Enjoy

Interview with Ash Grunwald : Music Interviews : Watch Out For …

Between Give Signs and Fish out of Water was about 2 years, and in that time I learnt how to make electronic beats. But I realized also that it was a hobby for me. I didn’t think I could do it as well as someone who does it for a living. … You can be really real, or you can just close your personality off completely and let people make their own mind, but they wont ever know you. They’re both very acceptable. In the early days, I learnt a bit of stage craft from Lloyd …

Tip #1. Use those repeats and patterns. Since everything is created from them musically, take advantage of them. If your piece has some of these patterns, don’t waste time trying to re-write them into the piece. You can make loops from these musical ideas and save a bunch of time.

Tip #2. If you decide to use some loops and you do not have your own, know where to find them. Many packages for recording come with pre-made loops that you can use for the basis of your own patterns. This is great if you are using a beat in general or a rhythm pattern. Do not base your song soley on a loop though.

Tip #3. Thinking in layers is the way to go.It does not matter if you are recording live, using loops, or using patterns.This is the way to think and should be part of your process from the arrangement of the piece all the way to the production and mixing.

The first thing you should do is to try and decide exactly which style you would like to emulate. Sometimes this can be difficult, but the more focused you are the better chance you will have of not getting into a point of not knowing what you want to do. There are several choices for this including hip hop, rap and rnb.

Sometimes what can help is to think of an artist that you enjoy listening to within that style and study what they are doing. Never plagiarize though. Come up with your own stuff. Listen, learn, get a feel for the style.

Now we start to get into some musical points, which is probably the most important part of all of this. Every decent piece of music has to have a form. It doesn’t matter if it is a Beethoven symphony, a country western song, hip hop or rnb, they all have structure. There is usually an intro followed by a verse, a chorus, then a verse again, bridge and by the way, these can be changed around. Again, listen to your favorite musicians songs and see what they do paying attention to form and instrumentation.

The absolute simplest way to make a beat is to make an 8 bar loop and repeat it for the whole song. A more common thing to do is a four bar introduction, a sixteen bar verse, eight bar chorus, then another sixteen bar verse and finally another eight bar chorus. That’s it!

Now it is time to have a bit of fun. The basis for all your hip hop and rap beats should be the drums. They need to be very strong and present. Lay down one at a time the kick, snare and hi hat. After that, you can add some things such as symbols, tom toms and cow-bells. Make a strong beat.

The next part can be tricky because you need some keyboard skills. A melody is needed. You don’t have to be a conservatory trained musician, but learning some basic scales will be of great help. You can get some very basic online piano lessons that will help with this. Use a lead guitar sound, horns or some other instrument which will stand out. Make a four or eight bar melody.

One trick you can use to make your beat have a bit more size and personality is what is known as “layering the beat.” What this means is to take a part or pattern and add it in with another instrumental sound in various parts of your song. You can also help make the sound of the soung bigger by placing some of the instruments on the right, some on the left and some in the middle. This is called panning and can really add a three dimensional feel to the piece. Do not overlook this critical artistic tool.

Enjoy!

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This program is perfect for a band who would like to produce an album in house, the ability to make high-quality song versions for songwriters or singers. If you are a beginning engineer or producer, this will help get you started in recording. Educators can benefit also by being able to make accompaniment music for their students, and let’s not forget anyone with the dream of having their own multitrack recording studio.

If you are interested in Cakewalk Home Studio 7, there is an online store called zZounds
which has a lowest price guarantee and support. They have tons of stuff and have a Bizrate certification. There is also a 30 day return policy.

I am going to put up some Cakewalk Home Studio 7 tutorial demo videos which I found the other day. You will be able to find them by clicking on the link above.

Having to buy all that stuff kept many a talented artist from being able to create their art, and in today’s internet world, you can actually have a chance. Don’t get me wrong, you can still buy fancy pants professional equipment, but if you are just starting out, don’t. All you really need is a computer, desk top or lap top, some beat making software and some decent speakers or headphones. The software can be had for between $30 and $100. Not bad considering.

The software today has literally thousands of instrumental samples and you can really create some amazingly professional work. One of the best options out there is a program called Sonic Producer, which is a downloadable music sequencer.  For a program that is under fifty bucks, it really does the trick.

If you want to go all out, there are programs such as Cakewalk and Cubase, but these can run into the hundreds of dollars and they are worth it. However, the tendency seems to be that many music producers are moving to online versions of beat makers, and once you get the hang of working with one, it can really free up your budget and time. You can check out some information on this site about the most popular beat making software.

In order to make music, you are best off having some musical training. You could hire a musician to dictate and record your inner thoughts, but this is pricey and leaves you extremely dependent on the musician that you hire.

There are also some very interesting inexpensive sequencer programs available online. One of these is called Sonic Producer and can do a good job. If you want to take that next step, then you will need some more stuff.

Assuming that you have some musical training, the next step in composing and recording is buying some good hardware and software. Make sure to trust the store that you are buying from. The merchant should specialize in music and have a friendly and knowledgeable staff that can answer technical questions.
Try to get the store to install all of your software, sound samples and your sound card. The less you have to do, the better. Make sure that the store is providing you with a fast processor and a lot of memory, as sound samples are rather large. You’ll also need a mixer and patch chords.

If you plan on using live audio to record directly into your computer, then a microphone is also necessary. As for the hardware, if you plan on recording live in the same room that your computer is in (perhaps you have a small area for your home studio), you’ll need an extremely quiet hard drive.

Midi sound samples are the most economical way of recording, as you have a one time fee of sound sample purchases. Hiring live musicians is expensive, although the sound quality is usually quite gratifying. Many composers use a combination of live and midi sounds to create their sound tracks.

Occasionally, companies manufacture both hardware and software. An example of this is Steinberg, who produces both extremely powerful and quiet hard drives, and amazing recording software like Cubase.

There are many companies that are in the business of supplying great recording equipment. The bottom line here is to really trust both a recommended dealer for your supplies, and a recommended music teacher (if needed) for some reliable theory and keyboard training. Remember that a keyboard or controller is commonly used to play midi sounds.

Mixing it Up

Congratulations. You have made it and you want information on how to make your own beats and how to make rap beats in general. This is the place to not only find the tools and software you will need, but all sorts of information on recording files, working with midi, wav and mp3, plus the music biz in general.

So we can get started now, but first, go on over and sign up for our free 5 day make your own beats e-course and newsletter. Definately worth doing.