Okay, this has been bugging me for atleast 7,8 years now.What do you do when you do these beats on a hobby level but you want to get involved professionally.You have a sister thats been pro (singer/songwriter) all her adult life so she has mad relationships.You make beats but more in a sample based-primo-pete rock-dilla -way more than the jazzy pha-swiss beats-little john type of way.You might meet alot of people but the thing is most of them want that sample free pop-hot for now shit.Oh yeah your sisters boyfriend who is a cool dude makes beats too,but again the sample free keyboard joints.Your sister loves your beats but wants you to make them more "r&b freindly".......My question is ,do you break them off with something that is comprimsed -you know it's you but it's made more for them - or do you just say fuck that i'm not comprimising my sound at all and just give them the raw, granted you can do both quite well? I know there's people on both sides of that position, so everybody on this forum has to be feeling me.
What Do You Do?
- Thread starter Blue77
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bigdmakintrax
BeatKreatoR
This is based on my own experiences.
I feel you, when you start working with artists, I have had rappers and singers, singers that liked Brandy (Dark child synthy joints) but when they want tracks for themselves they want them to sound like Indie ari style, completely acoustic sounding without any synths...
Depending on the rap artist i deal with they want what most hear around their area, state or block for the most part.
Some rappers like something completely sampled off of a record, hell I seen so many that if you play a record they want to rap off of 40 seconds of the record simply looped and thats it!!!!
I mean man, i never had anything big hit off, but trust me i have dealt with a lot of artists of varying abilities and sat in on some sessions with very good artist, for me in a lot of instances artists have wasted my time or just were not whole hearted and serious about the pursuit of being very good, i have been pretty much in a state of pure instrumental focus for the last year or so and am contemplating wanting to get back with artists.
I do feel your pain, because right now the shit thats popular is the south feel and its been like that for longer than i can remember....
the typical rapper for the most part.
Is not really feeling the conscious Nas esque beat, a lot more will do a jiggy club beat that meets halfway between something downsouth and a simple melody done on bells or keys.
I think the real tight tracks are overlooked because one, the mindsets of a lot of artists(singers and rappers alike) are in a box, many will not do anything outside of the in artist or what they perceive through the media as hot, nothing wrong with that but it limits a producer that wants to either experiment, has a vision for his music and wants to completely start from scratch with an artist.
To finally to answer you on whether you compromise by doing production that is not usually how you do is by asking yourself 2 questions.
Does the music you produce define who you are and does only being able to do one style of beat define your skills and satisfy you?
If yes ,then keep doing you and do not compromise
If no, then you should expand your talent, skills and potential by experimenting with all types of music, yet invoked with your own style.
Do you enjoy making the same mundane style of beats and does that satisfy the majority of your clients?
If yes, then keep doing you and do not compromise
If no, then you should take some time to study what you bring to the table utilizing your style that could be implemented in the requested beat style of your artist regardless of your ability to produce a classic hip hop track and be happy making music of any flavor.
I feel you, when you start working with artists, I have had rappers and singers, singers that liked Brandy (Dark child synthy joints) but when they want tracks for themselves they want them to sound like Indie ari style, completely acoustic sounding without any synths...
Depending on the rap artist i deal with they want what most hear around their area, state or block for the most part.
Some rappers like something completely sampled off of a record, hell I seen so many that if you play a record they want to rap off of 40 seconds of the record simply looped and thats it!!!!
I mean man, i never had anything big hit off, but trust me i have dealt with a lot of artists of varying abilities and sat in on some sessions with very good artist, for me in a lot of instances artists have wasted my time or just were not whole hearted and serious about the pursuit of being very good, i have been pretty much in a state of pure instrumental focus for the last year or so and am contemplating wanting to get back with artists.
I do feel your pain, because right now the shit thats popular is the south feel and its been like that for longer than i can remember....
the typical rapper for the most part.
Is not really feeling the conscious Nas esque beat, a lot more will do a jiggy club beat that meets halfway between something downsouth and a simple melody done on bells or keys.
I think the real tight tracks are overlooked because one, the mindsets of a lot of artists(singers and rappers alike) are in a box, many will not do anything outside of the in artist or what they perceive through the media as hot, nothing wrong with that but it limits a producer that wants to either experiment, has a vision for his music and wants to completely start from scratch with an artist.
To finally to answer you on whether you compromise by doing production that is not usually how you do is by asking yourself 2 questions.
Does the music you produce define who you are and does only being able to do one style of beat define your skills and satisfy you?
If yes ,then keep doing you and do not compromise
If no, then you should expand your talent, skills and potential by experimenting with all types of music, yet invoked with your own style.
Do you enjoy making the same mundane style of beats and does that satisfy the majority of your clients?
If yes, then keep doing you and do not compromise
If no, then you should take some time to study what you bring to the table utilizing your style that could be implemented in the requested beat style of your artist regardless of your ability to produce a classic hip hop track and be happy making music of any flavor.
i'd say a couple of things...
first off, if you are trying to break into the commercial production game, forget sampling. period. i love some of the guys like black milk who are out there now but labels are straight up not spending shi* on hip hop records anymore and most definitely not spending anything to clear a sample. since people always seem to get this type of comment twisted i'm saying right now i have a lot of respect for sampled music and that dilla sound, im just being real about how the majors are these days.
second thing...don't assume hopping onto the keyboards will be easy. i don't say that to judge your skill or to come off rude i'm just being real. one of the reasons hip hop has been going through such a rough period is sampling became unfeasible almost overnight for rap producers. all of a sudden we had to rely on the fantoms, the motifs...and pretty quickly we realized there's only a handful of guys who are worth anything on the keys. if you want to go that route it takes the same thing the sampling did...practice practice practice man. hopefully from all those years of sampling classic records you've got an ear for how a good record is put together so apply that to your own work.
also, find new ways to sample. dude people would flip if they realized how many sound effects cds timbaland uses...i have one where you literally load these sounds up and you're hearing all those bizarre trademark sounds from aaliyah, ginuwine, all of his classic records. the point is, you pay 50 bucks for that cd, and you can use those samples for anything with no more license...sure it isn't a whole melody or whatever, but if you're creative with chopping it can still help you liven up the tracks.
first off, if you are trying to break into the commercial production game, forget sampling. period. i love some of the guys like black milk who are out there now but labels are straight up not spending shi* on hip hop records anymore and most definitely not spending anything to clear a sample. since people always seem to get this type of comment twisted i'm saying right now i have a lot of respect for sampled music and that dilla sound, im just being real about how the majors are these days.
second thing...don't assume hopping onto the keyboards will be easy. i don't say that to judge your skill or to come off rude i'm just being real. one of the reasons hip hop has been going through such a rough period is sampling became unfeasible almost overnight for rap producers. all of a sudden we had to rely on the fantoms, the motifs...and pretty quickly we realized there's only a handful of guys who are worth anything on the keys. if you want to go that route it takes the same thing the sampling did...practice practice practice man. hopefully from all those years of sampling classic records you've got an ear for how a good record is put together so apply that to your own work.
also, find new ways to sample. dude people would flip if they realized how many sound effects cds timbaland uses...i have one where you literally load these sounds up and you're hearing all those bizarre trademark sounds from aaliyah, ginuwine, all of his classic records. the point is, you pay 50 bucks for that cd, and you can use those samples for anything with no more license...sure it isn't a whole melody or whatever, but if you're creative with chopping it can still help you liven up the tracks.
objektivone
Beatmaker
ill o.g.
Sample live instruments and then make your beats. Have that grimey sound but still you can arrange it R&B style.
My opinion, you should look at it as a business venture. If you want to do your ish professionally, you should get your foot in the door by whatever means possible. If that means doing some ish thats not really you then so be it. Once youre in the right position, then break out with your own thing. Alot of the cats in this game started out in some other format and then evolved into something else. Change is good but being able to adapt and versify is better. A good plan to consider...make a deal with your sister, you do some R&B friendly ish for her if you can drop something that totally yours also, you know compromise with her. It definitely won't hurt your chances.
dac
dac