International Cinema Festival of India

Making hip hop beats is a task that can be fun and frustrating. . But it really is easier then you think. If you’re making a beat here are 10 tips that will get yo stated.

1. Pick the beat style you want before you begin making it. It could be an R&B, rap, pop, etc.

2. Think of a known artist you would want to make the beat for. You’ll find your task easier if you do this.

3. When you have an artist in mind, listen and take note of his style. Get a feel of his beats, too.

4. Format the song – the intro, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, etc. This is the basic pattern but you can change the order whichever way you please. You can also take note of the way your favourite artist formats his songs. The most common format consists of 2 or 4 bar intro followed by a series of 16 bar verse and 8 bar chorus. If you want an even simpler way, you can create an 8 bar loop and keep it the same throughout the whole song. I have seen this done a lot

5. Lay the beat down. Start with the drums: kick, snare, hihat. It’s good to record a pattern of 4 bars with those. Next, you could layer them with some toms, cowbell, symbols or whatever. Whatever you do, just remember that it is the drums which are the most important in making hip hop beats! Don’t use the “pitty pat” free kits you may have downloaded. Your drums should be hit hard; weak drums mean weak beats.

6. Laying Down A Melody- This is where most hip hop beat-makers have the most trouble. Because most eat makers can’t play the keys. For starters, you might want to learn basic keyboard skills. The major thing you need to learn are, major and minor scales. After learning them, you can combine different patterns with the drum beat you have made. Thus, you can use horns, a lead guitar, or a clavinet, whose sounds will stand out. Your melody can be however you want it, but for starters, you could do a 4 bar melody, or an 8 bar melody.

7. Layering the beat is done a lot in beat making. Layering makes a whole beat sound bigger. What you should do is fill in the gaps throughout the whole beat, creating a pattern with each instrument.

8. Panning means having an instrument all the way to the left, or the right, or anywhere in between. This is your next step. You should not be cautious of any rules with regards to panning, just do it to give each track its own space in the stereo field.

9. The most important part of beat making is mixing; bear that in mind unless you want your time to go to waste! When mixing a beat, start with each track individually. Make sure each track sounds good.

10. Now that you have produced your beat music, you may want to put it on a CD or upload your masterpiece on the internet. For CD, use a WAV file 16-bit, 44.1khz and 128kbps for uploading on the internet.

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