If I could just find some beats I would so drop them.
June 14, 2010 12:21 PM Subscribe
Point an old school composer toward making electronic music, especially with these so-called 'beats' all the kids are talking about.
I want to venture out of the pencil and staff paper world I'm used to into a more pop/electronic composition world. I'm a total naive newbie when it comes to this, so forgive me if my questions reflect that. Like I'm really 101 here, technology-wise.
Here are the things I would like to be able to do:
*Program (?) or otherwise create neat-o drum beats for recordings of acoustic instrument compositions. I want control over the drum tracks so they aren't just repetitive and house music sounding.
*Make the already-recorded instruments (recorded on separate tracks) sound cooler by adding effects to them and such.
I have a sort of home studio with a nice Roland that has controller capacities (connects via usb) and a macbook. I just use Garage Band and Audacity for recording, at least for now, though I have access to Adobe Audition as well.
Questions:
1) What hardware/software do I need?
2) what do I do with this hardware/software once I have it?
Logic? Pro tools? Both? Neither? Where? How? Bonus points if you know of a way to take music scored on Finale and somehow run the score through some other program that will read the music and produce a high quality realization of it.
Examples of the sorts of beats and things I want to be able to produce are Thom Yorke's solo stuff, or maybe Bjork or something in that vein.
For now, let's assume that money is no object, though frugality, in the end, will be of high importance as well.
I want to venture out of the pencil and staff paper world I'm used to into a more pop/electronic composition world. I'm a total naive newbie when it comes to this, so forgive me if my questions reflect that. Like I'm really 101 here, technology-wise.
Here are the things I would like to be able to do:
*Program (?) or otherwise create neat-o drum beats for recordings of acoustic instrument compositions. I want control over the drum tracks so they aren't just repetitive and house music sounding.
*Make the already-recorded instruments (recorded on separate tracks) sound cooler by adding effects to them and such.
I have a sort of home studio with a nice Roland that has controller capacities (connects via usb) and a macbook. I just use Garage Band and Audacity for recording, at least for now, though I have access to Adobe Audition as well.
Questions:
1) What hardware/software do I need?
2) what do I do with this hardware/software once I have it?
Logic? Pro tools? Both? Neither? Where? How? Bonus points if you know of a way to take music scored on Finale and somehow run the score through some other program that will read the music and produce a high quality realization of it.
Examples of the sorts of beats and things I want to be able to produce are Thom Yorke's solo stuff, or maybe Bjork or something in that vein.
For now, let's assume that money is no object, though frugality, in the end, will be of high importance as well.
Response by poster: dunkadunc - what version of FL Studio do you have? I see on their website there is the signature bundle, the producer edition...
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:15 PM on June 14, 2010
posted by Lutoslawski at 1:15 PM on June 14, 2010
You might want to check out Reaper as they offer a non-crippled demo and a personal license is only $60.
I think you will find that whether a percussion track sounds fakey or not has as much to do with the quality of samples as with the tracker/sequencer software, so if you're budgeting you might want to consider investing in quality sample packs.
posted by Rhomboid at 1:38 PM on June 14, 2010
I think you will find that whether a percussion track sounds fakey or not has as much to do with the quality of samples as with the tracker/sequencer software, so if you're budgeting you might want to consider investing in quality sample packs.
posted by Rhomboid at 1:38 PM on June 14, 2010
Make the already-recorded instruments (recorded on separate tracks) sound cooler by adding effects to them and such.
This is generally the realm of plug-ins, and most of the common plug-in formats are supported in most of the popular DAWs (I think VST is still the most common). There are plenty of free ones, so trying them might be a good idea if you aren't really sure what kinds of effects you are going to want to use. KVR Audio is a good resource for finding them.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:52 PM on June 14, 2010
This is generally the realm of plug-ins, and most of the common plug-in formats are supported in most of the popular DAWs (I think VST is still the most common). There are plenty of free ones, so trying them might be a good idea if you aren't really sure what kinds of effects you are going to want to use. KVR Audio is a good resource for finding them.
posted by burnmp3s at 1:52 PM on June 14, 2010
Since you are already using GarageBand, Logic Express? I haven't used it myself, but it looks like it comes with a nice drum sampler and several decent synths. In my experience, lots of regular synths are limited doing percussion sounds because they don't have fast enough envelopes, so a dedicated drum synth is quite useful. I've had good results with SonicCharge µTonic.
I assume Finale has a way to export to MIDI. Any sequencer will let you import a MIDI file to a track and assign an instrument to it.
posted by AlsoMike at 2:02 PM on June 14, 2010
I assume Finale has a way to export to MIDI. Any sequencer will let you import a MIDI file to a track and assign an instrument to it.
posted by AlsoMike at 2:02 PM on June 14, 2010
To get Thom Yorke / "glitch" style drums:
1) Some people edit the drums by hand
2) Some people use dedicated glitch-creating plugins in AU (Logic) or VST (Cubase) format - I don't think any of them will work in Garageband, which is basic
3) Some people (for example, Autechre) use an Elektron Machinedrum
Logic has a steep learning curve but will produce great results as you learn it... I'd second AlsoMike's suggestion. Get Logic Express and download some AU plugins plus use its already good internal plugins.
And/or buy a machinedrum (which can also be used live) for shit like this example... you can then record the MachineDrum into Logic and layer your own things on top of it, or process it further.
posted by Spacelegoman at 2:30 PM on June 14, 2010
1) Some people edit the drums by hand
2) Some people use dedicated glitch-creating plugins in AU (Logic) or VST (Cubase) format - I don't think any of them will work in Garageband, which is basic
3) Some people (for example, Autechre) use an Elektron Machinedrum
Logic has a steep learning curve but will produce great results as you learn it... I'd second AlsoMike's suggestion. Get Logic Express and download some AU plugins plus use its already good internal plugins.
And/or buy a machinedrum (which can also be used live) for shit like this example... you can then record the MachineDrum into Logic and layer your own things on top of it, or process it further.
posted by Spacelegoman at 2:30 PM on June 14, 2010
I use FL Studio 9 XXL edition. You can find off-brand versions if you look around. Nice thing about buying FL Studio is free upgrades for life.
As far as sample packs go, if you look around you can find free Creative Commons drum loops for slicing (great for glitch) and massive drum sample packs. I'm on my phone but just google search for "breakbeat paradise" sample packs. Tons and tons of 'em. Freesound.org also has a lot of stuff.
posted by dunkadunc at 2:49 PM on June 14, 2010
As far as sample packs go, if you look around you can find free Creative Commons drum loops for slicing (great for glitch) and massive drum sample packs. I'm on my phone but just google search for "breakbeat paradise" sample packs. Tons and tons of 'em. Freesound.org also has a lot of stuff.
posted by dunkadunc at 2:49 PM on June 14, 2010
Nthing FL Studio. It has an extremely intuitive interface, and once you start messing about you can actually do some really neat stuff. There is a small problem in that most tracks produced in FL have a sameness to the sound, something to do with how it renders the audio, but it's not really a bad thing.
Good drum samples are key. Just don't even bother with the samples that come bundled, find your own. Plenty are available under CC, for pay, or stolen if that doesn't bother you.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:07 PM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
Good drum samples are key. Just don't even bother with the samples that come bundled, find your own. Plenty are available under CC, for pay, or stolen if that doesn't bother you.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:07 PM on June 14, 2010 [1 favorite]
As a big electronic music fan, I would point out that understanding the various types of electronic music is just as key as the tech behind making it.
So while I can't recommend software/hardware, I WILL point you to Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music which is a CLASSIC resource for all types of electronic music. Ignore the cheesy flash intro...it was made in the 90's.
posted by Elminster24 at 5:01 PM on June 14, 2010
So while I can't recommend software/hardware, I WILL point you to Ishkur's Guide to Electronic Music which is a CLASSIC resource for all types of electronic music. Ignore the cheesy flash intro...it was made in the 90's.
posted by Elminster24 at 5:01 PM on June 14, 2010
ableton live lets you play your pc like it's an instrument. there's a 30 day free demo, and it comes with lots of beats and instruments. it was integral to the making of the music i've posted here.
posted by kimyo at 10:59 PM on June 14, 2010
posted by kimyo at 10:59 PM on June 14, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks all! I'm going to check out all these options, try some demos, etc., and see. Continued advice/opinions/whatnot is still very welcome!
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:42 AM on June 15, 2010
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:42 AM on June 15, 2010
DJBB's Breakbeat Paradise - Samples. It's a treasure trove, drum and instrument samples in lots and i mean lots of different styles.
posted by dunkadunc at 1:59 PM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by dunkadunc at 1:59 PM on June 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by dunkadunc at 1:09 PM on June 14, 2010