Can you guys offer me some basic advice?

[Michael chaney]

Hey guys. This is my first time posting on this forum and I’ve been working on being able to mix my own sounds. Right now I’ve just been getting the hang of mic placement for the kind of music I wanna make.



Here’s a draft of one of my riffs and guitar tones. My question is where do I go from here? I have FL studios and can load some drum samples on there to add drums, and I can use boo bass until I’m able to pick up a bass guitar. Can anyone offer some advice to point me in the right direction?

 

[kapu]

Experiment, experiment, experiment.

I'd recommend starting with Reaper/Cubase/Pro Tools, because most of your future collaborators will be using them. Or if using a Mac computer then getting Logic Pro is a no-brainer for it's cheap price and huge sound library. There are also lots of rock/metal related video tutorials available for them. I don't have any experience with FL Studio. Last time I tried it I believe it was called Fruityloops 2.0 or something, so who knows today it might be totally capable software. Getting a cheap and simple MIDI-keyboard will help punching in beats and chords etc. Some recording equipment depending on your budget.

A very effective way of learning is imitation. So, if you want to get started, I'd recommend first to start working on producing covers of the songs you like and get yourself familiarized with the entire production pipeline of composing, arranging, pre-production (auditioning the sound), performing, recording, editing, mixing and mastering. Of course when working with covers you don't have to do a lot of composing or arranging. In the end, if you think it sounds right, you're doing it right. ^_^

 

[Michael chaney]

Hmmm I see ! This is very good advice and pretty much just what I was looking for !

I was debating on upgrading to reaper (buying the full version) soon because it seems much more akin to metal producing than FL. Also I even have a little midi keyboard ! So there’s a start. And my current recording rig is a Scarlett solo interface, shure sm57, mic’d Onto a black star ht 40 amp and a Peavey 6505 combo, so I definitely have the tools there to just start experimenting like crazy.

And another thing I think that was great from here was the imitation part. When people first learn to beatbox, people usually reccomend picking a beatboxer to imitate the style of to develop an understanding of how to make each sound, so this is kind of similar. And it’s akso like how a lot of bands start as cover bands just to get the hang of playing live with other people.

Great advice !!! Thank you !!!

 

[Dystopian Order]

Dude, definitely get Reaper, I use it too because it's so affordable but still has everything you would want from the "big" DAWs.

Here's my advice for you: Don't overthink this shit. Mixing is, simply put, all about three things: levels, frequencies and dynamics. You take care of the first thing with your volume faders. You handle frequencies with EQ (stock EQ is all you need to start) and dynamics with compressors (once again, your stock compressor will work fine, especially if you're using Reaper ). Get a basic understanding of these three factors first, that's like 90% of the job done.
Hope that helps! Have fun mixing