Rick Snoman's: Dance Music Manual

[bd1094]

I'm about 50 pages into this book and it's going very slowly. I am having to look things up
almost every page, which is making it hard to get through. Has anyone else read this? Is there
something a little more basic that would be better to read before Dance Music Manual?

[doghouse]

I bought and read it. It's about as straightforward as it gets, although it assumes you know something about using computers for music.

What experience do you have with music in general, and Ableton Live especially

Give us an example of something you didn't understand.

[Eudawg]

What are some of your requests. Or questions you have in the book.

[bd1094]

I played guitar for 6 years and have been playing keyboard for about a year now. I'm starting to understand the keyboard pretty well now. I know the most basic stuff about live 8. I can navigate easily and have some experience recording loops, arrangement, and adding effects (very limited knowledge of how to use them though)

One example would be the section on acoustic science and synthesis. I think I have a good understanding of it, but I still can't get the sounds that I want out of Operator. I understand how waves are made, but not really how to put them together to get desired sounds.

[Grappadura]

its a good book, just stick to it and look up what you don't know, or maybe leave something for later, like the syntesis part.

[antarktika]

As stated by pretty much everyone before me, it's a good book, but it can't take you step-by-step through designing sounds, after all, it is a book broadly covering dance music, not a book on sound design (they have those too) that's what the 5 billion youtube sound design tutorials are for, the book more so provides the science behind them, and their basic operation. To put it all in context, it really helps to run through online tutorials. You will learn far more about how different waves work together by watching someone layer them and hearing the sounds they produce than you will reading about it.

[Mage2k]

Yeah, the beginning of that book is a bit technical but, as others have said, it's needed info.

That being said, you may want to check out The Secrets of House Music Production (http://www.amazon.com/The-Secrets-House ... 0956446000). It blends the technical stuff in with the how-to stuff a bit better and is probably a bit more accessible as an intro. You'll probably understand the stuff in The Dance Music Manual better after working through it.

[Piplodocus]

I thought it was a great book. Didn't have much trouble reading it but explained things and what youre doing at a decent level compared with some other stuff I read that was a bit pointless and didn't explain much other than "setting this high makes this kinda sound", leaving me without much understanding. Oddly enough I reread chunks of it recently and picked up more stuff that I'd forgotten from first tine around.

[bd1094]

I've done a tutorial on sound and harmonics, made in Operator.

also have a look here where there are a couple of tutorials on Operator.

I gotta say, this website is pretty awesome and very helpful. Thanks for the link. Did you make the website? I'm gonna go through the tutorials there and then give the book another go.

[ian_halsall]

but you probably will come up with something more original if you just experiment yourself

and it's probably a lot more fun

[doghouse]

but you probably will come up with something more original if you just experiment yourself

Experimentation from scratch with FM mainly leads to noise patches Until you understand things about frequency ratios making something musical is tough.

Start with presets you find interesting and see what happens as you tweak individual parameters...that sort of experimentation can be educational.

[Warrior Bob]

Having to look terms up every few minutes is a good sign of getting into something new and big and cool. Keep at it; you'll get it eventually. I did the same thing when I first started.

Incidentally, I help moderate a question and answer site about music production, so if you are having trouble understanding a term, you could ask there and someone could probably explain it to you. That's what it's for, anyway

Best of luck!

[kitekrazy]

but you probably will come up with something more original if you just experiment yourself

Experimentation from scratch with FM mainly leads to noise patches Until you understand things about frequency ratios making something musical is tough.

Start with presets you find interesting and see what happens as you tweak individual parameters...that sort of experimentation can be educational.

I like how the beginning of the book deals with synthesis. You have to have some foundation to create your own sounds. I do find that so many soft synths come with patches that aren't much use unless you are doing some ambient stuff.

[ian_halsall]

suppose so - I have a physics background so I kind of assume that people will know stuff about waves

[pushrecords]

Rick Snoman has his own forum and also sells video tutorials. He takes the Dance Music Manual and breaks down everything like no other tutorial you'll ever come across. He has a section on his forum for people who own the manual/dvd's and will answer all of your questions.

I've taught aspects of audio engineering at a college level and i've seen dozens of different so called "tutorials" on the web. Nothing comes close to what Rick gives you.

Here's a link to his website and community. If you're into dance music you won't be sorry you checked it out.

http://www.dancemusicproduction.com/