Tips on Making Instrumental Beats

By admin · Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 · 2 Comments »

Making instrumental beats is a blast! It’s awesome to see how different artists can use your instrumental beats. But there’s a lot of people making instrumental beats right now, so it can be difficult to find quality people making instrumental beats.

If you want to be successful making instrumental beats, approach the table wisely. Making instrumental beats is an art craft, and whether you realize it or want it to or not, the music will suck you in. In short, don’t start something you can’t finish.

Here are some quick tips to get you started making instrumental beats. Who knows, maybe I’ll be producing your next joint!

1) Use The Best Tools You Can

A beat is only as good as the tools with which it was conceived. If you’ve got a really cheesy and lame setup for making instrumental beats, then the beats you make will be equally cheesy and lame. And we don’t need any more cheesy and lame people making instrumental beats in hip-hop!

So get yourself some top-notch tools. That doesn’t mean the most expensive tools you can find. Find the tools that are easily found around you, because these are the tools that will come together and make up your sound.

I recommend using Sonic Producer for making instrumental beats.

See my full article on it here.

2) Begin with the End in Mind

Keep in mind the reason you’re making instrumental beats. And that is for other people to add their vocals on top. So you’ve got to have an idea of the song structure. You don’t want to give be pushing some beat that is impossible to rap on top of and has no repetitious structure whatsoever.

So just remember to keep it simple. If you’ve got to explain too many things to the person you deliver your beat to, it’s too complex. Tone it down a bit.

3) Try Something New

There’s nothing worse than a watered-down, prefabricated, same-old same-old beat. There’s nothing wrong with drawing inspiration or even downright basing an entire beat off one or two other beats that you really like. This can actually be a good way to kick yourself into gear and avoid never starting anything at all. But take what you’ve heard and build from it instead of making a bland imitation.

If your beat is sounding too stale, try something ridiculous. What’s goofy to you might be what makes it awesome to someone else. You never know, so always try new things.

4) Have Fun!

Always remember why you’re doing what you’re doing. Hopefully the reason is for fun. Music is made to be enjoyed. So enjoy it!

My motto is:

“Enjoy what you do and others will, too.”

MC TOAD

http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/tips-on-making-instrumental-beats-752662.html

Hip Hop – More Than Music, a Lifestyle

By admin · Thursday, February 4th, 2010 · 5 Comments »

Hip hop is a cultural movement which originated from New York in the 1970s. Rapping, DJing, breakdancing and graffiti art are considered the main components of hip hop culture. Hip-hop music style consists of a rhytmic style of speaking (rap) over backing beats which are played by a DJ. Although rap is often confused with hip hop, it is not quite the same thing. Rapping is a vocal style which implies a performer speaking rhythmically to a beat and it is usually a component of hip-hop. Hip hop music was inspired from funk or disco songs, from which it borrowed the beats. Since 1979, it has entered the American mainstream and became a popular genre. In 1990s, a form called “gangsta rap” evolved. Today, hip-hop is in vogue not only in the USA, but also in the entire world.

The rise of hip hop was not arbitrary. It happened in the 1970s, when people were tired of dance and rock and needed a change. But that was not the only reason. There were also some social and political causes. Hip-hop’s popularity grew in the same time with the power of black and Latino gangs. Hip hop became a protest against middle-class white community from the poor black community living in “ghettos”. The lyrics spoke about the reality in ghettos which wasn’t exactly peachy. Consequently, hip-hopers used their music to express their feelings and frustrations. Of course, what begun as a poor class’s protest transformed into a million dollars industry, but that is another story.

Today, hip hop is listened to not only by Afro Americans, but also by white people. In fact, many successful hip hopers are white, an example being the notorious rapper Eminem. Hip-hop fans have their own way of dressing (with large clothes usually, baggie pants, bandanas, tattoos, sportswear and gold or platinum chains) and speaking. Consequently, we can say that hip-hop is more than just music and has turned into a life style for many. However, given the popularity of rap music, there are very many artists and the competition between them is fierce. The question is how can a young artist, at the beginning of his career, become popular and make himself a name? How can he obtain the attention of a producer who can help him to get into show business? The first step would be to record a hip hop mixtape and send it to several important music studios. The problem is that these studios receive thousands of records everyday. Many young artists, charmed by the mirage of easy success and fame, knock at the doors of music studios with a hip hop mixtape in their hands.

What every aspiring hip hoper must know is that there are web sites where you can post your songs in order for thousands of interested listeners to hear them. If you are lucky, you will receive an offer from one of the music studios and get to record your first album. The most important thing is to believe in your talent and not to give up easily. Send your hip hop mixtape to all the producers that you have heard of. Even if you don’t get any feedback at first, don’t lose hope. If you are talented, your hip hop mixtape will eventually be listened to by someone who realizes your potential. The road to success is not as easy as it may seem; it requires hard work, talent and maybe a bit of good luck, but in the end it will be all worth it.

Ken Wilson
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/hip-hop-more-than-music-a-lifestyle-292166.html

Topics: hip hop beats · Tags:

Making Rap and Hip Hop Beats

By admin · Thursday, January 21st, 2010 · 3 Comments »

It is very common among the amateur beat makers that they aim straight for the top position even before they have started knowing their field properly. This makes them commit mistakes and fall short of success in their career.

Although they think that they are capable of attaining great success in their career, but they still cannot accomplish their dreams.

The problem mainly lies in the quality of their production and their beats. Even though they have good melodies and great lyrics, they fail in good sound quality and unique and attention-catching beats.

They can make their beats successful by just realizing that the beats make an important part of their sounds. Hence as an amateur beat maker, you should search on the internet for all kinds of professional beats including hip hop beats, instrumental beats, jazz beats and Reggae beats etc. By listening to these beats, you can get a fair idea as to how these beats are made successfully and what makes them different.

You can then built upon your ideas and create your own beats based on that.

In order to choose what kind of beats you want to produce, you should be able to first realize what you intend to produce. You should know what kind of audience you would like to perform for, if you are planning to go for an independent label or just stick to the underground music, how far do you want to go, like do you want to become a popular artist all over the country or even the world, and whether you want to attain fame and fortune or the popularity. Hence, you should be clear in your mind about your vision.

However, the beats still make an important part of your career, whether you want to go public and popular or you want to stick to the underground scene. Your beats should be created in such a unique way that they attract the attention of your audience and keep them interested in your music. If you are planning to go for the pop then you should choose a slick or commercial beat.

If you are looking for a slow style, then you can consider the southern hiphop beats; however, if you are looking for the high energy beats, then you can use the Hyphy or Crunk.

Apart from your audience, the venue of your performance or your audience also makes a difference. Some people just look into the target venue and create their beats accordingly. You can get a clue from your audience’s preferences and interests, so it’s better that you analyze your audience before deciding about beat making. Once you know about your audience, then you can better decide whether you want to make the Rap beats or the hip hop beats.

While considering your audience, you should not give up your own preferences and the style. However, you should be able to make such beats that take into account both your and the audience’s preferences. You should also learn from your performance and try to make necessary changes that are required to make your beats better.

Seth Willis Jr.

http://www.articlesbase.com/art-and-entertainment-articles/making-rap-and-hip-hop-beats-731370.html