Everybody is a producer now (article)

[JPeg]

GET YA BARS UP!
By SWELL

Competition is at an all time high in the music business. The recording technology has become more affordable and attainable. Everybody is rocking an AKAI MPC & ProTools. Everybody is a producer now. (So you think!)

There are so many of us with a lot of gear and little to no knowledge on how to properly use the gear. Easy Mo Bee said it best. “Just because you have ProTools doesn’t mean you’re a producer”. There are a lot of us out here that need to Get Ya Bars Up! It’s time for us to go back to basics and learn the fundamentals. Pull out those tutorials and manuals and learn your gear.

Most of us are spending money everyday to improve our production. We buy gear, sounds, and studio time to compete at the highest level. Where do we fall short? Knowing the simple basics can improve your overall production quality. Some things can be taught and some things can’t. If you don’t have an ear for music you can’t survive. I don’t care if you have the hottest studio known to man. Wack equals wack.

I agree with Jazzy Jeff and Prince Paul when they said that the more knowledge and gear you have the less productive you become. Back in the days when all I had was an SP1200 or MPC 60 I was mad productive. I can remember bangin out 10 or more beats a day. Things have changed. When you add pieces of gear to your studio it’s a learning curve. Unfortunately you’ll have to take time to learn your gear. Embrace technology and use it to your advantage. Quality over quantity is the ultimate goal.

Needles shed some light about honing your skills and spending time working at your beats. There are cats out there that feel they’re ready to shop tracks after owning an MPC for 2 months. There are a million producers. First impressions are everything in the industry. Get Ya Bars Up before you start shopping your beats.

Educating your self and practicing is the only way you’ll get better. Def Jef believes you need to make mistakes to be a better person and producer. Look forward to making mistakes and learn everything you can about music and your genre of music. As a producer it’s imperative that you know your history in the genre of music you’re producing. It’s imperative that you know music. Learn all about different instruments, turntables, and the artists that came before you.

Biting is a temptation that all of us possess. Some of us as producers are asked to bite and emulate chart-topping producers. JR Rotem responds with capturing a particular energy that a club or street record may have. JR believes that everyone has his or her own voice. Find your voice and perfect it to the fullest. Be creative by exposing yourself to other types of music and draw inspiration from there. Find your niche and stop copying today’s fads and trends.

Focus even agrees that a lot of cats listen to what’s on the radio and try to duplicate what they hear. To truly grind you have to make a niche for yourself. In other words Get Ya Bars Up. A lot of us are beat makers and producers that can’t play instruments. Buckwild proudly admits that he’s not a musician. He’s a producer with hit records. Play your position and stop making them corny ass keyboard beats that lack chord progressions and feel. Find a musician that can play what you’re hearing if you can’t do it. There’s no replacing a live bass and guitar player.

A producer will go to the extreme to find players and sounds that are hot and unique. The best producers in the game have the best musicians, engineers, artists and sounds. So when you listen to the Sonics of a DR.DRE or JUST BLAZE production you’re listening to the best of the best from start to finish. The goal is to isolate your weakness and build your skills.
GET YA BARS UP! This article was inspired by Def Jef

 

[classic]

yea i saw this on that production site.. i forgot the name...

Im realtivily new to the game myself but i have been making music my entire life. I cant stand these freakin newbies that buy all the lastist greatist gear.. and dont know shit. Its horrible.... When i started out in jan 04 , i really took my time and asked questions, researched and figured out what was best for me

Everybody dont wanna be a producer these days.... everybody wants to be famous like the neptunes and they figure beat making is the easy way to go about it..

There are very few people that are actually in this shit for the music.....

class....

 

[bigdmakintrax]

LOL I swear I wrote an article on this very subject within a few months of joining....see I remember making beats before there was fruity loops(yes I got a copy at version 3 something back at least 3 or 4 years ago along with acid) LOL all I have really known is gear and I am sure there are many that could chime in that remember life before computer based production.........everybody has their view of why they make music I cant judge anyone elses purpose though or look down my nose at what someone else creates though, I just dont have an elitist view of hip hop production, or think I am so much better, I too am a musician played in bands etc...none of the musicians that I personally know have a view of looking down on another mans music etc...that just aint the I have seen it from being a live band player in club bands...thats not for me to decide....my view is relative I make music for MC's bottom line...and maybe singers, i dont produce to impress friends etc...I sell my product but that aint the sole purpose either...these are all the fruits of producing, monetary benefit, notability, self satisfaction etc.......thats my sole purpose....not too see how musical I can get or any of that.....hip hop has no rules.....its not for anyone to define its musicality etc.....there are many other genres which lend themselves to hip hop.....that becomes just plain old Music....but yeah my view as soon as I started seeing the evolution of fruity loops was that hey anyone can produce, but in actuality....if you not working with artists or doing projects with artists to make a 100% finished song or product I dont know the exact application except instrumentalist......dont anyone take this that i am aiming at no one because I am not I am simply giving my definition that I had of being a producer waaaaay before the internet idea of production.....when gear, I mean expensive gear was the barrier and not everyone could just have completely finished product.

 

[Cold Truth]

get ya bars up!

eh that knd of irritated me. chill with the catch phrase... lol

but this isnt anything new, at least not to me.. my style has a definitive starting point from a particular beat but i built off of that... and half the dudes in this article are the same way...

 

[bigdmakintrax]

get ya bars up!

eh that knd of irritated me. chill with the catch phrase... lol

but this isnt anything new, at least not to me.. my style has a definitive starting point from a particular beat but i built off of that... and half the dudes in this article are the same way...

Thanks, there is a similiar article up on another site that I just finished elaborating on....to me music is a progression, you might think you are doing something original but I ask this, If someone can go find a beat that was made say for instance last year....or back in the 90's and you make a beat now but had no idea.....but its very similiar (melody, structure, composition and breakdowns)does that make you a biter? are using certain formulas biting? I mean think about it....if you have a sample most musicians will call a hip hop producer a biter though especially if that sample sets the same mood in your song it did in theirs.....

 

[Cold Truth]

nah what i am saying is that my style DOES have an origin.. the "you got me" beat is basically the father of my whole style... and i built off of that....

nothing is new under the sun if you ask me. jr rotem's sound is very much of the lineage of scott storch aftermath era smaterial. he also has his own stamp on it. same with me- the root of my style dates back to that scott storch beat but i have put my own stamp on it.

 

[Beatz 101]

yeah, i understand where he comin' from.

alotta niggas think they producers because they got pro tools, a motif, n' a mpc.

and TOO MANY people downplay my music and others because they use fruity loops n' cool edit. I should get more props because people like me use such programs and make professional sounding beats. I believe you become a better producer when you have barely anything. If you can turn bullshit into diamonds, imagine what you can do when u do have the professional equipment, ya know what im sayin..

its like just cuz i use FL n' cool edit, they think my beats is elementary when i prolly put in more work. its not about how many instruments you play, n' how much hardware u got. The best instrument you possess is your brain. And some brains play better than others. :headbang2

 

[bigdmakintrax]

yeah, i understand where he comin' from.

alotta niggas think they producers because they got pro tools, a motif, n' a mpc.

and TOO MANY people downplay my music and others because they use fruity loops n' cool edit. I should get more props because people like me use such programs and make professional sounding beats. I believe you become a better producer when you have barely anything. If you can turn bullshit into diamonds, imagine what you can do when u do have the professional equipment, ya know what im sayin..

its like just cuz i use FL n' cool edit, they think my beats is elementary when i prolly put in more work. its not about how many instruments you play, n' how much hardware u got. The best instrument you possess is your brain. And some brains play better than others. :headbang2

There is some truth to what you say but your beats thru a computer will sound 10X better with much less effort than someone using gear....I think there a soooooo many steps to build a beat to a finished good sounding endproduct though than software....consider myself equally skilled with fruity loops and reason...ask anyone that knows me...not just from the site on how I know my shit...LOL...but I dont think anyone looks down on fruity loops per say....but I find that I am WAY more creative using Fruity loops and reason...but thats my preference to use gear because that's bicycle I started out riding on and thats the one I like.....it has nothing to do with a brain being better or anything like that I have some beats i did in fruity loops....people love those beats way over the hardware beats only because the sound quality and overall crazy shit you can do with fruity loops when you get a sample in there .....but like I said I know both...so I dont minimize cats that use it because 9th is a genius.....now are his beats and creativity the same with an mpc...who knows....but he definitly has something to apply.....but dont head this to an argument or who is better etc...there is way too much of that on the site as it is for me....just do you and build dawg....

 

[Arc.I.Tect]

Its just like what cold said, nothing is new anymore. Music itself has been around FAR too long for the human brain to produce "new"
If you've ever been inspired by something, it's not new. If you use drums - somebody's done that. If you use any intstrument - somebody's done that. Your melody that it took you days to think up and suddenly popped in your head some guy in Germany probably banged out 20 years ago. You just got to put yourself into your music to make it yours, but it probably ain't new. I mean i personally am pretty new so I can't speak on new cats. I'm just trying to learn the basics so I know what I'm doing while developing my style. But there's truth in it that you ain't a producer just cuz you got the gear.

Just do you and forget the critics

 

[classic]

everybody has their view of why they make music I cant judge anyone elses purpose though or look down my nose at what someone else creates though, I just dont have an elitist view of hip hop production, or think I am so much better, I too am a musician played in bands etc...none of the musicians that I personally know have a view of looking down on another mans music etc...that just aint the I have seen it from being a live band player in club bands...thats not for me to decide....my view is relative I make music for MC's bottom line...and maybe singers, i dont produce to impress friends etc...I sell my product but that aint the sole purpose either.

that’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it, I don’t have an elitist view of hip hop either, but I do believe in making music for the right reasons. I also believe there are very few producers in hip hop doing that at the moment. Most of the cats I have seen don’t wanna develop their music, they want the quick buck. That’s fine that’s their life but call a spade a spade.

Right now, I can say I aint in this shit for the money, if I was, I could easily flood the local sceen right now nickle and dyming beats. But personally it aint about that, for me. I believe in progressing and developing my craft to the point were my skills are undeniable. When this is done I belive the money and notoriety will follow. And I choose the musical route because that’s my background. Cats should always choose what fits them

Theis is where we have always disagreed and beef’ed . It seems that you think that just becsue somebody chooses a path that is different then yours(musically & professnally), that they are some how imposters or “net producers” that just make beats for their friends…. That simply aint the case at all....

classic

 

[bigdmakintrax]

You're on the right path man, I wish you luck.

 

[Louie Lou]

Becoming a producer now-a-days is just the latest fad. Everyone has money to buy an electronic gagdet in this age. From playstations to Xbox's to keyboards and MPCs. Moms and pops will buy their kids anything to keep them out of trouble.

Everyone wanted to be a doctor, a lawyer, a president when I was growing up. The new generations want to be producers, actors, singers, and bill gates nowadays. Musical equipment is produced like yoyos where when i was growing up. The new generations have their role models on MTV, BET, etc. and of course they are going to try to be like them.

If thats what most kids want to do today, let em. There is nothing wrong in having the latest and greatest and still be shitty with it.
The manufacturers of these instruments are loving it, just like the manufacturers of computers, xbox, and playstation. Not everyone will go out to be a producer. Most will hang it up after a year or two. Some will become good at what they do. Some will service the industry in other ways besides making beats.
Making beats could be the start of other great things in some peoples lives. Music is everywhere, not just in the record industry. You hear it in elevators, supermarkets, toys, video games, therapy, etc.

If soso wants to buy 100,000 dollars worth of equipment and still suck at it, so what! Its his money and there is nothing anyone else can do about it except tell him/her that they suck big time. That might not deter soso from buying more gear to find that sound he needs so that he doesn't suck anymore.

 

[Undecided]

I think the crediblity of being a beat smith is more important than the money... Sure money is good... But doin' something you love and gettin' the respect for it is even better.

 

[RigorMortis]

Everybody is a loser now

so whut if things are available, music should always be available to everybody not just some sort of elite... true to the fact most people just get in on the hype and dont know nothing about the background/culture of music be it hiphop or something else and thus will come up with wack shit that isnt part of it/doesnt build but tears what the true ones love down to a gimmick. but think about it all you moneyvultures are the same, there is a difference in getting paid and letting them labels,mcs and your greed bukkake-cream you with money. so it dont matter if you entered with the hype or are part of the hype, a bitch is a bitch and will suck any available dick.

 

[Formant024]

^^^^you and your dickfetish pfff

I say, get aquinted with hardware cuz you're forced to learn what you're doing, money isnt the issue, I respect a man who bought a machine and new the purpose of it, a lot of peeps is just plain jumpin on the bandwagon, because industry cats have one. If you know the simplest principles of the producer game you dont care for names, you only look at specs to see if it fits in with your preferences/current perspective of your setup. As for the rest, we're all noobs, anyone believes he's a master of anything is either arrogant or shallow, definitly not progressing his skills. When considering techniques covering all the aspects of producing, mixing and mastering you cant honestly believe that one can muster the knowledge of an experienced engineer in a relativly short time just because he's got a pc, got fl or reason, or his buds say he's fiya. That's all real nice, but a proper engineer will just laugh and fix the shit properly because you paid him to do so, no harm done but some people just dont buy the egocentric sweet talk and that when you look like a tool.

To all you who mastered anything, you're still just beginning. To all who do pc based productions, you're all still beginning. To all who do hardware based productions, yo shit doesnt summ nicely...you're just beginning.

But what are we talking about, a very few of god knows how many producers/engineers are in the charts making a quality beat and IMO it's mostly none of the peeps mentioned here often. The rest that dominate the charts for what hiphop/urban concerns is straight polished noobism, mixing and mastering studio's are doing the works cuz even them rappers are exploited and not because they're talented cats cuz most of the time they could have easily picked up some other noob from the streets. Give em the proper pr and budget and he'll be forced upon the charts. It a damn shame people use such as a reference, you got a brain...start using it, make you're own conclusions.

 

[30CRATES]

I've been into digging and beatmaking since the early 90s. i mean, every artist is influenced by another one way or another. i can remember wanting to make beats that sounded just like premier's or pete rocks. i wanted to make dark eerie tracks like the rza!!! me personally , im influenced by alot of producers, and i take bits and pieces of different styles to enhance my own. i dont knock anyone trying to get into the game of production but take time out to learn the science behind it. those that have a true love and appreciation for the art are the ones that are most successful at it. now myself, im def a purist!! im a straight 90s cat ( diamond d, bomb squad, premo, pete rock, buckwild, rza, etc. ) but at the same time i can get wit some lil' jon shit ( damn ), swizz. mannie fresh's programming is sick!!!! jazzy phe is a ill progammer. alot of the stuff these cats are doing, mantronik was doing back in 87'. and u dont need a room full of gear to make a banging joint. of course we all know that though!!!!

 

[Shonsteez]

Ahhhhh....Finally an article I can fully say is accurate and i agree with....lol......Shits true tho....Fools really do think they can even call themselves a "producer" if they just make beats and have a MP or fruity or some shit these days....Ive learned in my time, that theres waaaaay more to giving yourself a title such as "producer" then just owning the gear or saying youve been makin beats for whatever amount of months/years and thinking yer the hot shit out these days.....And hes right, theres waaaaaaaaay too many cats tryin to be the nex producer now.....shits crazy. The only real unfortunate thing i see with that is that cats standards begin to drop eventually since theres more "crap" being injected into the industry then there was before and people begin to think that shit is whats good now. It basically begins to become a full time job just weeding out the dickheads that dont belong in the game in the first place.

 

[RigorMortis]

@formant: LOEL

 

[PHV]

This isn't any different than everyone wanting to be a rock star from the 60s to now... tons of kids buy guitars or a bass and can't play to save their life.

Also, the embarrasing lack of talent in this particular game is staggering. You'd think in an art form that is very simple (yet therein lies its beauty), that there'd be a lot more to be excited about... but there really isn't save for people like Premier, Alchamist, Kanye (I like soul), etc...

 

[mr mello]

I dont really care if a guy who recently bought an mpc calls himself a producer. I am also not intimidated by guys who say they have been making beats for 20 years. Its all irrelevent. Wether you do it for the love, wether you do it for the money, wether you use hardware or software. In the end your music speaks for you. And you have to decide how good you want to be.

I also agree with what formant said about using your head. You really have to use your discretion as far as what you believe to be true and as far as the advice you take. I mean I'm 21 and I've been making beats for 3 years. . . now should I really be taking advice on how to make it in the industry from a 30 year old guy whos been making beats for ten years, who is in the same situation I am in economically . . .? In the same vain, should I really believe that after 3 years of making beats, that I've learn't all there is to know about making music.. ?

Like the article implies, you have to constantly check yourself. . .