How did you learn to make beats?

[Beatz 101]

alotta late nights workin' on beats til 5 o' clock in the morning.

alotta criticizm.

alotta listening and studyin' otha peoples music that inspire me.

alotta turning nothing into something.

and talent.

i started off with a Zoom 123 drum machine. as wack as that joint is, i made it work just like fruity loops now.

 

[andreas]

Man I've just gotta respond there. I see some of you guys say you listened to alot of music and studied it.

I 've never listened to alot of music. I don't have the feel to listen to other music at the same time as I make my own.
I've just set myself into a path I like and made it work.

But, every way is a good way aslong as it works for you

peace

 

[Sorrow]

Cousin taught me about FruityLoops and I did my thing from there

 

[A B]

First started by remaking overnight celebrity in cool edit, then i messed with cool edit for a couple months doing similar things, till AD hooked me up with reason he showed me how to use it then i just been using and trying to improve since. I only been doin it for a couple monthst so im still learning, mostly by listening to other people and seeing how they do things.

 

[Arc.I.Tect]

I'm still pretty new haven't really made anything noteworthy but I'm just messin around- trial and error. A lotta tiems I'll just take records I like pull off a billion different lil sounds and throw it together not even neccesarily in like making a great song just puttin a bunch of sounds together that at least doesn't annoy me. I also just do like AB said - try and remake beats.

Peace

 

[trez260]

i'd have to say it started for me back when i was making the pause tapes (how many of yall remember those..lol) then as i progress and got a drum machine and a keyboard to sample with, from there i learned and got a better understanding of the measures, and with experimenting with doing remixes (using the accapella on albums) along with studying songs, i learned how to build a track as far as how many bars for verses and how many choruses and for bridge, etc. from there..grab the emu mp7 and learned more in terms of sequencing. and as i learn more features on the mpc 2000xl i bring what i've learned previously with it, and here i am today. Peace.

 

[J Beatz]

i mastered the fl studio demo. and it grew from there

 

[andreas]

Seems like alot of us has started up and owe alot to FL
I've used FL 3, and progressed to FL studio for a couple of years.

Now I'm sitting with Cubase and Reason.

But I guess the real reason is FL

 

[GhostChamberz]

i actually started doin music with playin the guitar and tried some drums and shit couple times a week, after that i got fed up and started to try makin real beats and it was just on from that point. My first pieces of gear was a sp202 sampler and a zoom rythm trak drum machine recorded into a 4-track tape recorder, man u dont wanna hear those beats HAHAHA

 

[Bloodybastid]

Alright, the reason that I'm asking this question is because I want to learn more about Hip-Hop production. Because right now, all I'm doing is going by the ear of what sounds good or not. It's like I'm doing the same thing for every beat, just hearing, but not really knowing a whole lot about music.

 

[A B]

Alright, the reason that I'm asking this question is because I want to learn more about Hip-Hop production. Because right now, all I'm doing is going by the ear of what sounds good or not. It's like I'm doing the same thing for every beat, just hearing, but not really knowing a whole lot about music.

yeh i feel the same way too. i guess the only thing for it is to find a way to learn more about music in general

 

[H&R]

I pretty much taught myself how to make beats and use everything that I have. I was a DJ (I still am aswell) before I started making beats so it wasn't all that hard for to nderstand how to get started. I did alot of my homework and read up on what was needed and how I should go abou things. I decided what is it that I wanted to do exactly nd what was needed to accomplish that.

Once I finished up on my readings and found what was needed I amde my purchases and then just began to read up some more and basically teacj myself how to make beats. I already how the basics of a beat down. I knew how to make drum loops and etc. what I needed to learn was how to sample. So I began reading again and listening to how others chopped up samples and just stood at it with trial and error and got the hang of it pretty quickly. I've only been making beats for about 10 months now and I think I'm comming along very nicely. I think I have produced a nice amount of tracks so far of a good quality.

 

[andreas]

Alright, the reason that I'm asking this question is because I want to learn more about Hip-Hop production. Because right now, all I'm doing is going by the ear of what sounds good or not. It's like I'm doing the same thing for every beat, just hearing, but not really knowing a whole lot about music.

I defenetly feel you there Bloody. I know a lil about the science behind it all. But not much. I've had classical piano training, but it's so long ago I can't read notes anymore and that sucks.
I'd love to know more about it. Now it's only what I've self discovered works and whatnot by trial and error.
I have a great use of my "ears" for music. But many things are given if you know how things works in the bigger picture.

 

[BeatsofRage]

when i listened to music i LISTENED to music, i took note, of every sound, where it was, how it was placed, what sound came after , what sound came before, shit like that

that, helped my ability to "arrange" a beat, alot of other things, i learned on my own, messing with different programs and im still learning

 

[KurtisRich]

Just know the history. That's all I can say.

 

[trez260]

Just know the history. That's all I can say.

co...sign..knowing the history is a must. Peace.

 

[ron herman]

I used to dj, and got one of those mixers with an 8 second sampler. then a roland r8 and a fostex 4track tape recorder. Move up to an asr-10, asrx pro, emu mp7, then finally soundforge and fl studio.

 

[Bobby Ffitch]

um... my friend and i started making some stuff a few years ago...using windows audio recorder. you know, accesories/entertainment/soundrecorder... lol

we were chopping up little bits of the lord of the rings soundtrack before we even knew what sampling was.

then i got hip hop ejay fort my birthday i think.

once i knew i was interested i spent a year taking classes and interning at this educational recording studio thing near my house. learned reason inside out, as well as other studio basics.

just got an mpc1k about three weeks ago, still spending all my beatm aking time trying to get everything down. learning curve isnt bad, i just want to be able to do everything possible, or close, on the mpc before i move on to using it in tandem with other stuff.

 

[Equelizer]

Same way i learned how to play to play football & basketball, pratice......(and talent)

Nigga you ain't no baller...lol...get them splenders out cha ass....lol..just fucking with ya.

I learned by ear...and like class said.....practice...i spend shit load of hours praticing...i treat it like a second job....

 

[bigdmakintrax]

I learned to make beats in college, a couple of my friends from Michigan and Cali I used to be down with that rapped I had an alesis HR16 drum machine and a yamaha keyboard as my first pieces of equipment....I recorded into a stereo I had recording thru the rca inputs 2 tracked and equ'd......I took a break from making beats and started back about 5 years ago though when some area MC's needed a producer , I had an old SP12 Drum machine and and sp-808 to record to in like 99,I wiped the dust off of them and then went to work, I studied a lot of hip hop from the 90's that I grew up on......I learned a lot from some mc's that knew how to write really well, knew hooks and bars they helped me alot......sometimes, actually MC's would go into the beat and tell me not to do this or that....loop this etc....they helped me in the approach I take to make my beats i have to hear an MC but I find an MC and build with them on the type of production they like....other than that I just made beat after beat and tried new techniques....