I've seen a few members around here posting links to some of their original music, remixes, and so forth. I've always been really interested in doing it myself but have never really gotten around to it until now. So, how do I get started? Do I need certain programs/software/hardware? I'm brand new to this so any information helps
lol, touche! step 2, get a synthesizer or something? or learn other instruments too. they say once you play piano you can play anything right
There's 2 things you can do. 1. Have a keyboard that plugs into computer probably via usb to record your keyboard playing, Depending on situation might need drivers and recording software to save as sound file. (Use google) 2.Find free(or not free if your willing to buy one) online piano service that allows you to make piano music up to the standards of the program that you find(Use google), which should allow you to save your project as a sound file. Someone might be able to come in and just say "get this program" and your done and that would be good if they could but I don't know of any so those are couple steps that can get you a piano sound file that you created to use in anyway you wish.
As WWWilliam said, get a midi keyboard. Music sounds much better when you play on a midi instrument (an instrument which plugs into your PC). Fruity Loops (FL) Studio is a good tool for making music if you have the keyboard or not. I would recommend checking it out: FL Studio Music creation DAW Mixcraft is also a good alternative if you're on a Windows PC: Mixcraft 6 If you're on a mac and don't feel like spending the money on these two programs, play around with Garageband (That still comes free on new macs, right?). It's not as powerful as some claim compared to FL Studio or Mixcraft, but it definitely is a good starter tool to see if you're really interested in making music.
If you're seriously interested in this, and you are as adept at piano as I would expect you to be after nine years of piano lessons, getting programs and hardware mentioned above would be the next step. However, if you're a boss at piano, why not pick up guitar? Then you can pull a Trent Reznor and make your own music that isn't just the standard electronic beats and piano.
FL Studio is the way to go, good suggestions everyone. Get yourself a nice high quality mic if you can afford it, and yes a digitial keyboard, which can essentially be every instrument you need. If you get a macbook I'll rip your testicles off.
Haha yeah, I've tried teaching myself a few other instruments but none of them really kept my interest for too long. I've just really been wanting to get into the whole computer generated music thing for a while now, and since I understand music notation in general fairly well I figured learning a new instrument wouldn't help too much with that xD. But I could be wrong! That's why I came to you guys. How difficult is the learning curve for a program like FL? Thank you Bloo Jay! This is just what I was looking for. I knew I needed some type of keyboard to plug into my PC I just didn't know what the term was. Thanks for clearing that up. Also, I do have a Windows so what would you suggest between those two programs you mentioned? Are there any cons of using FL on a Windows? And since they are relatively expensive, does anyone know of any free (or cheap) programs to go ahead and get me started, so I really know what I'm getting into before I spend some serious money?
Not really It's a common misconception people make to think that most professional audio and graphic development happens under OSX, I was under that same umbrella until I jumped into it myself. It seems like a lot of the smaller industries I've been to/visited/worked with/worked for use macs and whatnot as if to make themselves feel professional. When it reality it seems like the highest quality designers all use PC's, or at least, like I said, it seems like that from my experience. Sort of how most professional web designing and programming (etc) takes place under windows because its just well supported, that same truth applies to all kinds of video, graphic, and audio production. Not to say OSX systems are obsolete, but I really do believe Windows has more going for it. Just my two cents :3 Luv you
Everyone quit telling him to do everything with computers. Unless you're going for a "Techno" "I made this with a computer" sound, you're going to want to do as much of it as you can with actual instruments, otherwise it will (usually) sound really bad. The down side to this, or so I'm told, is that you have to actually learn an instrument to get good sounds out of that instrument. Boo hoo. Learn a piano, and a guitar. Both are easy to get the basics down. Go from there. Recording equipment is obviously necessary, and sound editing programs are indeed nice.
Double THIS all the way. What I do is make up some sick guitar riffs and build from there. Then I work with my bro who plays drums and we get ourselves a nice sounding song. But that's what works for me.
I don't want to put any words in people's mouths but I think when dax first mentioned he was looking through various members original mixes and such it was referring to that kind of "computer" sounds so they're just giving advice on how to achieve a similar thing. Now as far as just general, "how do I get into the music business" advice goes, sure learn an instrument, get the proper tools, etc that's all pretty obvious.
What kind of music he's making doesn't matter, he needs a good recording program and good recording equipment to do it. It's also better to have a program that you can knowledgeably edit the tracks and mix it into an actual piece of music. I know quite a bit about this kind of thing. The school that I go to has the best recording arts and contemporary music program of any public high school in North America. Our recording arts program is actually aided and partially taught by the professors at local recording arts schools. One such professor is Garth Richardson, a fairly well known Producer. Anyways, if you want to create real music (None of this dubstep bullshit) a program you should really consider looking into is Logic Pro 9. I've spent countless hours working with this program at school. It's by no means a layman's recording program. This thing is industry standard. I'm gonna guess that if you've taken 9 years of piano lessons, you probably know a lot about musical theory. If not, read up on it. That's probably the most important thing you'll need to do if you want to make music. Now you'll need instruments... And people who know how to actually play them... Whether that's you or not isn't really any of my business. There's a lot more to playing a guitar than playing the notes. Because you're a piano player, however, you shouldn't have much trouble picking up a guitar or a bass. And, finally, you'll need all the cables, microphones, amps, speakers, and mixing boards (Could actually do that on a computer, but I prefer to have the actual board) to record it all. You could, theoretically, just make a song out of scratch tracks. (Computer generated tracks based on prerecorded notes/chords) However, the quality of that music can only be so good. I highly, highly, doubt that you'll be able to get something 'just right' with scratch tracks.
For the last 10 years, I've composed my music using a program called Guitar Pro. Once I have the track written, I send it to the other members and they learn it, and then we just all practice it together. Then we tweak and head to an actual studio. I'm probably not much help because it's a different situation, but I just wanted to weigh in.
As many people have said before, Fruity Loops is, in my opinion, one of the best computer-based music creation programs around. You can download the demo for free to see how it works, and if you like it, you can buy multiple packages to suit your budget. I recently purchased the Producer Edition after using demo's and cracked versions (hides in shame) for years, and, not to sound like a salesman, but when you purchase the full version of FLS, you get lifetime free upgrades up to the package-tier you purchased. Meaning each new version that comes out, with all new upgrades and bells and whistles and what-not, is completely free. I was sold. Apart from that, having a lot of musical knowledge beforehand helps a lot when making music on computers (as stupidly obvious as this sounds). I played piano for a while before picking up guitar and bass, and found, as conceited as it sounds, that I had a natural inbuilt musicality when it came to pretty much any instrument, so making music on a computer program also just came naturally. Using FLS is a little bit of a learning curve, but when you get it, you'll never look back. It's broken at the moment, but I also have a Zoom recorder (seen here) with stereo condenser mics that also has a jack port for plugging instruments such as guitar leads, keyboards and other MIDI instruments into it, and it has a bunch of on-board effects that are fun to play with, depending on the sound you're going for. If you're going to be serious about making computer-based music, some kind of recording device is a must, as you just can't get that authenticity out of synthesized instruments. Doesn't have to be a be-all-end-all piece of tech, just something that does what you want it to do. When you move into bigger and better things, you can start spoiling yourself. Don't know what else to tell you, apart from just mess around with various programs til you find something comfortable.