How do rappers make their beats

It's not just hip hop artists that need beats these days. You should start within the hip hop genre and branch out though.

That's the main key to this entire discussion. It is much better to be a big fish in a small pond than a big fish in a huge pond with countless other big fish. This is how to become a rap producer. The game is a lot different than it was even in the 's.

This might mean mailing them out, going to local concerts and trying to butt in after the show, or even showing extreme dedication of the sort that would get you a restraining order these days. You'll be working the 2nd and 3rd angles. The 1st will start happening for you after you finish the round of marketing we're going to teach you. The first method is how most big label work is done these days as well.

I'm not going to explain most of this part in any deep detail since you're all likely familiar. Your job is to constantly create beats. Some are going to be the best work you've ever done, some will be average, and some won't be that hot.

Each will have a purchase in your marketing methods. But you need to be constantly replacing your stock and growing it, which will in turn help you grow your skills and keep up with the trends.

Your worst beats - These are the ones you'll give away for free. That's right. You'll give them away with no strings attached other than having an audio tag at the front for your production company or producer alias and asking anyone who uses them to give you credit. They won't reflect negatively on you. You may even choose to have a separate section on your website or a second profile to separate these freebies from your main accounts on streaming sites.

These can end up being stingers on television and commercials too, providing you with extra royalty payments over time. Your average beats - These are really good beats, all things considered. The reputation you develop will make these highly desirable for rappers on the come up hoping to flaunt a nice list of producers on their album.

These are the kind that you'll offer a lease price for so multiple artists can use them, while you'll also list them with a much higher exclusivity price with the understanding that they may have been leased out before but won't be ever again if a rapper purchases it. You'll be surprised how many of these semi-exclusive sales get made. For the longest time, these will be your bread and butter, where most of your income is derived. Your best beats - These are your highly private, unbelievably dope beats.

You'll only sell them as exclusives. They all have audio watermarks over them so they can't be stolen as you let decent artists hear them. The key here is that you can deny rappers from using these. If a whack rapper offers you an unbelievable amount of cash for one, you may do better to say no.

Your goal here is to make money but also to associate your name with the top artists you can manage to work with. Eventually you'll start appearing on albums with higher production quality, more sales and reach, and start getting referrals from rappers. They'll also start purchasing more from you and you'll begin to build a client list that keeps giving you money. The goal is to leap-frog up to the majors from here. As far as pricing your beats go, take a look at the article linked below for more information.

It'll largely be up to you to know where to start your prices and when to elevate them as your demand and reputation grows. It explains the pros and cons of leasing beats versus selling exclusives you'll be doing both regardless and also has a list of beat selling tips too.

Check all that out here after you finish reading this post:. You'll also find a summary of the points we cover below that'll serve as a nice refresher for you. Let's jump into those points now. This is what we're here to talk about.

From above, you understand that you'll have your beats scattered across two types of "collections. We're assuming you don't have a marketing budget, so we'll be doing this from the ground up. Some streaming sites like SoundCloud and YouTube are okay, but those listener's don't have a built in "buying intent. Better yet, they're out doing marketing for their own platform so you can free your hands of that part.

They can end up introducing rappers to your instrumental work that you otherwise wouldn't have reached. The other way you're going to put your work in front of rappers is by becoming engaged in online forums and message boards dedicated entirely to the craft.

I'm not talking about forums for fans of rap. I'm talking specifically about sites for rappers and producers who share their work and give each other feedback, engage in contests, battle each other, and continue honing their crafts. You'll meet upcoming rappers, work with the bests on the platform, and build your "big fish" reputation in that smaller pond. The chances are that some of those rappers will hit the big time and you'll have already established a point of contact with them and continue working with them.

Check out the marketing funnel below to understand how this works:. You're going to want to find a medium-sized forum to get started.

The reason is, the biggest ones might have a couple thousand beat makers all competing for attention. Every time you post, you'll get drowned out in all of the noise, as they all do. By starting on a smaller forum, you can establish a reputation there before expanding out to bigger ones, which will help you then stand out as a signal in the noise.

It's far better to get 20 sales a month from a medium-sized forum than 10 sales a month from a bigger forum. It'll be later that you can jump into the bigger forum with a pre-established reputation that lets you get straight into sales a month.

You're still in for a grind, but it gets easier and faster. You don't have to wait for rappers to reach out to you first. Offer an exclusive to the better rappers in the community. Ask them if they have a specific sound they're looking for and make it for them at no cost. They'll use it on their album or use it as a promotional single, and already you'll be siphoning their reputation and turning it into yours. What this allows you to do is create a list of artists you've worked with in the community that will make all the other producers jealous and cause the up-coming rappers to want to purchase from you too.

This will keep you from feeling desperate and working with rappers you wouldn't work with otherwise. Remember to not work with people who could hurt your reputation if they completely suck or have poisonous attitudes. Notes: With the two points above, you should already be getting some sales trickling in. They may not be ground breaking in number or price, but continuing that work will increase your volume of sales.

It's then that you may consider increasing your prices so your sales don't outpace your ability to create new beats. There's also ways to behave on the forum that will increase your reputation. Let's look at those next.

When posting on the forum, especially in this kind of community, people will try to drag you into the mud. They'll insult you, lie about you and your work, and more. However, every producer uses different kinds of sample sources according to his own preferences.

In order to sample the right sounds for your style of music, you should be able to identify what kind of songs have the biggest impact on your personality and use them to create loops for your own beats. Experimentation is the key in this situation. You have to chop, rearrange and test different rhythms with your sampled loops, combine them with the drum loops you created and see which ones are the most successful. This procedure takes time and a lot of practice, but rest assured that you will become better over time.

Keep in my mind that most rappers prefer simple but interesting loops over complex ones, so that they can keep the emphasis focused on their verses. Test and adjust your arrangement, and try to keep the beat structure interesting. Create different variations of the loop so that you can emphasize the chorus, or help the creativity of the artist by providing him different rhythms to work with and experiment.

Make sure that you use pauses and bridges between the hooks or the verses and create compelling introductions and outros. Experiment with various ways of starting or ending your beats and try not to repeat yourself too many times.

When you create melodies for your beats, you can either create them according to the sampled loop you may use as a basis for your beat or as standalone riffs. In the case you create a melody to support your main sampled loop, you have create more subtle melodies that accompany your main loop, but structure them in a way that the listener remains focused on the sampled loop.

You have to keep the volumes of the melody low and try to cut down any frequencies that block the sound of your main loop. This way, you manage to make your beat sound cleaner and help your sampled loops stand out. On the other hand, when you create riffs that you are going to use as main melodies for your beats, you have to emphasize them. You can make the sound stronger and heavier and keep their volume high but balanced inside the mix.

Make sure that all your melodies and your sampled loops give enough space to your drum loops because they are a very important part of a rap beat, and the element that keeps the rhythm of the beat clear for the listener and the artist. The bassline is the musical element that makes every beat sound warmer. It gives a certain level of weight to the production depending to the way it is used.

When a beat has an already heavy drum loop, it is suggested that either the volume levels or the lower frequencies of the bassline remain at a low level.

This prevents the sound from becoming saturated and cause noise, although compressors do a great job when it comes to balancing the sound.

There are mainly two types of basslines. The first ones is created to accompany the sampled loop or the melody and the second one to accompany the drum loop, and more specifically the kicks. Basslines can be created within the music software using piano rolls and patterns using the keyboard or mouse pad, although when created with the midi keyboard the process enhances the creativity of the beatmakers and can experiment with more variations.

After the creation of the main loops and melodies of a rap beat, you can add effects. Effects can be in the form of noises, sounds, stabs, experimental percussion etc. You can apply those effects because they make the beat sound full and can make the arrangement more interesting.

It is very common for beatmakers to use vinyl sounds and crackles in their rap beats. Vinyl crackles help the producer recreate the sound of vinyl record, even when the music production was created without used any sampled content from vinyl. This makes the music production sound warmer and give to the listener a more classic hip hop feeling, due to the fact that all hip hop productions during the 80s and 90s where created mainly by sampling old vinyl records.

When the creation of a beat is over, it is time to mix and master it properly. This is the job of an audio engineer, but most producers know how to mix and master their own productions. It is a common concept, that it is very beneficial when the producer has the knowledge and experience to mix and master his own beats, because he can achieve the exact sound he intended to.

When mixing your beats, make sure that you maintain a nice balance between all sound and that you emphasize the drum loop and the bassline. Rap beats tend to be heavier than music productions in other genres and this happens because music producers focus on the drums and the bass. You should avoid making the sampled loops and the melodies that accompany them too loud and noisy, so that the beat is kept clean and the lyricist or rapper can easily write lyrics on the beat.

These days belong in the past. Producers get the change of presenting their creations to a broader audience, and rappers can find quality tracks in just a few minutes. Once again, an online platform that is very similar to both Beatstars and Arbit. Honestly, there are no essential differences to mention between the three. Also in the past months, I have had requests through social to create custom beats for artists. In this way, its faster for you, the artist to download your track s of choice, safely pay through Paypal or credit card and within a few minutes receive the beat and contract in your inbox.

I also offer the service of tailor-made beats or tracks click here to see the current prices. You can check out my track-Store here.

I often have exclusive deals and discounts, so make sure to visit the store frequently. You should use tagged beats only for personal use and not for commercial purposes.

First of all, you should understand is that producing a beat takes both time and money. It is a process that takes days to complete since the beat must be of. After the production process is done for the beat to sound professional, it has to be mixed and mastered. Only then you will have in your hands a quality product; now you can proudly record your rhymes and represent the song to your fan base!

The price depends on several things including the popularity of the producer, the quality of the beat, and of course how bad you want it. How about, if you can get all the benefits listed above in a few minutes, for just a fraction of the price? The most cost-efficient way of having quality beats for you to rap upon is trough leasing, otherwise called licensing!

Platforms such as Beatstars have built their whole business model on the idea of licensing beats. I am convinced that the entire concept of leasing is beneficial for producers and rappers alike. The prices are quite low therefore a rapper that is new in the game will find it easy to purchase a couple of beats, and the producer can sell the same beat over and over again, creating a flow of passive income.

A free beat is a way for you to try it out, and purchase it if you enjoy it. Of course, you can download the beat and listen to it in a different environment such as your car or the studio, and you have the opportunity even to sample it if you like.

Well, yes and no. I have encountered situations where after the purchase of a beat, the buyer sometimes complaints about not owning exclusive rights to the track they just purchased. Allow me to explain.

There are certain levels and purchasing options when buying a beat; there are different types of licenses that offer you different possibilities, and every license comes with its own price tag.