Taggin your beats

[dbit]

How often do you drop your tag over your beats? I've heard it done differently, sometimes where there's just a tag here and there to prevent lazy people from trying to lift the whole beat, and other times where theres a tag like every few bars to prevent people from even lifting a loop.

Knowing how crafty people can be with sampling I wonder about dropping a tag every couple of bars, but this also can take away from just riding the flow of the beat.

I'd like to hear peoples thoughts/ideas/suggestions on this topic.

 

[Cell 2Dee]

I understand why people do it, but when I was rhyming and looking for beats, I just always used to close it if I heard a tag on it all the time. Every now and again wasn't too bad, but like you say, you can't really listen to it when you got some loud ass tag every bar.

 

[LDB]

I understand why people do it, but when I was rhyming and looking for beats, I just always used to close it if I heard a tag on it all the time. Every now and again wasn't too bad, but like you say, you can't really listen to it when you got some loud ass tag every bar.

That's the very reason why you don't bring the tagz volume up so loud in the mix! Drop it down to where it's some what audible. Raise it a little louder at crucial junctures in the beat, like at the first bar where a verse would normally come in, at the first bar where the hook, or chorus would start. If your track is only one big loop you don't have much to protect. Make sure your change ups are distinct and not so easy to sample and loop.

Basically putting you tagz at crucial areas where if someone did sample it they couldn't do much with it will suffice! And of course having a copyright for a beat that you think has hit potential would be a smart move. Most beats that are rip'd on the internet are never used on signed artist records anyway. You have to up the masters to the label and if you can't produce them tracked out most labels won't touch them because the know somethings up. There not trying to be hauled into court over something like that.

 

[djjumpinjoe]

I never really worried about tags because if someone is gonna still my track atleast I found out my shit was dope enough for the world .....

 

[The Arkitekt]

yea lol, I wouldn't care if someone stole my beat, you gotta think, (first of all if it's hit shit then copyright it) if someone steals the beat and makes mad money off of it, when you expose them, theyre career is over, plus what's the last hit record you know of that got jacked? and if you have an answer to that, whens the last one before that one? 99.99% of people just won't do it cuz theyre fucked when they get exposed.

 

[Tim D]

Copyright your shit

 

[dbit]

Technically you don't have to do anything to copyright your stuff besides finish it (yes, you can certified mail it too yourself to be safe, etc). I always keep the multitrack masters of my tracks, and always keep the song file too, so I can go back and solo each individual noise and demonstrate how its created. I dunno, on a couple other forums I got the opposite advice, to tag it every couple of bars at least, but I don't want to turn people off to listening to them. I guess its a really fine line. I just know that in my city a lot of amateur lyricists take loops and beats from wherever they can find them to make a demo track or have something to work with, and I would just be pissed if a bunch of random dudes are frontin on my hard work or some lyricist might be hearing it and liking it but will never make the connection.

 

[Relic]

At the start.

 

[dbit]

Relic, you mean just tag em once, at the start of the track?

 

[Relic]

Ya , I used to do voice tags for cats here but I can't keep up with it.
I have heard guys use them VERY creatively in the beat , Iceman uses them throughout nicely.
Scandal does too.
But lots of people like you saw HATE hearing them in the beat over and over again.
its a matter of preference. The best way to play your beats is to already have an artist on them!

 

[Tim D]

Technically you don't have to do anything to copyright your stuff besides finish it (yes, you can certified mail it too yourself to be safe, etc).....

Nah, waste of time. It dosn't hold up in court nemore. For the basis of the thread, I just drop a tag at the begining or when the beat drops just off GP.

 

[dbit]

Here's my new myspace profile with some of my beats tagged. I'd appreciate any feedback you have about the tags in the beats:

http://www.myspace.com/dbitbeatz

 

[TheMost]

^^ im realy likking the not too late beat, props +1 swag

 

[dbit]

^^ im realy likking the not too late beat, props +1 swag

Thanks! I still have to clean that one up a bit, and I think the keys are on a rotating leslie type simulation which I need to sync up a little better.

Coming from the background I come from I've always been more composer then sampler, but I really enjoy chopping and working with samples. It's just today it's such a pain in the arse to worry about all the sample clearance issues. I wish the laws weren't so strict on it.

 

[TheMost]

Well keep at it man im feelin it. Fuck clearance when its local.

 

[nfx]

I tend to make my own tags follow these rules (but honestly I don't tag very much):

1) add a very clean (easy to understand) tag at the intro a few seconds into the song. I usually use a female voice that says "This beat was produced by nfx beats at gmail dot com"

2) Make your tag tempo synced. You can get creative and make it like a scratch or something, but if you don't make it tempo synced it sounds like sh!t when it's repeated.

3) use the tag at transitional points (verse to chorus, for example)

4) do not do that lame a$$ sythnesized "stephen hawking" voice. and don't over do the echo.

Also I have an article on tagging and another on copyrights over at my site's article section. (google "NFX Beats" if you need the url)