Tutorials
Over the years I’ve created a series of written and video tutorials and walkthroughs to help other musicians with various areas of music production and business. This section is dedicated to sharing that knowledge.
As an adjunct professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I teach ‘Special Topics’ courses such as “Video Game Music & Audio”, and manage the Drexel Composers Group, an organization of undergraduate students interested in writing music for media.
I get a high volume of requests for one-on-one assistance (help with synthesis, composition, critiquing tracks, etc.) but unfortunately, I can’t respond to all of them. However, if you’re interested in private lessons in music production or business matters, please shoot me an email so we can discuss it further.
Click here for videos on music production, synthesis, sampling, etc.
Click here for text guides on music business matters, beating writer’s block, collaboration, and other pertinent topics.
Note: I’ve been writing (and now recording/editing) music tutorials for over 6 years now. I’ve always made them available for free, and my website has never displayed any ads. Even though I have a full-time job, I’ll do my very best to continue to create and share these resources. If you’d like to help me to produce more, consider a small donation using the button below.
Your support will enable me to spend more time on bigger and better tutorials!
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Wow, this is really cool! I just recently jumped from FL Studio 5 to 8 and am still getting accustomed to the big change. Really great to see you breaking down your mixes like this to help out people with much less experience like myself. Keep ‘em coming :)
Anyone who dogs on in FL Studio for being ‘unprofessional’ has officially been shut down hardcore. It’s all about skillz and samplez.
I must say, that Dirt Devil tutorial was RIDICULOUS! I hope you won that competition!!
It’s great that a professional like you took the time to make some tutorials, I really appreciate them. I’ve only just entered the world of software-made music, and after a lot of messing around with whatever free stuff I could find, I jumped straight into the deep end and bought FL studio 8, and I need all the guidance I can get figuring this thing out. So thanks a load, your tutorials really helped (especially with my lackluster drum beats) =)
That beat tutorial was really interesting and helpful, thanks!
Why did you drop the low-end out of the hi-hats though? I feel like this is probably a novice thing I should know by now :/
I always drop the low-end of almost every track/channel/instrument because often times, you have bass energy there that is simply unneeded. For example, some hihats are recorded with no EQ on. There is a little burst of wind or rumble when the hat is struck. It’s pointless and adds nothing to the sound, and just clutters the mix. By EQing the low end of almost everything, you leave a LOT more room for the bass and kick.
Hollidayrain: Yep, I did win the Squaresound competition, and got to meet Nobuo Uematsu in person :-)
This is great stuff, man. I ran into some tracks of yours posted up on Newgrounds and loved them instantly, I’m so glad there’s high end tutorials like this in exactly the genre I want to make! Much respect.
I always wanted to have a peek into one of your projects^^! Thank you so much for this tutorial.
this is really amazing, thank you very much.
i’ve always kinda nagged at one of my friends help me out with fruity loops, but since none of them are nice enough to teach me, i’ll be starting from scratch using your tutorials :)
i know virtually nothing about how to use fruity loops, so heres to hoping i can one day be half as good as you =)
Thanks very much! This drum beat tutorial opened the door for me to understanding FL studio a lot better! Creating interesting drum beats has allways been a big problem for me. The more videos you make for us, the better!
Wow, you are really talented. I’m jealous.
Thanks for the tutorial sir, its very much useful for me, looks like you was an expert on fruity loops.
i also need a help from u. * i am very weak in balancing the sounds on loops. if i balance well i lose Decibal levels a lot. is there anyway u can helpme.
* Is there any site to learn mixing music tracks.
awsome beat making! could you do one on vocal recording and use of vocoder please…. you are greatly appreciated
He these are very good. Altho I am more of a hardstyle maker, so I would be
more into sound disortion for bass and all tha’t.
I love these tutorials!
I would really like one on mastering soon. I’ve been making some good projects in FL9 (an early christmas present :D), but I REALLY need help on mastering.
Also, like Ryan, I’m a hardstyle and psytrance kinda guy, but I’m looking to old-fashioned orchestral composing as a profession. Tips on good orchestral sample packs or programs?
Nice! I downloaded you Just Hold FL Video. It was not as good as some of your other tracks. I am an amatuer in FL Studio beat and/or song making. I have no good beats or tracks worth publishing. I try ro make hiphop and R&B beats, but I am not able to grasp the concept easily. Could you try to post a tutorial on the use of the numerous packs and samples? I want to put the signature beat, as they call it, the sound that runs in the background and changes in certain parts. I need some help with that… Please post a tutorial on those specific things. THX!!!!!!!!
i’m trying to make all kinds of electronic musik. like progg, minimal and some electro. and i really have a hard time to make those good kickdrums real producers use. my sounds flat and boring and u cant feel them! have tried to pimp them up with 2 or 3 kick drums sound stacked and with EQs and maximizer but still cant get that wide/deep/hard kickdrum. any idea how to make that kind of kickdrum? its so important in dance music so i would be very pleased! cheers//carl
YOU NEVER PUT A LIMITER ON THE MASTER BUS…I would strongly advise anyone using any DAW to treat it exactly like an analog console – set your master fader to 0dB and never move it off that point, and use your channel faders to build a mix to sit under that point…If something clips use a compressor and slightly limit there IF NEEDED..You want it to sound natural
Leave the limiter for mastering. The mastering engineer does not like to be presented with a brickwall limited mix bounce. So adding a limiter during mixing will not give you a realistic idea of the final sound and you could be making decisions based on the wrong premises while you’re mixing. Instead you should limit your individual tracks, sum compress, sum limit, etc. That will give you a much more controlled mixed instead of the false security of a mix bus limiter.
..There is no need to push the envelope
You can safely drop the master output level if you’re overloading on the master. Lowering your individual faders or lowering the master bus will yield 100% identical results. Naturally you need to observe the internal overload rule for outputting or sending to an aux bus, e.g. when you’re sum compressing your drums on a bus.
Rob, I agree with your underlying point, that you generally don’t want to squash and compress your mix before mastering. However, (1) some artists do legitimately “mix and master” as they go, adding effects to the master bus as they work. I’m one of them. So is The Crystal Method, and you can’t dispute the impact and success of their music.
(2) When using DAWs and softsynths, there is always the possibility for extremely high-volume noise bursts to come out of nowhere if you’re not careful. This used to happen to me all the time with Kontakt. When the disk streaming buffer got overloaded (too much polyphony) it would throw out these horrendous spikes of volume. Saving my hearing with a master track limiter was a good idea.
UUUUffff wow men …. im really impressed with your work … especially on the FL … cause thats the only software that i have to make music … ahh and audition 1.5 … jaja and a really really old PC … jajajaja … but i really enjoy of making music on that set ( if its that the name ..jaja ) … well the thing it’s you’re really good making music with the FL … the demo of the Fl 9 … wow … speechless … i hope learn a lot of you …. and thanks for share your music and your knowledge … a warm hello from colombia …
Cheers pal. I do appceraite the writing.
I downloaded Fl Studio 9 and listened to your song!!! Nice work!!! I wanted to know how you recorded the voice (or any other real instruments like music keyboard/guitar etc?) I have the demo version but since only saving is disabled I’m sure I should be able to do it right? I would apreciate your help a lot
Hi.
This stuff is really cool!
Wondering if you could give me an hint in sidechaining.
It was cool when listening to it on your fl studio 9 demo.
Thanks.
Great site, man. I love the tutorials and Dirt Devil is a masterpiece. The phat beats tut. really helped me get started too. I’m currently working on an Undersea Palace remix (from Chrono Trigger) and I have a problem where I hear popping sounds and click distortions when my music gets a little heavy. Got any tips to help tone the heavy parts down?
That’s actually not a mixing or production issue, it just means your CPU is being taxed too much. The only way to get around this is to either upgrade your processor, switch to ASIO drivers (if you haven’t already), switch to a better sound card (any PC with built-in audio is a no-no, a dedicated pro interface is best – they start at like $99), or try to reduce the CPU strain of your project. You can do this last bit by exporting certain parts to WAV and putting them BACK in the project, so you don’t actually have synthesizers/samplers taking up CPU cycles.
Thanks for all of your tutorials. They are definitely handy. I produce mainly hip hop with FL9 but i enjoy listening to all the electronica and house music that other members have included. I do most of this by ear so i’m trying to work backwards and learn the techniques and the terminology that goes along with what im doing. I appreciate your work and hope to learn more, maybe even collaborate! Thanks again! I’ll be in touch.
I don’t know alt of these words like “saw waves” and “square waves” and i have no idea what wave shapers are… Pretty much i don’t know what half of the buttons(if not more) in FL are. Can anybody help me out? maybe point me in the direction of some resource materials that would help.
Otherwise, beautiful music, amazing beats, and GREAT Tutorials. I’m just very new to studio editing. But i have been making live music for a very long time.
your very good and this isnt cliche music. Its much better than the pop garbage on the itunes top 300. Im 16 and i am alot like you. My music is rarely repetetive and usually pretty unique. I was wondering if you had classical training because i know thats how i got good. i just recently discovered electronical music production via fl and keyboard and all that and its made me completely stray away from my classical training. Has this happened to you at all? I was just begening to learn demanding classical pieces and now when i play with fl or anything else it sorta feels like a guilty pleasure because classical music is so much more complex and difficult. I was wondering if you feel that way also. You’re more skilled than me at fl studios now and i wondered how you got to that point. comment back yo!@zircon
I have been using FL 8 and now FL 9 for over a year now, its a great program, but its just that I don’t have the appropriate knowledge of everything in FL. To better put it, i’m trying to self teach myself but I’m finding it very hard to do so. It’s like I am gaining nothing. I have two friends, one is self taught, and the other had training in this stuff so I ask them for some help and they help me. I can create stuff, but it just makes it that much more harder on me when only experimenting with things like sytrus.
I just don’t know any other way to approach this since I cannot afford college nor lessons. I shouldn’t have to give up what I love doing the most but I might have to do that if I cannot understand what I am dealing with.
If there is anything that could help me with this, please tell me.
Hey man! You have inspired me to start producing again after hearing your masterpiece: Just Hold On in FL Studio 9! I’ve seen so many great tools and tutorials here, but I am still looking for a tutorial to explain how you did the Gross Beat part with the voice tweaking through automation in your demo song, from compass number 51. Could you tell me where can I learn how to do it like you did??? Thanks a lot!!
Hey Zircon!
Just listening to your work that came with FL and thought I would check out your page. I must say, very well done my friend! I’m new to FL and creating music in general. I have a music oriented background but want to expand and explore my deeper interest in it. Any good place to start? Ive played around with Magix and made a compilation piece with the samples and loops provided in it along with my own drum beats (I’m primarily a percussionist). I have so much stuff in my head but cant get past just toying with the different options, distracting myself ha ha! Anyhoo, keep up the good work and thank you for the little nudge of inspiration!
The best place to start is with whatever program is most fun for you. I’m not kidding! Some people recommend a very dry approach to learning music and production, but I really disagree. If you jump into something very technical, you will get quickly frustrated and it won’t be fun to practice. Practicing should ultimately be fun AND challenging, otherwise what’s the point? So if you like Magix, work with that more and learn it better. If you feel like you’re getting restricted, check out something like FL Studio or Reason, both excellent places to start (Reason Essentials in particular is quite nice.)
hey zircon,
i want to know how to record an audio clip on fl studio 9.
Such helpful information. Good to see your take on this subject.