Didn't see a thread so figured I'd start one. I'm pretty new to producing but look forward to getting better. I haven't made much yet because I've been mostly learning Ableton, collecting samples and trying to learn how to make drum beats better. I should have my Akai MPK Mini midi keyboard in the mail tomorrow. Making melodies and so on is a pain without it.

Anyway, just seeing if there is anyone around 2+2 that produce EDM. If so show off some of your tracks, list what DAW you are using along with your favorite plugins or equipment.

I've been making EDM on and off for about 10 years as a hobby but don't have anything uploaded at the moment. I suck at finishing songs but have been playing around with some new workflow ideas for songwriting that will hopefully let me post something ITT in the not too distant future. I listen to most types of music but end up making mostly trance because that's what I enjoy the most.

I used to use a bunch of cracked stuff but went legit a few years back, which has left me with a pretty limited setup. I got Studio One by Presonus and Rob Papen's Predator right away when I decided to start paying for my software and haven't really expanded on that. At first I didn't feel any need to and then I've just needed to spend my money elsewhere. It can be a bit limiting at times when it comes to getting a track finished but for the songwriting process it's all I need.

Hopefully some other people will join the thread as well and we can all start learning from each other. I'm not an expert by any means but at least I've picked up a few things over the years, so if you have questions just ask them and maybe I'll either be able to help or someone else will chime in.

Do you have a genre you tend to gravitate towards btw? Which artists influence you?

Good thread idea.

I have done some EMP myself, also using an Akai MPK49. I would have loved to get the full 88 key version but they hadn't released that yet when I got mine. I'm still quite happy with the 49 though. I have used it in studio and also on stage a few times, using it to trigger samples via Transfuser (within Pro Tools), Structure, or just as synth leads, drum beats via the pads, etc. Anyway, I think you are going to enjoy it. I too am like Rythm where I tend to start writing a track, get ADD, start another and then fail to finish the last one. I do have a couple finished tracks that aren't uploaded anywhere but maybe I'll get around to doing that and posting here.

I listen to every kind of music but mostly Dubstep these days. I guess a lot of people call what I like "brostep" lol. I like it with some vocals and good melodies. I'm not really into the stuff where it's just all wobble bass.

That said, I think when it comes to producing I find myself wanting to make House music or Trance and not Dubstep so much for some reason. Right now I'm just experimenting with everything though. I want to start learning how to play keyboard because right now I am just finding myself screwing around until I play something that sounds good. If I knew scales and chord progression it would save a lot of time and a lot more melodies that I can make.

I have some stuff in the works that just needs to be mixed and mastered. Waiting on monitors. The speakers ive been using since selling my mackies are horrible and my headphones have seen better days.

I've been getting semi involved in edm productions lately as a lot of people seem to need their stuff mixed and mastered where I am.

Here's some "brostep" I mastered recently that did ok in the blogosphere/got on hype machine. http://soundcloud.com/dr-ozi/bad-pit...an3lik3-dr-ozi

I mix for a few drum and bass guys, people who do electro, down tempo electronica, and tons of other genres too but I think a good dubstep can definitely be exciting and fun in the right circumstance. I try not to hate any type of music, it's limiting.

Started making electronic music a few months ago. Won some $$ playing roulette and bought an Akai mpk49 and mpd26. Im running reason 5 on my MacBook and am liking it so far. Would like to move to Ableton eventually as I hear it's pretty much the nuts.

Made this song the other day after sampling some audio from some pron. Awesome, I know. The end was my favorite part.

http://soundcloud.com/elronncee/elrotica

Despite it not really being the type of music I'd normally listen to, I like it quite a bit. My favorite part is probably the intro and I generally like how things progress throughout the song, with the exception of the part right after the intro which feels a little flat and out of place somehow.

I think starting that section with the cutoff on the mid-bass set pretty low and gradually opening the filter might make for a smoother transition from the intro. If you coupled that with some lfo-modulation, or a similar effect with automation, I think you could really add some dynamics and a sense of progression to the section between 20 seconds and 1 minute (when the first female vocal sample comes in).

One other thing I'd suggest doing something about is the section between 1:22 and 1:50. It feels a little static somehow and could probably use some subtle automation of some kind to liven things up a little.

http://soundcloud.com/l-r-d-g/l-r-d-...gh-august-2005

Ignore the vox in the intro of the live set. We loved the intro but regret allowing it to be shat into.

The other two tracks were done entirely by my mate on only the ER1

I hope you enjoy some of it; I'm sure there's something for every taste.

We made desert techno, punk style on:
Roland MC-909
Korg electribes - ER1 / EMX1 / ES1
Various sundries

Thanks for the feedback, I really appreciate it and am glad you enjoyed it.

Like I said, I'm only a few months into making music digitally so some of the things you suggested are simply beyond my capabilities as of right now. At least I think they are. Maybe I am capable and just don't realize it.

I think what I try to focus on the most is having a consistent flow through the course of a song, and of course the build up. I may be focusing on those two things a little too much and giving less focus on some of the more subtle parts of a song.

Either way, I'm glad I found this thread and plan on posting all of my projects in here and hope that all of the other 2p2 producers plan to do the same.

I've been producing in FL Studio 10 for the past few months. I just make a bunch of random shiz that spans a variety of genres. Lately, I've been really into Moombahton and trance. I use an oxygen 25 sometimes (but I'm pretty lame and need to actually learn more about it to get some solid results).

http://live.deadmau5.com/ - It's a cool place to watch DeadMau5 making tracks in real time. He's also just a funny dude IMO.

I want to learn much more about FM synthesis and mixing/mastering, so if anyone has any good tips (besides youtube), I'd appreciate it quite a bit. Quite a lot of trouble getting sounds that are decent sounding in my DAW to sound good iPodding or on soundcloud.

http://soundcloud.com/rcwillie1 - newer stuff is more passable, but it's cool to see a progression from the beginning things I made.

Pretty glad this thread has started up, I was too lazy to do it a while ago. Any criticism is welcome, I'm trying to get better with every piece I make.

I've been using FL Studio for about 10 years now. I recommend you try out the demos of both Ableton Live and FL Studio, try to figure out which workflow works best for you. Open up the demo songs and try to figure out what's going on. Don't get caught up in equipment buying hype, all you need is a computer, some headphones and patience to learn.

Once you've become more comfortable with your chosen DAW, it's extremely worth it to invest in some studio monitors and an audio interface. But that's completely unnecessary in the beginning, especially at the skill level you'll start out at.

Here's my Soundcloud:
http://soundcloud.com/prelinger

What hype?

Hardwear>software IMO

Have a look at the beautiful valves in the electribe EMX1. No programme will give you the same valve compressed fat round sounds.

This is exactly the problem with the current state of music....

Care to elaborate?

Yeah I will but don't have time to at the moment. Will report back later.

Glad I found this thread. I'm a self taught drummer and have been playing for about 12 years. Im looking to get into EMP. I have messed around on garageband a few times but havent dug deep into how to use it.

I play a little bit of guitar, piano and ukulele but my skill level is nowhere near to what I am with drumming. My influences are Bonobo, Boards of Canada, The Album Leaf and usually listen to ambient when Im not listening to electronic.

If anyone could give me tips on where to start, free softwares, anything that would help me understanding what this is all about I'd really appreciate it. Here's a song I created on garageband this past weekend. Don't hate too much.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ8OmzcVTVI

Love Bonobo. Him and Blockhead are what got me into producing in the first place. As a former drummer myself, Bonobo has a special place in my musical library.

I didn't listen to the original song you covered, but I liked what you made.

As for tips on where to start, it's difficult because everyone is different in how they learn best. For me, my best friend had been producing for a couple of years before I actually got into it. I would watch him and he would explain what he was doing.

Him and I are both pretty musically inclined, although he is a WAY better guitar player than I am, I think it's a big head start for anyone to have at least some sort of rhythm or musical talent.

I obtained a free copy of Reason 5 from a friend so I was pretty lucky in that regard as daw's are pretty expensive. I learned best by just doing. Trial and error really. See what works and try to figure out why it works. Also a big resource in learning for me is YouTube. I can't express this enough. Watch videos of other people doing what your trying to do. If you can't figure out how to produce a certain sound you may want, look it up. There are endless resources for producers on the internet and I fully suggest finding as many as you can.

One in particular for me because I'm using Reason is boyinaband.com.
Although Dave (boyinaband) is INCREDIBLY annoying and sometimes I have to mute him and just watch what he's doing, he taught me more in a month of watching his videos than I had tried to learn on my own in 2-3 months. There are plenty of tutorials out there from people using all sorts of daw's, so whatever one you decide to use, I'm sure you will be able to find tutorials.

Good luck and don't hesitate to post any tunes in this thread.

I dug it, nice work. Maybe I'm hearing a little too much of the room if I was trying to think of a criticism. Close mic'ing can help with that. Taking a line-in of the mic'd guitar stuff might allow you more options later in the mix.

If you wanted to take it a step further, I'd start by tweaking the guitar tone a little bit with some simple eq/compression.

On the topic of boards of canada - I have a dave smith tetra and someone designed a really good smeared piano patch that sounds exactly like some of their stuff. Really cool sound

Start here IMO:

http://techno.org/electronic-music-guide/

nice thread.
i have 2 official releases on beatport but i didn't continue to be involved since i had job issues etc.
last year i created these two babies but didn't release them on any label.

ableton+native instruments=da nuts

genre:electro/techno/experimental

http://soundcloud.com/fake-rebel

That 2nd track is pretty cool man. Post it on the techno thread in 4L too.

Very cool songs, a bit outside the box

What exactly goes into getting a song onto beatport?
Something like you need a label and an official release and such?

Which parts of Komplete 8 are the nuttiest to you?

2nd one is cooler i think , thanks.

getting a song into beatport is all about emailing a bunch of record labels with a demo.
you dont expect to get any money out of it. a friend of mine made some huge hits played by marcus schultz, he got like 50$ for each so its only a hobby.
if ur into it be sure to email specialized labels for exact genre. for example, i sent the 2nd song to some prominent electro labels, feedback i got was that it rocked but they couldn't have it in their catalog cause it didn't match exactly their style.


komplete 8..i love them all, but the most harsh electro sounds come from massive. also reaktor has some crazy sound machines. battery is just another drum machine but its good and fm/absynth are o.k but not something special.

I'd say the way to make your money then is on the live scene, just like other bands. If your stuff is being played by dj's then you could make decent money playing live. A respected producer could make upwards of 600 euros a gig and you'll pay 5k to hire Richie Hawtin just to dj.

I really have no idea what the most popular tracks on the dancefloor make from record sales.