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

Contro=king of using pics as emoticons fat_rob

:lol: I'm really curious where he finds all those pics.

also tmac, Nas is Like isn't on Illmatic if that's what you were saying lol.

On FL can you sample Like DJ Premier and chop up tracks like he does for his choruses and scratch quotes from other tracks (like how he chops Nas' older ish from Illmatic on Nas Is Like)tmac200913

you can but it's difficult to use the fl scratcher VST. 

[QUOTE="tmac200913"]On FL can you sample Like DJ Premier and chop up tracks like he does for his choruses and scratch quotes from other tracks (like how he chops Nas' older ish from Illmatic on Nas Is Like)Constrobuz

you can but it's difficult to use the fl scratcher VST.

aight cool, I'll mess around with it

And Himura I meant on Nas Is Like, Premo scratched quotes from Illmatic like It Ain't Hard To Tell on tha chorus of Nas Is Like, if that makes any sense lol

[QUOTE="Constrobuz"]

[QUOTE="tmac200913"]On FL can you sample Like DJ Premier and chop up tracks like he does for his choruses and scratch quotes from other tracks (like how he chops Nas' older ish from Illmatic on Nas Is Like)tmac200913

you can but it's difficult to use the fl scratcher VST.

aight cool, I'll mess around with it

And Himura I meant on Nas Is Like, Premo scratched quotes from Illmatic like It Ain't Hard To Tell on tha chorus of Nas Is Like, if that makes any sense lol

lol yeah I see what you're saying now.

sounds like an organ...fat_rob

Yeah, it's an organ ... if you want that sound, I'd recommend using Native Instruments B4 Organ (modeled after Hammond's legendary B3). I've been using it for years; if you know what you're doing you can easily get that "Runners" sound (ie, the famous organ sound from "Hustlin" and all the other songs The Runners did around that time). It's really a great piece of software.

[QUOTE="tmac200913"]On FL can you sample Like DJ Premier and chop up tracks like he does for his choruses and scratch quotes from other tracks (like how he chops Nas' older ish from Illmatic on Nas Is Like)Constrobuz

you can but it's difficult to use the fl scratcher VST.

Any of you guys ever use the free Turntablist Pro vst? Feature-wise it looks a LOT better than FL Scratcher, and I know the instrument has reached a bit of a cult-status over the years. I just always forget to try it out ... I think I might check it out tonight.

[QUOTE="Constrobuz"]

[QUOTE="tmac200913"]On FL can you sample Like DJ Premier and chop up tracks like he does for his choruses and scratch quotes from other tracks (like how he chops Nas' older ish from Illmatic on Nas Is Like)IsThisIt_basic

you can but it's difficult to use the fl scratcher VST.

Any of you guys ever use the free Turntablist Pro vst? Feature-wise it looks a LOT better than FL Scratcher, and I know the instrument has reached a bit of a cult-status over the years. I just always forget to try it out ... I think I might check it out tonight.

Is that free?

[QUOTE="fat_rob"]sounds like an organ...IsThisIt_basic

Yeah, it's an organ ... if you want that sound, I'd recommend using Native Instruments B4 Organ (modeled after Hammond's legendary B3). I've been using it for years; if you know what you're doing you can easily get that "Runners" sound (ie, the famous organ sound from "Hustlin" and all the other songs The Runners did around that time). It's really a great piece of software.

Edit: n/m I'm getting it now

[QUOTE="IsThisIt_basic"][QUOTE="Constrobuz"]

[QUOTE="tmac200913"]On FL can you sample Like DJ Premier and chop up tracks like he does for his choruses and scratch quotes from other tracks (like how he chops Nas' older ish from Illmatic on Nas Is Like)tmac200913

you can but it's difficult to use the fl scratcher VST.

Any of you guys ever use the free Turntablist Pro vst? Feature-wise it looks a LOT better than FL Scratcher, and I know the instrument has reached a bit of a cult-status over the years. I just always forget to try it out ... I think I might check it out tonight.

Is that free?

It is, though, looking at the web page, I can't say I can figure out how to download it (it hasn't been updated for like four years, so perhaps the link is down). I just happened to have it on a DVD-ROM from Computer Music magazine, so I tried it out last weekend, and I have to say it's pretty damn cool (especially for a free plug-in). I have to imagine that, with a user's manual or just some more time to mess around with it, I could create some pretty cool ****. In any case, it's waaaaaaaaaaay better than Fruity Scratcher.

[QUOTE="IsThisIt_basic"]

[QUOTE="fat_rob"]sounds like an organ...WorstGameEver

Yeah, it's an organ ... if you want that sound, I'd recommend using Native Instruments B4 Organ (modeled after Hammond's legendary B3). I've been using it for years; if you know what you're doing you can easily get that "Runners" sound (ie, the famous organ sound from "Hustlin" and all the other songs The Runners did around that time). It's really a great piece of software.

Edit: n/m I'm getting it now

Yeah, NI's downloads have always been kinda unstable. I do need to check out B4II sometime, though; I've just been using B4 all this time. I wouldn't be surprised if they have a Runners preset on the B4II; I'm sure half the sales of the original B4 are from people trying to create that sound.

This is a copy/paste from my thread as I didn't notice there was a FL thread.

"Heya. Whenever I make a beat on Fruity Loops, are there any other ways to make it sounds a little bit more proffesional like adding any parametric effects and other fancy materials? I've seen other people using Pro Tools and other softwares to enhance the sounds. Any Fruity Loops or beatmakers here? Can you give me some details of what you do whenever you make some beats?

Thanks a lot and best regards. Peace"

This is a copy/paste from my thread as I didn't notice there was a FL thread.

"Heya. Whenever I make a beat on Fruity Loops, are there any other ways to make it sounds a little bit more proffesional like adding any parametric effects and other fancy materials? I've seen other people using Pro Tools and other softwares to enhance the sounds. Any Fruity Loops or beatmakers here? Can you give me some details of what you do whenever you make some beats?

Thanks a lot and best regards. Peace"

Welis

Hey man, welcome to the forum. Your question is a little general; if you could ask a little more specific questions I could give you a little more specific answers ...

Anways, the process that you seem to be referring to is actually two processes; mixing and mastering (done in that order). Mixing involves using effects like EQ, Compression (for effect, such as to make a kick drum sound bigger), and Reverb to enhance your tracks, alongside volume sliders to get the audio to balance just right. And whereas mixing is often done (at least in part) by the producer, mastering is often done by a professional that you would hire. Mastering is just that - perfecting an otherwise finished track, and usually involves bringing your track up to industry standards (albums have gotten percievably louder over the years, and you want to make sure yours falls within today's standards). Mastering involves slight eq changes, as well as compressing the track's dynamics just right, and maybe using a limiter.

FL really has all the plug-ins you need to get started on this ... I'm guessing you're still pretty new in the production game, so I'd recommend messing around with FL's effects for a while; you don't need to mess with anything like Pro Tools until you really know what you're doing.

[QUOTE="Welis"]

This is a copy/paste from my thread as I didn't notice there was a FL thread.

"Heya. Whenever I make a beat on Fruity Loops, are there any other ways to make it sounds a little bit more proffesional like adding any parametric effects and other fancy materials? I've seen other people using Pro Tools and other softwares to enhance the sounds. Any Fruity Loops or beatmakers here? Can you give me some details of what you do whenever you make some beats?

Thanks a lot and best regards. Peace"

 

 

IsThisIt_basic

Hey man, welcome to the forum. Your question is a little general; if you could ask a little more specific questions I could give you a little more specific answers ...

Anways, the process that you seem to be referring to is actually two processes; mixing and mastering (done in that order). Mixing involves using effects like EQ, Compression (for effect, such as to make a kick drum sound bigger), and Reverb to enhance your tracks, alongside volume sliders to get the audio to balance just right. And whereas mixing is often done (at least in part) by the producer, mastering is often done by a professional that you would hire. Mastering is just that - perfecting an otherwise finished track, and usually involves bringing your track up to industry standards (albums have gotten percievably louder over the years, and you want to make sure yours falls within today's standards). Mastering involves slight eq changes, as well as compressing the track's dynamics just right, and maybe using a limiter.

FL really has all the plug-ins you need to get started on this ... I'm guessing you're still pretty new in the production game, so I'd recommend messing around with FL's effects for a while; you don't need to mess with anything like Pro Tools until you really know what you're doing.

 Thanks for answering and thanks for the welcome. And I really apologize for the late respond, I forgot I have posted on this thread. Apologize for it man. 

 Let me go into specific details. 

I am an oldschool type of guy, and I want to make kicks and snares like this song for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96sVwVGqukM&feature=channel_page

My guess is that I think it has something to do with obtaining those kinds of drums and snares, or I can change it with the parametric and reverb effects. 

Do you have any plugins you can recommend me? Really appreicates. And thanks. Peace

[QUOTE="IsThisIt_basic"][QUOTE="Welis"]

This is a copy/paste from my thread as I didn't notice there was a FL thread.

"Heya. Whenever I make a beat on Fruity Loops, are there any other ways to make it sounds a little bit more proffesional like adding any parametric effects and other fancy materials? I've seen other people using Pro Tools and other softwares to enhance the sounds. Any Fruity Loops or beatmakers here? Can you give me some details of what you do whenever you make some beats?

Thanks a lot and best regards. Peace"

Welis

Hey man, welcome to the forum. Your question is a little general; if you could ask a little more specific questions I could give you a little more specific answers ...

Anways, the process that you seem to be referring to is actually two processes; mixing and mastering (done in that order). Mixing involves using effects like EQ, Compression (for effect, such as to make a kick drum sound bigger), and Reverb to enhance your tracks, alongside volume sliders to get the audio to balance just right. And whereas mixing is often done (at least in part) by the producer, mastering is often done by a professional that you would hire. Mastering is just that - perfecting an otherwise finished track, and usually involves bringing your track up to industry standards (albums have gotten percievably louder over the years, and you want to make sure yours falls within today's standards). Mastering involves slight eq changes, as well as compressing the track's dynamics just right, and maybe using a limiter.

FL really has all the plug-ins you need to get started on this ... I'm guessing you're still pretty new in the production game, so I'd recommend messing around with FL's effects for a while; you don't need to mess with anything like Pro Tools until you really know what you're doing.

Thanks for answering and thanks for the welcome. And I really apologize for the late respond, I forgot I have posted on this thread. Apologize for it man.

Let me go into specific details.

I am an oldschool type of guy, and I want to make kicks and snares like this song for example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96sVwVGqukM&feature=channel_page

My guess is that I think it has something to do with obtaining those kinds of drums and snares, or I can change it with the parametric and reverb effects.

Do you have any plugins you can recommend me? Really appreicates. And thanks. Peace

haha, don't worry about the late response ... I'm pretty much only on here on the weekends, so it's not a problem.

For that type of sound you're going for; keep in mind, alot of the time, those beats are being made with sampled drum loops. If you didn't catch it earlier in the thread, be sure to check out PhatDrumLoops (I believe it was WGE or Orlando that pointed out that excellent site). It's a fantastic resource.

And then, for getting your sound right, all I can say is - reference tracks. It's the way I learned how to do pretty much everything I know. Que up a few tracks that have sound you want to emulate and then try to replicate that sound as best as possible.

One of the best approaches to this is to listen really critically to other people's beats, and listen in for a point in the song where an instrument is solo'd (sp?). You might catch a snare with nothing else on top (no vocals, bass, melody, etc). If you can find this, run it through a spectral analyzer - you can then see exactly how it's been EQ'd, and you can then try to replicate it with your own snares. Unfortunately, the chances of catching a solo instrument in old-school, sample-based beats isn't so great, since it revolves around samples, which doesn't really give you the luxury to drop instruments in and out at your own will. But definetely go through some records; you're bound to find something (especially if you have a good collection of instrumentals).

Once you've found a solo'd instrument, I'd recommend using Blue Cat's FreqAnalyst Plug-In (a personal fave of mine) to analyze the frequencies. All the plug-in's on that page were once commercial products, and would definetely be worth paying for imo, but now they're free. Good stuff. As for Parametric EQ's, the ones that come with FL should work just fine.

As for reverb; you generally only want to apply reverb to a specific instrument (just the kick, snare, or hi-hat), not the whole drum loop altogether. Also, you'll probably want to only apply small amounts of reverb for the sound you're going after, to keep the drums sounding reasonably "real"; larger amounts of reverb are usually used on more club-banger friendly tracks for making huge-sounding claps and such.

Finally, another effect you should look into is a bit-crusher. Alot of these old-school songs were made on samplers with really low memory, so the producers had to lower the bit-rate on the samples just to use them. You can replicate that effect by using a bit-crusher. I don't really spend much time making these old-school type songs, so I can't really recommend a specific product to you, but a google search for "bit crusher vst" seems to turn up quite a few results. Also, I believe you can mess with the sample quality rate in Edison in FL.

Hopefully that'll get you started; let me know if you need anything else.

Just started FL and first off great tutorial it's been a lot of help. But I seem to have messed up somehow and on the playlist I can't get individual patterns to show! If you could tell me what I've done it would be a huge help!

If only I could find that sample without drums! :P

Edit: figured out the problem. :lol:

I've recently obtained Fruity Loops 9 Producer Edition and I have one crucial issue. The Edison and SliceX doesn't work. As I try to import song into it for sampling purpose, it doesn't work. Nothing happens. But when I put small samples that is inside my patches folder it works. But songs doesn't work and it is such a letdown as I've been doing great with sampling lately. I might even post a beat on Gamespot soon.

 Waiting for Isthisit_Basic :D 

 Thanks!

Sorry for the late response man.

I don't have FL9 (honestly, at this point, I really can't see any new additions they're gonna come up with that are gonna make me leave FL8 ... it's just everything I need), so if this is a problem unique to FL9, sorry, I can't help you much. And I can't say I've ever had this problem with FL8.

Personally, though, I almost never load samples directly into Edison. What I do is go with (sorry, I don't FL on this computer, so I can't give very thorough instructions) "Add Channel" -> "Sampler" and load my sample into the sampler. Then I right-click the wave-form of the sample and choose "edit". That brings it up in an Edison channel and I can edit it from there. Give that a try.

Sorry for the late response man.

I don't have FL9 (honestly, at this point, I really can't see any new additions they're gonna come up with that are gonna make me leave FL8 ... it's just everything I need), so if this is a problem unique to FL9, sorry, I can't help you much. And I can't say I've ever had this problem with FL8.

Personally, though, I almost never load samples directly into Edison. What I do is go with (sorry, I don't FL on this computer, so I can't give very thorough instructions) "Add Channel" -> "Sampler" and load my sample into the sampler. Then I right-click the wave-form of the sample and choose "edit". That brings it up in an Edison channel and I can edit it from there. Give that a try.

IsThisIt_basic

Later than never and thanks for the response. Well I still haven't figured out the issue, yet whenever I convert any mp3 files into WAV file I can put them into Edison or SliceX and it works. I even tried to install FL8 and try it out to see if this problem only occurs on FL9, but  still no positive result. I don't know what is wrong, could be Windows 7 or else I don't know. It sucks when everytime you want to sample and chop you'll have to go through the convert process thing. However, I tried your solution but it still didn't work but I thank you for your help. 

^^^ Yeah, I use WGE's method quite a bit, too.

If it's a Windows 7 thing, I wouldn't know. Haven't upgraded yet. Hopefully you find a solution, man. I think that's a question for Image-Line.

Wow, great job on the tutorial bud, you went way out of your way to do this. Im not a big fan of fruity loops but i have some friends who make some wicked beats on it and ive tried it in the past aswell.

If we could give props on gamespot I would give you props haha, this is a perfect little tutorial for people just looking to get into makign beats and know very little or nothign about it and dont want to spend a bunch of money right away on programs, hardware,etc...

Keep it up bud!

If you or anyone needs more kits/samples just let me know, I have thousands from differnt studios ive been to over the years. Would not be a problem to upload some (drum kits, keyboard,synth,etc..)

Same here, kozzy! But probably safest to PM 'em.

Also was liking some of those tracks on myspace, illmatic. Listened awhile ago, so can't remember wihch. >_>

Same here, kozzy! But probably safest to PM 'em.

Also was liking some of those tracks on myspace, illmatic. Listened awhile ago, so can't remember wihch. >_>

Foolz3h

thx foolz havent updated my myspace with new music in awhile... man new M-Phazes album is rad!. I almost gave Melbourne a point but like dude -- shame he isn't actually from Melbourne :P.

Posting kits should be fine as long as it isn't flat out drum break samples or licenced kits (which are rare and copy paste anyway) I think it will be safe posting them here.

But posting VSTs/plugins are definitely a no no.

[QUOTE="Foolz3h"]

Same here, kozzy! But probably safest to PM 'em.

Also was liking some of those tracks on myspace, illmatic. Listened awhile ago, so can't remember wihch. >_>

illmatic87

thx foolz havent updated my myspace with new music in awhile... man new M-Phazes album is rad!. I almost gave Melbourne a point but like dude -- shame he isn't actually from Melbourne :P.

Posting kits should be fine as long as it isn't flat out drum break samples or licenced kits (which are rare and copy paste anyway) I think it will be safe posting them here.

But posting VSTs/plugins are definitely a no no.

Bah, we've still got Plutonic Lab at least!

I definitely need to check it out. I'm also interested to see if he's still producing that track on W.A.R. if that ever comes out of course...:(

Wow, great job on the tutorial bud, you went way out of your way to do this. Im not a big fan of fruity loops but i have some friends who make some wicked beats on it and ive tried it in the past aswell.

If we could give props on gamespot I would give you props haha, this is a perfect little tutorial for people just looking to get into makign beats and know very little or nothign about it and dont want to spend a bunch of money right away on programs, hardware,etc...

Keep it up bud!

If you or anyone needs more kits/samples just let me know, I have thousands from differnt studios ive been to over the years. Would not be a problem to upload some (drum kits, keyboard,synth,etc..)

kozzy1234

Thanks man. I'd love to completely re-write the tutorial someday, but I'm sure there's still some useful info in there for people getting started.

And, I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but I'd also be interested in any kits you've got. Checking out those songs you posted a couple weeks back is still on my list of things to do ...

I am unstickying this thread just because it has slowed down and rarely gets posts anymore.

I think maybe just having a Beatmaking thread where people (ITI, constro, WGE, kozzy, etc.) can post all their newest beats/beat tapes and get feedback would be a better idea. And we can still link to this Fruity Loops thread in the first post of the Beatmaking thread for reference, since I know a lot of work went into it.

it doesn't look like this thread gets much business anymore, but lately i've been dabbling in crate digging/sampling a little bit for fun, and i was wondering for any of you guys who use samples, how do you handle drums that are very prominent and loud in the sample? i've found some very interesting loops and chops but i've only been able cut around loud snare drums opposed to how i'd really like to slice. any tips/suggestions?The-Sultan

As I've said a number of times in this thread, I don't mess with sampling much, so I'm really probably not the person to ask here - if anyone has any better advice, please speak up. But I will mention a few things:

One plug-in I like for filtering is a great freeware VST simply called "4 Band Pitch Shifter". Most of what it does you could just as well do with a 4 band (or more) parametric EQ, but I just find this plug-in to be the fastest way to work. I just like to mute three of the bands, and then adjust the frequency of the band I'm listening to so I can quickly hear what's coming in at what frequeny. It makes tracking down what frequencies you need to cut out pretty quick.

Another option would be actually "seeing" what frequencies you need to cut - I like the frequency analyzer from Blue Cat Audio called FreqAnalyst. Blue Cat Audio has some seriously great products available for free, and I've used FreqAnalyst for ages. Looking at the peaks as the drums hit while you play the song should get you a quick idea of what frequencies need to be cut.

Of course, I realize sometimes it's just not possible to cut out the drums without losing other vital elements of the sample. That's where ingenuity comes into play. Sometimes it just means chopping around the drums. Other times it means, instead of taking their drums out, it's making your drums fit their sample. For example, if you pay attention to the loop of Case & Joe's "Faded Pictures" that Mr Lee sampled for Slim Thug's "My *****", you'll notice that the first beat of the loop has a kick drum on it. Now, you can tell Mr Lee didn't filter out that kick (just listen to the beginning of Slim's track, where Mr Lee does filter out the kick drum, and you can tell how much vital frequencies would need to be cut out). The thing is, when it comes to sample material from the 70's and older, the drums are almost always real, acoustic drums, so replicating the drums from a sample can be difficult. But, particularily from the 90's onward, alot of stuff started using drums from drum machines, and that Case/Joe song has a very 808-esque kick. All Mr Lee had to do was try to get his own kick to match up, and bam! - he's got a usable loop.

So those are just a few ideas ... again, not really my area of expertise.

I am unstickying this thread just because it has slowed down and rarely gets posts anymore.

I think maybe just having a Beatmaking thread where people (ITI, constro, WGE, kozzy, etc.) can post all their newest beats/beat tapes and get feedback would be a better idea. And we can still link to this Fruity Loops thread in the first post of the Beatmaking thread for reference, since I know a lot of work went into it.

Orlando_Magic

Yeah man, if I wasn't too lazy to figure out how to (or if I even had the capablities to) unsticky a thread I would've did this a long time ago. I really would love to do more tutorials for this thread, but I just don't have much free time these days, and most of the time I spend on this site goes into discussing rap, so I can't see a whole lot of reason to keep this thread at the top.

I just got FL like last week, and your tutorials helped me alot, ITI. You're a god.

However, I am having problems with the tempo/pitch/measure length,etc. of samples. For example I tried to do a remake of Kid Cidi's The Prayer (dope, but simple beat) and I just couldn't get that loop of The Funeral correct.

Any help is appreciated.

Hey man, glad you like the tutorial. Hope this helps.

Now I don't do most of my sampling this way, but when you start trying to sample more "acoustic" or "natural" - basically, less "computer-ized" material, you run into the problem of trying to make material that doesn't stick rigidly to a set BPM (tempo) and make it stick to a rigid tempo. If you listen to the Kid Cudi track, you'll notice that they have the sample playing 8th notes, perfectly in tempo. Now, the Band of Horses guitarist is probably playing 8th notes too, but it doesn't come out all neat and convinient for you. Thankfully, FL Studio has some tools for this.

So let's start with the beginning of any remake - finding out the tempo of the track we're trying to recreate. FL Studio's analyzer gets Kid Cudi's song a little wrong - "The Prayer" clocks in at exactly 70.000 BPM. And if you line up Cudi's track, you can tell that they're using an 8 beat-long (or, two measures, depending on how you want to look at it) loop:

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/6945/cudi1.jpg

Listen carefully to the Cudi song and the Band of Horses song to hear exactly where the loop is that they sampled (I can't really demonstrate the loop to you visually). Now open up FL's sample editor, Edison, and bring up the Band of Horses sample and trim it to just the loop (use the "Page Up" and "Page Down" keys on your keyboard to zoom in and out):

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/5003/cudi2j.jpg

While you're at it, open up a FL Slicer - we'll be using it in the next step.

Now that you have your loop, choose "Drag/Copy Sample/Selection" and drag the sample into FL Slicer.

http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/5824/cudi3.jpg

FL Slicer automatically slices the sample and resizes it to fit the project you're working on (so even though the Band of Horses sample clocks in at around 60 BPM, and would normally be longer than 8 beats long at 70 BPM, FL Slicer has got us covered). The important thing here is to make sure you've got it set to 8 beats:

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/216/cudi4.jpg

And that's about it man. FL Slicer gets the slicing done pretty well, and it loops as well as you could hope to loop this (if it sounds a bit jarring at first to hear it loop from the end of the sample back to the beginning, listen to Cudi's track again - it sounds abrupt on there too. you just need some drums to drown everything else out, lol). You can adjust some things if you like; personally I reduce a couple unnecessary slices because it sounds a little muddy in the middle of the sample.

Really, there are a lot of ways you could do this, but this route just seems to be the easiest and most efficient. Hopefully I explained everything clearly enough and that helped a bit.

Thanks a lot, man. Helped a lot