what is this?
this is less of a guide, and more of a general FAQ concerning music production. these are questions that took me a while to figure out, and were really fucking annoying. i'm laying out the stuff i've learnt while trying to avoid having a god-complex and giving you advice that is beyond what i actually am knowledgable in.
how do i get started?
good question! it depends. if you plan on making computer-music, you should get a DAW, (Digital Audio Workstation).
what DAW do i get?
it's really a matter of personal preference. each DAW you can find will have its pros and cons, but most of them will probably be fine. find demos of as many as you can find and try them out. if you find one you like, consider puchasing it! it will be expensive! there are however free DAWs out there that can sound professional, but these will not be as powerful as the paid ones.
DAWs can be really expensive. don't buy one if you are not serious about making music. you are not buying a toy, you are buying a tool. if you just want a toy, go find a game that pretends it's a production suite. if you REALLY want to make music, find a DAW.
what tutorials do i watch?
tutorials are a great resource for learning to make music, but they can often be like SUPER misleading. most producer-tubers like to pretend they know more than they do. try to avoid watching youtube videos from people who are those typical obnoxious youtube types. they might have some good advice, but they often know very little when it comes to professional production.
on headphones
next, i would highly recommend software eq-ing your headphones. you don't need to know what that means yet. download Equalizer APO. find your headphones on this list, click its link, and follow the instructions to customize the eq in EqAPO. this will more or less make your headphones ideal for making music, as they will have more of a "flat" frequency response. it's kind of a pain in the ass, but it will prevent a LOT of headaches down the line. note that the eq profile should only be applied to the headphones it was modelled for. don't use it for every audio device.
why do my songs sound good when i'm making them, but bad when i'm listening to them later?
when you have long production sessions, you tend to get used to the sounds you're hearing. take a break, and come back to it. also, try listening on different headphones or speakers. sometimes things sound fine on one setup but bad on another. it's generally not a bad idea to "test" a song on multiple different speaker-setups before releasing it.
why is my song so quiet?
limiter. limiter limiter limiter. put one on the end of your master chain. even if you don't know what it does. put it at the end of the master chain in every song you have. please.
if you don't know what a limiter does and you don't care to learn more about it: it lets you squish your music so it can be more louder. that's all you need to know. it'll have a gain-knob, which you will turn up so the song will be louder. if you turn it up too loud it'll screw things up. don't get greedy.
what if i want my song to be EVEN LOUDER?
mix it better. eq things properly. if your song is decently loud, stop worrying. if you want it to be as loud as possible, get better or get outside help.
why don't my songs sound right?
this is something that bugged the shit out of me when i was getting started. the answer is A) Mixing, and B) Mastering.
mixing
there are two approaches to mixing: A) sending your song to a mixing engineer, or B) try your best to scrap by by yourself. the secret third option is being talented and mixing things properly. i will not be covering this option.
find some tutorials. watch a lot of them. read some theory. figure out how to do it from the people who have been studying it their whole lives. try to take advice from old people rather than popular DJs.
deadmau5 said something along the lines of "mix while you produce". this is very good advice (say "thank you Joel"). if you leave every track completely shit-stained until you decide to mix them all at the same time right at the end, you will want to die.
mastering
read the first two paragraphs of the mixing section but replace every instance of 'mixing' with 'mastering'.
at the very least, put an eq and a limiter on your master chain.