Transcripts
1. Introduction: Opening FL Studio for
the first time can be very intimidating,
but, you know, fear not. By the end of this course, you have all it takes to make your first bid in FL Studio. My name is Aram Debara, popularly known
as producer Mica, and I've had the opportunity of working with some great
minds in the industry, such as Davido, Ozuna, BaryJe just to mention a few, and
throughout this course, I'll be taking you through the process of
learning how to make your first afro
bit in FL Studio. I'm so excited and
I can't wait for you guys to hop on
this journey as I take you through the process
of learning how to make your first afrobt in FL Studio. Let's go right into
the class, guys.
2. FL Studio Interface: Alright, guys. So once you
open up FL Studio, you know, you are just met with this intimidating, you
know, interface, but trust me, by the
end of this course, you'll be able to
navigate fully and know what every buttons
in FL Studio does. So once you click on FL Studio, yours might be different from
mine because I'm actually using the latest version of FL Studio, which is FL Studio. 24. So depending on which
version you're using, it might actually be different
from what mine is showing, but, you know, don't be worried. Everything is the same. So I'm just going to click
on this empty template and click on start a
new empty project. So once I click on that,
it opens up and we have this amazing
amazing interface. You know, I'm just going
to close everything up. So we're just having
an empty interface. And trust me, guys, it might look as if there
are lots of buttons here, but you only need five
buttons to be able to navigate El Studio very well. So these are the five button. One, two, three, four and five. So with these five buttons, once you have a full knowledge on what this button
does, trust me, you are already halfway
in learning how to make your first half
ro bits in FL Studio. Going to be going over
each of these buttons in the next chapters
and I'm going to be explaining what each
of these button does. So see you in the next chapter.
3. Breakdown Of FL Studio Interface: Quick recap the previous
chapter we're talking about opening FL Studio
for the first time and selecting our empty
project where we just met with this amazing
and beautiful interface. So in this chapter, I'm
going to be talking about the five most important
buttons in FL Studio. So these are the buttons.
But the First button here is the playlist button. The next button is the
piano roll button. Then we have the channel button. We have the mixer button, and we also have the
plug in picker buttons. And I'm going to be
explaining each of these, you know, buttons in a bit. So the First button
we have here, which is our playlist button. And in case you don't
know what each button is once you click once you
over any of the buttons, you know, you what
the name is on, you know, this hints
panel over here. So once I over here, you can see that this
is the playlist button. And when I click this, you know, it brings up this playlist. And this playlist is
the section where we arrange every pattern
we have created. So not to get confused, we're going to be
using this later on in the course of this course. The next button is
our piano rule. And once I click on that, it
brings up this, you know, piano looking you
know, interface. And with this piano roll, we can arrange our notes. We can arrange our drums. We could, you know, have
more control of our drums. And, you know, with
the coming chapters, we're going to be using
this intensively. And the next button we have
is called our channel a, the rap that, you know, comes
once you open up FL Studio. And this rack is where
we program our drums. You program your kick, your
snare, your high heart. I'm going to show you how this works in the coming chapters. The next button is
called our mixer. When making beats, you know,
you combine various sounds. And for those sounds not
to clash, you need to mix. Our mixer is where we get to mix all the sounds we are
going to be using, you know, in making our bit. And then the final button is
called our plugin picker. And this plug in picker is the section where you
get to pick your sounds. And like I said, in the
introduction of this call, you're going to be getting a file which you're
going to download. And that folder contains the
sounds we are going to be using in FLS studio to make our bit because you cannot
be making a bit you know, without having any sounds. So the sounds that are in our folder is what we're going
to be adding into our plug in picker so we could
pick those sounds when we start making our
with the plug in picker, we could just take it out
or bring it in, you know, I or if you want to
create more room to work, you could just, you know, take out the plug in picker and we could also bring it in. So a quick recap, you know, we talked about the playlist, where we get to arrange all
the patterns we've created, you know, the piano
roll is where we tend to arrange our notes. The Channel rack is where we
tend to arrange our drums. And then we have the mixer, where we mix every sound that we're going to
be working with, and the plug in picker is
where we pick our sounds from. So I hope you know,
you've understood what this five button does. And in the next chapter, guys, we are going to be
playing around with these buttons and seeing how they can help us in
creating our first Afrobt. See you guys in the next chapter
4. Importing Samples Into FL Studio: After we're going to be
using the plug in picker, which is one of the button we talked about in the
previous chapter. And before we do that, I'll need you guys to go
download the asset. And once you've done that,
we're just going to drag that asset into our
plug in picker. So I'm sure you've
downloaded the file, and it's called Skillshare. So all you just need
to do is locate where you've downloaded it to, and all you just
need to do is drag it and drop it into
your plug in picker. And yeah, it opens up
in our plug in picker. So this file you've downloaded contains all the
sounds like I said, we're going to be using
because there's no how you can make a bit without
having sounds, and we have different
sounds we're going to be and
I'm going to show you guys how you can
actually use each of these sounds to create
your first bit. So I'm just going to close all the other windows
that are open, and we're going to be working with our plug
in picker right now. So we have various sounds. Like I said, we have some kick, we have some snap, we
have some rim shot. So what comprises the drums of an Afro bit is either
a kick you know, there will be a kick. There'll be a snare.
There will be some ring shot, some congas. There are various percussions. But for the course
of this video, where this guy will be
using our kina maybe a ring or maybe an high
heart depending on, you know, what we
want to create. We can just preview each of the sounds by clicking
on it, have a kick. At this what a kick sounds like. We have a rim shots. This is
what the rim sounds like. We have some shaker,
we have some snares. So you can preview
all the sounds. Just go play around, you know, preview
all the sounds. All you just need to do is roll your mouse wheel over
it and just, you know, click on it and you
get to hear what that particular sounds like. So let's say I need a kick. Like I said, we need a
kick, we need a snare. Sound gonna and go over
a kick, select a kick. So whatever sound you
like, your plug in picker, all you just need to do is drag it and drop on
your channel rack. So let's say I like this kick, I just drag it into
my channel rack. I can go over. I
like this rim shot. I just need to do is
click and drag it, just place it under my kick. So right now, I have my
kick and I have a rim shot. So the plug in picker is basically where
you get access to all the sounds you will
need when making your bit. And that's it for this chapter. In the next chapter, guys, we're going to be talking
about the channel rack, where we get to arrange
our first you know, drank pattern in FLCO See you
guys in the next chapter.
5. Programming Drums in FL Studio: To this chapter. And
in this chapter, we're going to be programming our first drum pattern
using our channel rack. In the previous chapter, we
talked about plug in picker, where we get access to all the sounds we need
when making our beat. So in this chapter,
we're going to be talking about the
Channel racks and how we could use the channel
rack to create a bit. So let's say, for example,
now in the previous chapter, I was able to drag
in my kick and my ring and to make our
first bit, let's say, I want to play some kick, all I just need to do is left click on any of
these buttons here, and you know, it just
places some notes. So I could hit my play by using my space bar or coming over
here and hitting our play. Yeah, so that's what
the kick sounds like. And you could just play
around, put the kick randomly, put it wherever you want,
and just hit your play. Yeah. So random stuff. I can do the same
thing for my ring. Just put some random notes. Yeah, so this is what we
use the channel wrap for. The channel wrap
is where we tend to arrange and program our drum. So I could still
go over my plug in picker and just pick
some more sounds, drag it and drop and
just put in some notes. Yeah, just some random notes. So I want you guys
to try it out. You know, play
around, play around, put in some notes
here and there and just have some fun
while you're doing it. The next chapter, we're
going to be talking about another important element
when making you a bit, which is called the tempo. So see you guys in the next.
6. Metronome/ Tempo: We're going to be talking about
something very important, which is called the metronome, when making bits, what we
call the tempo of the bits. So the tempo of the bit
is basically what tells you how fast or how
slow your bit is. And that is known as the BPM, which is called bit per
minute, bit per minute. So when we come into our DW right now, which is FL Studio, we can see a number here, which is saying 140. So that's telling us that
this the tempo of this bit is actually 14140 beats per minute. So in the space of
a minute, you know, this is going to
count 140 times. We could actually just either
increase it or reduce it. And all I just need to do
is to select over here, bring my mouth over it, and I can either take it up or down. Just scroll my mouth
with either up or down. Scroll my mouth with
either up or down. And I can right click
on it, you know, and just select one of their preferred tempo
and I could just be 100. When I hit my play now, you can see that it is slower
than where it was at 1:40. Your BPM is a very important factor because that's
going to tell you how fast or how slow
your bit should be. And when making
afrobt, you know, you can use whatever
tempo you feel like. You know, it's all
about the bowels, but mostly most
afrobeats falls between the range of between
like 90 to 120 BPM. So when making afrobt,
you should try to make your bit around 90 BPM to 120. There's no, like a rule to it. You can actually
make your bit at whatever tempo
feels right to you. But because of this video,
we're going to be using the tempo of 100 BPM. We're going to be
the tempo of 100 pm. Coming to my Channel
rack, I'm just going to take out all this
note we've put in because we're actually
going to be creating something beautiful
in the next chapter. So I'm just going to
take out all this note. And to take out this note,
all you just have to do is right click on the
notes and just right, click on it, right, click on it, or you could just
write click and drag, and it takes it all out, right click and drag and
it takes it all out. So with taking all the note
out, we have some kick. We have a rim shots. I have a percaution See you
guys in the next chapter.
7. Arranging Drum Groove in FL Studio: Chapter, we are going
to be programming our first drum bounce. I'm sure you're
excited about this. We're going to be programming
our first drum bounce, you know, not sounding
like, you know, what we just did in
the previous chapter. We're going to be
actually making something beautiful, something
really interesting. So we have a kick, and
one easy way we can actually program our kick
is by clicking on it, and we're just going to put
right click on our kick, we're just going to
fill each four step. So what this does is after every four counts,
you know, it drops a note. So once I hit my playbta you
know, I have this bounce. So with this fix now, I could just try playing around with, you know,
it's your first bit. You need to experiment. You need to play
around, you know, try to make something
beautiful yourself. So I'm just gonna
the kick is playing. I'm just going to try
putting some notes, some notes in my ring shot
and here how it sounds like. So does this sound right? No, it doesn't. So I'm
just gonna take it out, put it in the next so
we can have this Yeah. So I think you have
like a nice bounce. So it's all about experimenting. So you can actually
follow along, try to do what I'm doing. So I'm also there to go
over to my sounds and just look for some sounds. And if I want to
replace a sound, all I just need to
do is drag it and put it on top of any
sound I don't like, and it actually
just replaces it. So that's beautiful. So I could. Yeah, so just gonna
look for some random, just drag Yeah, so we've actually created
something beautiful. So it's all about just dragging whatever
sounds, you know, whatever sound you like and just put it in. You could
take out this. So you could just play around,
you know, play around. You could actually just go
over whatever sound you're feeling just drag it in and Hey. Yeah, so, you know,
we have a bowel. So this is just like you
creating your face and whichever sound you don't like or whichever sound
you are not using, you can just write click
it and just delete it. It's as simple as that,
right click on it, delete, whatever
sound you know using, just write, click and delete. So we have, like, Yeah, so we have a nice bowel. So I'm sure you got
something like this or even something better. So this is you creating
your first drum bounce, your first Alphabet drum bowel and give yourself a thumbs up. You know, you've come a long way and see you guys in
the next chapter.
8. The Piano Roll: Yeah. So in this chapter,
we are just going to be looking at the piano role. The piano roll, like
I said earlier, is another one of the most
important buttons in FLC do because that's where you go in to play around
with your note, you could actually
just shift your notes. You know, working on
the channel rack, you are just constrained
using these buttons. But using the piano roll, you have more access to how you can control
these buttons. So to go to the piano roll, you could just
make sure that one of the sounds is selected, and to do that, there's this button here, you
just click on it. For once this is selected,
you could just come here, click on your piano roll. And, you know, it opens up
that note on your piano roll. So your piano roll, you
can then just, you know, shift this note or, you know, do more
with your note. You could extend it,
you could drag it. Do a lot, a lot with your note. So that's an easy way you
can go to your piano roll. Another way you
can actually go to your piano roll is by right clicking and
you'll see piano roll. So once you click on that, it
opens up in the piano roll. So I hope, you know, you got
what the piano roll does. See you guys in the next
chapter. Alright, guys. So in this chapter, we
are just going to be adding some melodic instrument. And once you have FLC, FLCO comes with tons of amazing amazing
melodic instrument. And one of those instrument
is called the flex. So in order to access
the flex, you know, you just have to click
on these plus buttons, and then you're
gonna see your flex. So once you bring off flex, Flex has tons of amazing sounds, we are
gonna be using there. It has, like, tons of sounds. Has tons of sound.
So you could just spend time go over each of the sounds because we're
actually going to be using these sounds to make a bit. You know, we have
the drum section which we could actually
just pick from here. You know, we pick
our drum from here. But in this section now, we're just going to be adding
some melodic instruments, and our choice of plugin
is going to be flex. So once we have flex open, you could just write click
and go to your piano roll. You know, I've taught
you guys how you could go to the piano roll, and you could just play
around with some notes. Yeah, so you could just
play around, you know, just playing so show you
what you can actually do with with your piano roll. You could just
program your notes. You could actually
just play around with the Veloci also bring
it up, bring it down. Yeah, so, guys, I hope you
got something from this. See you guys in
the next chapter, we're going to be doing some more amazing stuff to
what we've already done. See you guys in
the next chapter.
9. Creating Chords: Guys, welcome in this chapter, we're going to be
creating quote know, in the in the previous chapter, we're just playing
around with the notes. But right now, we're going to be creating something beautiful. So I'm just going to
go to my piano roll and for my plug in for Flex, and I'm just going to
take out this note. And in order to
take out this note, all you just have
to do is, you know, right click on the notes
and it takes it off. So you left click to put it in, right,
click, take it out. So what you're doing, just
to create some notes. So I'm just going
to put this extend it just So, yeah. So it depends I
actually just depends on what you want to
create, you know. So for me, I already
have a basic knowledge on the key on the keyboard. So, you know, you could
just spend time learning how to create cords or going to learn how
to play the keyboard. It's actually gonna really,
really help you when it comes to creating
some beautiful cords. Yeah, so if you now, come to our Channel
at, you can see that, you know, the drums ended, but the chords still
keep on playing. So what I can do is to
create a new pattern. And in the next chapter,
I'm going to be talking more about patterns
because patterns are what you use to
create a full song where you take where you arrange those patterns in your playlist. So see you guys in
the next chapter.
10. Introduction To Patterns: Guy. So I said in this chapter, we're going to be talking
more about patterns. So if you look over here,
we have pattern one. So you could actually create
tons and tons of patterns. All we just have to do
is just come over here, click on it and select
Find Face empty. So once I click Find Face empty, it selects the next available, you know, empty channel rack. So I can just come over here, right click and cut the sound. So as I cut it, you
know, it takes it off. Come over here, find face empty, and you
could just rename it. So I'm just going to call these cords and you
come over here, select some colors,
you want to give it. I'm just going to write
click and have piece that. So, you know, we have two
different channels now. We have the first channel
which is our drums. Then we have the second
one, which is our chords. So this is where we now tend
to arrange all we've created in our playlist to
create a full song. So we're going to
be going over to our playlist so
you can see how we could arrange each of these patterns to
create a full song. See you guys in
the next chapter. So in this chapter,
we are going to be looking at the playlist. You know, talked about it in the beginning of this course, and I said that this
is where you tend to arrange all the notes, all the patterns or all
the patterns you've created into a full song. So we have the first
pattern, which is our drums, so I'm just going
to select on it, and I can actually
just rename it. So we have our drums. And I could give
you some colors. So we have our drums,
and we have our chord. So you could
actually create more and more and more patterns with different sounds, and then you combine all
those sounds together, arrange it to your playlist,
and you have a full song. And in order to do
that, you could actually just come over
here, select your drums, put it over here so
to have our drums, so you could, you
know, duplicate it and put it as many
times as you want. Then select my chords
and just put it, you know, so it just like you're arranging
your full thong. So let's say I need a Bz, like I need a base sound,
I need more sounds. All I can do is come over here, create another new pattern and give it the name
I want to call it. Let's say I want
to call it a base. I was just going to give
you some nice colors. Then come over here, add
another instance of flex. Same way, I've showed you
guys how you could add that and select more sounds. Let's say I want to
add them like a base, this privilege of the sounds. Let's say I like this,
so I could just, you know, put that
empty empty channel, put it over here, and
then come over to my channel rack and go over to my piano role, you
know, we spoke about. So that's why I think in
the starting of this course that these five buttons
are very, very important. You need to know how to
use all these buttons, the view playlist,
the piano roll, the channel rack, the mixer. You need to be able to
understand what each of these button does
because you're actually going to be using
it like always. So yeah, we could
actually do great. Yeah. Yeah, so we'll have that. So you can keep on
arranging more sounds. So I don't forget you
could also add more drums, you know, add more drums the way whatever sound you want to add. So let's say I like this,
I could still put that in, you know, create
another pattern, and let's call this our heart. So it's all about you
experimenting playing around. Keep playing around.
Put that here. Cardo You know, I sorry go back to my piano roll, my China rack. J, can of put that. So you can think over
some of the sounds. Jag that in, create another, you know, create
another pattern. So you can see how we're just
creating various patterns, give it some nice colors, create various
pattern because all these patterns are
what, you know, makes up your full bit.
So you could not come in. So I could go into
my piano roll, you know, just try
to adjust the note. You know, that's why I
said, the piano roll gives you more access, you know, to those notes so
I could just drag it drag it drag it a little bit. You know, Yeah, so we have that. We put that in. Yeah, so I'm sure you
guys are enjoying this. I'm sure you've
been able to create something like this or
something close to this. And I really love
to see, you know, the vibes you guys come
up with in your own way. So it's just all about
experimenting, playing around, knowing what each body
does, and, you know, creating something amazing,
creating something amazing. So we've been able to come
up with a vibe like this. You know, so I hope you got
something from this chapter. The next chapter, we're
going to be finalizing this, sending each of these sounds
to our mixer so you can see how the mixer actually helps
in making bits process.
11. Working On The Mixer: Guys. So in this
chapter, we're gonna be talking about the mixer. So for right now, you know, we don't have anything
on the mixer. A what we can do is sent all of these sounds we've
been able to work on, send it to our mixer. And to do that, you just
have to click on it. Make sure that, you know, this is slighted and don't click. It selects everything, make sure that everything
is selected. And we're just going to
come over to our mixer. So if it's not selected,
the mixer selects the wire, come over to the first insert, all you just need to do is
right click Channel routing, Ralph selected channel
starting from this track. So it's going to bring all
those sounds, you know, to the mixer, so you can sit the play right now
with the mixer. So the mixer is where you
can now check which sound, you know, is conflicting
with another, try to do some balancing,
bring in some EQ, bring in some, you know, a lot goes on in the mixing stage. But for the cause of this video, to make everything simple, we're not going to
be going, like, in depth, we're just going to
show you guys that you can actually use this knob here
to bring down the volume. You know, you could
bring out the volume, show you how you could
control everything. So, you know, you can
just play around with it. You know, try to
arrange it you know, based on what you feel is. So just go play around
with your mixer. So, you know, you can
just reset everything. So we'll go back to
the default right, click and research, right click, reset, right click and reset it. So yeah, so this mixer
and mixer does help us ballas each of the sounds that we are actually working on. So I hope, you know,
this was helpful, and I hope you got
something from this. I really love to hear what you
guys actually come up with
12. Conclusion: Been a beautiful journey, guys, and I'm so glad we've come
to the end of this class. And if you have any
question for me, just drop it in
your conversation, and I'm going to respond to
every one of your comments. And if you have any suggestions
for me, also drop it. Thank you guys for
watching these videos and ant way to see the amazing, amazing bits you guys
create on your own. Thank you for taking this class, and I really
appreciate it, guys. Have a wonderful practice time.
Producer Mykah, Music Producer
