Well, not many of you may know this, I do SFX. I am one of the Stroserian SFX guys. I noticed that when I came here that there wasn't many people who did SFX. I don't know if it was because none of you knew how, hated music, hated children, or just didn't want to make it. So, I'm hear (pun intended) today to show you how you can make music!

For starters you're going to need a program to make music. Depending on your computer you'll need to decide what kind of program you want to use to make your music. If you have a Mac you can use Garage Band, you can use that for PC as well, though it costs money. http://www.apple.com/ilife/garageband/ There is where you can go and get it for yourself.

What I personally use is Linux MultiMedia Studio. This in my opinion is the best free program to use for making music. http://lmms.sourceforge.net/ there is the link if interested. I prefer this program because you can hook a MIDI cable up to your computer.

Now, for starters you'll want to decide what kind of music that you want to make. There is many different styles of music that you can make. Jazz, rock, dubstep, hip-hop, blues, swing, and classical. That is not everything that you can make, that's just the gist of it.

For starters I will show you where to start depending on your music. Let's start off with techno since it's the easiest. The way that I prep for making music is I listen to music like it. So, for techno, you should kind of know what music you should listen to. In case you have been living under a rock your whole life, this is techno: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7Sjy92gk3U I prefer BassHunter ;)

The first thing that you'll want to do is set your BPM. BPM stands for Beats Per Minute. That's the speed of what you want your song to be. I recommend anywhere from 140-150 depending on the style that you're wanting to make. Next you'll want to set your time signature. That is the http://img.ultimate-guitar.com/_img/...pdmusic/05.jpg You'll see this at the beginning of the song. Sometimes it will change throughout the song. If you're a beginning artist I recommend just using 4/4 as it is the most simple one that you can use while starting.

Next you'll want to use your key signature which is this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...luxe_4.svg.png However, I would not recommend using sharps and flats right off the bat, as most people don't know what to do and if you use it wrong it will sound really bad...

Now onto the next step! The beat! Now, if some of you have never listened to music before a beat is basically a constant bass and/or drum pattern in the background. It is pretty easy to make a beat like so, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTyGHY-JiVo DO NOT MAKE THIS YOUR ONLY PART OF THE SONG!!! As it may sound interesting it is not going to keep the attention of your listeners. It is just used for the background and making a good foundation on your music. For the beat I recommend adding numerous bass, snares, cymbals, and if you want to: toms. Follow so like it is in the song that I provided in this paragraph.

Now that you have your beat it's on to the most important part of the song: the lead. You'll want to have a good lead part in your song or no one will want to listen to it! Like I stated earlier, do not make the beat the only part of the song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4_0IUcj0Nk What I recommend for making the sounds in techno is, Synth sounds. If you know what you're doing, you can make a whole entire song out of synth sounds. Synths are capable of producing lots of sounds. The sounds can range from musical to sound effects. You can make a synth sound like anything that you want. You can make it sound like a piano, a bird, or even a fart; the possibilities are endless! Back to making the lead. What I recommend using is a scale to make your music. If you do so it will sound great as that is what basically what everyone uses for making music.http://www.ltsguitar.com/technics/b-scale.gif here is a picture of a scale for those of you that don't know any scales or anything.

I'm sorry if I did not go into enough detail for some of these things as I am kind of rushed on time and tired. If there is anything at all that you would like me to explain or expand on just say so in the comments below. If you liked this tutorial I would love if you gave me some rep! Feedback of all kind is welcomed! I will be providing on how to make other types of music in this thread later on when I have time. Hope you guys liked it!

Also, if you quote this whole OP I will find you and I will kill you, like Liam Neeson.

Good tutorial, but I think you kind of made it too complicated for some people. But it's great otherwise! Must spread rep.

I've been using alberton live, starting to get the hang of it
Gets abit complicated though lol

Good tutorial. Some people talk a lot about LMMS, so maybe I'll try it some time.

I personally like it a lot. It's a great, easy program to use. I'm thinking whenever I get some more moola, I'll end up buying GarageBand, as it looks really easy.

By the way, have you ever considered posting your work here? I'd love to hear some of it.

Go on clubcreate no download.

Abelton Live* , good program.

I could write a book on how to make music, and it still wouldn't be enough to cover even a fraction of the musical world.. This guide is probably helpful for people who have never played an instrument, but I make music every day hahah. Good guide, though. Not into LMMS myself.. but hey, we're all different.

If you really do get into creating electronic music and are willing to fpay a bit more for a more sophisticated program, I recommend Cubase, Abelton Live, Pro Tools, Reason, possibly Acid, and maybe FL Studio. I've tried all of these (some free, some full) and they are all really similar, so I wouldn't be too worried if you think yours is any worse than another. Also, they are all considered industry standard, which is definitely a plus. Audacity is the only similar free program I can find, and it really is a pain to use a lot of the time, mostly because of the lack of snap value. But if you get used to any program, you can work well with it. All about preference.

Nice tutorial :)

Try out FL Studio. You can get the mobile version or look for the expensive version on PC or Mac. I've never really gotten the hang of LMMS, so I'll need to look at tutorials. I might not need to though, because I have a piano a can record from. Nice tutorial!

Can we get some tutorials on the program itself and see how you set everything and make an example?

Thanks, everyone. I will make a tutorial on the program itself sometime soon.

+6 for the obvious amount of effort put into this.

Good job.

Be aware of the type of file you export your music as. MP3 files are common, but not all programs export to MP3. Some only support WAV or specific project file types. Using a second program to import a file and export to the file type you need works, but may very slightly impair sound quality. Research the program before you buy/download it!

(By the way, I think Graal uses both MP3 and MIDI files, so you shouldn't have too many problems with files.)

@Talon, nice avatar. :)

great job, the first real tutorial for music! i might try that out when i got more time and have finished my stuff on iEra :)

my first thought has been: maths D: