FL STUDIO | Beginner to PRO Beat Making Tutorial

[00:01] all right so you just opened up FL you're like 

[00:05] anything is you're looking around you're like what 

[00:09] icons the answer is no and I got some bad news for 

[00:14] is that I'm going to make this super simple for 

[00:18] game from busy Works beats.com we trained over a 

[00:23] to work with Drake Kanye West Post Malone Ariana 

[00:27] little baby Kendrick Lamar jcole list of other 

[00:34] so what I'm going to show you guys today is if 

[00:38] show you how to make your first beat probably in 

[00:43] show you how cool it is so the first thing in FL 

[00:48] of your screen you don't have to memorize those 

[00:52] these five buttons here so if you click around 

[00:56] you'll get the hang of like opening and closing 

[01:01] all the puzzle pieces together this is called the 

[01:06] is where we add in puzzle pieces and we remove 

[01:11] we call the piano roll in my opinion as a beginner 

[01:17] so if you guys ever struggle with midi notes and 

[01:21] roll looks like this you're going to struggle for 

[01:26] for a long time because the screen is too small so 

[01:31] small it's going to be a very hard process so to 

[01:36] the top to make the screen nice and full piano 

[01:41] the piano roll it's always full screen okay and 

[01:46] the channel rack like how we build out the puzzle 

[01:50] have curves and some have indentures and then some 

[01:55] edges on them so Channel rack is where we design 

[02:01] where we put the puzzle together and I usually 

[02:05] to do it is just double click on the little top 

[02:09] puzzle pieces in here couple you know kind of 

[02:14] um playlist here go to the top left this little 

[02:19] drop down we're going to go to the magnet icon 

[02:23] Snap to grid so anytime I'm doing something in the 

[02:28] this on anything and I just click around I'm going 

[02:33] it's going to be a headache so let's go to snap 

[02:37] simple for you and all right let's get started so 

[02:42] the mixer is where you add effects like if I take 

[02:47] like you know I sound like a little child when I 

[02:52] that okay so that's what we can do in the mixer 

[02:56] synthesizers our microphones our drums Etc etc etc 

[03:04] get to separate the sounds um and then this fifth 

[03:09] is where you browse for dope Bas sounds any really 

[03:17] first and this is a part that I can't do for you 

[03:22] like in depth go to busy Works beats.com slfl 

[03:29] guys there but in short is that whenever you guys 

[03:38] becoming a music producer like until you get your 

[03:44] going to be making beats that sound like it but 

[03:48] as a beginner I'm going to say this probably five 

[03:54] producer as an R&B music producer as a EDM person 

[04:00] for your genre they're not going to come with 

[04:04] it's Reddit whether it's somebody's drum website 

[04:09] I don't even know people with kits anymore drum 

[04:14] find all of the dope sound designers and find 

[04:21] really can't do much and I'll give you guys 

[04:25] trying to like memorize everything all right so 

[04:30] me firstly what we're going to do is label these 

[04:35] mode um if you haven't logged into your FL make 

[04:40] to where it says about and then that's how you log 

[04:44] going to save this let's go to where it says file 

[04:48] isn't all the way we're going to save as let's 

[04:54] for 5 minutes so I promis to be under 15 let's see 

[05:00] drive let's go to projects I have a folder called 

[05:06] the day so today's October 16th you want to stay 

[05:13] I'm telling you guys in the future four years 

[05:16] can't find my project where I did a little Uzi 

[05:20] these projects just to find one project so let's 

[05:27] organized you are the more successful you will be 

[05:34] done so far is to save a project congratulations 

[05:39] project saved I'm going to turn on my keyboard 

[05:44] I turn on my syns my syn that don't come with the 

[05:49] to the track all right so next step is creating 

[05:57] up the playlist this screen here let's close clows 

[06:01] right click where this track one and let's label 

[06:06] a Topline layer this is the memorable Melody 

[06:11] chord structure like where you add the you know 

[06:16] layer is called the contrast layer this is where 

[06:22] different from the top line and then you have your 

[06:27] I'll label this for you guys so we have the Top 

[06:32] of a track you have the harmony section contrast 

[06:37] four sections you could stack this up infinitely 

[06:42] beat everything becomes easy my favorite place 

[06:48] let's go to What's called the Channel rack to 

[06:52] musical ideas let's go to the channel rack we're 

[07:00] all right so if you followed along so far you have 

[07:04] first plugin in FL Studio smash the like if you 

[07:11] go ahead and do it all right take the time I'll 

[07:16] let's go to the get button here and we're going 

[07:22] under the get you want to download yours should 

[07:26] strings essential winds essential bass guitar I've 

[07:30] git Tab and make sure you download the free packs 

[07:34] piano now whenever you're struggling with music in 

[07:41] instruments piano is a stringed instrument it has 

[07:47] uh a guitar is a string instrument orchestral 

[07:53] instruments they're string instruments okay so 

[07:58] out the sounds if you to okay so here we're going 

[08:03] to takeoff Reverb takeoff limiter takeoff Master 

[08:10] if you can't figure out how to make sounds click 

[08:15] make sure this is on and now you can use your 

[08:20] make stuff okay so you can right click to switch 

[08:24] just right click hit reset in short it basically 

[08:33] C octave 4 so that's what it does in those steps 

[08:38] that like button we have seven more minutes to 

[08:43] that we have our sound open we need to first hit 

[08:48] name it for us if you don't see this number on 

[08:53] to reveal that first thing we need to do is create 

[09:00] a pattern okay I like to build inside of um as 

[09:06] the metronome on we're going to turn blend overdub 

[09:10] turn the 3.2.1 on if you guys don't see this view 

[09:16] the drop down go to view go to behind Clips switch 

[09:21] but I'll reset it back to normal for you guys okay 

[09:28] bar it's just playing the metronome sound and 

[09:32] as we're listening okay it's going to that's going 

[09:36] going to stretch this out for about four bars 

[09:41] time okay so even though we're at 140 we're really 

[09:47] number four it's really two we're not trying to 

[09:51] song structure master classes on my Channel for 

[09:57] four let's hit control B this is latch paste latch 

[10:03] the bar and you have something like this where 

[10:08] contrl B it will paste it right there which is 

[10:14] contrl B is not copy and paste it's latch paste 

[10:20] we have this now we can we have it laid out the 

[10:25] and we can rightclick go to piano roll and now we 

[10:31] know why FL comes without this turned on but it 

[10:36] roll let's go to view let's go to where it says 

[10:41] just yet um and then we're going to go to where it 

[10:47] on all notes because by default it only turns on 

[10:52] how to make music this way it's impossible okay 

[10:57] view keyboard labels all notes okay turn that on 

[11:04] make something easy here let's do uh let's start 

[11:11] snap the grid to one half beat I'd recommend this 

[11:16] hit contrl L it will truncate the note and make it 

[11:22] note control left click is Select okay and then 

[11:28] going to hit control down that will pull that note 

[11:34] octave okay so now what do we do from here we 

[11:42] going to highlight this hit control we're going 

[11:48] we're going to go up a half step to f a half step 

[11:52] above or below and I teach all this music theory 

[11:59] it's the foundation of everything I teach just 

[12:04] I'll leave all the links below but that's the 

[12:09] okay so here's e and then we have [Music] F 

[12:20] layer so if we remember we were building out the 

[12:26] playlist view let's highlight all these notes 

[12:32] What's called the contrast section so contrast 

[12:38] to create a Harmony do we create the Harmony 

[12:42] we go to a new puzzle piece so let's go to 

[12:46] go to pattern two and on the left side you'll see 

[12:50] and drag it in and we need to make it long 

[12:57] but there's no midi information in here there's 

[13:01] add stuff to it let's right click go to piano 

[13:07] of pattern one but we don't have anything in 

[13:12] add a note here at e then add a note at F and 

[13:20] control left click highlight and hit shift left 

[13:25] hit shift up seven times one two 3 four five six 

[13:38] fifth now that we have that what we can do is take 

[13:52] theory but we'll just kind of keep this short 

[13:57] and hit shift left click and then we're going 

[14:04] now we're creating a minor chord okay so a minor 

[14:10] about music right now the root note consider this 

[14:16] all the music theory snobs out there this called 

[14:21] to build any chord so basically this is the root 

[14:29] 5 6 7 so we count note by note until we fill 

[14:34] 0 3 4 5 6 7 so 03 7 always makes the minor chord 

[14:41] chords now the second chord feels wrong so what 

[14:47] note hit shift up so we hit control to highlight 

[14:56] now that feels more correct so usually chords 

[15:00] why we start with the minor chord first okay 

[15:05] to do is just go back to the playlist make sure 

[15:09] and uh we're going to left click drag that in 

[15:14] comes to the playlist uh and now let's move into 

[15:18] pattern three so we're going to left click switch 

[15:23] how do you make Melodies well in my opinion the 

[15:29] note of your chords so let's right click go to 

[15:35] e it was down here e and then we went up to B so 

[15:41] this B hit control up to go up an octave and we're 

[15:47] rules with Melody I can't explain everything 

[15:51] guys What notes we can add here but I explain 

[15:55] to busyworksbeats.com SL music theory Essentials 

[16:02] have a new course called Melody Mastery which goes 

[16:07] Counterpoint counter Melodies advanced stuff 

[16:14] we're just going to give you guys some shortcuts 

[16:17] really need to remember is the number seven okay 

[16:23] shift left click make that duplicate note and 

[16:31] okay and then we could raise that note up one half

[16:33] step okay so we're going to copy this 

[16:40] Vibe and we're going to hit shift 

[16:46] going to change is this root note so 

[16:58] [Music] actually I might change

[17:00] [Music] it let's change that top note so sounds  

[17:07] better let's do actually [Music] a 

[17:15] rules there we go going for like a Travis Scott 

[17:23] the playlist here we're going to left click and 

[17:28] we have the Harmon section we have the contrast 

[17:31] add our drums so beat making really comes down 

[17:36] Target cuz I was trying to explain everything but 

[17:41] program how to save your program how to open up 

[17:46] your panel roll look nice I showed you guys how 

[17:52] the four layers of your beat so you've learned a 

[17:57] years to figure this out so I've crystallized it 

[18:02] let's add the Rhythm like I said in the very 

[18:06] you guys have to go hunt some sounds I'm going 

[18:11] guys go to busyworksbeats.com flstudio I'll give 

[18:17] to find some stock sounds but again you're not 

[18:22] if you guys got a packs you guys can mess with the 

[18:28] this is a Rolland tr808 drum [Music] kit so it 

[18:36] to find modern hip-hop stuff in FL Studio stock 

[18:41] a rabbit that doesn't exist um so that's where 

[18:47] you could mess with different packs for different 

[18:51] rack we want a kick which is like we want a high 

[18:58] so okay and then we went an 808 which is Boom 

[19:05] browser let's open up the browser right here 

[19:12] added my own hard drive so if you guys do collect 

[19:18] to how to uh save your files go to where it says 

[19:26] says file settings here you can import different 

[19:32] folders it will show up on your browser like 

[19:37] icon you find your folder on your computer I'll 

[19:43] friend sounds where is it at friend sounds okay 

[19:47] we'll call this friend Sounds new just so you guys 

[19:53] sounds cuz one's already the friend sounds folder 

[19:58] refresh button in the top left of the browser and 

[20:05] so it's the same location but I'm just showing you 

[20:10] didn't do a lot of like finessing with the midi 

[20:14] minutes nextly let's go to pattern four because 

[20:19] so let's go to pattern four here left click go to 

[20:24] so we're going to go to Metro's kit here where 

[20:33] guys got to chase down these sounds there's no 

[20:37] stuff that you know it just has a ton of stuff 

[20:45] with snares first we're going to right click and 

[20:51] sound to our puzzle piece shaping thing called the 

[20:57] as an option here let's find a high hat and close 

[21:02] now that's added to our Channel rack uh let's go 

[21:11] now one thing about samples if you're a beginner 

[21:14] turn off where it says use the loot points or else 

[21:18] samples are like weird it says Auto and all this 

[21:24] time and hit R to reset and also check under 

[21:30] the root note okay because some samples are kind 

[21:35] sampler uh that's for more intermediate to advance 

[21:43] hat right click open a new channel so far we have 

[21:51] we need to find an 808 now the most popular 808 is 

[21:57] one of the most used 808s on the planet uh we 

[22:03] going to right click open that up again you guys 

[22:07] to memorize like everything I'm talking about now 

[22:12] you guys could use your own sounds if you're 

[22:15] channel rack here left click and highlight all 

[22:21] to hit contrl L that will send the sounds to our 

[22:27] saturation d Distortion whatever okay so now 

[22:31] four to the playlist under song mode remember 

[22:36] the left side drag it in so nothing's happening 

[22:41] now we need to fill in the puzzle pieces like AKA 

[22:45] here to open up pattern four and here's where 

[22:50] just click somewhere over here and then right 

[22:54] high head so fl's kind of hard to like judge how 

[23:01] two steps this is a great place to start because 

[23:07] okay now the snare goes on What's called the 

[23:11] back on I'm going to count and every time the 

[23:15] snare four five six snare 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 

[23:27] goes one 2 one two one two t 1 two one two one 

[23:34] little high hat I added in here is that Metro 

[23:41] so say okay now let's add the boom boom the 

[23:52] add this now there's a pattern in Hip Hop and 

[24:00] ta that's the only pattern you need 

[24:06] from Mob music in the west coast 

[24:12] beon it's all the seal okay so so just get used to  

[24:18] that pattern okay so it goes boom boom 

[24:22] can move that around if you guys want to 

[24:30] boom boom bo so I'm going go and call out 3 

[24:41] bounce so now you're like okay I I can kind 

[24:48] go to the Steinway we're going to turn down 

[24:52] we want to turn sounds down at the source 

[24:55] here in the channel volume so now the piano 

[25:01] 808 now I'm not going to use a kick for this 

[25:09] could a simple way is just click on your 808 hit 

[25:15] timing as your 808 kind of a cool blend here but 

[25:25] last thing we need to do in this beat is mix and 

[25:29] right so here's where we're going to get a little 

[25:33] if you guys are copying every single step let's 

[25:37] we're going to go to our plugins and let's add the 

[25:43] called harmonic steer track to make it sound more 

[25:47] the bottom right turn your mix level to about 

[25:52] and crank this up to 4X I like to hit the high 

[25:57] curvature to make it more of a convex curvature 

[26:01] start to sound a little bit more Buzzy so that's 

[26:04] a buzz to it a subtle Buzz next plugin in slot 

[26:10] like what the heck is going on um go to here 

[26:15] which the default one is I keep mine on Compact 2 

[26:20] this I don't like this view so let's go back to 

[26:25] click these two icons here to show the plugins 

[26:30] here if you don't see that section at the bottom 

[26:35] make it bigger like that all right so I forgot 

[26:41] the drop down let's go to fruity soft Clipper and 

[26:47] over zero we're going to turn the threshold to 

[26:51] me hard clipping uh soft clipping would be to 

[26:55] the right now we're our beat sounds a lot bigger 

[27:02] up so what I did here in the mixer is I turned 

[27:12] everything so me turning this up is after all 

[27:18] turn the 808 up at the source like before all 

[27:23] rack level very important cuz a lot of people 

[27:27] mixer and they're wondering why they're not 

[27:33] is like the fader is like the last thing I would 

[27:38] jumping so let me show you guys a couple tips 

[27:46] the high hat just click on it go to the wrench 

[27:52] FL Studio 11 or below it's called time offset and 

[27:57] the time shift up like that now the high hat will 

[28:04] sound so right on the grid it's called now the 

[28:09] volume now I want my kick to be 

[28:17] turn the kick up with the channel volume 

[28:34] so let's say my 808 tone is in like right it 

[28:39] tonality to our 808 let's right click go to 

[28:43] notes and we're starting to create unique notes 

[28:48] roll so now I can see the note values for my 

[28:53] up and you can hear the tonality right now it's 

[29:01] hit shift down now it's more in key remember in 

[29:10] the same thing here this is basically doing that 

[29:28] [Music]

[29:28] let me again show you guys how to make your 

[29:32] notes here and I'm going to turn the velocity down 

[29:37] a ghost channel so if you click in the top left go 

[29:42] that off you guys won't see that so basically 

[29:48] puzzle piece you'll be able to see where the 

[29:52] stuff so now I'm adding in this this lower 

[30:01] grab the ellipses here left click pull 

[30:07] go to where it says note velocity and that's 

[30:14] graph so now we're adding a little stutter

[30:18] step let's go to our snare let's 

[30:30] if you ever want to fade out 

[30:31] out parameter here to fade or shorten a [Music]

[30:38] sound same with the high head click 

[30:45] you guys can trim the high hat to get 

[30:49] then hit Fade Out trim some of that 

[30:56] head let's go to the wrench tool turn 

[31:01] grid all right now I'm going to show you guys 

[31:09] the piano I'm trying to decide how I want to do 

[31:13] let's open up the mixer so remember the mixer is 

[31:18] blank area called insert 8 let's right click call 

[31:24] let's do Lex verb I forgot we have Lex verb now 

[31:29] to Lux verb shout out to Lex Luger and we're 

[31:33] where it says feedback and I'm trying to decide 

[31:39] okay so let's turn up what's called the gain and 

[31:44] I'm going to send my piano to that Reverb to do 

[31:50] give it a color so you guys can see we're going 

[31:54] the bottom to send a signal to that channel and 

[31:59] it down like that now my piano's going to this 

[32:06] sound and it's filling out the sound now if you 

[32:13] let's open up gross beat so if you guys see this 

[32:20] you know They're copying off your boy go to gross 

[32:24] claims they made this up cap okay go to gross 

[32:29] let's go to half speed and then let's pull back 

[32:34] Reverb and we have the original Reverb creates 

[32:47] crazy let me show you guys something you could 

[32:54] showing you guys sauce just to inspire you guys 

[32:58] you please subscribe I don't want to have to 

[33:03] okay if you go to Steinway piano open up fruity 

[33:09] now here's the technique turn your dry level 

[33:14] way down turn delay time all the way down okay and 

[33:21] becomes an effect just start twisting knobs and 

[33:25] time if I turn this up creates that wobbly sound 

[33:36] we have a really creepy [Music] Vibe I'm going 

[33:48] what it sounds like with soft clipping I'm just 

[34:06] so you guys don't need a bunch of sounds to 

[34:10] all those steps remember a beat is really 

[34:16] your chords the contrast layer which is like 

[35:15] [Music]

[35:16] only took 35 minutes but you guys just made your 

[35:21] pro Lev sound design sauce and you guys will 

[35:25] busyworksbeats.com St name a better deal name 

[35:33] you up subscribe if you're new um I will have 

[35:39] to tell yall if you want the foundation of like 

[35:43] song go to busyworksbeats.com slm music theory 

[35:49] where I go through like how to song structure how 

[35:54] From Scratch how to make chords from scratch how 

[35:59] explain moods behind music then move into what's 

[36:04] that goes into really deep science about what how 

[36:09] from there I go into Melody Mastery and that's 

[36:14] order to really comprehend Melody Mastery so all 

[36:21] you're new it's completely free and guys I want 

[36:24] you have these drums go to busyworksbeats.com FL 

[36:29] just going to leave everything below subscribe 

[36:32] make it in 15 minutes but you did learn some