Ableton Forum

Does anyone know where it is best to learn music composition?

Online courses are preferable, or websites, even books are OK.

are you looking for free or paid resources? also are you a college student by chance?

If you have the cash then check out http://online.berklee.edu/

Looking out for a teacher is a good idea.

empathy1 wrote:are you looking for free or paid resources? also are you a college student by chance?

I am a college student; free would be nice but a paid resource isn't out of question.

login wrote:Looking out for a teacher is a good idea.

ya a teacher is a good idea...

Do your university has a music faculty? I would start going in to classes or look for students which offer cheap lessons.

free lesson : song form (& the trumpets sound "Ta Da" here )

intro (perhaps no drums & solo instrument; perhaps just drums)
A phrase, followed by B phrase (which could be a modest variation of the A phrase, needs to be a variation however)
A2 - B2 (slight change here; try adding an additional instrument voice or a 7th to one of the harmonies)
Chorus
A - B (perhaps delete drums or bass or something substantial)
A3 - B3 (with feeling)
C section (sometimes called the bridge)
A - B
A - B (could also be guitar, sax, moog solo here) - go crazy !
Chorus 2 (& add another large instrument; strings or whatever)
A - B (it's fun to do this bit very bare: very sparse)
A4 - B4
outro (variation of one of: C, the intro, the A or B)

one thousand variations of the above - there's no right or wrong here
:=)
peace

pick some songs that you wish you produced.

warp them in session view then load then into arrangement view

listen to the track and drop a track marker and any significant change
bridges, chorus, verse, and things like that

then after you have the basic song structure laid out with track markers
create midi tracks
and then in the midi tracks create empty midi clips for every sound you hear in the track
drums, hars, basses,.. what ever

1 sound per track and line up the clips with the sounds
also label everything

then when that is finished start creating the sounds in the midi track
you could do this with or without the reference track

don't get discouraged and keep trying..
do this with multiple songs, and you will start to get it.

bassgorilla.com has a good music composition course, highly recommended

iamcluster12 wrote:bassgorilla.com has a good music composition course, highly recommended

For total newbies only?

I love the answer from this cat below because what he suggests requires some work. After reading his post. I noticed he is a certified Ableton trainer so you know that should be at least one of many reliable answers. I both a newbie like you in composition as far as EDM goes, plus also a newbie in Ableton with about a month of serious study into it. I am bit clueless myself where do you start? I am however starting to realize very quickly that my music theory background (I have been playing guitar for 37 years) is going to make life making EDM a whole lot easier. For you, I would study a short music theory video course unless you have done so already. I listened to your track much longer than I planned to so that's a good sign for you. I am into old school Trance (late 1980s without vocals. Your music became background music for me as I started to do other things so I can tell one thing which is your music didn't suck. That's a weird compliment.
The biggest compliment I can give you is the time & energy it took to write a song (huge) setup a SoundCloud account, upload your song. You have an Ableton account and took advantage of ability to post a link of your music and ask for feedback. Although members do this, they are a small percentage of group. There is ONLY one thing that will ever stop you or anyone from massive success in any field, especially an entrepreneurial, creative, ridiculously fun and insanely competitive field like EDM to making a living, and that thing is you. People will say that's bullshit and it's too hard to make a living in the music industry. That's the bullshit. It's not easy, but it is an easy reality if you are willing to pay your dues and NEVER quit. And EVERYDAY you should be learning or doing something that moves you closer to your dreams. Everyone has a list of things they know they need to learn. So ask yourself this important question. Out of all the different things you want to learn, what is the one "thing" that you know if mastered or you became proficient with ( songwriting, software, hardware, learning a new instrument, mixing, etc. that once mastered, would create more opportunities for you in this industry. After that goal is mastered, you should already know the next one to start. NOTHING can stop passion & a burning desire. Probably not the answer you were looking for, but who knows, maybe you read something that helped you.

bosonHavoc wrote:pick some songs that you wish you produced.

warp them in session view then load then into arrangement view

listen to the track and drop a track marker and any significant change
bridges, chorus, verse, and things like that

then after you have the basic song structure laid out with track markers
create midi tracks
and then in the midi tracks create empty midi clips for every sound you hear in the track
drums, hars, basses,.. what ever

1 sound per track and line up the clips with the sounds
also label everything

then when that is finished start creating the sounds in the midi track
you could do this with or without the reference track

don't get discouraged and keep trying..
do this with multiple songs, and you will start to get it.

The Dance Music Manual has been very useful to me:

http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Music-Manua ... 0240521072

As you can see, the reviews on Amazon are pretty good too.

Wow so much rambling

Macprovideo and Groove3 have very good tutorials on theory and composition