Where can I learn how to make my music sound professional?

[Old Vantaa Man]

It's true mate.
Learn to mix on headphones and then mix final on crap speakers.
I speak proudly as one who has had a record out which sold thousands.
So there.

[feedingear]

I didnt say dont mix on phones, i said be careful of false stereo image/width. I mix on phones regularly and reference between them. Translation to bad speakers is important as well.

[FSTZ]

LOL

yeah

[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

Depends on how much you wish to invest in aquiring this knowledge. If your serious about obtaining the knowledge and skills then you should use these: http://www.dancemusicproduction.com/

If your not so serious...then you can spend years trawling through mis-informed articles on various forums and blogging sites.

DS

[DIGITAL SCREAMS]

Some of you TI owners might like to look into this: http://www.dancemusicproduction.com/...ccess-virus-ti

DS

[namnibor]

Yes, I am reviving an older thread, sometimes people call it "NecroThreading"...anyway, wanted to just share here there's some really affordable 'how-to' videos on every aspect of music production and even DAW-specific and vsti-specific on http://www.groove3.com/str/ and aside from individual dvd's one can also get access to watching as many as you want online.
My DAW of choice is Reaper and it's via an excellent dvd I purchased done by a very knowledgeable man, covering invaluable information. When you purchase a hard copy of any title you immediately also have access to watch it on their website. They even sent me a free comprehensive dvd on "Songwriting Theory Explained". They have various notable engineers that have inexpensive resources to help with "Mastering" to different types of synthesis programming tutorials.
If this revived thread helps even one other person then was worth resurrection, as learning a DAW can be quite daunting and when it's not pragmatic to attend aforementioned schools, where more times than not one would need to take prerequisite classes as in college, getting "straight to the meat and potatoes" of what you need to learn is an excellent option with this suggested website.

[TweakHead]

There's a bad advice here. You should have proper monitoring and a proper room to mix in. If you're not aware of what's going on, how can you fix it? A mix made with proper monitoring will sound good anywhere, headphones included - and that's the whole point!

You should take your time to perfect your mixing skills better. Don't even worry about "mastering" until you have a lush sounding mix in your hands. The mix is where the gold is. I think it really helps to have a grasp of such things as: gain structure, mixing with groups, parallel processing (much needed in any EM genre), mid and side processing. It's good you had piano lessons, you don't need to worry much about music theory, right? Learn your synthesis, make sounds while having in mind where do you want them to sit on the spectrum and on the stereo stage. Think 3d.

Take your time to really learn your DAW to.

EDIT

It's easier if you'd place a sample of one of your tracks for us to listen to. I'm sure there's some good ears round here that can give your more specific tips

I have this subscribed on youtube: dubspot.com. there's some good production techniques on display there (that's why I subscribed it) and they sell courses to.

[namnibor]

Actually, was only meaning to post the fact there's tutorials available mainly for help with DAW program, thinking it might help someone learning as I am and only mentioned some other subjects available as FYI...I am nowhere near learning "mastering", et al. Learning a DAW can be pretty daunting and this resource has helped tremendously.

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by namnibor

Actually, was only meaning to post the fact there's tutorials available mainly for help with DAW program, thinking it might help someone learning as I am and only mentioned some other subjects available as FYI...I am nowhere near learning "mastering", et al. Learning a DAW can be pretty daunting and this resource has helped tremendously.

One suggestion to lessen the learning curve of any DAW. Don't feel like you need to learn everything about it right away. Try to just jump in and start recording some simple tracks, and every time you run into something that you don't know how to do, look up how to do it in the documentation, forums, online videos, etc. Then after you know how to do most of the things you need to do in order to make music, start looking into more advanced features on a curiosity basis.

That's actually the opposite advice I give to folks learning software development. In programming, it's so important to lay down the fundamentals and theory before just jumping in, and difficult to go back and patch the holes in knowledge later because too many bad habits have already been learned.

But with making music with DAWs, the way a DAW accomplishes a particular task is usually the choice of one or two designers who decided to make it work that way -- it's not science, and there's no right or wrong way even though it might seem as arcane as science at times. In every DAW I've ever used, I see some features that strike me as brilliant then I see other things implemented that are a complete what-the-fuck. It's just a matter of wrapping your head around that particular software package, and getting used to it by using it hands-on.

[TweakHead]

Yep, there's plenty of resources on the web! And some dedicated magazines are cool to: there's even issues dedicated to any software out there: logic, cubase, reaper, ableton! And the same goes for Eq, compressors, mixing, synthesis, so forth and so on! Highly recommend those issues. And focusing in one thing at a time. Groove 3 is also very good! I know about them because of the same magazines.