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Tips for Producing & Structuring Your Beats for Rappers

What do rappers look for when selecting a beat? How do I know that my beats can be rapped on? These are a few of the many questions you might be asking yourself when attempting to produce rap beats. A significant part of the answer is to always keep the artist in mind when producing. The beat maker must consider leaving space for the rapper to insert lyrics and most importantly inspire them to write something to it. Prospective clients don’t just want to hear a beat that slaps, they need to be able to picture themselves on stage performing, they need to see the music video, they need to see the heads bobbing and the people dancing, they need to see themselves exactly where they want to be in their careers. My goal as a producer is to get them to visualize their wildest dreams in order to get the best material out of them. That is why I gravitate towards r&b samples. I like to feel the emotions of a song that I sample with hopes of transferring the vibe onto my own beats.

Compromise Between Your Own Style & Rapper’s Style

The added challenge to making rap beats for the purpose of selling to a rapper is staying true to your sound. However, most rappers will be looking for a specific sound. While working as a recording engineer at 17 Hertz Studio in the Bay Area, I missed countless opportunities to get my beats out to well known Bay Area rappers. My time at the studio took place during the aftermath of the Hyphy Movement and the Bay Area definitely established a distinct sound. In the few chances I did get to play my beats in a session, I failed to impress. Which is unfortunate because the one song I did for a group with clout generated a decent amount of views and plays for me. In hindsight, I should have built off of the success of that track and made more beats with a similar feel. Better yet, I should have adapted my style at the time to reflect what most rappers were looking for. Even something as simple as replacing drums with an 808 kit would have helped my chances. I took the failure as a sign of me not fitting in rather than as feedback to try different samples and sounds. On top of that, I should have pumped out new beats at a more frequent rate increasing my chances and improving my skills in the process. I had no excuses, I worked in a recording studio and I booked my own clients. I had all the time in the world. Well, you live and you learn. At the end of the day the hip hop instrumental becomes the rapper’s song. It only makes sense to do what you can to adjust your the beat to fit his or her style.

Don’t Sweat The Technique

Don’t worry about technology or techniques. Do you think the artist gives a damn that you quantized to a groove, used side chain compression, or pitch shifted the drums? Hell no, don’t get too caught up in techniques that you “must” use in order to legitimize your effort. They don’t notice that shit. I was proud of this one beat I produced because I played all of the instruments myself and used zero samples. Did that fact make the rapper want to rap on it even more? Hell to the nah. Keep your purpose in the back of your mind when making the beat: to inspire a rapper to write lyrics to it. Now if the technique helps you achieve that slap factor, then implement it. For example, your prospective client is into trap beats. So it might pay off to watch a tutorial on how to pitch shift your hi hats. But when compiling a list to play for artists, I have to admit, I do have favorites just because of the technique I used on a particular beat. Sometimes you need a fresh pair of ears to give an opinion. I love all my beats, they’re are all my babies. But I can’t have that approach when trying to sell my beats.

Learn To Rap

Back to keeping the rap artist in mind when laying down the tracks. It helps if you have experience rapping yourself. Is the beat something that you would write too. If you don’t rap, you can even try to recite a verse from your favorite raps songs. If you don’t know any or they don’t fit, you can just spit gibberish along with your beats to see if there is a cadence can fit. If you are good enough to make beats by adding layers, then you are good enough to imagine rap lyrics over the beat. You also might be surprised by what rap artists actually like. Some of my best selling beats have been my least complex productions.

Song Structure

Now that I have my approach and philosophy established, I can consider the structure and the technical aspects of my beat. I typically let the sample dictate what kind of tempo I want to take it. Once I have cut out sections of the sample that I like, I will time stretch it and experiment with different tempos such as 65, 70, 80, 90, 95 BPM. I usually start out by producing what would end up being the verses by creating a 2 bar loop (one 8 count). A standard format that most rappers write to is 16 bar verses and an 8 bar hook. For me, 16 bars feels like a really long time for BPM’s of 65, 70, and 80 so I make those verses 8 to 12 bars. If a rapper needs a longer verse, it can always be extended. Because I understand that a rapper will want to write verses and a hook/chorus, my initial goal will be to create 2 different loops with the sample. One for the verses and one for the hook. When I look at it in this way, the task of creating an instrumental masterpiece seems less daunting. So again, I am merely creating 2 different “mini beats.” But what if they are too different? With sampling, I like to think of it like wine pairing. In the book What To Eat With What You Drink the author provides the following rule of thumb: “If it grows together, it goes together.” When applied to sampling, if i gather two different parts from the same song, chances are they will go together. Same goes for an album, if you want to go the extra mile. Some albums were recorded with the same instruments and vocalists. If you can match the correct keys, it can unlock more possibilities for your beat. So how do you make a 16 bar verse interesting if it’s really just a 2 bar looped 8 times? The human brain likes to hear change, so it can be as simple as dropping the drums out at a certain point during the verse or adding another layer. I strive to make a small change or addition at the end of the 4th bar, a slightly bigger change at the halfway mark of 8 bars and end the 16 bar verse with a big change such as a drum fill with toms or an instrument build up to the chorus. Sometimes a simple but dramatic pause will suffice. Another way to make the verse loop more interesting is to add stabs and hits of samples throughout the verse. You will likely find something in the original song you sampled. It could be a quarter note delayed single piano hit that happens at the start of every 5th bar or it can be a vocal that you filter and loop starting halfway through the verse. (include zoomed in screenshot of this trick) If you are stuck and can’t figure out a decent transition from the verse to the hook you can always repeat the 7th beat leading into the hook or repeat the 5th beat 3 times and on the 8th beat, drop out the entire beat except for the snare and add a long reverb to it. Try this trick for a dramatic re-entry to the beat. (include zoomed in screenshot of this trick)

The Hook

Now for what should be the catchiest part of the instrumental hence the name “hook.” A good rapper should be able to do all the work for this section with unforgettable chants. But the producer can always help him out in a number of ways. As I mentioned before, I aim to make an A section for the verse and a B section for the chorus. If part A sounds strong enough on its own, you may be able to get away with simply adding another layer onto to it to create part B.

This can also be vocal samples in the form of “oohs,” “aahs,” and “yeahs.” What I typically like to do is give the rapper an assist and find some vocal samples with lyrics to supplement the chorus. It helps the artist find a direction for their lyrics and the sample can also supplement their raps. See some examples below.

The chorus (starting at 0:38) “someday maybe someday maybe someday far away” worked well with the rapper’s adlibs and could have worked well on its own. Shark Sinatra cleverly used this portion of the song to draw his listeners closer with an intimate talking cadence. In this example  I used my method of adding vocal lyrics over the a section to create part B. A time stretched vocal singing “over now, this time will be over now” is layered underneath the main beat. Rather than writing around the vocals like he did in Maybe, the rapper treated it as a background instrument layer and rapped a chant over it. While the technique worked perfectly fine for this particular song, I like to challenge myself to create more tension and more build up in the chorus. Sometimes you can cheat and use sample the verse parts of the original song and use it for your verses and then find the original song’s chorus or bridge to create the hook for your beat. Take this example for instance (0:48):

I simply drop the drums out at the end of the 16 bar verse and go into the chorus which samples the original song’s chorus. This worked well for this rapper because he tends to write full 8 bar lyrics for his hooks so the B section required a significant change. Not only did it have to be different from the verse but it also had to elevate the song to maintain the listener’s interest. Another way to make the hook sound more epic is to create tension. In other words as a break from the verse I try to make the B section build up to the point where it can only be resolved by bringing the verse back. Listen to the chorus here (0:40):

the first 4 beats are repeated without resolution. Halfway through the hook the 5th beat is merely repeated until it loops back to the first 4 beats. This gives listener a sense that this part of the song is important and Tantrum cleverly lays down his message with a rhythmic cadence. The listener is finally given relief from the tension with a snare roll and a return back to the main verses. Change ups like this make the song interesting.

Intros & Outros

Now that you have an instrumental for the verse and the hook, you can focus on sections like the intro, outro, and if necessary the breakdown or bridge. An intro can consist of the sample or instruments without the drums and the verse kicks in when the drums come in. Again, it all depends on what the artist wants to do in that portion of the song but for the sake of trying to get a rapper to choose my beat, I prefer to get to the point and leave the intro no longer than 4 bars. It’s all a matter of preference, but we live in an age of shortening attention spans so I like to get to the meat and potatoes right away. A rapper can usually decide if he or she likes a beat within the first few bars so the intro cannot be misleading or take away from the beat when it drops. I typically look for samples that come with a bassline in it. If I choose to go the route of removing drums for the intro, I will filter out the bass before the beat drops for added effect. For an even more dramatic entrance I will even bring the volume down of the intro by 4 to 6 db so the overall volume slaps extra hard when the beat drops. In the Shark Sinatra – Maybe track, I used this technique for the intro. It is very subtle but the impact is felt when the verse starts.  As for outros, I will typically end the beat with the  hook with no empty space afterwards. I want to make sure the entire beat plays back perfectly on a loop. The rapper will want to write to it, so it would be helpful if the track can loop on its own when put on repeat. That’s why I try to keep my intros short and in the form of 2 or 4 bars. It helps the writing process when there are no pauses and skips to impede creativity.

The Breakdown

Should a rap beat have a bridge? Again, something like this is all a matter of preference. Most of the time I leave out the bridge but there are times when a bridge works, especially when there is a singer on the chorus. There are a few simple ways to accomplish this. You can filter out all of the hi’s for 8 bars to make a breakdown. This can take place after a chorus and last for 8 bars then go right back into the chorus. Another way is to create an entirely new loop. Create a part C to follow your A and B parts. Hopefully you can creatively chop existing parts or find more pieces to sample from the original song. One way to cheat is to find the bridge of that original song and sample that for the bridge section. Here is an example of a bridge that I created during the mixing process. The chorus part of the beat pretty much used the same loop as the verses so I had to break up the monotony by creating some kind of bridge. The singer for the hook already laid down his parts so I just rearranged some of his background and harmony layers to create a bridge. As for the beat I just used the first 4 counts of the original loop and found different part to sample for the second half of the loop. I also changed the drums, added, reverb, and removed the hi hats to make it feel more dramatic.

12 Tips To Increase Beat Making Productivity

Are you stuck in a rut with your beat making? Have you hit a creative roadblock? Or is it taking way too long and way too many attempts to make a decent sounding beat? Do you love making beats but sometimes dread technical hurdles and a faulty set up? The days of excuses and complaints are over because I have 12 tips to help you put your beat making troubles behind you.

1. Create A Beat Making Template – This is number one on the list for a reason. You don’t want to kill your creative mojo while setting up, or searching for the perfect instrument to use. Most programs give you the ability to save a custom template, some have premade ones for certain workflows. Use one and take note of the number of tracks you typically use, your go to instruments and fx as well as your favorite drums. My personal beat making template for Pro Tools has a few stereo audio tracks with time stretching enabled and set to polyphonic so when tracks are imported and dragged onto it, it automatically processes it for time stretching without affecting its pitch. Below these tracks I have several mono audio tracks for drums. Each track is already labeled (kick, subkick, snare, snare 2, hi hat 1 hi hat 2, toms, perc, etc.). All the drum tracks are routed to a bus for a drum submix. Every single track also has its sends activated for several buses (reverb, delay, delay 2). And every bus output is then routed to a master aux bus. All of this is designed to help me hit the ground running. (include picture of Pro tools screenshot)
2. Save Presets – If you have been making beats for a while you already know that you are going to eq that bass, or but a lo pass filter on a sample, or compress a kick. You might as well save those presets on the plugins themselves to help you get the right sound quicker. It may not sound perfect right away but you will have an adequate starting point. For example on a Waves REQ6 and the stock EQ7 I have presets for Vocal EQ, Lo pass, Hi pass, telephone effect, and a master eq for the overall mix. Saving presets is especially useful for trying to define “your” sound. If you find a cool setting on a tape saturator or filter effect save a preset to use on your other beats.
3. Create Drum Library of Your Favorite Sounds – why spend time trying to get your drums to hit harder when you can just start off with a great kit. Make it a point to always dig for one-shots (individual drum hits) and saving them in a folder. As you gain more experience you will notice some drums hit harder in certain beats in your catalog. Go ahead and export individual sounds from you best sessions. It will save you the trouble of having to recreate the fx rack in a new session (even if you have presets saved).
4. Make Finishing Beats a Habit – an unfinished beat is like that sink full of dirty dishes, that 10 page term paper that’s approaching the deadline, that back ache that you’ve been meaning to get checked out. Unfinished work will end up becoming a hurdle to overcome in the back of your mind making it difficult to get subsequent tasks done. For me, this behavior perpetuates a vicious cycle of procrastination. Just get it done, even if it’s whack. If you are not feeling the sample, set the sample aside and load up a new one. Do whatever you can to crank out a beat with an intro, verse, and hook section, have it repeat two or three times and export it for listening. Maybe you will end up liking it after listening to it in another environment or maybe you will realize what you need to change later on. When you do go back to it, it will be pretty close to being complete once you make necessary changes. Your mind must have the psychological victory of completing something. Challenge yourself to develop this habit by working to get to the finish line every instance you get seat time.
5. Get To An Elevated Mindstate: No, it is not time to spark up. I am not referring to the delights of rolling up fine herbs in a swisher sweet. Although, it can provide mental enhancement and expanded creativity in certain circumstances. This was an hourly occurence when I was working full time in a recording studio for four years. Actually, it was more like every 15 minutes with multiple fatties being passed around. But there is something to the altered mind state it provides. Drugs and alcohol cause us to lose our inhibitions therefore, placing us in a mindset where we are free to be creative. What I am suggesting is a sober alternative to gain that highly coveted elevated mindstate: meditation. There are many books on the topic out there that can help you access the inner workings of the mind. But if this is new to you, all I  recommend is sitting in your studio/lab/creative space in silence with your eyes closed for 15 to 20 minutes. Don’t lie down or rest your head because you will end up sleeping. Try concentrating on just your breathing, and then just the sounds your hear (or lack of sounds), and then attempt to focus on your reason for making music or what makes you happy blocking out any negative thoughts and doubts. Once you develop this habit you should be able to go into a production session with a clear mind and positive vibes. If you get more advanced, you may be able to access your creative subconscious. Trust me, it’s a good feeling when you feel like music and ideas are flowing through you rather than forcing yourself to make something that you think people might like. Another purpose for meditation is to train your mind to be able to maintain focus and concentration. Which is especially useful with so many distractions out there in the world.Speaking of distractions…
6. Turn Off the Internet, Phone, and TV. There will be moments when you either hit a creative roadblock or experience a technical issue. Rather than work through it our minds begin to resist and procrastinate. Temptation is irresistible at this point and the internet provides relief in the forms of pornography, viral videos, new music on Spotify, and even articles like the one you are reading right now. Even self help videos and books, online classes and tutorials can deceptively be a form of procrastination. You trick yourself in thinking that you are being productive when you are actually avoiding what you really need to be doing, making beats. I fall into this trap quite often. How many books do I need to read about setting goals? At some point they are all going to have a common theme: take action! So do yourself a favor and turn off the wifi on the laptop, put the phone on silent, and tackle that problem that you are afraid to fix.
7. Design Your Workflow & Simplify Your Setup. When you make a beat, what do you start with? Do you work on the drums first? Or do you cut up a sample to get the project started? Work with the easy parts first. The key is consistency. In basketball, players rarely jump into a game without warming up first. You start off with a few layups and as your heat up, you begin to shoot farther and farther away from the basket. In my approach I tell myself I just need to make two different loops, one for the verse and one for the hook. If I can accomplish that, all of the other parts will be much easier. As for my home studio setup, I just have the bare minimum that I need for my workflow. The aforementioned beat making template takes care of everything I need for the session and my gear supports it. My home studio consists of an audio interface with outputs connected to studio monitors and a mono reference speaker, a turntable and a sm57 mic connected to the inputs, and all of my backup hard drives and flash drives already plugged in. I used to fall into the trap of thinking that I can start making better beats when I get (fill in the blank) piece of gear. I wouldn’t start until I got it, and when I did, I was spending time figuring out how to integrate it into my beat production. Instead of trying to master it, I would either get bored of it or continue the cycle of clamoring for the next piece of gear that was popular or new. We live in a society where products are constantly marketed to us and we are targeted with pinpoint precision. It is important to maintain a glass half full mindset. Rather than focus on what you don’t have, recognize what you already have and all of the potential you possess with what is already there. The opposite frame of mind will just delay progress and possibly bury you in debt (like me).
8. Schedule an “Experimental” Session. Set aside separate time to experiment with sounds, techniques, and plugins. This can take up alot of valuable beat production time and you might end up mind fucking yourself into hating everything you are producing in the session. Remember the concept of saving presets and designing your template. This is a great time to find out what FX and techniques you like. When its production time, it’s as easy as switching on a plugin and making a quick decision. To increase productivity you must develop a habit of making timely decisions. Save the knob twisting and turning for your experimental session. Such sessions are perfect for implementing that new technique you just learned from youtube.
9. Practice and Memorize Relevant Keyboard Shortcuts. Pro Tools is my weapon of choice because of the amount of editing control I have over the sounds. Yes, I can achieve similar objectives with other programs, midi controllers, and hardware but I don’t have all that. Don’t need it either. Knowing the ins and outs as well as keyboard shortcuts allows me to make quicker decisions. In PT there are at least 5 ways to complete a task. The first two are using your mouse and the other is using the menu bar. Using only these two methods would be like watching paint dry. For example There are multiple ways to copy a loop: cmd + D, option + drag, C then V, cmd C then cmd, F6 toggle to loop function then click and drag. The method you use will depend on your objective. The Avid Pro Tools Keyboard Shortcut guide is a whopping 75 pages long! Do I know all of the shortcuts? Absolutely not, I have tried nearly all of them and have recognized the ones that are useful for what I need to accomplish. With practice, you can operate the keyboard like a piano player. I highly recommend using a keyboard with a 10-key number pad. Consider this one of your most important pieces of outboard gear.
10. Define Your Sound/Brand. Know yourself and your intended audience. Developing an elevator pitch of what your style is and why it’s good will give you a starting point and an overarching goal to achieve. When you have direction, staring at a blank canvas seems less daunting. One of the biggest mistakes I have made is trying to be something I am not. I went through a phase where I wanted to stop sampling and play all the sounds myself. I got down on myself because it wasn’t working out and I was better off sticking to my strengths. In my post on how to become a unique producer, I highlight 8 questions you should ask your self when figuring out your signature sound. When designing for his brand Off-White Virgil Abloh refers to defining his own “personal design language” and using it as a sort of cheat sheet for creating all of his work.  
11. Perform In Front Of An Audience. If you really want to get the creative juices going and you are feeling bold, try making beats in front of a bunch of people. Once I felt comfortable with my sound and workflow, I began booking custom beat making sessions for clients. The pressure of paying customers breathing down my neck helped me produce with satisfying results. But what happens if you have creative block? Truth be told, I have never had a client beat making session not go as planned. I have actually had more success in making beats on the spot verses playing a list of beats and hoping the clients purchase something. I most likely got a confidence boost from the client’s belief that I can actually produce something to their liking. The fact that I was already getting paid was a motivating factor as well. From these sessions, I found that creativity compounds when working in a collaborative atmosphere. The artists would recommend songs to sample or they would describe the type of beats they desire. This removes much of the guesswork in laboring towards a finished product. The same is true with collaborating with other beat makers as well.
12. Time Pressure and Accountability. Another trick which is similar to performing in front of people is producing under a deadline. I don’t mean just setting a date that you want to finish a track nor do I mean promising a friend you’ll show them a new beat tomorrow. I am referring to stepping out of your comfort zone to get your adrenaline going. This can be in the form of joining a competition with a large crowd or announcing on social media that you will be dropping a new project on a certain date. I used to enter beat battles in the Bay Area (competitions where producers go head to head and play beats off of a cd in front of an audience who picks the winner in a beat producer tournament). One organizer of such events, fellow producer Phillip Drummond, gave competitors songs to sample a couple weeks in advance. The “sample challenge” challenge typically had a them such as The Beatles, Rock n Roll, Reggae, etc. From my point of view, this was a great way gauge my skill level against other producers and the challenge helped me develop new techniques. However, even with plenty of time to experiment and produce the ultimate beats, I still procrastinated as if the task was like a 20 page research paper for Sociology 103b at UC Santa Cruz all over again. The anxiety would go on until 24 hours prior to the event. Just like my college student days, I declared to pull an all-nighter and just like my college days I loaded up on Red Bull and got nothing done until the sun came up. Then finally the reality of the situation hit me and I would begin producing after lunch and completing the assignment with a couple hours to spare. I ended up winning 2 out of the 4 of the sample challenge events I entered (I lost one because I forgot to produce 1 of the 4 tracks I was supposed to make). I do not recommend procrastinating but I learned that time pressure can be a valuable motivator when used appropriately.  

What are some other methods to increase productivity? Try these 12 tips and enjoy the process.

8 Questions to Answer When Developing Your Signature Sound

The Blueprint by Jay-Z is arguably his best album of work (although 4:44 and The Black Album are up there as well). In interviews Jay-Z refers to wanting his 2001 masterpiece to consist of “soul samples he grew up on,” in essence the blueprint of his childhood. Following that model, I consider my “sound” to be a culmination of songs from my childhood. While Jay’s generation comprised of Jackson 5 and Al Green among countless others, it was 90’s R&B that was found on the soundtrack of my youth. My teen years marked the beginning of the Napster era where I downloaded thousands of songs at a rapid rate. While I did have a good amount of Dr. Dre and Wu-Tang Clan, I have to admit, I was a sucker for corny love songs. I was that kid in his bedroom trying his best to stay still while holding up boombox radio antenna’s so I can record Blackstreet’s Don’t Leave Me onto my “love sick and lonely” mixtapes on cassette. I’d wait patiently for Monica and Brandy’s The Boy is Mine so I can fantasize about girls fighting over me. At the time I was too scared to talk to girls or anyone for that matter so I lived within the imaginary world that music would take me. By the time I started college, I finally exploded out of my shell around the same time I started making my own music using the imagination that I built during my teenage years. All of the songs I listened to during those good old days hold a special place in my heart as well. I still refer back to Goapele’s Closer when I need inspiration or Sade’s By Your Side (Neptunes remix) just to reminisce. Embracing who I am and who I used to be and finally being honest with myself about it has helped me define my sound: a sound that strives to bring the best out of others, a sound that is dying to express unconditional love, a sound that inspires individuals to take action. Answer the following questions to 

1. Who are your influences? Look at your favorite producers. Not necessarily who is hot at the moment or even producers that everyone else is into. You have really got to dig deep identify songs or hip hop instrumentals that have really moved you. This involves being honest with yourself. I personally make my best work when my heart is involved. Love is a huge part of why and how I make music. I tend to pick sounds and samples that tug at the heartstrings. Call me corny but love is the most powerful force in the universe you’d be surprised by what can be accomplished with it. Before college I never imagined myself writing and making my own music but bonding with new friends took my guard down and I was able to conquer my fears. Falling in love brought out poetry and lyrics and finally, my first born child is providing the motivation for my current endeavors. So ask yourself: Who and what do I love? You may be motivated by sounding cool for the rapper with a viral video and a song on the radio but if it is not music (at least the beats) that you are truly into, then that motivation will be difficult to sustain.
2. What kind of music gives you a feeling of nostalgia? As a child growing up in the late 80s and 90s, of course Michael Jackson was a big deal. My parents loved to listen to oldies by Carlos Santana and Malo. So naturally I dug for tons of Santana and Latin Oldies records. The nostalgia can also come from high school or college days. I started making hip hop while I was a student a UC Santa Cruz where Mos Def Kweli, Kanye, 9th Wonder, Dj Premier, DJ Hi-tek, and The Roots were in heavy rotation as far as hip hop. Badu, D’Angelo, and Lauryn Hill remind me of meeting and falling in love with the girl who would eventually become my wife. There is a decent chance that others will feel the same way about the music that has a sweet spot for you. It may not trigger the same memories as yours but if you sample those songs or successfully create a similar vibe, you will just might transfer that warm and fuzzy feeling to your listeners.
3. What are your strengths? Do you play any instruments or can you read music? Experience with playing piano is a huge benefit especially if you can recognize notes and play chords. Knowledge of music theory will allow you to examine the chord structures of your favorite songs and replicate them. Or are you a DJ? Some mixing and scratching techniques work well in sampling for beats. Hip hop’s original beats were actually made strictly from the turntables. Check out this 45 set by Diamond D. Beats right before your eyes.<iframe Some of you are like me, not much musical talent as far as playing instruments but are curators of good music. Are you the one out of your group of friends that finds all the new jams and shares with everyone. How is this advantageous for beat makers? It gives you an edge on what sounds are trending and it is an indicator that you recognize what makes a hip hop instrumental likeable. Another reason why being a curator of music is beneficial for making beats is knowing what to sample and how a song has been sampled if it has been done before.
4. Who is your target audience? What kind of listener do you identify with? This was always a tough one for me to practice. In business school, students are taught to market products based on the needs of their target audience. I struggled with this concept because for years I was just making the music that I thought that everyone would like and found little success. Years ago, I performed with my old group at a graduation party at UC Santa Cruz. There was one song we performed, that I never performed live before and when my part came on everyone in the crowd was reciting my lyrics. It got to the point where I was shocked and lost my place and stopped rapping. It didn’t matter because the crowd was reciting it back to me word for word. I had no idea this particular song had an impact. Information like this  would have been helpful in producing better music for the people who were actually listening rather than an approach of trying to make rap instrumentals that I thought everyone would like. My lack of a customer oriented strategy also prevented me from finding success as a producer while working as an engineer at 17 Hertz Studio where I was exposed to artists like The Jacka, Mistah FAB, Freeway, Paul Wall, and E40 on a daily basis. The few times I was actually able to play my beats in a studio session I failed to impress. But the worst failure of the experience was not making the necessary adjustments to make beat making. I interpreted the rejection as not fitting in with the particular genre so I proceeded to explore other avenues rather than stick to one craft. I am not suggesting that I betray my style and who I am, in hindsight I could have recognized that the gangster rap genre required a bit more bass, harder hitting drum kits, and more soulful samples. At the time I was experimenting with obscure african and south american jazz records that didn’t give my beats that edgy attitude that soul samples could provide.
5. What are your tools and resources? Sometimes the gear that you have readily available will shape your sound as well. Having a record player has definitely added character to my body of work. There is nothing like the fidelity from pulling samples off of vinyl. Not only does the crackle add a dusty characteristic but the quality just sounds richer and in my opinion cuts thru the mix well. I have also found some strange records from obscure bands which helps you develop unique hip hop beats. Another valuable resource is knowing musicians. I onced lived in a house full of musicians for six months. In the backyard, under the shade of an enormous fig tree, was an insulated tool shed that was converted into a jam studio known by our circle of friends as the “Shred Shed.” This quaint rocker’s paradise contained a full drum kit, several guitars, a korg triton keyboard, a motif keyboard, bass, bongos, a trombone, and even one of those bamboo rain-sticks that sounded like a gentle stream of raindrops when you flipped it upside down. It didn’t matter that I had access to all of this gear. I did not know how to play any of it, at least well enough to lay down on beats but I had access to musicians to add layers to my beats. I even have an entire collection of tracks will no samples whatsoever. The Shred Shed drum kit also provided me with a drum library that works well with vinyl samples.
6. Do you spend enough time working on your craft? I eventually figured out the formula for the beats that I wanted to make by just committing to working on something for at least an hour for 40 days straight. I did not exactly make a beat each session. In fact, in the beginning it was difficult to produce anything that did not make me cringe. So what I did was fire up my old Dell PC from 2001 that had my old acid pro and cubase sessions sessions and dug thru hundreds of my old beginner beats as if I was digging thru a crate of records. I picked out maybe 40 beats that I like but felt that I could improve with better drum kits, mixing techniques, and overall sampling methods that I developed over the years. So I exported stems for all of those beats and imported them into pro tools. I was able to remix all 40 during a weekend binge. I emerged from my bedroom studio as if I hadn’t seen daylight for years but with a stronger confidence for making beats. I was able to develop a workflow from “crate to disk.” I then bought a stack of records from my buddy’s record shop and proceeded to listen to all of them just as I listened to my old beats and recorded songs that I felt had potential. That is when the magic happened. No I did not churn out 20 beats in one day. What happened was every time I sat down to make a beat I completed it from scratch within 30 to 60 minutes. Because all of the samples were pre-approved by my younger self, I really liked the beat I made. I did fail, however, to work on something every single day, but every single time I sat down to work on a beat, I was guaranteed to come up with a fresh beat. Remain consistent and don’t take too many long breaks. Days could turn into years if you take your eye off the ball. If you understand batch processing, you know that it takes a while to get set up and build up momentum until you are producing at optimal performance. Keep the ball rolling, and eventually a distinct style will emerge from all of your work.
7. What is the purpose of your beats? Are you making rap beats? Or are you an instrumental artist? Got beats for sale? Or are they just for yourself and your homies? When making beats for the purpose of selling, a producer has to walk a fine line between selling out and staying true to yourself. With the popularity of “Type Beats,” (naming beat videos on YouTube names like Drake type beat or Kendrick Lamar type beat in order to be found in searches) it seems like an obvious strategy to go ahead and copy another producer’s style. This is in no way a bad idea, producers have to make a living some way. But if you do go that route you must do it well. Heck, even I am attempting the popular SEO technique. Keep in mind, that understanding your purpose will direct where your sound is going. If you do not intend on having others do what they want on your beats then you will probably go the instrumental route. When I first started out, RJD2 and Dj Shadow were masters of the art of beats to chill to. Their tracks much like many EDM producers, have progressions, changes, and breakdowns to make the beat interesting. But don’t all hip hop producers want to make their beats interesting? That isn’t always the case for rappers, they must be able to envision themselves rapping lyrics over the instrumental. A typical rap song will have verses and a hook which means that the beat should have a discernible verse and a hook section. If the beat is good, they’ll be able to write to it immediately. What if you want to be you and truly not sound like anything else? Here is the harsh reality, there is probably an up and coming producer who sounds just like you. It is highly likely that there is an established producer that already “invented” your sound. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, it means that we must keep adding more of our personal story and unique experiences into our music just as I described in the opening paragraph. Another way to get experimental is to hook up with a rapper who shares your desire to sound unique. If you can find synergy with a rapper or rap group, you can work together in developing a special sound.
8. What stands out in your personal musical journey and how can you use it in your music? Bottom line: Just play, be true, and enjoy the process. I can’t stress enough the importance of self reflection and honest expression. We may share influences and experiences with others but when you piece together every single one of your personal stories there is no other narrative in the world that is exactly like it. I was a lonely kid who listened to Jodeci and Boyz II Men on repeat. There are probably a ton of you out there who did the same but I am coupling that emotion with the boombap foundation that I learned from Genelec and Memphis Reigns when they opened my eyes to truly independent hip hop when they produced and recorded a life changing album for me on the same kind of PC that I was using to merely download music in my dorm room. So challenge yourself to contemplate your own story and apply it to your music. Write your answers in the comments section.