Starting with music production

Hello, this is my very first post.

I bought Maschine as self present this last christmas. I thought and think this is a very good piece of hardware.
I've been busy reading the manual, making the tutorial on NI Site, and I believe that I have an idea of how it works and its functions.
But, since I lack all kind of musical behavior, the music coming out of it is so bad. I know, is my fault, and seems that you guys had lot of experience on music production or had an MPC before you got one of these.

I would like to know how to practice with it. I often start with empty pattern and keep recording samples and groups until it sounds as a complete disaster. I don't want to give up and sell it, because I'm having a lot of fun with it.

Any help?

Cheers!

 

for starters, ALWAYS keep it fun! when it starts to become work, then why would you want to do it, unless your getting paid?

try doing some programming in STEP mode, that might produce better results for you, definitely though try and learn everything you can about the product before getting rid of it, you would hate to loose money on something simply because you hadn't figured it all out yet, there is still so much I haven't conquered but Ive only had mine for a month and you couldn't buy it from me even if you paid more than it was worth

remember again the number 1 thing is to keep it fun!

 

marcgd, what kind of music are you trying to make?

sowari

 

Thanks for encouraging me!

I would like to make some house / minimal / percussion. Something like shonky: http://www.myspace.com/shonkar

Maybe is simple, maybe is difficult... The only thing that keeps me back is the idea that not everybody can make music, maybe I'm just one of those people, musically inept

 

why don't you start to reprogram a beat that you like, if you get it done, try to rebuild a complete track that you like. This way you will learn a lot. And always keep playing around with stuff, you might get some happy accidents!

 

donfuan, I already thought about that. Get a very simple beat I like and try to reverse engineer it. The problem is that I won't know which sounds is he using, so isn't just a matter of the sequence...

 

well, it hasn't to be 100% perfect, just search for similar sounds, click yourself through some presets, maybe alter them a little. Rather sooner then later you'll be knowing how things are changing the sound.

 

Do you know any simple track I could try to replicate? I would really appreciate all info about this, if you think this is a nice way to learn.

Cheers!

 

agreed to donfuan , perhaps its helpful to sample some bars of the stuff u wanna rebuild into maschine into one group(set the start point at the bass drum ) and try to rebuid a double it in another one to have focus on the sequencer during the original playback
can't recommand a track for ya , im into a total different style ....

 

pick something that is rather minimalistic and builds up over time, maybe Âme - Rej, or Matthias Meyer - Voltage. These are rather simple beats and should be doable

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgBLAA7eCC0&feature=related"]YouTube- AME - REJ (Original Mix)[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yL6HoGQHBA"]YouTube- Matthias Meyer - Voltage[/ame]

 

See if you can find this book: Drum Programming: A Complete Guide to Program and Think Like a Drummer

While this book has a heavy rock focus, it gives you an idea of drum programming, how elements play off of each-other, rhythms, etc. I've gone through it while starting with my Maschine and it's really helped me wrap my head around programming beats, and allot of it can carry over to minimal/techno/etc.

There are also lots of other books on "Drum Machine Patterns", going through them, entering in the steps, getting a feel for how they build beats/etc can be handy - even if it is say, a "Reggae" pattern - then start swaping different sounds in and out. Instead of having a snare on 5/13 - put in a blip, or click, etc.

Also, try building a really simple pattern with say, the 808 kick - a simple kick/snare loop - then start tweaking things like attach / pitch / decay / effects on them for getting a sense of how they fit together.

If you are trying to build minimal, often "Less is more" -- I fall into the habit of building up, and up, and up until it sounds like a mess also - learn when to start taking sounds away.

Lets say, you have have a pattern, that has element A,B,C going on in it - and you like it. So you duplicate it to try and build on it, and get A, B, C, D, E going - now it sounds like a mess. Maybe drop "C" out of the mix and see how it fit's together.

 

donfuan, thanks for the reference tracks. I will try to replicate them, thus I know I won't get close to that beat

shypht, I already ordered the Drum Programming book from amazon. Thank you for recommendation. Hope I will get the right thing out of it, if it is targeted to rock genre.

Seems that all I need is a little theory knowledge and a lot of experimentation. Bad thing is that I don't know when something sounds right or when it sounds wrong. Maybe is sounding right for me but I'm clipping, or needs more punch... I'm lost in those things.

Again, thanks for your answers!

 

you're welcome. Listen to A LOT of Music to get the feeling for that. And to all sorts of genres!

ps: oh, and with listening i mean active listening, not somewhere in the background while dishwashing or something

 

No problem, I'm almost in the same boat as you.


I've been fiddling with production on and off for ages with free software/etc but never taking it 'seriously'. Any time I made something that sounded good, it was a fluke, and rarely lasted more than 4 bars.


Decided to pick up a Maschine this Christmas also (thanks to my partner paying for half) - and finding myself in the same boat as you. The book has been handy for me, as you start entering in the patterns, you help get a sense for how rhythems / etc can get built, and how different types of sounds can move things along.

I'm still a bit hit & miss - but have found with that book, building a pattern feels more like "I'm starting to know what I'm doing" than a "happy accident", and when something does start to sound good/right - I'm getting a better idea of why.


Another thing that can be neat to do is load up a basic waveform for an instrument, have a few patterns where its a bunch of say, 1/16th hits, and maybe another pattern where it's one long note -- then start playing around with the automation / LFOs / etc.


Like, take a saw waveform, place it on alow note, then start tweaking the low-pass filter - you'll get a sense to how some basslines are made. Then maybe, create a simple pattern, load up a sin waveform, and copy the pattern to that and play both at the same time to notice how the sound starts to get a bit more 'richer'


It might not be anything useful to actually put into a song yet - but getting an idea of how to build these things is handy.


It can be a bit overwhelming at times having an idea in your head of how you want a song to sound - just break it down into little parts and mini-goals.

 

I would also recommend looking at the patterns that come with the Artist Kits. This will give you a good look at how different beats are constructed. Try playing live baselines/leads/effects over the top of the beat and record of course!