can someone please go step-by-step on comp producing..

[EX-plicit]

i know i cant go professional wit comp producing..i juss want something to do on my spare time..
ok
i got all the software and hardware i need...i think
i got
a yamaha keyboard, fruityloops, cubase, and cooledit pro

i know wat sounds good and i got some good piano loops in my head but i dont know where to start...
i would really appreciate it if someone would help me..
thnx

[Basick]

im no expert but ill give some pointers that might help.

1. Sampling is key

Download some other songs (or if you got any old vinyl, you might try hooking your turntable or record player into your cpu), then load em up into cool edit pro (look for that mp3 addon!!!). Then, you gotsta chop some sounds out of it; loops or notes, it doesn't really matter, whatever sounds good. If you sample songs with drums in them, its real tricky, cause when you put your drums down, you gotta make it match so be careful. Cool edit's got madd effects that you'll probly want to apply to your samples.

2. Drums are a must

check http://www.phatdrumloops.com/, and download some drum loops. Then, you can use them directly or better yet, chop em up and make your own. Look for a program called Recycle; it can chop up drum loops (or notes or whatever) automatically. At first you'll probably want to just use the drum sample directly, but after a while you will wanna start using you own sequences.

3. Fruity Loops is a sequencer.

Now, the samples that come with fruity loops are frail like a fiend's physique, and fruity loops was made primarly to create dance music; for hip hop, it's strength lies in its sequencing ability. Add the directories that you have your samples in to the menu on the side. Then, you can start makin music! Id start with the drums (they gotta be bangin) and then move on to bass (download some bass sounds and some bass drums too). Keep in mind: every element of the song should be kept in different pattern section (the little keypad things at the top).

Lets say that you make a simple drum sequence in the 1st track, and you want to give the drums some variation. to do this you need to go to the 2nd track, then copy the drum sequence from the first and change it up (mabye a second handclap, a second snare, more hi hats, etc). To make it play like that, you need to go to the play list view, highlight 3 bars of track one (it really helps to name the tracks like 'drums 1', 'drums 2', 'bass 1', 'piano'). Then, highlight the second track for the forth bar, highlight loop, and press play. You should hear your 1st loop 3 times, and then your 2nd loop. Do the same for the bass, instruments or whatever. (btw, you can select sections from the playlist view by holding down ctrl or alt and copy and paste them)

There might be a way to quantize (record the notes you play from your midi keyboard) with fruity loops, but if there is i don't know. And I don't really use cubase, cause it screws up Reason, so i can't help you there.

4. In general

Sample everything; TV shows, classical music, you name it. mix and match, amplify, boost or cut the bass/treble. Basically: experiment

Variation makes the song; throw in a little somthing here and there to juice it up or it gets boring. Depending on what your making, you should keep the intro around 20 seconds long (12 bars i think), verses 24 bars, choruses 8 bars and outro can vary.

Practice makes perfect. Your first stuff might sound awful but you kinda get a feel for what goes where after a while.



Hope this stuff helps, just keep in mind that the most important thing is having fun; if its fun, and you like doing it, you'll be ill as ****. You can't persue good music, its gotta ensue.


Oh yeah, if anyone with a hardware setup reads this: You are entitled to front. If you dropped a grand on an MPC you are probably serious (or spoiled out of you mind), so i hope you can drop some knowledge too.

Peace!

[EX-plicit]

omg thnx alot!!
that helped alot...really..
thnx for takin the time man..
time to get to work..

[Basick]

yo, it ain't nuttin.

have fun!



And big ups to the mods for the big...up....

[sicki]

wats some otha sites where I can download drums from ???

[MattmaN]

"i know i cant go professional wit comp producing.."

Why not?
I know no reason why software should hold you back,and this is coming from a harware guy.

[Basick]

^^^^^What kinda setup you got?

sicki: i don't know anywhere else. sorry

[MattmaN]

I use an mpc2000,and a zoom sampletrak.I mix my beats strait to cdrw.
I have fruityloops too,and although I just mess with it I
see it has potential in the right hands.
Go to www.grimmbeats.com,and listen to a guy named "Super soul".
This guy used only Fruityloops for the beats,and his stuff is dope.

[AsIaDDiCt]

i got a producer affiliate who does 90% of his beats on the PC and it's dope ish quality... he'd say otherwise about the mpc, etc.

basick... holla at me playboy.. p_yom@hotmail.com

peace

[ThirdEye77]

how about what Basick suggested, except how about replacing fruityloops with mpc2000. would that work.? i mean it seems like people are either about hardware or software but not a mixture. If we get an mpc2000, do we absolutely need a computer to produce the final product?

[Basick]

A combo would probably be best. If you've got the mpc for the sampling, drumming and sequencing, you can use the comp to chop up the samples or add effects like a delay or reverb. The main advantage that comp producing has over hardware is that i doesn't cost a thing, so even an amateur can just mess around and whatnot. I'd suggest hardware if your serious or you're in a studio setup.

[ThirdEye77]

thnx basick

[ThirdEye77]

how good is rebirth 2.0? What's it good for?

[Basick]

Rebirth is the TB-303, the TR-808 and the TR-909 combined. It's basically 2 drum machines and a synth in one. It's not bad on its own, but combined with Reason, its mad potent.

[ThirdEye77]

Sorry basick but what's Reason, and who's it made by?

[Basick]

Reason is the uber-computer production program.It has a 10+channel mixer, a drum machine, synth, sampler, loop player, and a ton more. Its a little to difficult to use for my taste, (my boy can freak it though) and its lovely to work with if you have a midi keyboard and a midi port. the only problem is that it is 2 CDs. If you can't find the isos on kazaa, you'll need to find someone to burn it for you.


It's made by Propellorheads.

[AsIaDDiCt]

basick

you ever decide on my proposition? I've noticed you haven't been on here on the regular which causes me to think...

:-\

[Mizchif]

a comp and hardware would be a nice setup
an mpc for sequencing and beat making with the comp used for multitracking and for wave editing and cutting a chopping samples
like said earlier

but multitracking on a comp is a good thing

[112th son]

DANKS!

[ROK*STDY]

Originally posted by Basick
im no expert but ill give some pointers that might help.

1. Sampling is key

Download some other songs (or if you got any old vinyl, you might try hooking your turntable or record player into your cpu), then load em up into cool edit pro (look for that mp3 addon!!!). Then, you gotsta chop some sounds out of it; loops or notes, it doesn't really matter, whatever sounds good. If you sample songs with drums in them, its real tricky, cause when you put your drums down, you gotta make it match so be careful. Cool edit's got madd effects that you'll probly want to apply to your samples.

2. Drums are a must

check http://www.phatdrumloops.com/, and download some drum loops. Then, you can use them directly or better yet, chop em up and make your own. Look for a program called Recycle; it can chop up drum loops (or notes or whatever) automatically. At first you'll probably want to just use the drum sample directly, but after a while you will wanna start using you own sequences.

3. Fruity Loops is a sequencer.

Now, the samples that come with fruity loops are frail like a fiend's physique, and fruity loops was made primarly to create dance music; for hip hop, it's strength lies in its sequencing ability. Add the directories that you have your samples in to the menu on the side. Then, you can start makin music! Id start with the drums (they gotta be bangin) and then move on to bass (download some bass sounds and some bass drums too). Keep in mind: every element of the song should be kept in different pattern section (the little keypad things at the top).

Lets say that you make a simple drum sequence in the 1st track, and you want to give the drums some variation. to do this you need to go to the 2nd track, then copy the drum sequence from the first and change it up (mabye a second handclap, a second snare, more hi hats, etc). To make it play like that, you need to go to the play list view, highlight 3 bars of track one (it really helps to name the tracks like 'drums 1', 'drums 2', 'bass 1', 'piano'). Then, highlight the second track for the forth bar, highlight loop, and press play. You should hear your 1st loop 3 times, and then your 2nd loop. Do the same for the bass, instruments or whatever. (btw, you can select sections from the playlist view by holding down ctrl or alt and copy and paste them)

There might be a way to quantize (record the notes you play from your midi keyboard) with fruity loops, but if there is i don't know. And I don't really use cubase, cause it screws up Reason, so i can't help you there.

4. In general

Sample everything; TV shows, classical music, you name it. mix and match, amplify, boost or cut the bass/treble. Basically: experiment

Variation makes the song; throw in a little somthing here and there to juice it up or it gets boring. Depending on what your making, you should keep the intro around 20 seconds long (12 bars i think), verses 24 bars, choruses 8 bars and outro can vary.

Practice makes perfect. Your first stuff might sound awful but you kinda get a feel for what goes where after a while.



Hope this stuff helps, just keep in mind that the most important thing is having fun; if its fun, and you like doing it, you'll be ill as ****. You can't persue good music, its gotta ensue.


Oh yeah, if anyone with a hardware setup reads this: You are entitled to front. If you dropped a grand on an MPC you are probably serious (or spoiled out of you mind), so i hope you can drop some knowledge too.

Peace!



exactly!!! great advice!!! i'm gonna use some of it! the MPC is unstoppable!!! and i use cakewalk, but yo, that's me!

peace,
ROK*

[DraMaticBeats]

Yo, there are actually infinite approaches to producing on the computer. I personally you an Alesis QS6 keyboard and do most of my beats in Cakewalk. Cakewalk is a great midi program. For my drums I use Acid Pro. Acid is great if you want to sample but you don't wnat to spend the money on a dedicated sampling machine.

You can check out these programs at both of there websites. www.cakewalk.com and www.acidplanet.com

Check out what I did with cakewalk: www.mp3.com/dramatic

[DraMaticBeats]

I also forgot to mention that there are a lot of books out there that you can read to get you started. Cakewalk and Acid both have books that you can get to get you started mastering the programs. I can't stress enough how important it is to read books and manuels. You can't get anything done unless you read kid.

[Enigmatical]

Originally posted by EX-plicit
i know i cant go professional wit comp producing..i juss want something to do on my spare time..


Pro tools is computer based (with outboard consoles of course) and is the most used recording program in the world...

basics...

Get yourself a good computer and a good sound card.....

I just bought a computer for recording... the key is to build your own through either your local store or a custom store like mpcomp.com... you need to have at least a udma hard drive or at most a scsi hard drive if you want to record full on in a major recording program.. get at least a GIG of DDR RAM... don't bother with rambus.. it'll eat up your power supply
Next is your sound card... DONT' BUY SOUND BLASTER... even the one with audigy as it's ADC..... you need a professional grade sound card... Maudio makes good low end professional sound cards that will run you anywhere from 200 to 500 dollars.. roland sells a pci card, and outboard mixer package with logic as your software for about 700.... protools 001 is about 1300 and is your highend choice...

i use an aardvark q-10 which is new on the market.. it gives you 8-mic ins... s/pidf connection for any outboard processor or sampler you have... and 1/4" line connectors for guitar or any other line level instrument(including keyboards)... ohh.. and it has midi ins and outs....
you should seriously consider getting a midi keyboard if you do hip hop beats.. you'll be able to make your own samples and won't have to buy loops....

SOFTWARE PROGRAMS

Cubase vst and cubase sx are great programs for recording, mixing and scoring in midi... they run about 500 dollars and are the ones i use...
you can pirate them on kazaa
don't use acid pro 3.... just get vegas video 3.. it has all the functions of acid pro and if you ever want to use video it gives you those options...
other sampling gear or sample editing gear you should look into are recylce by propeller head or rebirth by the same company, fruity loops which is great for programming your own drums and sound forge....
with sound forge you can take any small sample and warp it out so that the sound is nothing like the original... for instance... a single high end guitar note.... and make it samplable for a beat.... by stretching the time out and adding whatever other effect u want...
you can do beats just as professional on the computer as you can in a studio... plus you have control... not a producer...

MICROPHONES
if you're recording any instruments just pick up a shure sm57 dynamic mic and work your way from there as you figure out what type of dynamic mics you want.. it runs about 80 dollars and you can record vocals if you're hard pressed for money

for vocals use a condenser microphone and don't pay any less than 200 dollars unless it's a close out sale or something....
DO NOT PUT LOUD INSTRUMENTS NEAR A CONDENSER microphone unless the manual says it can handle high spl's....

hmmm.. that's it.... drop some questions if you have any

[djcriminal]

sound advice.

if this was posted up in The Spot all you'd get back is bullsh!t. nice to know some peeps DO know their stuff.

[DraMaticBeats]

I'm trying to start a website strictly for producers and your post had good info. I wanted to know if I could use it for the website. Hit me back at dramaticbeats@msn.com

be easy

[Normski]

Its not about sampling at all

master ur synths and u can make ANY sound on em

Maybe get a triton its got synth and stock sounds

All about da keyboard hip hop!

[SmellsKindaIffy]

the easiest way to com produce is by using REASON, the program.

been using it ever since i was 15, been producing some hot ****, easy to use if someone teaches you

and in case your wondering, this sh!t is professional, it aint no mtv music generator for the playstation. do your research.

its got everything, name any machine and its got it,
the equlivelant of buying them, im serious

sells in stores for ALOTTT, but i got it cracked

jus tryin to help

[gundam zeta]

you want to use you computer as the main heart of you studio. Unless, you want to sequence with a hardware sequencer which kinda suck to be honest except for the overpriced MPC series. C'mon 2000 dollars for a 10 year old MPC 3000?!!

My comp setup.

Cubase for sequencing and tracking
Cool edit pro for editing samples

Yamaha motif 8 (midi controler and main tone generator)
Yamaha a4000 sampler (makeshift sound module with drums, vocal samples, live instrument recordings and plain loops that I've made)

I really must recomend the A4000 to anyone. It's the most bang for your buck sampler. It's low on polyphony, but hell were all mostly making hip-hop here. I got mine used and fully loaded with a zip drive and a 8 gigabyte internal hard-drive. Hours of sample time!!!

Tascam 8 track digital mixer.

[quest1]

I use Cubase only...
All you really need is the knowledge, you don't need a 10'buckas studio to produce some good beats.

www.mp3.com/questbeats

q1

[ch9sab]

where can i get a cracked version of reason?

how many different bits of it do i need to download eg. soundbank files etc.

help please :(

[Peter Ego]

VERY VERY VERY helpful article

"How to Do Music With Your Computer" Part 1

http://www.onthegrind.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4726

[Zakius]

reason 2.0 is unnecesarily complicated

[LANSTARR]

Originally posted by EX-plicit
i know i cant go professional wit comp producing..

You are absolutely incorrect. There are plenty of profesional producing softwares available. Ever heard of Cubas SX? What about Logic? Sonar? Reason? Infact, most software sequencers are more capable and easier to use that hardware. Do some research.

[e60m5]

Werd.

It's perfectly possible to go "professional" using software.

After all, music is an art. Not a who-has-the-best-equipment game. If there's true music in your beats, it doesn't matter how it's made. It's gonna shine.

Best of luck, mate.

Peace

[ky storm]

bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla .

you get that? now.

bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla and then

bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla

and go to soundclick.com/samuraikenshin and hear the wackest beats you EVER heard.

[lezlethal]

http://www.divaheat.com/lezheirpro.html

I made all of these beats with pc software.

It just depends on how you rearrange/chop up your samles.
I feel like I have more freedom when I use my keyboard & drum machines, but if you really like sampling A PC is the way to get started.

[Serg]

..AND THAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN (COMP) PRODUCTION AND ANALOG PRODUCTION..USIN' UR PC FOR PRODUCING BEATS AND RECORDIN' TRACKS WOULD BE CALLED DIGITAL..RECORDIN'/ PRODUCTION, NOT COMP PRODUCTION. AND IT'S TRUE, ALOT OF PRO'S USE PCS BUT YOU WONT SEE THEM WIT MODEMS AND ANY HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE TO GET ON THE INTERNET. REASON BEIN' IS THAT ANY PROGRAM SUCH AS REASON, COOL EDIT, ACID PRO, CAKEWALK, CUBASE AND ALL THE REST USE ALOT OF HARDDISK SPACE ON UR PC WHICH WEARS IT DOWN. SO AN UPGRADE WOULD BE RELEVENT IN THIS CASE. NOW TO TAKE THE STEP A LIL FURTHER. USIN A KEYBOARD, MCP2000XL, ZOOM'S RT-123, U CAN CONDUCT THE BEAT AND MIX IT DOWN TO IN THE RIGHT FORMAT, AND SEND IT TO UR PC. NOW YOU CAN RECORD ON UR PC UNLESS U HAVE ZOOM'S BIG BROTHER 'DIGITAL RECORDIN' WORKSTATION, THEN U WOULDN'T NEED UR PC..SO ANYWAY, WE COULD DWELL ON THIS SUBJECT ALL DAY AND IF ANYMORE TIPS ARE TO BE NEEDED, I'M AVAILIABLE ON AIM..= EIGHTHOFAKEY..ONE.....

[Conan]

OK, I'm on a bit of a budget, and so the only thing I have is a Mixman DM2. Now, honest opinion, can I still put out some vicious ****, or am I better off pitching the damn thing?

P.S. all beats at the site in my signature were made with the DM2.

[the evil pope]

My 2 cents:

Computer Production and Mixdown are superior to any hardware out there, I can give you 10,000 reasons why, But recording to a Tape Machine( a magnetic tape reel to reel) will give you a better sounding mix. But to maintain and operate this type of recording is a luxury and a pain in the ass. But I say that in the next 10 years with the advent of Super Audio CD's and DVD AUDIO, digital recordings will be able to match and surpass analog tape machine recordings.

[Dunny Brasko]

subscribe

[Who Shot Me?]

Originally posted by Dunny Brasko
subscribe YES SIRRY

[iLL FIGAZ]

what up i started makin beat 4 months ago, i made some pretty nice beats wit ****ty Fruity Loops studio edition anyway n i just started to learn a week ago how to Compress. Theres this beat i used an old Sample for it n the sounds are good quality but theres this like feedback playin over i tried takin it out by compress but only got ride of a small extent how can i really fix up the sounds

holla back thanks

[LastTemptation]

up

[Paper Soldier]

Originally posted by LastTemptation
up

[K-O-B]

:::subscribes:::

[shotz]

Originally posted by Who Shot Me?
YES SIRRY

[Captin Planit]

I have yet to hear a computer producer lace a track with some crispy, thick drums. And that's not an issue regarding talent, that's all about hardware capabilities.

Plain and simple, hardware just seems to have a richer sound to me because it's built for that ****. In terms of precision and user-friendliness, the computer will kick your ass 12 times, but there's a reason you don't hear drum kits like those found on Only Built for Cuban Linx in the Age of Pro Tools and Cakewalk. Too many people use this **** as a crutch.

You can have the vision, but if you can't execute that vision on a unit with true power, you're like Van Gogh without a full palette of colors. Study your electronics, mayne.

[LastTemptation]

Gotta up this thread

[BlackSoultan]

I'm recording a full album now and this is what my producer/engineer has/uses:

Korg Triton keyboard,
2 MPC 200xL's
2 Mac's (One G4 in the studio and a portable laptop mac G3) running various programs.
3 sound modules hooked up to the Korg
32 Channel Mixing Board.
3 or four different mics
CD/DVD burner.

Software
Reason and Re-drum (most of my beats I found out were made on that ALONE!)
Pro-Tools (which can be used for sequencing too if you'd like) and
EVERY DAMN PLUG IN EVER KNOWN TO MAN FOR PRO-TOOLS

^^ Your basic professional set up.

[skeptah]

what up ppl..i use fl. **** what people say. There are a lot of stuck up individuals that will give you heat and closed minds when they peep your ****, just cause they know it was made on a pc. I never get decent feedback from my beats cause thats all they cap on.

I do agree with the rich, thick drums post however, good lookin. It seems you can only get good snares from hardware..software doesnt cut it..to my knowledge, i gotta stick with sampling.

I just got into producing a few months ago, if anyone is stuck on my boat and willing to work together, let me know. msg me on aim:skeptah or email skeptah@yahoo.com


good post, pz