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Getting into music making.

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etherealofficial|6

I wanted to start making ambient/IDM music. I've got a Wildkat guitar and a Computer. In my build, which I haven't purchased yet, I have a keyboard, mixer, and DAW.

What else is required to make high-quality music?

I'm not looking for top-of-the-line professional tools, just essentials I need to make it sound good.

Thanks, in advance.

antiverse
antiverse|231
In reply to etherealofficial:

The only thing you really need, is a set of tools and your ears.

Your ears, are your most valuable tool.

Second, is a good pair of monitors that you can trust.

The tools can vary, there are tons of plugins for instance, for EQ's, compressors, limiters, delay and reverbs, and so on! The list is long! But the essentials are in fact those 5 types of components if you ask me.

There are loads of different ones, but you know which ones you'll find best for your workflow. :)

Good luck with your music!

jimmarchi1
jimmarchi1|41029 MODERATOR
GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp

It helps to play an instrument at an intermediate level or better, for electronic music I feel piano or drums are best depending on what you are trying to do... also, you will need something original to say through your compositions, that's a must. If you don't have inspiration other than a desire to imitate someone else whose work impressed you then you need to go get some inspiration before you take another step forward.

If it were me I would stick to the bare minimum to start gear-wise. In this esciting world of the future a MIDI controller is not even a must in my book, only quality monitors are important, especially if you don't have much prior studio experience (you can create good mixes on some mediocre speakers if your ears are well trained, but good luck with that if you're a novice). I would think about picking up a small sampler to collect a library of original sounds from the world to incorporate with whatever softsynths (do they still use that term?) come with your DAW. Also, scoop up all the freeware softsynths and effects you can and get to know them. There are lots of good ones these days that range from banal and rudimentary (but essential) to esoteric and insane.

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp
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etherealofficial|6

I wasn't going to get an MIDI controller anyway, and I really do have no studio experience, I just thought it'd be something to do for fun, and share with people.

The Mackie CR3 Monitors were the ones I was looking at, I really can't judge how good or high-quality they are though, since I am a total novice on this.

As for my inspirations, I get them from Tycho, Hammock, and God Is An Astronaut.

I want to make music LIKE them, but I don't want to copy their direct sound, I think it'd be fun to experiment a bit just seeing what I could make with a guitar, drum machine, and synth, as well as mixing some completely electronic sounds on a different track.

jimmarchi1
jimmarchi1|41029 MODERATOR
GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp
In reply to etherealofficial:

As for my inspirations, I get them from Tycho, Hammock, and God Is An Astronaut.

I want to make music LIKE them, but I don't want to copy their direct sound, I think it'd be fun to experiment a bit just seeing what I could make with a guitar, drum machine, and synth, as well as mixing some completely electronic sounds on a different track.

good luck

GEAR:
  • Roland Juno-6
  • Gibson SG Standard
  • Vox AC30 Guitar Combo Amp
ridwan
ridwan|3147
In reply to etherealofficial:

I guess some basic instrument plugins you could start off with if you're going the paid route are sylenth and nexus or even omnisphere, I heard that has sound cool ambient presets you could fool around with.

Free synthesizer plugins I'm not too sure I have ever used any but if you do use FL Studio, their included instrument plugins are pretty okay

In terms of free plugins I use Kjaerhus Audio's Limiter, Compressor (they do have an EQ, Reverb, Delay, etc, your DAW of choice will also include these)

You can check out SeamlessR for FL Studio and Sadowick Production for Ableton Live and I guess that would help you to use either DAWs (I'm not sure which DAW you have so I'm assuming it's of these two)

Above all, let Google/YouTube be your guide for plugins and feel free to message me on Facebook (the link is in my Equipboard profile) for anything else

Hope this helps

ridwan
ridwan|3147
In reply to etherealofficial:

Just found this on the site, it might help with those free plugins I was talking about

http://equipboard.com/posts/top-5-free-vst-plugins

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