With electronic music getting more and more popular, I know many people would love to get involved and show off their creativity. But how do I get started?!
I know the internet holds all the answers as always, but the amount of tutorials/courses/websites can be really overwhelming and confusing to some people, so I figured why not help Steemit out with a quick and easy guide?
What do I need?
First of all, the good news: I want to point out that you do not need any kind of musical background to become a succesful producer. Of course, if you know how to play a certain musical instrument then this could obviously come in quite handy, but I would say that motivation is far more important than musical knowledge when it comes to producing electronic music.
As for the bad news, depending on how far you want to take it, music production can be quite costly...
Luckily, you can easily get started without having to invest thousands into equipment.
Obviously, it all starts with having a good PC or laptop that you're comfortable with:
A solid amount of RAM will help your system process all the different sounds playing at the same time and you'll be needing lots of disk space to save all your projects too. Don't worry if you're on a tight budget, there's tons of great producers out there that started out using a cheap system, so don't let all this scare you!
Now unless you're Beethoven, you're going to need a pair of speakers or headphones. I would recommend starting with a good pair of headphones like Sennheiser or Audio Technica before investing huge amounts of money in professional studio monitors.
My current setup
Digital Audio Workstations
Now that we've got some hardware, it's time to choose a Digital Audio Workstation (or DAW for short)!
The DAW is the application software used for recording, editing and producing audio files.
Some of the more popular ones are Cubase, Logic, Ableton Live, FL Studio and Reason.
Ableton Live 10
FL Studio (aka Fruity Loops)
Each of them have their own unique layout and work methods, so it's not a bad idea to try out a couple of them and see which one feels more comfortable to you. I actually recently made a guide to help people choose the one that feels right to them, you can find it here!
I've been mostly using Ableton Live myself because I prefer the layout and built-in plugins. I recently discovered a very interesting little introduction tool on their page, which is pretty much perfect for people who are just getting started:
https://learningmusic.ableton.com/index.html
This should give you a little taste of how most DAWs tend to work, so definitely check it out!
Final advice
Lastly, I would like to add a very important point regarding salesmen: Do not trust them!
Very often, they will recommend all kinds of equipment that could come in handy on your quest, but that you'll end up never using. From my experience, I suggest doing research online first: you'll find countless amounts of comparison videos on YouTube to help you get through the tougher decisions.
I'm always available for questions/advice too, so please don't hesitate to message me any questions you might have! (shoutout to @geekpowered for bringing attention to this point)
Now get to work!
Once you've got all the tools you need, it's time to start experimenting and get creative!
There are loads of tutorials on Youtube for every DAW, every musical genre, general music theory, ...
I would like to add that you should always try to keep an open mind and even force yourself to make tracks in genres that you're not too familiar with. It's a very effective method to get a different perspective on music and it might inspire you for new projects at the same time!
Good luck and do not hesitate to ask for help!
I'm already looking forward to hear your future creations.