I've actually been thinking about writing up a 'beginners guide' thread for a while now, just never had the time to get around to it.
So here's a few tips in the mean-time.
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Firstly, the most important thing you need as a new producer (and I cannot stress this enough) is
patience.
It takes a long time and a lot of hours of practice before you get to a level where your music sounds good.
It's all about 'marginal gains' - In that, there's not many things you can learn that will make your music instantly better. It's all about learning lots of small techniques and tricks that make your productions that little bit better gradually.
There's a huge attrition rate amongst new producers who get frustrated when they realise just how long it all takes.
If you go in with this in mind, plenty of patience and make working on music part of your daily schedule, then you are ahead of a lot of people already.
Funnily enough, I saw this video earlier on YT and made a similar comment in the comment section:
So learning some music theory will help you a lot. You don't need to go all in and learn how to read and write music manuscript or learn all the phraseology (Arco vs Pizzicato etc,) like my manic school music teacher was so obsessed with back in the 90's
Some basic knowledge of how chords work, keys, scales and the like will help a lot. Tons of tutorials on Youtube.
This is also a great resource:
Music Scales and Chord Tools for Guitar and Piano
Playing an instrument is not essential. I can play keyboard... poorly... like I can jam out basic melodies and chords which helps with work-flow, but if I tried a live performance, it would be a train-wreck. I have 5 thumbs on each hand
So, getting yourself a midi keyboard (A basic one is fairly cheap) might help you get ideas out, but certainly not essential.
Equipment: A laptop or PC that can at least run your DAW of choice close to recommended specs.
A decent pair of headphones are a must, studio monitor ones if you can afford them. Monitor speakers can wait until you get to a point where your productions are at a point where you need them to improve.
Most of the main DAW's out there have trial versions available (Ableton offers a 3 month free trial of the full Live 11 suite for example) so maybe try a few and see which workflow seems to speak to you the most.
Don't listen to anyone who tells you that one DAW is better than any other either
"LOL FL Studio is for amateurs" and all that nonsense.
It's as pointless as Iphone vs Android/Playstation vs XBox. Pure brand loyalty nonsense-
Most of the main DAW's out there like Ableton, Pro Tools, Cubase, FL Studio, Studio One, Bitwig etc. are all highly capable pieces of software. All will have their pro's and cons, it's just about finding the one that works for you.
You don't really need to invest in any hardware synths, or expensive plug-ins to start with really, as most DAW's stock plugins are at a very high level these days. I'm an Ableton user, and I use a lot of the stock effects in all my tracks. There's also a ton of excellent free stuff available out there as well, such as the VITAL synth, Spitfire LABS (And the awesome Pianobook site by the same people), Valhalla Supermassive etc.
Youtube is of course a fantastic learning resource (Wish it was around when I first got started) but try not to spread yourself too thinly when it comes to learning new things.
If you watch 4 or 5 videos or read a load of different articles all on different topics, then you are going to forget most of it.
Try to concentrate on one or 2 things at a time. Like prioritise learning your DAW, then move on to learning something else like how to use EQ or synthesizer basics etc.
And be sure to ask plenty of questions in here!
Good luck!
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