The Music Producer's Ultimate Guide to FL Studio 21 - Second Edition

The Music Producer's Ultimate Guide to FL Studio 21 - Second Edition

by Joshua Au-Yeung
Released June 2023
Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
ISBN: 9781837631650

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Book description

Take your music production to the next level with the ultimate FL Studio resource. Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free eBook in PDF format.

Key Features

  • Comprehensive coverage of FL Studio 21's tools and features
  • Step-by-step explanations of music production techniques
  • Insights into best practices for promoting and selling music

Book Description

The Music Producer's Ultimate Guide to FL Studio 21 is the essential handbook for any aspiring or professional music producer looking to take their craft to the next level.

This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to make the most of FL Studio 21's powerful tools and features. You will learn the secrets to creating professional-sounding music, from creating chord progressions to tailoring your sounds to perfection with compression, equalization, and stereo width effects.

You'll begin by getting up-and-running with FL Studio 21, creating a beat, and composing a melody. Once you're familiar with the piano roll and mixer console you'll learn how to use plugins to create your own instruments, explore audio width effects, and engage in sound design. You'll get insights into mixing and mastering, as well as promoting and selling your music.

This new edition covers some of the most popular features and plugins in FL Studio 21, including FLEX, Luxeverb, Vintage Chorus, Vintage Phaser, Distructor, Fruity Newtime, VFX Sequencer, Pitch Shifter, Frequency Shifter, Fruity Granulizer, Multiband Delay, and Frequency Splitter.

What you will learn

  • Get up and running with FL Studio 21
  • Compose melodies and chord progressions on the piano roll
  • Mix your music effectively with mixing techniques and plugins, such as compressors and equalizers
  • Record into FL Studio, pitch-correct and retime samples, and follow advice for applying effects to vocals
  • Create vocal harmonies and learn how to use vocoders to modulate your vocals with an instrument
  • Create glitch effects, transform audio samples into playable instruments, and sound design with cutting-edge effects
  • Develop your brand to promote your music effectively
  • Publish your music online and collect royalty revenues

Who this book is for

This book is for musicians, music producers, composers, songwriters, DJs, and audio engineers interested in creating their own music, improving music production skills, mixing and mastering music, and selling songs online. To get started with this book, all you need is a computer and FL Studio.

Table of contents

  1. Preface
    1. Who this book is for
    2. What’s new in the second edition
    3. How to use this book
    4. What this book covers
    5. Get in touch
  2. Section I: Getting Up and Running with FL Studio
  3. Getting Started with FL Studio
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Exploring the music production landscape
    3. The musician’s career path
    4. Steps of composing a song
    5. What is FL Studio?
    6. Exploring the FL Studio workspace
    7. Making your first song
      1. Creating a drum beat with the channel rack
      2. Adding an instrument to the channel rack
      3. Creating a melody with the piano roll
      4. Routing channels to the mixer
      5. Exporting the song
        1. Song exporting options
    8. Summary
  4. Exploring the Browser, Playlist, and Channel Rack
    1. Introducing the FL Studio workbench
    2. Using the browser
      1. Locating a sample’s file location
      2. Searching in the browser
      3. Getting the most out of your samples
      4. Adding your own samples to the browser
      5. Swapping samples
    3. Using the channel rack
      1. Channel rack options
        1. Piano roll
        2. Graph editor
      2. The Rename, color and icon option
      3. Instrument options
      4. Detaching windows
      5. Installing new instruments
      6. Using channel rack layers
    4. Using the playlist
      1. The playlist toolbar
      2. Element pattern options
    5. Using the main header toolbar features
      1. Version control
      2. Revert to last backup
      3. Audio Stream Input/Output (ASIO)
      4. Purge unused audio clips
      5. Undo and redo
      6. Viewing project info
    6. Summary
  5. Composing with the Piano Roll
    1. Using the piano roll
      1. Choosing an instrument
      2. Adding notes in the piano roll
      3. Selecting multiple notes
      4. Deleting notes
      5. Muting and unmuting notes
      6. Slicing notes
      7. Sliding notes
      8. Using the stamp tool to get assistance with scales
    2. Composing great chord progressions
    3. Recording into the piano roll with MIDI instruments
      1. The snap-to-grid (magnet) tool
      2. Quantizing notes
      3. Editing note articulations with the event editor
      4. Using piano roll velocity
      5. Comparing instrument melodies with ghost notes
    4. Exporting sheet music
    5. Using and exporting MIDI scores
    6. Summary
  6. Routing to the Mixer and Applying Automation
    1. What is mixing?
    2. Routing audio to the mixer
    3. Navigating the mixer console
      1. Understanding the insert mixer track
      2. Understanding the master channel
      3. Understanding the effects rack
      4. Applying an effect
    4. Applying automation
    5. Editing automation clips
    6. Applying automation to external third-party plugins
      1. Using MultiLink to controllers to add automation
      2. Creating an editor thumbnail to add automation
    7. Freezing audio clips
    8. Summary
  7. Section II: Music Production Fundamentals
  8. Sound Design and Audio Envelopes
    1. What is sound?
    2. What causes a note’s pitch?
    3. How do we hear things?
    4. How do instruments create sound with different pitches?
    5. Why do different instruments playing the same pitch sound different?
    6. Modifying sound envelopes
    7. Using Mod X and Mod Y for automation
      1. What’s the point of Mod X and Mod Y?
    8. Summary
  9. Compression, Sidechaining, Limiting, and Equalization
    1. Understanding compression
      1. Applying compression with Fruity Limiter
        1. Understanding parallel compression
    2. Applying gates and expanders
      1. When to use gating
    3. Applying sidechaining
    4. Using limiters
    5. Applying equalization
      1. EQ best practices
      2. EQ general rules
    6. Summary
  10. Stereo Width (Panning, Reverb, Delay, Chorus, and Flangers) and Distortion
    1. Panning audio
      1. Panning best practices
    2. Using reverb
      1. Applying digital reverb with Fruity Reeverb 2
      2. Applying convolution reverb with Fruity Convolver
    3. Using LuxeVerb
    4. Using delay effects
      1. Applying delay effects with Fruity Delay 3
      2. Delay effect best practices
    5. Using chorus effects
      1. Using Fruity Chorus
      2. Chorus effect best practices
    6. Using Vintage Chorus
    7. Using flanger effects
    8. Using phaser effects
    9. Using Vintage Phaser
    10. Understanding distortion effects
      1. Using Distructor
      2. Distortion best practices
    11. Understanding mix buses
      1. Mix bus best practices
    12. Summary
  11. Recording Live Audio and Vocal Processing
    1. Technical requirements
    2. Understanding microphones
      1. Dynamic microphones
      2. Condenser microphones
      3. Ribbon microphones
      4. USB microphones
    3. Setting up your recording environment
      1. Recording instruments
      2. Recording drum kits
      3. Preparing to record vocals
        1. Using pop filters
    4. Recording audio into FL Studio
      1. Recording with Edison
        1. Loop recording with Edison
    5. Using pitch correction with Newtone
      1. Pitch correction best practices
    6. Retiming audio samples with Newtime
    7. Vocals effect processing best practices
      1. Backing vocals effects best practices
    8. Summary
  12. Vocoders and Vocal Chops
    1. Understanding vocoders
    2. Understanding MIDI
    3. Using vocoders
      1. Harmonizing vocals with Pitcher
    4. Using Vocodex
      1. Vocoder best practices
    5. Creating vocal chops
      1. Using Slicex to create vocal chops
      2. Vocal chopping considerations
    6. Summary
  13. Creating Your Own Instruments and Effects
    1. Understanding glitch effects
    2. Creating glitch effects with Gross Beat
      1. Gross Beat presets
      2. Mapping time and volume effects to a sample
      3. Gross Beat sequencer
    3. Creating instruments with DirectWave
    4. Creating effects with Patcher
      1. Creating custom dashboards in Patcher
    5. Send any instrument to Patcher
    6. Exploring Patcher presets
    7. Using VFX Sequencer
    8. Summary
  14. Intermediate Mixing Topics and Sound Design Plugin Effects
    1. Using Pitch Shifter
      1. Controlling Pitch Shifter effects with a controller
    2. Using Frequency Shifter
    3. Creating granular synthesis with Fruity Granulizer
    4. Creating delay effects with Multiband Delay
    5. Multiband processing with Frequency Splitter
      1. Using Frequency Splitter for mastering
    6. Summary
  15. Section III: Postproduction and Publishing Your Music
  16. Mastering Fundamentals
    1. What is mastering?
      1. Can you master music yourself?
      2. When should you master your music?
      3. How do I get good at mastering?
      4. What equipment do I use to master music?
    2. Equalization in mastering
      1. Diagnosing frequency problems
      2. Understanding spectrograms
      3. Adjusting dynamics
    3. Using multiband compressors
      1. Applying multiband compression with Maximus
        1. I’ve compressed my sound, now what?
      2. Using reference tracks
    4. What are saturators/harmonic exciters?
    5. Understanding limiters
    6. Understanding stereo imaging with vectorscopes
      1. Stereo imaging best practices
        1. Listening to your audio in different environments
    7. Exporting audio for third-party mixing and mastering
    8. Summary
  17. Marketing, Content Creation, Getting Fans, and Going Viral
    1. Marketing essentials
    2. Creating a brand
      1. Choosing your artist name
      2. Creating a website
    3. Making the most of your live performances
      1. Booking your first gigs
      2. Filming your shows
      3. Streaming performances online
    4. Collaborating with others to promote yourself
      1. Getting more views on YouTube
      2. What about YouTube video titles and thumbnails?
      3. TikTok for musicians
      4. Creating album artwork using AI art generators (Stable Diffusion)
    5. Creating music visuals with ZGameEditor Visualizer
    6. Summary
  18. Publishing and Selling Music Online
    1. Registering your music
    2. Tagging your music in preparation for distribution
    3. Selling music on online stores and streaming services
      1. Get signed to labels using LabelRadar
      2. Selling music as an independent artist
        1. DistroKid walk-through
    4. Claiming revenue from songs on YouTube using AdRev
      1. What are ISRC, ISWC, and UPC codes?
    5. Summary
    6. Share your music
    7. Conclusion
    8. More from the author
    9. Further reading
  19. Other Books You May Enjoy
  20. Index

Product information

  • Title: The Music Producer's Ultimate Guide to FL Studio 21 - Second Edition
  • Author(s): Joshua Au-Yeung
  • Release date: June 2023
  • Publisher(s): Packt Publishing
  • ISBN: 9781837631650