After its breakout in the 80s, rap and hip hop music genre has etched a place in the music history. Once a product of the underground, it is now one of the most popular forms of music today that can be heard on radios all over the world, constantly hitting the top of the charts.
Artists who have thrived from this genre continue to crank out distinctive music that is always fresh and new. Today’s hip hop artists continue to innovate and bring about a crop of new sounds that fans of their music can enjoy. In this article, we are going to discuss everything about making beats for hip hop and rap genres. We will begin with a short overview of hip hop music and its origins.
What You Need to Know About Hip Hop
Hip hop is a cultural movement that comprises four pillars. These pillars are rap, breaking, graffiti art and DJing. It started in New York City in the borough of Bronx during 70s. This genre came out through African-American musicians.
The music uses several iconic characteristics such as rapping and DJing together with sampling and beat-boxing. In its raw, earliest forms, hip hop music involved looping segments of songs, emphasizing interesting percussive arrangements that are found within them to produce unique, up-and-coming beats. These beats in turn were paired with a chant-like rhyming method of singing which is termed as rapping.
Together with the music, the culture also gave way to a new form of dance called breakdancing. It has its roots in south Bronx and is also referred to as B-boying or breaking. Breakdancing involves an individual to make frantic but significantly controlled dance movements that emphasize dynamic motions and strength of the body.
The dance steps are usually coordinated with the beats that are provided by the DJs or beatboxers. Typically, breakdancing is accomplished in a battle-style format with a variety of participants displaying their capabilities and trying to outdo each other.
In the meanwhile, graffiti was meant to highlight all elements of the culture in a visual manner. Graffiti has been around for a long time but it gained recognition in the 60s when activists and gangs used it as a medium to voice out their messages.
The culture of hip hop adopted it and redefined the medium to produce a distinctive visual style, particularly the wild style writing and bubble letters that are connected with the form till this day. Graffiti art is the visual indicator of the movement. In the same manner, breakdancing or breaking is its physical demonstration.
Advice on Creating Hip Hop Beats
Rap and hip hop music has proven its tenacity and grip on the music lovers. When it first started, the early tracks were composed of street poetry uttered with a backdrop of drum machine beats. The beats remain to be the lifeblood of a hip hop song – a lot more than the verse.
There is a steady collection of beats that is created or layered through a track in repetition. It is actually the beats that make the genre stand out. If you are looking for some great tutorials on how to make to beats, have a look at Beat Generals. What does a hip hop beat consist of? We will discuss the chief parts that you need to understand in order to create those beats.
Starting with hi-hats
If you are going to make hip hop beats, the hi-hats are a good place to begin. Hi-hats settle on the actual tempo of your beat.
Assembling the snare and kick drums
The starting point of your beats involves kick and snare drums. Coupled with the hi-hats, they make the beat whole. The kick drums are responsible for providing a heavy sound while the snare typically offers higher or mid-tone sounds.
Drums
If you need beats, you have got to have drums. There are 3 basic drum types that are used in hip hop: the snare which is employed for middle range sounds, the kick for lower sounds and the high-hat for high-frequency sounds.
Rap utilizes these drums in a different manner as compared to other genres. This means that hip hop would stall the beat for a bit instead of just hitting the snare or kick on every beat. This in turn leads to a more laid back feel of the track.
The emphasis that you put on drums is up to you. Several people believe that drums are more important than melody in a song but regardless, the beats should be really good and capable of standing on their own.
Melody
When making hip hop beats, you have to take into consideration melody as well. The drums act as the backbone of a beat while melody serves as main component – the segment wherein people connect with the track. A good song has a melody that fills up all frequency ranges – from high to low.
Effects
To make the music whole, you may have to supplement it with effects. Effects make the track distinctive. You can produce your own effects to create a style that you can call yours. The effects can be a shouted line or plain vocals, animal sounds or anything that floats your boat.
These are the parts that you need in order to produce your own hip hop beats. Pay attention to rap and hip hop tunes and try to understand every part. Learn how these parts work together to produce a track. When you are making your beats, do not be intimidated. A straightforward approach is often the key to accomplish your first set of beats.
What’s Going to Make People Stand Up and Take Notice of your Beats?
These days, creating your own beats requires minimal effort and money. All you need is a good program to craft your beats. Majority of these software programs let you do the whole procedure on the internet. Today’s software programs for producing beats have an edge over high-end equipment that need a complex assembly.
The new software programs that are used in creating beats are affordable and some even sound better as compared to the standard studio tools that cost over a thousand dollars to put together. The important task is to select a good program that focuses on hip hop beats. There are plenty of programs available online but not all of them work similarly. Some are mediocre while others are adequate and can equal the beats produced in professional studios.
Several programs only offer 8-track sequencers while others offer the current standard or 16 tracks. Some of the software programs may not provide import features while others may not have any forum support. There are many factors that you have to take into account but we are going to concentrate more on the essentials here.
The distinctiveness of your beats is the factor that makes them stand out from the pack. Therefore, the first thing that you need to do is look for a beat making program that has a big sound library. A bigger archive of sounds allows you to have a broader range of music from a selection of musical instruments such as drums, pianos, percussion among others.
You are also provided with the benefits of mixing and supplementing your beats. Thus, the bigger the software’s sound archives, the better the opportunities to fuse a selection of sounds. You also have to make sure that the software is easy to study and comprehend. If the program entails you to read a manual that has over hundred pages, then that is a drawback of the program.
This means that it will take some time for you to master the program. This is usually the case with high-end software such as ProTools which is often used by professionals and those who have a wider experience in music production. The software should be easy to figure out without even referencing the manual. Regardless, a program that includes instructional videos should be high up on your list too because videos are convenient and they enable you to learn faster with visual aids.
The software should also include a comprehensive interface with helpful functions such as editing, adding, mixing, adjusting frequencies and modifying speeds. A control panel with plenty of functions translates into more distinctive beats for you to experiment with.
Furthermore, do keep in mind to examine the “Save” function of the application. Inspect the types of file formats that it accommodates. Several programs only allow particular sound file formats therefore it is essential that the sound format can be transferred easily – as in MP3 files.
Should You Buy Your Beats?
If you want to take control of your music ambitions and finally kick-start your days of producing your own beats, you have to first mull over the kind of sound that you would like to create. After that, you have to lay out the software and other factors. Once you have mastered some of the basics of the software, you can follow it up with creating some simple beats. However, there are some aspects about beats that you have to acknowledge first.
You might not know where to begin when it comes to the ingredients of a track such as the beat. The most recommended choice is to download a hip hop instrumental beat that’s free. While this is somewhat a good decision, you must know that those that are labelled free do not always mean quality.
Free beats are typically churned out by the beginners who are just starting to hone their craft or worse, individuals who are offering second-rate beats. Those free beats are alright if you are a beginner in the field. They provide you with the knowledge and understanding of operating inside the structure and in the end, you would realize that your lyrics and style have to progress and shift in order to fit and connect with the beats. Sooner or later, you must move up to shelling out a fee for your beats.
If those beats are worth the money, you can guarantee that the people or audience will find them interesting. The instrumental hip hop beats are created by people who – in due course – want to sell their product. Be certain that you create a good relationship with those people, especially if you are into their beats.
Begin conversations with them and it can lead to collaborations in future. Make financial arrangements so that you can be allowed to expand on those instrumentals. Remember, if you are keen on making your own beats, you might have to invest in some beat making software in order to lay out those beats.
If you have plans for this, always think with regard to long-term usage. The money that you spend on it could be earned back easily as soon as you start selling your beats in the market.
Suggestions for Purchasing Beats on the Internet
If you are a hopeful musician or producer, then you need to have a habit of keeping up with today’s music. You should also be searching for beats, instrumentals and background sounds that you can utilize in your work.
The internet today is actually one of the most hassle-free places to acquire music and you can even buy beats online these days. There are plenty of websites that focus on selling beats. However, before you check out those sites, here are some suggestions that are worth remembering while you shop:
Purchase from trustworthy producers with good reputation
The internet, as we all know, is not always a hub of authenticity. If you are not careful, you can get scammed. The commercial music industry has its share of scams and you would be shocked at the number of people who retail stolen or plagiarized music to unsuspicious folks.
Be wary of this because if you are not attentive, you might end up using plagiarized or copyrighted music without knowing that it was stolen. In order to avoid this, you should only acquire music from dependable sources. Prior to buying beats on the Internet, you need to make sure that the homepage is managed by a credible producer.
You may have to do some background research on the owner of the homepage first. Majority of credible sites include information about their owners that is accessible.
Follow your budget
Buying beats online can become a little addictive therefore take it easy with the stuff. If you are already a well-known musician with the dough, money might not be a problem. However, if you are a beginner, it is ideal to be more sensible about where you spend your money, even if it means that you are doing it to perfect your craft.
A good way to save money when looking for the beats online is to be aware of the sites that retail beats in bulk. Package deals are also a great way to save money on beats. Allow yourself to set a budget before you go shopping for the beats online.
Familiarize yourself with the two kinds of beats
There are two fundamental kinds of beats that are sold today: exclusive and non-exclusive. Being familiar with the two before purchasing beats in the World Wide Web is a crucial part of your song-making plans. An exclusive beat, once purchased, means that you are going to be the only owner of that segment of music.
After the purchase, the owner of the homepage would remove the beat from the site. On the other hand, non-exclusive beats can be maintained and used by several individuals. Exclusive beats can be expected to cost more as compared to the non-exclusive ones.
If you are on a limited budget and do not mind sharing a sound with other folks, you can make do with non-exclusive beats. You would just need to use your creativity and imagination more.
Acquire a licensing agreement in print
If you want to buy beats online, especially if you are after exclusive beats, you have to make sure that the company provides a printable licensing contract following your purchase. The contract should clearly state the things that you can and cannot do with the beat that you just purchased.
This way, if another individual or group asks you about your utilization of that particular work, you can show them the contract. The world of music is slowly moving towards the independent side of the spectrum rather than the well-known major labels.
This century is a trailblazer in terms of digital use therefore now it is easier for most individuals to create their own hip hop and rap sounds. However, before you think about the business part, you have to first sharpen your skills and the quality of your beats.
As a musician, it is your duty to offer your audience high-quality beats so that you can grow a loyal band of followers. The website Beat Generals can help you get quality sounds for those beats ringing inside your head. Let them guide you with creative beat making and you will be cranking out awesome beats and rhymes in no time.
