In the world today big time record labels and producers, are not the only way to get great music to the masses. Today, because of advancement in the technology of music creation, a lot of today's music is distributed from home studios. The explosion of the internet has made it easier for aspiring artists to bypass the major record labels and build their careers on their own. So the internet being the great equalizer, gives home studio engineers, and bedroom producers the opportunity to make a living doing what they love. Something that in the days of old was only possible by being connected to major record labels. So now because of the opportunity presented to us, it is very important to our music is rich and high quality to compete in this booming market. As a home producer for close to 10 years, I have acquired a great deal of knowledge in making you beats is a very rewarding past time, and approached correctly can yield amazing benefits. So I want to give you a few pointers on how to increase your skill and quality of your beats
1. Concept
When you feel the inspiration to create, you should organize the thoughts you are having about the direction of the beat. Where to you want to go with it? what message to you want it to convey? You will find that your music will be better organized. Decide what you would like to hear sang or rapped on the beat. This step will help you accomplish a more detail oriented mix.
2. Plan
After you have decided where the beat is going to go, now you want to plan out the beat. Remember that these steps are taken before you begin creating. You will have more freedom, once the creation starts to flow in the musical zone without concerning with the structure. You want to have a tentative plan about how long the song should be. How many verses should there be? Is there a bridge? Do you want to any drops in tone? If so where will they be. Writing out the plan will also help you stay on course and prevent having a mix that sounds like two different ideas.
3. Flow of the Beat
How many times have you heard a beat and it sounded like the producer didn't spend much time on it? The beat didn't flow and it sounded like a continuous loop with no energy. That is a problem with a lot of production nowadays. You do not want the listener to get bored with the beat! You want to draw them in and keep them interested in the beat. Added different instruments at key times in the beat adds an element of surprise and break the monotony. In Addition your hook should sound different from the verses! You want to be able to kind of dictate to the listener what to feel at certain points of the beat. Remember, this beat is a relay of feeling to the listener, allow them to feel what you were planning. I personally like to build the beat like a house. I bring in instruments gradually and subtle. I also love to drop drums and bass and bring them back right before the hook. However you do it, just make sure that the beat doesn't get boring. If you get tired of hearing a loop then the listener will too. Trust your ear and your instinct.
4. Panning
Now that we have the beat planned out and laid down, we need to space out the beat. Using the full spectrum of sound allows us to hear all the sounds without straining. Panning the instruments in a 3-D field will expand the mix and make it fuller. If this step is done correctly the listener will feel like they are standing in the midst of all of the instruments. So here are some tips from my own experiences.
Snare-pan slightly to the right
bassdrum-keep center
highhat- pan hard right about 70%(reason users pan highhat R30)
shakers-pan hard left about 70%(reason users pan highat L30)
piano- pan slightly left
guitars- pan to the right about 30%(reason users about 15)
strings- pan left or right about 40%(whichever creates a balanced mix)
other instruments and percussion- fill the rest of the spectrum
These are basic suggestions for the panning of instruments not a law. Trust your own ear but make sure that there is plenty of space in the mix for each instrument.
5. Volume
This step is very simple and obvious. After panning the instruments to cover the spectrum of sound, ensure the volumes of all instruments are equal and complimentary to one another. Again trust your ears and do not over think it. If it sounds good then it probably sounds good! Over time with practice this step will get easier.
6. Frequency Manipulation
Ok, now that we have the beat sounding good, it is time to make it sound great. Understanding that each sound has a dominant frequency is huge in creating full and high quality music. All sounds are really just waving pushing through the air that our brains translate into sound as we know it. Manipulating the waves of sound is essential to quality mixes. If too many frequencies are occupying a certain frequency spectrum it will sound unclear and diminish the quality. Too many sounds in the low frequency range can make a mix sound muddy. So to clear this up we need to find the problem frequencies, manipulate them to get that crisp clear sound we all want.
50Hz- Increase to add fullness to lowest frequency notes like bass and bass drum
100Hz- Increase to add harder bass sound, add fullness to guitars and snare and piano. Reduce to increase clarity on guitars
200Hz- Increase to add full to snare and guitar, reduce to get rid of gong sound on cymbals
400hz- Increase to add clarity to bass line so it can be heard at low volume. Reduce to get rid of cardboard sound on lower drums(kick and toms). Reduce to get decrease ambience on cymbals.
800Hz- Increase for clarity and punch of bass. Reduce to make the guitar not sound cheap
1.5KHz- Reduce to get rid of dullness on guitars. Increase to get clarity and pluck on bass guitar
3KHz- Increase for more pluck on bass guitar, increase for more attack on electric and acoustic guitar, increase for attack on low piano parts. Reduce to hide out of tune guitars
5KHz- Increase for low frequency attack, (kick and toms). Increase for guitar brightness and attack of piano. Reduce to make a thin guitar softer.
(This is also around the dominant vocal range. It is also a good Idea to scoop out this frequency to allow room for the vocalist)
7KHz- Increase to add attack on the low frequency drums. Increase to add attack on percussion. Increase for more finger sound on acoustic bass. Increase to add sharpness to synthesizers, rock guitars, acoustic guitars and piano
10KHz- Increase to add brightness to acoustic guitar and piano. Increase for hardness on cymbals
15Khz- Increase to make synthesizers sound more realistic. Increase to brighten cymbals, strings instruments and piano.
7. Write Music around written Songs
Another trick to making great beats is to get the lyrics of your favorite songs, popular or not so popular. go into the studio and bring the words on paper. Then You can write the music to match the words on the paper. I actually love writing music like this. Amazingly you can write around the same song more than once and the beats will sound completely different. However, if you are going to use this method, use a good deal of songs. This is a great way to practice your beat making and improve your skills. You can Do remixes to your favorite songs, or even try to recreate the beat itself. Again this will expand you and stretch your skills.
8. Overproduction
If you have a proper concept and planned correctly, this should not happen. However sometimes we as producers get carried away in our music. Overproduction is when the beat is so full that an artist couldn't sing or rap over the beat if they wanted to. To prevent this from happening, ensure that all instruments are not clashing and there is room for a vocalist. Always remember that you want someone to sing or rap over the beat. If you are listening to the beat and it sounds great, but is seems like something is missing, there is, The Artist. We have a tendency as producers to make the beat too full. Make sure you leave enough space for the artist to sing or rap comfortably.
9. Underproduction
This is, in my opinion just as bad as number 8. If your beat is to simple then it wont compliment the artist. You don't want the artist to carry to beat. You want the beat to dictate the mood of the song. I usually prefer an overproduced beat over an under-produced beat. It is easier to take things out than to squeeze creativity from a beat that is too simple.
10. Listen to different types of Music
If you truly want to grow as a producer than you must listen to many types of music. Understanding that all kinds of music has different flares and style, will give you more versatility. Now you don't have to make country beats if you are a hip hop producer, but listening to the acoustic guitars in the sounds may help you create a deep intense beat for different artists. Becoming exposed to many different kind of sounds will stretch your skills and your ability to go out of the box. It will become easy to come up with a fresh concept without sounding repetitive.
Well God bless you all, thank you for reading this article and I hope that it helps you all become greater producers. The World is full of creativity and it is our job to bring it out. So remember, that Music should touch you deeper than your ears.
1. Concept
When you feel the inspiration to create, you should organize the thoughts you are having about the direction of the beat. Where to you want to go with it? what message to you want it to convey? You will find that your music will be better organized. Decide what you would like to hear sang or rapped on the beat. This step will help you accomplish a more detail oriented mix.
2. Plan
After you have decided where the beat is going to go, now you want to plan out the beat. Remember that these steps are taken before you begin creating. You will have more freedom, once the creation starts to flow in the musical zone without concerning with the structure. You want to have a tentative plan about how long the song should be. How many verses should there be? Is there a bridge? Do you want to any drops in tone? If so where will they be. Writing out the plan will also help you stay on course and prevent having a mix that sounds like two different ideas.
3. Flow of the Beat
How many times have you heard a beat and it sounded like the producer didn't spend much time on it? The beat didn't flow and it sounded like a continuous loop with no energy. That is a problem with a lot of production nowadays. You do not want the listener to get bored with the beat! You want to draw them in and keep them interested in the beat. Added different instruments at key times in the beat adds an element of surprise and break the monotony. In Addition your hook should sound different from the verses! You want to be able to kind of dictate to the listener what to feel at certain points of the beat. Remember, this beat is a relay of feeling to the listener, allow them to feel what you were planning. I personally like to build the beat like a house. I bring in instruments gradually and subtle. I also love to drop drums and bass and bring them back right before the hook. However you do it, just make sure that the beat doesn't get boring. If you get tired of hearing a loop then the listener will too. Trust your ear and your instinct.
4. Panning
Now that we have the beat planned out and laid down, we need to space out the beat. Using the full spectrum of sound allows us to hear all the sounds without straining. Panning the instruments in a 3-D field will expand the mix and make it fuller. If this step is done correctly the listener will feel like they are standing in the midst of all of the instruments. So here are some tips from my own experiences.
Snare-pan slightly to the right
bassdrum-keep center
highhat- pan hard right about 70%(reason users pan highhat R30)
shakers-pan hard left about 70%(reason users pan highat L30)
piano- pan slightly left
guitars- pan to the right about 30%(reason users about 15)
strings- pan left or right about 40%(whichever creates a balanced mix)
other instruments and percussion- fill the rest of the spectrum
These are basic suggestions for the panning of instruments not a law. Trust your own ear but make sure that there is plenty of space in the mix for each instrument.
5. Volume
This step is very simple and obvious. After panning the instruments to cover the spectrum of sound, ensure the volumes of all instruments are equal and complimentary to one another. Again trust your ears and do not over think it. If it sounds good then it probably sounds good! Over time with practice this step will get easier.
6. Frequency Manipulation
Ok, now that we have the beat sounding good, it is time to make it sound great. Understanding that each sound has a dominant frequency is huge in creating full and high quality music. All sounds are really just waving pushing through the air that our brains translate into sound as we know it. Manipulating the waves of sound is essential to quality mixes. If too many frequencies are occupying a certain frequency spectrum it will sound unclear and diminish the quality. Too many sounds in the low frequency range can make a mix sound muddy. So to clear this up we need to find the problem frequencies, manipulate them to get that crisp clear sound we all want.
50Hz- Increase to add fullness to lowest frequency notes like bass and bass drum
100Hz- Increase to add harder bass sound, add fullness to guitars and snare and piano. Reduce to increase clarity on guitars
200Hz- Increase to add full to snare and guitar, reduce to get rid of gong sound on cymbals
400hz- Increase to add clarity to bass line so it can be heard at low volume. Reduce to get rid of cardboard sound on lower drums(kick and toms). Reduce to get decrease ambience on cymbals.
800Hz- Increase for clarity and punch of bass. Reduce to make the guitar not sound cheap
1.5KHz- Reduce to get rid of dullness on guitars. Increase to get clarity and pluck on bass guitar
3KHz- Increase for more pluck on bass guitar, increase for more attack on electric and acoustic guitar, increase for attack on low piano parts. Reduce to hide out of tune guitars
5KHz- Increase for low frequency attack, (kick and toms). Increase for guitar brightness and attack of piano. Reduce to make a thin guitar softer.
(This is also around the dominant vocal range. It is also a good Idea to scoop out this frequency to allow room for the vocalist)
7KHz- Increase to add attack on the low frequency drums. Increase to add attack on percussion. Increase for more finger sound on acoustic bass. Increase to add sharpness to synthesizers, rock guitars, acoustic guitars and piano
10KHz- Increase to add brightness to acoustic guitar and piano. Increase for hardness on cymbals
15Khz- Increase to make synthesizers sound more realistic. Increase to brighten cymbals, strings instruments and piano.
7. Write Music around written Songs
Another trick to making great beats is to get the lyrics of your favorite songs, popular or not so popular. go into the studio and bring the words on paper. Then You can write the music to match the words on the paper. I actually love writing music like this. Amazingly you can write around the same song more than once and the beats will sound completely different. However, if you are going to use this method, use a good deal of songs. This is a great way to practice your beat making and improve your skills. You can Do remixes to your favorite songs, or even try to recreate the beat itself. Again this will expand you and stretch your skills.
8. Overproduction
If you have a proper concept and planned correctly, this should not happen. However sometimes we as producers get carried away in our music. Overproduction is when the beat is so full that an artist couldn't sing or rap over the beat if they wanted to. To prevent this from happening, ensure that all instruments are not clashing and there is room for a vocalist. Always remember that you want someone to sing or rap over the beat. If you are listening to the beat and it sounds great, but is seems like something is missing, there is, The Artist. We have a tendency as producers to make the beat too full. Make sure you leave enough space for the artist to sing or rap comfortably.
9. Underproduction
This is, in my opinion just as bad as number 8. If your beat is to simple then it wont compliment the artist. You don't want the artist to carry to beat. You want the beat to dictate the mood of the song. I usually prefer an overproduced beat over an under-produced beat. It is easier to take things out than to squeeze creativity from a beat that is too simple.
10. Listen to different types of Music
If you truly want to grow as a producer than you must listen to many types of music. Understanding that all kinds of music has different flares and style, will give you more versatility. Now you don't have to make country beats if you are a hip hop producer, but listening to the acoustic guitars in the sounds may help you create a deep intense beat for different artists. Becoming exposed to many different kind of sounds will stretch your skills and your ability to go out of the box. It will become easy to come up with a fresh concept without sounding repetitive.
Well God bless you all, thank you for reading this article and I hope that it helps you all become greater producers. The World is full of creativity and it is our job to bring it out. So remember, that Music should touch you deeper than your ears.
Get the Hottest Christian beats at http://www.soundclick.com/godswillproductions
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