Production I Make Beats and so Should You

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I often hear various terms when it comes to beatmaking. "Boom Bap", "Trap", "Underground", and many more are what a lot of beatmakers refer to when describing what style of beats they produce. As far as I'm concerned, none of those exist.

It's Not About a Style of Hip Hop Beats

One of the most common types of styles today is Trap. I honestly still don't really know what Trap is supposed to be or how it's put together, but it's what's hot at the moment. I understand that a lot of beatmakers and producers today are aiming to create a certain style of music, but I think that's one of the worst things you can do in the music industry. Whether it's Trap or Boom Bap, dope is dope, and wack is wack, period.

When I look back at Hip Hop from the 80s and 90s, there were plenty of styles of beats. Fresh Prince had the funny songs with lighthearted beats, and Public Enemy came with their political raps and hard-as-fuck beats. Even though they had different styles of music, they did what was fitting for them and didn't just do a particular style because it was hot. In fact, Fresh Prince and Public Enemy led the way in their respective styles.

There were some artists that tried to switch things up and come out with a much harder persona because they wanted more notoriety and sales, but it backfired. Everyone remembers MC Hammer with his big sparkly pants, but how many remember Hammer a few years later dressed all in black with black Timbs, a black skully, and hard beats? That didn't last long.



For beatmaking, the same thing applies. True, in the golden age of Hip Hop in the 90s, there were many artists that sounded the same, but I don't think that necessarily applies because Hip Hop was at its peak and pretty much everything that came out was dope. But with beats today, I think a lot of beatmakers have gone completely off track and instead of focusing on being creative, they're too caught up in working a certain style of beats.

I don't know what style of beats I make, and I don't care. I just make beats, and you should too. I've heard the terms "Boom Bap", or "Horrorcore" (which is really dumb), but none of that is even on my radar. There have been many times when I was feeling aggressive so I wanted to make hard-hitting beats but after the dust settled, my beat was like smooth sailing over the calm seas. Don't ask me how I went from aggressive to mellow, but it just happens.

It's because I just make beats.

What You Do Can Affect Your Beat Sales

Some of you sell beats, or make beats for artists that you're working with. Either one of those can be greatly affected if you're making beats based on style alone.

Let's say for example that you make Trap beats (or whatever style). It's what's hot and you like making those types of beats. But is that really the type of beat that you want to do?

I see three scenarios here:
  1. Trap beats are not really inside you.
  2. You're making Trap beats because you think that's what you need to do.
  3. You're making Trap beats and you're good at it, but it's the influence of what you hear everyone else doing that is pushing you towards making Trap.
It could very well be that you really like Trap, you're good at producing it, and you get a lot of beat sales with it. If that's you, then great. However, I'm wondering how many beatmakers are making beats versus making a certain style of beats. This is the main question pertaining to this article.

When you sit down to make beats, do you just let whatever creative juices you have just flow, or are you specifically trying to make a certain style?

If you're trying to make a certain style, then why?

Again, if it works for you then great, but on the other hand, why would you want to sound like everyone else? What a lot of beatmakers need to remember is that making beats and producing music is all about being creative. So if it's all about creativity, why would make something that everyone else is making?

Boom Bap, Trap, Boom Trap, Trap Bap

There is absolutely nothing wrong with making beats that have a particular sound, however, it should be unintentional. Like the example I gave earlier, no matter how many times I try to make an aggressive beat, it never comes out that way. It's just not in me.

But here's the thing - I could definitely make aggressive beats if I really wanted to - for example, if aggressive beats were hot right now. Ring a bell?

My point is that if I really wanted to, I could make whatever style of music. But I don't. Making beats to me is like a painter with a blank canvas. Do you think painters try to paint something that looks exactly like Picasso? Or do you think MMA fighters train to become exactly like another fighter? Nope. In fact, MMA fighters train to their natural strengths.

You can make whatever beats you want, but I always find that the best producers and beatmakers are the ones that do what comes naturally and focus on just making beats.

What do you think?

Further Reading Related to Making Beats
 
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TACTIK

The most unique producer on here
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 527
Real styles of an artist come from others styles they've been around for a while. Trying to be a certain way can take too much effort! There's nothing wrong with a difficult project, but if it's not worth enjoying then its a waste of time trying to sound it's best.

Unique styles can be produced at 110% without any limitations!

Commonly labeled styles only get up to 99.9% with their production.
 

Fade

The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Right on. I think that's one of the many reasons the quality of beats today is stagnant and there's not too much variety. In a way it's also like with mixing where all mixes are super loud and all seem the same. It's great to want to keep up with trends, but at the same time there's nothing wrong with setting the trend yourself.
 

TriKRaps

Whats life without hip-hop?
Battle Points: 4
Fade i need your help!What you said was exactly what i was thinking! My style is sad/creepy (as you saw on the beat this! contest with biggie i sucked doing another style i tried to do another style but i just couldnt). My team needs other beats tho... not only sad/creepy but im just not good at making other styles....what is should do???
 

Fade

The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
@Trik Just like in the article, I think it's best if you keep your own style. You can try to make a certain style and you might end up being good at it. Because you might be good at a certain thing like drums, for example, so that would be your strength if you do a different style. So if you're going from sad/creepy and want to make a Trap beat, then you could, but just focus on your strengths. Maybe make a Sad Trap beat? Is that a new genre? :cool:
 

TriKRaps

Whats life without hip-hop?
Battle Points: 4
@Trik Just like in the article, I think it's best if you keep your own style. You can try to make a certain style and you might end up being good at it. Because you might be good at a certain thing like drums, for example, so that would be your strength if you do a different style. So if you're going from sad/creepy and want to make a Trap beat, then you could, but just focus on your strengths. Maybe make a Sad Trap beat? Is that a new genre? :cool:
thnx bro...that will surely help me out!
 
Battle Points: 1
@Fade grat article my man, i got caught up and got lost in the sauce for a while trying to make beats in similar fashion to my fav producers, and I learned there is a fine line between studying the greats for techniques and tips and tricks and trying to actually mimic their sound. Although others classify my beats as "trap" I personally dont like being placed in a box and consider myself a hip hop producer not so sure i believe in the other sub genres.

@Trik im no dre or J dilla , but what I realized worked for me was going out and finding instruments/samples from diff cultures, generes, and styles. And also from time to time I'll choose a producer I like and for about a month straight listen to nothing but that producer and eventually I end up developing an ear for that new sound or genre im going for
 

TriKRaps

Whats life without hip-hop?
Battle Points: 4
@Fade grat article my man, i got caught up and got lost in the sauce for a while trying to make beats in similar fashion to my fav producers, and I learned there is a fine line between studying the greats for techniques and tips and tricks and trying to actually mimic their sound. Although others classify my beats as "trap" I personally dont like being placed in a box and consider myself a hip hop producer not so sure i believe in the other sub genres.

@Trik im no dre or J dilla , but what I realized worked for me was going out and finding instruments/samples from diff cultures, generes, and styles. And also from time to time I'll choose a producer I like and for about a month straight listen to nothing but that producer and eventually I end up developing an ear for that new sound or genre im going for
thnx for the tip ill use that
 

Reefer Simpson

Producer/Artist
View attachment 4068

I often hear various terms when it comes to beatmaking. "Boom Bap", "Trap", "Underground", and many more are what a lot of beatmakers refer to when describing what style of beats they produce. As far as I'm concerned, none of those exist.

It's Not About a Style of Hip Hop Beats

One of the most common types of styles today is Trap. I honestly still don't really know what Trap is supposed to be or how it's put together, but it's what's hot at the moment. I understand that a lot of beatmakers and producers today are aiming to create a certain style of music, but I think that's one of the worst things you can do in the music industry. Whether it's Trap or Boom Bap, dope is dope, and wack is wack, period.

When I look back at Hip Hop from the 80s and 90s, there were plenty of styles of beats. Fresh Prince had the funny songs with lighthearted beats, and Public Enemy came with their political raps and hard-as-fuck beats. Even though they had different styles of music, they did what was fitting for them and didn't just do a particular style because it was hot. In fact, Fresh Prince and Public Enemy led the way in their respective styles.

There were some artists that tried to switch things up and come out with a much harder persona because they wanted more notoriety and sales, but it backfired. Everyone remembers MC Hammer with his big sparkly pants, but how many remember Hammer a few years later dressed all in black with black Timbs, a black skully, and hard beats? That didn't last long.



For beatmaking, the same thing applies. True, in the golden age of Hip Hop in the 90s, there were many artists that sounded the same, but I don't think that necessarily applies because Hip Hop was at its peak and pretty much everything that came out was dope. But with beats today, I think a lot of beatmakers have gone completely off track and instead of focusing on being creative, they're too caught up in working a certain style of beats.

I don't know what style of beats I make, and I don't care. I just make beats, and you should too. I've heard the terms "Boom Bap", or "Horrorcore" (which is really dumb), but none of that is even on my radar. There have been many times when I was feeling aggressive so I wanted to make hard-hitting beats but after the dust settled, my beat was like smooth sailing over the calm seas. Don't ask me how I went from aggressive to mellow, but it just happens.

It's because I just make beats.

What You Do Can Affect Your Beat Sales

Some of you sell beats, or make beats for artists that you're working with. Either one of those can be greatly affected if you're making beats based on style alone.

Let's say for example that you make Trap beats (or whatever style). It's what's hot and you like making those types of beats. But is that really the type of beat that you want to do?

I see three scenarios here:
  1. Trap beats are not really inside you.
  2. You're making Trap beats because you think that's what you need to do.
  3. You're making Trap beats and you're good at it, but it's the influence of what you hear everyone else doing that is pushing you towards making Trap.
It could very well be that you really like Trap, you're good at producing it, and you get a lot of beat sales with it. If that's you, then great. However, I'm wondering how many beatmakers are making beats versus making a certain style of beats. This is the main question pertaining to this article.

When you sit down to make beats, do you just let whatever creative juices you have just flow, or are you specifically trying to make a certain style?

If you're trying to make a certain style, then why?

Again, if it works for you then great, but on the other hand, why would you want to sound like everyone else? What a lot of beatmakers need to remember is that making beats and producing music is all about being creative. So if it's all about creativity, why would make something that everyone else is making?

Boom Bap, Trap, Boom Trap, Trap Bap

There is absolutely nothing wrong with making beats that have a particular sound, however, it should be unintentional. Like the example I gave earlier, no matter how many times I try to make an aggressive beat, it never comes out that way. It's just not in me.

But here's the thing - I could definitely make aggressive beats if I really wanted to - for example, if aggressive beats were hot right now. Ring a bell?

My point is that if I really wanted to, I could make whatever style of music. But I don't. Making beats to me is like a painter with a blank canvas. Do you think painters try to paint something that looks exactly like Picasso? Or do you think MMA fighters train to become exactly like another fighter? Nope. In fact, MMA fighters train to their natural strengths.

You can make whatever beats you want, but I always find that the best producers and beatmakers are the ones that do what comes naturally and focus on just making beats.

What do you think?

I like the article, I think it fits with this generation only & it might change rap for the worse. I try to use trap in general to get more audience that's listening to hip hop already but some of it is not for me. They're catchy & hype though. If you want to hear some cool instrumentals or verses you could check out tracks - www.soundcloud.com/reefersimpson
 
Good article. I make music for the enjoyment, but I put the good ones onto Beatstars just in case someone wants to give me money, which is fine, but it pushes you to pigeonhole it into a genre and link it to a related artist. I hate doing it and have decided not to this year. Also I completely agree sometimes you make hard beats and sometimes chill, I don't see why this has to be unorthodox. Even the pros with a signature sound switch it up eventually.
 

Iron Keys

ILLIEN MBAPPÉ
ill o.g.
Battle Points: 543
I had a paradox when i started out that went between wanting to find my own sound and not wanting all my beats to sound the same.

The thing i later realised was, take Scott Storch 2000s era... his beats don't necessarily sound exactly the same, but largely they all sounded the same.

The thing is when you hear a storch beat it will be like 1 beat on this album 2 beats on that album. And that's his "sound". When you're hearing or sharing your own beats you're hearing them all at once.

What i took from this, is when you find a "sound" that's working - milk the fuck out of it. And try and get those beats used by artists. Then when you've rinsed it, find your next phase in your sound and do the same.

Also you might find you "have a sound" without realising it - even when I've made a bunch of different styled beats some people still recognise my vibe in it. And others have recognised influences in my sound (outside the obvious) that when i thought about, is actually very true too.

Sometimes you just gotta let yourself be free to make what's inside you. And if you need it to lean a certain way, pick up a few of the rules or framework of that style but then let yourself absolutey loose to do your own thing within the small set of boundaries.

some people are literally using sample loops to build their tracks, using trap/hiphop "templates" (whatevee the fuck they are), may trick a few people into thinking you're good, but in the words of Jeru... Ya Playin Yaself
 
I had a paradox when i started out that went between wanting to find my own sound and not wanting all my beats to sound the same.

The thing i later realised was, take Scott Storch 2000s era... his beats don't necessarily sound exactly the same, but largely they all sounded the same.

The thing is when you hear a storch beat it will be like 1 beat on this album 2 beats on that album. And that's his "sound". When you're hearing or sharing your own beats you're hearing them all at once.

What i took from this, is when you find a "sound" that's working - milk the fuck out of it. And try and get those beats used by artists. Then when you've rinsed it, find your next phase in your sound and do the same.

Also you might find you "have a sound" without realising it - even when I've made a bunch of different styled beats some people still recognise my vibe in it. And others have recognised influences in my sound (outside the obvious) that when i thought about, is actually very true too.

Sometimes you just gotta let yourself be free to make what's inside you. And if you need it to lean a certain way, pick up a few of the rules or framework of that style but then let yourself absolutey loose to do your own thing within the small set of boundaries.

some people are literally using sample loops to build their tracks, using trap/hiphop "templates" (whatevee the fuck they are), may trick a few people into thinking you're good, but in the words of Jeru... Ya Playin Yaself
Interesting musings. So you're basically saying I need to get my Storch on and blast a boatload of cocaine. Sweet.
But yeah I don't set out to make a very defined beat each time but unconsciously my traits seep into it.
I usually recognise your style Iron Keys but that last Beat This comp threw me!
 
I really enjoy making trap myself, but not your typical trap. My trap is slower. Something you can rap to. Iv tried boom bap and personally i found it boringly slow for me. Type of people i got influenced by were scott storch, beetnuts, etc. Notice its alot of flute beats? I really think its about the influence . I used to make happy happy beats. For some reason that also fell away hahahaha.
 

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