if i want to make beats is it necessary that i learn some musical theory? i'm just trying to jump on the fruity loops and make some bangers. am i destined to fail? also, what/who should i consult if i want to learn to use fruity loops?

which is INCLUDED in "musical theory".

You don't NEED to learn anything. You could possibly sit down at the computer and make the best beat the world has ever known without one bit of knowledge. Unfortunately, that is probably not gonna happen. The more you learn the, the more tools you have at your disposal to make something that is actually good. Learn theory. Learn the technology. Practice.

if you are just a casual fan of music then please don't even bother...lol...your beats will probably sound wack. my best advice is try to re-create/emulate some basic beats before you start trying to go all "innovative". most "innovative" by novices are garbage.

p.s. piano lessons will put you in a whole other realm. that's my plan for 2007. master the keys.

If you hop on a beat machine and start churning, you may get lucky once in a while, but as a general rule your joints are gonna be rough from lack of understanding of how to really get them to work.

Good news is, music is much like other disciplines in that doing it can and does bring skill improvement. But still, if you take extra time to get a better idea of what's happening with the sounds you're working with, that's more tools in the toolbox.

Plus, and I can tell you this as an autodidactic composer, the more you understand about music, the more enjoyable making it is.

before you learned to read, you could talk right??? but once you learned to read, your vocabulary began to expand and you became overall improved at communicating right???

nuff said???

over and out
du

buy a bag of weed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVW5_PJHzR4&NR
^^^^ LA's Finest

Anybody who can consitently produce worth a shit does.

Any idiot can find a hot loop every now and then and throw some drums over it. But I guarantee that any beat like that could be improved by somebody who really had a creative approach to it.

What does all this have to do with music theory? Well...it's hard to consistently pull quality ideas out of thin air. Lord knows we all plink around on a keyboard and just *find* something every now and again, but if you ever hope to be able to consistently and efficiently make hot tracks, you'll find it's a giant handicap to not understand what does and does not work, and that's where theory comes in.

Is it the only thing you need? No. But on some level, if youre serious about making music, I say yes it is necessary.

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you went home thinking about it
that even for a second you might could have mushed your face in between two middle age boobs
and like it a whole lot - bubs

You've got to understand that music is a real language by itself with his codes and rules.

If you plan to just be a beat maker(making beats is in fact program drums patterns over a sample),you don't need it because you're not a composer,you don't create music,you remix something who does exist already.So you're limitated to hip hop and production(which comes after the composition)

But if you plan to be a composer,so create music of your mind(like Stevie lol),you need to learn musical theory and to play an instrument(I suggest piano,which is great for composing because of the polyphony),then you'll enter to a all different world:MUSIC,rich music not based on samples and loops.You'll know the language and you'll really express yourself,your vision of music(it's very important to have an identity in your music and in your sound).

After that you'll learn how to produce.

But great production with wack composing don't make great songs in fact your ears are flatted by the sounds but not by the music itself,for example Timbaland.

But great composition with great production:wow for example Pink Floyd or the beatles,more recently the Neptunes on NERD or on some Kelis:"Rolling through the hood" is a perfect example,but to understand what I'm talking about you've got to know about music and be able to identify the chords changes,the subtility of the play on keys...or listen to Off the wall,"I can't help it" is a strong example too,or try to see this video on youtube about frontin' played on piano,you'll understand that's a great song because of the different levels of composing:melodies and harmonies:you'll understand that the vocals harmonies are great too and in fact that's a jazz song.

So if you plan to make songs and not beats you have to learn and play.

Tell me what you think about it.

.

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"when you apply his techniques from Donuts to other types of music besides soul/R&B, the possibilites are endless."- Small Pro

its one of those things like it wont make a bad beatmaker good but it will makw a good beat maker better.

ehhhh, theory makes everyone a bit better...its how you put it to use.

most of the $20,000+ per beat guys started out without theory and learned as they went along... so you can hear how it effects a beatmaker's process and outcome.

chords and scales will cut a bit of time off of certain styles, though.

...how and why are dudes that don't believe sampling is music still signing up to discuss hip-hop on a message board? i dont get it fam...

In THIS forum!!! Funny!

thats kinda fucked, aint it?

>thats kinda fucked, aint it?

not at all.

it is impossible to achieve what you could with a music theory base without one

The problems come in that most of us who learn that shit don't learn how to apply it for a hot minute.

If you're thinking abotu getting into making beats though? My suggestion is don't unless you know for a fact that it will always be just for fun. Because most of us in this music racket, are either obsessed and ruining other parts of our life because of it, or wacker than we should be because we refuse to accept how much work it is.