A Blind, Desperate Dreamer.

B

Byroninja

Guest
Because this is on the internet and I have no reason to care about any opinions besides the ones I choose to, I'm just going to keep it ridiculously real for you guys. My 'stagename' is Byroninja (by-row-ninja), and this is my very first post to Future Producers.

I am a 19 year old college student who just finished his freshman year. In a nutshell, I could describe my first year as ridiculously stressful, belittling, and depressing. I did generally horrible in all of my 2nd semester classes, and I am broke. As in negative bank account broke.

Music is more than a passion for me, it's the only thing that I'm "good" at sort of. I'm not at all a picky guy, and rather than be one of the cliches that says "DERP I LIKE EVERYTHING DERP", I will say that I can 9/10 find a way to appreciate any form of music, though I gravitate more towards Hip Hop and Metal, both of all kinds.

Besides playing guitar since my freshman year of high school when my mom passed away, having a strong ear for music (or at least I'd like to think so), and a ton of amazing beats in my head, I know nothing. No experience with theory, no performance experience besides talent shows, no real studio experience besides goofing around with mixcraft, nothing.

More than anything, I'd want to be a successful producer. I would be completely willing to work with or create any kind of music, but lately I've been mostly fascinated by Hip Hop and the idea of making beats.



Ahh. I feel like I sound so incredibly lame right now.

Anyways, the gist of this thread was just to say that I'm here, and I am extremely open to any knowledge that anyone has to drop on me. Literally, I have nothing but a dream at this point, so I figured this would be the best place to gain knowledge from to point me in the right direction on how to get started. I just want to get to the point to where I could make the music in my head, like many of you are able to do. That's whats going on. So again, I'm open to any advice, Ill be taken under any set of wings, all of that. I know I'm in the right place to learn and I dont expect to be spoonfed with all of this information available to me on this site on how to get started, I'm just saying that I won't sneeze any advice that someone would have for a guy in his literal very first steps in this shit. Real talk. I'm here. "Ask and you shall receive" right? I have so many questions, that it'd be just better for me to hear answers first, if that makes sense.

For those of you who got through that wall of text, thank you for your time.
 
Download a free trial DAW, you can choose between Reason, Ableton, FL Studio etc. Then read the manuals, watch a tons of youtube beatmaking videos, there is so much information there. At the begining everything seems overwhelming, but you need to be patient and passionate about that. Those are the first steps that I think you should take.
 
download REAPER then check out the pipelineaudio tutorials to get started learning the basics of reaper. then invest in an audio interface if you wish to record yourself playing and dont forget to check youtube for other tips & tricks.
 
kmano said:
Download a free trial DAW, you can choose between Reason, Ableton, FL Studio etc. Then read the manuals, watch a tons of youtube beatmaking videos, there is so much information there. At the begining everything seems overwhelming, but you need to be patient and passionate about that. Those are the first steps that I think you should take.
Click to expand...

This

7Char
 
I really appreciate you guys reaching out to me like this. I've got too much free time, so I'm about to just dive headfirst into this shit. Ive definitely heard of FL, Reason, and Reaper and what not. For a total beginner, what would you guys recommend I mess around with first? Again, many thanks.
 
Welcome to FP!

Byroninja said:
For a total beginner, what would you guys recommend I mess around with first?
Click to expand...
Most people will recommend what they are using. I would advice downloading demos of a couple of DAW's and figure out the one you'd like to work and learn with, it's up to your personal preference really. Eventually you will want to buy yourself the DAW, and given your monetary situation, I'd give Reaper a try first as it's discounted licence is only $60 (and you can keep using the fully working evaluation version as long as you want).

Tweak's Guide to the Home and Project Studio is a great read for people who are starting up, I highly recommend reading it.
 
I'm pretty sure the saying is "Give & you shall receive" lol.. Sounds like you need 2 jus tweak tht negative ass mindset of yrs, realize no1 besides you genuinely cares about those tidbits you threw in there, & come 2 the realization tht you can do ANYTHING you set yr mind 2. Then you'll attract all the information 2 you..
 
kebeats said:
I'm pretty sure the saying is "Give & you shall receive" lol.. Sounds like you need 2 jus tweak tht negative ass mindset of yrs, realize no1 besides you genuinely cares about those tidbits you threw in there, & come 2 the realization tht you can do ANYTHING you set yr mind 2. Then you'll attract all the information 2 you..
Click to expand...

I like you KE, but I have to disagree. Some actually care. me being one of em. And im willing to bet that for those of us taking this dudes post at face value, the reason they care too is because we've all been there. Not knowing shit. And feeling overwhelmed. In this case, dude just wants to tackle music.

Ill say this OP. before anything you need to understand that committing yourself to music, and art as a whole, can will probably be emotionally taxing. you'll feel inadequate for years, feel like you'll never get to that certain "point", get discouraged, get encouraged just to have it be dashed, second guess what youre doing with your life.
Just be mentally prepared because if youre as depressed as you seem to be, you need to understand that there's greener grass over time when it comes to this. Otherwise you'll just add on to your pile of what I'm sure you consider shit.
(key word you, not me...we all got problems bro. some worse, some not as bad, but we all got them.)

That said. You need a computer, a DAW of your choice, books and/or classes, the internet, hopefully a midi controller soon, focus and most importantly... focused TIME.
You need to apply yourself. Learn music theory. Learn your DAW. These two things are most key for the start.
You'll need drum samples, to find those just search (your favorite producers name here) free drum kit. Some people here recommend samples all the time.
understand that you won't be able to make what's in your mind for a long long time. Therefore, you need to just let things flow and experiment. Don't try to plan shit at first. Just jump in and try. Fail. try again. Fail. Try more.
Try to incorporate something new. Dont hang up on a track for too long at first. Just do your best with idea, then leave it and make the next one.
Constantly improve. there's too many things to improve. Some things you can focus on from the very get go.
1. where can my snare go in a pattern? my kicks? my HHs? (they can technically go anywhere but where do they FIT in terms of Hip-Hop?)
2. How do I play C Major and A minor on a keyboard? How do I play the chords in these scales?
3. how do I arrange a song? how can I make a beginning? an end?
4. What does layering drums do? what effect does it have? How do it blend them so that it creates one unique, full sound?
5. how can I use Cymbals? where do I put them?
6. Whats a fader? whats an ADSR? whats a synth? what a.....
 
BrokenScythe said:
I like you KE, but I have to disagree. Some actually care. me being one of em. And im willing to bet that for those of us taking this dudes post at face value, the reason they care too is because we've all been there. Not knowing shit. And feeling overwhelmed. In this case, dude just wants to tackle music.
Click to expand...

What's misunderstood ain't gotta be explaind. So for those who understand let me explain..
Headass lol. Lets jus agree 2 disagree then. I took it exactly 4 wht it was. Raise yr awareness. No1 will care as much about the things he said then him, that's all I'm sayin. We've all been thru them times. But dwelling on it in uh situation whr yr tryna better yrself? Seems kinda ass backwards ta me..
 
people can only recommend what they like and use regularly but in the end only the person trying the programs knows which one they like most. from a budget point of view my recommendation would probably be best since youre almost getting a fully workin daw for nothing, almost means having to buy a licence whenever you decide to.
if you decide you dont like it then by all means go ahead and try out something else, for example FL which i also used has loads of tutorials and users willing to help out but again its not for everyone. download em all until you find one that just clicks and make perfect sense to you.
 
wassup byron...i'd say start off with youtube. search for music theory vids, counting bars , and start downloading demos of daws. reason, fl studio. etc. To do music you have to understand how music works. gd luck bro. any questions feel free.
 
I came back to this thread and I just wanted to throw out a fat ass thank you to those who took the time to read this and give me this info. Lol, and I fully understand my little life tidbits don't really matter, but I was at a super low point when I posted this thread and I just kinda said **** it and threw it all out there. I will keep all this in mind and stay on my grind. Just smashed a job interview this week and I'm waiting to see the results, but I feel good about it, and money means I can start taking this info and putting into motion. Thanks a ton to all of y'all. I guarantee I'll be seeking the answers to my questions myself, but don't be shocked if you see me needing guidance again. Once more, mucho grassy ass to y'all.

:cheers:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top