I want to become a producer. I need some pro adivce.

[Brony]

Where to begin.. Basically the thing is that a long time ago I thought to myself that I could become a producer due to the fact that I really can feel the music and I analyse the structure of the beats to the songs that I love. It's been some time since I thought about it and its haunting me more and more. I've been passionately watching videos of producers playing with their MPCs and I wanted to do some cool stuff like that. I have NO experience at all and I have NO knowledge on producing other than the fact that its fucking awesome and producers use such things as MPCs, samples, keyboards, and producing software.

I feel like I need to mention in what direction I'd like to go as the actual producer. I like mood stuff. I'd like to make At Long Last ASAP inspired beats, Oxymoron inspired beats, Forest Hills Drive inspired stuff.. That is what I am into instrumentally at the moment. Maybe I'll drop some random trac titles that comes to my mind, which I admire as far as production is concerned: "Studio", "Hell of a Night", "Man of the year" by Schoolboy, "Holy Ghost" "Excuse Me" by ASAP, "5AM in toronto" by Drake, "Murder to excellence" by Jay/Kanye "Bad Guy" by Eminem. Hope ya get me..

Where to start? What to do first? What type of a homework do I need to get done? What type of a drum machine/controller/hardware would be the best to buy...? Please drop some knowledge good people! Thanks!

 

[crog85]

There's some good info for beginners in articles section:

https://www.illmuzik.com/threads/10-great-beat-making-tips-for-beginners.36923/

https://www.illmuzik.com/threads/5-things-every-beatmaker-needs-in-their-studio.36845/

 

[Fade]

Yes, like @crog85 said. There are plenty of articles to check through. You can also check the ones listed on the right side under "popular resources".

 

[sYgMa]

Well, the first question you should ask yourself is how much are you willing/able to put on this... And by how much, I mean money AND time.

1st, money: Depending on your previous knowledge, some ways of making beats could be easier than others for you. Some people prefer to "play" their beats and prefer hardwares (drum machine, MPC, keyboards, etc...), some are better at just building the beats with their mouse, placing the notes manually on their DAW (Digital Audio Workstation... the software that you use to make beats), some use something in between, where they use the hardware for some parts and the software for others.

Obviously, hardware costs more than software but they are a great tool for some and dead weight for others. Personally, I would recommend not to start with hardware since you're just starting and, like many before you, this could just be a phase and you could hate it... The software mostly used by beginners is FL Studio, but you could go with Logic, Reason, Cubase, Reaper...

Then, there's the time aspect. Learning takes time and the process can be really easy for some and really hard for others. Depends on what you already know. You'll have to learn at least the principal foundations of music...

- Counting time on a beat,
- Making a good basic drum, at the very least,
- Constructing a good loop,
- Arranging different loops to build a song...
*** Sampling if you want to go that route
*** Finding great sounds, if you want to compose...

I'm pretty sure that's the way most of us learned and made it. If, at first, you don't have any inspiration, listening to different beats and trying to recreate them could be a good starting point. At first, the chances that you put out a banger are extremely slim, and so, it takes TIME to learn to make beats.

Do you have time? Do you have the patience? Will you have the inspiration? Will you take hardware or software route?

good luck on your journey!!!

 

[Spritejohnson]

In my opinion the easiest way to learn producing and making beats is just start watching YouTube videos and learning your DAW By that way. I don't think you should buy lot of hardware like mpc and stuff like that because softwares do the same thing that hardware do. I think investing in studio monitors, studio headphones, midi controller and audio interface are most important thing at the beginning. Music production and making beats at first feels really difficult when you have all these new things what you don't know. But stick with it, educate yourself, train as often as you can. This isn't a overnight thing you have to put years into this. The best producers have been doing this for 10 to 20 years.

 

[PhDBeats]

I completely agree with @Spritejohnson . YouTube will be your best friend - it definitely was and is for me. I didn't have someone to show me how to construct beats so I watched (and am still watching) countless hours of beat videos and tutorials. I am also going to join Maschine Masters soon too.