Want to learn how to make hip hop beats?
This post will show you how to get started; plus there is a special emphasis on using a specific beat maker program to produce professional sounding hip hop tracks.
Rap, along with graffiti art, break dancing and other grassroots elements gathered from the streets of US cities – mainly New York – helped to create the scene that we all know today as hip hop.
More than a genre, hip hop is a stylistic and cultural phenomenon.
While, musically, it incorporates rap, it extends beyond this genre’s boundary to occasionally incorporate elements of rock, heavy metal, electro and other movements.
It can also include instrumental DJ mixes and its border is blurry, blending into other areas like house and drum & bass.
What started as a localized underground movement now touches most people’s lives in some way or another.
Whether through their iPods into their ears or just via the background music on television shows and commercials, but through it all, there is a beat that makes hip hop what it is.
One of the best ways to create a hip hop beat is through what’s known as “beat making software.” This is a program that’s specifically designed to help aspiring musicians create sick beats, without requiring a background in music studio. One of the best programs for doing this is the DubTurbo software program. (Read my review on DubTurbo here.)
Evolution of Hip Hop Beat-Making Technology in a Nutshell
While it is still possible to purchase beat-making machines in hardware form, it is much more common these days for songwriters, DJs and MCs to use computer software to make hip hop beats.
The last major wave of sequencer production ended near the end of the last decade, left forever in another century. Korg, Yamaha and a few other audio device manufacturers make samplers, tap pads and other devices with similar capabilities, but rarely a device explicitly labeled as a drum machine or sequencer. They have been replaced by software that takes up less space, costs less and offers superior, customizable functionality.
Today’s Virtual Drummers Can Make Hip Hop Beats from the Comfort of Home
If you’re looking to make basic rap beats, a drum program with some effects like BeatCraft or Sonic Producer might do, but in order to delve a little deeper into hip hop, a full studio recording program like Reason or Pro Tools could provide a better route.
For starters, hip hop encompasses a greater portion of the musical spectrum than the typical rap beat, and while songs still generally follow the classic 4/4 time signature found in rap, they can also use less common patterns like 7/4 or 3/4, which not all programs accommodate.
In addition, studio programs include other sounds like guitars, bass, synths and horns that help create entire compositions to back up MCs or that play out as instrumentals.
While most song writing can now be performed on the couch with a PC, more involved jobs may still require hardware. Studio software works fine on its own to produce programmed beats, but most computers do not come equipped with the proper jacks for plugging in analog instruments, keyboards and microphones.
For the songwriter who has that mint-condition but well-seasoned 1976 Fender jazz bass or his or her grandfather’s old drum kit and just needs to use it, an external interface such as those manufactured Korg, Apple and a long list of other companies will be required to provide the necessary plugs and connections to achieve these musical goals.
The songwriter shouldn’t be afraid to experiment. The tools are there and the precedent has been set by other musical pioneers, from film score composers to rock and rap stars.
It is on the backs of these giants that today’s artists continue to innovate and drive music into new and exciting territory, sculpting the soundscapes of tomorrow and creating technological niches that will be filled by new tools. With all of these innovations in music and technology, it is easy for today’s producers and composers to learn to make hip hop beats for every taste. To learn more about how to start making YOUR own beats, check out this detailed blog post about some of the options you get with beat making programs.
Photo courtesy of Andrew Rusk.
