Music Production Made Simple

In this episode I talk to you about VELOCITY.

Velocity is one of the ORGANIC TOOLS from my SAFE SPOTS Book.

There are actually many ORGANIC TOOLS, which come FREE inside of any reputable music program, and it’s really important you learn about ORGANIC TOOLS because they are the foundation of music production when using MIDI (if you are using VSTs.. Virtual Instruments, or One-Shot Drum Samples to make your drum loops).

Further, I explain that the louder you press a piano note, or strike a guitar string, it still produces the same PITCH, but gives you a different TIMBRE (pronounced TAMBER).

(To learn more about sound design and timbre, please view my Sound Design Basics 101 course).

Inside Sound Design Basics 101 Course I teach you that timbre is like Neapolitan icecream. If you press a note on a piano soft or loud, you are still hitting the same note, which produces the same pitch, but you will get a different sound. In comparison to Neapolitan ice cream, it comes with three different flavors. When you eat either Vanilla, Chocolate, or Strawberry, the texture is the exact same, but the flavor is different.

It’s the exact same thing when you press a note soft or loud on a piano, or select a sine-wave or a square-wave in your synth. You play the same pitch, but get a different sound (timbre)!!!

Once you understand how VELOCITY works inside your music program, and that when you press a note on your MIDI Keyboard, that it sends both the VELOCITY (0-127) and the note it self (A4 for example), then you will start to understand that VELOCITY adjusts not only volume, but it can be used as a very powerful tool to trigger a different sound, which still produces the same pitch, but gives us a different timbre.

To learn more about VELOCITY, and the ORGANIC TOOLS, read my SAFE SPOTS Book to gain a strong understanding of the core fundamentals of becoming a good music producer and take advantage of MIDI, and the ORGANIC TOOLS (which are free), inside FL Studio!

The book can be bought on Amazon by searching “SAFE SPOTS Riley Weller”, or on my website for the eBook version, which there is a bundle to grab the SAFE SPOTS Course and the drum samples used for the best experience.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:

https://itsGratuiTous.com/podcast/s2e10-velocity-makes-the-difference/

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Quantizing is a very powerful technique for an extremely fast workflow while making beats.

Quantizing is not limited to only FL Studio, it is a part of the ORGANIC TOOLS which I teach you in my SAFE SPOTS book https://itsGratuiTous.com/safespots/.

There are two strong opinions towards quantizing.. that is do not quantize, and fix it by manually note-nudging (which is fine for drum loops, or smaller melodies)..

But once you start playing bigger melodies with many notes, manually adjusting every single note becomes extremely time-consuming in the beatmaking process.. where time is of the essence, and you want to quickly move onto your next sound and melody to continue building off the initial melody you created.

FL Studio allows for many ways to quantize, but the two I talk about in this episode are Quick Quantize (CTRL +Q).. this adjust BOTH the beginning and end of a note, which can be powerful, depending on the melody you have played, and the sound selected.

However, I have started to favor Quick quantize start times (SHIFT + Q). This will adjust the beginning of your notes to grid, helping them to be on time with the beat. Sometimes you may still have to drag a note left or right to line it up properly, but you will discover that this is an extremely fast workflow to get the sound you want, howbeit, maybe a bit too “robotic”.

To get the sound you want, WITHOUT sounding robotic, definitely read my  SAFE SPOTS Book https://itsGratuiTous.com/safespots/, which will teach you about sound placement, and the ORGANIC TOOLS which are FREE inside of any DAW, and are the core tools beatmakers must learn to use to become a good well-rounded producer.

I hope you enjoyed the episode about Quantizing in FL Studio, and if you should do Quantize or just manually note-nudge. (I like to quantize, then manually note-nudge afterwards for a much faster workflow).

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Being a music producer, you will see GREAT results in your first months, but once you start getting better.. you may not see such big increases in your skills. Keep at it, and do not give up, because the next time you do feel improvements with your music, you will be so happy you continued!!

You will CONSTANTLY be faced with these UPS and DOWNS as a music producer, so I tell you in this episode to be prepared for them, and we battle these ups and downs through education and practice.

Be prepared for new courses coming soon to my beatmaking training platform (https://itsGratuiTous.com/courses/).. the new equipment is on its way, which I spent all last weekend researching.. (over 14 hours of research!).. but it will allow me to have reliable equipment for the long-term (hopefully!)

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EPISODE RESOURCES:

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The main reason I wanted to make this episode is to share that after starting to teach beatmaking education with FL Studio (https://itsGratuiTous.com/courses) full time, mindset and self-discipline are at an all time high for myself!

If you are wanting to somehow be involved in the music industry full time, you get the flexibility of more time, but you also get the weight of doing most of the work yourself!

This require knowledge and preparation in MANY AREAS rather than just knowing how to make music..

It’s important to be aware of your “Producer Health Meter”.. and question how you are feeling, where you are at, and maybe it’s time for a break.

Take that walk, read that book, or maybe play that video game for that hour or two that you need.

Just remember, you need to come back to do the work, but it’s about being prepared to do the work, with a well-rested mind.

If you rush things, that’s usually what your end result will be.. rushed.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:

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It’s SUPER OVERWHELMING starting to learn music production.

There are so many videos on YouTube.. and it’s hard to know what’s the best approach to learn how to make beats without guidance and direction.

This is the second interview with Avadar, who has been a student of my platform for over 12 months now.. He has come a tremendously far way, and I’m so proud of him. He has completed almost all 26 of my FL Studio courses.. what an accomplishment!

Make sure to check out the COURSE PATHWAYS page (https://itsGratuiTous.com/course-pathways/) to see how to start taking my FL Studio courses.

This interview will help you make wiser decisions in your early months of learning beatmaking in FL Studio.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:

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This episode also has a video.. not all episodes do, but you can see when I apply certain techniques.. (https://itsGratuiTous.com/podcast/s2e5-examples-of-low-end-bass-clashing/)

The low-end of your song is make-it-or-break-it.

If your low-end sucks, you song will never be at its BEST!

It honestly comes down to wise sound selection to achieve the absolute best sounding mix, but wise sound selection is also luck of the draw.. you cannot perfectly select the right sounds every beat.. you can be mindful of it, but when the right sound selection does happen, you will instantly know it… your beat becomes much easier to mix, the arrangement just works, and the beat is more fun to work with than usual.

In this episode, we build off the previous S2E4 on SHORT-TAILED and LONG-TAILED DRUMS(https://itsGratuiTous.com/podcast/s2e4-short-tailed-and-long-tailed-drums/). I wanted to now break down how low-end bass sounds when it clashes.

When you play a kick drum with a long-tail too fast, its tail overlaps on itself, and essentially a bunch of duplicated audio gets played for a short bit until all drums are done playing. (The example was hard to hear in this example, sorry, but there was a difference.)

This instantly messes up your song’s bass, and overall balance of your mix, because the bass will either be WAY louder for a second, or it entirely skews the low-ends phase response.. giving you that horrible wobble sound.

The final example I gave you is when we use different notes on our bass that overlap.

This overlap can happen if the RELEASE is TOO LONG on our BASS’s ADSR when we talk about sound design, or it can be when we change notes on our 808’s.

To prevent bass overlap, we can use Cut Itself.. it’s really easy in FL Studio.. simply right-click any sound in the Channel Rack, and select Cut Itself.

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Heads up.. I recorded this in video format as well (https://itsGratuiTous.com/podcast/s3e4-short-tailed-and-long-tailed-drums/)

Listen to real examples of LONG-TAILED and SHORT-TAILED drums in this episode! You will hear how they sound, and when to use them for a solid drum loop. (Something you'll learn is LONG-TAILED kick drums can clash with your bassline if you're not careful, because they both live in the same frequency spectrum, right?)

Ask yourself this question.. do you REALLY know how to use the different types of sounds (https://itsGratuiTous.com/product-category/sounds) within your music? Yes, we're talking about MAKING DRUM LOOPS in this podcast episode, but the concept applies to both your drum loops and MELODIES!

Knowing how to use your sounds is tremendously important, and will only come with time as you play your piano keys (https://itsGratuiTous.com/product/piano-lessons-for-producers/) with your virtual instruments (https://itsGratuiTous.com/my-favorite-vsts-for-fl-studio/).

And I'll give you a pro tip like I talk about in my Creating Organic Beats course.. (https://itsGratuiTous.com/product/creating-organic-beats/) which is making use of OCTAVES to take advantage of the frequency spectrum.. (I teach you about OCTAVES in the (Piano Lessons for Producers Course), and the frequency spectrum in my SAFE SPOTS book about drum loops (https://itsGratuiTous.com/product/safe-spots-book/).)

So tune into this episode, and learn the power of learning to make your own beats from scratch.. and knowing about LONG-TAILED and SHORT-TAILED drums are a fundamental part of knowing that, if you want your mixes to sound clean, and hit hard.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:

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Is making beats something you do for fun as a hobby, or is it something that you would like to make a career out of?

It's important you decide early on in your music career, otherwise it will always fight you while you are at work.

If it's for fun, keep it as such. If it's for a career, you will need to start reading about online business, and learning the essentials required to have a long-term foot in the music industry (and online business industry).

I quickly talk to you about a really cool trick in FL Studio, that not many people know about, and it's Spare State. It allows you to Store in spare state, then you can Flip with spare state. (This allows ANY PLUGIN to have A/B comparison for powerful mixing!!!)

If you were confused about the A/B state and FL Wrapper, then please view the episode on my website (https://itsGratuiTous.com/podcast/s2e3-taking-music-production-seriously/). I include an image of where to access this Spare state within FL Studio's plugin window.

I talk a lot about A/B comparison throughout my blog (https://itsGratuiTous.com/blog/), podcast, and courses (https://itsGratuiTous.com/courses/).

This allows you to switch back and forth between changes you've applied on EQ or Compression, and can really help you nail in the proper settings. (And I even mention in the episode that A/B gives you two options, but you actually have a third option, which is OFF/ON.. OFF/ON is like the BEFORE, then you have Version 1 which is A, then Version 2 which is B).

So, if you use a plugin in FL Studio that does not have A/B, now you can use this trick!

You will also hear my interview I had with James, a member who was so happy he found my beatmaker training platform. The interview is available on video as well here (https://itsGratuiTous.com/member-interview-4/).

I hope you enjoy the interview, and the A/B tip.

I plan to start recording this 5 GOLDEN PILLARS OF MUSIC PRODUCTION course very soon, and it will be added to the platform of my other FL Studio courses (https://itsGratuiTous.com/courses/).

Stay tuned!

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EPISODE RESOURCES:

Member Interview #4 - JAMES [GEAR LUST]: https://itsGratuiTous.com/member-interview-4/

Piano Lessons for Producers [COURSE]: https://itsGratuiTous.com/product/piano-lessons-for-producers/

SAFE SPOTS [Book + Course + Sounds BUNDLE]: https://itsGratuiTous.com/product/safe-spots-bundle/

NUMBER PAD COURSE: https://itsGratuiTous.com/product/the-number-pad-in-fl-studio/

Watch ALL My FL Studio Courses [BEATMAKER TRAINING PLATFORM]: https://itsGratuiTous.com/courses/

DOWNLOAD MY FREE 5 KEYS BOOK: https://itsGratuiTous.com/5keys

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Sticking to one DAW (digital audio workstation) will tremendously speed up your knowledge of beatmaking in your early years. (Your early years are very important to absorb as much information as possible, because you are new, things are fun, and you are like a sponge.. looking for all the valuable information out there).

But I totally get it...

When new, you see so many tutorials out there, and you think, "Oh, I need that DAW.. or that VSTi (https://itsGratuiTous.com/my-favorite-vsts-for-fl-studio/), or that Drum Kit (https://itsGratuiTous.com/product-category/drum-kits/)".. And it's hard, because you definitely need some of these tools, but the trick is knowing the good tools, and the tools that work for you. That will allow you to avoid GEAR LUST, like explained in Music Production Made Simple Podcast - Episode 1 of Season 2 (https://itsGratuiTous.com/podcast/s2e1-welcome-back-and-combating-gear-lust/).

I do suggest new producers try different DAWs when starting out, to see what they like, but eventually, you HAVE TO SETTLE DOWN.. otherwise you'll waste too much time trying to learn the music program, rather than LEARNING HOW TO MAKE BEATS! (Which is the end goal, right?)

You'll also spend a lot of money if you are using multiple DAWs, and you'll just spin your wheels without moving very far.

If you are struggling with your beatmaking, I encourage you to try FL Studio (https://itsGratuiTous.com/which-version-of-fl-studio-should-you-buy/). Their LIFETIME free updates are absolutely amazing, and their support team is wonderful.

I'm here to help you learn how to make beats with FL Studio, as I'm now an approved FL Studio trainer, and have my Beatmaker Training Platform (https://itsGratuiTous.com/courses/) with tons of FL Studio courses. (There's also a questions area where you can ask me questions when you're a member, and I'll respond back fast!)

Remember, it's usually the lack of the producer's abilities and skills, rather than the capabilities of the DAW. You have to put your time in to learn this craft of beatmaking, and if you do, you will truly feel the true reward of saying, "Yes, I made that beat from scratch!". (And yes, FL Studio is more than capable to be called your only DAW you use, just like I do!)

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EPISODE RESOURCES:

LEARN YOUR GEAR Page:

SAFE SPOTS (Drum Loop Curriculum by GratuiTous):

What Version of FL Studio to Buy:

GratuiTous' Beatmaker Training Platform:

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Welcome back to Season 2 of Music Production Made Simple by GratuiTous!

I spent the last year re-organizing the website, and preparing to do beatmating education full time.

In Episode 1 of Season 2, I explain a lot new content I have released, a new member interview #4, and how to purchase your music equipment properly to prevent GEAR LUST!

Make sure to visit the website to experience my Beatmaker Training Platform for yourself at:

P.S. – I recently became an FL Studio Trainer, and have released BEAT TAPES By GratuiTous Vol. 9! https://itsGratuiTous.com/music/beat-tapes-by-gratuitous-vol-9/

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EPISODE RESOURCES:

Member Interview #4:

Selecting the Right Plugins as a Music Producer:

A Specific Music Production Folder [COURSE]:

Piano Lessons for Producers [COURSE]:

How to Make Beats in FL Studio (FREE VIDEO + ARTICLE):

BEAT TAPES By GratuiTous Vol. 9:

Beatmaker Training Platform [All My FL Studio Courses]:

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