Below are a few key things listed to help you bring your beat making skills to another level. Heck, it may even take you from the space of just “beat making” and put in the bracket of music producing!

1.) Bigger, Better, Stronger Drum Sounds

-This is the number one rule of making doper beats. There is no way around it. Your choice of drum sounds can literally make or break your beat! You want to male sure that you are using big drum sounds that stand out in the mix at the same time give your beat the edge it needs.

The kick and snare both play a very crucial role in this. They should add that BOOM, BAP, SNAP, CRUNCH! to the beat. You want listeners to be able to “feel” your beat. Big drum sounds will cause this effect without a doubt.

Your selection of drum samples is so imperative. There have been countless records that became hits off of just drum sounds alone! Most producers sleep on this and would rather use the standard keyboard drums. In order to grow in anything, you have to think outside the box. And depending on those weak, soft keyboard drums is definitely not thinking outside the box. If anything, its thinking “inside” the box. Yes. Pun intended.

2.) A Compelling, Attractive Lead Instrument

The second thing a listener pays most attention to is the lead instrument. As a producer, you want to focus your attention on creating the most catchiest,intriguing, and ear friendly melody ever. While at the same time making sure that the sound isn’t too dominating and that the lead instrumentation doesn’t become monotonous after listening to it for while.

Sometimes choosing an instrument or sound can be difficult, let alone coming up with a nice catchy tune. One thing you can do is this: put on an old school jam. This never fails. If you listen to the records from back in the day, you will hear how defined their sounds are.

They where the kings of innovation and never had a problem coming up with sick licks and dope tunes. Let the sounds of our forefathers of soul guide you into creating powerful lead instrument tracks and bring your beats to the next level.

3.) Climactic, Cinematic Chorus Instruments

This should never be over looked. When it comes time for the track to rise, your chorus instruments should be the sounds that take your beat up the hills.
The chorus instruments let the listener know what time it is. It is almost like an
“awakening” per say. When the chorus comes in, it should have the same effect as an alarm clock set for 6am! It should be very dramatic.

You definitely wanna be sure to always leave room for the artist to do their thing,but at the same time, these instruments should be guiding the artist on where to go and what to do. The best way to get an idea of how chorus instruments in a beat should sound is to listen to the hip hop classic Chronic 2001 by Dr Dre. On the opening track “The Watcher” you will see how the beat builds to a very cinematic hook.

In conclusion, the best way to get an idea of how to apply these concepts to your beat making I have come up with an analogy to get your imagination working just a little. Look at beat making like a movie. In every movie there is a plot, a main character, and
most importantly their is a theme.

You drums are the plot. They underline the beat and see to it that it is going somewhere. They are responsible for the direction of your beat and dictate its structure.

Your lead instrument is the main character. It plays the role of the main focus of the beat and is responsible to bring out the “character” of the track. It will set the mood of the beat. Some times it may even “die” out for a short while leaving the listener questioning. But just when you thought it was gone, it comes back stronger than ever before!

Your chorus instruments are the theme. They will tell the listener when the climax has begun while at the same time creating a “reoccurring” theme. They will give the beat it’s “hook”. Just like in a movie their is always a familiar underlining meaning. That is
the role the chorus instruments play. They are similar to the “punchline” a comedian uses through out his/ her entire show to establish their theme.

Hope this helps you producers get a visual to advance in your beat making. Much love and
support to your music production careers.

-Traumah

Click Here If You Want Over 180 Banging Drum Sounds Now

Your either a beat maker, or a music producer…

The beat maker is usually how one starts out. He is the one who falls in love with the craft of constructing wicked drum patterns and adding the delicious melodic ingredients on top to add finishing to the cake. He has that desire inside of him to bang out more beats.

The beat maker is the one who will sit and make beat after beat every day. He is the jack of his trade. He knows how to put the illest loops together in seconds. He is well versed in meshing sounds together to create bangin’ tracks and dope ass beats. He will even go as far as taking his beat into “song mode” so that it is stretched out and formatted to be written and recorded to. He will make beats just for the simple fact that he loves to do it. He doesn’t have to fulfill a need outside of his desire to create a dope beat and make peoples heads nod. Even if he could just make his own head nod is enough. Or his mamma’s.

The beat maker is, in a sense, the “programmer” of music…

The music producer is the one who see’s the beat beyond it just being a dope instrumental. He goes in with the overall vision in mind. He see’s the song
from beginning to end outlined in his mind. He knows the true meaning of concepts and themes. He will probably relate it being a “movie” in his head.
He will describe sounds as shapes and colors. One who possesses this title can see the music as a product, whether it be a complete song to be shopped,
or a dope beat to be licensed or sold to an artist. Everything he creates has a purpose.

A music producer can hear someones beat and know exactly where that persons was “going” with it.  He has also probably acquired the skill of mixing and audio engineering as well; so that he is able to make the music sound and feel they exact way it is intended to. In so many words, he is the one who will take that hot beat and turn it into a hot song.

The music producer doesn’t even have to be a beat maker. Hell, he doesn’t even have to know how to play a musical instrument or anything. There are artist who are producers. Producers posses the ability to produce great music while at the same time being able to see their beats/songs as a potential product, and “produce” it as so.

He is in a sense the “director” of music…

The mere difference between the two can easily be compared to the differences between a screen play writer and a movie producer. This is just a brief differentiation between the beat maker and the producer.

-Traumah

Click Here If You Want Over 180 Banging Drum Sounds Now

I remember dissin’ software beat making programs hard back in the day. Saying things like, “FL is whack! Reason is boo boo.” I never would give them a chance. It was almost as
if I thought using software was cheating or something. I always thought the sounds were cheesy and the sequencer was unnecessarily difficult. First time I ever tried Fruity Loops was back in 2001, and I hated it. Maybe it was due to not having a MIDI controller.

I was using Acid 3.0 back then to record vocals though. That was as far as I was gonna take it with software. Well, at least back then. I didn’t see a use for it. I was too
in love with my Motif 6. The first Motif ever to hit the shelves.

It wasn’t until 2007 I had the software epiphany. My home boy Greydon Square put me up on Reason 3.0. At first use I wasn’t blown away by it. He showed me how to maneuver around within it and some of the cool things it could do. He didn’t really use it too much for beat making back then. He was pretty much like me, all hard headed for hardware!

I went to the studio to have a song mixed and a friend of mine was using it. He played me some of his beats and I was shocked. He started showing me how the samples could be chopped in it and all kinds of stuff. Once I learned that you had access to your whole arsenal of sounds, I was on it.

Fast forward to present…I love software! It gives you the ability to use your eyes along with your ears and hands. It allows a smoother work flow as well. Hardware still wins when it comes to sound quality though. There’s nothing like a vintage synthesizer
or Rhodes keys on any of the older keyboards. But I guess that’s the compromise. Hey, who says you can’t have both? Best of both worlds right?

-Traumah

Click Here If You Want Over 180 Banging Drum Sounds Now

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Let me tell you a story…

I remember getting my first taste of what a banging snare drum sounded like. I had to be about 16, and didn’t know one thing about sampling drums or even using any drum sounds outside of my Roland MC-303 Dr. Groove Drum Machine at the time.
Long story short, I was in the lab with one of the best producers in my city at the time. I sat like a fly on the wall while he loaded his drum sounds into the MPC 2000 via 6 inch floppy discs (remember those?).

All I can remember is him slapping his finger across one of the drum pads and hearing a big “WAPP!!!” sound fill the whole room up. First thing I asked was “What was that?” He told me it was a snare drum from one of his personal drum kits that he himself sampled and made. He must have stacked it too. Second thing I asked was “Can I have it?.” He told me no…but gave me the game on how to and where to get fat drum sounds like this. This would prove to be priceless game.

Since then I’ve been developing my very own drum sounds and drum kits just as fat as those I heard that day. I learned how to beef my drums
up and make em pop. I figured out how to make people’s necks react to my heavy snare driven beats. I discovered the true essence of claps and how to make em slap harder than Pimpin’ Ken’s back hand on a delinquent hoe.

I’m talking kick drums that shake the walls and wake the neighbors. Drum sounds that disturb the peace-No Ludacris.
But hey, you get this gist.

-Traumah

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