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Where should i start?

  • 5 replies
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Topic Where should i start?
Hey i have no clue where i should start i want to be a music producer very bad i would like to do it in hip hop/ rap i dont know what equpiment i should get to get myself started or how much everything will cost so if you could awnser those question s it would be greatly appreciated.
2
Not even considering any musical direction, first thing I'd try is to get a hold of some free programs, just to get basics down. Try shareware and freeware programs. Whenever you got the hang of it, you might consider spending money on equipment. You're not just going out, buying equipment... it's too costly for that.

I'd suggest you'd try out FL studio which can be downloaded as a demo here
http://flstudio.image-line.com/index.html

it gives basics on sequencing, making beats and whatnot. From there on out, you can ask other questions which people will surely help you with.
3
Ok thanks so much whe i do start to buy equipment what should i buy first and howmuch would it cost thanks
4
Answered this question in your other thread, hence this one could be closed.
5
I have fruity loops but for immediate results, i would seriously advise "Maschine" from Native instrument. It is like an MPC (ie, the equipment traditionally used for all kind of grrove musics, hip hop, house...) but connected to the computer, so you are not limited for the amount of sounds.
The sounds in drums especially will not require you any work to reach "that" sound like fat basses and it contains more than you need to do hip hop.
If you have a computer, you should really try it somewhere.

Fruity loops is cool, but more traditional, you will need to buy sounds to have the sound you look for, or work with equalizers etc , which can be difficult when you begin.

Maschine can be used as a vst instrument, so it can be used in fruity loops with no problem.
I use cubase (cubase 5 but you may not need that, the small cheap versions are enough for a long time).

I build my loops in Maschine, and either play "live" with the hardware controller, or export audio loops that i re-arrange in the sequencer (which can be fruity loops, cubase, sonar, or whetever vst-capable sequencer you want to use).

Mashcine is around 500 euros (not sure, you need to check with the reselllers near you)
The cheap versions of cubase/fruity loops/ etc are generally 99 euros...

so that's around 600/700.
Also, it depends on your computer, you need usb2 and as powerful processor/ram etc that you can get.

If you need to record vocals , then you need a nice preamplifier and a microphone (microphone that work without preamps are generally either very bad, or very expensive because they come with a preamp).
It is not a good idea to go for the cheapest preamp/mic, neither it is to go for expensive stuff when you begin, it is useless.
I don't know the prices but for 300/400 you already have better quality than the rest.
Of course, there are cheaper alternatives, but if you go for cheap, expect to buy the same kind of gear in a year or so (more fragile, less quality so after a while you are fed up trying to get a sound with something that can't output a good sound anyway)..

A great soundcard with very good preamps is the "Saffire" from focusrite (it is firewire). On this, you can plug stage microphones that you can find at 150/200 euros and that will be enough to begin. A soundcard like the saffire will last a long time and will output very good audio. You can get them second-hand for not expensive. There are other soundcards, but as i didn't try them, i can't advise them (you will be happy with something like Emu0404 usb, or may be the Native instruments Audio Kontrol-1, or may be others... nb: lots of people have problems with presonus, so check the forums about that, and always make a google search about the equipment you want to buy... eventhough there is always problems with some people, you will have a good idea of what works and what really doesn't...)

hell, making music is expensive when you want "the sound".. fortunately, it is cheaper and cheaper nowadays.... it is also complicated sometimes depending on your computer and what is has (does it have usb2, firewire, lots of ram and powerful cpu like dual core or more....??). All this will direct you to some gear already.

Using freewares to begin with is a good idea, some of them are good, some other are just people having fun making something.

People say "bad workers blame their tools" but in music, that's not true, there are a lot of bad or inadapted tools, and workers can't work with them or are obliged to do this and that to reach what other, more expnsive equipment, allows to do without manipulations, and that's generally the reason why they are not cheap, because they render a big service to the musician or sound engineer. otherwise, there won't be any preamps/mics at 3000 euros if the ones at 99 did the same... well , they don't do the same that's sure. but you don't need to get studio quality right now, you need decent quality, not more....

Well, i hope it helps.
6
Jesus merlinpinin, what are u on about. the guy is a beginner, he is not moving to mowtown. it's answers like that that could put genuine talent off doing it for no reason other than to make urself seem clever.



ok and now my answer. fruity loops is a good idea to get to grips with the digital production software world but is by no means the best. i suggest using fruity loops until you are compfortable with it before moving onto something else OR! buying any equipment. equipment is different for everybody depending on what you are producing. once you've got to grips with the idea of midi and automation move on to ableton or logic because if you are producing vocal based music they have great support for audio. once you have done this YOU will know what equipment YOU need. i'm producing three years now and i still use my mouse for non-realtime edits. i have got a keyboard and controller but i did it so long with the mouse it's just natural to me. i hope you weren't disheartened by merlinpinpins answer.
I'm so thankful for all the help i recieved when i was starting out clueless. And now i want to pass it on. It really is a beautiful online community we producers have.