Friday, February 20, 2009

How To Make Rap Beats - Tips For Newbies






In this article I'm going to explain how to make rap beats for producers just starting out. Making beats is one of the most fun and rewarding things to do in hip hop. It's not that difficult to make an okay sounding track, but its very difficult to make tracks that sound professional. There are a ton of different things you should be doing to help bring your music to the next level. Here are a few tips.
Learn The Piano
If you don't want to get into sampling, and would rather make beats completely on your own, its going to be vital that you start taking piano lessons. I took piano lessons coupled with a music theory course in my college and it payed huge dividends in my music. Understanding the basic structure of music if very important if you want to really start making beats on the next level. When you're good at the piano, you'll be able to put together better sounding melodies, chord progressions, and generally be able to do a lot more.
The Most Important Advice I can Give
The most important piece of advice that I can give you is that if you want to make good music, you have to understand what good music is. Listening is the most important thing you should be doing for beat making. I've read countless interviews with Timbaland, The Neptunes, Dr. Dre, etc. The general consensus from the best producers in the hip hop industry is that active listening is the best way you can get better. When you listen to a track - really listen to it. Isolate the different elements of a song and analyze them. For example, listen to just the drums of a track first. Note how they are panned, the rhythm - does it change up, if it does what part of the song, how much reverb did they add to the hi hat, etc. Next, move and isolate other instruments in the track.

1 comment:

  1. It has been a great help, appreciate it, now to make rap beats is quick with your help. Thanks

    ReplyDelete