method of production

[southern]

im intrested to know how you all learned your methods of production, was it self taught, is there a book, or did someone teach you


I've heard a few producers talk about how easy it is
ie , drum programming, when to add leads or whatever,
I've been making beats for a while, but i never got a method of production down

i got a couple of tracks done on my blog site

 

[NobleWordz]

Mostly self trained. I was playing with FL for like a good year before I even had access to the net. So a lot of what I learned came from trial and error.

I think a lot of Producers that have been in the game a long time don't realize how hard it was in the beginning. And of course some people are naturally talented, I for one am not. And that's where practice comes in, you practice and practice and when you think you got it down your practice some more. Its like Wax On Wax off, you do it some much it becomes instinct, you don't think you just do.

NW

 

[robb_lowe]

im intrested to know how you all learned your methods of production, was it self taught, is there a book, or did someone teach you


I've heard a few producers talk about how easy it is
ie , drum programming, when to add leads or whatever,
I've been making beats for a while, but i never got a method of production down

i got a couple of tracks done on my blog site

www.romelle.com

If you got it, you got it. If you don't, you don't. It's not easy, so you have to put your all into it. There's no correct method for production. It falls on you and what sound you're trying to accomplish. Me, I taught myself. No mentor, nothing of the sort. Which is why I tend to be "stingy" with information sometimes. No one going to sit and tell you how to make a beat. Me learning on my own has allowed me to appreciate what I've accomplished as far as my sound. Let me put it to you this way, everytime you turn your "mpc" on, your computer, or whatever you're using, there should be some form of improvement. If not, then you should hang it up. (That's just my opinion) There's no shortcut to making hot tracks. Hard work, effort, with a "splash" of "originality" and you're in there. Also, you have to have some sort of knowledge when it come to music to compete with the hot producers nowadays. It hope I helped you a bit. I try to "pull no punches" when it comes to answering questions like this. Hope I wasn't too "blunt". (Bare with me)

 

[Kontents]

YO South,

Welcome to Ill I can tell your new here. So here is a freebie. "take your link out of the post or a Mod will do it"

There are places you can post your beats. The link is fine if its in your sig, but dont make threads and post the links all over.

Now to your question.

I jumped head first into production. I had no clue what i was doing or what to do. Sooo I bought mad gear without a clue of how to use it or if it was even needed.

But Over time and exerience i learned a heap of info. I took classes but it was for novice people and by the time i took the class i learned more then what they were teaching. (Take in mind there were different areas that i didnt know that they covered)

So more or less Trial and Error was my mentor. It worked well I help alot of my friends and am always getting better.

Its a true self taught skill.

you can do it.

 

[dacalion]

For me, all of my music background came from being in music therory class. We basically broke down musical compositions and worked on the different aspects that comprise it. Then I got interested in band class which I played alto sax and stage band which I played bass guitar. After graduating from school, I started DJing. Scratching and Cuttin records is almost like a form of producing in that you are modifying the original record to make it even more jazzy. So now Im playing around with high end sound quality and making beats together.

With the introduction of DAW's and all the music production software, making a beat is fairly easy. It's not for everybody but these music production tools has made it alot easier for the avg. joe to make a beat. With that in mind, you do form a pattern in a way. The "method" of producing hip hop beats is very broad, the rules can change at anytime and you can pretty much make up the rules. So to say that there is a method of producing hip hop beats is true and untrue at the same time. Hip hop is all about putting your twist or flavor on your work. The ultimate idea is to create something that most people will like.

So in conclusion, it's not as much about having a formula as it is having fun doing it and pleasing those who listen to it.

MOF

 

[classic]

my ish just developed on its own.... no special formula

 

[Ash Holmz]

trial and error

 

[Icemanbeats]

i went to production college, but knowing how things work and what they do doesn't make u good.. u gotta wax on and wax off, daniel son

 

[LDB]

My 2 Cents!

Homie, there's no magic formula! And unlike what some others have already said or will say, IMO "U CAN LEARN HOW TO PRODUCE MUSIC". Some God given talent would be an asset and could set you apart from the average producer, but in todays music realm it's definitely not needed. You can make money in this business if you never develop a signature sound. The best sigs come without trying IMO anyway. The great producers of the past weren't trying to do this....it just happened. If flowed from within!

IMO, if you love music you can "learn to produce it" It's no diff't from sports, a specific profession, a subject in school. If you want to learn it, you can! It's all "trial and error," nobody doing it on a professional level or here on ILL can honestly say they came out the gate banging out "hot beats". That would be a flat out lie and avoid any advice they give like it was verbal "AIDS"!

Develop your ears for one. Listen to diff't genre's of music. I mean really really listen. Develop the ability to discern what you hear. Be able to break down the song into every individual sound contained in it. From the hat, to snare, to the base, to the piano, harmonica etc. etc. The next level of that would be to start learning what type of a specific instrument is used i.e grand pianos – the Steinway D, Bechstein D 280 or Boesendorfer 290 Imperial, tom kick, base kick, fret bass, electric base etc (u get the point). One good way to learn and practice this is to recreate what you hear. Try to redo that same track as close as possible. Listen for the effects and the whole nine.

Diff't genre's have key instruments or sounds that they must have in order to place them in that genre or sub genre of music. IMO if you learn this one thing you can produce any style of music. You can't take "The Good Life" by Kanye and place it in the Reggae ton genre. It doesn't have the right elements.

And never forget this..being a good producer doesn't necessarily mean you have to be able to play any or all instruments. Sometimes it means being able to articulate to musicians that you hire to "play" said instrument, how you want it to sound or where you want it placed etc. Quincy Jones very seldom plays anything but he had the vision, knowledge and the ability to express to other musicians and artist, how he wanted it to sound.

 

[Kontents]

^^^^ I like the verbal AIDs Line haha

 

[southern]

thanks for the feedback,

 

[woohff]

Just trial and error and trying to copy whatever is (or sounds) hot. Imitating another producers style is a great way to develop your skills and someday you'll might have enough ear/expierience/luck to form the sound of your own.

Reading stuff at illmuzik is effective too of course!

 

[Relic]

Lots of trial and error and learnin from people higher on the foodchain....
This site has helped alot!

 

[Krazyfingaz]

self trained, trial and error and still learning.

 

[samuelock]

i learned with a demo version of fl and audacity. i manually looped that junks.

then i got the full version of FL, and the story took off from there. just hours and hours of messing around in the program, dreaming on musiciansfriend.com, and googling a bunch of things. that's how i learned.

 

[Fury]

trial and error

word it takes alot of tryin different things out i started at 13 and didnt get my tru touch out till after a few years...

 

[bigdmakintrax]

There is a degree of talent involved but basically knowing how to put it altogether, listening to feeback and just overall man, making a lot of beats finding what you like and doing it sort of like a chef would do when they make excellent dishes without any cookbook they just know from doing and experimenting with tastebuds, we do that with our own and other peoples ears, most cats on here i betcha gotta slew of joints they don made, now whether we ever gonna hear em i doubt it..

To tell you the truth even before coming here i got at least 15 or 20 spindles of the 50 cd packs each cd completely full with beats and loads more thats either been deleted accidently lost on hard drives over the years, i been making beats for crews, emcees, mixtapes or whatever since 2000 or before man, you just gotta hava lot of time on your hands and passion, keep making tracks, listen to other beats, find out the elements that make up a hot beat...get a library of a lot of dope instrumentals already used by the major artists study them...

A lot of my beatmaking came straight as a result of having artists to work with and they go hey can you take that out, can you put this in, that sound need to come down, or use a different snare etc..or they have an instrumental either from another producer or a mixtape instrumental and they want you to make a similiar beat..(this is where jacking comes into play when an emcee has a cd and there is this beat that is halfway done, he asks you to redo it, it really is not that you intended to jack but in order to fulfill what the emcee or artist wants this happens)....its not an overnight thing though so dont think cause you got the means you gonna produce top quality off the jump, it wont happen, you have to work at this craft....one way to always look at it is like this...i want to paint a picture, what colors will be needed and what will the picture look like when beginning, but when you actually compose that joint, its just like writing a composition in english class...you gotta follow a formula, the intro, the thesis or main point, then you reinforce that by coming up with things that keep establishing the main point then you sum it all up and after you made the point you close.

liken the hook to the thesis statement, you gonna use a melody to back it up, then you gonna continuously hear that element of the melody through the entire song but possibly less volume or using other instruments...while it plays through 16 bars of the chorus...you need to go study some composition theory and music theory but if you not composing from scratch....the music theory is good to have but not as important if you not forming chords etc...

 

[DJ Redrum]

Aside from the usual, listening to alot of music and breaking it down on how it was composed always helps me.

 

[Hi-Lo]

remaking beats is crucial...it really teaches you how to compose something on a professional level. other than that as ash said, just keep grinding, time in the studio will always pay off

also real talk...never listen to the people who tell you its easy. my guess is they aren't timbaland or premier on the boards, because guys at that level know the work ethic and skill involved in making great records.. the guys who tell you this is easy are always the ones with 1 placement and who get complacent with stuff like that.

 

[stormelements]

I learned on my own and the music store became my second home...lol