Music production, do i need to actually now a lot about music?

[JulianVeloso]

Im only 17 years old and i dont think producers my age know this kinda things. I just wanna be able to control and know ableton at its fullest, to know how to control my vst's, and to know what sounds mellodically acceptable.

[elio_xh]

Im only 17 years old and i dont think producers my age know this kinda things. I just wanna be able to control and know ableton at its fullest, to know how to control my vst's, and to know what sounds mellodically acceptable.

If you really have dreams of making it "big" you do need to know it, because the technical aspect of music production is what really makes the songs you hear by famous artists sound "professional". But also don't use your age as an excuse, if you have the desire and the work ethics you can do it. Madeon is only 17, and if you read his twitter he really knows the production side of music. It's what sets you apart.

Also what do you mean you want to know ableton to its fullest? I've seen this statement come up a lot but i've been unsure as to what people mean. For most music production, if you can add audio and midi tracks in timeline view, and import vst's (both synths and effects processors like compressors, limiters etc.) you should have enough to get you started. Everything else becomes important in the mixing and mastering stage of production. If you spend a lot of time panning audio, limiting, etc.. it will take you a long time to complete a song.

[dope]

i dont wanna go deep into spectrum studies

Then you'll have some problems with Filters, EQ etc. Don't choose what you'll learn and what you give up on. Just open your DAW, YouTube, follow tutorials and replicate. It helps me alot.
Then when you feel a bit comfortable with the tools (I don't say mastering the VST and stuff, but just a basic knowledge of what does what), you can start working on a track.

I don't always follow that rule but : Try to finish all your tracks, that's what's help you improve alot. Finish your tracks.

[TheSpiral]

Just open your DAW, YouTube, follow tutorials and replicate. It helps me alot.

Yeah. This. This is the least frustrating way because at the end of the tutorial you have something that sounds pretty good (though it isnt really your own). And by following the tutorials you'll learn a lot of things through osmosis. Tom Cosm has done some great stuff with spectrums and he just puts it in with the flow of the tutorial.

Bottom line is, there's no easy way. I mean you can't make a good mix without learning all that tech-y stuff. You can make some songs and whatnot, but its the techie stuff that makes it sound good. I think you're doing the right thing by just trying to remix or edit a song at first.

The other way... is to use pre-packaged loops.... The great thing about that is, a lot of the Techie stuff to make them sound good has already been done and then its just about arrangement.. Kind of.

[lethal_pizzle]

Im only 17 years old and i dont think producers my age know this kinda things. I just wanna be able to control and know ableton at its fullest, to know how to control my vst's, and to know what sounds mellodically acceptable.

You'll need to know about music then. Luckily, you can learn as you go along, so just start producing

[dj matt blaze]

When I started reading this thread I thought it was a joke. Some of the replies just boggles my mind. It also says somethig about the state of music today compared to music 20, 30, or even 40 years ago. If you think you can just get a music production program, a keyboard and a bunch of synthsizers and sit down and bang out a song without having some basic knowledge of music theory, scales, chords...I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you. Again reading the responses on here was really excruciating to realize the level of fanstasy that you are gonna "make something that sounds good" but not even wanting to learn the basics of music to make music? Just typing it out it doesn't even make any kind of sense. Are there exceptions, of course. There are people with perfect pitch hearing that hear something once and be able to play it but the majority of music producers actually know....now get ready...this is a shocker.....they actually know HOW TO PLAY AN INSTRUMENT!! You guys seem to all want the fame of being a "producer" but want to do absolutely nothing in actually learning the craft and studying actual music and honestly its sad and disgusting.

[synthet1c]

I think you are scaring people off with all this music theory mumbo jumbo, the essentials are eq, compressor, reverb and echo... sidechaining your bass is always handy at making room for your main kick, start with good sounding drums and always compress your drum rack together. That's all you should really focus on when starting, when you have that down you will have beter ears for hearing what is needed in a mix... the next level is really just making sure you have a dynamic sound that leaves room (about 3-5db) for a professional to master... lesson 3 never master your own tracks, your ears are tired by this stage! The rest you can pick up along the way.

P.S. dont make melodies in C major, this is a happy key, make them in A minor (all the white keys from A) this is a mellancholy building then awesome key...

[SirReal]

When I started reading this thread I thought it was a joke. Some of the replies just boggles my mind. It also says somethig about the state of music today compared to music 20, 30, or even 40 years ago. If you think you can just get a music production program, a keyboard and a bunch of synthsizers and sit down and bang out a song without having some basic knowledge of music theory, scales, chords...I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you. Again reading the responses on here was really excruciating to realize the level of fanstasy that you are gonna "make something that sounds good" but not even wanting to learn the basics of music to make music? Just typing it out it doesn't even make any kind of sense. Are there exceptions, of course. There are people with perfect pitch hearing that hear something once and be able to play it but the majority of music producers actually know....now get ready...this is a shocker.....they actually know HOW TO PLAY AN INSTRUMENT!! You guys seem to all want the fame of being a "producer" but want to do absolutely nothing in actually learning the craft and studying actual music and honestly its sad and disgusting.

Sadly, that's pretty much the state of pop music today in America. That's why there's so much "crap" out there.

[botstein]

I have to agree with a lot of DJ Matt Blaze's sentiment. I think it's somewhat ridiculous to expect to make great music - or great anything - and know nothing about it.

Im only 17 years old and i dont think producers my age know this kinda things.

JulianVeloso- You are mistaken. Many people learn fundamentals of music theory from a very early age. 17 is about the time that high school kids might take the music theory AP test, which is still basic knowledge compared to what a composer/producer ought to know.

[JulianVeloso]

If you really have dreams of making it "big" you do need to know it, because the technical aspect of music production is what really makes the songs you hear by famous artists sound "professional". But also don't use your age as an excuse, if you have the desire and the work ethics you can do it. Madeon is only 17, and if you read his twitter he really knows the production side of music. It's what sets you apart.

Also what do you mean you want to know ableton to its fullest? I've seen this statement come up a lot but i've been unsure as to what people mean. For most music production, if you can add audio and midi tracks in timeline view, and import vst's (both synths and effects processors like compressors, limiters etc.) you should have enough to get you started. Everything else becomes important in the mixing and mastering stage of production. If you spend a lot of time panning audio, limiting, etc.. it will take you a long time to complete a song.

By ''ableton at it's fullest'' i mean knowing all the tricky tricky's that ableton holds to itself. By this i mean return-send effects in a single drum rack, grouping effects into multiple instruments, shit like that, which doesn't really affect your mix, but helps you keep it organized.

And also, i need to learn how to use VST's, by this i mean what does what? For example: i'm playing with massive, i find this tickable buttons : Unisono spread, monophone, monorotate , legato, legato thriller, shit i know nothing about, this scares me lol. Only thing i know is that if i knew how to control manage everything and know what stuff does what and how to recreate the sounds i think of, i'd be producing huge shitt

I have to agree with a lot of DJ Matt Blaze's sentiment. I think it's somewhat ridiculous to expect to make great music - or great anything - and know nothing about it.


JulianVeloso- You are mistaken. Many people learn fundamentals of music theory from a very early age. 17 is about the time that high school kids might take the music theory AP test, which is still basic knowledge compared to what a composer/producer ought to know.

I know lots of people learn from a very early stage of life, unfortunately, i wasn't a one of them, that and my school won't teach us shit about art or music itself.

I think you are scaring people off with all this music theory mumbo jumbo, the essentials are eq, compressor, reverb and echo... sidechaining your bass is always handy at making room for your main kick, start with good sounding drums and always compress your drum rack together. That's all you should really focus on when starting, when you have that down you will have beter ears for hearing what is needed in a mix... the next level is really just making sure you have a dynamic sound that leaves room (about 3-5db) for a professional to master... lesson 3 never master your own tracks, your ears are tired by this stage! The rest you can pick up along the way.

P.S. dont make melodies in C major, this is a happy key, make them in A minor (all the white keys from A) this is a mellancholy building then awesome key...

Thanks alot, i really wanted a post like this... Also what do you mean by leaving 3-5db? recording my master track on a volume level -5db?

When I started reading this thread I thought it was a joke. Some of the replies just boggles my mind. It also says somethig about the state of music today compared to music 20, 30, or even 40 years ago. If you think you can just get a music production program, a keyboard and a bunch of synthsizers and sit down and bang out a song without having some basic knowledge of music theory, scales, chords...I have a bridge in Brooklyn I can sell you. Again reading the responses on here was really excruciating to realize the level of fanstasy that you are gonna "make something that sounds good" but not even wanting to learn the basics of music to make music? Just typing it out it doesn't even make any kind of sense. Are there exceptions, of course. There are people with perfect pitch hearing that hear something once and be able to play it but the majority of music producers actually know....now get ready...this is a shocker.....they actually know HOW TO PLAY AN INSTRUMENT!! You guys seem to all want the fame of being a "producer" but want to do absolutely nothing in actually learning the craft and studying actual music and honestly its sad and disgusting.

I never said i didn't wanna learn any music theory, infact it's why i started this thread, i wanna learn the theory to produce good sounding melodies, chords, scales, rythms and whatever other music term you wanna add there.

I also wanna learn how to play the piano...I didn't want this thread to become some kind of belief's war.

Also if someone could share some guides on how to properly use VST's like absynth, sylenth, massive or FM8 ( ones i have )
and other musical theory guides related to chord proggressions, melodies etc.

I'd be really greatful.