I need some advice on how to start making music

[orchid lantern]

@steady trail will be unmuted <t:1689355520:R>

Case number 78323

[void inlet]

He was muted

Lmfao

[sly frigate]

Oi

[steady trail]

I'm currently trying to get into making music and I'm using BandLab (yes i know, It's not the best software but i dont want to spent money on making music just yet). I have absolutely no knowlege on where to start.

I was thinking I should start with the beat but idk what or how I'm gonna make the beat. I'm trying to replicate the music style of BoyWithUke (there is a video of a good example attached to this) and I would probably use some ukulele in it aswell.

It would be really cool if anyone would be able to help :)

there we go

[cedar gate]

I would suggest just making projects to work on production and coming up with ideas and to get to know your DAW. Another tip is to watch videos of people recreating or making songs that are similar to the artist you want to replicate.

But if you want help here to make BoyWithUke songs i guess i can try

[orchid lantern]

@sick pond will be unmuted <t:1689449053:R>

Case number 78387

[sick pond]

i will keep it short to not het muted

[sick pond]

learn sound selection, learn scales and chords

[smoky juniper]

I'll just add on to this: knowing basic drums will help a ton

At least an on the 4 beat. Of which, the video you sent primarily uses

Bandlab, I was an old user, has a pretty wide selection of drums, but you can just stick with generic electronic drums as that's what you sent used

[smoky juniper]

Have you found any good resources on how to use bandlab? If not, I can give some basic tips

[steady trail]

Yeah I've watched like one or two beginner guides so I know what the interface looks like but they didn't teach me what makes a good beat

[sick pond]

Clap/Snare on every second beat, for more dancy stuff just put the kick on every beat

Pretty simple and works if u need a dancy rythm

[smoky juniper]

Probably a better question is if you know the fundamental music terms. Beat, chords, scales, and more of the such

[steady trail]

Nah I don't really know that and I think those are the main things I need to know

[smoky juniper]

Alright well this is a solid start to general music theory https://youtu.be/n2z02J4fJwg

I don't think it talks about "beats" in music so imma just conjure something up real quick

[smoky juniper]

So as for beats, most western music follow a time signature

this is kind of like a way to measure a chunk of music (such chunks are called bars or measures)

the most common time signature is 4/4 (4 4th notes a measure)

that denominator indicates the composition's beat

so here I have a basic project

everytime you hear a cymbal play, that's a "beat" going off

every time you hear the loud cymbal play, that's a start of a new bar as well as it's first beat

bro I'm literally trying to export like 15 seconds of audio with bandlab and it's literally not even working, I literally hate this website 💀

[steady trail]

Wow thanks a lot

[smoky juniper]

Anyways, an on the 4 beat is when you have a kick on the first and third beat and snare on the second and 4th beat

In bandlab's drum machine, that'd look like this

and that'd sound like 0:00-0:08

the next common thing is to get cymbals. For such, hi-hats are often used

In bandlab's drum machine, that'd be the top 3 things

[smoky juniper]

You can hear me playing a basic hi-hat pattern at 0:15

And that pattern looks like this

[steady trail]

Wow this is really a lot more help than I thought I'd get

Thanks a lot <3

I'll make sure to try that out tmrw (it's like 10 pm here rn)

[smoky juniper]

It's important to know that an on the 4 beat isn't the only way to write drums. A good rule of thumb is that as long as you have a snare on the second and fourth beat, you can go crazy with the kick and hi-hats

[steady trail]

I tried making drums with the "New wave" (I think it's called like that) kit and not the Electro Pop. I'll try that out aswell

[smoky juniper]

And sometimes you can go off that snare rule if you just go twice as fast

[smoky juniper]

Well it shouldn't matter toooooo much. A drum groove should sound just as good as another.

Once you branch out to other genres, sure, but rn just getting a drum groove down is important

[smoky juniper]

One last thing: drums are usually a background element, so when making a full track, it's great to have cool-sounding drums, but don't forget that such coolness can interfere with other stuff: vocals, synths, keys, etc

[steady trail]

You really do deserve music mentor

[smoky juniper]

haha, I appreciate it, but tbh, this isn't really groundbreaking. The only reason I got mentor wasn't because of my music skill (I'm actually a little below average), I was just very active in the server before

At this point, ivg and vubo probably deserve it more than me

[cedar gate]

Isnt the most important part that you can help people?

[void inlet]

Yea

Helping and giving feedback

[fallow violet]

thing is I’m very inactive