Hey guys we're working on a guide for Music composers

[Drue50]

Hey, guys!
We're working on a new guide for aspiring composers, but we really don’t want to leave anything out. So I’m doing a little investigation: Feel free to leave what you consider to be your BIGGEST questions about music making/composition --no matter how silly you think they sound
(You composers out there can even comment on topics you think folks should know.)
For helping out, I'll send you a copy of the guide when it's done

Drue

[Sanderbongertman]

I don't know how extensive the guide will be, but definitely include a chapter on mixing down and one on basic mastering. Seems like one of the most asked questions nowadays.

[Warwolt]

Dynamics and Arrangement are some pretty interesting topics.

[soundinmotiondj]

I would start with a short intro to music theory, including: rhythm, harmony, melody, consonance and dissonance, pitch, musical key, and music structure.

Basic song structures: Intro, Chorus, Verse, Bridge, Breakdown, etc. How to structure these into something reasonable.

For music structure, start with 4/4 time. Include a brief explanation of what 4/4 means. Beats per measure, measures per phrase. (For an advanced topic, talk about 8-bar -v- 12-bar phrases.)

+1 on the mixing & mastering topics. Include some details on why the "Loudness War" is bad for music.

[photojojo]

Who's we?

[Sanderbongertman]

Who's we?

they are!

[Nephew]

All you need,

http://ravenspiral.com/rsg2mt/rsg2mt.pdf

Covers all the basics in an easy to read format, and you don't need any prior musical theory training to understand it.

[Nephew]

Also, I think he was actually asking about the creative/writing process, not the engineering aspect. That's a completely different guide all in it self and to be fair there are plenty of guides to do with the engineering side, but not enough with the actual writing/creative aspect and that's how we end up with all these sonically correct sounding tunes, but they all sound the bloody same

[Djtom420]

YOu Tube! You tube! You Tube!

Its all there, anything u could think of its all there. Fruity loops, acid pro, abelton there are tons and tons of videos on every aspect of producing in the main line software packages.

[Nephew]

Like I said, he's talking more about writing music than learning how to use any specific software.

I could teach a monkey how to any kind of software, but to actually write music is a whole other ball game.