How can I get into music making?

[tehgamer14]

Guys, I love all of your music, it has literally been my whole summer - just MLP and MLP music. I feel kind of like a leech, just listening to the music and not really contributing to the pile of awesome that is the MLP fandom. That being said, how can I break into music making? Are there any tips you guys have for me? I really appreciate any replies, and keep up the good work ponies!

[Dr_Dissonance]

It entirely depends on what you want to write!
Are you a Classical person? Electronic? Dubstep all the way?

No matter what genre, there is someone here who will help you with what you want!

Also, welcome!

[Versilaryan]

Hi, and welcome to MLR! ^.^

As Dr. D said up there, it really depends on what you want to write and how much you already know about music. Do you play an instrument or anything?

[Sugarholik]

Welcome!
I see you inquired the prices of studio stuff back in the other thread.
So if you don't have that sort of stuff getting them will be your first step.
Most obviously you already have a computer ^^
Hopefully it has enough processing power and memory etc for your needs...
You don't need to spend lots of coins to software, but mind you, quality costs. Prepare to make investments! It will be worth it.
Audacity for example is free (google it and you should find it), but professional stuff like Cubase hangs around 500 € if i remember correctly.
For the rest i can't tell without knowing your style, what you can play etc.

Once you've got everything covered i'd say take an idea. Any idea, no matter how silly you may think it is. And just do it. You see, starting can be difficult: i just started making music quite recently and years before that i just found excuses not to start. First song doesn't have to be awesome but it's very important to get something done so you won't get stuck on ''i'll do it someday''-phase.
And one thing: I thought that my first song was a piece of s#!t but so far i've got quite positive feedback. The lesson of this: It can be only you who thinks your song sucks.
Go for it!

[Interrobang Pie]

Make songs and don't stop. I've been stabbing at chiptunes for almost 2 years now.

[Whitetail]

Grab a program and just keep on playing with it until you produce some thing you like

Here's a big list of free stuff I've compiled in one place:
http://www.hiveworkshop.com/forums/soun ... st-186749/

[Chocolat]

Greetings everypony, and thanks for all the wonderful music! Signed up because I saw this thread and had a question to ask.

I'm also trying to get into music. I have the stuff I figured I'd need - el cheapo MIDI keyboard, decent software, minimal competency with an instrument or two, some general familiarity with music theory, and so on.

However, I'm running into a little trouble. I think the best way to say it is that I don't seem to "think" in instruments or sheet music? I can play songs that already exist, but I don't usually dream up new songs by noodling with keys or writing down notes. Instead I hum, whistle, or just hear something in my head. And as far as I can tell, I'm fine at that. I can hum each instrument into a recorder, play them together, and it sounds like what I imagined.

The problem comes when I try to translate that into actual notes. Imagining the sound is so easy, but when I try to enter it in, it takes hours of tweaking to put in just a few bars. Even then, it doesn't sound quite right - a few pitches will be off, or a note/rest might be too long or too short, and I can never seem to get them all exactly the way I "heard" them. Just kinda go "derp" when it comes time to put everything into a concrete/mathematical form.

Did anyone else have a brain-to-paper disconnect when they were first starting out? Is it the sort of thing where there's a trick to fix it, or is it just a matter of practice? I'd be very grateful to hear your advice.

[Dr_Dissonance]

Text

Gretting Chocolat and welcome to the forum!

I personally took a while learning all my theory and practicing like a crazy person...
Usually, any normal tune you can hum will fit into the 'rules' of tonal music, so if you know your rules well enough, then putting ideas to paper should be a lot easier!
It also helps when writing accompaniment as you don't have to know how it sounds and you can still make it sound good!
That's how I work with orchestral anyway, what music style are you after producing???

[Senator Myth]

Did anyone else have a brain-to-paper disconnect when they were first starting out? Is it the sort of thing where there's a trick to fix it, or is it just a matter of practice? I'd be very grateful to hear your advice.

DrDissonance has a ton of musical training, and the awesomeness of what he makes reflects that. But don't let that discourage you! Plenty of musicians around here have absolutely no training at all.

Now, here's my advice. I can't promise it's good, but it's my two cents:
1) If the problem is with sheet music, then I'm assuming you're using something like Finale to produce music. And I can definitely understand the problem there, I can barely read or write sheet music myself. Now, this is indeed just an assumption on my part. But if you are using something that forces you to compose using sheet music, maybe you should seek out another program with a notation style you're more comfortable with, like something with a piano roll or a tracker.
2) The first piece of advice might not be helpful at all, since you might already be using such a program. But this second one might: if you can't get the notes you hear in your head down, then try it with notes you can actually hear. Practice on other pieces of music, practice putting down the simplest of melodies or picking out various chord progressions. Once you get the hang of figuring out other people's music by ear, I'm quite certain that it will be easier to get the music from your own head onto paper.

Hopefully my drivel helps you in some way, and welcome to MLR!

[Interrobang Pie]

Did anyone else have a brain-to-paper disconnect when they were first starting out? Is it the sort of thing where there's a trick to fix it, or is it just a matter of practice? I'd be very grateful to hear your advice.

Yes. I still do.

HOWEVER, you must persevere, cause when you get into it sometimes you can come up with cool shit ACCIDENTALLY - like, the original didn't sound like you wanted it to but it sounds SOOO MUCH BETTER and then you say "I'M A GOD" and then you win.

Also, get something that allows you to hum into the mic and gets a note out for you - THOSE THINGS ARE SO FUCKING HELPFUL. I use AP Tuner myself. It's probably actually meant for tuning things but who cares.

[Versilaryan]

The biggest thing I can say to help you is to use your keyboard to figure out what notes they are. Keyboards are wonderful instruments when composing -- you not only get to hear the chords you're playing, but you get to see where the notes are in relation to another. I bang out chords on the keyboard ALL the time when I'm composing -- at least, if I'm not already strumming chords on a guitar. xP
The important thing is, though, that once you record your idea, you can use your keyboard to figure out what notes you're playing easily.

Rhythms... That's a little harder. Best thing I can give you is to hit your hand on your lap or tap the desk in time with the beat to figure out what notes fall on the beat. Then, subdivide -- sing it to yourself slower, but tap all the eighth notes in the beat while you do it to figure out where things fall in relation to that. The rhythm is the hardest part to figure out, IMO, especially when you have keyboards and pitch detectors to help you with notes. Just persevere and you'll get better and better!

One thing that you can do to /really/ help you along is to transcribe music. Find a simple melody and then write it down, and then build up to more and more complicated things. Not only do you get some ear training out of it, you also get to see what sorts of compositional techniques the songwriter used. And then, if you like it (which I assume you do, if you take the time to transcribe it!), then you can use the same techniques in your own music.

Hope all this helps, Chocolat!

[Icky]

I started out making music without a keyboard, decent computer or decent speakers/headphones. You dont have to make a gigantic investment in fancy studio equipement to make music.
Just buy or pirate a DAW (I use FL myself, but Ableton, Cubase, Pro Tools, Logic, Reason, etc all get the job done) and look up some tutorials. have fun with it and dont expect too much when you're just starting out.

The thing you said about putting down the melodies in your head, I had that aswell. Dont worry, you'll get better at it. I started out with very simple "melodies." in fact, here's the first song I ever made after 1 week of messing around with FL. http://www.mediafire.com/?19zs3rohdmu9fer

Also Im just going to copy paste what I said in another thread:

Listen to other artists.
Start listening to your favorite tracks, but instead of just focusing on the melody or the beat try to catch every little detail. When and how does he use FX? Are those strings in the background? There's a lot you'd usually miss if you dont pay attention to it, but all these small things really make a huge difference.
Try to emulate some of the things you hear others do in your own tracks.

An artist also doesn't start drawing out of nowhere.
Have atleast a basic idea of how you want your track to sound like in your head. Ofcourse you can still change things on the go, but it helps a lot if you know what kind of track you want to create.
Inspiration for tracks may come at the most random moments.

Ask questions!
Don't know how to create a specific sound, or how to master your tracks? Ask other people on the forum for help! I'm sure there are a ton of ponies on this site that could help you.
There are also lots of tutorials on Youtube and other forums on how to do specific things.

[MichaelA]

I started out making music without a keyboard, decent computer or decent speakers/headphones. You dont have to make a gigantic investment in fancy studio equipement to make music.
Just buy or pirate a DAW (I use FL myself, but Ableton, Cubase, Pro Tools, Logic, Reason, etc all get the job done) and look up some tutorials. have fun with it and dont expect too much when you're just starting out.

The thing you said about putting down the melodies in your head, I had that aswell. Dont worry, you'll get better at it. I started out with very simple "melodies." in fact, here's the first song I ever made after 1 week of messing around with FL. http://www.mediafire.com/?19zs3rohdmu9fer

Also Im just going to copy paste what I said in another thread:

Listen to other artists.
Start listening to your favorite tracks, but instead of just focusing on the melody or the beat try to catch every little detail. When and how does he use FX? Are those strings in the background? There's a lot you'd usually miss if you dont pay attention to it, but all these small things really make a huge difference.
Try to emulate some of the things you hear others do in your own tracks.

An artist also doesn't start drawing out of nowhere.
Have atleast a basic idea of how you want your track to sound like in your head. Ofcourse you can still change things on the go, but it helps a lot if you know what kind of track you want to create.
Inspiration for tracks may come at the most random moments.

Ask questions!
Don't know how to create a specific sound, or how to master your tracks? Ask other people on the forum for help! I'm sure there are a ton of ponies on this site that could help you.
There are also lots of tutorials on Youtube and other forums on how to do specific things.

Pretty much explained it perfectly. I myself learned off a pirated copy of FL and a bunch of Youtube tutorials. They really teach you a lot, in fact I still look up tutorials to learn more stuff

Also, melodies do come at random times. I'm not the best at making them, but when I do think of one, I usually record me humming it or something on my phone, it's always good to have something to record it. Then, later, you can just transfer the notes over to a program you use(I use FL+Audacity).

Good luck on your endeavors, man

[Chocolat]

Hey, sorry it took so long to reply! Wanted to give a warm thanks for the welcome, and also say how much I appreciate the advice.

I'm beginning to get the idea that I was trying to do things just about the hardest way possible, haha. Starting out simpler helped a lot. I used to try to write the most complicated version of a piece right away, trying to come up with all the accompaniments simultaneously, which tripped me up a lot. Now I'm starting out with the simplest notes and chords possible, setting up a "base" for what I want. Once I've got the basics all set up, it's lot easier to add flourishes later on.

As for what music style I'm hoping to do, well, orchestral stuff is my main interest. I love pretty much everything, though -- pop, 8-bit, shibuya-kei, and bossa nova are some examples. I love the idea of becoming a soundtrack writer and filling my pieces with all kinds of eclectic-sounding music, hunting down native instruments for wilderness tracks and things like that.

When I started out I began by trying Sibelius, which is an awesome program but wasn't as intuitive an experience as it could've been. Being able to move things around on a piano roll without worrying about how the notation will look on paper is much easier, at least when I'm experimenting and unsure what'll come of it. Right now I'm messing around with FL Studio, but is there another program I should be using?

In general, just... wow, thanks for all the great stories and suggestions. I've been following every bit of them, and they've changed the way I look at making music. I'm having a lot more fun and wind up smiling all the time.

[[voodoopony]]

This is what you'll need:
http://dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=159713

Forget the fact that it's mainly about dubstep, there's a lot you can learn about production, from choosing which software's right for you to equalizing and all that jazz.

[Howlgram]

Hey guys, i am having a problem to learn the software
i got ableton (i can get something else if it is better)
and i would like to know how you guys got familiarized with the software, i really got no idea of how to work with it, maybe reading the (BORING and fulled of unnecessary stuff) manual is what i need, but maybe somebody knows a way better to get started (and if reading the manual is the best way to go, please tell me so)
atm im just worried about that, because i cant even do something that i dont like, so no questions about the musical aspect.

well, if there was a vid explaining the interface and basic interaction with a track in the program it would be wonderful, but all i see is very specific , for example "how to do waveXasdfasdf effect" xD

it would be pretty cool if KeepOnRocking told me how he familiarized because he said that it took him a week of "messing with it", so unless you all guys just instinctively knew how the program worked some help would be very nice

[Versilaryan]

I say go with the boring manual. It's boring and has things that you probably won't end up using, but one, you never know when it might come in handy, and two, Ableton's actually got a pretty nice getting started guide built into it. I say setting aside a few hours to trudge through that guide is worth the effort more than trying to do it on your own.

At the very least, it'll provide the basics for doing it on your own. Once you've figured out the basics on making stuff in Ableton, go ahead and produce a track with it. IMO, the best way to learn a DAW is to make something in it (but of course, you can't get to that step unless you know the basics of working it, which is what the getting started guide is for).

Ableton's pretty good, so unless it really isn't the DAW for you, you should be fine with it. I'm not completely happy with it, but I like it a hell of a lot more than I like FL Studio.

[EnnervateIndustries]

Try everything. Seriously. Who knows what you might like?

[Lavender_Harmony]

The guy posted this thread, yet he has 0 post count.

I think he's gone. Also year old thread. Holywow.

[Watashig]

Same with Chocolat, even if there're two posts in this thread =/

[EnnervateIndustries]

Whoops. Didn't see the date. Thread resurrection, my bad.

[WavesOfParadox]

Greetings everypony, and thanks for all the wonderful music! Signed up because I saw this thread and had a question to ask.

I'm also trying to get into music. I have the stuff I figured I'd need - el cheapo MIDI keyboard, decent software, minimal competency with an instrument or two, some general familiarity with music theory, and so on.

However, I'm running into a little trouble. I think the best way to say it is that I don't seem to "think" in instruments or sheet music? I can play songs that already exist, but I don't usually dream up new songs by noodling with keys or writing down notes. Instead I hum, whistle, or just hear something in my head. And as far as I can tell, I'm fine at that. I can hum each instrument into a recorder, play them together, and it sounds like what I imagined.

The problem comes when I try to translate that into actual notes. Imagining the sound is so easy, but when I try to enter it in, it takes hours of tweaking to put in just a few bars. Even then, it doesn't sound quite right - a few pitches will be off, or a note/rest might be too long or too short, and I can never seem to get them all exactly the way I "heard" them. Just kinda go "derp" when it comes time to put everything into a concrete/mathematical form.

Did anyone else have a brain-to-paper disconnect when they were first starting out? Is it the sort of thing where there's a trick to fix it, or is it just a matter of practice? I'd be very grateful to hear your advice.

Sounds like you're off to a good start. You should work on aural skills. Find some ear training software.