| If you are new to producing instrumental rap beats, | | | | gather feedback to gauge your progress, and trust |
| there are more than likely lots of unanswered | | | | that you are taking steps in the right direction. |
| questions in your mind. Check out these quick tips to | | | | 3. Begin your beats in the order which you feel most |
| help as you develop as a producer: | | | | comfortable. |
| 1. Draw inspiration from other beats, but create your | | | | People always ask how to start an instrumental beat. |
| own style. | | | | Should you lay the drums first? Or should you focus |
| Everything we create is a culmination of what we | | | | on the instrumental sections? |
| hear, and more so, the sounds that we personally take | | | | The thing I have found to be true is that every |
| interest in. It is important that we focus on the things | | | | producer has their own way of doing it, and no way is |
| we like about other instrumental rap beats, while | | | | wrong. Dr. Dre has said that he likes to make the |
| making our creations unique. | | | | drums first, and then focus on the instruments. |
| Listen to lots of music. Find the musical elements which | | | | I personally like coming up with the main instrumental |
| really touch your soul. Incorporate these elements into | | | | sections first, and then adding the drums. Next, I will |
| your music by combining everything you like about the | | | | add some more instruments (if needed), and work on |
| music you listen to. | | | | the final mix. |
| At the same time, do not attempt to directly copy any | | | | 4. Put great emphasis on mixing. |
| other works. Learn to draw from these resources | | | | Lots of times, the difference between a successful |
| without re-creating them verbatim. | | | | beat and a beat which fails is all in the mix. |
| 2. Practice your rap beats like you would any other | | | | Learn about mixing. Develop your ear for what sounds |
| skill. | | | | good. Mixing is a never-ending learning process, so you |
| Creating instrumental rap beats is a skill like anything | | | | should aim to make your mixes better with each beat |
| else. The more you work at it, the better you will | | | | you create. Find books on mixing, and search online for |
| become. | | | | articles. Do what you can with your resources! |
| The more skills you can bring to the creation of your | | | | Understand that you may not be able to achieve a |
| rap beats, the better. Not too good at playing piano? | | | | platinum-level mix at your home. But you CAN create |
| Learn some basic chords and scales. Having trouble | | | | very good mixes with minimal equipment. Better |
| mixing your beats? Read articles, and then experiment | | | | equipment will always win, but please do not think that |
| with equalization, compression, reverb, etc. | | | | you NEED million-dollar equipment to make decent, |
| Practicing making beats is not necessarily something | | | | audible, nice mixes. Learn on what you have, and |
| you can gauge. It is not like practicing your basketball | | | | collect better equipment as you can afford it. |
| shot, in which you can use statistics to determine your | | | | I hope these few tips can help you on your way to |
| progress. You simply need to keep working at it, | | | | creating better instrumental rap beats! |