Any advice for music?

[Pancakes7643 4]

I'm planning to start making some music so i need some advice

like what programs to use to make music (it has to be free)

how to help create lyrics because i don't want to be doing this

etc.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

@@Pancakes7643,

 

What's up, Thunder Dash is here to help.

 

Composing music isn't very easy, but once you get the hang of it, thoughts will come to you.

 

To start, you have to focus a specific genre. Most DAWs (Digital Audio Interfaces) are capable of producing orchestral sounds. There are some out there that primarily focus on orchestral music. If you want to focus on electronic music, get a DAW like FL Studio, or Logic Pro. If you want to focus on more classical or fusion, Finale 2012 is probably the best route.

 

Now, in order to compose music, you have to have a basic idea of what it will sound like. This requires some thinking on your part. It may seem slow at first, but eventually, it'll turn into this:

 

Here's an example of how I composed a song a while ago. So, I was thinking of a theme for the character Daring Do. What I did first was broke down her personality, characteristics and traits. I then went about giving descriptions of her and seeing what icon she relates to. Of course, she relates to the famous Indiana Jones. So, as soon as I thought of Indiana Jones, I went about thinking of lyrics for my piece and how it relates to Daring Do. In the end, I came up with this song called: "Overcome". Here's the link to it

 

Here's the lyrics for it since the track is an instrumental.

 

Verse 1

 

The road, this long and bat dry road, oh

No, there is no turning back, No

Food, and there’s no way to fly, and it

Seems, as if all hope is lost

 

Prelude to Chorus

But no there is hope it’s

Screaming your name

Believe in yourself and you’ll

Surely survive, oh

 

Chorus

You will overcome!

Just look how far you’ve come! Just

Never give up you’ll

Surely will pass, the great task before you oh,

You will overcome!

 

Verse 2

Take, the challenge of new heights, you

Push, you push yourself so far, the

Dream, is in reality, you are

Made, you’re made to conquer all,

 

Prelude to Chorus

Oh You dare to the edge you

Dare to achieve, you

Dare to succeed ‘cause

That’s who you are, oh

 

Chorus

You will overcome!

Just look how far you’ve come! Just

Never give up you’ll

Surely will pass, the great task before you oh,

You will overcome!

 

Bridge

Riches delight but

Bosses to fight, oh

Nothing can stop you

You’re the greatest!

Unstoppable oh

Taking it all

Danger’s your first name!

 

Verse 3

The time, the time has now arrived

To face, to face your greatest fear

You have, all the strength and courage, oh

No, there is no backing down

 

Prelude to Chorus

You were bound and were trapped by

Sheer trickery but

That didn’t stop you ‘cause

You had a plan, you

Worked yourself out

You outwit the boss and

Pulled off the impossible! oh

 

Chorus (Reprise)

You will overcome!

Many more great feats!

You are the greatest

Number one, you

Conquered it all, oh

You are Daring Do!  

 

That's pretty much it in composing music. Oh and one more thing, you must have a basic background in music theory

[Satsuki Kiryuin 1,154]

As an Electronic producer myself, I would recommend reading up on this blog -> http://howtomakeelectronicmusic.com/how-to-make-electronic-music-with-computer-where-to-start

 

The blog is filled with tons of help for producers, from tutorials to explanations to free sample packs, recommended DAWs and more!

 

I would also recommend checking out -> http://www.boyinaband.com/

Dave hosts tutorials, and free sample packs on this site, he has a youtube of the same name(Boyinaband).

 

Now, no matter how you are, you are going to suck at first. If that is the case, that is okay. Music is like any other talent, it requires time and dedication to grow and become more apparent. Also, never limit yourself to one type of art, always look for what you feel will be your forte. 

 

I wish you luck with your endeavours, I apologize that I can't help you with being a lyricist.

- Otty~

[Gay Bird 420]

Sorry, but free doesn't exist in the music world (unless you're not above a little piracy like me). You need a good quality DAW software like Ableton live or logic pro, an audio interface and a microphone to record stuff, and a room with absolutely no background noise. (i'm assuming you're recording some kind of vocals)

 

Writing lyrics is hard. I've had lots of songs I wrote that I just went and abandoned cause they didn't work. Usually what works best is when you're writing about something you can relate to personally. Also, use as much figurative language as you can without making the song sound super cheesy. Saying things in a song the same way you'd say them talking normally is a bit boring.

[Scootaloodle 1,621]

Well I have an article on Digital Audio Workstations if that’ll help: none of them free though. I posted at the bottom of this post

 

If you want to learn to make music then get a Digital Audio Workstation and just go nuts playing round with that, watch people on YouTube do tutorials or similar to get ideas: buy music magazines (I buy a monthly magazine called Future Music that has free DVDs with popular dance artists showing how they make song’s.

 

And of course listen to other artists and analyze tracks you like: like think about all the different stuff like instruments, tempo and so on and think about how it builds up, and down and how the artist does his trick so to speak to make the song flow

 

As for lyrics I’m not great at them and I’ve never done much vocal stuff: just sampled acapella off old R&B records.

 

But you could just write lyrics and not worry too much about them for the time being until you got the hang of the music part.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2013 by Asherdangerdash

[Antismurf9001 1,271]

So, what kind of music are you trying to make?  That makes a big difference in what programs will be useful.  Do you want to make pieces that are in more of a classical/orchestral style, or something more akin to today's popular songs?  As a current music student, I have some knowledge of classical/orchestral composition, and might be able to help you there.  As for song lyrics, the key is rhythm.  You have to know where the strong beats of a measure are as well as where the accents are in words.  For example, look at the sentence, "The wheel has turned."  When saying it, you wouldn't go, "THE wheel HAS turned."  More likely, heavier accents would be put on 'wheel' and 'turned,' so that is also where you want the strong beats of the measure.

 

Hopefully this helps, and good luck!