Welcome to my beat making blog and this detailed article about how to make a beat on your computer (specifically for a hip hop or rap song). This step-by-step tutorial can be applied to just about any type of digital audio workstation (DAW), whether you are using Fruity Loops, DUBturbo or an online free beat maker. All you need is a passion for making beats, an open mind and the willingness to work at your craft until it feels like second nature.
Beats Per Minute – Set up your Beats Per Minute (BPM) so that you can run a Metronome while creating your beat. The BPM will help you figure out exactly how fast or slow you want your beat to be.
Musical Style – You may also want to keep in mind the style of beat or music you are trying to create. Some people like to already have an idea of the style they are going for, while others prefer to dive in and see what they come up with.
Song Pattern – Decide how you are going to configure or pattern your song. Most hip-hop songs have a brief intro that builds up into the first verse, then switches to the chorus, then verse etc and you can also throw in a bridge or climax as well. A popular rap song construct is to use a two to four bar introduction and then swap between a sixteen bar verse and eight bar chorus. Some rap producers even use a consistent eight bar loop to run the duration.
Lay Down Drum Tracks – Start the actual beat creating by plugging in some slamming drums to the first drum bar. If you are using software like dub turbo you can choose from a wide variety of drum kits. Simply begin to bang out the beat by using your keyboard keys or draw them in to your DAW with your mouse. This is when your creativity kicks in and you can play around with the many different drum sounds.
Align Beat – Once you have laid down your first drum bar you can go into the bar and make sure the drums are in the correct positions. This step is a matter of fine tuning the beat, so that it will sound perfect when you have compiled the entire song. If you used the keyboard you may have hit the drums in the wrong place, which is why you will want to make sure everything is in its right position.
Keyboard Tracks – In order to infuse your beat masterpiece with some uniqueness you will want to include a few keyboard strokes or a melody, interjected at your own discretion. Open up a new track for your keyboard panel and choose the kind of sounds you want to employ. Your software should have a wide variety of different sounding keys or categories of keys to play around with. Whether you want some deep and heavy bass lines or higher tinkling tunes the choice is yours. You can lay down only one keyboard track or several if you see fit. If you do not know how to play the piano or keyboard it might be in your best interest to learn the basics, such as scales and some chords. However, banging out a few wicked sounding key strokes will not be too hard in the beginning. Remember that your beat software should allow you to either draw the keys in with your mouse or use your computer keyboard.
Adjust Volume – While you are building your beat you should always be tinkering with the volume of each individual track using the sliders within your program. You should also be able to either mute that one track or have it go solo. Some bass lines or keys may stand out too much, therefore you will want to lower the volume of them.
Fill In The Gaps – Make sure your beat does not have any gaps in it. Go back and listen to it and fill in any dead spots. By layering your beat and filling in any gaps your beat as a whole will really stand out and sound huge compared to a non layered beat.
Panning – When you get to the end of your beat making process you may want to pan the individual tracks. Whether you have some drums, such as a snare, cymbal crash or hi-hat or keys you can move the sounds from one side to the other or center them.
Mixing & Mastering – This final and critical step is the key to being able to produce a quality final product. If you are going to do the mastering yourself start by going to every individual track and listening to it on its own to make sure that it sounds slamming. Avoid distorting the tracks so that your final beat does not come out sounding wrong.
.MP3 or .WAV – If you are going to throw your song on a CD to give to a producer or rapper then you absolutely need to export it as a 44.1 stereo 16bit .WAV file. If you show up to a studio with an .MP3 file they will laugh you right out to the street. For the Internet you should export to an .MP3 file (preferably 128kbps as anything larger will create too huge of a file).
Always remember that the more you play around with creating beats the better you will become. The best beat makers on the planet are always improving upon their craft and learning new skills. Be a constantly evolving producer and you will be building the fattest beats in no time. Good luck with your beat making endeavors!
