Hey!! Help Needed!!

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Mrnace

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Basically,

I am totally new too DJing and and Music production.

I am looking to get straight into the music production part and I am looking for any help you guys n gals can offer.

I have Reason 5 installed on my PC and a M-Audio Oxygen 8 (old version) midi controller keyboard.

Now what?
 
Have fun with it!!!!! It may take a while but make sure you look into instructions, Sounds, What certain terms mean. And the more you experience first hand, the more you will learn. Good luck!
 
Thanks. I realize that just playing around with things will help me learn how things work generally.

Is there any advice on how to even begin making the music, what to start with (bassline, intro), song structure etc?

Any advice would be a help.
 
Mrnace said:
Thanks. I realize that just playing around with things will help me learn how things work generally.

Is there any advice on how to even begin making the music, what to start with (bassline, intro), song structure etc?

Any advice would be a help.
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See there's the rub. If it's to be YOUR music, YOU actually have to come up with some ideas, i doubt any two people have the same creative process

Maybe a good way to start would be to find some tracks that you like and try to duplicate them by recording cover versions. That would give you some insight into how people in your genre are doing things and how they get things to fit together in terms of the sounds used and the arrangement into a finished track.

from there you can then hopefully start building your own unique style and sound from those building blocks and move away from just copying other people
 
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Go buy a Reason 5 walk through...both Computer Music Mag and Music Tech have one off issues dedicated to it...in them you'll find workshops, videos, and guides on how best to use Reason...also read the manual front to back...remember youtube is your friend..loads of tutorials there from pretty basic to advanced..

If youve got some cash groove 3 do some pretty good video tutorials check them out..and a company called SWA...I got an tutorial download for only $2.99 on sale
 
I had/have the same problem I just recently bought my interface, midi keyboard, mics etc I got everything plugged in and ready to go but had no idea what to do apart from just testing stuff out like the mics or the software. But recently as already suggested I was listening to a song I like and thought this is a pretty easy song with not too much going on I'll learn it and make a cover of it, doing that let me get something recorded which then gives you stuff to edit and mess around with. Since then I've been working on another cover which is a little more difficult until I start to feel more comfortable writing and composing my own stuff. I think the main thing you have to keep thinking is that you will record stuff and you will get better, things just don't happen over night and home recording is a long learning curve just like playing the instrument itself.
 
I think you're putting the cart before the horse. The music comes first, you're playing around on the guitar or keyboard and what you are doing sounds really nice, then you imagine a powerful bass line accompanying it, etc, and only then do you even start to think about recording it almost as an afterthought. It's a bit like creative writing courses, anybody who needs to go to a creative writing course is probably never going to be a writer. But someone who really has something to say will be scribbling on the backs of envelopes in desperation to get their ideas down, and be obsessed by their ideas, and the technicalities of recording it etc seem trivial by comparison.
 
Okay. fair enough.

Just hoped for something to help. I have written film scripts before now and learn a structure to help write it. I hoped there would be something similar for a song.

Hey Ho.

I'll just play around and see what I can come up with.

Thanks
 
Taking lessons and actually learning to play the instrument might help. (Sorry, you didnt' actually say that you already know how to play an instrument)

Make up something original on your instrument, memorize it so you can play it the exact same way 50 times in a row, then record it. (use a click track for timing)

Then play it back and switch to a different instrument and play along with the recording until you figure out something that works together. Usually that is a bass line, but I'm starting to do my drum tracks second lately.

I always make up a song on the guitar or keyboard first, but want to try something new and make up a bass line first this time. Then record that instrument, then add drums, a rhythm instrument (guitar or piano) and a bass line. Ultimately, the drums + bass will dictate the feel of the song.

In other words, create the rhythm section first, then write a vocal part. Some people write vocals first, or write the main instrument and the vocal part at the same time. But for recording, record the vocals and the solos last. I use a scratch vocal part for reference so my drums and bass lines dont step on the vocals, but then the scratch track gets deleted later and the vocals get re-recorded over the finished rhythm section.
 
Try writing in pieces. I always have trouble trying to write an entire song in one sitting. Record a bunch of ideas, sleep on it, and take a listen to it in the morning. You might hear something that was missing before...
 
Mrnace said:
Okay. fair enough.

Just hoped for something to help. I have written film scripts before now and learn a structure to help write it. I hoped there would be something similar for a song.

Hey Ho.

I'll just play around and see what I can come up with.

Thanks
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Reason comes with several demo tunes and they are something special.

You will probably be completely overwhelmed by them especially the Josh Mobley one. But there right in front of you is how they do it.
 
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