(Part 2) Top products from r/musicproduction

I would say that if you want to commit, you need to spend some money on gear so you don't just quit in a couple of months (nothing keeps you motivated like knowing you will have just wasted a couple hundred dollars if you give up).

Here is the minimum professional-quality kit you need (these are brands that I've seen being used by the Chemical Brothers, Orbital, and others) to buy in order to start playing around with enough equipment to keep you learning for at least a couple of years:

• 110$ MIDI Keyboard + Controller - Novation LaunchKey Mini
  
• 100$ DAW Software - Ableton Live Intro (FL Studio is also good, but the basic version costs 200$)
  
• Free Subtractive Synth VST - Tyrell N6
  
• Free Effects package VSTs - Melda Plugins
  
• 60$ Monitor headphones - AKG K240
  
• 270$ Total, for a high-quality basic kit.
  
  Ableton Live Intro is a fantastic DAW to learn: It has enough features to give you a year or two of productive learning before you might want to upgrade to the standard version. 16 tracks is enough to make a lot of good music.
  
  And don't be fooled by the price of the Tyrell N6: It's a full-featured professional synthesizer that's in the same league as the Minimoog, Prophet 5, and the Jupiter 8. It can make all of the same sounds of any of those synths, and you could spend a few months mastering its use.
  
  Once you get the hang of using those for a few months, you might want to upgrade your audio output quality, and also start recording real-life sounds, such as vocals and musical instruments. In that case you'll need an audio interface and a microphone:
  
  
• 200$ Audio Interface + Microphone - Focusrite Scarlett Solo bundle
  
  And one thing to keep in the back of your mind: Professional music production is complicated There's a lot more to it than hitting record and playing some nice notes. Here is a list of all the different skills that are required to become a great musician. If you want to make and sell music, you'll need to either get good at, or get someone to help you with, the following:
  
  
• Instrument playing (keyboard, guitar, drums, flute, etc)
  
• Rhythm (beat, timing, syncopation, etc)
  
• Music Theory (chords/scales, melody/harmony, etc)
  
• Arrangement (song structure creation, progression, tension/release)
  
• Effects (ambience, reverb, compression, filters, guitar pedals, etc)
  
• Mixing (EQ, compression, pan, volume)
  
• Mastering/Recording (EQ, compression, limiting, tape transport/splicing [analogue], or copy/paste and file management [digital])
  
• Releasing (album compilation, performance, DJing, music distribution, etc)
  
  You could honestly spend at least a few months learning each of those skills. And the following two skills are necessary for some types of music:
  
  
• Instrument/effect construction, modification, customization, VST programming
  
• Writing lyrics
  
• Singing
  
  Good luck! And may the god of music be with you!

It's not as easy like a direct answer, but you can look for books like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Here-There-Everywhere-Recording-Beatles/dp/1592402690
In this case, the sound engineer of many The Beatles recordings narrates all the process. For example, sometimes he explains how many hours took to record a song, how many people worked on it, what equipment they used... Maybe you can extract a lot of data.
Oh, and the book is amazing hehe.
Hope it helps and excuse my english.

If you've got the money and space buying a midi drum kit will help loads. You get to learn the drums and use a great midi controller at the same time. 👌

This is probably the cheapest mesh kit available (I've heard the rubber ones aren't worth buying)

Alesis Turbo Mesh Kit

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07HYTRL7D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_r2-xDbJRP6KK4

I’m a big fan of the Sennheiser HD650s they price around $310-320 usd

Edit: they have a pretty solid sound, and they are extremely comfortable to wear for long periods of time.

These correct? Sony MDR7506 Professional Large Diaphragm Headphone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000AJIF4E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_RzRKDbT1NE7K3

Also thank you! I definitely like them so far and they are about $50 cheaper than some other models I’ve looked at.

The Audio engineering sub has a very good ‘fundamentals’ page here.

Some of the following books are about specific aspects of sound design, some focus on acoustics, some on the technical aspects of engineering and some on psychoacoustics. They are all really good references.

Designing Sound. Andy Farnell

Master Handbook of Acoustics. F.Alton Everest

Audio-Vision Sound on Screen. Michel Chion

The Sound Studio - Alec Nisbett

Spectromorphology - Explaining Sound Shapes. Dennis Smalley

An Introduction to the Psychology of Hearing. Brian Moore

Sound System Engineering. Davis/Patronis.Jr/Brown

Master Handbook of Acoustics. F.Alton Everest

I have the Sennheiser HD280s , they have a good flat response that helps me fine tune the levels.

*Pulls up PDF of book, flips to table of contents. *

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Yeah, just by looking at the section headings and subjects, this is all about live sound reinforcement. Not really that useful for DAW music production. Unless you're aiming to be a FOH engineer.

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You want a good book for learning about music technology, recording, and FX? The book Modern Recording Techniques may be more in the alley of what you're looking for. I'm sure you can find a PDF of it online, but its one of the few books I recommend actually purchasing.

I bought this a few days ago and I literally can’t put it down. I would highly recommend. It will help indefinitely.

This book is short and to the point: https://www.amazon.com/Music-Sight-Singing-Robert-Ottman/dp/0205760082/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?keywords=sight+singing+ottman&qid=1573010981&sprefix=sight+singing+ott&sr=8-5

This is a standard College theory textbook.
https://www.amazon.com/Tonal-Harmony-Stefan-Kostka/dp/125944709X

Keep in mind that learning theory should be paired with sight singing (vocalizing the rhythms and melodoes). I'd recommend learning basic piano as well.

You should read this book by Ray Badness. It helps tremendously, regardless of genre.
(if you DM me, i may or may not know someone with a .pdf copy ;)

https://www.amazon.com/Drum-Programming-Complete-Program-Drummer/dp/0931759544

Rule 1: do whatever sounds right

Rule 2: do it many times, do it a lot and often

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Also, I would recommend "the art of mixing" or similar, e.g. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Mixing-Recording-Engineering-Production/dp/1931140456/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1543348812&sr=8-2&keywords=the+art+of+mixing .

I got a lot out of "Processing Creativity" by Jesse Canon

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https://www.amazon.com/Processing-Creativity-Tools-Practices-Habits/dp/0988561336

https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Dance-Music-Production/dp/0956446035

I havent read that and cant recommend it. I'm talking about this one by sample magic

Says house, is full of basic dance music skills, genre blahblah

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secrets-House-Music-Production/dp/0956446000&ved=2ahUKEwiy1Mrgg9zjAhVOQEEAHSHQCVMQFjALegQIBxAB&usg=AOvVaw0aS45rqN_S_ECB4lSZiEXm