Life_Music Wrote:Hi everyone, im new to these discussions and am keen to get involved. I have a passion for all things to do with music. Every genre has a place and for every type of mood you are in there is a song to represent this. I am also interested in the thought of doing some music production. I have recently purchased pro tools so am looking at putting that 2 use, so any advice to do with the software or music production in general would be great. Im looking forward to hearing from all of you. Have a great day!

Life_Music Wrote:Hi everyone, im new to these discussions and am keen to get involved. I have a passion for all things to do with music. Every genre has a place and for every type of mood you are in there is a song to represent this. I am also interested in the thought of doing some music production. I have recently purchased pro tools so am looking at putting that 2 use, so any advice to do with the software or music production in general would be great. Im looking forward to hearing from all of you. Have a great day!

Jerome Wrote:Hi all

Just a quick peek to see what's going on. Music project is going quite well - might have something for you to sample soon. Have not got away yet. Too busy.

To the 'music enthusiast' - I am not an expert on music production at all. Just learning like everyone else. But here is some advice which is going to save you years of time. Everyone thinks that you can record bad sounds and then 'fix it in the mix'. Big mistake. With the technology available today you can dial in all sorts of presets and gimmicks but the real trick is to get the sounds right from the outset. If you are recording guitars, bass or drums make sure the sound is what you want it to be BEFORE you go anywhere near Pro Tools or any other PC-based studio. Use good mics/amplifiers etc. The acoustics of the room you are recording in is the single most important thing to focus on. It's the least glamorous part of the process but the most important one. After you get that right mixing and recording in your DAW will be much easier. And remember there are no rules in music production - music is a subjective artform - and therefore anything is possible - but learning the basics is a good starting point. Paul White, the editor of 'Sound on Sound' magazine has published a book called 'The Producer's Manual' (just released) which is an excellent starting point for you as it contains a lot of examples and advice using Pro Tools as the main DAW. I strongly advise getting a copy of this book if you can. It will save you time and money. If you are making synth based electronica then things are a lot easier as you don't have to focus on acoustics, just how instruments/sounds sit in the mix. Creating music is like climbing a mountain - the closer you get to the peak the harder it becomes. The final 10 percent of the work takes 90% of the time to complete. Another point, depending on what type of music you want to create of course - live drums are always better than sampled ones. It just makes the music come alive. Sampled drums have their place in music but live ones just seem to impart a special quality to the mix. I am using sampled electronic kits on the project I am currently working on simply because it suits that kind of music, but if you want to create real rock n roll, live drums are a must. Hope this helps. Most of all - have fun. You are entering a world with no limits - just add imagination.

One final point - if you are going to use session musicians check them out very carefully before you commit to working with them - many promise but cannot deliver. I have wasted thousands on session musicians and some of the work they have done is appalling. But there are those who do excellent work as well. I can recommend any of the guys listed on my site 100%. But it has taken a lot of time and a ridiculous amount of money to get to that point.

Oh yes - some people are going to like what you do and some people are not. That's life. You've got to see past all of that and just do what you believe in.