It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 5:52 pm




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 32 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 1:32 am 
Member

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:11 am
Posts: 330
been mcing for 20 years only been recording music for like the past year and honestly am getting tired of asking producers for beats or buying beats so I want to start making them my self I don't even really know how to start it seems it takes so much to make a instrumental and so complexed to me I really don't know if I can so am willing to try tho to say am a beginner is a understatement for real but what kind of equipment do I need and am guessing since am just starting out there are probably programs I can download for free if I get the hang of thing I was thinking on buying equipment but I have to admit this forum and the producers on here inspires me to do this would appreciate some info and advice thanks for any help


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 1:34 am 
Winner of Bronze Medal
Winner of Bronze Medal
User avatar

Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:26 am
Posts: 2818
Location: Los Angeles
Are you going for more synth or sample-based production?

_________________
http://soundcloud.com/k-e-l


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 1:51 am 
Member

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:11 am
Posts: 330
am looking for to have a boom bap soulful style want to sample melodies from kung fu flicks and make beats out of it and the whole nine just looking forward to making some shaolin kung fu style instrumentals


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 2:23 am 
Winner of Bronze Medal
Winner of Bronze Medal
User avatar

Joined: Sun Aug 03, 2008 6:26 am
Posts: 2818
Location: Los Angeles
I would look into either a 404og or MPC 1000.

_________________
http://soundcloud.com/k-e-l


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 10:06 am 
Member
User avatar

Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:42 pm
Posts: 1079
Location: Des Moines, WA
There isn't one piece of equipment that does it all, and more often or not, when you invest in hardware, you'll soon figure out there is additional money to invest, just to get started. Even if you found a synth with a built in sampler, on board sequencer, it probably would not record vocals, or you would need to invest in a soundcard so that you could record your productions into your Mac/PC. But you would also have to invest in studio monitors so that you can hear EXACTLY how it will all sound before you even hit record.

However, you can start basic, and build as you go. Start with a game plan. A budget of what you can come up with. Before you spend one penny of that, do your homework on what's out there. What is the cost? How does it sound? Built in speakers or does it hook into a dj or console mixer? Do you need a hardware synth or just a MIDI synth controller to use software synths in a DAW. (Digital Audio Workstation).

Next, where would you set up everything if you went out and bought it? A basement? Garage? Bedroom or living room? This is where you want to take a bit serious, especially if you record vocals. The acoustics of this studio are going to need to be checked out, and you don't want any sound leaking from another room into your recordings. So get some acoustic styrofoam and try to trap bass, or certain frequencies if you can. This is not so much of a huge deal starting out, but it will become a white elephant in your studio the more you start having a larger setup. You'd ideally want to have every wire, cable, etc having everything work in your setup. For now, just figure out a good desk and chair that is comfortable for you to get inspired for making beats, songs, what have you. Use a kitchen table if it works for you.

Let's backtrack again on doing your homework. Look things up in YouTube on certain things, like samplers, drum machines, keyboards/synths, etc. Listen to what people out there are using. Does it sound okay to you? Great. What does it cost? How new or old is it? It is probably on eBay if it's old, and new. A lot of music stores sell equipment on eBay. A lot of things on eBay come shipped from Japan, and if it's from there, the shipping could land you another $100-200, depending on how heavy it is. If you can find a U.S. Dealer with the same item you want, you might get lucky and save money for free shipping. If you prefer to just stick with a local music store you trust, you can do that as well. The advantage is, you can ask the salesmen questions, try it before you buy it, and more than likely there is a return policy if you weren't satisfied in 30 days. But keep your sales receipts, original boxes, cd roms/manuals that it came with!

Now you may not even know much about music, or how to play a instrument. That's okay, because it took lots of practice for anybody to get good. So consider piano or guitar lessons, musical theory, or something that through trial and error will give you skills in making an original song. That's going to help you for using your studio setup. Even if you find a old drum machine in a pawn shop, you'd still need to figure out how many measures is your track? Does it record your beat making live or do you do step recording for each kick, snare, open/closed hi hat, Tom & clap in your beat? So your first few beats are going to be....lame. Don't give up. With practice, you get better. This would be the same if you buy a synth or guitar. It's going to be confusing and frustrating at first. But some lessons might smooth it out for you down the road.

Remember, the instruments are tools. You just have to sit down and practice them. But they don't make the tunes for you. You do.

_________________
Livin my life in da underground


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 4:15 pm 
Member

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:11 am
Posts: 330
headphones thanks for taking the time out to write all of that and thanks for the info I am going to do some more research on equipment before I buy any thing every thing to me is looking real complex now I don't want to buy something and not no how to use it at all want to have a lil knowledge on what am buying thanks


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2015 8:17 pm 
Member
User avatar

Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2012 5:00 am
Posts: 406
if i was going to try to buy a sampler to make stuff to rap over, id maybe get the sp404 sx

Even if you dont make beats on it, you can loop up some drums and rap over them for practice.
.
.
.
.
.
.

_________________
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Tue Nov 10, 2015 2:23 am 
Member
User avatar

Joined: Tue Feb 15, 2011 11:42 pm
Posts: 1079
Location: Des Moines, WA
Like I said before. Do your homework on what is out there. There are pros and cons to just about anything out there on the market. The Internet is your best source to find a manual on what you might want to buy. Read it online or print it at your local library or copy machine store. It may or may not make sense. Some manuals are written better than others. You also mentioned you went through some producers. They might know what you should start out with. Even if they got everything you could think of in their studio, they probably started out like you are right now. With hardly anything. Just a dream. So if they're willing to tell you what you could start off with, it wouldn't hurt to learn from them. Not sure if they're willing to collaborate or show you their secrets, but it might just be something they'd share with you. If they don't have the time, you can always ask questions here. I don't know everything myself, but I like to read what's out there. Some producers do everything in a DAW, such as FruityLoops, Reason, Ableton, ProTools, etc. Some are more old school and refuse to use a computer. It's strictly hardware for them. Some use both. So it depends on what you want to try.

As You said before, you're not trying to buy something you don't know how to use. Most pieces of equipment can't read your mind and know what kind of track you want it to make. You are going to be the one coaxing every beat or bassline/melody, or even making just a mess of sounds together and see if you can make it sound decent. So again, knowing a little bit about rhythm, time structure of a beat (3/4, 4/4, 7/8, etc), or chords on a piano or guitar will kind of give you a idea if the DAW or thing you buy is going to make it come out right. This is even something I find challenging, but again, if I'd spend more time on it, I'd be the one to benefit from learning it. So it just depends on how bad you want to get in this music biz. Is it just a hobby or do you want to maybe go pro someday? No matter what your goal in music is, it's going to be a long journey. You could invest thousands on equipment before you see one penny or dollar back. Or, you might make some dope beats someday, and rappers are wanting to pay you to make them sound great over a beat. It's all going to depend on how hard you work at it.

Just start small. Like a snowball down a mountain. Eventually you'll have the satisfaction of creating something from what you have, and your imagination. Worry about that a bit later. For now, just see what it is you're into. You decide.

_________________
Livin my life in da underground


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 3:44 pm 
Member

Joined: Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:24 am
Posts: 444
If I were to start again from scratch, the first 2-3 things I'd buy or get is
1) Ableton Live (Basic version)
2) Midi Keyboard (Cheapo used m-audio oxygen)
3) Audio Interface

Monitors, External Hardware, and Room Treatment can come later as needed and you can upgrade your gear as you go.

Ableton Live (or any other DAW really) will cover all your bases for synths, instruments, samplers, vocals, FX, mixing, mastering, ect. The midi keyboard can be used for keys, drums, and sample triggering.

From there you can experiment and really learn how to compose instrumentals of whatever you want. You can buy a cheap audio interface/mic for cheap to record your vocals.

Even though this is the SP-forum and its easy for me to push the sp's on you and tell you how much I love the 303, realistically... it's pretty challenging to start on an SP these days when we have really amazing DAWs. You can just download samples you want from videos or other sources and import them into programs. Chop them up. Add Drums. Add Vocals. Export it to soundcloud. All within an hour.

I'm sure you already know that like any other craft you need time to hone your skills and methods. So yeah, good luck :mrgreen:


Last edited by 444 on Tue Oct 12, 2021 11:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 5:41 pm 
Member

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:11 am
Posts: 330
thanks for all the advice every body I appreciate it


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 8:38 pm 
Member

Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 4:34 pm
Posts: 632
Location: san antonio, tx
I would suggest trying out as much gear as you can.. guitar center and sam ash or whatever music stores your area has are your friends.. I wanted to like an SP super bad and have owned several.. and still own a 606.. but i cannot get into the groove of making music with them..I have used and loved the older electribes and the best of the bunch was the esx (sampler).. the korgs use a step sequencer so the drum patterns are more rigid but i can get the sound i am looking for easier and faster with that style of sequencer.. I just picked up the novation circuit and i am loving it.. it is a synth based (non sampling) battery powered drum machine/groove box and has a speaker and headphone jack so hanging out and jamming somewhere is fun but you are limited to the internal sounds.. if youre home and have a computer the device comes with abelton lite so you can control the software with the device and drop in whatever samples and sounds you want.. its fun.. and i usually dont care for synth boxes


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2015 8:42 pm 
Member

Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2008 4:34 pm
Posts: 632
Location: san antonio, tx
oh yea... most of the clips of this machine show techno/edm type music.. you can do boom bap too


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2015 10:56 pm 
Member

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:11 am
Posts: 330
peace to every one for all the good advice but to honest I watched some videos on making beats and it looks so complex its not funny and it looks like its going to take a lot of time to master and a whole lot of money I don't got I mean I still want to do it but don't think I can so am just going to stick to asking producers for beats and buying them but thanks for all the advice every body I do appreciate it good looking out again peace


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 3:36 am 
Member

Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:11 am
Posts: 330
this is mujo doing his thing this is the type of beats I want to make not trying to copy any one style but just to give a sample of what I want the beats I would do to sound like would be this his using the sp 404 this is so dope heres what am talking about https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT_5FHoLqqA

HOW THE HELL DO YOU USE THIS THING ???


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
 Post subject: Re: want to start making beats
PostPosted: Fri Nov 13, 2015 8:05 pm 
Member
User avatar

Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2012 3:27 am
Posts: 888
Location: Manchester, NH
Send Mujo a message telling him how much you love his beats and see how much it would cost to make an album with him.

_________________
Latest sounds at Spotify
support my music habit, buying tapes @ mattcoops.bandcamp.com
Experiment, and Have Fun!


Offline
 Profile  
Top 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 32 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3  Next



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 17 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: