Make Rap Beats - Make Hip Hop Beats

Learn How To Make Rap Beats

9999-10-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

All you need to know about making your own rap beats is within a click of your mouse! Free information to get you started.

I have good news and bad news about making rap beats on your own.

The bad news is that there is no shortcut to learning to make good rap beats that will sell and make you money and fame.

The good news is that there are some inexpensive ways to jump start your learning process and get you ahead of the game!

Beat making is fun and when something is fun it feels easier. Some things you will need to learn to make your own beats.

How to get easy to use and inexpensive software to help you make rap beats. Every good beat maker needs tools.
Understanding music theory will help you to know how to put musical notes together to make your own rap beats sound in tune and have a catchy hook. Smart beat makers will know how important this is.
Knowing what sounds and styles are hot in today's musical atmosphere will enable you to make your own rap beats sound like instant hits. Beat making is an art form, but thats no reason for a beat maker to be broke.
Learning how to play simple keyboard parts by ear will give you an edge when you get that catchy melody in your ear and want to put it into your own rap beats. Capturing inspiration when beat making is like mining for gold so don't miss the opportunity. Making music beats working in a 9 to 5.
Knowing how to market your rap beats to the public and set up a website to sell your rap beats will give you an edge over the competition. Probably one of the beat makers greatest flaws is promoting oneself correctly.
Starting your own record label is also an option, especially if you will be collaborating with and seeking new talent. Become the master of your music beats. Most well known beat makers do this as the old "major" record labels become more and more irrelevant.

Don't be ashamed to admit - to yourself - a weakness in any of these areas. You cannot improve your status and skill in your dream to make rap beats for a living unless you are self aware about what you must do to improve. False swagger will only get you so far when you make own beats. Be a true beat maker not a wannabe.

Check the rest of the site for information to help you achieve your dream of beat making!

11 Free Beat Making Softwares

2009-02-04T15:51:00.000-08:00

Some of the best things in life are free.

The following programs are free and they will satisfy your itch if you need a audio production software and don't have the money to spend.

Not all music making programs are created equal, but the price is right.

ACID Xpress - This is lite version of the popular ACID production software. You can record. You can edit. You can mix. This is primarily a loop or sampled based software. It's tempo detection and pitch detection make it a great tool for any beat maker or audio production student.

LMMS - Called the FL Clone for Linux. It look ssimilar to FL but's not compatible. If you are one of those brave Linux users, you can do audio production with this free beat maker program.

Quotile - A cool little music production program that many find odd yet inspiring.

Koblo - Open Source. It has features to let you collab with other users online. A very unique feature for a music making program.

Kristal - An older and not recently updated contender with a lot of features.

Music Studio Independence - A great looking beast of a program. It does audio as well as MIDI and Helps you in all aspects of audio production.

MultitrackStudio - Another audio and MIDI recording program. It can do multitrack recording and has a lot of built in effects.

MU.LAB - Works on both PC and MAC. It's claim is that it makes your computer a real music studio. Sounds like a good one.

Quick Audio - Audio editor software. Lets you change edit, play and record. Supports VST plug-ins.

Wavosaur Another audio editor program. You can make MP3 files with this and it supports VST plug-ins, ASIO drivers. The batch converting functions are a great plus.

Audacity - Yet another audio editor. This open source audio editor program is probably the most popular of the bunch. It won't do MIDI, but it runs on Linux, Mac and PC. A tool for every beat maker.

Learn beat making from the pros

2008-11-25T12:26:00.001-08:00

In addition to the many valuable product you can buy to help you make beats, you can also learn a great deal from watching what other beat makers do who are ahead of you on the ladder of success.

Thats right, let the pros teach you! All you have to do is know what to listen for and listen!

To make better rap beats, there are two things to look for when studying another successful beat maker:

1) How does the beat maker put together sounds?

It's not uncommon for one beat maker to copy something from another beat maker.

It's a natural progression of the culture. Think of all the auto-tune T-Pain like songs you hear on the radio. Did all these beat makers just get turned on to it all at once? NO. Beat makers saw that rap beats made by T-Pain (and others) were selling like mad. If you want a peice of that pie, then you need to make beats that sound like that.

Knowing how to incorporate popular elements from today's hottest beat makers is important but never lose your identity as a rap beat maker. You need to be able to hear your own beats and be inspired to keep making beats. If you lose that love of beat making your creativity will fall and you'll get writers block all the time.

2) How does the beat maker market him/herself?

Again, learn to study thos above you. Notice how beat maker X always names his beat something like "My Dope Beat (FREE DOWNLOAD)"? Well maybe that should tell you that adding (FREE DOWNLOAD) to your beat name might help it get noticed online.

Studying another beat maker is a good thing when you are humble enough to see your own failings in comparison. Making rap beats is not one dimensional. Improve your game from all angles and your rap beat making will progress faster than ever.

Links

2008-11-06T17:25:00.001-08:00

ACAPELLAS4U - Acapellas4u - acapella, acappella, a-capella, accapella, vox, vocals, samples, diy, cpu, free, forum, community

Hardware For Making Rap Beats

2008-11-06T12:13:00.000-08:00

There are many hardware devices available for helping you make rap beats.

I am leaving out your computer from this list because although it is "hardware", the real power of the computer to make rap beats is driven by software. While computer-based beat making is my own personal preferences, You may want to know about alternatives.

Many if not all the hardware below can be used together with other hardware.

Drum Machines

Many of the sounds from these machines can be purchased in WAV format for use in samplers and software at a highly reduced cost so they aren't as relevant as they used to be. But it's good to know about them.

Roland TR-808 - No longer made, but a true classic. Used heavily in Dirty South music and the 808 Kick drum is often layered and tuned with other kick drums for that heavy bass.
Roland TR-909 - Another extinct machine that lives on in electronic music and hip hop beats today.
Alesis SR16 - Has one of my favorite kick sounds ever. Very usable kit.
Linn LinnDrum - Used throughout the 80's. Again has a classic sound.
Boss DR-202 - Sample based and came with a ton of sounds.

Samplers

Because rap beats are often heavily driven by sampled records, a good hardware sampler is a must in a rap beat makers studio. Most samplers have recording of audio and performance as well as the ability to trigger and configure samples. Heres a few of the more common ones:

Akai MPC - Many different models ranging from $599 - $2,000+ This is the defacto standard for hip hop beat making. (click on pics for more detailed information):
Roland MV8800 - List for about $1,999. Very powerful. (click pic for more info)

Keyboard Workstations

This is the most modern type of hardware. It is very versatile because it offers sampling, sequencing and more in an all-in-one package.

Roland Fantom (click on pic for details)
Yamaha Motif (click on pic for details)

Now that you know about the types of hardware, don't forget that your computer along with a relatively inexpensive software Digital Audio Workstation is also a very powerful tool. Especially when enhanced with a MIDI Controller.

Starting Your Own Record Label

2008-11-03T13:21:00.000-08:00

One option to consider when you decide to make a living making rap beats is whether or not to make your own record label. A savvy beat maker knows this.

Having your own record label has advantages because you can leverage this to get more royalties and/or fees. Don't forget about the tax deduction to feed your beat making habit.

You do have to make sure you do everything by the book however. Making rap beats for sale is one thing, trying to market them through your own label requires different music business contracts and book keeping. Start your business on the up and up. While going to jail may get you "street cred", being a beat maker behind bars is not a goal you should want.

There are packages out there to help you start a hip hop record label. I suggest you check things out to your best capability before going this route, but the payoff will be tremendously greater running your own label instead of being a hired hand.

Some beat makers will seek a partnership with others. You know "I make beats, you do the business side". It's not a bad thing if you get everything down on paper from everyone's responsibility and share in the business. Definitely get a lawyer in the mix.

Software for Making Rap Beats

2008-11-03T13:06:00.000-08:00

In the early days of hip hop, your choices were limited. A few turntables, a sampler, a drum machine and a 4-track recorder was all a beat maker had access to. A real beat maker will find a way to make beats no matter what resources are available.

Now you can get all that in more in a single music production software that will run on your computer. Beat makers today have more power at their fingertips than a roomful of computers back in the day.

There are many varieties of audio production software for beat making. This music software is often known as a "DAW" or Digital Audio Workstation.

When making beats, all audio software is not created equal. There are music making programs that have advantages over others in different areas of beat making. My advice is to try a few of them out and see what works best for you.

Let's compare some prices of popular software used to make rap beats (retail prices as of this writing):

FL Studio Producer ($199)** Lifetime updates FREE
Propellerhead REASON 4.0 Music Production Software ($399)
Steinberg Cubase 4 ($599)
Cakewalk SONAR 8 Producer ($499)
Logic Pro
Pro Tools
Reaper

My own DAW of choice for making beats is FL Studio Producer. The main reason why I like this audio production software, is because it's one of the most affordable packages available for beat making software and you get free updates for life when purchased online. Many commercial rap artists have flowed over beats made using FL Studio.

You can download the FL Studio demo for free. You can try out all the features but cannot save your projects. You can export the project to an MP3 file. This means that you can make rap beats all day for free using the FL Studio demo and even create tracks you can sell.

Did you know Soulja Boy used FL Studio to make his platinum selling "Superman"? A $200 investment turned into millions.

I do recommend you invest in a full registered version of FL Studio Producer if you are serious about bet making. It has the ability to save and edit your rap beats for later and is something you will want very soon after you make a few hot rap beats.

If you decide to FL Studio Producer, do yourself a favor and save 10% and get lifetime updates free by using this special FL Studio discount link.

Another option for beginners is to make your beats online using a system like Sonic Producer. This is a good and inexpensive way to get started and when you are ready to grow to a full fledged DAW, you will have a head start on how to arrange your rap beats. Beat making in today's world has neve been easier!

Marketing Your Rap Beats

2008-11-02T15:15:00.001-08:00

Making beats is the fun part. Selling beats is not fun - it's business and should be taken seriously by all beat makers who wish to make beats for a living.

Most people have a fantasy that someone in a position to help them will hear their rap beat and want to sign them or purchase the beats for a large amount of money. The beat makers fantasy rarely comes true without some work in this area.

Your chances are slimmer than winning the lotto for this to happen.

Instead, you need to learn how to get your music out into the wild and sell your own beats. Start small and build up. Join beat battles and get feedback from the many beat maker forums out there.

Part of marketing is getting a web presence and making the beats available for purchase. This is the part that a lot of people have a bit of a learning curve on. Don't be afraid to start small there are free places a beat maker can upload your own beats.

I have been asked a lot about this and I usually recommend the excellent eBook "Make Money By Making Beats" (read and independent review about this eBook). For the small price you pay ($12) and the info you get, it's a great bargain and will get your understanding up there. If you follow the steps in that book, it will pay for itself almost immediately.

Once you have a web identity as a beat maker and some clientele, you can move to the next level and get a manager and/or start your own label.

Playing By Ear

2008-11-02T14:52:00.000-08:00

Playing by ear is important to any beat maker but you do NOT need to be an accomplished musician for making rap beats.

Most of the time a rap beat is developed around a very simple melody. Once you can take a melody from your head to your sequencer you are at an instant advantage as a beat maker.

I'm not trying to say that an accomplished player of a real musical instrument isn't valuable, but for making rap beats, it isn't as important. Most established rap music producers just hire real musicians to play anyway. I have found that some basic playing ability is enough to get the job done for 90% of all beat makers.

Playing by ear usually comes to those that have practiced extensively. But there are some programs, books and videos out there to help you develop your ear.

Make no mistake, that it is a skill that can be acquired and like any skill, it will come easier to some than others. And it is a valuable beat maker skill without a doubt.

When making rap beats, be sure dedicate some time to listening to other music and not just enjoying it but listening for the notes and how they fit together. A great beat maker will also be a great fan of the genre as well.

Hot Sounds For Making Rap Beats

2008-11-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

When making rap beats you have to find a balance between making something that sounds like what you would hear on the radio and in clubs and something that separates you from the pack.

One of the easiest ways to get the right sounds for making beats is to purchase some drum kits and sound modules.

When purchasing drum kits, there are a few things a beat maker should consider:

Make sure you find kits that have more than just a few samples of each type. For example, unless you are sure you only want clap sounds, do not purchase a claps only kit. You want a decent variety of kicks, snares, hi hats and other percussion.
Make sure you buy samples of CD quality or better. CD Quality is 16-bit, 44.1 Khz WAV files. MP3 files are not CD quality. There is an old beat maker saying: "Garbage In, Garbage Out". Don't start with garbage and you won't end with garbage.
Samples should also be chopped and when appropriate, looped perfectly. Samples that start late or end early are the sign of a sloppy kit. As a beat maker you can fix some minor errors but what are you paying your hard earned money for?
Finally check the cost and compare. Buying a small kit of say 100 samples for $40 is way overpriced in my opinion. A good balance of cost and quantity is around 500-1000 samples for $30. As a beat maker you owe it to yourself to listen to demos of the kits and read reviews (hopefully from other beat makers) to get an idea of the true value.

Be sure that when making your rap beats you don't always try to put the sounds together to sound exactly like a well known beat maker or producer.

They way you put together your sounds from your drum kits and instruments will define your style. This will evolve over time but do what sounds good to you and don't be afraid to experiment. Once you become the beat maker known for a specific style (ala Dr. Dre or Timbaland) you will have a corner on that market.

Music Theory is Important

2008-10-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

Some people might think that understanding music theory is not important for making rap beats.

They would be 100% wrong!

You don't have to be a music professor by any means when making rap beats, but you should have a basic understanding of how notes fit together in scales and how scales help you make chords and melodies. This will separate the average beat maker from the professional beat maker.

Don't be afraid of this. It is really pretty easy when you learn the basics of music theory.

It will make your rap beats much better because you will learn how to add extra musical elements like a bass line or melody.

Even if you are a sample based beat maker, you should understand these basic concepts. You will be able to blend more samples together and have them sound nice. You are trying to make music beats not random sounds thrown into a mix.

Many rap beat makers who are predominantly sample based add these extra elements to separate themselves from the crowd. Names like Kanye West, Just Blaze and DJ Premier come to mind. They all can take a sample and layer it with composed parts when making beats to make beats that stand out from the rest. Look at the pros for inspiration on how to make beats.