Okay, let's get down to business. I'm a producer from Augusta, Georgia and making beats is my passion, but the thing that bothers me is now production is slowly getting the limelight and to me it should have a long time ago.
Check this out, the most important part of Hip Hop or any genre of music is the composer; you wouldn't have some of the greatest musical achievements in history if someone didn't write down, chop, loop, pitch tune or add drums and keys. When you think about it, the key element of any Hip Hop song is the beat, because we all know that, even if the people ain't listening to the lyrics, they're bobbing their heads off the beat. Just the other day I was checking out the documentary called "The Art Of Organized Noize" and I loved it, but theses guys should have had more than just shout outs--- it should have been more them be displayed at the forefront of it all
(Not taking anything away from OutKast, of course). I hope you see my point on this.
In the present producers are getting their just due, for example this past BET Hip Hop Awards they had the rapper and the producers name for the same song. I guess now instead of rapping everybody wants to make beats, but just like rapping and lyricism it takes skill and some of these guys simply have little or none. I get tired of hearing the same beat over and over with a couple of minor tweaks, like really come on dude, seriously. Now let me break down my process. Warning: This will take a minute!!!!!
1. Find a sample
Finding a sample is not an easy task to do sometimes it takes me at least one hour before I find exactly what I'm looking for. I go through vinyl, YouTube, Tv Clips and all just to find the perfect thing, and yes it is time consuming but in the end you find what you want if you just take your time.
2. Looping/Chopping
Now this right here is the main ingredient in my beats so check this out. So once I find my sample I either will chop ie; taking different parts of the sample or loop ie; taking the sample as is and keep replaying that phrase in the song. Both of these techniques I learned watching masters like Pete Rock, J Dilla, RZA of The Wu Tang Clan, Q tip and many more greats of the era. This goes back to #1 when I talked about the perfect sample, if it's funky, hypnotic and just cool you can keep it playing no matter what, but don't make this a trend always do a change up here and there so you can keep the listener engaged. When I chop a sample I make sure the sections I use match up with the melody, bass line, or pitch so it won't sound off or anything. This usually takes me 2 minutes to 2 hours depending on my focus at the time but it almost always blends perfectly.
3. Drums
The most important, confusing, hypnotic, funky, attention grabbing thing in music especially Hip Hop. Put it like this when you have a dish you have to prepare let's take a cake for example, you have the main ingredients Flour, Sugar, Eggs, etc. but there's one thing missing the icing and that ladies and gentlemen are drums in a beat. We're talking about 808's, hats, snares, kicks, and percussion instruments. This is what the listener wants to hear something that can make them dance or just go in a trance and just drift away from the problems of everyday life. Point is you need the right drums to make that happen. Now picking drums is even more difficult than choosing a sample, you got have a certain ear and if you have the wrong drums over a good sample then the beat is ruined. How I pick drums kinda complicated, I have a slew of drums and I have the sample playing so I go through my breaks, presets, and library sounds to see what matches the current sample I've chosen. This process takes me at least half an hour at the most but like I said with sampling the longer the wait the better the outcome.
4. Effects/One Shots
This right here gives the beat character, well to me anyway. I add certain effects to my music to give an ambient sound, like a feeling that you're in a space where nothing's bothers and you just drifting away it also keeps the listener engaged in what's going on in the composition. Not really much to go on here but it definitely add character to a beat.
That's my process in a nutshell but I would like to end this with saying producers being put in the forefront is good, it's just that it should have happened a long time ago maybe since rap is becoming more exposed with the fakes in the industry it's time to focus on what's really real the beats.
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