Well, I've never thought about going into music programming or scoring, but after hours of programming/modeling, its nice to hear some background music. I do prefer instrumental but my styles are a cross of classical, rock, and some hip hop/rap. Quite the mix, but rarely I find them in music CDs. So once in awhile I manage to find a musician who scores a nice song for me that will some day end up in a game (hopefully). But that's not enough, especially after playing it over and over a hundred times. So, after all that typing, lets get down to business: How come so many people claim to be musicians and want to be paid to score music? Where do they learn this talent? Is it that simple? Where do I begin? I bought FruityLoops off my friend (a techno-style musician), but I have no idea where to start. So any suggestions? I'm not at the point to shell out hundreds of dollars for a MIDI keyboard etc. I just want to know where to start. My musical background consists of playing the violin for ~6-8 years but discontinued 2 years ago (totally forgotten ever since, never even picked up my violin). I have also played the keyboard & piano for about 2-3 years, but haven't played in 5 years. So right now, I busy myself with programming or modeling and never play any musical instruments. Thank you, and I hope to receive some feedback from you talented musicians. Kind regards, D. "Nex" Shankar, Red Winter Studios, Lead Producer.

Greetings,

I am not sure I can provide proper guidance as to where you should begin your musical journey, but I can provide background on how I got started in music, and how some of my friends got started.

I basically messed around with music on the piano, writing little diddies, jigs, blurbs :P, whatever you call smae compostional ideas. After being able to "impropose" (Improvising my compositional ideas), I began to play with software and hardware for a few years. I started with Sonar 1 and Fruity Loops 2 (I think it was 2.) I murdered about 30 pieces in fruity loops, making some bad techno music before I understood what sounds good and what doesn't. I have a number of friends that have followed the same path, experimenting until they find what they feel they are comfortable writing and showing.

Someone else might be able to provide more specific ideas for training, but everyone learns their own way.

Hope this can help a little,
Sean Beeson

Quote: Original post by D Shankar
So, after all that typing, lets get down to business:
How come so many people claim to be musicians and want to be paid to score music? Where do they learn this talent? Is it that simple?

It's simple to get started, and there are many free tools. This is probably why there are a lot of musicians, each of whom would like to take their work further. However there's a lot to learn before you can get into the small number that actually manage that.

Quote: Where do I begin? I bought FruityLoops off my friend (a techno-style musician), but I have no idea where to start. So any suggestions? I'm not at the point to shell out hundreds of dollars for a MIDI keyboard etc. I just want to know where to start.

Start with shelling out less than a hundred dollars for a cheap MIDI controller/keyboard. ;) Seriously, if you have any keyboard ability whatsoever, you may as well leverage it into your composition, and it won't be as expensive as you think. The alternative of programming notes in individually is far from impossible, but it's also far from intuitive and much more time consuming.

Then, experiment with FruityLoops, recording what you play. You may want to get another music package that's not so techno-oriented, as although it is capable of far more, it doesn't necessarily make it obvious.

Composition is also about listening - listen to other music and try to work out what gives it the distinctive character. And to make sense of it all, a good bit of theory helps. On the musical side, knowledge of chords, cadences, keys, tempos, and forms will help a lot. Later, having an appreciation of audio theory such as how to use equalisation, compression, limiting, and reverb will help add the professional touch.

I started when I was 14 and never stopped. Started with the Trumpet, then started singing, picked up a guitar one day, bought a drum set, bought a cassete based 4 track, bought a 8 track digital recorder... Then started on the PC based recordings. Basically I just never let up, I was pretty much always doing something musical. Over the past year I have climbed mountains(not physically). I have produced 2 full length albums and am currently working on 2 more.

Official Chaosphate Site
Official Three After Site
Straight Jacket Sunday Page

Those are a couple of projects were I wrote a good portion of the music, actually Chaosphate and SJS I wrote all of it. I also recorded and produced all of it...

I learned alot from these 2 sites:

KVR Audio
Home Recording BBS

Music has been my number 1 interest, aside from my family. I went to school for computer science but would have rather gone to some kind of music school.

Anyway, those 2 sites should get you started. There are plenty of good free software plug ins, even some good cheap if not free hosts out there.

About people getting paid... Well, if you just buy FL Studio and click some buttons you can eventually get a decent sounding electro, or hip hop, or techno song I guess. You can tell the difference between a good producer/musician though. Overall sequencing, programming, performance, arangement, sound quality, etc... Some people have the gift, some people not so much. The most important thing is actually listening more so than even playing. You can play tons of stuff, but if you don't really listen, then it will suffer.

Sorry for the long winded response... The most important thing is to enjoy what you do.

I just joined the boards, so feel completely free to ignore my response! ^_^

If you want to make music, there's nothing better than to *learn* how to make music. There are a ton of people out there using AcidLoops or Ableton LIVE! or something along those lines. I know this sounds a little harsh, but very few people can get anywhere using only pre-programmed loops. Sure, it makes for very fast audio development, but it all ends up sounding the same: vapid, boring and generic.

Most composers use programs such as ProTools, Cubase or Logic (if you're Mac-based). These programs are not easy to learn, and are not user-friendly by any stretch. However, they are all extremely powerful and versatile.

Another important aspect is to try to stand out in one particular skill in composition, and try to do it better than anyone else you can find. Personally, while I feel I can conquer any style that's necessary for a project, I'm a classically-trained composer. Therefore, I know that if something requires either live musicians or at least something orchestral, I know I'm going to do a better job on that project. Working to your strengths is something that every artist has to do.

I hope these less-technical points help!

David Stone
www.soundslikedave.com

This may cause some uprisal, but production skills are just as important as music/compositional skills if you are going to break into the industry. So find something you know you can produce good music on and learn it well, like the back of your hand. 90% of the time the people that hire you will have no clue if the intellectual property behind your music is any good, but the first they hear, just like the same person seeing a model of a character, they don't know how many polys it is, is the production values of the piece. (So hone that skill :p)

Quote: Original post by Sean R Beeson
This may cause some uprisal, but production skills are just as important as music/compositional skills if you are going to break into the industry. So find something you know you can produce good music on and learn it well, like the back of your hand. 90% of the time the people that hire you will have no clue if the intellectual property behind your music is any good, but the first they hear, just like the same person seeing a model of a character, they don't know how many polys it is, is the production values of the piece. (So hone that skill :p)

Quoted for emphasis [smile]
There are three skills to be aquired here, two of them quite intertwined. First you need to have musical skills, which you probably should have, given your musical history. Then you need to have compositional skills. Knowing how to play does not automatically mean that you can compose. And last of all you are interested in producing a recording of your music, not just the scores. So you need to have production skills as Sean Beeson pointed out. Recording, mastering etc etc.

EDIT: A lot of commercial music is created by three different parties in this very manner. A composer, a producer and an artist.

Quote: Original post by Omid Ghavami

Quote: Original post by Sean R Beeson
This may cause some uprisal, but production skills are just as important as music/compositional skills if you are going to break into the industry. So find something you know you can produce good music on and learn it well, like the back of your hand. 90% of the time the people that hire you will have no clue if the intellectual property behind your music is any good, but the first they hear, just like the same person seeing a model of a character, they don't know how many polys it is, is the production values of the piece. (So hone that skill :p)

Quoted for emphasis [smile]
There are three skills to be aquired here, two of them quite intertwined. First you need to have musical skills, which you probably should have, given your musical history. Then you need to have compositional skills. Knowing how to play does not automatically mean that you can compose. And last of all you are interested in producing a recording of your music, not just the scores. So you need to have production skills as Sean Beeson pointed out. Recording, mastering etc etc.

EDIT: A lot of commercial music is created by three different parties in this very manner. A composer, a producer and an artist.

THEN...!

Then you have to know how to market yourself. Tons of great artists out there who have no clue as to what to do next. Now that I have all this well written, solidly produced set of tracks, now what do I do with them?

Start small, learn it well, move upward.

Tony

FLStudio (Fruity Loops) is the right way to go.

many professional musicians use this program, it has almost unlimited possibilities.

when creating fashion (=game) music, you could start with a cool beat.
another important thing is the bass, its the next thing to do.
after that, you can go and create a melody on top of the beat and the base.
then add some nice effects, and youre almost done.

the sytrus-plugin may be quite interesting...

"How come so many people claim to be musicians and want to be paid to score music? Where do they learn this talent? Is it that simple?

Where do I begin? I bought FruityLoops off my friend (a techno-style musician), but I have no idea where to start. So any suggestions? I'm not at the point to shell out hundreds of dollars for a MIDI keyboard etc. I just want to know where to start."

----------------------------------------------------------------

- They..once upon a time, just like yourself might have asked the same question. The fact is that it's a lot of work and they
had to learn the trade. Of course they want to be paid to score music. If you went to school to learn your trade, whatever it may be (I assume that you're a programmer), you wouldn't even think about not getting paid for it. And for your creation as well.

Think about software companies. What's is a bunch of cryptic code worth? So what is a score worth? It's just like a piece of code. How many hours did you have to put into turning out a decent game? Same applies to the people who score music.

Now let's do a reality check. You can not learn a talent. You either have it or you don't. However, so many people can go through the training and thus making you ask if it's simple since you're seeing so many of them. But still, maybe they are half-decent and can get the job done. Afterall they might have been trained, just like you have in what you do. (I presume.)

Anyway. A few things I recommend:

1. Resume playing on an instrument if possible.
That by itself should appeal to you if you're seriously
interested in making music.

2. Get some good magazines on music production such as 'computer music' or whatever is available. and/or books on simple theory and composition. Something like the 'complete idiot's guide to musical composition'

3. Learn to listen, train your ears.

4. Develop a basic sense of harmony and learn what chords to put where. (refer to #2, about getting books, especially on harmony)

5. Experiment

Well.. that's it. short and simple.

- dr.faust