I am posting a list of some of the best vst plug-ins that electronic musicians would really need.This is not a full list of all vst's you need,but it's a good beginning .Some of them are free ,others not,but consider having at least some of them.Here is the list:
VST Plug-in (instruments)
1.z3ta+ this is an AWESOME plug-ins and one of the must-have's.
2.Pro-53 The next must-have.Really powerful,one of the best for making leads.
3.Nexus Contains some really nice presets.Very good for hardstyle,hardcore,trance,dance and others
4.Microtonic Very good drum machine vst
5.FM8 contains very good sounds.Appropriate for electronica/idm and every other genre.
6.Junglist pretty useful,too.
VST Plug-in (effects)
1.Camelphat
2.Camelspace
3.Dblue_glitch -free and pretty nice.Can make miracles with beats
4.Devastor A powerful distortion plug-in
5.Guitar Rig Don't get confused with the name,it's not for guitars only .
6.TriDirt good EQing and distortion enhancer plug-in
Hope this could help you.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
New lesson-Effects in FL Studio
How to make our music sound better?When using a sound it can very often sound "not good" on its own.This is where we use the effects.We use those effects for two purposes -mixing and mastering.
->mixing is a process which aims to enrich the sound,to make it sound better by adding something to it .We do it by adding effects such as reeverb(creating an artificial space in order,for example,to make the audio sound like in a room,hall etc.),as well as other effects referring to the sound frequencies.
->mastering is the finalizing of the project.This means that you make final works with the help of graphic frequency equalizers ,compressors and limiters so that you make the sound clearer and gain more volume.
In this picture you can see the mixer in FL Studio which is divided into parts.
->Master- when you put an effect here it will apply to the whole song.
->Insert() -> here the effect would apply only to the instrument that is assigned to this channel in the mixer.You can assign the instruments by changing the number in the upper-right corner of the window of this instrument.As you can see the kick in this picture is assigner to channel 1.
You can assign as many instruments to a channel as you want.
How to choose an effect?
As you can see in the right-hand side of the mixer there are 8 black spaces in a column with an arrow to each of them.Just click this arrow,then press select and choose from the list of effects
Which effects to use?
As beginners you are not supposed to know what each effect does so i will tell you about the most important of them
-Fruity Reeverb -This effect creates artificial space-this is used if you want the instrument to sound as if in a room,hall,stadium,cave or some other place.
-Fruity Delay-it adds echo to the sound
-Fruity Chorus-creates several copies of a sound and makes them differ from the original(changes the frequency,the pitch of tone etc.).
-Fruity Flanger-it also creates copies of the sound and then distorts them.Similar to it is Fruity Phaser,but it acts differently
-Fruity Compressor - compressing of the sound is essential in the final works and when working with vocals and drum kits.It is also useful when mastering the track
-Parametric Equalizer -this is pretty important.When mixing you need to cut the useless frequencies of each instrument in order to prevent your song to become a bunch of different sounds.For example,when using a bass you need to cut its high frequencies.
-Fruity stereo enhancer-enriches the stereo sounding of the sounds.Very useful for string instruments.Helps them sound more realistic.
->mixing is a process which aims to enrich the sound,to make it sound better by adding something to it .We do it by adding effects such as reeverb(creating an artificial space in order,for example,to make the audio sound like in a room,hall etc.),as well as other effects referring to the sound frequencies.
->mastering is the finalizing of the project.This means that you make final works with the help of graphic frequency equalizers ,compressors and limiters so that you make the sound clearer and gain more volume.
In this picture you can see the mixer in FL Studio which is divided into parts.
->Master- when you put an effect here it will apply to the whole song.
->Insert() -> here the effect would apply only to the instrument that is assigned to this channel in the mixer.You can assign the instruments by changing the number in the upper-right corner of the window of this instrument.As you can see the kick in this picture is assigner to channel 1.
You can assign as many instruments to a channel as you want.
How to choose an effect?
As you can see in the right-hand side of the mixer there are 8 black spaces in a column with an arrow to each of them.Just click this arrow,then press select and choose from the list of effects
Which effects to use?
As beginners you are not supposed to know what each effect does so i will tell you about the most important of them
-Fruity Reeverb -This effect creates artificial space-this is used if you want the instrument to sound as if in a room,hall,stadium,cave or some other place.
-Fruity Delay-it adds echo to the sound
-Fruity Chorus-creates several copies of a sound and makes them differ from the original(changes the frequency,the pitch of tone etc.).
-Fruity Flanger-it also creates copies of the sound and then distorts them.Similar to it is Fruity Phaser,but it acts differently
-Fruity Compressor - compressing of the sound is essential in the final works and when working with vocals and drum kits.It is also useful when mastering the track
-Parametric Equalizer -this is pretty important.When mixing you need to cut the useless frequencies of each instrument in order to prevent your song to become a bunch of different sounds.For example,when using a bass you need to cut its high frequencies.
-Fruity stereo enhancer-enriches the stereo sounding of the sounds.Very useful for string instruments.Helps them sound more realistic.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Download section
Here are two sample packs,i will continue uploading samples and mp3's so check this page frequently.
Amen Breaks sample pack
Hardcore kicks sample pack
Note:All samples here are free to use!
Amen Breaks sample pack
Hardcore kicks sample pack
Note:All samples here are free to use!
Video Tutorials
Basics of FL Studio
FL Studio Mixer
Recording a bassline
FL Studio Piano Roll
Installing VST plug-ins
Automations in FL Studio
Using Fruity Slicer
Note:These videos are not my property!They are already uploaded to youtube.com.I only link them in order to help beginner producers.This way i also advertise the authors of the videos.If you like these videos-contact their authors,not me.
FL Studio Mixer
Recording a bassline
FL Studio Piano Roll
Installing VST plug-ins
Automations in FL Studio
Using Fruity Slicer
Note:These videos are not my property!They are already uploaded to youtube.com.I only link them in order to help beginner producers.This way i also advertise the authors of the videos.If you like these videos-contact their authors,not me.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
A look at FL Studio
As you can see i had hard time drawing on this screenshot .This was meant to be a joke,why aren't you laughing?Whatever...I'm explaining:1.Standard window menu,all browsers,programs etc. have this.
2.The timer-by clicking it you change it's form from time(seconds,minutes) measuring to bar measuring.
3.These are 2 knobs("buttons" in a way).The first determines the level of the volume of the whole song and the second determines the pitch of the song.
4.These are buttons which show/hide the parts of FL studio-Playlist,step sequencer,piano roll,browser,mixer - in the same order.
5.Changes from "play pattern" to "play song"
6.These are the play/stop/record buttons.
7.The tempo.By clicking and dragging the mouse up and down you change the tempo.
8.A bunch of optional buttons,not really important at the moment
9.Here you determine the "size" of the step.This determines how you input sounds into the piano roll.
10.These are the instuments used in the step sequencer.
11.This is the playlist.There you put the patterns in order to arrange the song
I hope this was helpful.Let's go to the next lesson.
Lessons
Instruments ,VST plug-ins and samples
In the previous article i told you about the structure and parts of the DAW.Now i will tell you about the tools to create sounds.They are three types:
1.Instruments
2.VST Plug-ins
3.Samples
Virtual Instruments represent the sounds of real instruments.You can have a guitar,a piano,a violin and every other musical instrument inside your DAW.By adding one to the song you can use it to arrange notes and make melodic sounds.
Vst plug-ins are very powerful "little programs" that work inside of the DAW,and even some of them may work on themselves.The term VST comes from Virtual Studio Technology.They are in fact,as i said "little programs" which are full of different sounds and instruments called presents.They have enormous possibilities and are essential nowadays.They work the same as instruments ,with the difference that in vst's you need to choose which preset(instrument) to use.You can modify the different presets by changing their values,most important of which are pitch,panning,cutoff,decay,sustain and more.
And finally,samples are sounds that are already exported into .WAV format which purpose is to be used as instruments in the song production process.
1.Instruments
2.VST Plug-ins
3.Samples
Virtual Instruments represent the sounds of real instruments.You can have a guitar,a piano,a violin and every other musical instrument inside your DAW.By adding one to the song you can use it to arrange notes and make melodic sounds.
Vst plug-ins are very powerful "little programs" that work inside of the DAW,and even some of them may work on themselves.The term VST comes from Virtual Studio Technology.They are in fact,as i said "little programs" which are full of different sounds and instruments called presents.They have enormous possibilities and are essential nowadays.They work the same as instruments ,with the difference that in vst's you need to choose which preset(instrument) to use.You can modify the different presets by changing their values,most important of which are pitch,panning,cutoff,decay,sustain and more.
And finally,samples are sounds that are already exported into .WAV format which purpose is to be used as instruments in the song production process.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Already got your stuff? Read Here
In the previous article i had written that you need to choose a DAW to work with.This was the most important of all the steps to music production.I hope you considered my advice to try some demos of different software.Otherwise,you may be disappointed by the result because you chose a daw that you would feel hard to work with...
Now,I suppose you already tried out clicking on the different features of the program,even though i doubt you know what they were.I shall tell you now what you need to know in order to operate this program-I will explain the different "parts" of the daw.These are principles that apply to all software for producing.
First of all,you have a Playlist.This is the place(the window,the column or whatever it is) where you arrange the different elements of the song(continue reading,i'll tell you what are these elements down in the post).
Then comes the Step Sequencer(this term maybe different in the different DAW's,i'm using step sequencer because this is the FL studio term).This is where you create each element of the song seperately from each other in order to arrange them later in the Playlist.
The next part of the daw is the Piano Roll(i'm pretty sure this term is different in all daw's but as you know-i am using the terms and names of FL studio).This is where you ,hmm,let's say,compose.By compose i mean that there are the different notes from C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C where you put the separate sounds in order to create a melody or something.In FL Studio the Piano roll is shown as a piano looked from top with it's keys.
=>These three (the playlist,step sequencer and piano roll) are the three MAIN parts of the daw.You put sounds into the piano roll=>taken as a whole they form a pattern of the step sequencer=> by arranging all the patterns in the Playlist you make a song.
Earlier i said i'd explain which are the elements of the song.This varies in a way ,you'll see why.Generally,a song has a beat,bassline,a melody and(optionally) vocal.There are other elements as well but these are the main.I said it varies because there are songs which have no beat(some chill or donwtempo songs may be made of pads only),there are also songs with no melody-almost all speedcore,splittercore etc. are made of kicks and basslines.
I shall stop here and continue in the next article where i will tell you about the instruments,plug-ins and stuff... ->
Now,I suppose you already tried out clicking on the different features of the program,even though i doubt you know what they were.I shall tell you now what you need to know in order to operate this program-I will explain the different "parts" of the daw.These are principles that apply to all software for producing.
First of all,you have a Playlist.This is the place(the window,the column or whatever it is) where you arrange the different elements of the song(continue reading,i'll tell you what are these elements down in the post).
Then comes the Step Sequencer(this term maybe different in the different DAW's,i'm using step sequencer because this is the FL studio term).This is where you create each element of the song seperately from each other in order to arrange them later in the Playlist.
The next part of the daw is the Piano Roll(i'm pretty sure this term is different in all daw's but as you know-i am using the terms and names of FL studio).This is where you ,hmm,let's say,compose.By compose i mean that there are the different notes from C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C where you put the separate sounds in order to create a melody or something.In FL Studio the Piano roll is shown as a piano looked from top with it's keys.
=>These three (the playlist,step sequencer and piano roll) are the three MAIN parts of the daw.You put sounds into the piano roll=>taken as a whole they form a pattern of the step sequencer=> by arranging all the patterns in the Playlist you make a song.
Earlier i said i'd explain which are the elements of the song.This varies in a way ,you'll see why.Generally,a song has a beat,bassline,a melody and(optionally) vocal.There are other elements as well but these are the main.I said it varies because there are songs which have no beat(some chill or donwtempo songs may be made of pads only),there are also songs with no melody-almost all speedcore,splittercore etc. are made of kicks and basslines.
I shall stop here and continue in the next article where i will tell you about the instruments,plug-ins and stuff... ->
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Who am I?
Hello.My name is ***.I won't say that,you don't really need my name.I am 20 years old and I produce music for 3 years already.I use mostly FL Studio and my sphere of creations is definitely in the harder styles-gabber(hardcore,speedcore,darkcore,frenchcore,terrorcore),breakcore.I also have some electronica and idm projects.I and my partner are most commonly known as Usus Venenum,you can check out our myspace page- myspace.com/ususvenenum.I made this blog because when i got interested in creating music i had no source of information for absolute beginners and it was really hard for me to start.I want to help young producers with the most most most basic stuff.This is all i have to say.Have fun.
You want to create music?This is the first thing you need to read!
If you are completely new to this and you don't even know how to start,this is what you have to read.I won't write more "bla-bla" .Let's get it straight:
1.CHOOSE YOUR GENRE. I can teach you produce all types of electronic music*.Sorry,if you want to compose METAL,ROCK,CLASSICAL MUSIC,HIP-HOP,JAZZ etc. just don't bother to read more.I just can't help you with that.
* This includes all kinds of techno,trance,house,drum'n'bass,hardcore,breakcore,electronica,idm,glitch,
downtempo and anything else you can think of.
2.CHOOSE YOUR SOFTWARE.There are plenty of choices.Let's just clear that this term(the program you use to create your music) is called DAW(Digital Audio Workstation).My personal opinion is that some of these DAW's are more appropriate for some styles,and other daw's for other styles.However,you can pick whatever you feel is good for you.I am including a list of some of the DAW's. I recommend you first download some free demos of most of them to check which one is best for you and then buy it.Here is the list:
1.FL Studio
2.Ableton Live
3.Cakewalk Sonar
4.Steinberg Cubase
5.Propelerheads Reason
6.Pro Tools
there are even more,but i think these are the most used ones.Now,a word for some of them.
Fl studio is my favorite.Some people say it is too simple and is not as good as cubase or pro-tools,but in the last versions of the program i think it equals them in functionality.Its interface is friendly and easy to learn .FL studio is appropriate for almost any style you want to create.It is my personal choice.
Ableton Live-the name says much about the program.It is pretty good for live performances,you can also make good stuff with it at home.However,i consider it kinda limited.
Reason is a pretty good choice when it comes to beat-like music like drum'n'bass ,breakcore,idm.It has one big problem-you cannot import wav samples!
Cubase and pro-tools are said to be the most "pro" DAW's.They are really good,i must admit,but they are also complex!I wouldn't recommend starting off with them.
I can't say much about Sonar,i haven't worked with it.
This was the first article you had to read.Now,after you have read that you can procede to the next articles where i will introduce to you the next steps of music creation.
1.CHOOSE YOUR GENRE. I can teach you produce all types of electronic music*.Sorry,if you want to compose METAL,ROCK,CLASSICAL MUSIC,HIP-HOP,JAZZ etc. just don't bother to read more.I just can't help you with that.
* This includes all kinds of techno,trance,house,drum'n'bass,hardcore,breakcore,electronica,idm,glitch,
downtempo and anything else you can think of.
2.CHOOSE YOUR SOFTWARE.There are plenty of choices.Let's just clear that this term(the program you use to create your music) is called DAW(Digital Audio Workstation).My personal opinion is that some of these DAW's are more appropriate for some styles,and other daw's for other styles.However,you can pick whatever you feel is good for you.I am including a list of some of the DAW's. I recommend you first download some free demos of most of them to check which one is best for you and then buy it.Here is the list:
1.FL Studio
2.Ableton Live
3.Cakewalk Sonar
4.Steinberg Cubase
5.Propelerheads Reason
6.Pro Tools
there are even more,but i think these are the most used ones.Now,a word for some of them.
Fl studio is my favorite.Some people say it is too simple and is not as good as cubase or pro-tools,but in the last versions of the program i think it equals them in functionality.Its interface is friendly and easy to learn .FL studio is appropriate for almost any style you want to create.It is my personal choice.
Ableton Live-the name says much about the program.It is pretty good for live performances,you can also make good stuff with it at home.However,i consider it kinda limited.
Reason is a pretty good choice when it comes to beat-like music like drum'n'bass ,breakcore,idm.It has one big problem-you cannot import wav samples!
Cubase and pro-tools are said to be the most "pro" DAW's.They are really good,i must admit,but they are also complex!I wouldn't recommend starting off with them.
I can't say much about Sonar,i haven't worked with it.
This was the first article you had to read.Now,after you have read that you can procede to the next articles where i will introduce to you the next steps of music creation.
Welcome!
This is a blog which purpose is to help beginner music producers.I myself am one,and I made this blog in order to share my personal knowledge and experience with others.In my site you can find information about software,hardware,production,composition of audio tracks,samples,tutorials and much more.I make my explanations simple so that even if you you are a complete beginner you could understand all I have written.I don't claim to be a professional,I have been into music production for only 3 years,but i consider my knowledge valuable and i hope it will be useful to you.I suppose this is enough for a welcome message,so check frequently what's new here.I hope it'll be useful and interesting to you.
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