Making Beats - Simple Tips to Consider
Making beats can be a very strenuous exercise. To be able to produce a quality beat requires a lot of different factors. Many may think that by understanding all the new trends and sounds they have mastered the tools of a quality beat, when in fact its the fundamentals that really distinguish a great beat from the goods one. Consider this, can your song demand attention? Is it the correct key? Do the sounds and effects complement each other? Are the sound levels all the same? These are all valid questions that are among a huge list of factors determining whether or not your beat is a great one. To put it bluntly if you beat is not up to bar, the clubs, the radios, no one would want to play it. I hope through this article you will added these things to consider next time you are making a beat.
Stage 1: Right choice of the software or the hardware to use
Whether you are making beats for hip-hop, R&B or even pop music, you need to understand the software or the hardware you are using in order to translate your ideas to sound. Things to consider include user friendly interface, all the necessary functions that you need (VST, Sound Editor etc). You also make sure you have all the necessary hardware (including your computer!) to be able to run the software properly.
Stage 2: Drum Pattern
Especially for hip hop and r&b the drum pattern is an extremely important part of the beat. Typically you will find a kick, a snare or clap, high hat in these songs. What is important is that you get creative and create your own patterns BUT you still need to ensure that the sounds compliment each other instead of clashing. It is also important to change up the patterns throughout different parts of the song. Why you may ask? Because like any human being we tend to get bored of the same thing, so by switching the patterns up at different parts of the song it would highly benefit the song
Stage 3: Bassline & Melody
The bassline adds depth to your song and the melody of course is a large factor in the overall beat. In this section you have a lot of room for creativity. You can use electronica sounds and compliment it with strings, the combinations are endless. Having said that, sometimes keeping it simple goes a lot further than just overwhelming the song with all sorts of instruments. This comes with practise and the more you do, the better you will get out of it.
Stage 4: Effects
Depending on the type of genre you are working, sometimes less is more when it comes to effects. For many of today's top audio production softwares you have highly flexible functions such as re-verb, echo, delay that can drastically alter the song. Of course like I mentioned throughout the article, sometimes too much is bad thing so it is important to judge through your own ear and your peers.
I hope these things will help, happy beat making!
