Making Rap Beats Online - How to Get Started
In today's world, it's much easier for digital artists to get their work in front of peoples eyes.
A popular medium for expressing ones self digitally is through digital music production.
Making rap and hip hop beats is an extremely popular form of digital music today.
Although many people experience "analysis paralysis" when deciding how to go about getting started making rap beats, it does not have to be that difficult.
With a little bit of a primer you will be making your own rap beats in no time.
The first thing you are going to need is a rap beat maker, also known as music production software.
This is a program that allows you to choose instruments and lay out notes on whats called a sequencer.
More and more people are turning to online music sequencers, especially with the inflation of desktop sequencers.
Now, there are people that will say they are worth the money- and I believe they are, but I think they require a little too steep of a learning curve for somebody with no experience.
Especially since this means a heavy monetary investment the majority of the time.
I've never seen a desktop sequencer for less than $100.
However, when you use online music sequencers, depending on the features you can go anywhere from absolutely free to only a few dollars for a membership.
One website that is free to make beats on is called Beaterator.
This is a flash game created by Rockstar games, although there is a nice sound engine behind it.
It has a live play mode as well as a studio mode which makes it a well - rounded game and it is similar to Guitar Hero style games.
This game is reportedly being developed for PSP and has quite an impressive sound engine.
Another option you have is downloading a free trial demo of desktop software.
I would suggest FL Studio, which stands for Fruity Loops.
This is a solid program, I feel it is more beneficial towards people who want to make techno or trance music, but it gets the job done with hip hop as well.
The only down side to downloading the free demo is that it doesn't allow you to save your beats.
I have the full version and it is a real quality program, but I have been at this for years, I imagine a beginner might have a more difficult time than me with learning all the features, because they are rather technically dense, but good nonetheless.
The demo version doesn't have all the presets and samples that the XXL version has, but it will allow you to tinker around a bit.
A final option would be a website called Sonic Producer.
It is a membership-based website that revolves a community around a common sequencer.
It is a nice sequencer in that it has only the necessities and not a million different customization options that desktop software has.
This I find is excellent for beginners because it allows you to learn the meat and potatoes of making rap beats, and doesn't distract or confuse you with extraneous features and options.
The other reason why this site is great for beginners is that membership is only $29, which saves a beginner from the heavy monetary investment with desktop software.
Membership includes access to the beat maker, a friendly community, solid customer service, a huge preset sound and loop library, and thousands of video lessons on everything from how to use the software to how to record piano sets.
I find that beginners are confident starting with Sonic Producer because they will give you a refund if for some reason you aren't satisfied.
They go a long way to give you bang for your buck, which is important to me personally.
Once you have a program, I find that people will find their groove best through experimentation.
You may have originally wanted to make rap beats, and try that by all means, but many people will find they prefer another kind of music just through creative expression and experimentation.
If you are unsure how to lay down your first rap beat, I would suggest the following: Start with the low stuff.
This means, as Lil Wayne says "build the beat up".
Start with the kick drum, lay it down how you want, usually something one kick per beat, so if you counted 1...
,2...
,3...
4,...
Every time you count lay down a kick, some programs let you tap out the beats.
After you lay it down or tap it out, put a hat half way between each kick.
Next, lay down your bass line.
Go crazy with experimentation after this.
This is where your creativity will come into play.
As you can see, it is easy to get started with making rap beats.
Stop over analyzing things and start making rap beats today!
A popular medium for expressing ones self digitally is through digital music production.
Making rap and hip hop beats is an extremely popular form of digital music today.
Although many people experience "analysis paralysis" when deciding how to go about getting started making rap beats, it does not have to be that difficult.
With a little bit of a primer you will be making your own rap beats in no time.
The first thing you are going to need is a rap beat maker, also known as music production software.
This is a program that allows you to choose instruments and lay out notes on whats called a sequencer.
More and more people are turning to online music sequencers, especially with the inflation of desktop sequencers.
Now, there are people that will say they are worth the money- and I believe they are, but I think they require a little too steep of a learning curve for somebody with no experience.
Especially since this means a heavy monetary investment the majority of the time.
I've never seen a desktop sequencer for less than $100.
However, when you use online music sequencers, depending on the features you can go anywhere from absolutely free to only a few dollars for a membership.
One website that is free to make beats on is called Beaterator.
This is a flash game created by Rockstar games, although there is a nice sound engine behind it.
It has a live play mode as well as a studio mode which makes it a well - rounded game and it is similar to Guitar Hero style games.
This game is reportedly being developed for PSP and has quite an impressive sound engine.
Another option you have is downloading a free trial demo of desktop software.
I would suggest FL Studio, which stands for Fruity Loops.
This is a solid program, I feel it is more beneficial towards people who want to make techno or trance music, but it gets the job done with hip hop as well.
The only down side to downloading the free demo is that it doesn't allow you to save your beats.
I have the full version and it is a real quality program, but I have been at this for years, I imagine a beginner might have a more difficult time than me with learning all the features, because they are rather technically dense, but good nonetheless.
The demo version doesn't have all the presets and samples that the XXL version has, but it will allow you to tinker around a bit.
A final option would be a website called Sonic Producer.
It is a membership-based website that revolves a community around a common sequencer.
It is a nice sequencer in that it has only the necessities and not a million different customization options that desktop software has.
This I find is excellent for beginners because it allows you to learn the meat and potatoes of making rap beats, and doesn't distract or confuse you with extraneous features and options.
The other reason why this site is great for beginners is that membership is only $29, which saves a beginner from the heavy monetary investment with desktop software.
Membership includes access to the beat maker, a friendly community, solid customer service, a huge preset sound and loop library, and thousands of video lessons on everything from how to use the software to how to record piano sets.
I find that beginners are confident starting with Sonic Producer because they will give you a refund if for some reason you aren't satisfied.
They go a long way to give you bang for your buck, which is important to me personally.
Once you have a program, I find that people will find their groove best through experimentation.
You may have originally wanted to make rap beats, and try that by all means, but many people will find they prefer another kind of music just through creative expression and experimentation.
If you are unsure how to lay down your first rap beat, I would suggest the following: Start with the low stuff.
This means, as Lil Wayne says "build the beat up".
Start with the kick drum, lay it down how you want, usually something one kick per beat, so if you counted 1...
,2...
,3...
4,...
Every time you count lay down a kick, some programs let you tap out the beats.
After you lay it down or tap it out, put a hat half way between each kick.
Next, lay down your bass line.
Go crazy with experimentation after this.
This is where your creativity will come into play.
As you can see, it is easy to get started with making rap beats.
Stop over analyzing things and start making rap beats today!
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