Actually to this end I’d say that the plugs that come bundled with Reaper are a great way to start: their interfaces are simple and minimal and each plug one only does one thing, not 8 million, so you can really learn what they do.
A little confused: mixdown is not mastering. Agreed that proper mixdown can be challenging (I still suck lol) but a mastering chain should be the very last thing on a producer’s learning list, and arguably a producer shouldn’t fuck with mastering unless they have a compelling reason to do so.
Yes I think, u less you plan on having 32 tracks with effects on them. A good thing to have is a decent CPU as well, at least intel i5, to handle all the cpu intensive plugins.
^I’m not 100% sure (and can’t check right now), but I think my laptop has 4GB. And usually I have way more than 32 tracks in a project.
But it really depends on your production style tbh. 4GB or 8GB, you’re gonna get CPU overloads anyway if you have 30+ heavyweight synths on ultra settings plus 5-15 effects on every track. It’s better to bounce things to audio. That’s also pretty much the only way to go if you have 100+ tracks in your project, assuming you’re not gonna spend 2k on your computer alone.
I’d say go fiddle around in your DAW rather than spend ages on tutorials. But if it’s a must for you, imo it’s better to watch tutorials/masterclass videos made by headlining artists, rather than anything some company tries to sell you for fifty bucks.
Also, I think there’s much more to be learned from observing how these experienced artists think while producing rather than doing “monkey see - monkey do” after watching some tutorial where some kid with almost inaudible voice tells you how you should always do certain thing in a certain way.
I would recommend that you get something that you can grow into. That is why I wouldn’t recommend Dubturbo, but with that said, I have never used it. All of the links for it look really bait. I have never really looked at it to be honest.
I have never used Reaper myself as well, but through word of mouth I know it’s a fully capable DAW that is highly customizable and can handle audio, VST’s and MIDI.
For $60 you can’t go wrong, especially if you are just getting into this. There are plenty of free VST’s to be found out there as well.
DubTurbo was a pisstake btw (some of you figured that out I hope)
@IllumiNate - I just remembered this thread: everything here is free to fuck with and can help you past the initial learning phase.
I wouldn’t even think about buying anything until you’ve at least learned about 16 step sequences, ADSR, waveform types, LFOs, just basic-basics. Audiotool and Audiosauna are good ways to cut your teeth on this stuff without committing to anything.
Not necessarily, some people myself included get by on minimal musical theory knowledge; however, a course isn’t necessary for learning just do some online research.
Most def not saying it mandatory. It just helps for those who don’t have the drive to teach themselves or just prefer to be taught. I was a band head so it helped me a lot.
It can be either: it’s a format based on old hardware sequencers and drum machines. Like on an 808, there are 16 buttons across the bottom in the row; you select a drum voicing (like kick or snare) and create your hit pattern using those 16 steps.
This is a fun little exe that can teach you all about the concept with the bonus add on of teaching about choke/sample cutoff groups:
