Starting my music "career"

[Ed Viper]

So, I've been making music with fl studio for about a year now, and I'm starting to get the hang of it. I've noticed however that most of my songs lack that distinctive sound that more professionally-made tracks have. You know, the little things in the background you don't normally notice but contribute to the overall sound of a song greatly. I have a friend here who I think has just reached that point of professionalism, but he's not a brony, so I was wondering if I could get anyone here's input on this?

My soundcloud if you're interested in hearing anything I've made:
http://soundcloud.com/emperor-bermensch

I realize nothing on my soundcloud is pony-related - yet. I plan to start making pony stuff once I get a better handle on how to get professional sounds and whatnot.

Thank you in advance for any help.

[the4thImpulse]

I have just recently started getting the hang of adding in the background effects/sounds that in my opinion really make a good track great and even professional. A lot of it for me is mostly random use of send/retrurn tracks with excessive reverb delays and pitch modulation. I dont know much about FL's send/return tracks so I can't help you there but I would suggest looking into it on youtube or askingaround here. Samples are another key thing; random sound effects with reverb tails can help. If you have more specific questions about this I would be glad to help.

And welcome to MLR

[Lavender_Harmony]

Firstly, welcome to MLR.

Secondly, I've listened to your first two pieces, the most recent, and I have a few comments overall.

To begin with, you're still very new to making music, you said it yourself, and one of the key things your music lacks is a knowledge of tonality. A lot of it seems very hit and miss, almost random at times, and part of being able to compose music professionally, is to know how to make it sound good. You should definitely concern yourself with learning at least the fundamentals of music theory, and you will find that once you implement that knowledge into your music it will greatly improve. It will take time.

Then there is also the issue of making your music varied. It's all well and good making a drum loop and playing above it, and you say you want to know what the little things are. Those little things are where the timbre slightly changes, where the drum beat changes ever so slight;y, a background pad being introduced, another percussion, a different chord the third time around, it's these sorts of things that give your music that extra bit of interest.

I could go on length about compression, EQ, use of reverb, panning and so on, but I think for the moment composition is where you should be focusing yourself. Feel free to read up on what I mentioned, but you don't want to overload yourself, or else you will get frustrated, and that is the worst thing that you can be when you are trying to be creative.

And as tradition with MLR, here are some wise words:

[Ed Viper]

Huh. All this time I figured my music was fundamentally sound, but now that you mention it, I can see where I'm going wrong. I will certainly brush up on my key signatures and the like (it has been a while). On the other hand, would anyone kindly link/post up an flp file I could perhaps look at? I don't have a very good ear for judging notes from hearing them so it'd be easier to see it in front of me, if that's alright with anyone.

In the meantime I'll look back at my old music class books and perhaps read up on music composition and see if I can't pick up any tips from there.

At this point, the way I see it is if I really familiarize myself with music theory and learn to apply it to my music, then perhaps the little subtleties of music will come more naturally. I dunno, just a hypothesis.

Also thank you for the warm welcomes and speedy responses ^ ^;

[CommandSpry]

I personally know nothing about Music Theory, but I really feel bad for it, I *should* read up on it but I never get enough time to get myself involved in that, I barely get time to work on music at all (:

I'm not sure it's entirely necessary, but it sure can help alot, from what I've heard.

Welcome to MLR tho, have fun (:

[Overkillius]

I'm not sure it's entirely necessary, but it sure can help alot, from what I've heard.

Music is like physics, and composing is like launching a rocket.

Music theory is like the understanding of physics concepts. It helps if you know it for composing (music in general really) as it would help to know physics if you wanted to launch a rocket, but obviously all you have to do is point it up and send it off. You probably aren't going to get to the moon without knowledge of physics though.

(Also, I happen to be in theory class right now! how fitting.)

[Overkillius]

Music is like physics.

What I mean by this is that it works anyway without you knowing about it, It just helps to you know what you are doing if you want to do anything precise.

People sometimes say that knowing theory ruins music for them. Physics class doesn't ruin how you fall when I rudely shove you for saying that.

[Ed Viper]

Yeah it's sounding like more and more of a good idea. However, I've always kind of had trouble finding inspiration for my melodies and whatnot, which might be part of why they sound "random" at points. So now I'm wondering, with the idea of keeping in theory in mind, where do you guys normally find inspiration when you're creating a melody?

I understand I should find my own inspiration for my music, but is there something specific you guys do? Is there some place you go that inspires you? I can spend all day at a keyboard, sounding chords and whatnot but I can never make a connection between the notes I can play and the overall sound of the song.

I guess what I'm saying is that I have a hard time getting multiple different melodies to mix together and sound good, which is a big part of composition. I can look at the piano roll and it looks like the two mesh but as soon as I play them together, it's incredibly dissonant. Thoughts? (I'm trying to subdue my frustration about this, as I get frustrated easily by things I'm not good at quickly ^ ^;)

I'm starting to think I simply might not have it in me to do music because it's so hard for me to get inspired by anything. My aunt is a musician herself, and she can come up with a whole melody from hearing a single sound, or from a picture. I, on the other hand have a hard time coming up with melodies even after hearing full songs. I dunno, as I said before I'm very easily frustrated by things I'm not good at, and this is a big one.

[Lavender_Harmony]

Yeah it's sounding like more and more of a good idea. However, I've always kind of had trouble finding inspiration for my melodies and whatnot, which might be part of why they sound "random" at points. So now I'm wondering, with the idea of keeping in theory in mind, where do you guys normally find inspiration when you're creating a melody?

I understand I should find my own inspiration for my music, but is there something specific you guys do? Is there some place you go that inspires you? I can spend all day at a keyboard, sounding chords and whatnot but I can never make a connection between the notes I can play and the overall sound of the song.

I guess what I'm saying is that I have a hard time getting multiple different melodies to mix together and sound good, which is a big part of composition. I can look at the piano roll and it looks like the two mesh but as soon as I play them together, it's incredibly dissonant. Thoughts? (I'm trying to subdue my frustration about this, as I get frustrated easily by things I'm not good at quickly ^ ^;)

I'm starting to think I simply might not have it in me to do music because it's so hard for me to get inspired by anything. My aunt is a musician herself, and she can come up with a whole melody from hearing a single sound, or from a picture. I, on the other hand have a hard time coming up with melodies even after hearing full songs. I dunno, as I said before I'm very easily frustrated by things I'm not good at, and this is a big one.

Time.

When you begin, you are very focused on the technical side of everything, trying to make things sound good. This is why you should learn fundamental theory. To the naysayers, let me explain what this means.

If you do not learn what a key is, what a scale is and what a chord is, you will get nowhere. I don't care if you learn it from a book, or a hip-hop producer who says "When y'all put them notes together they sound real good", you are learning theory. When you work out that chords sometimes sound even better with more notes in them, you are learning theory. When you play all the black notes, then find out that you can never play a wrong note on those, you are learning theory. I cannot stress this enough.

People who say that it ruins their perception of music, that stints their creativity and forces them to follow rules are talking nonsense. I have five years of music theory, in all kinds of implementation, from simple popular works to complex orchestral scores, and I'm still learning. There is more to it than just scales and chords, and you can go very, very deep. But the fact is that if you do not learn this stuff, your music is going to sound samey and bland. You might get lucky once or twice, but you will hit a creative block.

Inspiration comes from knowing what sounds good. If you know how tonality works, chords, scales, keys and so forth, you can focus on an internal thought, an image, an inspiration to fit the mood. I worked on this from an early age, and grew an understanding of the above as quick as I could.

You mentioned something in your post that I find a little sad. You are feeling so disheartened that you want to give up. I think you should read the image I posted again. Don't give up. It will take time, you need to push yourself, learn all you can, and fight your way through this barrier, because this is only the first of many. There will always be barriers in your way. Always. It's about having the determination, the dedication and the will to overcome those, to stick at what you do, keep trying. You will get through it, I promise, if you keep trying.

[Ed Viper]

Alright then, I'll try to simply focus on fundamental theory for now then. I guess I'll step down from trying to make full songs for now and return to messing around with melodies and see if I can get anything that sounds decent.

Thanks for all the help!

[Overkillius]

Melodies somewhat just come to me, but that is after... about 6 years of trying to analyze music as much as I possibly can +1 year of theory.

I'd simply recommend that you try to figure out other melodies (as in, melodies other people have created) on a piano and be able to sing them. If melodies still aren't coming to you, then take the basic structure of a melody and vary it until it is something of your own.

[Ed Viper]

*sigh* guess I'll have to get a new keyboard then T_T why are they so expensive? I did have a keyboard but my little brother decided to use windex while cleaning it...LOTS of windex... waterlogged the damn thing.

[Freewave]

you can get a good basic midi keyboard for ~ $100+. In the end its the software that really makes the music. sorry to hear about your last one tho.

[Overkillius]

Well... you COULD also try to pick it out on any other instrument you have, or maybe even your DAW.

[Ed Viper]

Certainly! I'm thinking of a few songs I might be able to try this with too. Alright! Time to get to work! ...After I finish my essay : /

[Ed Viper]

I certainly will : ) I might email you my most recent WIP so you can maybe take a look at it and see if I'm doing anything right.