What I need for a home studio

[Vayne]

Okay, sorry if this is in the wrong forum, but this is my first post (and its not like you'd except more from a 15 year old anyways )

what do I need for a dubstep home studio? This is what I got so far

Laptop: my mom is planning on getting me a windows (7)
DAW
Synth Plugins
Midi Controller
Soundcard
Monitors/Speakers/headphones (not required but recommended)

Is this all you need? and I have a few questions:

1: how do you controll the midi? I assume a midi controller/keyboard is all. Are there any other ways? If so, how do most people control them? Any other advice?
2: from this setup, is there anything else I need? or should get? Anything wrong?
3: also, as a beginner, any advice you have for me in general towards dubstep? And creating a studio?

Thanks for any advice,
Vayne

[Synyster_Step]

I'm not even close enough to being qualified to give you advice, but I do know that watching a shit-ton of tutorials on youtube has helped me with my production a lot.

[oprs]

have you made music before?

[Basic A]

Monitors are more important then a midi controller, you dont NEED a midi controller to produce, you do NEED to hear what your doing though.

And your DAW will come with great synths, dont download a million of them, learn how to work one.

[Sine69]

Monitors are more important then a midi controller, you dont NEED a midi controller to produce, you do NEED to hear what your doing though.

And your DAW will come with great synths, dont download a million of them, learn how to work one.

This. I made the mistake of buying a midi keyboard first, and now I can't afford to buy monitors


The second part isn't necessarily true though, I bought the least expensive version of Live and it didn't come with any synths.

[RandoRando]

For dubstep I recommend picking up some good fm syynths (operator, blue, fm8) understand though your no gonna he able tO make quality hits in a month. Especially since it sound like your totally new to production. Whatever you do don't give uP cause you tracks don't sound like the pros. Takes years to become what the pros have.

[RandoRando]

Why is this thread posted twice

[Vayne]

have you made music before?

I'll give a sumarry of my musical backround, I've been playing guitar for six and a half years, and drums for one year. I have wrote some goods stuff in garage band but not too much. I'm sure it will take some practice, but i think I'll be able to write dubstep fine.

[jaimelee]

Okay, all you need is a laptop, a DAW and monitors. If you get the Midi Keyboard/Controller then that's a lovely bonus as it will help with learning theory etc. You can put your knowledge of those instruments into your music in many ways i.e. recording, or just rythm and scales etc.

Now you got an all purpose music home studio!

On controlling midi, the DAW will have a method of assigning dials and buttons to whatever you choose them too.

Beginner advice: LISTEN TO EVERYTHING YOU CAN! not just what you think is cool. ( Unless you just want to stick to that area but then you lose out on methods and so on. )
Also, you will make tunes and will hate them, doesn't matter just put them up anyway.
Lastly, you will end up deleting 90% of tracks during production, don't worry about it man!

[komanderkin]

here's a great article that will answer some of your questions:
http://howtomakeelectronicmusic.com/how ... e-to-start

[Vayne]

Okay, all you need is a laptop, a DAW and monitors. If you get the Midi Keyboard/Controller then that's a lovely bonus as it will help with learning theory etc. You can put your knowledge of those instruments into your music in many ways i.e. recording, or just rythm and scales etc.

Now you got an all purpose music home studio!

On controlling midi, the DAW will have a method of assigning dials and buttons to whatever you choose them too.

Beginner advice: LISTEN TO EVERYTHING YOU CAN! not just what you think is cool. ( Unless you just want to stick to that area but then you lose out on methods and so on. )
Also, you will make tunes and will hate them, doesn't matter just put them up anyway.
Lastly, you will end up deleting 90% of tracks during production, don't worry about it man!

here's a great article that will answer some of your questions:
http://howtomakeelectronicmusic.com/how ... e-to-start

Thanks jaimelee and komanderkin. These two posts helped alot. Got it all figured out now.

[lyons238]

check out the production bible found in the stickies.

[Karoshi]

And your DAW will come with great synths, dont download a million of them, learn how to work one.

best advice imo, wish i had done this, now i am retracing my steps learning synths inside out and limiting myself to minimal numbers of vsts and i feel i am improving massively with regards to sound design.

[Skrew]

It depends if your studio will be for recording, acoustics, or just beat making.

But here is something everyone should have

Sound proofing - for recording or if you live in an apartment. Acoustic foam is cheaper than Studio.
PC
Wire management
space
Interface
DAW
MIDI
Headphones
Monitors

Proper setup.

Use YouTube.

[paravrais]

Right, most things have been answered already but here's my 2c as well.

Laptop my mom is planning on getting me a windows (7) << Make sure that this is a decent laptop. Just saying windows 7 doesn't really mean anything, check how much RAM and CPU it has before you buy anything.

DAW <<< Obviously you can't make any music without it so this is essential, I would recommend downloading the DEMO versions of as many as you possibly can before buying anything. Understand that you won't really be able to do anything in any of them at first but there should be one or two you 'click' with more than the others, that's the one you wanna shell out the cash for.

Synth Plugins <<< Not necessary at this stage. Either your DAW will come with them or there are a load of great free vsts you can get your hands on without spending a penny. http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=54027

Midi Controller <<< Like others have said, this isn't *essential* but if you can afford it I highly recommend it. Having a keyboard can be invaluable when writing melodies and playing in automation by hand. Sounds like you have a pretty decent budget so with the money you save on not buying synths or a soundcard I'd definitely recommend a Midi Keyboard. Oh and don't buy anything from M-Audio, it will fall apart in a couple of months XD

Soundcard <<< Not necessary at this stage, it helps later down the line but to get started I don't see the point to be honest. Odds are that once you get really into production you will buy an audio interface so you can record your guitar playing in and you can just make sure you get one with a good soundcard built in. Two birds with one stone innit.

Monitors/Speakers/headphones <<< Definitely required to be honest. Without proper monitors your tracks will sound like shit on any other system you play them on and you won't be able to figure out why. Obviously there are people who can make great tracks on shitty playback devices but these tend to be people who have tons of experience under their belt. In my opinion the most valuable time to own some decent monitors is when you are starting out.

Is this all you need? and I have a few questions:

1: how do you controll the midi? I assume a midi controller/keyboard is all. Are there any other ways? If so, how do most people control them? Any other advice?

You can do it from within your DAW but using a midi keyboard is much more fluid and enjoyable to work with.

2: from this setup, is there anything else I need? or should get? Anything wrong?

Make sure you have a comfy cushion to sit on cos you're gonna be sitting down for a looooong time.

3: also, as a beginner, any advice you have for me in general towards dubstep? And creating a studio?

Yeah, don't expect to be Skrillex/Mala straight away. Learning to produce takes A LOT of time. Seriously. More than you probably expect so only enter into it if you are fully prepared for the amount of time it takes to make anything decent. The other side of that is don't worry when your tunes sound like total shit for the first year and only slightly not shit after that. It's normal to be like that, just stick at it and eventually you'll be making sick tracks...eventually.

Hope you're clear on everything now bro

[Karoshi]

DAW <<< Obviously you can't make any music without it so this is essential, I would recommend downloading the DEMO versions of as many as you possibly can before buying anything. Understand that you won't really be able to do anything in any of them at first but there should be one or two you 'click' with more than the others, that's the one you wanna shell out the cash for.

i agree with everything paravais says apart from the above. in theory this is good advice, but tbh if you are just starting out you wont be able to do anything in any of them so they will all seem as scary as each other! it will be impossible to decide between imo. pick one thats affordable, commonly used, covered regularly in magazines and you should learn that one inside out. if any of your friends are into production too, maybe get the same DAW as them so they can help you/help each other.

just my opinion of course! good luck with it all, dont expect to be pro in 6 months!

[gen_]

have you made music before?

I'll give a sumarry of my musical backround, I've been playing guitar for six and a half years, and drums for one year. I have wrote some goods stuff in garage band but not too much. I'm sure it will take some practice, but i think I'll be able to write dubstep fine.

Go out to any under 18 events you can get yourself into that play music made for dancing to (as opposed to disco pop rubbish). Hell try and get yourself into an over-18 gig if you can. You will learn so much about rhytm, timing, and what makes people dance to music that it will transform your production.

Nothing sounds the same as it did in your DAW when its blasting out of a PA system in a club, and what you may have thought was a serious jam can turn out to be pretty useless on the floor if you don't understand these things.

(This applies whether your making brostep, Burial style mellow stuff or anything in-between. Its an understanding of rhythm, melody, and the tools you use that will make you good at what you do. Nothing else.)

[BevOh]

Virtualmark just posted a great PC guide on this forum have a look for it cos I can't be fucked grabbing the link cos I'm on my phone atm, but defs worth checking out.

[paravrais]

DAW <<< Obviously you can't make any music without it so this is essential, I would recommend downloading the DEMO versions of as many as you possibly can before buying anything. Understand that you won't really be able to do anything in any of them at first but there should be one or two you 'click' with more than the others, that's the one you wanna shell out the cash for.

i agree with everything paravais says apart from the above. in theory this is good advice, but tbh if you are just starting out you wont be able to do anything in any of them so they will all seem as scary as each other! it will be impossible to decide between imo. pick one thats affordable, commonly used, covered regularly in magazines and you should learn that one inside out. if any of your friends are into production too, maybe get the same DAW as them so they can help you/help each other.

just my opinion of course! good luck with it all, dont expect to be pro in 6 months!

Yeah course they are all gonna seem scary but you will be able to recognise what kind of workflow they each offer and try out the in built effects/synths when you demo them. Personally I wouldn't spend £300 on anything I hadn't already tried to make sure I got on well with it.

Personally I can't work with FL, it gets right on my tits, something about it's workflow just totally rubs me the wrong way. Imagine how screwed I'd have been if I'd bought it without demoing it just because I heard lots of people talking good about it on here or something.

Same goes for synths too, imo everyone should have a goliath of a synth that they turn to for their bread and butter synth needs but far too many people just go and buy massive because they hear datsik fanboys talking about it without actually researching it themselves. Maybe a lot of those people, if they had done the proper research, would have ended up with Alchemy or FM8 or Zebra or Circle etc etc

Always try before you buy.

[gen_]

Yeah course they are all gonna seem scary but you will be able to recognise what kind of workflow they each offer and try out the in built effects/synths when you demo them. Personally I wouldn't spend £300 on anything I hadn't already tried to make sure I got on well with it.

Personally I can't work with FL, it gets right on my tits, something about it's workflow just totally rubs me the wrong way. Imagine how screwed I'd have been if I'd bought it without demoing it just because I heard lots of people talking good about it on here or something.

Same goes for synths too, imo everyone should have a goliath of a synth that they turn to for their bread and butter synth needs but far too many people just go and buy massive because they hear datsik fanboys talking about it without actually researching it themselves. Maybe a lot of those people, if they had done the proper research, would have ended up with Alchemy or FM8 or Zebra or Circle etc etc

Always try before you buy.

The real question is, had you started on FL, would you really believe that? I started on Reason and I find it near unusable now, but I'm happy I did because it taught me how to make sounds with minimal EQ'ing (Reasons EQ sucks, especially before the mastering set came out in 3.0) and use simple synths to make epic sounds.

Would I have preferred Omnisphere or Massive back then? Definitely. Would it have made a better producer? Hell no.

Last paragraph is totally +1 snm