Creating your own 'unique' sound

[Rhythmikal]

Ayo,

Alot (probably most) big producers got their own unique sound, like u can tell a Kanye, Timbo, Preemo, Just Blaze, Dre track without even checkin the credits. Anyone here got their own sound? If so, please point me to your ish.

Kanye based his whole sound around a Dre 2001 track (Xplosive). That one track made his whole sound.

I been tryin to find a sound for myself but it's difficult. Anyone got any tips? I know the drums are important in defining your sound, but i hate usin the same type of drums for every beat.

sAfE.

 

[bigdmakintrax]

Ayo,

Alot (probably most) big producers got their own unique sound, like u can tell a Kanye, Timbo, Preemo, Just Blaze, Dre track without even checkin the credits. Anyone here got their own sound? If so, please point me to your ish.

Kanye based his whole sound around a Dre 2001 track (Xplosive). That one track made his whole sound.

I been tryin to find a sound for myself but it's difficult. Anyone got any tips? I know the drums are important in defining your sound, but i hate usin the same type of drums for every beat......
sAfE.

Oh you hit it on the head, for the most part using the same drums or same effected drums are a big part and the patterns you use...sounds boring but very true.....I dont like boredom myself though so I will never have my own sound based on that formula LOL and the tempo a lot of times plays a part in it too.


sometimes your sound will develop and you dont know it, but there must be something you either do the same over and over.....and also, there is no purely "Unique producer" at least in hip hop, you must study producers or other styles then develop what you do based upon their formula, you might disagree but every platinum producer has been influenced either by a top group or producer that either preceded them or was hot very close to the time that they blew.....me myself I have a sound that I can repeat a lot, on my sample beats and my club joints.....a lot of the tracks I play I use the same drum patterns and I use my synth lines.....other than that I dont concentrate on making my shit sound exactly the same...but I have had people point out certain tracks that they say thats hot you should do that more....etc....anyhow its hard to focus on developing your sound but I think it comes from knowing your production and analyzing what really works for you and doing it over and over no matter what type of track you are playing there is some element that is part of your signature, be it a bassline or whatever....take someone like Kev Brown.....I can pick his tracks out of any tracks I hear just the way he does his basslines.....and there is a ton of people now tryna do that.......Dre its got to be his Basic Drum Patterns and lil shit that go in his tracks that come from movies and special fx and also overall mastering with them killer low end kicks and basses.....

 

[Relic]

^ very true D...
Check the second sig line, I havent heard it before like it or hate it.

 

[classic]

i feel i have a unique sound...buy maybe thats just me....

 

[trebeatz]

everyone has a unique sound, whether they really try to or not, like i listen to graf's shit everyone once in awhile and i can tell its his just from the choppin and the drums n shit, and i mean when u hear classics shit ur usually like, yeah okay, that's classics shit you know, i beleive it especially comes through on a site like this more than mainstream becasue you got people mixin their own stuff, and right or wrong, that helps to create a unique sound for the producer, but overall, i think everyone wh ohas been producing for at least a couple months starts to develop their own style

 

[FSC]

I don't know if i have a "unique" sound or not. But i take pride in my drums though.. I'm still working on my sound though..

 

[rezon8]

Yeah i hear ya........i'm trying to develop my sound too. But i guess it's been there the whole time. Electronic background with a love for hiphop. I mean shit i'm strugglin just trying to make cheesy synth sounds and play a piano that sounds like a piano. Haha. Crazy. I've been doing experimental techno and electro for so long that i guess it's always going to be a part of my hiphop beats. So i'm accepting it and i'm gonna keep doing it. Even if Classic as welll as others think my sounds sound like general midi. lol (funny tell that to my contact at Native Instruments....i'm doing sounds for the latest line of products and sound libraries using granular synthesis, wavetable and fm synthesis) With a degree in DSP.


I guess what i'm trying to say is that you'll develop your style based on your background and what you love in music and don't ever let anyone tell you how to develop. Just accept what you do, and your style will flourish. Atleast that's what i hope will happen for me. LOL.

 

[deStructuralize]

everyone has a unique sound, whether they really try to or not

you'll develop your style based on your background and what you love in music

This basically covers what I was about to write. Everybody has their own approach to making music, their own interpretation of what "good" music is, their own set of inspirations and influences...this list goes on and on. Everyone has their "own" sound. The question, I think, is merely whether your particular sound tends be subtle (unrecognizeable) or distinct and recognizable.

What I personally have tried to do to fine tune and focus my sound in a particular direction, with (I hope) some degree of success, is I've tried to pinpoint what (in my personal opinion and aesthetic preference) is an essential element to hip-hop music as a whole. This doesn't mean all your beats should sound the same or that you should only make one type of beat...versatility is very important. But there has to be at least one thing, one central ingredient that you personally feel should be present in, say, club and "underground hip-hop" sounds alike. For example, in my opinion that something is soul. I think that once you've decided a particular element is essential and valuable to your interpretation of hip-hop, you naturally try to do what you can to best emphasize said element...and over time, a more distinct sound emerges.

Of course, all that could just be me waxing poetical. I don't know if it works or not; I'll have to give it a few more months and about fifty more beats before I say it really helps.

 

[5th Sequence]

...that something is soul.

I think that once you've decided a particular element is essential and valuable to your interpretation of hip-hop, you naturally try to do what you can to best emphasize said element...and over time, a more distinct sound emerges.

Props to destructuralize!!

i was gonna come in put my 2 cents in.. but you cashed in a quarter for me. Exactly how i'd put it. i can tell you now that that is my underlying motivation. To give the beat a life of its own, to give it character, to give it soul. I want beats that nobody else can reproduce just cuz of the sheer creativity and uniqueness in the way I see things. Believing in that gives you the edge over even the most technical producers. You can be the most technically correct producer (graduate of Full Sail for example) but if you cant make your beats unique and interesting or soulful, then what do you really have?

Food for thought.

 

[robb_lowe]

This basically covers what I was about to write. Everybody has their own approach to making music, their own interpretation of what "good" music is, their own set of inspirations and influences...this list goes on and on. Everyone has their "own" sound. The question, I think, is merely whether your particular sound tends be subtle (unrecognizeable) or distinct and recognizable.

What I personally have tried to do to fine tune and focus my sound in a particular direction, with (I hope) some degree of success, is I've tried to pinpoint what (in my personal opinion and aesthetic preference) is an essential element to hip-hop music as a whole. This doesn't mean all your beats should sound the same or that you should only make one type of beat...versatility is very important. But there has to be at least one thing, one central ingredient that you personally feel should be present in, say, club and "underground hip-hop" sounds alike. For example, in my opinion that something is soul. I think that once you've decided a particular element is essential and valuable to your interpretation of hip-hop, you naturally try to do what you can to best emphasize said element...and over time, a more distinct sound emerges.

Of course, all that could just be me waxing poetical. I don't know if it works or not; I'll have to give it a few more months and about fifty more beats before I say it really helps.

you hit the nail right on the head...

 

[Q Star]

u can do it by how u arrange your drum pattern and yo melody

 

[MarkN]

you can't just decide to go out and find a sound for you just continue to make beats and your sound will come with time, it will just develop naturally try to listen to more than just hip hop aswell !

also how in the hell did dre's xxxplosive create kanyes whole sound he sounds nothing like dre !?

 

[Relic]

-influence- and the need to NOT sound like dre...

 

[classic]

some of yall are a little naive (no offense

but NO not everybody has their own unique sound, as a matter of fact its pretty rare to find a producer with thier own unique sound these days. It takes alot of skill to get to that point, most cats THINK they have their own sound but thats not the case at all. IMO 95% producers sound the same or have simlar sounds and u can usually here who they are trying to icopy or who influcenced them,

Also most cats just dont have the creativtive ability to be unqiue....

again this aint ment to offend anybody, im just keeping it real

my 2 cents

 

[Formant024]

mastering what you use enables you to define you own sound, second comes using that skill to produce music under the influence of ...... anything

 

[open mind]

interesting post.

for now there are 3 cats at illmuzik that i think have a unique sound.

1.GRAFIK (for the warmness and atmosphere)
2.Spanishharlem (for his melodys arrangment)
3.5th Sequence (for his drums and chops)

i can recognise there beats without knowing who did it.

if we would have a producer here that has something from all 3 i mentioned that would be the SHIT.everybody has his weaknesses and strenght workin on the weaknesses and sharpening the strenght should be the way to go for us and with time u gonna create a unique sound.

 

[$Maximillion$]

I don't think I have a sound. I'm really experimental. But with samples I try to do something that is not so obvious. I try not to loop that much. And I am creating the ultimate drums. I've been collecting drums for a while now.

 

[Mantas]

i just dont think about any style, any sound, anything..i think attitude like "yo i gotta make my drums like that, i gotta chop samples like that, i need to make my bassline like that, i gotta stick with my sound" and so on and so forth just ruins the process of making music..i think u just gotta let it flow and music should dictate u how to make it, not u..dont try to be too technical, dont think about your sound..just go and make music..put your soul into music..thats why hip hop is special..it has (at least gotta have) soul..unlike other urban music like dnb, jungle, electronica, etc..i would even say dont try to find your own sound and dont force yourself to make music..sounds, samples should catch u, not u should catch them..just do what u gotta do and u'll definately know what to do..

 

[open mind]

i just dont think about any style, any sound, anything..i think attitude like "yo i gotta make my drums like that, i gotta chop samples like that, i need to make my bassline like that, i gotta stick with my sound" and so on and so forth just ruins the process of making music..i think u just gotta let it flow and music should dictate u how to make it, not u..dont try to be too technical, dont think about your sound..just go and make music..put your soul into music..thats why hip hop is special..it has (at least gotta have) soul..unlike other urban music like dnb, jungle, electronica, etc..i would even say dont try to find your own sound and dont force yourself to make music..sounds, samples should catch u, not u should catch them..just do what u gotta do and u'll definately know what to do..

WORD!!!

 

[5th Sequence]

thanks bigrob, appreciate the look on that. When I take samples though, I kinda have it in my mind like "what is every other producer going to do with this..." so I can avoid doin that if i can. I actually want it to more like all of these other producers hear the same sample and have no idea how I saw to use this certain peice, like this.

Then again though, I don't make music to impress other producers but it's my way of walking my own path an kinda covering that new path i've created so others dont follow me lol.