I've got the music theory, now I need production theory!

Call Me Jimmy

Hey guys, just downloaded the Ableton trial the other day. I've already grown in confidence by just tinkering around but there are two areas I'm looking to learn about.


First is audio theory, as in, so I know a bit more about all the terminology, filters, waves, levels. This obviously is not specific to Ableton, but if anyone has any recommendations I'd be very interested, books as well.

Secondly, I know there is a world of tutorials out there for ableton, but can you guys recommend the best ones, or group of videos, articles etc. from your experience.

Thanks a lot, I look forward to posting my tracks!

Neurojazz

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

Hey guys, just downloaded the Ableton trial the other day. I've already grown in confidence by just tinkering around but there are two areas I'm looking to learn about.


First is audio theory, as in, so I know a bit more about all the terminology, filters, waves, levels. This obviously is not specific to Ableton, but if anyone has any recommendations I'd be very interested, books as well.

Secondly, I know there is a world of tutorials out there for ableton, but can you guys recommend the best ones, or group of videos, articles etc. from your experience.

Thanks a lot, I look forward to posting my tracks!

Start on Abletons own page for primers and then just hit YouTube with specific problems like 'How do use the warp fucntion on samples" etc - YouTube has it all from there.

My only piece of advice with Ableton - Start with the clip mode, don't just start in the arrange view. You'll miss a huge part of where Ableton can shine.

Good luck with it!

hulkey

Firstly, Neurojazz is spot on, regarding the clip/session view.

Also, there are loads of tutorials on youtube, that are specific to "how to do x in ableton".

Though, where to start? Dubspot's channel on youube is a decent place to kick off.

What I would recommend doing is task yourself with making a track, so with the goal of committing a tune you have written to hard disk, or uploading it to soundcloud for example.

But view on it as a learning experience.

Also, don't ignore something because it's not ableton, there are some great techniques which you will find are not specific to any one DAW, but you may find a demonstration using logic or reason or something.

Call Me Jimmy

Cheers guys. I've been working exclusivily in clip view, mixing and matching stuff etc. I haven't watched enough tutorials though. I'll check out dubstep channel.

What I'm going to do is write down stuff as I'm working, but often I don't know the names of the things I need to do!

this is my tongue in cheek attempt at some strip club beat: https://soundcloud.com/user293639068/beat-idea

opinions on any obvious mistakes I'm making production-wise are welcome.

Question: How did you's learn all the terminolgoy and wider theory of audio production? I want to learn theory about how all the different waves come together to a theoritical unity etc.

Neurojazz

I picked up a lot through the years in different places... but totally recommend something like SAE online audio courses to understand mixdowns/compression/eq/mastering etc

Your room and monitoring are critical to getting on top of this - so don't be in any hurry to nail it 100% until in a treated room - as you are basically fighting different frequencies piling up at different spots in the room and giving your ears a false image - a little room treatment goes a long way

Highcontrast1

check out pointblank online. they have some free courses aimed at the beginner.
I did this course last year for the fun of it and I found it very informative.
https://www.coursera.org/course/musicproduction
also check out the "into the liar" videos by Dave Pensado on youtube.
Join forums like gearslutz and kvraudio.

mordeith

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

this is my tongue in cheek attempt at some strip club beat: https://soundcloud.com/user293639068/beat-idea

opinions on any obvious mistakes I'm making production-wise are welcome.

First thing I'd do is change your samples. The kick and snare sound weak. It's worth experimenting with layers. Place two kicks together and adjust the mix level. Layer a snare with the clap to give your sound more character. The possibilities here are endless and I'm not explaing myself at all well :rolleyes: but you can play around with adjusting the eq's, adding filters, reverb and subtle delays on your percussion to gove more swing or groove.
Regarding the bea sample you linked to, the last kick in the loop sounds off in terms of timing.

Call Me Jimmy

Yea one thing I wasn't sure about was how there is so much variation in drum sounds from what appears to be a relatively small amount of samples but I saw that technique of layering in a random tutorial video.

I forgot I have the treble/bass on my speakers set to full bass so that's probably not a great idea when producing :P

mordeith

Call Me Jimmy wrote: »

Yea one thing I wasn't sure about was how there is so much variation in drum sounds from what appears to be a relatively small amount of samples but I saw that technique of layering in a random tutorial video.

I forgot I have the treble/bass on my speakers set to full bass so that's probably not a great idea when producing :P

Yeah, it can be very misleading depending on what speakers/headphones you're mixing on. It's a good idea (for me anyway) to have a frequency analyser on every track (I use Voxengo SPAN 2 it's free )so you can see what frequencies are prominent and which ones are clashing. A good eq plugin will allow you to cut or scoop out certain frequencies without loosing too much character or body.