Start Making Tunes and Stop Getting Lost in the Party Scene

Dang. I don't know if i'm the best to answer this question for you, but I'll try anyways. I'm still gonna stick with the fact that if you don't have a kid or an STD, you can recover from anything. So maybe go get tested first. To be completely honest, and I think maybe the only difference is that I'm a guy, is that a turning point in my life was the one year where I was out almost every night until the sun came up. I bonded with a lot of people that year, and I look back on it in an amazing way. I was a little bit out of control, but aren't you kinda supposed to be at some point? I think you should set some goals for yourself. What do you want exactly? If you don't know, you are essentially working towards nothing. When I was 22, I hadn't ever put out a record or left the country, but I knew I wanted to. So I felt like if I was at least taking forward strides every day, whether it was one tiny one, or 100,000 huge ones, I was doing my best. Now I'm an advice columnist, so it obviously worked out. Also, don't do coke. I've seen it ruin mad people. Good luck.

Hi. Thanks. I'm glad you like it. I learned how to iron my clothes last week on YouTube, so I don't see why there's any reason you can't learn how to sound like Skrillex on there either. My suggestion would be to get some programs and a decent MIDI controller. I use Ableton Live and Novation stuff. Reason is tight. Personally, I hate Logic cuz it's slow and clunky, but some people go wild on it. When I got Ableton in 2004, I picked up *Ableton Live Power!: The Comprehensive Guide*. I kept it with me all the time. I read one page here, 10 pages there… sometimes I didn't read any, but my brain was racing to try and understand it all. I kept learning, bit by bit. If you go back to my first column, we talked drum machines. I would listen to some of your favorite music and see what sounds resonate with you. See what synths you like, if you like samples, drum machines, and all that. When I work with people, I try and understand that as fast as possible. I find it really important. It's a language that you can speak together. My other favorite book that I still keep with me today is *The Art of Mixing*. It's trippy as fuck, and funny, but awesome… and when I Googled the link just now, I realized that my dude has the book notated on YouTube. Yes! Don't worry about hardware yet. Some of my illest friends that make all the beats we love use no hardware at all. It's all good. I didn't get a real synth 'til like three years after I was making beats. Reason was great for me in the beginning because it really does emulate the process of a studio. Once I started making "real" records, I actually understood the process. Hope that gets you started. Hit me back for more. *Column 6*