Dubstepforum.com

As young producers, we naturally feel the need to upload every song we make, right after we finish them. Guess what? Don't!
Before you call me an idiot and stop reading, let me give you a few good things to do instead of uploading songs immediately.
1. Make sure it's your best work! If you start making a song and feel that it doesn't sound great, don't feel obligated to finish and upload it! wait until you feel inspired by it or tust throw it away altogether. It's better to upload your best work than to upload a bunch of bad music.
2. Don't rush! This kind of goes along with the first one, but it's important enough to include in a separate section. It's better to finish a well made song that rush and make a terrible one, even if you haven't uploaded in a while. I think everyone can agree on the fact that we would rather wait and be rewarded with a masterpiece than wait and get a piece of cr*p.
3. Make a secret EP! Saving unrealeased songs for an EP is a great way to surprise your fans with a present!
I hope I gave you guys some good ideas! See you next time!

4. Don't include your age in your bio. It pisses people off and is a turn off. A buddy of mine runs a label and the minute he sees "x-teen year old producer" in a bio it's a huge turn off. Still listens to their track though. But it's really unnecessary to say how old you are.

dotcurrency wrote:4. Don't include your age in your bio. It pisses people off and is a turn off. A buddy of mine runs a label and the minute he sees "x-teen year old producer" in a bio it's a huge turn off. Still listens to their track though. But it's really unnecessary to say how old you are.

what if you're not a teenager? would that still be annoying? early 20s?

dubunked wrote:

dotcurrency wrote:4. Don't include your age in your bio. It pisses people off and is a turn off. A buddy of mine runs a label and the minute he sees "x-teen year old producer" in a bio it's a huge turn off. Still listens to their track though. But it's really unnecessary to say how old you are.

what if you're not a teenager? would that still be annoying? early 20s?

Probably not as much of a turn off

Here's a tip: DON'T SHOWOFF

Now that you have your DAW and things ready, don't even dare think about going to your friends and say, "I'm a producer guys!" and expect you to lose dat virginity. Why? after a while your friends might immediately ask to hear your stuff and you don't have anything to show them because you are learning. This is a mistake I made because I let pride get the best of me .

Your age doesn't have anything to do with your music, neither does how long you've been producing so just leave them out of your bio. Location is good to have though as people like listening to local artists (I always like listening to other Scottish producers and have made some good friends that way) and location might even help you get gigs.

Around where my gf and some of m8s live there are a lot a dnb, glitch hop, and acid house producers. Got some support there and played a 40 minute set at a bar once.

When you start, don't show every single thing you make to your friends. You will be embarrassed later.

Brothulhu wrote:Your age doesn't have anything to do with your music, neither does how long you've been producing so just leave them out of your bio. Location is good to have though as people like listening to local artists (I always like listening to other Scottish producers and have made some good friends that way) and location might even help you get gigs.

I recently got a shit and it says "SHOTTS" on it. I read somewhere it's a Scottish town.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE......... THEN PRACTICE A SHIT LOAD MORE!!

I can't stress enough how important it is to just keep practicing. You might say, 'well that's fairly obvious and goes without saying', but some people just don't get it. Far too often I read threads where new young producers say something along the lines of; 'I've been producing for 4 months, why don't my tracks sound as good as Skrillex!??'

4 months is nothing! Unless you have a NATURAL raw talent for producing music and take to it like a duck to water, it's going to take YEARS to get to a level you're even remotely happy with - I've been producing at home for about 8 years, and I'm never happy with the tracks I make, and I'm nowhere near the level of a proffessional producer!

DO NOT overload yourself with a stupid amount of synths or plugins! There really is no need. All you need to start with is a decent DAW, some decent sample packs, a couple of synths, and a few effects plugins. Take the time to sit down and learn your synths INSIDE OUT! There is nothing wrong with usiing some presets in your tracks, but it's way better to be able to open up your synth with a sound in your head and be able to construct it yourself.

By all means use other peoples tracks as a reference of for some inspiration, but DO NOT get disheartened when your tracks don't sound as good as them; and trust me, they WON'T - not for a long time anyway. These producers have perfected their techniques a period of time - you're not going to get to that level in the space of a couple of months - just not going to happen.

Learn the basics!!! I've recently had to go back to basics and learn how to achieve a decent mix down and how to EQ properly as this is an area I lack in. Learn it from the start and everything else will flow.

Spend hours upon hours watching tutorials on YouTube - they are extremely helpfull. I'm not saying to copy other peoples sounds exactly, but by watching the tutorials it will give you a better idea of how sound design works, how to properly contruct a track and the other nitty gritty shit you need to know.

Have a look at the presets that come with the synths you have. Take some time to deconstruct them to see how they were made and how certain parameters affect the sound.

DO NOT finish your first track and upload it on here asking how you'd send it to a label because you think it's worthy or a release! You will only get laughed at, and ultimatelty become disheartened!

Something I found was a good way to improve my production skills was to enter remix competitions (not that I've ever won any). I always found it fun and learned a lot from downloading remix stems (basslines, lead, drums, vocals etc) and creating my own version of the song. Play around with making your own sounds that fit well with the original sounds of the track you're remixing, change the beats around, chop the vocal up and mess around with that. Worked a treat for me, and you'll find your workflow is quicker when you have some sounds (remix stems) already there in front of you, ready for you to drop into your DAW and fuck about with as you please

Listen to peoples advice on this forum!! Sure there are some users who are complete and utter dicks, but there's a lot of decent people on here who are happy to take the time to give tou advice - much of it is very good advice. Don't be afraid to ask questions; if you don't ask you wont find out. Try to look past the negative comments you recieve on here (you'll most likely get a lot until you have over 500 posts) and take notice of the positive, helpful comments.

FINALLY; something that I regret not doing sooner - LEARN SOME BASIC MUSIC THEORY!! Trust me, if you have an understanding of music theory, even if just a basic one, you will find it much easier to produce a track that sounds right. If you have no understanding of music theory, chances are you're going to produce tracks that are out of key and just sound horrible.

I've probably chatted pure shite, but the above would be my advice to new young producers.

Oh, and FINALLY FINALLY, just keep at it, keep doing what you're doing! don't give up too soon. Once certain aspects of production 'click' in you're head, you'll enjoy it a lot more as you'll know better what you're doing.

Peace!

Less wink's please.

"Here's a new WIP "
"Check out this new bit "
"Made a 4-bar loop in 10 mins "

outbound wrote:Less wink's please.

"Here's a new WIP "
"Check out this new bit "
"Made a 4-bar loop in 10 mins "

Yeah that's annoying..

PROTIP: If you are using Ableton Live as your DAW be sure to turn "Oversampling" or "HQ" option in your EQ8 (by right clicking on the EQ8).

outbound wrote:Less wink's please.

"Here's a new WIP "
"Check out this new bit "
"Made a 4-bar loop in 10 mins "

Ok thx m8 this tip is really helpful

Bass Jacka wrote:PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE......... THEN PRACTICE A SHIT LOAD MORE!!

4 months is nothing! Unless you have a NATURAL raw talent for producing music and take to it like a duck to water, it's going to take YEARS to get to a level you're even remotely happy with - I've been producing at home for about 8 years, and I'm never happy with the tracks I make, and I'm nowhere near the level of a proffessional producer!

So if I'm producing for like almost a year and I'm pretty happy with the tunes I'm making, am I talented or a fast learner?

Icetickle wrote:

Bass Jacka wrote:PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE......... THEN PRACTICE A SHIT LOAD MORE!!

4 months is nothing! Unless you have a NATURAL raw talent for producing music and take to it like a duck to water, it's going to take YEARS to get to a level you're even remotely happy with - I've been producing at home for about 8 years, and I'm never happy with the tracks I make, and I'm nowhere near the level of a proffessional producer!

So if I'm producing for like almost a year and I'm pretty happy with the tunes I'm making, am I talented or a fast learner?

Maybe both, maybe neither.. You probably haven't developed your listening very good yet, so you don't hear all the faults, but who knows keep going either way!

OfficialAceAura wrote: See you next time!

i look forward to it!

Eskimo wrote:

Icetickle wrote:

Bass Jacka wrote:PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE......... THEN PRACTICE A SHIT LOAD MORE!!

4 months is nothing! Unless you have a NATURAL raw talent for producing music and take to it like a duck to water, it's going to take YEARS to get to a level you're even remotely happy with - I've been producing at home for about 8 years, and I'm never happy with the tracks I make, and I'm nowhere near the level of a proffessional producer!

So if I'm producing for like almost a year and I'm pretty happy with the tunes I'm making, am I talented or a fast learner?

Maybe both, maybe neither.. You probably haven't developed your listening very good yet, so you don't hear all the faults, but who knows keep going either way!

Or It's maybe because I spent too much time every day in front of my DAW (but still better than playing video games).
Like seriously there were days when I would spend all day making a tune or learning music theory.

Icetickle wrote:

Eskimo wrote:

Icetickle wrote:

Bass Jacka wrote:PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE......... THEN PRACTICE A SHIT LOAD MORE!!

4 months is nothing! Unless you have a NATURAL raw talent for producing music and take to it like a duck to water, it's going to take YEARS to get to a level you're even remotely happy with - I've been producing at home for about 8 years, and I'm never happy with the tracks I make, and I'm nowhere near the level of a proffessional producer!

So if I'm producing for like almost a year and I'm pretty happy with the tunes I'm making, am I talented or a fast learner?

Maybe both, maybe neither.. You probably haven't developed your listening very good yet, so you don't hear all the faults, but who knows keep going either way!

Or It's maybe because I spent too much time every day in front of my DAW (but still better than playing video games).
Like seriously there were days when I would spend all day making a tune or learning music theory.

me too

dubunked wrote:

Icetickle wrote:

Eskimo wrote:

Icetickle wrote:

Bass Jacka wrote:PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE......... THEN PRACTICE A SHIT LOAD MORE!!

4 months is nothing! Unless you have a NATURAL raw talent for producing music and take to it like a duck to water, it's going to take YEARS to get to a level you're even remotely happy with - I've been producing at home for about 8 years, and I'm never happy with the tracks I make, and I'm nowhere near the level of a proffessional producer!

So if I'm producing for like almost a year and I'm pretty happy with the tunes I'm making, am I talented or a fast learner?

Maybe both, maybe neither.. You probably haven't developed your listening very good yet, so you don't hear all the faults, but who knows keep going either way!

Or It's maybe because I spent too much time every day in front of my DAW (but still better than playing video games).
Like seriously there were days when I would spend all day making a tune or learning music theory.

me too

I'be producing for 6 months and have clocked in over 1500 hours in front of my DAW.

that's literally 62.5 days, ie 1/3 of that time period. it must be counting time when it is in the background or your computer was asleep, no?

if I knew how to check on ableton, and it counted time when in background/asleep, it would probably be damn near 95% I don't think it's very good for my computer to have multiple programs running at once, but hey

dubunked wrote:that's literally 62.5 days, ie 1/3 of that time period. it must be counting time when it is in the background or your computer was asleep, no?

if I knew how to check on ableton, and it counted time when in background/asleep, it would probably be damn near 95% I don't think it's very good for my computer to have multiple programs running at once, but hey

it's fine