Share advice you'd give to your newbie self

pranaearth

Don't buy every piece of music software you see. Or music hardware. Take the time to really become an expert in 1, 2, or 3 pieces of software and let it consume you. If you pick a hardware synth, learn every single parameter so you can squeeze every ounce of life out of it. If you pick a traditional instrument, practice every single day until it becomes an extension of your body. Your music will thank you for it.

Kaiwan_NI

@pranaearth said:

If you pick a hardware synth, learn every single parameter so you can squeeze every ounce of life out of it. If you pick a traditional instrument, practice every single day until it becomes an extension of your body.

Well said 👏

wormtooth

Listen to the albums you want to sound like more than the music you think you sound like or others tell you that you sound like.

WDizzle

I'm brand spankin new to DJ'ing, Got my gear for Christmas. Here is what I've learned so far.

1. Its better sound quality wise to speed up your song than to slow it down.
2. Practice, even if just for a few minutes, every day
3. No higher than 3 o clock for Reverb and Delay
4. Disable the crossfader unless you are scratching. Its way too easy to hit accidentally
5. Mix in key whenever possible but don't make it a religion

Nico_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/3122#Comment_3122

Definitely good learnings for only one month of DJing! Although the 1st point is not always true 😉

bosone

learn to play piano

learn to write and read music

never stop practicing

madtho

PLAY music. Don’t make it into work.

Render everything because every piece of computer music changes every 14 minutes. I don’t even know what I’ve lost.

AutumnSounds

Oi... younger me!

• Stop collecting plugins. - And stay away from the ones that seem to have a permenant sale.
• LEARN how to use the plugins that come with your DAW and Komplete. - They'll do what you need, then once you've exhasted all knowledge and can apply that knowledge, THEN go explore other work-flows.
• You won't exhaust all knowledge.
• Invest in a bigger HDD now... you're gonna discover Kontakt soon!

tribepop

For me it would be:

1) Keep it simple. Stop worrying about what plugins or techniques the pros are using at first and just focus on finishing songs. They may not be great at first but you need to learn to work faster instead of coming up with a really good loop or partial song and getting stuck with where to take it.

2) Learn to finish songs! I already mentioned this but I had a really bad habit of being like “oh I’ll come back later and add some cool instruments or effects there to make it better”. Not only does this not regularly happen, but if you think that adding some effects or some other instrument is going to magically make that part sound better then maybe you need to rethink that part as a whole and whether you even need it.

3) Don’t sit on your songs. This is in line with the previous point, what’s better, a basic song that is fully fleshed out or an interesting one that’s a 1 minute loop? Which would you rather release if you had to? I’ve made so many songs that were either never finished or were waiting around for other songs to be finished as part of an album only to never be released. There will be times when you feel like you’ll want to go back and revisit older material but that doesn’t always work out so wrap up the stuff you’re working on and put it out there and move on. You’ll be so much happier later on that you at least got something out there, however imperfect it may be.

Bonus Tip:

Get really really good at reproducing sounds or riffs you hear by ear. The best musicians can hear a song once and immediately take off with it. This will also help your collaboration skills as you’ll be able to start playing quickly and more intuitively instead of having to ask what key, scale, progression, etc. every time someone wants to jam.

joborges

1- Lower your digital level gains. -18dBs input on your individual channels will do so much good for your chains and ST Bus.

2- Please, use Hp and LP filters. Just try.

3- Separate the creative process from the Mix/Master process.

4- Eq all your reverbs and delays.

5- Not sounding good, choose another sample, another preset, or even another instrument. The best sound of your final product starts on the production/record, they need to fit, sound good.

6- Besides this sounds obvious now, find your own voice.

Enjoy your own music, no matter what!

djshire1984

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/1906#Comment_1906

#3: Don't buy Waves plug-ins because you bought them once, you shouldn't have to keep buying them....Waves: the originator of the subscription plug-in service.

My advice to myself:

1) Use samples, no one makes every sound, especially drums, from scratch anymore.

2) Stop obsessing over details, just make the track.

3) Explore other musical genres and subgenres.

4) The community you want to be in is not the community you end up in.

Elrik Settee

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/1906#Comment_1906

No. 8. In my case don't buy stupid instant groove gadgets like the Machine Mikro mark3. Bumchakka peeoo bum chak. Specially not if u iz inro ambient wibbletronikakakaaa...

Kaiwan_NI

@wormtooth said:

Listen to the albums you want to sound like more than the music you think you sound like or others tell you that you sound like.

Have to read this a few times lol. Interesting POV. Always good to expand your horizons.

TapTapDoubleTap

The main thing I would tell myself is to buy a mainstream DAW earlier rather than later. And make it mainstream because then most of the online resources you'll find will be made for you.

If you spend early, you'll spend less in the long run.

And yes, you probably do need an audio interface. And get a bigger keyboard.

rafiszon

music is a drug - become an angler!