I found an old soundcloud page of mine which had one of the remakes I did. It's a great tool for improving your focus and seeing beats through, and you make some pretty awesome instruments for later use. Sadly, I haven't remade enough beats in my time so I'm starting to push for more. Last night I started working on one for 'Big Brother' by Kanye West. It's coming along nice but I still have lots of work. Anyways here's a pretty easy one I made a while back:
Beat remakes are in my opinion the number one greatest practice tool for making beats
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Here's what I have from that 'Big Brother'. I still have instruments missing I believe a few notes too, and I haven't touched it mixing yet, this is about 2.5 hours in:
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So this is the same beat but I put in about another 1.5 hours tweaking things, also started mixing it a little:
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Best put it's like practicing translating what you're hearing into your DAW. That's the name of the whole beat making game. It helps with being able to do that quickly and efficiently. You also get more familiar with your DAWs, make yourself some cool presets, etc. The only difference is when you're making your own beats what you're hearing is in your head.
Alright I'm about another hour in bringing the total to roughly 4 hours that I've been working on this. All I did this time around was sorted an issue I was having with the strings, threw a bass on the beat and messed with the levels a little bit. The bass I currently have on the beat is not the one I'll use on the final beat. It's just a stock Reason sampler bass, sounds a little too "slappy" for my liking. Just threw it on because it's in Reason (where I'm making the beat) and I needed something to help me move on into making the beat. The bass I'll be using is a VST in FL because it sounds better, but also mainly because I paid $30 for it so better get some juice out of it. Also the clap/snare is not what I'll be using, or maybe needs lots of work. Everything besides bass and drums are what I'm using on the beat and just require further mixing and effects. Anyways here it is:
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This is the latest iteration and it sounds MUCH better/closer. I scrapped that lead synth and found a preset which sounded much closer, then I doubled it and pitched one down and processed it to sound closer to the song. Also noticed I added a few extra notes in there, so those are gone. I also added a kick to it and a cymbal. The kick actually sounds pretty good, cymbal and snare/clap need work. I'm getting closer and closer to having this master pattern ready, then it's gonna be about the composition. I hear little subtle differences from pattern to pattern. Anyways:
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I try to always stay working on something. If I'm not making my own stuff I'm usually trying to take someone else's music apart to study it. That's how I look at it. It's a good way to stay sharp and keep learning even if I'm not feeling creative. You'll make some cool custom instruments to use in other songs. You'll sharpen mixing and tweaking, sampling, etc. You start to contemplate things like dynamics, song compositions and structures. You also learn to respect the amount of work that goes into making a song.
Keep in mind that it's relevant too. You have to be able to recognize and choose from songs within your skill level. I don't go trying to remake a J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League beat because I know I can't. It's almost always me identifying and recognizing instruments in a song, and knowing I could come close to making them.
This was first one I ever did:
My reasoning:
It's fairly simple in that it only has 7-8 channels, and somewhat repetitive main pattern. The only real variations to that were a few drop-ins and drop-outs. I knew Reason had a decent piano samples that I could easily tweak to sound like the song.
First thing I had to do was find the snare. That's where whosampled is awesome these days, finding out where a sample came from. Back then I searched on google and found out where the original sample came from. Once I found that it was pretty easy. I still needed to make other instruments and tweak them but I had the snare. I knew I couldn't recreate that snare, I needed a sample. I also needed to put a ton of distortion on it. Kick and hats are stock 808's with a little tweaking. I knew I could somewhat easily make the rest with samplers and a synth for the bass.
It took me around 8-9 hours total to find everything, make the beat, tweak it, mix, etc. And that's for such a simple beat. Now I could probably make the same beat in 6 hours.
Keep in mind that it's relevant too. You have to be able to recognize and choose from songs within your skill level. I don't go trying to remake a J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League beat because I know I can't. It's almost always me identifying and recognizing instruments in a song, and knowing I could come close to making them.
This was first one I ever did:
My reasoning:
It's fairly simple in that it only has 7-8 channels, and somewhat repetitive main pattern. The only real variations to that were a few drop-ins and drop-outs. I knew Reason had a decent piano samples that I could easily tweak to sound like the song.
First thing I had to do was find the snare. That's where whosampled is awesome these days, finding out where a sample came from. Back then I searched on google and found out where the original sample came from. Once I found that it was pretty easy. I still needed to make other instruments and tweak them but I had the snare. I knew I couldn't recreate that snare, I needed a sample. I also needed to put a ton of distortion on it. Kick and hats are stock 808's with a little tweaking. I knew I could somewhat easily make the rest with samplers and a synth for the bass.
It took me around 8-9 hours total to find everything, make the beat, tweak it, mix, etc. And that's for such a simple beat. Now I could probably make the same beat in 6 hours.
100% agree!
When I first got into beat making (2002-ish) I deconstructed almost the entire Chronic 2001 album.
As others have mentioned, it's a great way to identify what instrument makes what sound. Save/favourite those instruments so when you go to make your own tune, you have a foundation and framework.
Taking it one step further, and this is something that I do now, is to take a "study" approach to song writing. These aren't complete tunes or meant to be shared, but really your own personal study and exercise of what you've learned.
For example, say you just deconstructed the previously mentioned Chronic 2001 record. Take the main themes/techniques and focus in on them. Pump out as many little 'studies' you can using that one technique. This will:
1) develop the muscle memory
2) help you take what you just learned and use it in as many different variations as possible
3) you'll stumble upon your own unique twist/style on this technique
Lately, I've been trying to develop my jazz guitar comping and soloing skills on guitar. I've made about 30 beats in the past few months just working different variations of the 2-5-1 chord progression and crafted as many possible guitar licks as I could over this progression.
Now, I'm by no means a master of 'jazz' - but I could bang out a jazz inspired/lofi beat if I needed to. Most importantly, I'm a better musician, producer than I was before and I've added some new tools to my tool-belt.
When I first got into beat making (2002-ish) I deconstructed almost the entire Chronic 2001 album.
As others have mentioned, it's a great way to identify what instrument makes what sound. Save/favourite those instruments so when you go to make your own tune, you have a foundation and framework.
Taking it one step further, and this is something that I do now, is to take a "study" approach to song writing. These aren't complete tunes or meant to be shared, but really your own personal study and exercise of what you've learned.
For example, say you just deconstructed the previously mentioned Chronic 2001 record. Take the main themes/techniques and focus in on them. Pump out as many little 'studies' you can using that one technique. This will:
1) develop the muscle memory
2) help you take what you just learned and use it in as many different variations as possible
3) you'll stumble upon your own unique twist/style on this technique
Lately, I've been trying to develop my jazz guitar comping and soloing skills on guitar. I've made about 30 beats in the past few months just working different variations of the 2-5-1 chord progression and crafted as many possible guitar licks as I could over this progression.
Now, I'm by no means a master of 'jazz' - but I could bang out a jazz inspired/lofi beat if I needed to. Most importantly, I'm a better musician, producer than I was before and I've added some new tools to my tool-belt.
This is actually an often over-looked piece of deconstruction. I imagine, it's helped with arrangements as well. Dynamics often play into builds and releases in tension - which is an integral part in making (pun intended) 'dynamic' and captivating arrangements.