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1. 

   djtekslave
   

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   Ok so yesterday was a holiday for me and I went and did some shopping. I went to a book/cd/dvd store to buy a book and went to take a look into their ''instruments'' section, where I found a deeply discounted copy of Ableton Live 7... I bought it.

   I also ended up buying a decent set of speakers for my computer.

   And I already have a Korg MicroKontrol controller from past experience. Also I have already played a bit with Reason 2 and 4 but not that much.

   If I want to start learning how to put things together with me freshly bought software and equipment to eventually compose something... where do I start ? any good tutorials you can recommend, or advice you have ?

   I'm just doing it for fun, no pretentions of being professional here... any advice appreciated :-)

   Posted 1 year ago #
2. 

   metaball
   

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   as always, tweakheadz lab.
   http://tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

   Posted 1 year ago #
3. 

   Tsarik
   

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   WILL PROBABLY PISS YOU OFF.

   i'd definitely suggest some cheap studio monitors over PC speakers.

   I'll even suggest some Behringer Truth monitors because I've listened to a pair often and haven't found any faults with them... i'm sure others have and they'll suggest something that costs 10 times as much

   PC speakers just don't have the range needed, i definitely think some monitors would increase your enjoyment and aid in the learning process

   of course... i'll be taking my own advice shortly... but not with the behringers

   still rocking my keyboard amp and making crappy recordings :P

   Posted 1 year ago #
4. 

   apertureburn
   

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   :D

   metaball beat me to the tweakheadz link. its a great place to start off at. also, learning a bit of music theory and structure can be helpful.

   and if you want to learn more about different synthesis types:

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Sound_synthesis_types

   Posted 1 year ago #
5. 

   wormsoftheearth
   

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   video tutorials really help me, much moreso than just reading about stuff. I'd say go to youtube and just type in queries like "getting started with ableton" "making bass in ableton" and so forth. Chances are it will make more sense and keep your interest more than huge blocks of text.

   I also wouldn't spend money on any (more) gear until you've tested out ableton and making music for a bit and decided that music production is something you're really interested in. Would suck if you dropped a few hundred on new monitors or synths or whatever only to decide a couple weeks later that you really don't care for producing. There are enough freeware plugins and VSTs to get you off to a great start

   Posted 1 year ago #
6. 

   dodd
   

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   TACOS!

   @DjTekSlave

   What kind of music are you looking to compose? Like...do you have a specific genre in mind or an artist/band that inspired you to do music?

   Posted 1 year ago #
7. 

   djtekslave
   

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   @dodd
   I'm taking a Chris C'tan approach to it, making music that I have in my head but can't hear anywhere... What I have in my head now includes noise, spoken words and acoustic guitar loops. Not sure where it will take me.

   @worms
   I am like you I think. When I started playing with Reason I would sleep after 2 lines of text, but videos helped me a great deal.

   @metaball and aperture
   I will check Twikheadz definitely, thank you for the input.

   @Tsarik
   Thank you for the idea, I will let my budget get on track again and i will consider investing monitors. I have to restrict my sound loudness however because I live in a condo.

   Posted 1 year ago #
8. 

   soillodge
   

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   http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=youtube+ableton+tutorial

   Ableton really focuses on samples and loops so you are going to need soundsets. I do not know what the program provides. But check out http://www.freesound.org and you can get some good found sound ideas and odd avante garde stuff going pretty quickly.

   otherwise I suggest getting a field recorder ;)

   `michael

   Posted 1 year ago #
9. 

   dogmeat
   

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   monitors schmonitors...i mix on some ok chinese hifi computer speakers, its nowhere near accurate or whatever, but i handle it somewhat...the point of the monitors is to buy good ones, and more than anything to position them right and to soundproof your room which is a money siphon, and not worth it for now. i do recommend that in some time you buy decent headphones, that will help for a while.
   ok, so learn ableton, it is REALLY easy to understand, IMHO it has probably the best interface and it is very intuitive.
   then go onto music theory if you are lacking, idiot's guide to music theory is a nice book on the topic, helped me a lot
   did you buy ableton live or ableton live SUITE??? suite has several very nice instruments in it. people here can recommend some basic free vst's.
   do not go on rampage and download gigs of instruments because it will only end in pain, you will not make any music and spend your productivity on hopping from one instrument to another without realizing their true potential. get two or three good instruments added to the Impulse and Simpler which ableton live already has and focus on them, you can grow your collection after you know what you need.
   if you bought suite, then you are set-up with several capable instruments already.
   for effects, i find ableton's effects ok sounding and very nice regarding CPU consumption.
   ok, so what else? download some samples, at the very least find some free libraries of drum machines, there are several of them circulating the net (goldbaby has some free sets)
   hope this helped, all the best

   Posted 1 year ago #
10. 

    Rogue Process
    

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    @ Dogmeat - Agreed. People love monitors wayyyyy too much. Sure, they're a nice luxury, but if you have a halfway decent set of hifi speakers and a good amp, they usually do the job just fine. I mix all my stuff on a set of old-school B&Ws and Denon hi-fi amp that I inherited from my Dad and they work an absolute treat for what I need. My mixes sound nice and punchy and balanced even when played on some pretty good monitoring equipment.
    That's not to say monitors aren't extremely useful, but when you're just starting out it makes a hell of a lot more sense to work with what you've got rather than going and blowing a crapton of money on a load of gear that you won't likely feel entirely comfortable with for a while. Just my $0.02.

    Posted 1 year ago #
11. 

    wormsoftheearth
    

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    +100000 to "do not go on rampage and download gigs of instruments because it will only end in pain, you will not make any music and spend your productivity on hopping from one instrument to another without realizing their true potential."

    only get a few things at first, and get really acquainted with them, then move on as needed.

    Posted 1 year ago #
12. 

    djtekslave
    

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    Yep I will stick to nice headphone for now because again I'm only really playing now.

    I bought live 7 LE with the idea of buying the upgrade if it happens that I can do stuff I like. I paid 135$ for it, which is quite cheap to get started.

    As for the sounds, there is obviously a soundbank included. It is a bit tiny when I compare to what Reason 3 was offering but considering all the effects you can combine the possibilities are vast enough.

    Right now there are still a few basic concepts I cannot grasp, but reading on the subject is helpful (RTFM you know !).

    One thing that I still need you help with is my set up. So I have the laptop and software, a good keyboard controller, and a NI Audi Kontrol soundcard which I had from my DJing years. But something is not working properly and I don't know what.

    Everything is connected properly, the music plays well, I have reduced latency as much as possible, but sometimes, the sound just stops working for a few seconds for no reason and then resumes. Is this due to the soundcard ?

    Posted 1 year ago #
13. 

    apertureburn
    

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    :D

    actually it could be due to you reducing the latency, the buffers might be full and its dropping the audio. so maybe try increasing the buffer size/latency and see if it reduces or remedies the problem.

    Posted 1 year ago #
14. 

    YADE
    

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    Ableton themself provide a total tutorial section of how to use their product...
    just click once the HELP Menu and go for their turials...they are easily explained with demo-projects and stuff....

    @soillodge: Ableton focussing on loops...I cannot agree to this...I use it in the arranger-mode (hit TAB once it started up) and then it works like any other DAW out there....:-)

    Posted 1 year ago #
15. 

    KryonikMessiah23
    

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    Strange as it sounds, as a fellow Live user, i agree with Yade. I know a lot of people are unfamiliar with the program, but it's not really based around loops.

    Or at the very least I don't use it that way. I write everything in my music. I would, however, say Live is very, very much designed, workflow wise, for -electronic- music :). And it's helped me be very creative.

    @Tek

    I strongly recommend a firewire or PCI interface. If you want to do it on the cheap, look into M-Audio or get a Presonus Firebox. Having a dedicated interface will solve the headache of an onboard sound card and it's latency.

    Posted 1 year ago #
16. 

    djtekslave
    

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    Actually the NI Audio Kontrol is an exterior sound card.

    http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/products/producer/audio-kontrol-1/

    Posted 1 year ago #
17. 

    KryonikMessiah23
    

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    Oh, cool :) Nevermind then.

    Posted 1 year ago #
18. 

    soillodge
    

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    Hey, you guys can disagree and use Ableton for whatever you want. That does not change the fact that it was designed as a loop based program like FL or ACID. I am not downplaying it at all, Ableton is very powerful and effective. I just never got into loop based DAWs.

    `michael

    Posted 1 year ago #
19. 

    Tsarik
    

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    WILL PROBABLY PISS YOU OFF.

    Tek, a bunch of us here also colaborate for fun and remix/fuck with each other's shit.

    i'm a total noob too, but you're in good company... sideline has quite a few knowledgeable musicians.

    Posted 1 year ago #
20. 

    soillodge
    

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    Yeah, speaking of SubSpine, we have a big problem with the damn bot spammers.

    `michael

    Posted 1 year ago #

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