Hey Everyone,

I'm new to all of this production stuff but I'm really interested. I went all out bought a new MacPro, 30" LCD, ProTools MBoxPro2, Novation Remote 37SL. I now realize I could have probably just used my PC and some cheap keyboard, but hey what the hell .


I have been mostly messing with GarageBand. However, I think I'm going to sit down and really learn Reason. It seems pretty powerful for making electronic music. I have been messing around with it but I'd really appreciate if someone could help point me in the right direction. I understand if you dont want to type out a reply to my questions but if you could just point me at some keywords related to what I want to do so I can look it up. That would be great! Also any dvd's or other training you could direct me to would be awesome.

Questions:

1 .What is the best way to fix the music parts to be on time? I know quantize has something to do with it but I'm not sure I fully understand.

2. What is the best way to compose a beat/pattern? Once I get a few bars recorded, how can I duplicate it and keep it in time? (in garage band I'd just stretch it to have it repeat)

Any other beginning tips would be great. I'm new to reason and music production in general. I would love to possibly work on some remixes if any one wants to calabo and dont mind working with a newbie.

Thanks,

power949

Power I would love to help you!

First I'd recommend the ebook reason 3 power and the tutorial dvd ask video's reason 3.0.

Okay for question 1, quantize allows you to kind of "tighten up" your samples or sounds you have selected according to what measurement you have its quantize on. Although I find that quantizing can make the sounds too close together so if you want to make a song that sticks on time I'd suggest to keep on the snap to grid option on (The little magnet on the sequencer).

For question number 2. There is no "best way" to compose music. I'd say like for question number 1 when you're a beginner just use the snap option to keep the beats on time. However when if you get a midi keyboard and begin to dwell in that, I'd suggest using the quantize on that because then you can make sure your notes are in sync with the overall song. If you want a drum pattern then use the redrum device and load up some samples or patches(which already have samples loaded) for you genre and press run.

For the collab question, I usually just stay within the hip hop genre but maybe we could do something together, it never hurts to try something different. If you have anymore questions feel free to answer.

Hope that helps. _SG_

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Lol I put feel free to answer instead of feel free to ask....well you get what i mean anyway

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Hey guys,

SG are you sure the quantize brings notes closer together? I thought that depending on the position of the notes they could actually move further apart. My understanding is that quantize shifts the notes a percentage closer to the snap you have set. So if you set it at 1/32 and quantize at100% then the notes will move to the nearest snap of 1/32. In the same breath if you quantize at 5% then the notes will move 5% closer to the snap you have set. So they could move further apart just as often as they move closer together. Depends on how good your keyboard playing is

I recommend using a low percentage (5% - 10%) and then repeat the quantize untill the timing sounds right for that instrument. The notes don't need to be bang on the money. SG I know you write Hip Hop and timing is very very important but if your writing a different style of music a looser quantize could work better. Keep an eye on your instrument attack/release settings this could often be the fix your timing rather than quantize.

To repeat a pattern simply copy and paste it in your sequencer. Make sure you have the snap on 1 bar/1/2 bar etc.

Compositions vary depending on the style of music and your personal preference. No one can tell you how to do that. You can't compose a 12 minute club track the same way you compose a 3 1/2 minute radio friendly rock song.

Hope this helps.

Yes you're right, I was just trying to explain it in a way he could understand it. But most of the time I find it tightens my notes but yes quantizing doesn't have to do that. It snaps the notes in place according to your measurements. Thanks for pointing that out.

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wow. I didn't get an email so I thought no one replied to this. Just checked today and saw the helpfull replies. Thanks SG.

Hey thanks Nutts too. But youre welcome man, feel free to come back to this forum for anymore questions you might have.

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lol

Hey, thanks to NUTTS as well

Man its frustrating trying to learn all this stuff. It's like too many options and most of the sounds suck but slow me down. I need like a refill dedicated to RnB sounds and dance sounds. Oh well, I just gotta be persistent. Any one recommend any refills for Trance or RnB/Rap? Looking for sounds from the "G-funk era" if you know what I mean.

Oh man I know what you mean me and my friend just started an rnb beat today and I've noticed i have no real good refills for rnb it took us two hours to even get a good loop. So I'm searching for one too, so if anybody knows one LET US KNOW. If i do find a good one I'll be sure to post its name.

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