>none of it's really a good starting place without initial musical knowledge, which does not come from fooling with recording gear or DAWs. For modern genres,

>none of it's really a good starting place without initial musical knowledge, which does not come from fooling with recording gear or DAWs. For modern genres, music knowledge can be built by listening and DJing. It's also the classic path to become a producer. If you learn how to mix, you and can then transport this knowledge to production. Not only do you know what to produce as a beginner (fill holes in your own mixes), but you also know how it should sound because knowing to mix implies that you know how to mix in key, also important when you transpose samples or patch synths. Serato/Serato Studio or Ableton combine both, so you could learn how to make DJ mixes in those DAWs before you move on into beat production.