How do I start making music?

707
237
Joined
Aug 7, 2012
I want to make and sing to indie music..kind of like toro y moi, tame impala,childish gambino type of music..chillwave/indie ****...do I need to learn music theory and etc? How do I start?
 
Last edited:
A lot of time, a lot of practice, and a lot of effort.

Just have fun with it though, start singing to instrumentals of some songs you like.
Then start trying to recreate some of those instrumentals.

Music theory isn't necessary, but it'll help you understand what you're doing.
 
Post a video of you singing on YouTube.

I don't know if I can sing, Ima probrably take classes...but i work a **** job and have weird views, so thats the music it would be, some indie hipster stuff..I dont really like rap and I'm kind of a nihilist with depressing views
 
Last edited:
I don't know if I can sing, Ima probrably take classes...but i work a **** job and have weird views, so thats the music it would be, some indie hipster stuff..I dont really like rap and I'm kind of a nihilist with depressing views
Download a Digital Audio Workstation (to make beats) . . . FL Studio has the easiest learning curve IMO . . . 

Yes you probably need to learn music theory . . . and later down the line, sound design . . . guys like Toro Y Moi make their own synths and **** . . . 

As far as singing . . . you probably just need to take lessons . . .

Practice, practice, practice and don't expect to blow immediately . . . anything fast don't last, put in those 10,000 hours . . . 
 
Practice makes perfect. Classes will help but as long as you keep practicing you'll be good homie.
 
I'm learning from scratch...like what are synths,chords, etc? Can anyone give me a quick cliff notes? And no doubt man I've been told that I look like I could make it into the chillwave/ indie/hipster music scene(like talking about how I actually look, my physical appearance lol)...so maybe in a few years this practice and dedication will be good
 
Last edited:
I'm learning from scratch...like what are synths,chords, etc? Can anyone give me a quick cliff notes? And no doubt man I've been told that I look like I could make it into the chillwave/ indie/hipster music scene(like talking about how I actually look, my physical appearance lol)...so maybe in a few years this practice and dedication will be good
laugh.gif


Ain't no cliff notes to music composition fam you got an internet connection and eyes, spark one up and dig in fam you got an infinite library right in front of your face.
 
first things first op. getting into production will take some time and effor, and a ton of trial and error. you don't really need music theory but some really basic things like knowing how to progress chords will make your music a lot more interesting.

What you will need:
DAW, honestly i suggest paying for a daw once you figure out if it's the right one for you. i know Image-Line, they make FL Stu, offers free lifetime upgrades once you buy it so that's a good incentive.
A keyboard, possibly it isn't really needed for Albeton or FL as far as I know.
An audio interface, many people reccomend the focusrite 2i2
& decent microphone, so you won't sound like you're underwater :lol:

also music theory can sometimes make ideas being brought to reality a whole hell of a lot easier.

How much is Logic, Reazon, ProTools and Fruity Loops? Is it expensive?

It's expensive but it will pay for it self if you aren't a quitter/use it for fun.

if either of you decide to pick up FL Stu look up SeamlessR on youtube that guys tutorials are pretty good and are real hands on. He pretty much shows you how to utilize FL to its limits.
 
:lol:

Ain't no cliff notes to music composition fam you got an internet connection and eyes, spark one up and dig in fam you got an infinite library right in front of your face.

Yea man thanks, once these summer classes are over I'm going to be on it...has any NTer actually made music?
 
There's a couple threads for NTers who make music.

Also, whenever you decided to get a DAW, go for a small MIDI keyboard, that way you can control any virtual synthesizers.

Like dude up there said, it's more a journey than anything, you're not gonna learn over night and there are times it's gonna be frustrating, but it'll start to click eventually.

There's a bunch of resources on YT.

Major DAWS you should look into "acquiring" : Ableton, Logic, Reason, FL Studio, Sonar, Cubase

I personally use Ableton, I've been going at this for about 2 years now, and I'm still not at a point where I like to share my music.
 
Yea man thanks, once these summer classes are over I'm going to be on it...has any NTer actually made music?

There's 2 different production threads on here with plenty who did make music or are currently active. If u wanted info on vocal recording of ask some of those guys.
 
Acquired Logic Pro x. Don't know what the hell im doing.

I tried fl studio first because I heard it was easier, but I'm finding Logic Pro's interface a lot smoother to work in.

I'm just gonna dig in with tutorials.
 
Last edited:
So I've been watching fl studio tutorials on youtube...so can I make sounds like tame impala, toro y moi on there? I don't have a band but I want guitars and drums in the stuff I make
 
What program has a better interface than FL? I had it back with a midi keyboard back in the day but hated using it.
 
Really just comes to preference. Download demos of different programs and mess with them if you can or look up images of them on google and just look and see what you like. Like OG LIL NUT said Logic is really smooth/looks really smooth and I'm probably going to switch to that in the future.

So I've been watching fl studio tutorials on youtube...so can I make sounds like tame impala, toro y moi on there? I don't have a band but I want guitars and drums in the stuff I make

You can but it's a process, like with everyday DAW. I believe those two record a lot of their sounds from physical synths they've acquired and record their drums into the track of either them or someone else playing. Toro Y Moi, I assume, just uses something like an MPC/Maschine to play out the drums and Tame Impala is more of a record himself drumming and putting it into the song type. This is all assumptions though, so I guess I said all of that to say you can do it but you can't just jump into it all willy nilly these have spent a portion of their lives doing production work so it's not that easy to replicate and it seems like you're still a beginner. Just believe in yourself and experiment with sounds til you get it. Also look into interviews by them, alot of times artists/producers will let you in on what they use or have used and then you can experiment with it too.
 
So I've been messing around with stagelight for fun, but this is a very basic DAW....any other beginner DAWS I can check out to make some Electro Funk/chillwave type stuff
 
Find a sponsor if you really want to make moves.

As far as daws they are all the same tbh. Once you learn the terminology.

I like logic and maschine 2.0. I prefer maschine because I love the hardware native instruments makes
 
So I've been messing around with stagelight for fun, but this is a very basic DAW....any other beginner DAWS I can check out to make some Electro Funk/chillwave type stuff

:lol: There's no, "Electro Funk/Chillwave" DAW.

Find one you like, learn how to use it, proceed to learn about music.
Song composition.
Melody.
Rhythm.
Chords/Chord Progressions.

And start putting stuff together, eventually through trial and error you'll get it.

I think a common misconception is that people don't wanna help or don't wanna share secrets or something.
Seriously, there's no one size fits all/secret type of thing for music, it's gonna take some time and practice, and if you stick to it, it'll eventually start to make sense.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom