FLStudio, music studio programs, advice(?)
Kaseius
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Sorry guys, I'm not sure what to toss into the OP, so have some wikipedia:
This is probably my third thread or so on FLStudio, which is a bit silly. The reason I made this is that I'm looking for someone who knows how to use FLStudio well and could give me some advice to making things simply sound better. I've been toying around with it for maybe a year now, probably less. However, I'm still not content with what I'm able to create and feel that I'm missing some very basic things.
Links to video tutorials welcome, and please send me a message on AIM if you would be willing to help out; I'd rather not post stuff in here due to the poor quality of it.
FL Studio is a pattern-based music sequencer, which allows the artist to create songs in pieces (patterns) using the Step Sequencer and the Piano Roll view, then merge those pieces together using the Playlist window. The Effects Panel provides access to a wide range of software effects that can be automated for dynamic sweeps, rolling bass lines and texture changes.
The program is especially well known within the hobbyist music community as a relatively low-cost, user-friendly platform for the creation of hip hop, electronica and dance music, although the complete version contains a sufficient amount of features for handling the production of songs in many different genres.
Image-Line Software changed the name from Fruityloops to FL Studio in 2002. According to the FAQ section on their website, the reasons were avoiding potentional trademark infringment issues with Kelloggs (over their breakfast cereal product named Froot Loops), word "fruity" having a colloquial meaning of "gay" to a lot of (US based) users, and an association of the term "loops" with making music using only pre-canned loops (while FL Studio has changed to faciliate the whole music creation process since the first versions).
This is probably my third thread or so on FLStudio, which is a bit silly. The reason I made this is that I'm looking for someone who knows how to use FLStudio well and could give me some advice to making things simply sound better. I've been toying around with it for maybe a year now, probably less. However, I'm still not content with what I'm able to create and feel that I'm missing some very basic things.
Links to video tutorials welcome, and please send me a message on AIM if you would be willing to help out; I'd rather not post stuff in here due to the poor quality of it.
www.youtube.com/user/kaseius -- Let's Plays
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The Free, Cross-Platform Sound Editor
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Use it, learn to love it. Great for preparing your samples for FLstudio, doing general editing, or anything else involving editing the sounds themselves.
I'M A TWITTER SHITTER
Kaseius, this is more H/A stuff than G&T, but whatev. You've accomplished one thing that many music amateurs don't learn for years, and you should be proud of that. Namely, that the stuff you make when you're just starting out is going to really suck, and could potentially kill people with its awfulness. But it's a fact of life, and many people (as evidenced by MySpace) never realize that they're making horrible music, and will continue to churn out horrible music with no ear for quality whatsoever. So you should be happy that you at least realize that something you're doing is creating something of lower quality than you would appreciate, and that you would like to work to fix it.
FLStudio, like most sequencers, lets you create music in a wide variety of ways. Before it was Studio it was Fruity Loops and it really emphasized non-linear pattern-based MIDI sequencing, and it's kept that to some degree. Understanding how different music apps fundamentally approach music making is key to really wrapping your brain around how they work and how YOU work.
How do you currently make music? If you really want to get in-depth and specific, you can PM me and we can talk about it over email or something (not IM, as I do have a job and life
So how do you sequence, come up with ideas, listen to music, and all that? Software is just the manipulator, the thing that makes it tangible.
Pretty much, I start by just trying to find a kick and hat pattern that sounds half decent and work my way from there with trying to find a good synth and bass sound to go with it. Another problem is that I don't have any keyboard to play around on.
One of the big problems I have is that it always feels like there's something missing that would help out the overall sound but I can't figure out what it is. I'll upload my newest monstrosity and PM it to you, Eggy. Perhaps you can tell me what it is I'm missing.
Your post makes a lot of sense to me, and you seem to really know what you're talking about. I used to mess around with Fruity Loops back in the day, though since I didn't really have a huge interest in actually making music I didn't try and really learn the program and hence everything I made sounded like shit. But it was fun to make, I enjoyed the entire learning and music making process. Man, I'm just rambling now, I don't know if this post even had a point to it.
And Darmak, it's the same way for me. I really, really enjoyed the MTV Music Generator demo when I was younger, and I love music, so I want to give it a shot at making something. Just plain dicking around with it is enjoyable, even if you don't have much musical talent.
I did once upon a time use FL, but I just lost my temper with it.
XBL/PSN/Steam: APZonerunner
Be prepared to throw down 500-600$ though.
I've tried the demo of both that and Reason, but both felt too different from FLStudio for me to spend the time learning when my musical abilities are the things holding me back, and not the software. I really liked AL, but it seemed a bit more limited than FLStudio, but that could've been because I didn't know what I was doing very well. :P
Pro-quality, community driven composition software at a bargain price. VSTs, samples, and MIDI all laid out in a logical tracker-style environment. Also, the demo isn't crippled!
I could never get the hang of any complex music software until Renoise came along. It's a little intimidating since it's not a sequencer, but once you 'get' the basics of a tracker it's very fluid and intuitive.
or, you work with a rack of equipment and some software.
most of all, most of all
someone said true love was dead
but i'm bound to fall
bound to fall for you
oh what can i do
I used to write alot of music with FLoops, and can probably give a fair amount of advice on the production level.
I can either send you an MP3 or the FL file along with sounds I used. I'll PM the MP3 link to you.
Do you use any effects on your tracks or are they dry? What kind of music do you make?
http://rapidshare.com/files/55293665/neu14.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/55522068/KAZUMA3.mp3
http://rapidshare.com/files/55525303/hatsforall.mp3
I'll just post these three in here since I've had quite a few people offering advice and help (thanks folks!)
I'm trying to make some basic techno stuff for now since it seems simple enough. With the 2nd track, I used a MIDI for the notes, and on the 3rd, I used a premade trance loop sort of thing.
Eggy suggests I get some better sound and other than that, it's just a matter of improving myself. Someone else suggested different plugins than the basics that come with FL, and probably a few other tips I'm forgetting at the moment.
I think what I need to learn to use better are FX, although I'm not sure which I should be using and how to tweak them to get the sound I want.
Something has recently rekindled my desire to get better at creating music, and now I come back with a new challenge for those of you out there who use FLStudio:
I would like someone to help me create a basic song of sorts that I can pick apart in hopes of learning: the ones that come with FL generally seem way too advanced for someone of my level.
Hit me up on AIM, PM, or in this thread if you'd like to help or want some more details on the current type of music I want to make.
Mods, feel free to move this to H/A still if you don't want it in here.
I do the musical theory stuff, and was a drummer for the longest time. Knowing what genre you're aiming for would help a lot.
Origin is the exact same as my Steam, in case you're needing a Support or Assault in BF3.
I don't mean to offend you at all, but the songs that come with the latest version of fruity range from "My first drum loop lawls" to "I can finally wipe my own....oh nevermind
So what I think might be helpful for you is to actually disect some of those songs a little more if you really find them that daunting. Also, alot of the "Cool Stuff" is actually just cool tricks FL can do and are just being demonstrated, and aren't neccessarily the best way to go about achieving said effect.
I've been working with DAWs of all kinds for over a decade, including Logic, FL, Cubase and Reason. While each program has it's pros and cons, the one thing that is universal between them would be the science behind the engineering.
What I'm really wondering now is whether you need help with the engineering side, or the song-writing side. Perhaps you have some examples you'd be willing to share either via PM or in the thread. Then maybe we could start real discussion once we've focused on the problem.
Steam: Ashengor
Let's say, I want to try to recreate the beat of that song; I really have no idea where to begin with it despite how simple it is.
Also, I posted some samples a few posts up. Terrible stuff, though.
For most of the song (except the intro), it's a hard trance or gabber beat. These beats are generally just a distorted kick drum. But if you don't have alot of experience with controlling distortion, it can be tricky. Here's a fruity-centric tutorial on creating gabber kicks, which seems to look ok to me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_Q_V-5VHIY&feature=related
Also check the related vids.
If you're talking about the beginning of the song, there'd be two ways to do it.
The first, which would require you to find a break that has similiar hits in it that you could slice up and resequence. This would require a beat slicing program such as ReCycle, which is worth it's weight in gold and then some. (Easily the most used software in my studio)
The second would entail finding hits that sound close to the ones in the break in the beginning of the song, and sequencing out that beat. Trust me, if you want decent results you wanna go with option one. The reason being that by slicing up beats played by a real drummer, it's infinitely easier to get a beat you're looking for that sounds natural as opposed to the often robotic sounding results of sequencing by hand. Even using tricks like the humanize function, and expert tweaking of velocity, pan, and delay by hand, it's often more trying than it's worth to achieve your sound (if not damn near impossible)
If you want a great repository of free samples (and knowledge), you should check out the DogsOnAcid board "The Grid" http://www.dogsonacid.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=4 Specifically the threads of interest sticky. It's a DnB focused board mainly, which tends to be over-engineered music void of musical theory. It's a great place to glean knowledge which can be applied to any kind of music. The search function is key, but requires a sign-up.
There's also a pretty smart community for FLStudio, quick google searches yield great results. Also, don't underestimate youtube for answers to your questions and general knowledge tutorials.
Steam: Ashengor
No, really, this helped me immensely in making beats sound the way I wanted them to, because it helped me learn all of the layers in a beat and how they work together naturally.
I'll second this. Going in as a drummer was infinitely helpful. Really, having any real experience with an instrument is going to help you somehow.
Steam: Ashengor
For example, I have a midi, but it's much much slower than everything else and I would like to make it fit a bit better with the beat.
Origin is the exact same as my Steam, in case you're needing a Support or Assault in BF3.
EDIT: Also, a great place to look for VSTs (or other plugins) is here: http://www.kvraudio.com/
Yeah, I'd like to try to get something like that youtube link I posted a bit back going.. gabber/hardstyle, not sure what the exact genre is.
Well, if that's all you're trying to go for, the things included with flstudio should do you decently enough. Right now I'd suggest getting familiar with the distortion and overdrive effects included with flstudio, because nearly every damn thing is distorted in hard house.
Keep in mind that many times you'll have to use a filter to make the distortion listenable in any way.
EDIT: also, what kind of musical theory background do you have?
Touhou remixes are a long way off..
I have no musical.. theory background.
Besides, the difference between Reason and Fruity is really going to just come down to personal preference, as I don't really consider either to be the end-all to DAWs and are really just stepping stones to something bigger. Not to say it isn't possible to create professional quality tunes in either, it really is. It's just that once you get to that level you may find yourself craving something with a little more umph.
I too started out pumping out loops and synth samples with fruity and reason, then sequencing them in Acid. Acid makes laying out your final track so much easier than in either of those proggies. Now I've consolidated all that into Logic.
As for VSTs, they are definitely a good idea. The ones bundled with FLstudio (sytrus), are quite powerful once you get beyond presets, but I highly recommend Absynth and most of the other Native Instrument ones. Of course, these cost money, so I recommend researching them now and then once you find that maybe some of their features will start to make your life easier, you can begin saving up some cash.
Since it has been awhile since I've used fruity, I'm not sure if there is a function that will slow your midi track down. You might try loading the midi-track into the slicer, or perhaps there's an option in the Import > Midi option. I do know there are 3rd party programs that do this.
Steam: Ashengor
It's not the tools, it's how you use them.
I mostly use Cool Edit Pro 2.1 (the last version of that name before it became Adobe Audition, which I've never bothered to figure out.)
Now, if I did a lot of midi stuff, I would need something else, such as Pro Tools LE, Logic Pro, or something like that, but since I mostly just record "live" instruments or mix audio tracks others have recorded for me, CEP 2.1 works for me.
Some people have made kickass music using free tracking software (as in, modfiles, that sort of thing) while others only need one mic and some way to capture that on the computer, so they can record a guitar or piano, then their voice.
Check out my new blog: http://50wordstories.ca
Also check out my old game design blog: http://stealmygamedesigns.blogspot.com
I fucking love GarageBand. Whether you're sequencing MIDI, recording live instruments, mixing the two, creating a beat with canned loops, making your own loops or even just throwing together some sounds in a multitrack environment, I've never used a program with this much power that's so easy to use. The only real shame is that it's part of iLife, so it's Mac only with no prayer of a port unless Apple seriously shifts their business model.
So yeah, if you own a Mac or even have access to one. Try it out. It's pretty great.
This is true. I was suddenly reminded that I made this in ModPlug Tracker. But then again I did this in Fruity Loops 3 (although last version I used was FLStudio 4). So yeah, it really comes down to knowing what you want to do and then knowing the software you're working with.
FLStudio is a good piece of software on its own. Remember that you can layer patterns so you can have different sections of a beat, or different beats that are meant to go together, on different patterns and layer them together easily. Give your song distinct sections (in other words come up with a progression) instead of just building in instruments (which was my mistake when I first started making electronic music, although I don't make much of it at all anymore).
Also, if you would like I can post an IT file for the first song and the FLP sequence file for the Fruity Loops track, although I guess I can't guarantee we have the same samples, or that you'll even have much luck opening it on that one.
Unfortunately I'm on Linux now, so I can't help you much beyond that unless you have Hydrogren Drum Machine (which is free), which is fairly similar and is still good for learning the fundamentals of beat construction.
The thing to be aware of is that most songs have more layers of instrumentation than you might imagine, at least including the basics: Beat, Bass Line, Rhythm Line, Lead Line.