, skills, weaknesses, goals, etc. Please read all of it before attempting to help, thanks. Okay, what I said earlier about zero musical training was true, for the most part. I have some self-taught sheet music reading skills, but it's at the point where I'd compare me saying I can read sheet music to a first grader saying they can read, based on their ability to kind of read those little books that are supposed to help them learn to read. Basically, I can read single notes, and eventually figure out what they are. Switch to Bass Clef on me, though, and I'm completely lost. I also do not know what the different symbols mean. So, basic sheet music reading skills are my only musical ability, other than that, I have no idea what I'm doing. Now, Fruity Loops, I can do basic things in FL Studio, make a basic drumbeat, make random noises, etc., but I fall extremely short of being able to produce anything even resembling a tune, let alone music, unless I'm inputting notes from sheet music directly into the Piano Roll. I do, however, learn, and retain, new information extremely quick, especially when it deals with technology. So, learning Fruity Loops should not be that hard for me, provided I can find a good, coherent tutorial that can understand that I know nothing of making music formally. Music, on the other hand, will probably be a lot harder to learn for me, because I generally learn by doing, which, as a result, has me only able to reproduce similar results to what I've seen. Okay, now that I've got that huge block of text that I call an elaboration over with, onto my requests.

In short, I am looking for a comprehensive tutorial, either on the Internet or emailed to me, that can teach me to, if not master, become massive quantities of better at using FL Studio 8 to it's fullest capabilities. I am also looking for either a tutorial (again, Internet or emailed, though I do not put much stock in tutorials on this kind of subject...music is not exactly a step-by-step, identical-every-time process) or a teacher (most likely via IM, Webcam, and Microphone bundled together, and this is the one I would much prefer) to teach me music theory or whatever it's called. Basically, I want to learn music. I want to be able to play it, write my own (and have it sound good), and have a little bit of backing with me next time I decide to give my opinion on my best friend's original pieces. Oh yeah, and now for the clincher. I need this all to be free or cost $24.09 max (though cash is the only form of payment I can offer, so that basically limits the payment option to things or people in my immediate area). If this is at all possible, or if you would like to teach me (I will work completely to your schedule, unless emergencies come up) please send me a private message or email me. Please, no matter how ridiculous you think this endeavor is, please do not openly mock me in this forum. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you even more if you decide to help.

[DusK]

I just messed around in it. The more I create with it, the more I learn about the application, so I pump out tracks like crazy.

That being said, music is very easy to learn by doing. I didn't need a teacher to teach me what I know about music theory; I just did research as I wrote. Everyone learns differently, though.

My advice is to just mess around with the program and try to make some stuff you think sounds nifty. Learning an additional instrument (keyboard immediately comes to mind, but I prefer guitar) will help a lot with the music creation process; Many of my orchestral pieces start as guitar riffs. Taking lessons for an instrument you think you'd like can speed up the process quite a bit.

There are tutorials floating around this forum, and basic lessons for instruments are usually a Google search away. Just keep at it. Keep writing, keep studying. You keep doing all that, you'll feel out your music style and learn stuff about music along the way.

Good luck, and here's to hoping everything pays off for ya!

[motoldm]

I might have to agree with Dusk... Although, you can look on Youtube and get the basics down. I, myself, learn Fruity Loops better by just doing, instead of reading. I don't create the best songs, but you get better by practicing.

[Zephyr]

You might be best served in just learning some general theory instead of FL Studio stuff, that way you learn more about how to make music, learning the program will come with time, and it's easy to find tutorials for that. Someone else can point you towards some good theory sites.

[Sou]

Is theory really that important? I know it would be a benefit if one brushed up on theory, but still, mixing/composing can still be done without any knowledge of theory, am I right? The reason why I'm asking is because I learnt piano quite some years ago but as I prefered to play the piano (practical) I neglected the theory portion. I'm trying to create/compose a few tracks of my own and have started trying to pick it up again, but I would like to hear the thoughts of the guys here. Thanks a lot in advance (:

[Rozovian]

Most of theory is utterly useless when mixing, but ReMixing like here at ocremix involves composing your own arrangement of the music, and that's where theory is important.

Personally, I have little or no formal theory, but I've learned what sounds good and what doesn't. There's theory in there, but it's stuff I've discovered and not things I've been taught. If the music sounds good, it _is_ good, and probably utilizes a lot of theory, whether the composer/arranger knew it or not.

If you can play (as in "not just elbows on the keys"), you probably know enough to write good music even if you don't think of it as theory.

Short answer: yes and no.

--

There might be better threads for this discussion, but that's for the mods to fix.

[Selios]

was really tempted to tl;dr, but actually your post made me smile.

I think i know how you feel about autodidaxy. I've been looking for tutorials and stuff myself for a while now. Most of them didn't teach me anything.

Everyone can learn on their own. But I do think you can learn waaaay faster with someone to help you out.

And, it can be a lot more fun.

I'd gladly give you some advice, but i can't do much more right now.

Your request is not ridiculous at all. I hope you will find someone to teach you.

[Halt]

You might be best served in just learning some general theory instead of FL Studio stuff, that way you learn more about how to make music, learning the program will come with time, and it's easy to find tutorials for that. Someone else can point you towards some good theory sites.[/quot

Although I do agree with you, i have found, that learning an instrument has starting to be a tremendous help, I'm just learning simple chords for my guitar when i have time, I've actually broke a rhythmic rut I've been stuck in and kinda widened my range of notes and such.

Theory is good to know, I will also pick up basic theory eventually.

[mentalstrike]

Thanks for all the replies! Didn't think the response would be that strong! And yeah, I've pretty much just started dabbling in random stuff. Downloaded a couple VSTs (Vanguard and Z3ta+) and starting with Hardstyle music, as that's what I'm currently into, and it's a lot of fun to do it in FLStudio, especially now that I have 9 XXL Producer's (woot woot lifetime upgrades, best idea ever). I actually posted a remix (sort of) of The Power of the Mind (by Headhunterz) in the WIP/Other forum, if any of you want to check it out and tell me what you think. I did the whole thing mostly by myself, getting the notes right for the melody took forever and I ended up getting my best friend (who knows everything about music ever) to help me out a bit at the end.

[Nabeel Ansari]

Pretty much everything has been said.

I never formally learned music theory or even FL itself,

I just kinda toyed around with it (and i have an older brother that's a real good composer).

Pretty much what I would do is find a really good remixer/composer on this site or somewhere and ask them for updates on something they're working on.

Question EVERY CHANGE AND EVERY ADDITION.

Why did you do "dadadadada"?

How come "this and that"?

How do I do "blah blah blah"?

That's how I learned; Shariq never taught me, it was mostly just me coming into his room uninvited while he was doing something with Fruityloops and askin him what the hell he was doing. (Well maybe not that bluntly, but the meaning is all the same)

That's how I learned theory; by watching what the composer did and asking why he did it.

Everything he showed (not taught) me I've tried applying into my own music (most of them successful attempts) and it worked, and I built from that. I just try something myself and master it.

[mentalstrike]

Hey, back again. I'm quickly discovering that I have no idea how to make stuff on my own. I'm hoping that'll change when I finally buckle down and attempt to learn bass guitar like I've been planning to do for ages. But in the meantime, I've sort of taken up post production on my friend's music, and, according to him, I'm doing really well at that. Also, trying to take up DJing, but that's kind of hard to do without any physical hardware to work with. Saving up the cash for some decent equipment. Thanks for your help, and I hope that next time I come back, I've learned enough to actually make something of my own, rather than copying other stuff or messing with finished tracks. In other news, for some reason, I can come up with nice tunes in my head, but I'm never able to get the notes down in fruity loops, on a piano, or anything. Closest I ever came was when I made a really, really, basic bassline one day just messing around on a friends bass. They seemed to like it though xD It only consisted of 5 notes >.>

[Kiro Dragoon]

I realy suck at coming up with music on my own..... so what I do is get a MIDI file of the song i want to remix, then change all the tracks.... then I make ALOT of ajustments.... usualy I end up with little to none of the original midi, and my own song

So having the original song to tamper with helps me come up with an idea...

but I honestly dont know how most of FL studio works, I just do my best to make something that sounds good with my little understanding of the functions XP