Project Overview:
For my DIY project, I decided to create my own song. I use to DJ and mix songs and create a playlist. However, I have never made my own song. I have always been curious about the song creation process, but I have never created one for myself until now. While I have some experience and knowledge of music. I have no knowledge of any music theory, what makes music audibly pleasing, and song structure besides the basic intro -> build up -> chorus. So there were many concerns when I opened FL Studios (Fruity Loops) for the first time and was overwhelmed by the number of options and technical aspects that were available to me. I decided to keep things simple with basic chords and very little sound effects to get the basics of the program down and complete my song.
Reflecting on my Experiences as a Learner
Although the process was unbelievable frustrating because I was working on new software in an area I had very little knowledge in, making a new song was really fun and it was a prideful experience listening to my completed project. At first, it was really hard following tutorial videos since they used keyboard shortcuts or moved quickly through the basics. However, I learned that playing around with the software for a little bit helped my understanding and become more comfortable with the software. Eventually, when I was working on the project, I was able to work faster since I knew where many key components are and were comfortable using shortcuts when needed. I have learned that in the start I definitely need to see someone doing it in order to understand the basics. However, what helps me learn the most is doing a small project or playing around with the software until it almost becomes a habit before moving to the next thing.
Guides and Tutorials
YouTube is a beautiful platform:
YouTube was very helpful in the process. Thousands of videos exist that teach you everything from the basics of FL Studios to how to make simple cords, build-ups, and drops for every genre of music imaginable. YouTube videos were great to follow with and see other peoples skills, creativity, and insight to why they picked or did certain things. However, a very big limitation to these videos was that most videos had a simple knowledge barrier to watch. I would watch someone add an effect or switch something in one keyboard command that I did not know the keyboard command, where to find that action or the name of the action that they did in one keystroke. Another helpful resource was FL Studios own YouTube channel with very specific and sectioned off tutorials that were easy to understand and broke down the complex software into manageable chunks to learn. The only limitation to those was when I wanted to do more advanced tactics I had to go find other videos or sources since the tutorials were very basic.
FL Studio Forums:
FL Studio Forums was somewhat helpful with the YouTube channels. The forums helped answer many user-specific problems I had. Yet, without knowing the terminology or having a helpful visual I was generally lost. The resources were helpful for one thing I need, yet without a visual, I think the Youtube videos were superior.
Problems Encountered Along The Way
I believe things turned out alright. I learned the hard way that the free version of FL Studios allows you to save a file, but does not allow you to reopen it. (really dumb). So I lost my first save file with a lot of my work that I had to redo. I eventually got back to where I was in progress. Then FL stopped playing sound for me and I could not export my song with sound either. I looked at different sources to fix it, yet was unable to figure it out. Besides the two problems with the software, the song creation process was super fun and I enjoyed it. Youtube videos helped me with all my problems and I got to play around with many sounds and effects to get what I wanted.
How Does the DIY Project Connect to Class?
I believe we do this assignment at the start of the semester because for most of us, creating a game from scratch will be new and uncomfortable in some way. Most of the projects that were suggested were about creation without a real set of guidelines. There are multiple ways to create new things and most of the time there are not any specific guidelines to follow. I believe this is very similar to game creation and design. There are multiple ways to make a game and there is no one specific guideline to follow. I think this DIY project fits perfectly into game creation since we will be out of our comfort zones with no real guidelines.
Credits
Multiple YouTubers helped me out in getting started and in the song creation process. Out of all the videos, LHB Music and the FL Studio‘s own sponsored Youtube channel helped me the most. FL Studio’s “Getting Started” Playlist showed me how to pull up the keyboard, input sounds, edit sounds, use different instruments, and format music which was all essential to the project. I used all this information to get myself started.
After I played around with the software a little bit, I wanted to make a song in the Future Bass genre. So I looked up sample videos of how to make those sounds for Future Bass. I then ran into LHB Music. His video “How to make EPIC Melodic Future Bass | Free FLP” was helpful”. From this video, I used many of his chord progressions then edited the sounds or changed some of the notes to something I liked. The drop I was referenced from “Emotional Future Bass in FL Studio” by Di Young Without these youtube artists skills in FL studio and music, I would have been completely lost.
Leave a Reply