So question for those who make music and stuff

[Im_moron]

music counts as art right?

anywhosers, I have no prior experience with music at all (only listened to music)
the only time I've touched an instrument was to fiddle random keys on a keyboard and to play one or 2 notes with the flute and guitar (I've touched a guitar for 1 day, and have touched a flute for music class as an elementary student)

with that amazing background, I've downloaded FL studio to kinda dip my toes in making something :U

I made the analogy that "I'm going to mash my head on the keyboard till I accidentally make something that sounds nice"

then I thought, "wait, is that how people actually make music?"

basically, that's what I'm asking ^^^ is there any real jumping on point for making music, or do you actually have to experiment with keys till you find one?

another question for those who make da music, any pointers for making music? is there a structure to music? (that's a dumb question, to itterate, I know there is a structure, I just don't know what goes into it. I'm a dude who's listened to atmospheric music and thought "I wanna make stuff like this")

and lastly, seeing that I'm starting off for literally the first time, anything I should look out for? das it

[Evan]

Music theory is an actual thing that describes what chords and keys sound the best and how to write music essentially, but not all good music needs to be scripted.

It's okay to fiddle around with the notes until you find something that sounds nice, but if you want a better way to go about writing music, it would certainly help you if you learned about music theory.

Now, I haven't written any music myself but my advice would be to, in general, keep it simple.
Write a strong catchy melody and chorus, loop a beat in the background, and write a harmony that's not overpowering the melody but makes each verse a little different and that's probably all you really need.

[Hexigate]

A lot of today's most prominent producers have started with remixes. I'm assuming it's because it's a good way to ease into the field; remixing the works of the masters that have gone before you to your own liking. From there, you learn about music theory and find your style. You do it enough, eventually you'll be able to make your own melodies.

It's not even limited to electronic or computer-based production. Bob Dylan started off singing renditions of other's folk music before writing his own work. Music history has always been full of people copying off of other works and mixing it up with their own taste to create something original.

[dawgofdawgness]

I usually start with the bass line, move into the chords, and then maybe the main melody. I'm only an amateur so my songs usually have melodies that kind of awkwardly float on top of the bassline.

Also I use a piano, then eventually record it in garage band if I like it enough ^_^

[indagold]

Took me a while to teach myself music, I think its just fiddling around with sounds and seeing what works well. I'd start off with the pentatonic scale which is the black bars on the keyboard since it always sounds nice no matter what.

[Im_moron]

@Hexigate after sort of fiddling with sounds on the keyboard, I think I could roll with maybe at least replicate some of my favorite melodies :U
Maybe some from.... Undertale, probably some golden sun tracks (though that looks complex), etc

@dawgofdawgness 70% of those terms completely went over my head, but I think chords are the... thingy? you know what I mean? the doo hicky that changes... am I right?

[Hexigate]

Lo-fi, 8-bit; sounds like a good start

[dawgofdawgness]

Like the stuff that makes music sound good

The stuff that pop artists don't know exist

[Im_moron]

@dawgofdawgness sounds legit

@Hexigate aye! I'm really into things like what undertale does
using the same melody or tune, to express tons of emotion (like how flowey's tune can be playful, creepy, scary and hopeful with just some fidgeting)

@indagold my current problem I'm having to deal with atm, is trying to transfer a melody I accidentally find into FL from the digital piano online
I know there's a piano on FL, which I am starting to use, but I have no idea how to transfer what I type on the music doo hicky timeline thingy

its like you're onto something, then you try making it, and it comes off half as good when you first typed it

[Draconic]

May I suggest you to try this musical instrument? Very easy to learn and play.
Best way to learn about music is trying to play any instrument.

[Zeedom]

I studied music theory a bit. I mostly use musescore to compose.I suggest listening to instrumental (off vocal) versions of your fav songs and mapping down each section so you get a feel for patterns

[monotone_ink]

A chord is a combination of notes that can make music sound much fuller and control the tone of the song.

There are major chords, which are helpful with positive, happy sounding songs, while minor chords help with making those sad songs. There's a wider variety of chords with more nuance - like everyone else in this thread, I'd suggest trying to learn a little bit of music theory and dabbling with the tools you have right now.

[indagold]

export it as a midi file and then import it in? Never used FL but I assume most programs have midi options.

[Im_moron]

@monotone_ink aye! I did look into it, though the video wasn't very helpful
I got a lot of terms, and not a lot I got to grasp

I'd appreciate a video that can make music theory graspable?

@indagold if FL won't let me open work files, I don't think it will let me open a midi

[indagold]

maybe you got a broken version lol

[jpnakashima]

Years ago, when I started writing songs (amateur hour here as well, though), I used to write them with a sheet like this:
(I had a guitar, which made this quick, and you have to look out what a chord is for this to work)

Each song usually has a tonality, which is like the dominant note that defines how it sounds. How you get to them is part of music theory, but each tonality has a group of different chords that, when combined, sound comfy to our ears. For example, if you're playing C major and play a D instead of a Dm, it sounds weird, ''dissonant'', as it is.
These are some simple major tonalities if you want to play around. Try choosing a tone and combining the chords and you can make some quick tests in no time.

[AVXP]

1) Figure out what genre/sub-genre of music you intend to make.

2) Read the Fruity Loops manual.

3) Join their forum and ask all your production related questions there.

4) Follow their advice, which will be to watch tutorial videos on YouTube. Follow those along with the manual and you'll be off and rocking. Or rolling or rapping or whatever you intend to do.

5) Make a new browser folder called something like music-related links and start to bookmark all the interesting sites you come across. Some you will discover too soon and not know how to use them just yet. And you'll be trying to find them later and be upset that you didn't save the addy.

6) Whatever genre you picked in 1) No really pick just one. - study that music by listening to it and you'll probably find all sorts of videos to how those kinds of songs are made. Even videos of others making that exact same style- using your exact tools.

[Im_moron]

update on the music shtuff :u

watched a few videos to learn a bit about chords and shiz, made what I think is a melody on FL? feels like its missing something

[jpnakashima]

In crude terms, one could say a usual song is made of harmony and melody.

Melody is like the part you sing. It's how you sing a song by yourself when you're alone, the way you sing the lyrics or reproduce that guitar solo with your voice. Harmony is the music behind, the notes/chords that hold it all together, that make a foundation for the melody to exist, complementing and giving it context.
So you get Yesterday, by The Beatles, and while harmony is the chord progression (C, Bm7, E7, Am...), melody is how he sings ''Yesterdaaay... all my troubles yadayadayada''

So you may feel like that because your song has one but lacks the other, maybe?
Share with us if you want so we can give some pointers

[Im_moron]

oh, no wonder, I don't even know how to add harmony to the Melody, I guess its back to the youtube tutorials!
and listening to music as well.