Trying to get into making music

Pirate a DAW of your choice or get Reaper for free. From there, you just need to learn to program and sample. Getting a midi keyboard would help too.

>>17459645
Sounds like a plan, that's actually what I thought what I should do to get started but asking here can never be wrong

>>17459638
>I don't really care how long it takes to get into making music with a DAW
10 years is the average from when someone begins work on their career in music to when they actually make it in the business.

>>17459645
What sort of programming is involved? What is programmed/in which language?

Hey dude, I was in your shoes about 10 months ago, I think I can help you.

There's a learning curve that you'll have to get over. My advice would be to just pick a DAW, and roll with it HARD. Any DAW will work. Fl Studio, Ableton, Reason, Logic, etc.

I used FL Studio for the first 7 months of my production. I changed to Ableton 3 months ago and loved the workflow of it so I stuck with it. I was kind of familiar enough with production from those first 7 months of FL that switching to Ableton was seamless. Point is, it doesn't matter which DAW you use at first. There will always be a learning curve when you start, just stick with it and roll with it.

Also, download Sylenth1 if you can and learn it. Hell, download any soft synth (just 1) and learn the hell out of it. Learning synthesis and how to make sound is power. You need this power to stand out from the rest.

Look up YouTube tutorials. Learn how to arrange a song/beat well. Learn how to mix, which is basically eqing, compression, and leveling.

Also, the fastest way to get into it and over the learning curve is just fucking doing it. No amount of YouTube tutorials will empower you to write a song or make a beat. You just gotta fucking do it and grind it out to make yourself better everyday.

Hope this helps.

>>17460703

>10 years
can vouch for this. it takes a long time from what i see. everyone that is making a career off music didn't just make it for the fuck of it. they always seem to have a background in music for years

that being said but its never too late to start

Not OP, but I have also thought of doing this for a long time. I haven't because I never do shit with my life, but this thread is motivating me a bit. How necessary is a MIDI keyboard for this? Should I be able to learn and advance without much problem just with a DAW and virtual synthesizer?

>>17460914
Midi keyboard is not that neccesary at the very start. Firstly, learn the fundamentals, watch lots of tutorials, read lots of articles about eq'ing, compressing, arranging, mixing, layering. Familiarize yourself with DAW you are using, try to write melodies by pc mouse at first and then if you feel like you're gonna pursue it, buy midi keyboard. For me, midi keyboard was the thing which motivated me more and got my productions to a higher level.

hey you're literally me.

so all it takes is opening up your daw, and fucking with settings and sounds and samples and trying to make music. you already play guitar so you have an idea of note combinations and song structure, all you have to do now is actually put in mileage in a daw or whatever multiple applicafions you're using.

your work will sound awful for a long time but it gets better every time you work on something, whether you know it or not. I read a really good interview of four tet where he explained how he started making music under the four tet moniker. he just bought a sampler when they were first coming out and pulled shit off records and made his early music like that. just a sampler.

>>17459645
Honestly I wouldn't recommend Reaper for someone just getting into music production, especially EDM.

I've been using it for 6 years as my DAW of choice, I use it to make electronic music as well as make recordings, but for a new user it's not that friendly and you have to be prepared to scour the internet for vst plugins or buy them. Reaper to me is kind of like the C++ of DAWs, in that once you learn it and customise it and get the exact workflow/toolchain you want, using anything else is just fucking stupid.

Anyway, I would follow other suggestions and start with FL or Ableton. Out of those I think Ableton is a lot more flexible, has much more tasteful bundled sounds, and it doesnt force you into a tracker-esque workflow in quite the same way FL does.

You want to focus on composition first - understand how you can use a "piano roll" sequencer, understand some music theory (even if it's just you developing a personal intuition for what notes sound good together) and pretty much jump in to making music out of whatever sounds are available.

Later down the line you will want to learn how to adjust synthesisers in an educated way to make your own sounds. Just pick a relatively simple synth and learn what everything does. This is where your shouldn't be afraid to consult the manual. The simpler you start with the better, because you will find that simple synths form the building blocks of more complex ones.

For now, as suggested, you gotta dive in and have fun!