Original Message 1/34                 Date: 11-Sep-02  @  07:37 AM   -   Horrible Newbie Questions

Mr. Seasme

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Hyia!

I'm a horrible newbie, and I have questions.
I'm a long time electronic music fan, and ever since I went to my first rave, I have been very interested in mixing some of my own tracks. My problem was that I didn't know where to start. I kind of kicked the idea around for a while, and eventually grabbed "Techno Ejay" from a software store and installed it. The Ejay program is a lot of fun, but I can shake the feeling that assembling pre-recorded samples is a bit lame. I've put together a few songs, but I would really like to get out there and start making some real music. So, the horrible questions are:
What software should I use? (I saw a program with a well known Dj, who was assembling his songs with a computer)
Whenever I see Djs at a rave, they seem to have some hardware (turntables and such) up on stage with them. Do I need to buy a bunch of equipment to get out of the basement and record some decent stuff?
And if the above is true, what sort of things do I buy? I'm sure like everything else, certain kinds of equipment are better than others. Also, I work a low paying job, so I can't blow $1000 on speakers or something.

Well, thanks for reading and possibly responding!
Yours,
Mr. Seasme
"Is that a gun in your violin case, or are you just happy to see me?"

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Message 2/34                 Date: 11-Sep-02  @  08:04 AM   -   RE: Horrible Newbie Questions

influx

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honestly...for NOW...have a look at Orion or Reason

OR...theres always the old cheap hardware samplers

thing is..youre talking about two different things. Do you want to be a DJ (Play other peoples stuff on vinyl or whatever?) or actually write your own tracks?

bedroom productions can be and often are EVERY bit as good as any "pro" stuff..sometimes better!

basically you need:
a sampler (for using odd bits of sounds...drums...mangling other stuff)

a synthesizer or two...soft or hard...to make some cool sounds...

a sequencer to put it all together (do it all in digital audio and you can use plugins for fx)

effects...delay, reverb, other type stuff

its daunting at first...but thats why I say reason or Orion since they both have everything all rolled up into one

but...youd definitely want to go past them eventually as well!

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Message 3/34                 Date: 11-Sep-02  @  08:13 AM   -   RE: Horrible Newbie Questions

dj.dave

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ditto. really recommend Reason for someone in your shoes. But like influx said, make sure you want to be a producer and not a DJ. Sometimes it's not fun being a producer.

psylichon

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Message 4/34                 Date: 11-Sep-02  @  08:41 PM   -   RE: Horrible Newbie Questions

the selecta

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i say set your goals out to have some technic 1200's. Buy records of the music you like. Then learn about the different gear thats used to make that sort of music. Start cheapo samplers and software (reason). Research research! Integrate it all. But, It's important to start with inspiration. So many dislike the idea to not to buy music and play a few records to friends..damn , this gets yo bloodi flowing..it's all about inspiration my friend..buy records, start software(reason demo) etc etc.. use hi-fi system if u have too..for sound source.

Yeah know..1200s will cost ya. But they will last for years! invest! find ways..go naked..buy music and listen to no end..

peace

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Message 5/34                 Date: 11-Sep-02  @  10:38 PM   -   RE: Horrible Newbie Questions

influx

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you dont need 1200s to listen to records

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Message 6/34                 Date: 12-Sep-02  @  12:01 AM   -   RE: Horrible Newbie Questions

Mr. Seasme - computari

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Hey, thanks everyone! I was reading the above posts and was about to ask what the deal was with the seperation of "DJ" and "PRODUCER". I then read this forum about why a guy gets made fun of for DJing with a laptop and no hardware. Weeeeelllll, Maybe if he was writing his own stuff and playing it with a laptop he would get more respect. It seems a lot like running Winamp to me.
I'm gonna go get me some good software! Thanks all.
Mr. Seasme

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Message 7/34                 Date: 12-Sep-02  @  12:39 AM   -   RE: Horrible Newbie Questions

influx

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I hate the word producer..but..you want to WRITE your own music?

and personally I dont see any diff between a laptop and records...as long as there is a human element involved somehow...

aww hell who knows

hey pongoid Im using your quote

"make art out of science not science out of art"

you better tell me now if it was you who thunk it up!

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Message 8/34                 Date: 12-Sep-02  @  06:53 AM   -   RE: Horrible Newbie Questions

Mr. Seasme

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Call me crazy, but yeah, I would like to lay down the tracks that other people spin. Hell, I would spin them myself, but I tend to be the "Bull in a china closet" type, so I don't know if I'm smooth enough to play with all that stuff up on stage. If by "write your own" you mean down to the paper, no samples used by other people, "composer" style, I'm not that hardcore. I would really just like to be able to take the different parts that make up that pulsating euphoria that we call music, and assemble them in a way that strikes a chord with me, and hopefully listeners. Be the parts things I record, or bits I borrow from others who I respect. Maybe I got my concepts crossed, but thats what I want to do.
That's where the music comes from, does it not?

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Message 9/34                 Date: 12-Sep-02  @  11:09 AM   -   RE: Horrible Newbie Questions

influx

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I didnt ask you if you wanted to annotate scores, did I? 

I just meant the difference between composing and DJing...

whatevers clever. I would hope that you would want it to be as much yours as possible, bottom line, but the whole damn thing is based on sampling mostly, so pretty much anything is game

just. be. creative.

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Message 10/34                 Date: 13-Sep-02  @  01:39 AM   -   RE: Horrible Newbie Questions

bl_nd

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if you are taking loops from your favorite records and arranging them together to make mixes and new songs, then you may want to consider sonic foundry's ACID ... i've seen many a dj buy that program and get working fast.

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