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I was wondering if anyone knew of any good tutorials on making heavy metal (and the like) for beginners. Also are there any good tutorials or reads on FL and digital music making best practices?
As I'm just getting started, what insight, suggestions, or helpful info would you suggest for getting started, both with FL studio and digital music making to begin with?
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Are you recording the guitars into fl studio or were you planning on using a digital plug in to simulate guitars?
If it's the former I would recommend learning a different software for recording. FL just isn't really designed for it and you will have an easier time with something else. That said you can record using FL, I do personally, but you'd have a much better time using something like pro tools or ableton live.
If you are planning on using digital plugins for your guitars I'm sure that there are some out there but you should know that the stock FL guitar synth, Slayer isn't all that great so you'll have to look elsewhere for that as well. As far as making the drums digitally I've heard good things about the plugin drummer from hell for making metal music.
I hope this isn't discouraging you can definitely use FL if you want. I just wanted to let you know it's not going to be as plug and play as you might hope as far as making that particular genre goes.
Here's the Tutorials I recommend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjUIbTvO9ig Varien on mixing drums and he gives nice samples in the description.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua-f0ypVbPA The new DOOM theme is made in FL. Relevant to the metal and industrial sound.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shw6cEPBaFU Old but Gold to an absolute beginner. This guy makes Metal with FL so you should get along well with his channel.
ok awesome - metal is totally dooable, there are several of us who do it all the time - the obvious first step is learning FLStudio - metal is very much about technique and like others have said before - you will have to work very hard to make it sound authentic as opposed to machine driven.
Once you know FL you should consider picking up Shreddage and Shreddage 2 by Impact Soundworks. If you are serious you will have to have a sampled guitar package. Next you will need a Digital Amp Sim - somthing like Amplitube by IK Multimedia or Guitar Rig by Native Instruments. You can get great sounds out of freeware but it will be headache after headache searching and downloading single vsts that are just a small part of your FX chain here these digital amp sims can do it all.
You will quickly realize that double tracking leads and then rhythms and a bass guitar all at the same time will bring your PC to its knees so it helps to have a nice machine otherwise you will have to commit to your notes and freeze and bounce which is not ideal, as this genre is not forgiving when it comes to mixing.
People will tell you to get EZDrummer and Steven Slate drum VSTs and while they are great - they are so recognizable. Everyone writing metal is using them and I dont just mean people who use sample guitars. Lots of recording guitarists are using midi to trigger these drum kits and they are EVERYWHERE. There are a lot of free drum samples all over the internet - many of them recorded specifically for metal.
Composition will be your next challenge. I assume you like metal and are familliar with the genre. Do you play guitar? You need to know about mutes bends vibrato whammys pinch harmonics tapping ect... and when to use them. Any idiot can get a sustain patch and play some guitar riffs on a keyboard but it doesnt sound right because the articulations that make up a riff are very easily performed with fingers on strings. Impossible on a piano. So they have to be manually triggered. Once you do have them dropped in, it will sound way too perfect. They have to be humanized and I'm not talking about just quantization. You need subtle bends and pick releases, scrapes, feedback triggers - all programmed manually.
Guitar tone and mixing between leads and rhythm is basically sorcery so I will let you research that on your own.
Sorry about the ramble but hell yeah you can make metal with FL and it can sound awesome but it is a lot more work than making a "drop" with a riser and some filters and a snare roll.
First of all, thank you for the informative response.
Ok, so my music knowledge is about nil, unfortunately. I've had a long time interest in music and making music, but have had little opportunity to nurture it. That's why I was hoping to go this route, that way there would be few limitations...
well I'm hoping to create everything within FL, as I don't have any actual instruments.
I did something like that a while ago and it actually turned out pretty great. I think for metal it's quite the game of making everything aggressive without making mess. Have your snares acoustic sounding - slam it into a compressor very hard. Experiment with distortion until you find one that fits with the mix, instead of fixing it with EQ. For some reason distorted guitar gets very thin very quick if you EQ it - of course roll out some rumble but really, try to EQ BEFORE the distortion. Find a nice exciter too, the more energy the better metal gets and an exciter is an easy way to do that (Subtly though, don't want to cause early ear fatigue from 6 channels of crisp high end stacked on eachother)
I think Dubstep tutorials should give you a slight feel for the drums. Punchy, 2 step and with a cymbal riding each beat. In fact Varien has a Tut on 2 step drums that is well suited for metal. If I can I'll find the link to the Metal I made in FL as an example of what these techniques achieve.
Edit: FL SLAYER is more than enough, don't get sucked into buying Electric guitar Sample Libraries
You can find an Epiphone Les Paul Special for $100. Is that too much? You could spend your time learning to play it instead of trying to recreate metal digitally (which is usually disappointing). Does your disability make it impossible to play guitar? If so, maybe there's a style of music you like that's more amenable to the digital treatment. Industrial? Classical?
Well, as of right now I really can't afford anything...disabilities may make guitar difficult, I haven't messed with one since I was a teen.
There are a number of genres that I would like to dabble in, I think that is why I'm most interested in making music digitally. Industrial, goth, hardcore, doom/death metal... I was hoping to get into music making in a way that would provide me the most adaptability/flexibility.
I mean if you guys know of any tutorials for anything on the heavier end of the music spectrum that would at least give me a good place to start.
I was hoping to get into keyboarding/synths eventually...actually trying to get into a music therapy program through the VA to do this...
Man, if your goal is music therapy, then a real instrument would be way better if at all possible. Electronic music is like programming most of the time...
Regardless, you can definitely do heavy sounds on the PC, they just won't sound exactly like guitars, so if you try too hard to make them sound like guitars, you'll hit the 'uncanny valley'. But if you like some of the more electronic industrial sounds, that can totally be done with Sytrus, which comes with FL Producer Edition. You'll have to learn FM synthesis, though. If you just have the Fruity edition, you can probably make some dark sounds with Wasp, or even run 3-osc through a distortion plugin. I suggest you start by just learning to use the software in general; watch some videos about FL studio, without worrying about whether they're making the same kind of music you want to make. Also, some videos about music theory and general principles of synthesis, if you don't already know them. Busy Works Beats is a good youtube channel.
Yeah, I know...but my real interest actually is singing...which I also need to seek some assistance with, but that is another story.
Here's an instance or 2 of Slayer. It's cool if you're after that nu-metal sound. Very old but looking back it sounds alright to me, I say go ahead and make metal in FL. If it's fun for you that's enough of a reason. https://soundcloud.com/ericzmusic/necromancy-cire
I like some of the sounds I get with harmor using the hardcore effects. Not the best, not as good as just recording a guitar, but it's pretty cool.
my advice is don't, i guarantee it won't end well
even at its best, guitar emulation tech today still sounds like ass. even with the best, most expensive software you're still gonna fall way, way short of any respectable metal
Is there a good tutorial on not just the basics of FL studio, but also digital music making that anyone could suggest?
check out seamlessR on youtube. he has an amazing series
I honestly disagree on that. I think his videos are the opposite to what a beginner needs. He talks insanely fast, too fast for even himself as hes constantly tripping over his words, it's exhausting to listen to. A better youtuber for absolute beginners is busy works beats
Strawberry guitar VST run through Kontakt and then that run through Guitar Rig is an amazing realistic guitar work around when you dont have a guitar. You can set Strawberry to change how the strings are played (palm muted and squeals and such) using the velocity of the midi notes.
Ok, so if I'm starting from literally zero; no musical knowledge or skills; what do you guys suggest?
I know this isnt what you want to hear, but metal is a very humanized genre, mimicking it with a DAW is almost always going to sound fischer-price ... like a toy version of the real thing... i mean, you can do it, but its not going to sound like actual metal, at best you can make some decent industrial stuff, but completely digital metal is almost always garbage, lifeless garbage... good luck.
Actually, this is kinda what I want to hear...erm, well at least to know. I only threw heavy metal out there as I figured it would be the most "well known", and thus the genre with the most tutorials and such, at least out of the genres I like/have interest in making. I also figured it would be the best base to start with, giving me a good foundation to branch out into other genres of interest to me...But, if that is not the case, that is also good to know.
In your opinion what would be a good genre(s) to start with, in FL studio, that is close to Heavy Metal. Do you know of any good tutorials for said genre(s)?
Anything you like really, the less human/acoustic the better, basically anything that isnt supposed to sound like a live band... but above all else, do what you like and are interested... no matter what genres you start producing, its going to be a while before you are able to make stuff that sounds great and probably even longer until it isnt frustrating, but all that matters is you have fun.
Buy this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-VMLalz_as
bot ^info
So this is a stand alone program?