Beat Production
Instrumental producers are notorious for making due with what they have, whether that’s equipment, skill, or knowledge. You’re here now, and this is your chance to gain a competitive edge over everyone else and start getting your beats placed on major label albums. Apply the info in our other columns and you’ll be unstoppable.
How to Start Producing Music as a Beginner (& The Path Forward)
Learning music production isn't that hard if you can cut through all of the extra, non-relevant information out there. The truth is there's very little you need to begin today and you likely already have most of it. All of that extra info comes into play later once you start progressing further down the path of making music. Below I tell you the minimum equipment […]
What is MIDI? The Music Tool You Can't Live Without
It all started in 1983. If you're a music afficionado and know the sound of each decade, you'll know that there was a sudden jump from the 70's to the 80's where suddenly we stopped hearing live instruments as much. Out of the blue the pop music scene was filled with the cheesiest sounding "computer music," which progressively got better. That trend never ended, to […]
How to Sell Beats Online & Work Your Way Up to Pro Placements
By virtue of being able to make beats, the instrumentalist in the rap and R&B community brings a boatload of skills to the table that provide a sharp advantage to being seen and earning an on-going passive income. The producer must do everything the vocalist does in order to gain success, but they get the compounding benefit of the vocalist doing it a second time […]
Bass Programming Tips for MIDI & Synths
Bass programming is my second favorite part of making beats right after the drums. Laying down the initial, fundamental groove of the song helps the rest of the process move along without any problems. And that needs to be the order of operations: Bass then drums or drums then bass. The problem is most of us are going to have a real hard time dealing […]
10 MIDI Programming & Sequencing Tips
There's nothing better than MIDI programming for getting ideas out of your head quickly and accurately. The faster you can do this without the distractions of tinkering with hardware and software, the better. Staying in the left-brain mode can be the difference between a #1 hit and a dud. When it's time to pump out a beat and the ideas are rolling, the last thing […]
5 Tips to Bring Your Drum Programming to Life
There's a ton of advice out there being spewed every time someone asks "How do I program realistic drums?" "Drum programming isn't hard, dummy," they say. The answers are always the same... Learn how a real drummer drums Use real drum samples instead of synth-based Layer your sounds on top of each other Yeah yeah yeah. Here's the problem with that nonsense. Knowing how a […]
Dubstep Maker: The Software & Video Tutorial You Need
My brother and I finally set out to making another rap album just for fun between ourselves, and I had always promised myself that I'd become a dubstep maker and make a beat for us to drop some phat rhymes over. It's been at least five years or so since dubstep made a large splash in the states and gained popularity. And it took about […]
How to Sample Like the East Coast Producers
Sampling is funny business, because doing it right is no easy task. This is why producers who want to be purists and not use them at all will turn around and talk smack about a producer who does prefer to and knows how to sample. They're hiding their incompetence. They want you to believe that sampling is an easy shortcut, that it bypasses needing to […]
Your Beats Are Boring and Here's Why
Not a day goes by where I don't hear some non-hip-hop listener say something stupid like, "Listen to this crap. I could make this beat! There's nothing to it. I ought to be a millionaire." If you dig into the online beat making community for even ten minutes you'll realize that a lot of these haters actually attempt to become producers, along with other aspiring […]
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