Couple Questions

[Clusterone666]

Hi my name's Orion, I have been wanting to make music since i was probably 12, but finally finished high school so now I have the time.
I had a couple questions, First off, I have no clue what i'm doing, how do I start out? I need some good tutorials to start, and anything to help would be massively appreciated. Second off, I am a HUGE trance junkie, it's the music I want to be able to make, how and where can I find some sounds to make trance music? I am currently playing around with Ableton right now to figure out how to make trance sounds, but as of now it's not working so well :/ I honestly just need help getting started with the basics, once I get the basics I can figure out the harder stuff on my own, Ableton is the first program i've used that i've actually stuck too.I have a Yamaha and Clavinova Keyboard I plug in and use to play with.
Thanks for any help.
- Orion

[Warrior Bob]

These are the suggestions you'll probably hear from everyone:

- Use Ableton's Help View, the tutorials and lessons there are quite good
- Check out Dubspot and Tom Cosm on Youtube. If I remember right, both of them offer some tutorials for free and charge for the more advance ones. Everything I've watched from either of them has been at least solid.
- Once you get into it and you're familiar with the environment, Jon Margulies did a Live tip a day for a year and they're pretty great reading even though the layout's kind of hard to use (I'd have appreciated a "next" button)

As for trance music, find out what synthesizers and sounds your favorite music uses and see if you can find plugins or samples that are kind of soundalikes. I don't know too much about trance sounds but off the top of my head I'd start by learning about:
- The Roland JP8000 synth (the "supersaw" sound)
- The Roland 808 and 909 drum machines (Live Suite has great samples of these in the "Drum Machines" pack)
- "Using a shitload of reverb everywhere"

Try playing around with the presets for Live's devices. I don't know what version you have, but either one of those or your favorite plugin ought to have something interesting in the presets list.

Listen lots, figure out what it is that you like about it, and set out to recreate it. If you can, find other people to talk about the specifics of it. IMHO, nothing beats having people to chat about it with.

Good luck and have fun =)

[H20nly]

- Use Ableton's Help View, the tutorials and lessons there are quite good
- Check out Dubspot and Tom Cosm on Youtube. If I remember right, both of them offer some tutorials for free and charge for the more advance ones. Everything I've watched from either of them has been at least solid.

agreed. great places to start.

[Clusterone666]

Thank you immensly for the help I greatly appreciate it
but
"As for trance music, find out what synthesizers and sounds your favorite music uses and see if you can find plugins or samples that are kind of soundalikes. I don't know too much about trance sounds but off the top of my head I'd start by learning about:
- The Roland JP8000 synth (the "supersaw" sound)
- The Roland 808 and 909 drum machines (Live Suite has great samples of these in the "Drum Machines" pack)
- "Using a shitload of reverb everywhere"
How exactly would I go about using the Roland's? (I Know i'm new i'm sorry for asking xP)
and alright, I will check out some of those tutorials.

[H20nly]

don't forget to make sure that Help View (in the lower left corner) is on in Live. it's a massive help, especially when you're getting started. just hover over anything and read a little about it. you can take that info, which will mean you'll have the correct term or lingo and then use that in the proper help menu to get a more in depth answer. i've found that the hardest part of using a new piece of software is learning the lingo/verbiage... help view will give you a leg up on that.

[Clusterone666]

Another thing I am having trouble with, is how to put new instruments into it? I know it comes with preset instruments, but whenever i download a *sound* or w/e pack, it just plays a loop or sound :/ how do I put or make new instruments for Ableton? I'm getting really frusterated -_- but i'm not going to give up

[ollyb303]

I'm not a trance producer, but for trance sounds, the best synths I've come across have been Rob Papen Albino 3 and ReFX Vanguard (for your more commercial trance), maybe Sylenth1 for some more purist trance shizzle.... you definitely need 909 drums - goldbaby.nz do a fantastic sample 909 kit that kicks the shit out of the ableton one (sorry abes)... If you're just starting out with Live, search for forum member "Tarekith" and read most things that he's written (seriously) and Tom Cosm is a HUGE inspiration/resource to get on board with...

And come back here often, most of us are friendly (3phase is ONLY for comedy - remember that).

peace

OB1

[Clusterone666]

I'm not a trance producer, but for trance sounds, the best synths I've come across have been Rob Papen Albino 3 and ReFX Vanguard (for your more commercial trance), maybe Sylenth1 for some more purist trance shizzle.... you definitely need 909 drums - goldbaby.nz do a fantastic sample 909 kit that kicks the shit out of the ableton one (sorry abes)... If you're just starting out with Live, search for forum member "Tarekith" and read most things that he's written (seriously) and Tom Cosm is a HUGE inspiration/resource to get on board with...

And come back here often, most of us are friendly (3phase is ONLY for comedy - remember that).

peace

OB1

Would you be able to throw me some sites to download them at? o.O
and alright i'll find him.

[ollyb303]

http://goldbaby.co.nz/

http://www.robpapen.com/albino3-demo.html

http://refx.com/products/vanguard/summary/

http://tarekith.com/

http://www.lennardigital.com/modules/downloads/

http://www.cosm.co.nz/

http://www.google.com

http://www.discogs.com/artist/3+Phase

everything you need is there.

[Clusterone666]

http://goldbaby.co.nz/

http://www.robpapen.com/albino3-demo.html

http://refx.com/products/vanguard/summary/

http://tarekith.com/

http://www.lennardigital.com/modules/downloads/

http://www.cosm.co.nz/

http://www.google.com

http://www.discogs.com/artist/3+Phase

everything you need is there.

Lol I like how you put Google there, sorry I don't mean to ask so many questions xP I'm just (Not going to lie) Extremely confused :/ I know after a little more experience i'll figure it all out, but as for now the beginning is always hardest for me.
But thank you

[H20nly]

you might want to get a little more unconfused (we all are a little aren't we?) before you go downloading and installing too many new toys to distract you from the basics...

in the upper left of Live you'll find the controls you need to make more sounds.



the little plug looking symbol in the upper left. if you installed your VST into your VSTPlugins directory and Live is pointed at that in "Preferences"... you'll find your plugg by clicking that.

[Warrior Bob]

How exactly would I go about using the Roland's? (I Know i'm new i'm sorry for asking xP)
and alright, I will check out some of those tutorials. :)

Oh no, it's quite alright - we're here to help!

You won't literally "use the Rolands" without getting ahold of the actual hardware, but what I meant by that was that you should probably do some research into how those instruments sound and how people use them. You never HAVE to use a certain sound, but I'm pretty sure a lot of trance's sound comes from using sounds like these, so it's good to learn about them. Do you happen to know a bit about how synthesizers work? Things like oscillators, filter cutoffs, that sort of thing?

goldbaby.nz do a fantastic sample 909 kit that kicks the shit out of the ableton one (sorry abes)... If you're just starting out with Live, search for forum member "Tarekith" and read most things that he's written (seriously) and Tom Cosm is a HUGE inspiration/resource to get on board with...

Thanks for the synth recommendations. And I gotta agree, Tarekith is awesome. I gotta buy that guy a beer someday.

You mentioned that the goldbaby 909s are a lot better than the Ableton ones... could you expand on that, maybe say why exactly they're better? Not to challenge you, I just want to know. I love 909 sounds and like the Ableton pack a lot, but if there's something even better I'd of course want to use it.

you might want to get a little more unconfused (we all are a little aren't we?) before you go downloading and installing too many new toys to distract you from the basics...

I happen to agree that this is really good advice. Don't get a ton of things searching for the perfect one, get a few decent ones and really get to know how they work. You'll learn more, and will probably make better music for it. Thanks H2Only :)

[ollyb303]

Goldbaby have sampled the TR909 onto analogue tape on a reel to reel machine, and added in some samples with pure analogue compression before it hits the tape - they've got a raw warmth to them that i didn't find anywhere else. Seriously, if you want good Roland samples, these kiwi boys have got it just right

[ollyb303]

http://goldbaby.co.nz/

http://www.robpapen.com/albino3-demo.html

http://refx.com/products/vanguard/summary/

http://tarekith.com/

http://www.lennardigital.com/modules/downloads/

http://www.cosm.co.nz/

http://www.google.com

http://www.discogs.com/artist/3+Phase

everything you need is there.

Lol I like how you put Google there, sorry I don't mean to ask so many questions xP I'm just (Not going to lie) Extremely confused :/ I know after a little more experience i'll figure it all out, but as for now the beginning is always hardest for me.
But thank you

yeah, a little cheeky, sorry! but seriously, these are mostly great links!