Begining the ever long production road.

L

lyfie

Active Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2007
Hey guys,

I'm in the middle of setting up a home studio so I can start production. I've read a fair few threads on here which has been useful.

I have the following:

Krk rokit 6's
M audio axiom 49 midi
Focusrire Saffire 6
Fl studio 11.

So I have a few basic questions that I wouldn't mind answering please.

Can someone point me in the right direction for some good samples?

What decent plugins should I get for fl studio 11?

I'm using trs cables from my krk's to my Saffire 6 so it's all balanced, should I run my midi through my Saffire 6 too?
 
lyfie said:
Can someone point me in the right direction for some good samples?

What decent plugins should I get for fl studio 11?
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Answering what I have knowledge of, you can give some search on google, there's always some good results popping up. Also, you can check http://howtomakeelectronicmusic.com, as he always make some sample packs available. Musicradar have some focused on dnb too, but I don't have the links now.

As for VSTs, I mainly use Massive, for like, everything, specially pads and basses. You may also consider purchasing Harmor, as it has pretty some good resampling abilites.
 
Depends how serious you are and how much cash you're willing to splash.
If you know you're going to be producing regularly for the next few years, you could get massive, zebra, z3ta or synthmaster, as a general does-everything synth.
However, you won't be needing all those features until you've learnt some more sound design, so you might consider playing around and learning the basics until you actually understand why, for example, you might want a selection of 25 different filters, or separate FX plugins...
Then you'll be better able to decide which plugins you want.
 
The thing is with sample packs, I personally might use 2 snares and a hat, this could cost 30 quid. But, loop masters is pretty good. I reccomend getting massive, but id learn the basics of sound design in FL, it has a few good plugins to start with.
 
mugatu said:
The thing is with sample packs, I personally might use 2 snares and a hat, this could cost 30 quid. But, loop masters is pretty good. I reccomend getting massive, but id learn the basics of sound design in FL, it has a few good plugins to start with.
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I second getting massive, as well second learning things on stock plugins. FL Studio comes with a bunch of good ones, specially Sytrus (sometimes, I think it is even better than FM8).
 
as for midi through the saffire....your latency will be far superior through the saffire than a usb. aka, when you press a key it will pretty much be real time, if you have it via usb there will be a noticeable lag between pressing a key and hearing a sound
 
Thanks for all the suggestions & helpful advice.

I'm going to learn the basics before I go any further. My heads going to explode with all the reading & tutorials.

I have the Danny Byrd sample pack at the moment that I'm playing about with.


DjCartel said:
as for midi through the saffire....your latency will be far superior through the saffire than a usb. aka, when you press a key it will pretty much be real time, if you have it via usb there will be a noticeable lag between pressing a key and hearing a sound
Click to expand...

Yeah I've noticed the latency is off.

Will I have to run 2 xlr cables to the midi? Not sure how to set this up, any suggestions please?
 
Before buying more software learn the ins and outs of your DAW first. The problem with a lot of people is that they become impatient and think that they need all the latest synths in order to achieve their goals.
Stock plug ins on most DAW's can actually be useful once you learn to use them properly.

Read the manuals. Experiment. Reverse engineer from presets in order to learn but make your own patches.
When you feel that you are competent with your gear, expand.


Buy your software instead of downloading it for free. If you've worked hard to be able to afford what you have you're going to want to squeeze as much as you can out of it before investing in something else.

Also before getting lazy and going straight into watching tutorials, experiment. You might come up with a brand new technique that no one else can replicate.
 
all good points, but heres one that hampered my development for years, dont be afraid to sound good. get a hq sample of a fat break, stick some overdrive on it, an exciter and a transient designer, loop it to BPM and that will be, within all probability, a good drum sound. then start moving the hits around a little, making new patterns or variations as you go along. then get a big old rompler and make a string arrangement. 4 long chords, with a lead melody on top. all just straight out the synth. the a sub bassline to go with that and you have a pretty fuckin good sound going on. everything doesnt have to be totally complicated and difficult and hatefully mysterious and unlearnable.

i refused to do any of these things and stubborn as a donkey i had to make all my sounds myself. in cooledit (nowadays known as audition) and the built in sampler of modplug and pretty soon fruity. im a fruity user. its had a good effect, in a way, it lead to a pretty unique sound and
sure it taught me how to make some pretty weird stuff, but it didnt sound good or like proper music until i dared to just write music.

which is what you should focus on, and not compressor settings and bit rates. you gear list looks just fine btw. the most important thing is a good computer, a good sound interface, good monitors and a midi controller.

when it comes to vstis who knows, massive is really popular but i think it sounds shit. i think camel 5000 is dope for textures pads and strings and leads, and i think distorting saw waves is good for basses. also, we been into a predominantly jazzy sound lately, so lots of samples from charlie mingus and old 60s film soundtracks, and tommys mother even plays the double bass so thats totaly awesome.

IRs are pretty cool and bootsy plugs are free. i would never use a commercial plug, freeware or stock when it comes to effects.


then when it comes to hardware effects like compressors amps flangers, whatever, just be sure you know why youre buying it, and if there really isnt anything that does the job quicker cheaper easier and better, like a valve amp for dist, for example? desk gain into cassette is much better imo. and dont worry about that all new desks are digital at heart, desk gain is still badman murda.
 
Unless you want to sound like everyone else I'd suggest staying away from the Vengeance sample packs.
Its just as bait as a David Rodigan wannabe playing Sean Paul
 
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