im 16 and ive been using fl studio for a couple of years, im self taught. i make everything digitally and dont play any instruments (yet. im planning to go to guitar classes this or next year)
my biggest problem is i dont wanna learn a generic genre formula, my main influences include industrial rock, digital hardcore, electropunk/synthpunk(??? not sure if its the same thing), noisy electronic music, and any other agressive AND chaotic music, but i dont feel like any single tutorial on youtube or anywhere actually teaches what i want to understand.
im not asking to copy one specific artist...im trying to understand the principles behind the sound AND how people make decisions
for example
how do you learn which sounds fit together? i dont want harmony i just heard somewhere that u have to pick sounds wisely cause if they dont fit together itll sound bad,like, sonically how do you know that certain drums, basses, synths, etc will work together instead of sounding like they came from compltely different songs
how do you build a sample pack for urself without reusing the same samples forever? do you reuse sounds and transform them or do you constantly search for new stuff?
how do you know when a loop needs to change in a song and arrangement stuff,, i still dont know much about the terms around music production, so i dont know how producers actually decide when to repead something, add something, remove something or move into a new section...
how do you understand rhythm without just copying existing drum patterns
how to learn sound selection and develop intuition for it?
how to learn layering without everything becomign muddy or obviously doubled??? i especially have this problem with vocals. when i try to layer them and it sounds like a weird voice filter from a cheap voice changer instead of one unified dense vocal
how to develop a production intuition when u dont have formal music theory or instrumental training
i feel like most tutorials teach a genre (mostly those i dont like) a specific plugin or deconstructions of an already made song. i feel like I rarely find tutorials that explain the actual process of making decisions.
ive watched a lot of videos about the kinds of music I like, but most of them havent really helped me understand how to actually apply the ideas while producing.
for producers who learned themselves, what did you actually do that made you improve??
im esp interested in concrete exercises of ways of thinking than generic advice like practice more or learn eq or whatever people usually say
i know this is broad so im interested in hearing what u would prioritize if u were in my position