Monday, November 30, 2009

Making The Beat, The Hip Hop Beat

By Aaron McLain

There are a ton of new and fresh, cool and hip, down and out hip hop beats today. Do not be the type of person who steals these beats and calls them their own. Be fresh and new. Be original. Making hip hop beats is not hard. It is probably one of the easiest things to do. Why? Because its all about you. Here are some tips to get you started.

If you don't know what samples are its time you learn. Samples are short recordings of music that you use to create your hip hop beats. To make them your own, play an instrument. You don't have to know how to play it. Be creative and experiment with different combinations of notes. Use different instruments to record a variety of samples.

You may run into trouble creating samples and need inspiration. The best way to become inspired is to listen to music. Do not limit yourself to your favorite brand of music. Expand into other genres. Listen to the different instruments, the different rhythms, the various beats. This not only will give you ideas, but expand your knowledge of different instruments you can use to make your sample beats.

Now you should have a few samples to work with. It's time to create your hip hop beats. Let your samples guide you in the process. By now you should have some idea on how this puzzle fits together. Usually in the sample creation process ideas will come to you and you will envision the big picture. To help keep things on tempo, use a simple drum beat track to hold everything together.

To finish off your beat, you need to put yourself into the mix. Add how you feel, your joy, your sorrow, your pain, your misery. Don't be a robot. It will show in your beats. This is the hardest part of beat making. It's a lesson that is learned through practice, through persistence. Most important is to have fun with it. See were it takes you. Stick to it and go with it.

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