So, I'm currently trying to make my first song. I use FL Studio and I know the basics of the software. I actually have a pretty clear idea of what I want the song to sound and feel like.

The problem is that I find it really hard to choose sounds and even decide what sound/instrument to start with. It feels like an ocean of possibilities, and I struggle to commit to anything.

I try to just play around and experiment, but I get so overwhelmed by all the options that it becomes hard to even have fun with it, if that makes sense.

I don't know much music theory yet and I don't play any instruments, but I want to learn both.

Do you have any advice for getting over that first hurdle? Things like where you usually start a song, how you choose sounds, useful plugins, or anything you wish you knew when you were making your first songs?

Hi guys 😄 I'm curious about how's your creative process. I realized I never come up with ideas to make songs, I make songs and create the idea in the flow. How is your process?

So i bought Native Instruments Studio Drummer years ago on a recommendation from the sales guy at my local GC, and its basically been my go to (and only) drum VST. And its very good. The drums sound good. Its got a ton pre-loaded fills and grooves (that I frankly dont use). Its got transient editors, individual mic adjustments etc. My point being its a good program that is not short on really really good features. There is nothing inherently wrong with it.

All that to say, I cant seem to get a sound im completely happy with. For anyone not familiar with it, it comes with these "presets" so you can just pick one and off you go. Theres one for blues, disco, punk, metal, pop etc. And on TOP of that you can change the TYPE of kit youre using from a "garage" kit to a studio kit to an "arena" kit. Ive tried every possible combination.

I make heavy, sludgey, somewhat grungy music, so naturally I gravitate towards the "metal" preset. And it definitely sounds the BEST out of the bunch, but it just seems lacking. Has anyone had any experience with Studio Drummer, and if so, what were your go to settings? Any tips for making them sound better? Obviously ive considered buying another program (GGD or something) but I figured id ask people here for advice first.

Here’s a demo from a few days ago

Vibes

Joined a psych rock band recently, we sound pretty good imo.

My niche is normally pop-punk so I don’t know any mid level producers/mix engineers in this space. Looking for mid level, probably not more than $400 a track. We’ll be sending multitracks, mostly need mixing with a bit of production touch. Anyone know anyone good that’s open for business?

So yea, I bought this mixer and Shure Sm58 and wanted to record some music. On pc it works like a charm, but on my phone it doesn't detect the audio device/mic. Tried several different apps - nothing. I'd like to get some solution without upgrading my phone, which (bloody) ArtInt says is possible, but any of their tips don't work.

Help!

Hi all,

I am looking for hobbyist music producers to do customer discovery for a class I am taking. If anyone could shoot me a message to have a chat or just answer the answers below I would appreciate it!

How long have you been making music for?

Do you have a MIDI controller?

How often do you use it?

Do you agree that expressiveness improves a music composition?

How much have you spent in music equipment in the last few years?

Is the looks of that equipment something to consider?

Is the feeling of an instrument important to you?

I was going through and saw so many beautiful string sounds that I then come to find out all of this is locked behind a membership. I wasn't sure if they sold them individually? I didn't see that anywhere. What do people think of the membership? I saw one where you have access to the packs but don't get credits that was like, $12 a month or something.

If not, where can I find nice string packs or VSTs? I don't mind paying if I get a lot out of it and I get unique nice sounds

Hello! I'm a beginner composer and producer, and I've been studying this track, composed by Masafumi Takada. I wanted to know how to replicate this bass, or how to get a bass to sound like this. Any insight would be greatly appreciated, and if there's some specific way to do it in FL Studio, I'd love to know too.

I've not been able to do this type of bitcrushing (or whatever it's called) I don't know the effzcts used or whatever, so I wanna ask flr help on how to do it.

is there any downsides to store projects made on both windows and mac on the same ssd?

Hey guys, London based producer here.

Specifically talking about the rap, rnb, drill scene.

I know loads of prods from Western/Northern Europe and Australia that have come to London for periods specifically to network for music.

And lots of London producers that go to Paris, New York, LA, Toronto etc.

But what’s a country to go to, to network, that not a lot of people would think of?

E.g, China? Japan? Brazil? Nigeria?

What countries have an underground scene that isn’t Anglo-Centric or Western-Centric?

Where have you visited/where do you want to go?

Just wondering I just want to make one song and put it out there because it has meaning and words of encouragement. How do I go about this?

I'm actually asking for a friend who's working on an album, rather than for my own project.

I'm a game developer and, in that field, one marketing misstep can doom a project forever. If you want to give your game any chance at all of success, there's an extremely lengthy and complicated marketing process.

My best friend has been working tirelessly on an album for over a year and has agreed to let me help him promote it. Is there any suggested "go to market" strategy for a first album? I want to be as knowledgeable as possible about the process before I advise my friend on anything.

If there's some sort of music marketing master course, I'd love to hear about it as well.

Hey! Amateur artist and producer here. Before now, I had been using an extraordinarily cheap production setup with BandLab and a 20-dollar mic for vocals, pretty much. I have to say I'm super proud of what I've done with it (400 monthly listeners on Spotify), but it's time to upgrade LOL.

Was wondering what you guys would recommend for budget studio equipment. Not dirt cheap stuff, but not expensive either. These were the margins I was sort of hoping to not go over:

Audio interface - under $100

Mic for vocals - under $130

Keyboard: under $300

DAW: was planning on buying Reaper ($60) but am open to other suggestions as well

Any and all suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks!!

Hi, I don't know if this question gets asked a lot, I haven't found anything. But I just wonder how to overcome this weird heavy feeling on not being able to make any music. Music has always been part of my life since very young age, I singed in choir, played multiple instruments, finished academy. But as for making my own music, I only have done a couple tracks.

Mostly it looks like this — I wanna make music, but I can't physically make myself open computer, daw, or sit down and just make myself "lock in". If I force myself or smth, I just start feeling this weird heaviness inside which makes every single thought or action I do feel so gross and tiring, I start having something close to headache, etc.

It doesn't happen with anything else, but music and I really don't know what to do. I pushed myself to make 3 finished tracks, but it was also very hard to achieve and only happened when I was just completely geeked on making music.

I really would appreciate if you could share your experience or at least give some advice

Where can i find a good G-Drive collection, or a site that hosts music stems for free? I'm not looking for tool separated tracks. For now, i'm looking for 80's song stems, and later.

Hi all, I wanted to ask, I am looking to upgrade my Focusrite Solo interface that I've had for a number of years now.

I really just record myself at home, usually guitar + mic at the same time, to upload covers in youtube.

Is there any interface that you might recommend that would be a real step up from what I have, without me breaking the bank? Keeping in mind that I'll most likely just record myself playing here at home.

I've already tried fiddling around with a triangle wave and some pitch automation, But it doesn't have the same crunch as this sound.

Can anyone provide me with a solid recommendation for a mixing desk to be used for live dub mixing. I’ve tried to do live dub mixing using Logic’s built in mixing desk + plugins and whilst it works, it is extremely limiting. I have delay and reverb pedals that I can use as analogue sends also. My plan would be to have an individual channel for each instrument on Logic and run that through to the mixing desk with a send for the delay and reverb pedals. I would be happy with an 8 channel desk and could probably go as far as $/£400-500 and would be happy with second hand.

Id say im somewhat of a beginner in production (1y and 1/2 now) and i just can’t seem to stop having doubts and feeling shitty about what I make, like there’s some evil worm in the back of my head just telling me “This is shite mate, pack it in”. Anyone have any advice on how to get out of this god forsaken mentality? I’d really appreciate the help 🥲