or how about no vocals ever. idk about yall but as a beat maker ive never been asked to make a beat for someone with an a-cappella vocal on it and i doubt ii ever will IMO it has nothing to do with beat making and is really only kinda a skill thats useful for mixing as "most" of the time the vocal your mixing was recorded to said beat. IDK just find it weird how much importance yall seem to put on it
It's more a middle ground kinda thing, though I would lean more in favour of beats.
The positives of vocals;
- beats are made to be vocalled (not all, but), so some beats can sound like they're 'missing something' without them, whereas the beats that might get voted may not be suited to having a vocal on them. So this could raise the value of those aforementioned beats, as they'll be
seen 'in context'. As well as showing flaws in beats that are too busy
- as a producer, (unless you're merely a beatmaker),
having 'an ear' for vocals+beat is a skill. Being able to match the right kind of beat to a vocal (sounds easy, but there are plenty who clearly get this quite wrong/off). So it's a useful skill test/battle
- sometimes, producers
do make or get commissioned to do
remixes, and making beats to vocals can happen and is a valid skill. In fact, plenty of people make and post remixes.
- when Fade hits us with a specific vocal to flip or remix, it can be a real
test of a producer's skill and creativity.*
*there have been battles where Fade provides a vocal that may be trickier to use, and people throw a hump and don't enter, but in a lot of those cases it seems more a result of the beatmaker being scared/unwilling to go out of their comfort zone and find a way to be creative and make it work.
The negatives of vocals;
- some people can end up
voting for a beat just 'cause they like the artist/vocal
- similarly, some may
not vote a beat 'cause they don't like the artist/vocal. (Jay - Z / Nas are example of polarizing artists)
- there's only so many acapellas out there
- people using
original vocals can be at a major disadvantage against those using pro acapellas
- if you do 'original vox only' battles, you'll likely be
pressed for entrants as not everyone has that option
- sometimes the quality/effects on a vocal can make it look like someone has made something cool, but it's just the vocal
That's my thought around the vocals. It makes sense, has its relevance; but it also has its problems.