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Season 2 ·

S2E01 – Welcome Back and COMBATING GEAR LUST

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Welcome back to Season 2 of Music Production Made Simple by GratuiTous!

I spent the last year re-organizing the website, and preparing to do beatmating education full time.

In Episode 1 of Season 2, I explain a lot new content I have released, a new member interview #4, and how to purchase your music equipment properly to prevent GEAR LUST!

Make sure to visit the website to experience my Beatmaker Training Platform for yourself at:
https://itsGratuiTous.com/courses

P.S. – I recently became an FL Studio Trainer, and have released BEAT TAPES By GratuiTous Vol. 9!

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S2E01 – Welcome Back and COMBATING GEAR LUST

  1. Alright, welcome to season two of the podcast music production made simple.
  2. I hope the first season helped a lot of you guys out.
  3. I know that I've received a lot of emails.
  4. A lot of you guys have signed up to the membership telling me that you found me
  5. through the podcast. This time around, I want to take a little bit of a little bit
  6. of a different approach. there's still gonna be some advertising towards my courses,
  7. my books, all that kind of stuff, but I do want to keep it just high quality
  8. education and then give you a little pitch towards a product to get you learning
  9. better. Okay. Now, in this episode, I want to talk about gear lust.
  10. Okay, so I recently did an interview with a member.
  11. So again, I run a beatmaker training platform where you can sign up and watch all of
  12. my FL Studio courses. Currently, there's 26 courses in there.
  13. Just go to it's gratuitous.com forward slash courses to check that out.
  14. And the interview is number four.
  15. Okay, so I will I will leave a link in the resources.
  16. So, what is gearlust? What happens when you're new is you're out there and there's
  17. so many plugins, there's so many sounds, and even more than when I started.
  18. So when I started, there was so much selection as well.
  19. But nowadays there's even more.
  20. You know, more people are learning about you can start a little business on YouTube,
  21. they try to create their own sound kit.
  22. Be very, very careful, okay. In order to have true success, you need to have high
  23. quality sounds. So you need to be buying from reputable vendors.
  24. That is one thing I will stand behind so strongly because high quality sounds really
  25. matter. And the thing is with Gearlust, you get trapped.
  26. Okay, you start thinking you need this plugin.
  27. You start thinking you need this sound kit, and what happens is you become so
  28. unorganized, and all of the projects that you're working on are gonna be broken.,
  29. Okay okay? Because what's gonna happen is over the years, once you mature as a music
  30. producer, you start to realize the the to toololss that that you you like like and
  31. don't. Now, this leads me on to the next point.
  32. So I created a free video.. Okay, it's an article on my website
  33. It's called Selecting the Right Plugins for You as a Producer.
  34. And again, I will leave that link in the resources here.
  35. It's very, very important that you understand the pros and cons to acquiring a new
  36. plugin. When you acquire a new plugin, and if you use it on a serious music music
  37. project, you are stuck with that plugin for life.
  38. Most people don't think about this.
  39. So, you know, what do I mean by life?
  40. Okay. So let's say you were making a real album and you use certain plugins.
  41. If you want to reopen that project in five years, you need to have all of those same
  42. plugins, all of those same sounds, and this is why it's so important to think ahead
  43. of the game and decide now what plugins do you like, what plugins do you think
  44. you're gonna keep around because that's going to allow you to be a lot more
  45. organized, okay. In addition with this gear lasso, I have this course that's called
  46. a specific music production folder.
  47. It teaches you about how to create a custom music folder that is super organized, so
  48. it allows you as the producer just to get in there, make your music, and you're on
  49. your way. It's really easy to back up, it's really easy when you want to switch
  50. computers. now the way how FL Studio has laid out all their menus and stuff, like
  51. you can jump in and use how they recommend, but in my experience, I have
  52. just experienced way too many missing files, and I just didn't have time to deal
  53. with that. You know, especially when I was an electrician, I was working a full-time
  54. job, I would come home and all of a sudden I'd open up a project and it's like all
  55. missing files. It's the worst experience because now you're spending what five, 10,
  56. 15, 20 minutes trying to find either that missing plugin, that missing sound by
  57. creating a custom music folder, the one that I show you how, okay, because it's
  58. taken me many years, at least seven, eight, nine years, and it's just organized, it
  59. just allows you to flow, you have all your sounds organized, you have all your VSTs
  60. organized. So, on top of that, what's really important is to become a good producer,
  61. someone to find their own sound, because that's the end goal of a music producer is
  62. always to find your own sound, right?
  63. So if you check out my music, and I didn't let you guys know, but I just released my
  64. newest beat tape. So, if any of you guys have been following me over the years, this
  65. is volume nine, okay. It was you know really rewarding to finally finish it and get
  66. it out there. But what I'm trying to say is if you listen to my beat tapes, there's
  67. a lot of variety on there, and it always has my own kind of sound, right?
  68. And that's what I'm always trying to teach you guys is to try to find your own sound
  69. as a music producer, and the only way to do that is to find the plugins that you
  70. like, right? Like so, some popular VSTs out there nowadays are like serum, you know,
  71. silent one, and then on the mixing side, like I like to use fab filter, but there's
  72. other plugins out there. But the thing is, see the tools that I use, and just
  73. because I listed those doesn't mean I use them.
  74. I'm just saying that those are quite popular in the industry.
  75. But it's about finding the tools that you like because if you can learn the tools
  76. that you like, you learn how to use them really good, but you also learn how to
  77. break that plugin a little bit, like how to push it a little bit further, and that's
  78. something that only you know, right?
  79. Because over your years of working with this tool for four or five., six years, you
  80. know, you start to kind of learn different tricks that you like to do with it
  81. But no one else knows these little tricks, they're just things that you do, and this
  82. is how you find your own sound.
  83. All right, so just be careful with the plugins that you are acquiring out there.
  84. You do not need every single plugin.
  85. You need to have good quality tools that you know well and that do the job.
  86. So, for example, if you need to do a task and you don't have a plugin for that,
  87. that's fine to go out and look for a plugin to acquire it to use it for that task.
  88. But you have to be thinking, is this a plugin that I'm gonna be keeping around for
  89. five years, ten years? Okay, because again, the more plugins you get, they update,
  90. and again, that takes a lot of your time.
  91. I've had a lot of experiences of some good plugins, some bad plugins, and over the
  92. years I've just kind of sifted out what I like and what I don't like, and then
  93. there's some plugins that I have to keep around because I've released quite a bit of
  94. music now, right? Like I have four albums, nine beat tapes.
  95. If you look back to when you're starting, like that was me, right?
  96. So on my first album, my second album, my third album, whatever, around there, what
  97. I was maybe four years into into making beats, so you know, I kind of got past maybe
  98. that gear loss stage, but I was still you know unsure of this mindset to be careful
  99. of the plugins you're bringing in.
  100. Remember, I'll say it one more time.
  101. The plugins you use on serious projects, you have to keep for life.
  102. Okay, you have to keep them backed up, you have to keep them always in your plugin
  103. folder, otherwise, you will not be able to open up that serious music project.
  104. Okay. One other thing I want to let you guys know is I have been updating a learn
  105. your gear page. Okay, so it's a page. that's gonna be talking about everything that
  106. you need as a music producer using FL Studio
  107. So FL Studio is the only music program I use.
  108. I'm really big on sticking to one DAW, one music program because there's no need to
  109. be learning other music programs, no need to be spending money.
  110. FL Studio gives you lifetime free updates.
  111. It really comes down to the producer and their ability to make beats, right?
  112. If you are going to different music programs thinking that that's your answer, it
  113. the problem is the producer, okay.
  114. But anyway, so sometimes FL Studio isn't the best with certain hardware or plugins
  115. or whatever. And this is a page again, it's called it's gratuitous.com forward slash
  116. learn your gear. And you'll see that I recommend to you my favorite mixing plugins,
  117. my favorite MIDI keyboards. I recently picked up a new MIDI keyboard.
  118. it's the MAudio Oxygen Pro 49.
  119. It has been an amazing MIDI keyboard.
  120. Okay, I have an in-depth review for you guys.
  121. It's like super in-depth. On the article page, I have like 11 different videos
  122. showing all the different aspects of the keyboard.
  123. I even created a free MIDI script, so it's available for download on the image line
  124. forums. They have a section about MIDI scripting stuff.
  125. I ended up writing just like a quick little free script that you can download to get
  126. the keyboard working good with FL Studio, and then I also created a little premium
  127. script, which isn't necessary, it just makes the experience a little bit better.
  128. You don't have to go and figure it out because honestly, the Oxygen Pro 49 was the
  129. hardest MIDI keyboard, like no, like hardest piece of hardware I've had to figure
  130. out for music production. It was so tricky, and I thought I was gonna have to return
  131. it, but after all the trial and error, the M Audio Oxygen Pro works great with FL
  132. Studio, and for size, I always suggest to you guys a 49 key MIDI keyboard.
  133. A lot of you guys always think, Oh, I'm getting the 61, right?
  134. Because you think that you're like that you need more keys.
  135. But the thing is, like if you can't even play the piano very well, okay, that's
  136. number one. So there's no point of you getting a 61 because we have the octave
  137. buttons, okay. Now, from someone like me who can play the piano, like I, you know,
  138. I'm not the world's best piano player, but I I've taught myself and I've practiced
  139. very hard to get to where I am with my piano skills.
  140. And again, I have a piano course, it's called Piano Lessons for Producers.
  141. You can get it individually or you can get it in the membership.
  142. But what I'm saying is a 49-key MIDI keyboard at my level
  143. has never ever restricted me in terms of being creative with my melodies
  144. to make beats. The reason I like a 49-key MIDI keyboard is it's
  145. more affordable than a 61. Okay, it doesn't take up as much room on your
  146. desk, and you can easily play with two hands.
  147. Very, very rarely are you playing at that large of octave difference, if that
  148. makes sense. So, as beat makers, most of the time we're only using one hand,
  149. anyways, to record our melodies.
  150. So, for example, let's say we lay down a piano loop, then we go into a bass line.
  151. Well, you should not be playing chords with a bass line, okay?
  152. That does not work. Bass lines are single notes.
  153. On the left hand, you want to be a little bit careful playing chords because it can
  154. clog up your mix. So sometimes instead of using the third, so like your middle
  155. finger, sometimes you can just use the thumb and the pinky and just play the outer
  156. of that chord on the left hand..
  157. It allows you to get a little bit of a cleaner low end
  158. And then on your right hand, you could play your chords, but sometimes that might be
  159. something I just click in. So on the right hand, I might play the chords.
  160. And then after I record it, I might add in the left hand just by clicking it in
  161. because it's easier. but again, what I'm trying to say is a 49-key MIDI keyboard
  162. has been the best for me. So again, check out the learn your gear page.
  163. If you guys are wanting to learn about equipment about FL Studio, I've listed a lot
  164. of stuff on there so far, and I'll also list some kind of helpful articles and
  165. podcast episodes that will get you going.
  166. I actually just recently written an article, I'll leave this in the resources as
  167. well. It's called How to Make Beats in FL Studio, and I walk you through all the
  168. basics of FL Studio just kind of quickly, you know, like what is a DAW.
  169. We talk about the gear you need, and there's a lot of valuable tips I pass on.
  170. For example, when you're looking to buy a MIDI keyboard, an audio interface, when
  171. you're buying your sounds, because when we talk about our sounds, we have our
  172. virtual instruments, our VSTIs.
  173. They're not VSTs, they're VST I's.
  174. Okay. VSTs are your EQs, compressors, right?
  175. That's the technical re thing to do it, but people just use a blanket term and just
  176. call everything a VST. But technically, the virtual instruments, things like Silent
  177. One or Nexus 3, whatever, these are virtual instruments, they are VSTIs.
  178. Okay. All right, and finally, visit my website.
  179. Okay, it's all up to date. I think it's looking really, really good.
  180. If you guys are interested in learning FL Studio with me, check out the courses
  181. page, okay? If you sign up to the monthly, I'm throwing in my FL Studio Beginners
  182. book for free. there's also a yearly option right now, and I throw in a bunch of
  183. more bonuses for you.. And then there's also the lifetime option where you only pay
  184. once and you never have to pay again for courses
  185. It's kind of like a starter kit.
  186. And when you watch the courses, you can literally follow along.
  187. You'll have the same sounds, you'll be able to flow.
  188. Okay, so if you guys have any questions, you feel free to send me an email at hi at
  189. its gratuitous.com or just visit the website it'sgratuitous.com forward slash
  190. contact. We'll take you to the contact form.
  191. Also, some more news for you guys.
  192. I recently became an FL Studio trainer, which is awesome because it just gives more
  193. credibility to my beatmaker trainer platform.
  194. So, again, if you want to learn more about that, just go to it'sgratuitous.com
  195. forward slash courses. Reach out anytime, and I'll talk to you guys in the next
  196. episode.
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