Producing Tips/Tricks?

[Noah eh]

I've been messing around in FL11 lately, (I know, not too professional), and I've been trying to make some hiphop beats. I know a few of you guys make beats. Can anybody give me some basic pointers to help me out a little bit? I mean, not about the program itself, but just producing in general. Thanks in advance.

[EmmitBrown]

im butt-ass at giving tips on creating art but regarding the "not too professional"...don't underestimate fruity loops. a track on jay-zs black album was made on fruity loops. shit has pro features. I used to use a seperate prog for chopping samples. i used adobe audition and i used it when it was called cool edit pro. as soon as fl started including edison it became my go to chopper.

check oit warbeats.com

hes on youtube as well but the community yhere has all types and levels of help/motivation/tutorials etc etc.

[EmmitBrown]

damn, no other comments?
Here's a track that was made fully on FL...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1nNOpS2Kpk

FL does man work

[Antwan]

Tracks are usually split up like this:

Drum pattern

Baseline

Melody

Ambience or "fillers"

I have not made any myself, but this is what I've learned about making beats so far.
So may be in the same place as you, maybe not.
I'm learning a bit more about vocal digital translation and finalizing projects lately.
It's hard not to say what you should do in programs, because they are big factors for producers. Method/technique, etc.

[TheIronz]

Some people write beats to melodies better, others write melodies to beats better... Try to figure out which way works best for you.

It wont work out every time but it will save you alot of time in the long wrong.

[noobtard07]

when i have time tomorrow i'll write up a nice little article with some starter tips and tricks for ya. :cool:

[EmmitBrown]

Some people write beats to melodies better, others write melodies to beats better... Try to figure out which way works best for you.

It wont work out every time but it will save you alot of time in the long wrong.



yeah definitely. and for some it's whichever half pops in their head first...you might think up a nice drum break and want to build from there or you might start humming something and want to throw it down and add some beat. you'll get a feel for what your ideal workflow feels like after you get used to the whole process and go through it for a bit.

[Noah eh]

This helped out a lot guys, thanks! And thanks for linking that Emmit, I didn't think FL studio was gonna be able to do that much work. Looks like from here I'll just mess around in Fruity Loops until I get what I'm doing. Thanks again! And feel free to give any more suggestions either to me or anybody else if they wanted some.

[EmmitBrown]

no problem. fl can do a LOT of cool things. you can link a peak limiter to an effect or other plugin and then link it to another tack so once one track hits a certain db level it will mute or unmute or apply an effect or whatever to the other track. soooo many little robust tools in it that a lot people don't even know about. have fun, man

[Wiltzuh]

Time...it definitely takes time. Nothing comes in a day.

I'm horrible what comes to giving great advices but I can share some of my personal guidelines.

- Don't try to push yourself straight under some specific genre or style. It kills creativity and possibilities to dig and discover.
- Don't selfcriticize too fast. If your'e not sure whether you like a thing in your song or not, don't throw it straight away. It might sound better tomorrow...or next month.
- Don't get stuck on your songs. If it feels impossible to progress in your track atm, leave it alone. Try again later.
- If you're struggling with melody, try some instrument you've never used before. You might experience a lot of new ideas.
- If you get a nice bassline, drumbeat or melody in your head don't let it away. I like to record ideas straight to my phone by humming or drumming table...even tho humming in place sometimes lead into awkward situations.
- Never underestimate the power of great and fresh sample.
- Dig the crates. Interwebs is full of nbd samples. Don't stick in 70s funk samples that everyones used at least twice. Try different cultures and genres. Bookmark them...or make a youtube playlist.
- Let someone else hear you're projects every now and then. Working on a tunes usually makes you blind of your mistakes. Someone else can easily tell if your track feels empty...or overcrowded.

[pawnluvguitarist]

It's probably not as crucial when dealing with mostly samples and digital instruments but don't overlook learning up on Eq, compression, panning, double tracking ect

[EmmitBrown]

i agree thoroughly with wiltz and pawn

@pawn even if its samples, all of those are important. they can help you get the best out of the samples and eliminate the stuff you dont want, plus panning into a good sound hole in the composition is always important

[pawnluvguitarist]

i agree thoroughly with wiltz and pawn

@pawn even if its samples, all of those are important. they can help you get the best out of the samples and eliminate the stuff you dont want, plus panning into a good sound hole in the composition is always important

Oh yeah EB, don't get me wrong it's all important no matter what you're doing, especially with the panning. I meant more with the compression and eq. Most samples will have already been processed to some extent as opposed to my acoustic guitar which sounds amazing live but when recording requires a lot of work reducing all the bass to get a great tone that works on its own and blended with other raw real instruments.

[EmmitBrown]

yeah definitely. i just know ive spent some time playing with sample sources for a while and ending up with something i didn't know could come from the original material.

i don't even know what type of media/source material Noah feels comfortable with, just throw some more tidbits in

[pawnluvguitarist]

Definitely EB, I didn't mean to downplay how you can go a step beyond with samples and loops and really make something special. You just have more leeway at the beginner level if you just threw together a drum loop and some samples without eq, panning compression ect in comparison to a handful of live recorded real instruments, that would be a mess.

[EmmitBrown]

i like all this music talk. i might try to produce some shit tonight. haven't seriously messed around in a while. might even start a soundcloud. does anyone know if we have to copywrite shit before we throw it on soundcloud? youtubes fine print scared me a while ago so i havent really put much of my stuff online.

edit: @Noah can this be a general music production query thread? we have a lot of musicians here...maybe it could just be a homebase for flucker music q&a &tips/tricks/advice?

[Antwan]

@emmit
As far as I know soundcloud is non profit.
I've seen original works and remixes though.
I've had instrumentals I didn't make up with my voice for years now.
I don't have it downloadable don't know if that matters.
Any copyright stuff is low on the radar especially if it isn't popular.
You're not making money so I said fluckit.

There's some really interesting setups out there.
I've been learning about midi stuff..
There's one that can translate your humming into a midi file, pretty wild.

[EmmitBrown]

@antwan im worried about people stealing my beats

[Antwan]

@antwan im worried about people stealing my beats
Ah okay, my bad.
Hmm.. I believe they did a security rehaul on soundcloud.
Don't quote me on that though.

[EmmitBrown]

yeah i gotta find out if having it on soundcloud counts as a copywrite because anything you can play through the computer i, or anyone else, could easily steal thru any number of methods.

if other people can listen to it, they can steal it, too

[Noah eh]

@Noah can this be a general music production query thread? we have a lot of musicians here...maybe it could just be a homebase for flucker music q&a &tips/tricks/advice?
Go right ahead haha

[TheIronz]

One more:

If you can find clean samples of it, 80's Thailand Funk/Soul has some of the best samples I have ever heard... But production quality on MOST of them is HORRENDOUS!

[noobtard07]

One more:

If you can find clean samples of it, 80's Thailand Funk/Soul has some of the best samples I have ever heard... But production quality on MOST of them is HORRENDOUS!


awesome idea, gonna check some of that out later.

also, when i get off work later i'll do my little write up

[Noah eh]

http://www.samash.com/mpd18-compact-midi-controller-percussion-pad-new-ampd18xxx?cm_mmc=GoogleShopping-_-Drums-_-Channeladvisor-_-Akai+MPD18+Compact+MIDI+Controller+Percussion+Pad+ New&utm_source=GSH&utm_medium=CSE&utm_campaign=Channeladvisor&CAWELAID=1594739197&CAGPSPN=pla&catargetid=500002510000028166&cadevice=c&gclid=CjwKEAjwlPOsBRCWq5_e973PzTgSJACMiEp2_WliyFzs FfS9PqAfrMLbHUAisMN4hiWD7I3pADoOxhoCvcXw_wcB anybody familiar with this? planning on getting it

edit: and sweet noodtard, can't wait to read it

[Antwan]

Percussion pad, hell yeah. Not that one in particular but as a tool they seem useful.
Always made me think of electronic drums. There are beat pads out there with keyboards on them too.

[EmmitBrown]

i dont have experience with akais pad modules but if they have the sensitivity of the actual mpc then yes definitely get them. honestly i might grab some at that price.

[Noah eh]

Apparently the pads aren't too sensitive, but you can mod them to make them more sensitive.

[noobtard07]

Alright everyone welcome to noobtard07's Baked Breakdown on Beginner Producing

So for starters, if you don't have one, I highly recommend getting some sort of MIDI device. A drumpad, a little keyboard, a big keyboard! that, along with your DAW, will become your absolute best friend.

Next, you need a DAW (digital audio workstation) to actually create your music. these are programs like FL Studio, Maschine, Ableton, Reason, Cubase, etc etc etc. There are multitudes of daws, and multitudes of files floating around the internet for you to "find" because they're fuckin expensive.

Learning these two items, your DAW and your instrument, is one of the most important things you can do. This might be a terrible analogy, but think of it like they're your girlfriends and you wanna fuck. If you go in and have no idea what you're doing it's gonna be all slow and awkward, you might not recognize some things, and over all it's going to be an unpleasurable experience. You need to know these things inside and out, like the back of your hand, and i swear to you that is one of the best things you could possibly do. It doesn't matter how many soundpacks you have, or drum refills, or VSTs, but how well you can use and manipulate what you have.

Drums

Drums are a main component in your music, and they need to sound nice. This means they need to sit well in your mix, be EQ'd so snare drums don't shatter your ears at high volume, and be compressed so sounds don't attempt to blast over each other.

Something I do a lot is add a Saturator onto my drum track, which gives the drums a crunchier, warmer, almost cassette like sound. This is apparently something Dr. Dre used to do all the time (with an actual tape recorder), but that's just what futureproducers.com told me. Either way, it sounds really nice if you wanna add a little more depth and warmth to your drums.

I also add a small amount of reverb, but with the wet mix turned up to almost 75%. It adds a noticeable amount of room to your drums and helps add a little ambiance and noise but without drowning out everything around it.

Another tip is to pan your drums out across the spectrum. Kicks and basses however, should always remain dead center. For example, keep your kick in the middle, use two snares and place one 50% left and the other 50% right. Keep your closed hihats panned slightly off to the right with your open hat panned farther off to the left. This adds a very nice, realistic sound to your drums so they're not all slamming out of the main channel.

Bass

One of my favorite parts of beats, basslines make up the rhythm and body of your track. Without bass, your track has no movement, no feeling. It just sounds empty..like something's missing. Bass should be punchy, but not overstated. You want people to feel the bass, not necessarily hear it. You know? Does that make sense? i think it does. Most bass sounds also have a lot of high end frequencies that (depending on what sound youre looking for) can be rid of use a high pass filter, which simply mutes the higher frequencies at a cutoff point that you select.

Melodies

Beautiful, beautiful melodies. The instruments used for your melodies need to be, like the drums, panned out for the best and most ear satisfying sound. Don't keep all your instruments in one place, they'll sound mashed together and they'll clash and it'll be a really bad time. Keep things separated and play with volume to get everything to blend together. Play with reverb on certain instruments as well like i talked about with the drums.



idk what else to write


Edit: Also, remember that if you're making a BEAT, ie, someone will be rapping or singing or whatever over it, remember that sometimes open space is a great thing. Think of the voice like another instrument. If a beat sounds like it's a little empty but you're not sure what to add, DO NOT FORCE IT. Have someone spit something over it and see how it sounds. Someone's voice could be the instrument you're missing.

[Noah eh]

Yes! That's really helpful noobtard. Never really thought about panning the hats and snares. Also, one last thing, what kinds of instruments would you guys recommend for melodies?

[EmmitBrown]

...Also, one last thing, what kinds of instruments would you guys recommend for melodies?

really depends on the feel of the track. don't be afraid to go way outside the box. also, don't be afraid to break a composition back down to one component and build it back up from there. keeping in mind tho that sometimes you might be too close to the project and might just need a break and a new listen after that break, as mentioned earlier.

[Antwan]

really depends on the feel of the track. don't be afraid to go way outside the box. also, don't be afraid to break a composition back down to one component and build it back up from there. keeping in mind tho that sometimes you might be too close to the project and might just need a break and a new listen after that break, as mentioned earlier.
Ah, that's a good one, could apply being too close to anything musically I think.
I went back and listened to my first mixtape recently. Haha. Not quite what I thought I had the first listen.
I was close to that project for months. Not what it could've been, it was fun though.