Fruity Loops Studio Tutorial (**New** John Legend remake!)

Alright I've been producing for like 3 months. I still don't know any terms and ish. I looked up all of them but still don't get it.

Okay...

What exactly is sequencing? What does a sequencer, the hardware, do? It' mixes diff sounds?
What does a sampler, the hardware, actually do? And Direct Wave sampler on FL, is that a good thing to use?
And the same for a drum machine, it's just for getting and creating drum sounds right?
And before the MPC came out in 88 they put all these and used em seperately?

And an MPC has all these in it. Right?

I'm a noob to all this

and do I really need an MPC whn I can just use FL? There's some good producers who just use FL

esb617

Sequencing is arranging patterns.  For example, you might have a sampler (a hardware sampler, that is), and you use it to chop up this dope sample - great, right?  But most samplers alone aren't of much use, you need a sequencer to put those samples in ... a sequence. 

Lots of drum machines are simply there to provide drum sounds, and will usually let you arrange drum patterns using the drum sounds they provide, but often times won't let you sequence in anything else.  Drum machines are popular mainly for two reasons - a. for guitarists who like to practice, but don't necessarily want to call over their drummer every time they need them, and b.  with some machines, for their great sounds - the Roland TR-808 drum machine contains many of the sounds rap was built upon, and people still buy them for their great drum sounds.

I'm no expert on the MPC as I don't own one and won't anytime in the near future, but I'm pretty sure it's main feature is sequencing.

Most studios will have a sequencer (like an MPC), a drum machine (like the TR-808), a sampler (I don't know any famous ones after the SP-12 - sampling isn't my thing!), a synth or two (like the Korg Triton), and of course, a good speaker setup.  Kinda makes you wonder how rap music became the sound of the poor people, eh?

What setup you use is really a matter of what sound you're trying to accomplish.  If you're trying to write original music, Reason is probably the best program for you (though they lose points in that all Reason sounds are copywrighted, so they get a portion of whatever you make off of your songs ... LAME).  If it's sampling you're into, Fruity Loops can do virtually all the same things the big boys can do.  The advantage to hardware sampling is often times the sound.  Part of the reason people like Premier used to get such a rugged sound out of their samples was because they couldn't afford much memory for their hardware, so they sampled at really low quality, and then once it was in the machine, bumped up the quality (though the ruggedness still remains).  It's stuff like that ... and hardware is much more hands-on.

So it's really your call, and a matter of what your budget is ...

Oh, and just an update ... I'm working on those sampling videos; hope to have them up sometime tommorow.  I'm looking at doing three seperate videos:

1.  Beginner - Intro to my style of sampling/Jay-Z's "What More Can I Say"
2.  Intermediate - Jay-Z's "Intro" ("Dynasty" album)
3.  Advanced - Eric B & Rakim, "I Ain't No Joke"

Unfortunately, I won't be able to provide links to any of the samples used in these tutorials (except the last song, which Orlando has already done), but I know more than a few people reading this will find them via other routes :P. 

And none of these tutorials are really intermediate or advanced in tutorial, per se, but it'll still walk you through techniques like chopping and stretching up to double-time samples and juggling multiple samples at once.

If I had that Talib song I might be able to try to help you ... but I don't have it, since I haven't really been into anything Talib's done for quite a while now.  That was a really smart move, though; I'm always thinking how great it'd be to have a professional musician handy to help me transcribe all of my favorite songs, rather than me guessing for like hours until I get it right.

As for sheet music, you're almost for sure out of luck ... I'm pretty sure Haminet (try googling that) is the only internet site with rap sheet music, and even then, unless it's like 50 Cent, you probably won't have any luck.

And don't be too quick to drop FL Keys ... it's very capable imo, and now that I undestand it's Rhodes preset ... holy crap, I'm making some amazing stuff.  Usually FL Keys benefits from a little reverb, though ... just depends on the song.

Note - I'm just now listening to your beat, and I see what you mean about the last bar or two.  I'm pretty sure he goes double-time on there a bit, but like I said, I don't know the notes, so it's kinda hard for me to make sure.

And about those beat-making videos ... sorry I still don't have them up yet.  There are two problems I've been trying to solve, but I just don't think I can fix them, short of buying a new computer (which, as you know, I plan on doing ... eventually ... anyways):

1.  My sound card sucks.  I didn't realize it until I started working with the program, but most cheap sound cards won't record audio output during screen captures.  What this means is that, when you watch one of my videos, and I play a part of my beat, you can only faintly (and I mean faintly ... even at full volume, you can't really hear anything) hear it.  So I'm left with rigging it, by holding my mic up to the speakers and recording the output that way ... not exactly the best sound quality, of course.  Does anyone know how much a decent sound card costs, and how easy they are to install?

2.  Internal computer noise.  It's not surprising considering how crappy my computer is, but even though my computer doesn't sound too loud to me, there is a ton of noise that ends up in the videos ... and I imagine it will be pretty annoying for you guys to listen to.

So, I guess I may be getting a bit ahead of myself; maybe I should wait to start doing these videos until I get my new, and hopefully more capable computer.  But I definetely still want to get those sampling tutorials up before my trial ends, and then maybe I'll re-do them when I have my new computer.

ITI,

Your tutorials have been extremely helpful to me. I came across this forum and have been studying your techniques for a week. Thans to you I have made dramatic improvements in my production of hip hop beats. The one thing I feel I'm still lacking though, are some good melodies. I rap over the beats I make and want them to be completely original i.e. NO SAMPLING!. When are you going to post the music theory tutorial and will you show how to apply it to FL? Thanks. Mc EdMcManwich

ITI,

Your tutorials have been extremely helpful to me. I came across this forum and have been studying your techniques for a week. Thans to you I have made dramatic improvements in my production of hip hop beats. The one thing I feel I'm still lacking though, are some good melodies. I rap over the beats I make and want them to be completely original i.e. NO SAMPLING!. When are you going to post the music theory tutorial and will you show how to apply it to FL? Thanks. Mc EdMcManwich

edmcmanwich

Good melody is usually the hardest method to acquire.

The only way to really develop that talent is to experiment until you find out what works and what doesn't.  There are really an infinite amount of ways you can do melody, you'll just have to experiment.  Even if you become a master of melodies, you'll still be experimenting, you'll just have a better ratio of success and failure.

You are right. I know it takes experimentation to create a melody. I've made a few just by opening piano roll and randomly placing notes until I hear something pleasing but what I was really reffering to is a basic understanding f chord structure (which I am completley unfamiliar with) and how to apply those chords in piano roll or some other feature in fruity loops. I know however even with that knowledge it will take a lot time and effort to come up with a complex and interesting melody. I guess for now I'll keep playing with my 10 note organ loop. By the way does anybody know where I can find plug ins for FL pro bono? Thanks.

Hey, thanks for the feedback, guys.

The main thing that has been holding me up from posting the music theory tutorials is the fact that I can't really adequately do video tutorials on my crappy current computer, and I really do think I'd get the most out of these tutorials if I did them as videos, as opposed to text and pictures.  However, I still don't have any idea when I'll be getting the new computer, and if you guys really are interested in seeing the tutorials, I suppose I could type up some of them and then just redo them later on as videos.

And as for creating melodies ... yeah, expirementing is important, but, I can say from over six years of experience that it really comes down to understanding the fundementals, not just expirementing and hoping something good turns up.  So, there definetely are rules to making a good melody, but one of the things I've come across in creating these tutorials is that some rules you just can't copy - for example, I can explain why the chord progression to Dre's "Still DRE" is so effective, but, really, there's no way you could then just turn around and use that pattern, because it's just so unique to that song.

Still, though, actually knowing some people really want to see this tutorials helps encourage me to get this thing going, so we'll see what I can whip up in the coming weeks.

Also, I'm not sure what you mean by "pro bono", but are you just asking where you can find plug-ins (like "Sim Synth" and such) for FL?  Because if so, I can recommend some sites ... in fact, the next tutorial I'd planned on doing would cover some of my favorite VST's (and how to install them).

Yes, the basics of music theory are what I want to know. I imagine that if you kept the tutorial in the same format as your previous ones it would still be very effective. Also, when I said "pro bono" I meant free. Mc Chris rulez...

Yea I too wanna know how to make GREAT melodies. I mean, I have no problems doing the drums pattern, its just the melody. In a project, should I first produce the drum loop or melody? Fkid

Drums, because they set the tempo and rhythm for the whole song.

Without a basic timing from the drums, it's hard to make a melody that goes WITH the drums.  It's much harder to make drums fit a melody (and still have rhythm) than it is to make a melody fit drums (because melody is such a flexible concept).

Cool man, I can definetely hook you up with some free plug-ins; I work on putting together a list of some sites.

And I forgot to answer that question above - imo, definetely work on the melody first.  I mean, if you're still pretty new to making beats, then you might want to start with the drums, but otherwise, it's probably best to go for the melody.  Because for me, drums aren't a problem.  I know this might sound like hyperbole, but it really isn't - I know pretty much every rap drum pattern out there.  I listen to tons of new rap music each year, and so far I've heard a total of one new drum pattern that I haven't heard done before.  What I'm saying is, I'm at a point where I know all the drum patterns, and when I hear a melody, I pretty much know what kind of pattern will go with it.

Working with samples might actually be good practice for you; then you already have a good melody and can just concentrate on finding out what drum patterns sound good on it ... once you're comfortable with that, you can move on to concentrating on melodies.

Oh my damn yall, I had to buy FLStudio 6!!!

My registration on the "free" version I got expired, and I couldn't get another Regkey because it wasn't registered.  I'm too serious about my work to just let it go, and I can't use the demo version because I have so many projects saved on there that I wouldn't be able to work on again.

Dammit, lol, they finally got me.  I got the Producer Edition with no add-ons (no more Sytrus for me), which cost $159.  For the record, Sytrus as an add-on to FL costs $169 or $179, I forget, but I'm not paying that much for a synth.  Now, due to a lack of good synths, I'm forced to be an entirely sample-based producer.  But I like this style better than my drum and synth-driven old one.

I'll post the one beat I made, I've made two with the new philosophy I have, but I only have one uploaded.  I'll post it here, and make a topic for it if yall think it's good.

Entirely sample-based, not one library sound.  I chopped the samples up into very small slices, because that's the only way you get the sound and flexibility you want (to the exact hi-hat).  I didn't use raw loops or broad cuts over and over like some producers (*cough*Puffy*cough*).  Basically most chops were around half a beat long, but enough talking about it, listen.

TDUBBEAT84:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O98QYQJ2

Entirely sample-based, not one library sound.  I chopped the samples up into very small slices, because that's the only way you get the sound and flexibility you want (to the exact hi-hat).  I didn't use raw loops or broad cuts over and over like some producers (*cough*Puffy*cough*).  Basically most chops were around half a beat long, but enough talking about it, listen.

TDUBBEAT84:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=O98QYQJ2

C-GHOST

not bad

Hmmm...well now my problem is to create melodies for the verse. I have a song thats starts with the chorus, but after that, the verse comes and I don't want the same sound from the chorus for the verses, ya feel me? I been trying to create sounds but it doesnt sound good. I want it toned down until the next chorus. Here is the beginning of the song. Pls comment on it and leave feedback.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4TLQPJA3

PS. I started Fruity Loops 2 weeks ago so it's not that good.
Fkid

Cool, I like the last part (I'm guessing that's the verse), it reminds me of some kinda Western like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, lol.

I'll have to post some links to some free FM synths, free alternatives to the Sytrus.  Then again, if you just wanted the Sytrus for it's presets, and not it's programming capabilities, I guess you don't really need an alternative.

As for the verse/chorus dilema, the way the vast majority of rap songs work is that they'll have chords play during the verse, and then both the chords and melody play during the chorus.  Or have just the rhythm section play during the verse, and both the rhythm and melody in the chorus (though rhythm sections are usually made of chords anyways ...).  Or even have your melody play throughout the whole song, and just drop out some parts of your percussion for the verse - for example, Ray J's "One Wish" features essentially the same melody-and-chord pattern for the entire song, the only thing that ever changes up is that the hi-hats don't play during the verse.

Essentially what I'm trying to say is that the chorus should almost always be the busiest part of your song - just listen to some random rap songs and you'll probably find this out very quickly.

Now, I know that got into a bit of music theory there, so don't worry, like I've been saying, I'm working on getting that posted.  I'm really hoping to get the music theory tutorial, along with three example song studies all posted tommorow, though this week at work has been absolutely brutal (I feel like I'm typing this right now with carpal tunnel).  So, if not this weekend, I gurantee it'll be up next weekend.

ITI, can't wait for that tutorial. Looking forward to applying some quality music theory to my beats. Also, I just started my own music page on Myspace, so, if you decide to check it out at the link below, please, give me some feedback. I havn't been using FL that long so any tips would be great. I'd appreciate it. Mayonaisse!

http://www.myspace.com/edmcmanwich

my registration expired TheTruth2500XL

lol, guess you gotta buy it like me.

[QUOTE="TheTruth2500XL"]my registration expired C-GHOST

lol, guess you gotta buy it like me.

If your registration expired, set ur clock/year back a few years. It will be back to normal.
Fkid

[QUOTE="C-GHOST"]

[QUOTE="TheTruth2500XL"]my registration expired TheTruth2500XL

lol, guess you gotta buy it like me.

Producer edition, no extra add-ons (like Sytrus, DX-10 or Simsynth).

anyone know a good site to get some drums?TheTruth2500XL

[QUOTE="TheTruth2500XL"]anyone know a good site to get some drums?Escobar

Damn, so that's where you've been... studying the work of ITI.

Well, if you get an MPC, I would suggest anything from Akai.

Keyboards with producing features are very expensive, but if you get one of those, get one with all the good stuff.... built-in CD burner, sequencer, sample, all that ****.  I'd get either the Yamaha Motif or the Korg Triton when it comes to production keyboards.  I've used a Motif, it was my friend's, it was really nice, but takes some getting used to.  I've never used a Korg Triton, but they're supposed to be like the BEST keyboard for producing, supposedly the Neptunes use them, and Dre, and all the supposed 'top producers'.

For me though, FL Studio will suffice at this point in time.

Well, if you get an MPC, I would suggest anything from Akai.

Keyboards with producing features are very expensive, but if you get one of those, get one with all the good stuff.... built-in CD burner, sequencer, sample, all that ****. I'd get either the Yamaha Motif or the Korg Triton when it comes to production keyboards. I've used a Motif, it was my friend's, it was really nice, but takes some getting used to. I've never used a Korg Triton, but they're supposed to be like the BEST keyboard for producing, supposedly the Neptunes use them, and Dre, and all the supposed 'top producers'.

For me though, FL Studio will suffice at this point in time.

C-GHOST

[QUOTE="Escobar"][QUOTE="TheTruth2500XL"]anyone know a good site to get some drums?C-GHOST

Damn, so that's where you've been... studying the work of ITI.

[QUOTE="C-GHOST"]

Well, if you get an MPC, I would suggest anything from Akai.

Keyboards with producing features are very expensive, but if you get one of those, get one with all the good stuff.... built-in CD burner, sequencer, sample, all that ****. I'd get either the Yamaha Motif or the Korg Triton when it comes to production keyboards. I've used a Motif, it was my friend's, it was really nice, but takes some getting used to. I've never used a Korg Triton, but they're supposed to be like the BEST keyboard for producing, supposedly the Neptunes use them, and Dre, and all the supposed 'top producers'.

For me though, FL Studio will suffice at this point in time.

TheTruth2500XL

Wow, 8,000 ****in dollars.  You could buy quality live instruments for an entire band with that kind of money, it sort of defeats the purpose, lol.

should I get
Korg Kontrol49
one of the K-Series with padKontrol or mpd 16
microKontrol
or which one of the roland one's with ^^^^ the mpd controllers

So keyboard/ pad controller, fl, and Laptop comes to about $1500. Enough money for cd shopping spree and to fix my turntable

TheTruth2500XL

I have a question. How do I load up VST's and VSTi's?Fkid

For sure man, this is easy.  First off, make sure you save the VST to your VST folder (Image-Line->Fruity Loops->Plugins->VST's), or, if you've already saved them somewhere else, use Windows Explorer to find the file and move it to the VST folder.  Then, in FL6, just go to Channels -> Add One -> More.  This opens a window with a list of all your VST's, and just scroll to the bottom and click the "Refresh" button, which will search for any new VST's you might've installed.  Now you can find and use your new VST's through the Channels -> Add One menu.  Still not entirely sure how to make them appear in your VST folder in FL6, but this works fine, so it's no problem ...

Hopefully that makes sense.  If not, I will be doing a tutorial a little down the road where I link to some of my favorite free VST's, some sites to find VST's, and a picture walk-through of what I just described above.

Oh, and, haha, guys I'm sorry about the delay on the music theory tutorial ... it seems no matter how close I am to finishing that thing, there's still so much more to do (uploading 40 pictures to imageshack, etc.), but I'm working really hard to finish it and post it tonight.

And thanks again to Esco and everyone else who gives this thread props ... but really, man, this music theory tutorial is going to be a weekly series, and the best is really to come.  I'm serious, I haven't seen anything like what I'm about to do here anywhere else on the internet; this is some real exclusive stuff.  After I really get this thing running, I'm gonna start spreading the word to some other music sites I know, and I can only imagine the word will grow from there ... haha, I think this thread is gonna have alot new members soon :P.

ps:  about getting good drums.  I obviously have alot of projects on my plate right now, but somewhere, waaaaaaay down the road, I plan to upload a sample kit of all my favorite drums and other sounds for all of you to use.

pps:  two more songs I can add to the list of songs we'll do as case studies in my music theory series:

*  Jay-Z & Memphis Bleek, "From Marcy to Hollywood"
*  Common, "Go" (and maybe "Testify")

Can anyone recommend a good, free, reliable alternative to imageshack for hosting pictures?  I finished the tutorial and hosted all the pictures, but when I previewed the tutorial, like half of the pictures were red x's.

I really like Imageshack because of it's ease of use (especially on 56k; it's really nice to have such a simple set-up, especially not even needing to start an account), and the fact that you can upload as many pictures as you want.  But if it's going to be this unreliable, it's useless to me.  I need to upload about 60 pictures, and from what I understand, Photobucket probably wouldn't allow me enough storage space.  Any ideas?

For sure man, this is easy.  First off, make sure you save the VST to your VST folder (Image-Line->Fruity Loops->Plugins->VST's), or, if you've already saved them somewhere else, use Windows Explorer to find the file and move it to the VST folder.  Then, in FL6, just go to Channels -> Add One -> More.  This opens a window with a list of all your VST's, and just scroll to the bottom and click the "Refresh" button, which will search for any new VST's you might've installed.  Now you can find and use your new VST's through the Channels -> Add One menu.  Still not entirely sure how to make them appear in your VST folder in FL6, but this works fine, so it's no problem ...IsThisIt_basic

oh my god so that's how you do it!!! months and months of trying to figure that out!!! tnx alot!!!