Need some help getting started.

[furymaster]

Okay, I know there are plenty of tutorials about how do to things, but to be quite honest I'm getting a little confused with all the stuff and what I need for what I want.

I pretty much want to be able to make my own music that sounds pretty good like most of the remixes on this site do.

I know there are keyboards, software, videocards, etc. I know there are a lot of options. I just want a basic setup to get started and get used to everything. I would probably be more into maybe a techno or orchestrated remix. If anyone could help me out I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you for your time!

[OverCoat]

A basic setup to get used to everything? I could see you using Reason or something like that. All the synths and sounds you need [for right now!] are included in the package when you buy it, and it's one of the simpler things to learn out there on the market while still not being limited too much. I think that's the main reason it's so popular. Also, Reason 4 is not too far away and the Reason Fanboy Legion assures me it's going to be a huge improvement over the current version.

edit: also, choose your own destiny [lol]! If you don't like Reason there are other options.

[avaris]

There are demos for just about every program out there except Cubase. Try all the demos multiple times until you find a program that fits. You'll eventually create your own approach to making music. You'll want to find a program that takes a similar approach. Also whichever program who have the most fun with is prob the right for you IMO.

IMO here are the cheaper $100 programs that would be great. It's prob not a good idea to drop tons of cash unless you are sure making music is something you spent a lot of time doing and are at least half-way serious about.

$99 Project5 from Cakewalk.

$75 EnergyXT

$40 Cockos Reaper

I'd completely agree with OverCoat about Reason too. You can get it for $200 on an academic discount if you are a student or teacher.

www.academicsuperstore.com

Are you on a MAC or PC?

[Yoozer]

that sounds pretty good like most of the remixes on this site do.

There's no tutorial for this.

I know there are a lot of options.

It boils down to this:

- something to control your software with: a keyboard with USB and knobs, maybe even some pads. Doesn't need its own sounds. State your budget and how big you want it to be, that'll be all.

- a sequencer: e.g. the "conductor" of all your instruments. Reason is pretty versatile, but FL Studio is a nice option too; lots of choice in this department and as long as it runs VST plugins nicely you're OK (Reason is self-contained mostly, but you can bother with that later if you want to).

- plugins (again, Reason is self-contained so you get a lot of 'm with it already). There's a crapton of cheap and free synthesizers out there, add a sampler for your own noises and percussion samples and maybe something for the orchestral stuff, and you're good to go, too.

- an USB/Firewire/PCI audio interface (that's a fancy word for a soundcard). Do you play another instrument or do you want to record vocals? If that's not the case, an M-Audio Audiophile 2496 or 192 will do, or an E-mu 0404 (both PCI). The latter has a software package as an extra (Proteus X) which gives you a nice sound library.

- something to listen to your music (so-called monitor speakers) or quality headphones. They don't make your stuff sound good; but they make sure it'll sound good on most people's stereos, mp3 players, or whatever. Again, state your budget.

That's all you need - and of course a fast computer.

Graphics cards don't matter at all unless you have a laptop or a motherboard that uses up internal memory; in that case a modest graphics card will free up that memory (since it's used by the sequencer). It's also nice if you have a dualhead so you can use 2 monitors next to eachother.

I would probably be more into maybe a techno or orchestrated remix.

Whatever you choose, keep in mind that there is no specific hardware for this; only software, and even then an orchestral library may be good for more than just classical-like music, and a synth is versatile enough for any genre.

[Zephyr]

I may be of some help to you, I was just in your position about a month ago. I decided to download some demos and watch a lot of videos. I saw a lot of tutorials for fl studio so I tried that demo out a lot. I also tried reason but personally didn't get into it at all (probably because I'd tried fl first) for a midi interface I chose an axiom 61 from m-audio, managed to pick one upf for $345 canadian with free shipping. I'm very happy with everything, but the keyboard just got here about a week ago so I have yet to undertake any large projects, although I have messed around on it and between it and fl studio I managed to crank out something I thought was decent in about an hour. hope that helped a bit. My recommendation: try some demos, watch a ton of videos and decide on what you're looking for.

[furymaster]

Fantastic, most of this is exactly the kind of replies I was looking for, I mainly want to keep it within $1000 to begin with, this doesn't include computer though, I'm am customizing one with all the specs I would want, and i am going to pretty much try and get everything for that.

In terms of making it sound great earlier wasn't in reference to skill but rather the audio quality say like actual musicians in recording studios, reference. In other words stuff that sounds MP3 quality and not .wav or .mid because every time someone says the word midi all I think of are VGmusics .mid files haha. I know what I want things to sound like I just needed to get the right keyboard and software and pretty much gear. Your inputs are greatly appreciated and I think I am somewhat on my way to get what I need. For right now I am looking into a basic purchase to get used to remixing and then later if I can get what I set out to do, I'll upgrade to the best I can. Thanks again for your help and any info is appreciated!

[SenPi]

I'd completely agree with OverCoat about Reason too. You can get it for $200 on an academic discount if you are a student or teacher.

www.academicsuperstore.com

Are you on a MAC or PC?

the only downside is that you technically cant use the academic version for commercial use. (i.e. selling songs)

Edit: Also just for the record (directed towards fury master. WTF do you mean "Stuff that sounds MP3 quality and not .wav"???? You do realize that a wav file is pretty much the best quality you can get for a song. Seeing as its pretty much raw sound data? MP3 compresses wav files and the song ends up loosing quality, the only reason its so popular is because it shrinks the files down considerably and for the most part almost sounds the same.

Midi on the other hand, is pretty much what you said. Though depending on your midi banks, midi files could be amazingly awesome, and just as good as any other music out there.

[Tensei]

If you have the money, go with both Reason AND Fruity Loops. Both complement each other perfectly, and both have a relatively fast learning curve.

Reason basically has pretty good samplers, synths and effects (The included sample library is extensive, and you can get by with it, though you'll probably want to move on to something better later), and is amazingly fun to work with right out of the box. Fruity Loops comes over as a bit less user-friendly (in my opinion =P), but it can handle stuff like live recording, tempo changes and VST effects and instruments, so if you combine the two through Rewire, you get a relatively cheap and user-friendly DAW with enough onboard stuff to keep you busy for at least a year.

About the hardware stuff, IMO a keyboard isn't necessary. I guess it can speed up your workflow a lot, but I get by just fine with using only my mouse, because I don't even have the space for a keyboard. There's nothing extra you can do with a midi controller that you can't do with a mouse ( If you know how to work with stuff like automation and velocity editing), it's just that a keyboard can speed it up a lot, so I consider it more of a handy addition than a real necessity.

If I were you I'd first get your DAW (that's really the only thing you need to start mixing actually =P), then a good soundcard/recording interface/headphones/monitors (because you want to be able to hear what you're doing, and maybe you'll want to record live instruments), and if you still have enough money, consider getting a keyboard/midi controller.

[Yoozer]

In terms of making it sound great earlier wasn't in reference to skill but rather the audio quality say like actual musicians in recording studios, reference.

When you do everything by yourself, you're going to be a jack of all trades. Someone behind the faders in a real-world studio with enough traffic has been making damn good coffee for 2-3 years and usually has more experience mixing stuff; not only do they have to know their gear inside and out, they also know what to listen for.

You will not pick this up in any other way than practice, practice, and more practice, and because you have to spend time on composing, learning your software etc, too, it'll simply take you longer.

In other words stuff that sounds MP3 quality and not .wav or .mid because every time someone says the word midi all I think of are VGmusics .mid files haha.

.wav is uncompressed and mp3 is of a lesser quality; just like a jpg file in a camera is not as usable as a .raw file with all the pixels intact. Neither says anything about the quality; it's just that you want to use the .wav as a source because it is not compressed. Try this: draw something in Paint. Save it as JPG. Open it in Paint. Add a few lines. Save as JPG. Repeat several times and see what happens with the original drawing. That's what happens with an mp3 file if you use it and compress it every single time.

.mid files do not sound like anything. If you have to blame anything for them sounding like ass, blame any cheap on-board soundcard, because the "Microsoft GS Wavetable Synthesizer" is making that noise, and it's mainly to give people an idea of the melody (and to make GeoCities sites with included .mid files hell on earth).

"Studio quality" to you is very simple; it means that the result is loud and that there's a "smiley" equalizer curve. This is easy to achieve, but again, it says nothing about the skill, because any plugin can do this for you. Whether you actually want this (no) or whether it teaches you anything (no) - that's a different matter. Just making it loud and making it sound good on cheap speakers is not studio quality.

It's very simple; if you're expecting that kind of sound out of a single plugin, you're not going to find it.

Let me illustrate this with an example:

This is how a default plugin is going to sound:

http://www.theheartcore.com/music/armin_communication_dull.mp3

This is what happens when you polish it:

http://www.theheartcore.com/music/armin_communication_shiny.mp3

(Plugin: xhip, free VST. Reverb: built-in version in Ableton Live. Compression: Ableton Live's Compressor II and on the master, Endorphin (free). Delay: Ableton Live's Ping-pong delay).

See what a difference the polishing makes?

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Most important part of getting started: don't expect to be awesome in a day. Or a week. Or a month. It takes time and practice to get good at this, and I guarantee your early attempts at remixing will suck. Don't get discouraged, keep at it, and accept criticism.

[SnappleMan]

Furrymaster