Total Newbie to production....Where to get started?

[onemic]

Just got ableton and an akai mpk mini last week and have been having a great amount of fun going through the tutorials and playing around with the keyboard. I just wanted to know where I would go after I go through all the Ablteton tutorials.(currently learning operator) Right now I'd like to make some UK dubstep like James Blake and burial and some traditional hip hop sounding tracks. Any tips/tutorials that would help me out at that end?

And what's a sequencer? It's a name I hear thrown around a lot, but I have no idea what it is and why it's useful.

[eddiex]

you should probably crack the manual open. there should be some learning sets in the library in the folder "sets" "construction kits"
also if you go to "help" and click "help view" it will take you to a menu where you can take some lessons. kind of a quick start guide.
in ableton, when you click on a midi clip, that piano looking thing that comes up...that is your sequencer....its like a representation of a music staff where you can program in midi information(music notes or beats)

[eddiex]

also....these guys are pretty good. http://www.groove3.com/str/access-it-all.html where it says purchase option, do the 30 day all access pass.....there are some really awesome ableton tutorials in there, i know it's 30 bonez, but well worth it.

[onemic]

Thanks I'll definitely try those tuts out. Are there any tips and tricks for trying to make UK dubstep/garage?

[jestermgee]

Do a search on this forum for dubstep... You will find shiploads because that seems to be the monthly flavor at the moment.

[onemic]

Thanks for the tip. I'm actually looking to make more mellowed out dubstep ala burial/james blake, I guess post-dubstep is the word? I hate skrillex and co.

[regretfullySaid]

http://futuregarageforum.com/viewforum.php?f=11

[milfhuntr]

Just got ableton and an akai mpk mini last week and have been having a great amount of fun going through the tutorials and playing around with the keyboard. I just wanted to know where I would go after I go through all the Ablteton tutorials.(currently learning operator) Right now I'd like to make some UK dubstep like James Blake and burial and some traditional hip hop sounding tracks. Any tips/tutorials that would help me out at that end?

And what's a sequencer? It's a name I hear thrown around a lot, but I have no idea what it is and why it's useful.

A sequencer is the grid that pops up when you double click a midi track. It is useful because where you have the notes on the grid is where they sound as the timeline sweeps by, much like a mechanical music box plays.

Your next step is to get on Youtube and watch a video where they take Operator and make a filthy dubstep wobble. There are tons of them. Also get one on doing a drum rack. Bang, instant dubstep.

[simmerdown]

Bang, instant dubstep...idk

dubstep is def one of the most difficult genres to have be GOOD, you need about three tracks worth of material, and put it together properly (not that i know how, hahah)

burial purposefully uses (lesser) daws like audacity, and free stuff, and recorded sounds especially..mostly 120 bpm too, instead of 140

[antarktika]

yeh, Burial does everything in audio editors, I believe it was soundforge specifically, so his arrangements are off the grid, as it were. Best way to replicate that would be to turn off the grid in ableton and place audio clips based on what sounds good, rather than according to structural conventions, but really, you just need to get a loose timing feel going on, you could look into using groove templates, I imagine youtube has plenty of tutorials, if you want to go that route.

[Music Vee]

At first I found Dubstep impossible to produce on Ableton, but now it seems to be the outcome of most of my productions.
Operator can be very handy indeed for Dubstep bass lines.
http://youtu.be/QcMtxpUAKcQ is a Dubspot tutorial that uses Simpler, just beginning with a sine wave. Youtube is excellent for Ableton tutorials. I've made a tutorial that shows how to create the bouncing ball effect which, in turn can create great ripping noises @ http://youtu.be/hcLuUUpMvhc

[simmerdown]

...and really, imo, nothing wrong with starting with loops until you figure out wtf

[23kon]

thats a good shout turning off the timing on the timeline, a lot of burial stuff is offbeat with almost jazz/blues timings rather than more 'computer structured' sounding stuff.

[gromgrom]

Youtube is excellent for Ableton tutorials

+1 This is how i learned pretty much everything i know