Whatsup everybody... looking for some advice

[ckunke002]

Hey everyone... I've been using Fl Studio 9 for the past year and a half on and off, never really got that great at making tracks with it. I'm in college, without any real passion in anything besides music, and am starting to seriously consider a career in production, engineering, or some kind of audio work.

What I really want to do in the mean time is start learning the tools of the trade, and building up a little studio with gear and making hip-hop/soul music. My question to all of you is, what is the best way to go about this? I can save up some money, and want to know whats the most efficient way to really begin understanding music making.

I would normally sit in FL Studio for hours and become frustrated and hit a block and not be able to find any good sounds and just not come up with anything good. I want to know the most efficient gear to use to really connect with what you're doing, and make for a better work flow.

Is the best way to do this to buy an MPC or SP1200 and get a bunch of random vinyl? Should I go out and take piano lessons and buy Midi keyboards? I'd love to learn to mix sampling with my own composing to blend music genres.

ANY HELP IS HUGEEELY APPRECIATED. THANK YOU ALL FOR READING!

---------- Post added at 02:18 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:05 AM ----------

By the way, I don't have a problem buying equipment, I just hate to buy gear and realize it was a waste of money and never end up using it. I want an MPC if it will help me with my musical goals.

So don't be afraid to suggest I buy something. I'm mostly just asking this because I'm hoping for a little direction with what I do buy, so I don't screw myself.

 

[Nicro]

Well I don't know if the SP would improve your workflow at all. FL has everything you need really. Check out my Youtube, most of my beats on there were made on FL.

Anyway this would be easier if we knew what kind of stuff you are making. Is it dirty south shit? Club stuff? Underground sampled ish? Mainstream? Give us more details.

And more gear doesn't mean you get better.

 

[ckunke002]

Well I don't know if the SP would improve your workflow at all. FL has everything you need really. Check out my Youtube, most of my beats on there were made on FL.

Anyway this would be easier if we knew what kind of stuff you are making. Is it dirty south shit? Club stuff? Underground sampled ish? Mainstream? Give us more details.

And more gear doesn't mean you get better.

Thanks for the reply. I know gear doesn't make anyone better, but when you know that your already sort of know what to do, better equipment can definitely help out the work flow and make it funner and easier.

FL isn't bad at all, but I guess I just don't have a lot of good resources and sounds and don't know how to get a hold of good wav's, and when you use samplers all you gotta do is find vinyl and interesting ways to flip it.

Whenever I sit in FL studio, I end up just messing around with samples that are stock or other crappy sounds and don't know where to find good quality stuff to flip and just end up getting frustrated.

I don't want to make mainstream club stuff or dirty south stuff. I don't have 1 genre I'm following necessarily, I just make whatever I want and it usually doesn't really follow any 1 category. But if it helps, the producers I like most and use as influences are Pete Rock, J Dilla, Prince Paul, Madlib, Kno of the Cunninlynguists, RZA, Organized Noize, Q-Tip, DJ Premier, Flying Lotus, Black Milk, and Kanye West. So definitely sample based, but with other elements incorporated as well.

(BTW Nicro, what parts of FL do you use the most? Like Edison or Slicex with the FPC or what?)

THANKS ALL

---------- Post added at 05:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:16 PM ----------

Yo Nicro, your Fireflys track is an excellent example of stuff I like making, or at least shoot for when composing beats.

 

[ProducerJC]

The key to having an efficient work-flow in the studio is to be as organized as possible and now where to fine your best samples. What kind of studio do you want to build? That should determine the gear that you save up for. Also, using outboard instruments like the MPC, Phantom, Triton, etc., will keep you making music if you computer crashes. Just FYI : )

 

[ckunke002]

The key to having an efficient work-flow in the studio is to be as organized as possible and now where to fine your best samples. What kind of studio do you want to build? That should determine the gear that you save up for. Also, using outboard instruments like the MPC, Phantom, Triton, etc., will keep you making music if you computer crashes. Just FYI : )

I want to build the kind of studio that just has some keyboards if necessary, maybe some synths after a while and I have all the basics already, but other than that I want to make stuff that people bang out on samplers. The kind of music that is sampled, but doesn't just sound like the sample, like how the greats do with really altered samples. I've learned from other producers that you really don't need tons of fancy expensive stuff to get stuff done, just a creative mind.

My reason for posting this was just to make sure I don't jump into buying popular gear and then screwing myself. From what I've heard, MPCs are good pieces of equipment, and I think I would really like using one but I wanted to get some pointers from producers that already know about these things before I jump into an investment.

I've seen people with input to mixer to mpc setups and I think that might be something I'd like to check out. Any of you have experience with that method?

 

[ProducerJC]

I'm rebuilding my production since my gear was stolen; no insurance. I've learned my lesson from only working with software. If you going to get a MPC try to the MPC2500. I loved using it before it was stolen. I prefer MPC to mixer because, depending on your mixer, consoles give more control over the mix. I like having control in the studio, that's why I became a producer in the first place.

---------- Post added at 09:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 PM ----------

Click here to see what up with gear.

 

[Nicro]

Thanks for the reply. I know gear doesn't make anyone better, but when you know that your already sort of know what to do, better equipment can definitely help out the work flow and make it funner and easier.

FL isn't bad at all, but I guess I just don't have a lot of good resources and sounds and don't know how to get a hold of good wav's, and when you use samplers all you gotta do is find vinyl and interesting ways to flip it.

Whenever I sit in FL studio, I end up just messing around with samples that are stock or other crappy sounds and don't know where to find good quality stuff to flip and just end up getting frustrated.

I don't want to make mainstream club stuff or dirty south stuff. I don't have 1 genre I'm following necessarily, I just make whatever I want and it usually doesn't really follow any 1 category. But if it helps, the producers I like most and use as influences are Pete Rock, J Dilla, Prince Paul, Madlib, Kno of the Cunninlynguists, RZA, Organized Noize, Q-Tip, DJ Premier, Flying Lotus, Black Milk, and Kanye West. So definitely sample based, but with other elements incorporated as well.

(BTW Nicro, what parts of FL do you use the most? Like Edison or Slicex with the FPC or what?)

THANKS ALL

---------- Post added at 05:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:16 PM ----------

Yo Nicro, your Fireflys track is an excellent example of stuff I like making, or at least shoot for when composing beats.

Thanks for checking the beats. See dude that Fireflies track was made in FL. Everything you can do on an MP you can do on FL. I'm not speaking against hardware or anything, but it is very important to really know why you are getting something. If you get an MP you won't get good sounds. You still have to get that ish off vinyl or DL some kits. You can sample fine in FL.

I'm not trying to brush aside your desire of some new gear but it really is best to know why you want it. My only real complaint about FL is that I don't feel like it has the best sound (which is easily overcome) and that the workflow could be better. I do indeed like the workflow but having to click around everywhere slows me down. When I had a Maschine that shit was so smooth and streamlined. You may want to consider Maschine actually, shit is ill. But, I'm gonna be getting an MPD 32 I think and having a controller should make my workflow in FL way better.

But, I use Slice X for my sample chopping and playing simply because it is so easy to use and I like playing my samples on my keyboard with ADSR instead of one shot.

 

[ckunke002]

Thanks for checking the beats. See dude that Fireflies track was made in FL. Everything you can do on an MP you can do on FL. I'm not speaking against hardware or anything, but it is very important to really know why you are getting something. If you get an MP you won't get good sounds. You still have to get that ish off vinyl or DL some kits. You can sample fine in FL.

I'm not trying to brush aside your desire of some new gear but it really is best to know why you want it. My only real complaint about FL is that I don't feel like it has the best sound (which is easily overcome) and that the workflow could be better. I do indeed like the workflow but having to click around everywhere slows me down. When I had a Maschine that shit was so smooth and streamlined. You may want to consider Maschine actually, shit is ill. But, I'm gonna be getting an MPD 32 I think and having a controller should make my workflow in FL way better.

But, I use Slice X for my sample chopping and playing simply because it is so easy to use and I like playing my samples on my keyboard with ADSR instead of one shot.

How do you solve the sound problem? Because thats one HUGE reason I want to get a sampler and get a wider variety of sources for my music, because relying on a little library of mp3 samples doesn't sound nearly as good as vinyl samples do, in my opinion. Not even that it sounds that bad with mp3s, but it doesn't really hit and sound as fat as alot of vinyl sounds seem to. Isn't it possible to use a combination of the 2? Like to make tracks on the MPC then send them to FL to master and mix and crap? I really don't know all the technical details, I was hoping to learn a lot of this from you guys so this is really helpful.

Also I thought it would just be a cool experience owning an MPC, and it would be funner than sitting behind a computer. I guess I could just buy some midi controllers to solve that though..

---------- Post added at 10:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:23 PM ----------

No problem about the beats though man.. you're stuff's good! I liked the others more than the A Milli mashup, but that was interesting also lol. With that track I mentioned did you just sample 1 song, or multiple? And also do you not use the FPC at all? Only Slicex?

---------- Post added at 10:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:27 PM ----------

I'm rebuilding my production since my gear was stolen; no insurance. I've learned my lesson from only working with software. If you going to get a MPC try to the MPC2500. I loved using it before it was stolen. I prefer MPC to mixer because, depending on your mixer, consoles give more control over the mix. I like having control in the studio, that's why I became a producer in the first place.

---------- Post added at 09:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 PM ----------

That's really unfortunate, sorry to hear it man. Glad you can get to build your studio back up a little though. What do you mean by you prefer MPC to mixer? Like you prefer using an MPC over using a mixer? Because they do totally different things lol. But if you mean you like sending from your MPC to a mixer I gotcha. What kind of mixer do you like that doesn't cost over a few hundred dollars?

 

[ProducerJC]

I have a friend that's selling his mixer. He's getting out of the business...or so he says. I'll see how much he want s for it. How soon do you want it?

 

[Nicro]

Haha the A Milli remix was just something out of boredom. But Fireflies is just one song I sampled. You misunderstood me about the sound though. I meant the sound of FL as a program. You are talking about the stock drum sounds in FL. No one uses those dude, if you like vinyl hook your TT to your comp and sample into FL. Thats what I do.

And no FPC. I will probably use it for drums once I get the MPD though. But for my chopped samples I prefer Slice x definitely

 

[ckunke002]

Haha the A Milli remix was just something out of boredom. But Fireflies is just one song I sampled. You misunderstood me about the sound though. I meant the sound of FL as a program. You are talking about the stock drum sounds in FL. No one uses those dude, if you like vinyl hook your TT to your comp and sample into FL. Thats what I do.

And no FPC. I will probably use it for drums once I get the MPD though. But for my chopped samples I prefer Slice x definitely

No I realize nobody uses the stock FL sounds, I was just saying that I personally don't have a library full of good hip-hop sounds that I've found, and I don't have any idea how people go about making they're own librarys. I have a ton of songs on iTunes but they're all AAC files so I can't drag them into FL to chop. You were trying to say you don't like the way that your songs sound coming out of FL Studio, correct?

And by the way, part of the reason i wanted to buy some sort of sampling hardware is so I can just buy random vinyl and just work at sampling it, instead of relying on music I already know and have, which for the most part isn't that good for making sample based hip-hop.

---------- Post added at 12:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:01 AM ----------

I have a friend that's selling his mixer. He's getting out of the business...or so he says. I'll see how much he want s for it. How soon do you want it?

Nah I don't need one yet, especially if I decide I'm not getting an MPC. I was just hoping to get some information from you about them, and their usual price ranges and who makes good mixers for production

 

[Nicro]

You don't need to rely on what you already have though. You can sample from vinyl in FL. Or just go to the flip this section and DL something and flip that.

 

[THE FORT PROCESS]

Have you checked out maschine, there's a lot of videos by native instruments on you tube and the stock sounds are meant to be really nice. It also hosts vsts so it's pretty much an All in one solution. Good luck.

 

[ckunke002]

You don't need to rely on what you already have though. You can sample from vinyl in FL. Or just go to the flip this section and DL something and flip that.

How do you sample from vinyl into FL? Sorry if thats a dumb question, but I really have no clue. I never knew it was possible.

---------- Post added at 07:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:00 AM ----------

Have you checked out maschine, there's a lot of videos by native instruments on you tube and the stock sounds are meant to be really nice. It also hosts vsts so it's pretty much an All in one solution. Good luck.

I actually just started looking into that, and it looks really sweet but I couldn't figure out whether it was to be used only as a controller for software and everything. Do you know much about it?

 

[Nicro]

I'll touch on Maschine first. I used to have one and loved it. It is a software that comes with the controller, but the controller COMPLETELY controls it. So you don't even need to look at the screen, just the controller. With the 1.6 update thing is killing it.

And yes you can sample into FL, how did you think I made those tracks on my youtube? What I do is just record the vinyl into audacity then save that file into my "songs to sample" folder. Then in FL I open up Slice x go to that folder and select the song I want. If anyone knows how to record directly into FL, please tell me cuz I haven't figured it out.

 

[THE FORT PROCESS]

From what you've said maschine would be perfect for you. Sampling vinyl is easy as is chopping of samples. Since the 1.6 update you can now host vst's which pretty much makes it everything you need.

 

[adpbeats]

wow this is exactly the thread i was going to start. i'm in the exact same situation as the OP. except i've only been learning for a few weeks. lots of great information in this here. thanks guys.

 

[ckunke002]

I'll touch on Maschine first. I used to have one and loved it. It is a software that comes with the controller, but the controller COMPLETELY controls it. So you don't even need to look at the screen, just the controller. With the 1.6 update thing is killing it.

And yes you can sample into FL, how did you think I made those tracks on my youtube? What I do is just record the vinyl into audacity then save that file into my "songs to sample" folder. Then in FL I open up Slice x go to that folder and select the song I want. If anyone knows how to record directly into FL, please tell me cuz I haven't figured it out.

That's what I was confused about, cause I don't have Audacity lol. Is that worth buying? Cause I have an M-Audio external soundcard/interface that can record instruments into FL like my guitar and mics and keyboards, but I don't know how it would record a turntable. Do you think there's a cord available to connect a turntable's out to a 1/4 inch input?

And that Machine sounds mad dope, I may need to head in that direction instead. Does it come with good sounds for hip-hop, and can it be used to sample?

---------- Post added at 04:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:52 PM ----------

From what you've said maschine would be perfect for you. Sampling vinyl is easy as is chopping of samples. Since the 1.6 update you can now host vst's which pretty much makes it everything you need.

Are you saying you can treat the Maschine in the same way you would an MPC, for sampling vinyl?

Sorry, I really have no knowledge when it comes to hardware at this point.

 

[Nicro]

You can just DL the free version of audacity. And if you can record your instruments into FL you can record your TT.

The way I do it is TT>Phono amp>audio interface>comp.

It is very easy.

And yes Maschine is dope. But honestly(and this goes to the other guy in the same situation as the OP) I say rock FL until you are confident with it. THEN! And only then! Decide on getting something else. You have immense options in FL and it works good. Once you reach a point of being good with beats and FL, then see if you want Maschine. At that point you will have more experience and knowledge and you will have a better idea of what is good for yourself.

And Maschine has the best stock sounds out of most programs if not all. But again, **** stock sounds man, I wouldn't even have that play a role in the decision. And also Maschine is geared toward samplers.

 

[ckunke002]

You can just DL the free version of audacity. And if you can record your instruments into FL you can record your TT.

The way I do it is TT>Phono amp>audio interface>comp.

It is very easy.

And yes Maschine is dope. But honestly(and this goes to the other guy in the same situation as the OP) I say rock FL until you are confident with it. THEN! And only then! Decide on getting something else. You have immense options in FL and it works good. Once you reach a point of being good with beats and FL, then see if you want Maschine. At that point you will have more experience and knowledge and you will have a better idea of what is good for yourself.

And Maschine has the best stock sounds out of most programs if not all. But again, **** stock sounds man, I wouldn't even have that play a role in the decision. And also Maschine is geared toward samplers.

Nicro, thanks a ton for all the helpful advice. You've helped me with this decision quite a bit lol. I was wondering though, what is Phono amp? What does that do for your setup?

So say I'm going to go buy a turntable, and wanted to use that in accordance with FL Studio though my external interface, what other tools would be necessary to create an effective work flow? Like maybe a keyboard or other midi controller or something, do you have any suggestions, other than the 600 dollar maschine?

Others still feel free and please add to the conversation.