Aight, they say the best advice is your own. These are things that I have either done, or have been trying to do for years.
-Layer layer layer. When your beat sounds dry, have three snares (not the same notes, don't copy & paste; gotta offset em slightly to let em "drag" across the beat)
-Let me reiterate... If you layer ANYTHING... melodies, etc. DON'T copy and paste your notes so they're exactly the same. It might work sometimes, but it makes it just as flat, but with different sounds.
-Like peeps have said right before me: I have had my best success sampling sounds around me. Things that you wouldn't think of. Layer things that don't sound like snares on top of snares. Squeaks from the faucet, rip a piece of paper in half, breaths, water dripping, anything you can think of.
-Be unorthodox. Do crazy shit. Move your melody into your kick track and see how it sounds.
-If you make a melody, and it seems too "melodic", then split it out. Take the 2nd half of the bar and copy it to another track with a different instrument. Take the last note and do the same, and stretch it out. Use a gong or some shit in the same note. Bells? Something ambient? Pitch shift it so it rises at the last note in the last bar out of 4. Add wind to the fucker. Have your dog bark into it. Bite the mic in half and spit it out if you have to.
-VERY IMPORTANT... Categorize your sounds! True, they might be categorized in libraries by type, deepness, genre of music (disco lab part VIII, etc. funky sounds volume 78...) But you HAVE to categorize them in order to what YOU want, how YOU like em, how YOU hear them. If there's a drum in the "funky sounds" volume, and you don't think it's funky at all, then put it in another folder! The best way to do it is start from scratch, and make different folders, disks, CDs, (however you get down) and start with "DJ John Doe's top picks" or somethin. Name the low kick drum Bassy Kick. Name the poppy kicks Pop Kicks or somethin... Make different folders called "spice it up" or somethin for those sounds that you wouldn't start off with, and sounds that you just wanna add to beats. Ok I'm exhausting this topic... If you haven't figured out your own setup DO IT.
-Like mentioned before, listen to other shit. I used to argue that this would mess up my fragile creative state, or it would shape the way I came up with my OWN melodies, and it wouldn't be original. NAH! We need shit for inspiration, folks. How many times have you sat there and tried to make a hot beat, couldn't, then got in the car and rocked some of Dre's beats, or Premier, or Pete Rock, or even Swiss and said "DAYUM... IF I ONLY LISTENED TO THIS EARLIER"... Listen to classical music. Listen to rock shit. Reggae. Soft, easy listening. Read the fuckin paper. Think of George W. and let your rage set in. You can quote me on this: Writing anything is usually most useful when your blood is boiling. Let it boil.
-Last but not least... like I said before about categorizing your sounds, it's important to set yourself up for later. If you're REALLY trying to make a beat and DON'T FEEL IT, then do the work then for LATER. Get your sounds all ready. Load em up. Sample something. Get everything comfortable. Smoke somethin. Come back in an hour or a day or so.
Sidenote: I used to mic all the instruments in the studio and make sure everything sounded tight as hell. I'd have the drummer bang thru the set, have the guitarist play all his pedals, to his heart's desire, have the bassist, sax player, keyboardist, etc do their thing. I'd have the whole band jam for a minute or two to make sure no levels are poppin out. Then, I would dim the lights. Go outside and get the band high (or they'd do the same for me). By the time I came back in, it felt like I was in a control room. It was always the best gift anyone could ever ask for. It was as if someone else did all this work for me and set up the studio for MY taste, and all I have to do is just sit in the cockpit. Gotta love it.
-Hypno
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