music class help

[500sd]

for my next 2 semesters in high school I signed up for 2 periods of music, in which i can work independently. i'm going to be working on producing dubstep, and a few variations of house. i am unclear on which programs i need for this..so suggestions would be greatly appreciated. please be aware that i have had no experience in creating my own music digitally. i'm a drummer so i have a basic understanding of timing and other musical principles.

[Jean-Luc Cougar]

I would go w/ Reaper, it's free/cheap and powerful
Then grab some free plugins. Check out Tal VST/AUs they are highly rated

[amidoinitrite]

reaper is great!! Free 30 day trial.. and after that you only have to pay $60(..i think) for a $250+ program!
that and free vst and you're all set!
I also recommend trying out trial version of any other DAW you can find.. see which one works best for you!!
Ableton Live is very good.. Reason, Logic, FL, Cubase

[500sd]

reaper is great!! Free 30 day trial.. and after that you only have to pay $60(..i think) for a $250+ program!
that and free vst and you're all set!
I also recommend trying out trial version of any other DAW you can find.. see which one works best for you!!
Ableton Live is very good.. Reason, Logic, FL, Cubase

i'm going to be messing around with various programs until the semester starts so i can get a feel for which one i like best...price really isn't an issue so im going for whatevers best.
i have a friend who made a very very novice dubstep song using ableton and massive, i was thinking of trying that out. im also using windows 7 so mac software is cut out.

[x571]

http://www.dubstepforum.com/free-portab ... 73393.html
(bump to futures_untold)


This would probably be a good deal for a class. Carry everything around on a memory stick.

[amidoinitrite]

i'm going to be messing around with various programs until the semester starts so i can get a feel for which one i like best...price really isn't an issue so im going for whatevers best.
i have a friend who made a very very novice dubstep song using ableton and massive, i was thinking of trying that out. im also using windows 7 so mac software is cut out.

Ableton is great... once you find a program you really like, start digging into the stock instruments/effects!
Then look to see what VSTs you'd like to add!! I'm not a huge fan of Ableton's stock instruments, but i haven't really dug deep into them. I rarely use any of Reaper's stock instruments, and Reason has some great synths! Ableton's sampler is amazing.. but I mainly use Kontakt threw Reaper.
There are some really good VSTs out there.. Massive and Albino are ones i see talked about most frequently!

[sackley]

From one drummer to another.

Reaper is great.

I can record into reaper, chop up as I see fit, make a .wav of each slice and resequence in open modplug tracker, then bring that back to reaper and mess with it more.

You can accomplish the same end result with most any program, just find what's right for you. I personally suggest reaper.

[SunkLo]

Gonna go against the grain here and recommend Reaper. Pick up one of those training videos too to learn the basics (Groove3 has one I think)

[Elkie]

plus with reaper, you can install it completely on a flash drive, so it will be easy for you to take to your classes and then continue working from exactly where you left off at home. have a look on here for a freeware music production pack made by futures_untold, its got everything in you need to get making tunes straight away, and doesnt cost a penny!

2 weeks is not very long at all to learn how to make a tune though... good luck! EDIT: you said 2 semesters, sorry!

[DJ Crackle]

I fucking love reason. But I'd get a DAW that will let you actually work with audio, not just midi for your purposes.

[RightOnTime27]

I fucking love record+reason.

issue solved?

[DJ Crackle]

I fucking love record+reason.

issue solved?

Haha. Yes. I REALLY wanna get my hands on a copy of Record. Haven't had a chance to try it yet. Heard it's the shit, though.

[Recessive Trait]

i feel old now.

i did a similar project in my final year of high school music. the only program available to me was Finale, which was actually pretty easy for me to use with no programming knowledge as it uses musical staves.

the teacher wanted some kind of classical composition, though, and not an amateur-wanting-to-be-the-prodigy edm whatever the hell i created. got about 60% better luck to you.

gonna go alone and recommmend FL here. easy to learn.

[3za]

gonna go alone and recommmend FL here. easy to learn.

i am going to back you up there.

[DJ Crackle]

i did a similar project in my final year of high school music. the only program available to me was Finale, which was actually pretty easy for me to use with no programming knowledge as it uses musical staves.

the teacher wanted some kind of classical composition, though, and not an amateur-wanting-to-be-the-prodigy edm whatever the hell i created. got about 60% better luck to you.

Same, except paper. Not Finale :p

[jakerobert]

damn, its my last year of high school and i wish i could produce for credits instead of taking physics.

[DJ Crackle]

damn, its my last year of high school and i wish i could produce for credits instead of taking physics.

Hahahah. Fuck yeah. If I'dve been able to produce EDM for credits during high school, shit would've been SO much better.