4 Steps to Making Awesome Hip-Hop Beats

Created by: DJ Rob

1. Get the Right GearAlways aim at the gear that is both easy to use and produces high quality beats at the same time.

If you can’t afford a fully equipped studio, than software beat makers can be your gear of choice.

Be careful, however, not to go either too cheap or to pay the top dollar for something you’ll never fully use.

Don’t go for those cheap loopers using MP3 samples if you ever think about distributing your beats. You’ll be never able to convert them to decently sounding CD tracks.

Also don’t go overboard trying to get Cubase or Fruity Loops heavily based on plugins that you may not know how to use at all.

Try to find a good software beat maker that will allow you to produce your hip-hop beats easily, and won’t cost you an arm and a leg at the same time.

1. Get the Right Gear – cont.Here are the basic characteristics a good beat making software must have in order to be useful:

High quality 44.1 stereo 16bit master .wav files lossless quality! Then you can make mp3 versions from THAT master.

More than just one bar. This means that you can grow your bar count and timeline, and at least make a verse/chorus etc. (16/32 bars minimum...).

The ability to parse new samples and your own sounds into it. This means that you can import your own drum kits, and your own keyboard categories on the fly with little effort.

2. Know Your StyleThere are only a few variables to play with when deciding what type of genre of music you want to make. Most of you guys are probably making rap/hiphop, house, reggae, jungle, and other urban music so we’ll focus on this realm of heart thumping beat creation for now.

Let’s quickly go through and look at some simple structures and what they represent.

Rap/Hiphop – though it’s all over the board with tempo’s, most hiphop sticks to 75-105BPM. The drum kits and samples used are everything from classic 808’s to slick new multi drum timba/Neptune sounds, but one thing is for sure – the PATTERNS of the drums themselves are usually off the wall and broken down really well.

House/Trance – Get ready for some serious repetition and bar building! House tracks are usually in the 120-140BPM area and start off with simple patterns that just build/drop, build/drop, until a bridge/chorus. House is fun and easy to make, and often you don’t more than a few nice 16’s looped with a few change ups and bridges.

Reggae/Reggaeton – usually sticks to the same tempo’s as hiphop/rap (75-105) with exceptions of course. Drum kits and samples are usually light keys contrasted with hard hitting kits and sick basslines. Nothing comes close to a wicked rhythm constructed with the right patterns and drops throughout. Reggaeton double up the kick/snare per bar, and keys usually have an offset ľ loop.

3. Format Your Song WellWhen laying down an entire hip hop beat you need to first decide how you want to pattern or structure the beat.

The rap beat structure will consist of an Intro, Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus, Bridge or Break and then Fade Out or even another verse before fading out.

Keep this pattern in mind as you go through the process of creating your beat.

Remember that the Intro will hit them with a taste of the entire song and will build into the first verse, which will then add a few more sounds to the overall beat.

Typically the Intro and Chorus are 8 bars, the Verses are 8-16 bars, the Break or Bridge up to 8 bars and the Fade Out up to 8 bars as well.

During the creative process, you may not know exactly how the song will be structured, because you are working out the beat etc. but at some point you are going to have to put up that framework.

4. Have All Components in PlaceThere are four critical components of most banging hip hop beats. Using your Sequencer, Drum Machine and Keyboard you will be able to add all of these important parts into your beat. The four parts consist of:

Drums - Whether you have your own MPC or a drum machine on your computer you will be building your beat with the drum as the anchor. You will need to create a drum loop or pattern that will play throughout most, if not your entire beat.

Bass Line - What would a hip hop beat be without a devastating bass line? Remember that more bass is rarely a bad thing when it comes to a slamming rap beat.

Keyboard/Instrument sounds - Using either your physical keyboard or a software-based keyboard will enable you to add in different instruments. Play around with the numerous different sounds, and keep in mind what feeling you are trying to create with your beat.

Dubs/Samples - Another key aspect of any quality beat are the Dubs or Samples thrown in. Most sequencers come with many different samples, or you can purchase additional ones online or even record your own.

If you want to find out how to make beats like a pro and even how to distribute them and/or sell once they’re ready, please click

the link below:

Click here to start making your own pro beats