Share advice you'd give to your newbie self

Kaiwan_NI · 2022-01-18T15:17:08+00:00

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Forget the fact that this question is itself a paradox.

Forget the fact that without the path you’ve taken, you wouldn’t have grown into the kind of artist you’re today - a person who can look back on what you did in the past with more mature eyes and experience.

Travel back in time to when you played around with your gear for the first time. If you have the opportunity to meet your newbie self, what would be the advice, directions, and shortcuts about music production you’d give to make the road less bumpy for your younger self?

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Kaiwan_NI

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

Actually surprised you're the first one to mention music theory.

...which led me to this meme.

pedals-and-gear-music-theory-noise-artists-practicf-ticing-28-48504799.png

NoiSys

👍️ Practice piano

learn music theory

release more tracks, even if they are not 'perfect'

I'm also a 'manual reader', but it's also important to experiment. Sometimes you find ways to use a device, nobody considered

do more PR (Socialmedia, ...)

Don't buy the most expensive gear. A simple audiointerface, a good computer and one or two good midicontrollers fitting your needs. Thats enough to start.

If you have a track what you think is good, try to find a professional audio engineer, maybe with highend studio equipment where you can get some really good infos about mixdown and mastering, maybe if you can afford let them master your track, these people can give you really good hints for a better production and mixdown process.

Somethings also changed during time: 12 years ago, it was really a huge gap between the sound of real analog gear and emulations... so i would give the advice to buy some synths and use less plugins. Nowadays it's, especially for beginners, more easy to use plugins, because you don't have any tuning issues, or midi delay and no broken devices. Also the sound of the plugins is really amazing.

Make more music, make more music, make more music!!!

ozon

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/1924#Comment_1924

Don't buy the most expensive gear.

That’s the only advice I disagree about.

It’s better to have one solid piece of gear (synth, master keyboard, mixer, monitor) which you know inside out, instead of tons of inexpensive toys which you don’t even know how to operate properly.

Therefore, I’d say buy used and buy the most professional gear you can afford. It will last for many years (up to a lifetime) and can even be sold again later on, if not used anymore.

Tom Mosler

I have some:

Do not use too many VST's or stick to build in devices. At the end print everything to audio.
Backup more often.
Less tools = more focus, so stick to one DAW and master it. There is no perfect tool.
Do not trust elitist approach saying that this or that expensive ****** MUST be used to make this or that kind of music - It is nonsense for me now.
Tool does not define your sound - you do.

jmatx

1.) Sell your Maschine and get an MPC One or Live II

2.) Watch Poli Popo’s MPC song mode tutorials

3.) Make 100 songs without looking at a computer screen

Milkman

As many have said, LEARN AND KNOW PIANO! CHORDS!
Learn real percussion and rhythm theory, don't just intuit it. Intuiting works, but learning theory can be even better! Time signatures!
Save up and invest in hardware NOW, starting with MK1/2/3, MIDI keyboard/controller, audio interface.
LEARN and become proficient and at LEAST TWO DAWs instead of limiting myself to... cubase only.
Practice more!
Be less intimidated by vocals! : ) Just do it! Hum! Chant! Do poetry! Get used to your own voice.
If your parents trained you in something as a kid, and you moved away from it over time, GO BACK TO IT and incorporate it into your music! (in my case flute)

BLAIR

Be yourself, consider what techniques/sounds/chords you like using and create a style from that. Take inspiration from influences, but try to avoid copying others all the time.
Don't buy studio monitors for a long time, headphones will take you much further in the beginning, because they'll be more accurate if you haven't invested money in acoustics.

Maciej Repetowski

Going back in time to when I've started making music:

Newer is not always better, don't change equipment too often
Stock DAW plugins are good for 90% of production needs
Learn to play piano properly, there's no shortcuts...
You get what you've paid for, most of the time
Don't put all eggs into one basket 😉
Your first 100 songs will be utter ****** 🤣

Kaiwan_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/2075#Comment_2075

If your parents trained you in something as a kid, and you moved away from it over time, GO BACK TO IT and incorporate it into your music! (in my case flute)

Oh how I wish I paid more attention during those piano classes lol

Curious, why do you think it's useful to be proficient in at least two DAWS?

ShelLuser

Hmm.. I guess it would be "Don't stop believing".

Back then I was using Komplete 7 Elements because more was way out of my budget, though I did pick up bits like Absynth and the Finger.

Fast forward to now... Komplete 13UC & Maschine 😎

D-One

Weekly backup EVERYTHING.
Pay your taxes now, later it will be much, much worst.
Have a 2nd job in case a pandemic happens.
Skill, talent, and originality are only half the battle to succeed, don't be naive kiddo!
Go get some Piano lessons no matter how boring it might be.
Jump into upcoming social media platforms before they blow up.
If you're not happy with a tool, switch to another one ASAP don't wait for it to improve.
Never trust an event promoter that says "next time we will have a bigger budget".

Im loving this thread, a lot of good advice here and some funny stuff too... very relatable.

Milkman

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/2313#Comment_2313

Well, I began my pc music creation journey using rebirth and cooledit2000, lol, and then after that reason and cubase vst, sx2, NI products, etc. I invested a lot of time learning cubase over a few years, and had the good fortune to have an old friend train me a little, and so I really put 'all my eggs' in the cubase basket for many years. I never bothered to learn live, logic, or really anything else.

I regret this because... steinberg has troubled me a bit in recent years. There is a hyperthreading / cpu virtual core issue that affects a wide range of CPU/motherboard combos(such as mine lol), there is less and less value found in more frequent paid updates, and there are a few minor stability issues that steinberg always blames on other companies. I wish I had a backup DAW that I knew as well as cubase so I could spend time in that environment to reduce frustration, and just to have a different take on what a DAW can be.

Kaiwan_NI

@D-One Jump into upcoming social media platforms before they blow up.

Does that mean we can find you on Tiktok? 😛

Kaiwan_NI

@Milkman Get it. I guess it's harder to unlearn rather than to learn.

ShelLuser

Yah, my problem with participation is that I wouldn't really have much to tell my newbie self because when I finally decided to buy into a synth I had already spent several months reading up on the subject which then allowed me to make some decently educated decisions. I didn't really knew what I was getting myself into, but realized it had to be good. But that does lead me to two very important life lessons I can share...

Be willing to make mistakes, accept the fact and learn from it

Yah, I could tell myself about some stuff but at what cost? It's a solid way to learn, no theoretical mumbo jumbo is going to outweigh hands on practice and experience.

Second, and this even bit me in the behinds again when I decided to get Maschine:

If you're going to invest, try going for the best!

"Best" of course depends on context. But one way or the other it's important to realize that this is a costly business and if you're starting out it's going to dig into your wallet. But if you're really sure about this: go for it!

Getting a starter edition of something "to see if it works" may sound like a good idea, but it's probably cheaper in the longer run to go straight for the regular edition or maybe even a suite or ultimate if you really want to get serious. When I started I went straight for Ableton Live Suite. As a result I could eventually upgrade to Live 9 for a meagre E 169,- and also got my hands on their Orchestral Instrument Collection (back then sold for around E 1200 iirc). 169... that wouldn't have worked had I gone for standard.

When I started with Maschine I went for the mikro. Seemed inexpensive and a good way to start. Yah... not really, at least not for me. It's a good controller, I still have one which I occasionally use. But an Mk3 is so much better for studio usage...

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