To be or not to be /advice wanted! (long post)

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To be or not to be /advice wanted! (long post)
Posted on: 13.12.2012 by Shantelle Hedke
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Tera Baragan
13.12.2012
Originally Posted by ksandvik
Purchase Ableton
Fixed it for you!


Ot making the sounds you want to be hearing is the toughest part of producing. Making sounds work with eachother n schmidt.
Shantelle Hedke
13.12.2012
I know you probably hate this kind of posts, but I'd be really thankful if you'd read it trough without skipping and try to understand me and give some advice to a fellow music lover.

This is my first post so a small introduction maybe,
I've been following this site and community for about 2-3 years now.
I've always liked electronic music and as a kid I wanted to play keyboard/piano but never had the chance too.
About 1.5 years ago I decided to buy an S4 and get into djing, I liked it, but soon realized its not djing itself that I like, but listening to my mixes for hours, searching for things that aren
Sydney Lashway
13.12.2012
Honestly, this all sounds like an exhausting exercise in futility. I know, I sound like a prick but here's my reasoning...

To have some knowledge, and attempting to do what you've explained is plausible and tedious. To have little knowledge proves even more so. However, again the process becomes even more so tedious and somewhat agonizing. To have NO knowledge, yourself in this case, this turns into borderline self-abuse comparable to the Opus Dei.

You need to understand that among all the great composers that've given us the gift of music, only one virtuoso was fully capable of what you want to do. These individuals were highly trained, life long students of music, groomed to a certain level of perfection that is almost none existent in todays world. They were innately bonded to their instruments, and said instruments acted as extensions of their bodies. Couple that with the fact that they thought to some extent in the language of music. Together, these qualities create a mapping from the domain of conception to the range of actualization. In your case this mapping doesn't exist. To compound this problem, we've added the element of technology. The plethora of DAW's, controllers, effects, plug-ins, certain basics of sound design, harmonics etc., further extends the list of tools and resources of which you've got neither.

Now, that being said, some of the greatest songs in the history of recorded music were written by illiterates with little to no education; conventional or musical. The key here is, to quote SoundInMotion, is to do something. Draw the line in the sand and challenge yourself to 'crow'. Start to acquire the tools, resources, and skill-sets required to undertake such a task. Pick up a keyboard and play it, watch youtube videos, online resources whatever. Find the notes, find how the notes work with each other. Figure out where the notes are fighting each other, study the music and how they work and in what sequence do these notes start to make sense? From there start with a simple cheap, even open source software. Methodically examine each parameter, each effect. Start creating that map from conception to actualization. What button does what, what happens when I turn this knob, so on and so forth. Learn one thing, learn it well, and learn it rigorously. Do you see where this is going?

I was being classically trained as a pianist and multi-instrumentist when I dove down the rabbit hole of digital music production. I've yet ever ONCE wrote a song "exactly" the way I've heard it. Oh, that was ten years ago. Again, not impossible. But, don't pompously assume that it can and will be done. Of course, not ONE piece of gear or one single VST/Plug-in will be sufficient. I encourage you to attempt, and when you fail I'll encourage you yet again to try once more.

I apologize for the length of this response and for the negative tone. However, It's worth trying and if you've truly have a passion and love for the art of music, it's worth attempting and failing, attempting and failing and attempting again. Keep in mind you'll be your own worst critic and that learning curve is incredibly exponentially steep for you. As for resources? Manuals, YouTube, Google, BOOKS the list is endless. Again, didn't want to be a dick but if this makes your decision process easier then I wasn't wasting my time.

Chev
Tera Baragan
13.12.2012
Originally Posted by ksandvik
Purchase Ableton
Fixed it for you!


Ot making the sounds you want to be hearing is the toughest part of producing. Making sounds work with eachother n schmidt.
Celine Surico
13.12.2012
Purchase Logic.
Layne Koop
13.12.2012
The answer will depend on what the sound in your head sounds like.

Ableton is one possible approach, along with Cakewalk, Reason, Pro Tools, etc.
Maschine (or other drum machines) is another approach.
A MIDI keyboard sync'd to some program is another approach.

Most "professional" (whatever that means) producers started out with REALLY simple tools - the digital equivalent of analog tape, scissors, and sticky tape. It does NOT take fancy tools to get the sounds out of your head and into a track....provided you have a clear idea of what it is that you want the final result to sound like.

Whatever you do....do something. Make something. Tools will come and go....but actually producing something leaves a stake in the sand. There is no need to understand 100% of the tools - and that may actually get in the way of you actually producing something.

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