.

[in haze]

.

[cartesia]

just keep making shit beats.. I know sometimes it sucks but you just gotta push on.. Keep your old stuff and look back at it every month or 2 and you'll see that you've improved, even if you still think you suck and feel like you're getting nowhere

[formal]

1. Sample
2. Chop
3. Sequence

No real tricks or mystery. The samples dictate the work flow usually. Sometimes you loop, sometimes you chop. sometimes you do both. Just do what gets your head knoddin.

But on the downlow... a real jedi trick is to keep it simple. A sampler and sample. How you obtain them is what makes your music unique.

[Nothingless1987]

man, tha harder you think about it, the harder it becomes. free your mind and the inspiration will strart flowing. if that fails go smoke some weed and see what happens haha

i have to ask, why can't you have your turntable?

im goin back to jus 404 beats for a minute as my mp ish is becoming to predictable.

[jetson]

I don't know what to do with my new SX either. So far, all I've done is practice sampling. It has been frustrating getting started, for sure. But I am getting better and faster. As for the inspiration, that will always be an up and down thing...

I toss out more ideas than ever because they suck ass. I scroll through thousands of free samples on CD's and DVD's in magazines - and a lot of them sound awesome, but you just know they are not original. Although, using one of those samples as a backdrop and adding your own shit to it can become something awesome...

Keep on keepin' on...fuck.

[UbiquitousCanuck]

I agree with formal for sure, It's always the hardest to keep it simple but that helps a lot. When you get that record player going and start sampling vinyl i think that helps with simplicity, always nice to work away from the computer and all its tools(whether they help or hurt your work)

[kel]

six AA batteries, SP and an ipod or walkman with the samples from the newest battle... oh yeah and some herbals. Resample!

man, tha harder you think about it, the harder it becomes.

I once went a long time without making any music cuz my record player sounded like shit, not top quality... my cords were radioshacks, my mic was a no-name 58 knockoff.... so i bought a patchbay, mogami cables, borrowed a friend's re-20... i had a dope ass setup. but still nothing to show for it. because it was all in my head...

now i rock a pt01 (i think it sounds like shit but whatever), sold the tarantula (patchbay), dusted off the 'sm58', and i'm on fire right now. had to keep all mogami wires though

Guess what i'm trying to say is, don't second guess yourself. Also experiment with resampling and don't worry about sound degradation... your mind needs room to breath...

[Wonka]

When I'm stuck in a hole, I try and recreate a song that I like (the beat, guitar, synth, whatever). Usualy a quarter of the way through I go out on an unexpected tangent and end up working on my own ideas.

[springwater]

dam, this is like the super inspiration post. So many good tips on the first page of the post. Man im in the same spot but i know what my problem is, hearing such good sp beats and underground tracks and feeling like your uncoordinated in comparison. and the lack of weed in my life aint helpin, pittsburgh gots some grimey weed dealers, bout to switch to being an alcoholic.
but i know what my problem is, its me, usually always the case with everyone. you are your worst critic. i havent made shit and ive been through a sp 555 now im rockin a sp 808 and its a little better with the 4 track recorder but still in the same zone. but i was in a car, for a 2 hour drive with some homies, rockin beatmaker on my itouch through the cars aux and made some weird ass shit and we was freestylin all the way to meadville and they wanted me to record the beats i made for later use, so i know its me.
so think about it like this, usually when you think its shit, someone else might really love it and be inspired by its originality. so keep pushing and get ears on your shit even if its literally shit.

[dishwater]

yeah i've been making shit for the last few months too, but the shit is getting better... i think... just try a lot of different processes, and you will find some element that that you can use later on, so that you'll be less stuck.

even if my output has been mostly dumb (and i am also my own worst critic) i am learning a lot from it, because trying to make beats makes me listen to stuff i like with a different view, analysing what goes on in a beat, how it might be put together on a practical level as well as musically. what parts make up the beat - how many samples are used, what makes the bassline, how do different parts interact, etc

one thing i've learned is a tune needs some type of longer arcs, be it a bass line, or just a long noisey texture that keeps changing all the time... something like that.
or i'll try to rock a bassline of some shorter notes with an interesting sound (from a synth or something else), spaced out without quantizing it or fitting it into a fixed pattern, then i put drums over them loosely, listen for the parts that i like best... and then go back to the original sounds, chop them up and sequence them to turn it into something tighter... (or looser ; )

i guess i'm saying just have fun and try different stuff... it'll sound like shit mostly if you're getting frustrated, and when you stop torturing yourself and just enjoy freaking it, you'll start to make better stuff naturally.

[springwater]

dishwater in the heezy fo sheezy!!!!

[in haze]

i read all your guys posts and a lot of good advice! getting a lot of inspiration also, hopefully i can make a track soon! thanks evey1

[jetson]

Ya know it's funny as hell to read about getting dirtier sounds, and lo-fi...

Being one of the old farts, I gotta say that back in the day, we would KILL to get rid of the noise that the equipment always added. Bouncing on four track cassettes to get more tracks...holy shit, that was some nasty ass sound quality.

The SP line has better sound quality than almost everything recorded before 1980! And more importantly, some of the best tunes ever recorded were done on some seriously old, clanky, skanky gear...think Detroit - Motown - Hitsville! Anybody been to the Hitsville studio? Freaky as hell walkin through those rooms and thinking about who laid down the shizz in there.

I got to briefly meet a man named Lamont Dozier at a music convention in LA a long time ago. He was on the Motown writing team back in their prime days...amazing, down to earth mother fucker...people at the convention had tears after they intro'd him and played some of his hit songs...

I don't know where guys like that would get their inspiration, but sure enough, it was real, and it felt good, and boy did those records sell. Amazing.

It's all about the song...it's all about the song. Keep that im mind, and never give up. Keep writing.

[LoneStar]

I don't know what to do with my new SX either. So far, all I've done is practice sampling. It has been frustrating getting started, for sure. But I am getting better and faster. As for the inspiration, that will always be an up and down thing...

I toss out more ideas than ever because they suck ass. I scroll through thousands of free samples on CD's and DVD's in magazines - and a lot of them sound awesome, but you just know they are not original. Although, using one of those samples as a backdrop and adding your own shit to it can become something awesome...

Keep on keepin' on...fuck.

Don't put so much pressure on yourself! Just take what you have and use that what you think sounds good. By the way, what makes you think a sampled sound off a record someone else made is somewhat more original than a ready-to-use sample someone else made? Heh. If you'd want to be 100% original you'd have to make up your own sounds totally from scratch - using nothing that someone else made. Quite impossible

In short, just use everything you can obtain as long as you like it! and most of all, have fun

[DREWDANK]

stop importing samples. and get an rca cable and just line in those motherfuckers. work with your fingers nottttta mouse man.