House questions

Ph0ny · Joined: Feb 03, 2009 Posts: 2 Location: Sweden

Hi, i'm new to this forum.

I love house music, and I also love producing music. Though, since I'm pretty new to house (and soft-ware music producing generally) I have some questions where I'd like some experts opinions.

First of all, I don't have any hardware stuff like any Roland machines or what so ever. I only have Fl studio 8, some vocal programs like sonar cake walk and melodyne. Do I need anything else to make decent house songs?

Also, I've heard that compression and EQ is very important. Since i'm such a noob I would like some further advices to go with. I have vst-plugins for these stuff like multiband compresser and pharametriq EQ. Is there any better? And how do I use them properly in the mixer? Do I fiddle with them at the master folder or in specific instruments mixer folder? Any info is valuable!

One last question, I have made a house beat at 128 bpm and a decent bassline based on some accords. I'm having big problems with the lead. I want some live instrument like the horn in "One more time" by Daft Punk or the piano in "pjanoo" by Eric Prydz. Please help me

I'm sorry about all the questions, an answer for any of them is worth gold! Thanks in advance.

Ph0ny

Ph0ny · Joined: Feb 03, 2009 Posts: 2 Location: Sweden

v-un-v · Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:21 am Post subject:

Hi Ph0ny

to electro-music.com!

Derrick May once said; "don't get that engineer to get that sound for you, work it out for yourself. That way, you will make your sound your own".

I think there is a lot to be said for that, because as a producer, it is up to you to find your own sound. Experiment. Find out though making mistakes. It's the best way to learn.

I hope that helps Very Happy

Antimon

abreaktor · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2009 6:11 am Post subject:

hi there!

there are absolutely NO hardware synths/modules necessary to produce a good premastered (sometimes even mastered, depending on your plugins) track. (pre)mastering is done by people who learned about it for 2 years, so theres no easy way to answer that. you should read up on it, theres loads of scripts on the web, or, if you prefer "hardware", take a look into amazon. ive heard the bob katz mastering book(s) cover it all, you might need to read additional material for electronic music tho.

iirc, the fl compressor isnt too good, (i use ableton, the native compressors are fine tools). check out kvraudio.com for some good freeware vst/vsti. hardware doesnt make producing easier, it may make it more intuitive and hands-on tho. id invest in a good pair of monitors before stocking up on 19'' compressors and eqs.

if you aim to recreate a certain sound, id do a lot of listening to it, then trying to emulate it on your setup. in your case, samples of horns/piano. you could check out emus proteus VX (its freeware now), its a decent rompler with loads of piano and orchestral sounds. its heavily used in rnb/hiphop.

tbh: if you aim for short-term commercial success, download the latest beatport top 10 in house and blatantly rip them off. if you decide to confine yourself within a genre, you have to play to the rules (to a degree), and sadly, i dont think house is the most innovative genre there is... so, i would listen to tracks and recreate their structures and sound design. good thing is, the main structures havent changed that much in all that time, so its a good start if you want to follow that approach.