I need help starting out (completely new to music production)

Hey guys, Well I'm completely new to music production, I really want to get into it because (like many people) I really like music and it seems like a great thing to do in order to get other shit of your mind and just zone out and chill. I know some people hate these kinds of stupid questions and "spam" posts, but I hope some people can bear with me. First, I completely understand that this music production thing takes a lot of time to learn. I started a little bit in fruity loops (free trial) with which I could make very very simple crappy beats with the help of tutorials. From there I went to some other music production forums to ask people which DAW they recommend for me to plunge my money in and to focus on. There were a couple of guys very excited about Reaper and so I've decided I really want to learn this program (+very attractive pricing). Now I downloaded Reaper a couple of days ago, and I must say it looks awesome, so clean. Now the problem is I have absolutely no idea where to start (I haven't even been able to figure out how to get any sounds). When I played around in fruity loops I atleast understood what was going on with the help of tutorials. I just selected a couple of sounds and highlighted squares on the timeline, or use the keyboard. Now with Reaper I've been looking for tutorials (and found many), but I have the idea that there are not a lot of tutorials for people that are really starting music production from scratch, the tutorials seem like they are made for people who are already familliar with the whole music production thing. I started with reading guides and watching youtube tutorials, but they all seemed so advanced, I couldn't find anything that started from scratch. Then I found which was awesome, I was thinking "awh yea finally somebody who goes from scratch". I learned how to use the interface and add tracks and all of that basic stuff very effectively with the help of their video (same as in the stickied "Noob faq"). Then the next couple of videos were on customizing your interface and stuff (not really useful for somebody who is not used to any other interface), and then it jumped to more advanced stuff and I lost it completely. Then I got to the Drums & Kick tutorial, which was great, finally I got some sound and explanation on how to make a beat, but that's basically the only thing I could really learn. Not hating on that site, because it's bloody amazing and the dude that made the tutorial is very well at explaining and showing everything, I'm sure it's incredibly useful for the people that know what he's talking about. So like I mentioned, I'm not asking everything to be handed to me on a silver platter, I would just really appreciate if you guys could point me into the right direction. Also I don't understand where the sounds are in Reaper? I could get the drums through a plug-in (GTG DPC 3), but are there any sounds included with Reaper by default? Because I get the impression you need to get everything through plug-ins, is that correct?

You would probably want to download something like Kontakt Player: It is free, and should come with 50 free instruments. As a fan of Native Instruments products, I must recommend you to also check out their other VSTs, which are available in demo mode if I remember well. As time passes, and you read and learn stuff, you will see what you like and what you don't, and you will be able to decide where to put your money in :)

I think you'd be perfect for my friend Joes' HSC Production Club.

Hi Akademix. What you haven't mentioned is the kind of equipment you're using. I assume you have the necessary speedy computer and decent speakers to hear your audio. But do you have a keyboard for playing/triggering your VSTi plugins? That's important, too. Reaper is not known for its VSTi intrument plugins. :) However, once you download a few (and I wouldn't overdo it because you can get confused trying to learn them all) Reaper will be your best friend. Also, the click track is handy when recording tracks. Lucky you found us. :) Welcome.

That keyboard should be fine. Good luck. :)

Just as a sidenote... it might be helpful to know what kind of music you plan to produce. Rock? Dance? Trance? Hip-Hop? Jazz? It's potentially counterproductive to start collecting various things you may not even need right now (since your plate will be kinda full learning brand new stuff all at the same time anyway) so if your focus is in one or two particular musical areas or genres maybe that will also help to narrow the focus of some of the recommendations. Start slow and keep it really basic early on. My $0.02. Something like Sequel 3 (along with Reaper) might be good start for just banging out some sounds and mixing them in Reaper or whatever.

^^^^^^^^ What he said :) And, btw, its a good idea to install all plugins you are installing to C:/Program Files/VstPlugins. Nothing too important, but saves you the trouble of adding new scan folders in Reaper every time you install new plugin.

Ok thanks, I already did that and it still didn't work... I installed the Kontakt folder in the exact same place as the GTG DPC 3 plugin and it's till not showing up. The Kontakt installation installed a couple of folders "Kontakt Factory Selection Library" within it "Documentation", "Instruments", "Samples", etc. I did what you recommended and made a VstPlugins folder and installed the drum plugin (GTG DPC3) and Kontakt in it, GTG DPC3 is showing up fine in Reaper but Kontakt is still nowhere to be found.

Make a system-wide search for a file called 'Kontakt 4 8out.dll'. When you find it, make sure the path to it is included in Reaper's VST path setting. And don't forget the 'Re-scan' button. If it still doesn't show up, something may have gone wrong causing it to be hidden - in that case, try the 'Clear cache/re-scan' button instead. EDIT: Or maybe that's 'Kontakt 5' nowadays... Better search for 'Kontakt*.dll' to cover all bases.

Thanks for the help man. Apparently I made a mistake by downloading and installing the wrong thing. I downloaded "Kontakt 5 Factory Selection PC", but it should have been "Kontakt 5 player". Got it up and running now, thanks!