How many beats....

[Ozmosis]

We've all read articles/interviews over the years on our favorite producers. And at some point all of them 9th wonder, kanye west would say back in the day they used to make anywhere from 20-35 beats a day or week(I would always think to myself "yeah right"). And this was before they had major deals. My question is on a typical saturday if you had nothing to do and no distractions, how many beats can you pump out? Just a quick raw mixes with no mastering.

I know for me even if im in the mode, 2 or 3 beats at the most i could do in a day.

 

[Cleverwon]

All day, raw mixes on a saturday. Shit man, easily 20. Probably would be burnt out after 30.

 

[2GooD Productions]

I could knock out about 20 composed sketches/ideas easily, simply because the workflow is extremely fast when composing, Id half that for when sampling because of the time it takes to get the samples cut right, but tend to take more time on something Im feeling.
So if I was to try to make proper beats, it would probably be 3 or 4 in a day.
I would like to add that the key phrase in the OP is "used to make". I would agree, while I used to bang out beats all day, they were pretty average, but when I spent a lot of time on 1 track, it would be pretty good. So I went down the quality over quantity route.

 

[mercurywaters]

prolly 5 tops. i usually change the beat 3 or 4 times before i settle on an arrangement. if i did nothing but loop and add drums i could go 20.

 

[Ozmosis]

prolly 5 tops. i usually change the beat 3 or 4 times before i settle on an arrangement. if i did nothing but loop and add drums i could go 20.

Im the same way with arrangment which slows up the process sometimes.

All day, raw mixes on a saturday. Shit man, easily 20. Probably would be burnt out after 30.

Next question, once you have all these skeleton beats do you go back and finish them? I have more unfinished beats on the PC then I do finished.

 

[wrightboy]

2 or 3 for me....

...i do go back to my old skeleton beats from time to time. i might go back to the same beat 5 times before i finally get inspiration for finishing it. but i'm like you. i have more unfinished than finished.

 

[Fade]

Good question. For really solid beats, no more than 5. But if we're talking just loops, well that could be endless...

 

[Cleverwon]

Im the same way with arrangment which slows up the process sometimes.



Next question, once you have all these skeleton beats do you go back and finish them? I have more unfinished beats on the PC then I do finished.

Only the ones that pass the next day re-listening test.

Fury is the biggest bitch on the planet. Stresswon should put him in his BBQ pit overnight.

Agreed.

 

[2GooD Productions]

Only the ones that pass the next day re-listening test.

Thats the most important test, one day I could be really into a beat while Im making it, but the next day it sounds shit.

 

[Cleverwon]

Thats the most important test, one day I could be really into a beat while Im making it, but the next day it sounds shit.

Word up. This rule goes double for songs.

 

[Fade]

Fury is the biggest bitch on the planet. Stresswon should put him in his BBQ pit overnight.

Agreed.

WTF.

 

[2GooD Productions]

I can go back to my skeleton beats loads of times, Ive always had many more skeletons than finished beats.
I try to get each sketch to be a 16 bar verse + 8 bar hook.
Ive had beats that have taken weeks of going back to until they are "finished". But to be honest, Im of the opinion now, that it aint really finished until the vocals are on it and they mesh with the beat, which could mean changing whole sections of the music again.

 

[Greg Savage]

Well, before I answer let me explain what a 'beat' is to me. In my opinion beats simple loops. These are simple, most people can make these in our sleep.

The genre is based on loops.

I work for on 8 bars and edit the 8 into everything else.


I can do about 20-25 (give or take a few) per day easily. Right now I do 3 a day and I don't spend any more than 30 minutes per track.

The key is working from a template! I rarely ever start anything from scratch. I go to a track of mine open it up strip the sequences and build new ones.

Same sounds/mix...new rhythms

The sounds are there, they already sit nice, they're mixed all I have to do is rearrange things. Also I'm emulating what's already out, I'm not trying to be original

Now if I were starting each track from scratch, keeping it a original.... that's a different story. I might come up with 4-5 (maybe)

When I did my internship, they had us doing this all the time, it was a like a brain dump. They fed us demos for inspiration and we went at it.

You can create all day if you have inspiration.

 

[frankx]

Dang I wish I could make 20-35 beats a day. I do about 2-4 without mixing. I try not to spend more than 30 minutes or an hour on a beat because then I get annoyed when it's looping for a long time so mostly they come out as rough sketches. And I guess another thing is that I'm very computer orientated and I don't have a maschine or mpc that I could work with and improve my workflow.

 

[Kevlar070]

How many beats in 1 day no distractions? I start all my tracks from scratch. I hav done it many saturdays and it depends on the enviornment. I hav done atleast ova 20 in 1 day sketches, after 15 r so i cant keep count, but most of the time i make som beats dat r so sick i jus get hooked and it turns out 2 b like how mean beats can i make till i reach dat 1 beat dat i commit de rest of my day 2 lol.

Hear som examples >>>https://soundcloud.com/kevlar070 .

 

[NQP]

I'm a perfectionist so I would say two at most. I think it also depends on who the beats are for. If you're just throwing beats together for a Saturday night freestyle session, the beats will be basic with very little melody. I sell beats on my website and it takes me about 16 hours start to finish just for one. Most of this time is spent developing the right melodies and mixing.

 

[mister-nebula]

probably about 10 - 11 if they were raw mixes.

 

[Beautiful Noise]

I find it hard to believe these numbers. Anyway, whenever I get my first Saturday when I'm inspired and motivated to make beats, I'll let you know how I did.

 

[DJPhenomMusic]

I been saying I want to increase my output per day. I have days where I make 3 or 4 ideas then days when I can only get 1 idea due to mixing other projects or studio session ect. Maybe this week I will shoot to make 5 a day

 

[Greg Savage]

Go for it. Workflow and inspiration is very important. Line up your inspiration and templates ahead of time.