The key of a song is a reference to the notes and chords that are in it. For example, a song in C Major will primarily use the notes C D E F G A & B, and mainly use the chords C Major, D minor, E minor, F Major, G Major, A minor, and B Diminished. Of course, they don't have to only use those notes, but they're the most common ones seen.

If you don't know what major, minor, and diminished means, don't worry! There are plenty of resources available. I'd suggest starting with a free guide like this one, and if you still feel like you want more knowledge consider enrolling in a theory class at your local community college!

edit for spelling & grammar

How about a little optimism, huh? Let's assume we can accomplish one minute worth of music a week, instead of trying to negotiate down to something we might think is easier. The point is to challenge ourselves. No need to be so negative about the outcome before we even started!

It's one hour of music a day, for seven days.

EDIT: I understand that this seems like a daunting task with all the stuff going on in our lives and how relatively inexperienced many people on here tend to be. However, if you don't think you can do the rules as listed... don't join. No one is forcing you to participate, so the only person you really have to answer to is yourself. If people are concerned about getting it curated, I will personally devote my weekends to organizing these so that there is no worry about whether or not the mixtape will be released or the samples and BPM will be chosen. Once it has a good momentum, other people can volunteer.

and thank you!

Two samples (one to use in the production and one to use as a transition sound at the beginning and end of the track), one minute of time to fill at a given BPM, and one week to finish the track. At the end of the week, all the songs are spliced into one giant mixtape and released to show the accomplishments.

That's the main concept behind the Team Supreme Beat Cypher. I think we should start one on here. Knowledge is only useful when it's put into practice, and the best way to practice is to engage in friendly competition. Just look at how Team Supreme did it.

The rules would be simple:

Every Sunday, two samples are posted along with a specific tempo. Post in the thread to say you're joining the cypher, then download the samples. Commit to a minimum of 1 hour per day where all you are doing is trying to finish the track.

You can make whatever kind of song you want, and bring in whatever extras you want, but you are required to 1. Use the transition sample at the start and end of your project, 2. feature the second sample in your track in some way (don't just slap it in before the drop and call it a day), and 3. stick to the BPM provided.

Use the transition On Saturday, everyone submits their track and one person curates them into one long project, and posts the finished product so we can see who did the best. Then two new samples and a new BPM are chosen, and the cycle starts anew.

So, who's in? We can start on the 5th.

If you think your personal experience is indicative of the music industry as a whole, you're welcome to that belief.

In my opinion, it's better to be aware of the possible pitfalls and never have to avoid them than it is to just assume everything will be hunky dory and sign away all your rights and earnings.

Practically everyone, to be quite frank. This is standard operating procedure in the music industry. Every single part of the release that you cannot personally provide, from the songwriting to the mixing/mastering to the cover art, is money that the record label will have to spend on you.

That record label doesn't care about you, or even your music. They just care about your profitability and their own bottom line. Now, they can't just demand the money from you, cause you get situations like this thread. Instead, they tell you that you'll be receiving #% of royalties earned, minus packaging deductions (used to be CDs and packaging, and some asshole labels will charge you for "packaging" a digital download) and other fees.

The money you earn as an artist goes towards those deductions before they go to you. If you were given a cash advance, that counts as well. If your album tanks, or performed worse than expected, you could wind up with almost no earnings or even a negative balance - and you signed a legally binding contract saying that's on your own head. This can explain a lot of the stuff I'd go into, and probably much better than I would.

Instead of just listening to what others do, start analyzing what others do. Go find ten Future Bass tracks that you really like, and bring them into your DAW one at a time. Deconstruct them - use markers to divide up the arrangement so you can see when they transition between each section; use blank MIDI clips to mark off what sounds are being used, when they come in, and when they stop; try to recreate their chord progressions and melodies; all in all, just do what you can to learn directly from the source material instead of trying to use your memory of the genre.

The problem is you're thinking too much on what you've learned, instead of just using the skills you've acquired naturally. You're spending so much time trying to keep in your head the various things you believe that you have to think about while creating music - composition, arrangement, sound design, mixing, etc. - that you're paralyzing yourself away from actually creating music.

The reason we learn is so we don't have to think. It's the same reason we practice. You want to spend as much of your spare time as possible doing the mundane and boring little habits of practice and training so that when you need to sit down and work, you're just acting on instinct and muscle memory. You don't try to think of a cool chord progression, you use all the experience you've gained studying harmony and function and allow the aspects of theory that describe them to, in essence, procedurally generate your results.

Stop thinking so much while you make music, and start just making music again. If you can't think of anything to create, steal bits and pieces of creation from other musicians until you can. Most importantly, stop worrying about making a good song, and just focus on making anything.

I used to have the Shure SRH440s and they lasted me for like 3-4 years before breaking (mostly due to my own clumsiness) - really solid and reliable with a nice flat response.