Here's a nice quick breakdown of a top rap beat

OGBama

Big Clit Energy
55 @3ternal tracks seems like overkill.
 

Iron Keys

ILLIEN MBAPPÉ
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 544
Respectfully, you don't have to do all that.

Reason I say this, is 'cause I guarantee about 90% of new-ish beatmakers will see this video and go "oh, I have to layer 5 kick drums, i have to layer 7 snares, i have to double, triple, quadruple layer everything and use extreme compression and eq on everything" i guarantee. They'll see that, and that's what they'll think. Been there myself, seen my peers all talking that nonsense.

Now the thing is, sometimes i layer kicks, or snares, or something. But when I do that, it's because I go 'ou, this kick has the boom i like, but i need something to add the slap I want' ... now ideally, I'd find a kick sample that does it all. But the point is you layer WHEN you NEED to, a choice, a decision. Not "because". Most people are layering/eqing/compressing "because", and I think you can really hear that on some peoples' mixes here on ill - there's always a bunch of beats you're like "you have to make an actual effort to make a mix sound that messed up", and usually the main driving force behind that is becuase they think they have to do certain stuff, rather than making those decisions as production choices because they need to.
 

Greg Savage

Ehh Fuck you
ill o.g.
Respectfully, you don't have to do all that.

Reason I say this, is 'cause I guarantee about 90% of new-ish beatmakers will see this video and go "oh, I have to layer 5 kick drums, i have to layer 7 snares, i have to double, triple, quadruple layer everything and use extreme compression and eq on everything" i guarantee. They'll see that, and that's what they'll think. Been there myself, seen my peers all talking that nonsense.

Now the thing is, sometimes i layer kicks, or snares, or something. But when I do that, it's because I go 'ou, this kick has the boom i like, but i need something to add the slap I want' ... now ideally, I'd find a kick sample that does it all. But the point is you layer WHEN you NEED to, a choice, a decision. Not "because". Most people are layering/eqing/compressing "because", and I think you can really hear that on some peoples' mixes here on ill - there's always a bunch of beats you're like "you have to make an actual effort to make a mix sound that messed up", and usually the main driving force behind that is becuase they think they have to do certain stuff, rather than making those decisions as production choices because they need to.
True..

Man, I haven't layered a kick in about 10 or 11 years. If you've been doing this for a while you have that stuff bounced a single file now.

If you're new, chances are, you're purchasing drums, a lot of that is already done.
 
Respectfully, you don't have to do all that.

Reason I say this, is 'cause I guarantee about 90% of new-ish beatmakers will see this video and go "oh, I have to layer 5 kick drums, i have to layer 7 snares, i have to double, triple, quadruple layer everything and use extreme compression and eq on everything" i guarantee. They'll see that, and that's what they'll think. Been there myself, seen my peers all talking that nonsense.

Now the thing is, sometimes i layer kicks, or snares, or something. But when I do that, it's because I go 'ou, this kick has the boom i like, but i need something to add the slap I want' ... now ideally, I'd find a kick sample that does it all. But the point is you layer WHEN you NEED to, a choice, a decision. Not "because". Most people are layering/eqing/compressing "because", and I think you can really hear that on some peoples' mixes here on ill - there's always a bunch of beats you're like "you have to make an actual effort to make a mix sound that messed up", and usually the main driving force behind that is becuase they think they have to do certain stuff, rather than making those decisions as production choices because they need to.
This totally. I usually layer a couple of snares but that's about it. Maybe two kicks sometime. That DAW looks so busy and makes me cringe. I fell into the trap of overprocessing and over time realised good sound selection is better. I mean who has the time to spend half a day searching for samples and layering them up like that and dicking around with EQ and compression to the nth degree? The more samples you introduce the more you scale up problems. @Greg Savage is right too. Sample packs have it already done.
Sometimes it's nice to make your own samples but when I'm making a track a want to get the idea out fast whilst it's still exciting to me, not go on a tangent like that.
 
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