How to produce a bombass beat

[djcham]

how do you guys begin producing a beat? Do you guys have something in mind before you go into the studio or do you go in the studio and play around until you find something?

 

[classic]

Composing
I sit there and make an entire beat in my head, i visualize the notes on the page and the melodies and the countermelodies. Once i know how it sounds in my head, i try differnt keysignatures. Once i find a key that i like(im still working in my head) then i find a tight bassline. Once thats worked out i sit down that the keyboard and MPC and make the beat improvising and adding new parts as i go along.


When i sample
I hear somthing i think is tight, record it, loop it, chop it and pray that it sounds right. If it does then i tweak the sample(i go threw 10 differnt samples for 1 good one) I

class...

 

[PrOLifiK]

Sometimes ill have something in my head to start out with and ill sit down and try to create it....though most of the time I start playing with it and end up going in a differernt directrion. Other times I might here a dope ass sample that I like and ill want to make a track after I hear it haha

 

[M!nd_Ctrl]

Composing
I sit there and make an entire beat in my head, i visualize the notes on the page and the melodies and the countermelodies. Once i know how it sounds in my head, i try differnt keysignatures. Once i find a key that i like(im still working in my head) then i find a tight bassline...

class...

Wow! That's some crazy shit. I like your music so I'm gonna try to internalize this. I use a trial-and-error style myself, but then again I don't think my beats are dope yet.


Ctrl

 

[classic]

Wow! That's some crazy shit. I like your music so I'm gonna try to internalize this. I use a trial-and-error style myself, but then again I don't think my beats are dope yet.
Ctrl

THanks man, but u gotta realise ive been doing this since i was a kid, not using it for making beats, but as a pianist and a saxpahonist your always taught to visualize your music and "see " yourself preforming. Thats where i got that from. It took along time to develope that skill and i have been doing it since i was 9

Trial and error has its place too and i usually change things on the fly, but when i get it rite, i will have the entire beat from start to finish in my head, and all i am doing is following instructions when i sit at the MPC

I think jay-z does the exact same thing when he is rhyming(runs it in his head)


class....

 

[macthedoulos]

i go at it with no plan. just do what feels right..........

 

[djcham]

yea usually i have something in mind..but then i spend freakin days trying to make it sound how i want it..but it never sounds like it. I think (for me) the best way to learn is to try to copy someone else's beat.. but i'm still a newbie..so yeaaa

 

[hobgoblin]

here how i do!

I'm stricktly sample based and create music from samples i think go together - It honestely depends tho, sometimes i start with the drums, other times i get a loop and add drums after. My stlye is very cut and paste so the finished track is a trial and error process - sometimes I can knock up a beat in a day - other time it might take me a coupla months to finish a track. Honestly though it doesnt matter how i do it, how Classic does it or how anybody does it - you gotta do what feels rigth for you and go with your instinct - that way i think your music will always be more original and true to yourself. IMO.

 

[hobgoblin]

A bit of advice

Also a bit of advise Cham...

decide what direction you want to go in eg - if you want dirty grimy drums - do a search on this forum and try out the differant techniques - if you wanna play your own chords - again do a search - If theres a particular style you want to aim for but dont know how to go about achieving the results ASK - thats what the forum is here for - i had trouble with my beats being too ridgid (notihng wrong with that if thats what you want) so I asked how to get more swing - within a week My shit got swing cos i tryed out alot of the techniques that peeps posted for me and lo and behold they worked LOL!

also listen to your fav producer real closley and see what they do - nothing better than learning from the masters!

Once you know what direction your heading you can be more experimentive an develop upon the techniques you've learned along the way. Dont rush yourself though and dont get upset if you dont get imediate results, you'll get better with every beat. All my beats for the first 3 months were WACK! and I'm still nowhere near up to par with the majority of guys on here...

 

[M!nd_Ctrl]

THanks man, but u gotta realise ive been doing this since i was a kid, not using it for making beats, but as a pianist and a saxpahonist your always taught to visualize your music and "see " yourself preforming. Thats where i got that from. It took along time to develope that skill and i have been doing it since i was 9

Trial and error has its place too and i usually change things on the fly, but when i get it rite, i will have the entire beat from start to finish in my head, and all i am doing is following instructions when i sit at the MPC

I think jay-z does the exact same thing when he is rhyming(runs it in his head)


class....

I see. I wish I would've stuck with music at a younger age, but I gotta continue somewhere. I'm gonna concentrate on the visualization because it makes complete sense.
For music and rhymes.

Ctrl

 

[classic]

I see. I wish I would've stuck with music at a younger age, but I gotta continue somewhere. I'm gonna concentrate on the visualization because it makes complete sense.
For music and rhymes.

Ctrl

No doubt
it works real well for me, its one of the few things that i use on a daily basises left over from my musical traning.

BUt i know alot of cats who make way better beats then me who dont do this teqniuqe at all(orginzed noise LOL)

YOu gott do what fits u , feel me???


classs......

 

[Greg Savage]

i normally have an idea of what i want the track to sound like... i already have Style Presets which includes common sounds used in each style and Mixing presets for for each Syle that i like to use..

So each time im makin a beat.. its damn near Mixed exactly the way i want it from the get go.. granted at the end i may need adjust little things but for the most part its mixed...

Basically

I sit make the track in reasn.. Seperatly record each element off my preamp into Dp4 and from there i clean up the sounds if needed and use my mixing presets and slowly adjust additional things in the mix.. and im done

 

[Lex]

I almost always have an idea in my head before I start, with build up and change-ups included and when I start working I'm just working until it sounds like the idea in my head.

At other times I'll be listening to something and if it catches my ear I'll either sample it or simply be inspired by the feel of the music and incorporate it into what I'm doing.

 

[Bloodybastid]

Me??

I sit down for awhile and just think/visualize...thinking of all sorts of patterns. I have feel and connect with the beat....and then I just do it. I'll take any sample...doesn't matter what...and make it into something better.

 

[Producer X]

Like Class, I also compose in me head, but I read music so I don't see the notes. Problem is, I'm rarely in my lab when the idea hits, so I'll beat box, hum the bass line and melodies and even lyrics on my voice mail so I don't lose it. And put it together when I get in the studio. If I sample, I'll play the record and let the sample guide the track. Then I'll buid on the track so the sample isn't the meat of the track. That way if I pull the sample out, the track can stand alone.

1
X

 

[Bosta]

I always start out with a mood in mind and start a melody - and then the rest just comes like its all ready there - i just have to recreate it - but melody - bassline and then drums is how i usually do it

 

[NORTH]

INSPIRADO
If I can distill it down to one thing, I would have to say it all starts with getting INSPIRED by something... a melody in my head, a sample, a beat I just banged out... a bass line.. whatever... and then I build it up, deconstruct it, break it down, re-arrange it, mix it, blah blah blah... If it starts with a beat, then I work out a melody that suits the beat.. or vice versa. Shit, it can start with something as simple as a sound that is so inspiring a song comes out of that sound.

SO.. I suppose for me it is all about being inspired by something very original to me... recogizing something unique... and wanting to be a part of manifesting it, while preserving it's essence.

What a bunch of philosophical bullshit, eh!? HAHA...

I never consciously internalize the whole song/beat, that's interesting though.

-NORTH





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[Cheese]

I do a little of both..I might think of something in my head then add to it when I go to the studio or I might just go then fuck around wit it

 

[Quack]

If I have a sample, I follow it and create around it. However, if I don't have a sample I go with the flow. For some reason I usually make club tracks when I do not use samples.

One!

 

[Retro]

how do you guys begin producing a beat? Do you guys have something in mind before you go into the studio or do you go in the studio and play around until you find something?

id have to agree with everything everyone else said.

often ill have something that i really wana lay down but usually when i start laying stuff down my percpetion gets screwed with other ideas and thoughts. some are better some are worse but if it dont work ill leave it for another day.