Hi I'm new to the forum. I'm working on my first beat-tape and I'm having trouble of what to do, not necessarily in production, but more so just trying to find out what type of direction I want it to go. I have many ideas in my head but it's hard trying to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Any help is appreciated.

First of all, welcome. I would say just keep it consistent. I wouldn't not make a tape that is part drum and bass mixed in with 8 bit hip hop tracks. Do you know what I mean? Just do what you like and keep it simple. Your tracks don't need to be repeating. The same loop for 3 minutes, unless you feel that it needs to be. There are no hard fast rules. Do what you dig and keep going. We are all friends here and help each other out. Jut make your first tape and grow from there.

Thanks for your help, I wanted to make something reminiscent to SAMiYAM but yet I kinda noticed after listening to the beats for awhile that I'm not interested in the way it loops so I got into Flying Lotus more. Flying Lotus has this thing about him where like his beats tell a story. But now I'm kinda stuck like "Lol how I'm supposed to make this avant-garde stuff my first time?". On top of that I'm just now getting familiar to Fruity Loops ( a friend gave me that program, don't have enough money to get a MPC or SP-whateves).

hi, first of all, go with your heart. if you want to sound like artist xx, then go for it, you will learn a lot by imitating. then, little by little you will add you own twist and flavour and make it your own.

even herbie hancock knew that innovation usually starts with imitation.

Next regarding a tape /album whatever, someone who already "made it" in the music industry told me to do more songs than you actually need for any project and then to select the best ones. that is some pretty solid advise.


lastly, if you want to go the evolving beat route a la flylo, software is a good choice (unless you are already into hardware and know your way around) if you want to do it in hardware you need lots of money for all the compressors, samplers, synths etc. But most importantly the arranging in software is really a lot better than any hardware. especially if you are using 20+ tracks.

you can still add hardware later on for a different flavor, but to get your head around some kind of daw (any daw these days is capable and good enough sounding) is a good thing.

don't let anyone tell you that you *need* this or that, it is the biggest trap on the internet. just shut of the internet on your pc, and go for it with the tools you have at your disposal.

Man, great thread! Welcome JRDN!

This may be difficult to do, but find a mentor. Someone who knows what software/hardware you're running & knows the music you're into. They don't need to know it intimately, just enough to advise along the lines of "next time do this/don't do that". Honesty is the key.

I kinda regret not asking the dude (from this group) who sold me my first bits of hardware to teach me how to produce. If I'd asked him, I could carved off years of learning...

In terms of direction, i really like it when tapes have a theme to them, like officer dick's cops which had lots of samples from the tv show or aaronmaxwell's dianetics about scientology for example. do some searching within yourself to figure out a theme that means something to you, and incorporate some cool sample collage about that theme, or sample sounds, tell a story. Mark Aubert made a tape a while ago called "basement status" that was cool, but it got way cooler when i opened the folder on my computer and read his .txt file about how his house burned down and these were all tunes from his salvaged 303's that he made in his friends basement when he was homeless. there was even a link to the newscast about the fire. it added a whole new layer of knowledge to the experience, and ever since ive always tried to incorporate some sort of bonus storyline to my tapes, and at the very least a theme to make your work have more of a lasting value

What type of software should I get? Or should I just focus on what I got?

+1 for themes. not used nearly as much as I'd like to see.. cool story about the fire:) that does add another element to the music, like, "shit this dudes house burned down thats heavy and thats going through your mind as your listening and makes the music morexpowerful. not really a theme with the fire but yeah still cool.

An example of another theme (the cops samples was a good one) is the beatles album sgt peppers lonely hearts club. If I'm not mistaken I believe this was one of the first theme albums, and also their most successful.

i can never think of themes or titles or ideas or concepts on the spot. they always come when i'm not thinking about them. i started a dummy text message on my phone to just add ideas to when they come up. or a notepad would be the same.
but i concur about doing more than you need to and picking the best stuff. there was a thread recently with a chuck klosterman quote about just working all the time. don't wait around for inspiration or concepts--just do the work and the concept will reveal itself. if the work is not quality then a concept is pointless. plenty of great art has been contributed to society without an overt theme, sometimes its best left open to be interpreted by the audience

Almost done making one song. I'll post it up when I'm done.

ya i would love to make beats like samiyam and flylo...anything! im just startin out and want to get the 404 but not sure how well i would be on it vs. learning ableton or reason.

i tried both and had trouble so thinkin i might just buy a 404 and download samples online. but i just doubt i can achieve their sound without learning ableton and gettin a record player to hand pick samples..

I've gone through SSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOO much hardware and software trying to emulate other people's sound. Now I just let the sample and music I make speak for itself, follow it's journey rather than forcing the direction.

Don't get me wrong tho, analysing and trying to recreate other peoples stuff will defo teach you some new tricks and ideas, but don't force yourself to sound like someone else. Find your own work flow that suits you and you'll find that you'll start creating consistent sounding material.

Also, don't be too protective on your music. Get it out there or it'll get forgotten about, like the dozen's of GB's of my back catalogue spanning practically all genres!!!!

It's taken me a decade to reach this conclusion and will hopefully be droping my first full beat tape next week

I got one beat done.

http://snd.sc/QIwKL0

Constructive criticism would be appreciated.

damn those drums are hella distorted. you were probably going for that effect, but its a bit too much. sometimes subtle use of fx goes a long way

I see what you mean. I can probably fix it. So you mean that only the drums are distorted too much or is there anything else that needs fixing?