This beat is crap.. wait , this beat is great!

[Ayod]

As an emcee I really feel like I can rock any beat and put my vibe to it. But the thing is there's people who are really critical about beats and may have felt my track if it wasn't for the beat(possibly being wack). I'm currently looking for beats to create a mix tape wether they be original or not. I can tell when a beat is just completely amateur and out of rhythm and such. But I hear tons of catchy beats these days and I'm thinkin damn I can make a hot track to this.So my question is this...

What can I listen for in an original beat or not even original beat that can help me differentiate between good and bad? I can't have a mixtape/ cd with 70 tracks so I need to improve my beat selection skills... (I guess i can say that)

As I said it's like every other beat I hear these days it's like this beat is good enough to make a track to. ANd I know it shouldn't be that way.

Good lookin out if you reply , I know the question isn't typical.

Peace

[PettyCash]

There is really nothing specific to listen for man. You gotta just choose what you personally like, and hopefully it will motivate you enough to allow for the making of a great track.

When it comes to making great songs though, everything has to carry its own weight. The beat, lyrics, and vocal performance all have to balance out and compliment each other. This is where the job of the producer comes into play (I'm not talking about the guy or girl who made the beat, I'm talking about the guy or girl who will over see the entire process of making the song to make sure all the elements of that song lock in together properly).

You cant get that type of work done by buying beats off the internet or buying beats off of beat makers in one shot. Working with an actual producer will take your song quality to the next level, because that producer will make sure the beat is suitable for your song ideal and lyrics, as well as your type of flow, and will adjust the beat accordingly, or get you to adjust your lyrics or performance until everything fits.

Thats actually something that prompted me to take up production when I first started out rapping. I always had visions in my head towards how I wanted things to sound, and no one I worked with was ever able to provide me with what I was looking for, so I provided myself with that luxury.

IMO, when each element of a track balances out properly, thats when others will tend to like what you did. It will just sound proper to their ears.

[PhonoquO]

something about the beat has to stick in your head, I MEAN STICK IN YOUR HEAD, ie whether it's something good or bad, you have to hear it in your head long after the thing has stopped playing. either that or it's the hook that you lace to the beat that will have you coming back to it over and over (that's your job). Don't spend the time writing to every track you think is passable. Come up with a hook for every beat you think is hot. narrow it down, and write to those beats that have the tightest hooks. If your friends say this or that is hot, that ain't good enough. Once they start begging you to get a mixdown of a track, then you know you got something else.

[filterayok]

it sounds liike you have no perception of whats actually good...

hey!!?? are you a major label AnR by any chance??!

[wildpark]

hey sluts

do you remember how much you can judge your results

to be honest !


after 16 hr work 3 weeks long

meaby you can say sound like kells tp ti ansoon

but are you really shure that you can say yeo this is my own sound then


too make my blind ears open too that i bounce all my work after every session too my ipod in musicbox mod with other artists and producers too glow my idea in this line

too make me free from mind fetters.

pab.

p.s iam shure somebody will replay yes i can do that and do it everyday

if you ask me in a working situation with dollar in your hand i will do that

but dont ask if you can have same result with less payment then.

[MERC476]

Originally Posted by wildpark

hey sluts

do you remember how much you can judge your results

to be honest !


after 16 hr work 3 weeks long

meaby you can say sound like kells tp ti ansoon

but are you really shure that you can say yeo this is my own sound then


too make my blind ears open too that i bounce all my work after every session too my ipod in musicbox mod with other artists and producers too glow my idea in this line

too make me free from mind fetters.

pab.

p.s iam shure somebody will replay yes i can do that and do it everyday

if you ask me in a working situation with dollar in your hand i will do that

but dont ask if you can have same result with less payment then.

I'm so sorry, but this post went way over my head.


Filterayok said it best. Sounds like you have no perception of whats actually good. I mean, i know some rappers can make a beat better and vice versa but it's kind of a weird question coming from someone who is doing this music thing. It's like saying you're a carpenter but dont know what tools you need to build a house. Just my opinion.

[Stitch333]

Many, MANY POS beats make the kut for release because they are incredibly well produced with professional treatments.

The thing I always dug about hiphop is that you rock what you got... and if its fly, it'll fly...

[riecespieces]

If you cant pick beats then u might as well quit now.. save urself cuz no one can teach u how to do that...

[blayz2002]

I think it goes like this...Trust your instinct, let your initial response guide you, it's got to make you feel something, not just sound good. Then if your still feeling it a couple days later and it's stuck in your head...then that's what's probably gonna happen to other's that hear it. The other thing is if the tracks got that melody or vibe thing along with space for a good vocal without fighting with the track, then it can be moulded into a good song.

[illynoise]

It's not the beats, it's what you put on the beats.

Look at Fabulous and Neo's Make you better track, that's a loop with a beat made in 5 minutes, they put something hot on an average beat you might have passed on.

[PhonoquO]

The beat is what inpires you to write, unless you're a big thinker and can write a beat around a vocal idea you have. Doesn't matter how simple that shit is, less complicated the better. It's all bout leaving space for the vox, but have some ear candy in there that makes people go wow, what was that!

[Zacchino]

Stick in you head. Now we're talking. It's all about the motto, the hook, the melody that you can't forget about. The beat is there to emphasize it.

[illynoise]

The best rappers that I've worked with could spit over anything. Do you think Tupac had (finished) beats to pick from? The way we used to work, and a lot of older producers worked, was have a basic beat, emcee spit, then we would go back and build a song around what was said. The same way you would do a remix now.

Why? Because we didn't have modules that would play everything straight out the box. Emcees are spoiled now a days, producers have programs with built in loops beats whatever. When's the last time a hot beat was number 1 on the charts?

[Apex]

is this really a thread?

[KeMiKaL]

cop one of mine then ;)

[poncival]

Go with your first instinct. Go with your "GUT"!!! If you have 10 CD's full of potential beats, listen through them quickly and make a note of ones that interest you in the first 1-2 seconds. My experience has been that even if a beat it bangin', if it has a long fruity intro before the "good" part then it's probably passe-

which is to say that when major artists are reviewing CD's of beats that are potentially going to go on a record, if it starts with a string part, they hit the skip button within 1 second of the beginning. The process generally seems to involve a fair amount of pushing the "skip" button and saying "no" "no" "no" "wack!!" "no" "no" "hmmmmmmmm, no" etc....

Eventually one or two beats will jump out at you as the ones you keep wanting to hear. That doesn't mean they are guaranteed to go to #1 once you spit on them but the key of course is to find something that YOU (the artist, I am assuming) are moved enough by that you want to hear it over and over and are driven to write on. After that it's all on you (And your distribution) to get to #1!!!

[blayz2002]

Originally Posted by illynoise

It's not the beats, it's what you put on the beats.

Look at Fabulous and Neo's Make you better track, that's a loop with a beat made in 5 minutes, they put something hot on an average beat you might have passed on.

The best song are usually the one's that come together real quick.

[blaugruen7]

Originally Posted by blayz2002

The best song are usually the one's that come together real quick.

arvo pärt took for one CD 10 years...

[Ayod]

Peace to the people who answered on a serious note.

As I said the problem starts with me being able to spit on any beat , it's not that I have no taste and I can't tell what I like and what's wack.

[blayz2002]

Originally Posted by Ayod

Peace to the people who answered on a serious note.

As I said the problem starts with me being able to spit on any beat , it's not that I have no taste and I can't tell what I like and what's wack.

Then what you need to differentiate is when is it just you spitting on a track and when is it a song that some one is gonna remember.

[KeMiKaL]

can I lay in my honest opinons on these beats?? where they at??

[amp]

Originally Posted by Ayod;

As an emcee I really feel like I can rock any beat and put my vibe to it. But the thing is there's people who are really critical about beats and may have felt my track if it wasn't for the beat(possibly being wack). I'm currently looking for beats to create a mix tape wether they be original or not. I can tell when a beat is just completely amateur and out of rhythm and such. But I hear tons of catchy beats these days and I'm thinkin damn I can make a hot track to this.So my question is this...

What can I listen for in an original beat or not even original beat that can help me differentiate between good and bad? I can't have a mixtape/ cd with 70 tracks so I need to improve my beat selection skills... (I guess i can say that)

As I said it's like every other beat I hear these days it's like this beat is good enough to make a track to. ANd I know it shouldn't be that way.

Good lookin out if you reply , I know the question isn't typical.

Peace

man, fukk your vibe. where is the money? youre an unknown mc talking about a mixtape in 2007. you dont have options. you better take any and every track that anyone is generous enough to give you.after that you better just try to throw everything up against the wall and hope something sticks.

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by MERC476

I'm so sorry, but this post went way over my head.


Filterayok said it best. Sounds like you have no perception of whats actually good. I mean, i know some rappers can make a beat better and vice versa but it's kind of a weird question coming from someone who is doing this music thing. It's like saying you're a carpenter but dont know what tools you need to build a house. Just my opinion.

Lol, thats definitely a more blunt way to put it... but its true, not every body has a perception of what actually will sound good to a majority of ppl. Thats why IMO, you have producers who are involved with over seeing things to make sure everything is up to par. You can be a guy who is able to make beats because you can play the keyboard, but that still doesnt garuntee that what you play will be what you need. The producer sets out that garuntee, because he or she is suppose to have a high perception for what actually sounds catchy.
This is also how you measure the difference between what we would call a producer who just so happens to make his own beats, and a guy who is just a piano or MPC man and makes beats.

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by illynoise

The best rappers that I've worked with could spit over anything. Do you think Tupac had (finished) beats to pick from? The way we used to work, and a lot of older producers worked, was have a basic beat, emcee spit, then we would go back and build a song around what was said. The same way you would do a remix now.

Why? Because we didn't have modules that would play everything straight out the box. Emcees are spoiled now a days, producers have programs with built in loops beats whatever. When's the last time a hot beat was number 1 on the charts?

Word up!

Thats the way I liked to make and produce songs from day 1. Some of my artists tend to require a bit more instrumentation before they can get into a vibe to come up with some lyrics, which is no problem, but for my own artist work, I just lay down some drums and bass and Im good to go. This allows me to get in more of a vibe for laying down instrumentation that actually compliments what my performance is saying/doing on the beat.

[xabiton]

Originally Posted by filterayok

it sounds liike you have no perception of whats actually good...

hey!!?? are you a major label AnR by any chance??!

roflmfao. not everyone picks great beats. look at Nas he has a habit of picking horrible beats

[xabiton]

Originally Posted by illynoise

It's not the beats, it's what you put on the beats.

Look at Fabulous and Neo's Make you better track, that's a loop with a beat made in 5 minutes, they put something hot on an average beat you might have passed on.

i hate that beat and the song didnt fit it at all. and if it took 5 minutes to make that track i am seriously surprised

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by xabiton

i hate that beat and the song didnt fit it at all. and if it took 5 minutes to make that track i am seriously surprised

That song has to be my least favourite Fabolous song next to the diamonds song.....

I cant wait to see what he releases next....

[Yankee Doodle]

I do love me some Urban music Son!

Perchance you would like to enter my band's remix competition...

We just released our debut album and have a really cool re-mix competition. It's sponsored by NUMARK, Not Yet Records (our label), and Secrets of the Pro's. Win prizes, sharpen your skilz, and get some exposure.

Check it out on our site www.yankeedoodleblitzkrieg.com

Would love to have you enter.

Best of luck with your beats and productions.

And now back to your regularly scheduled thread....

Herr Wasserman

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by Ayod

ABut the thing is there's people who are really critical about beats and may have felt my track if it wasn't for the beat(possibly being wack).

Seeing as the "beat" is 50% of your track, if the beat is "wack" then the track is "wack". Write or find some better "beats" to rap over.

See, coming from a songwriter's perspective, this whole idea of the rap being separate from the backing track is a bit strange. But I think that's just me.

Anyway, what you're really saying in your first post is 'what should I look for in a beat" then later on you say "I know what's good, I can just rap over anything". So don't rap over anything, and only rap over the good ones. what more is there to say?

[B-Muzik]

Originally Posted by illynoise

It's not the beats, it's what you put on the beats.

Look at Fabulous and Neo's Make you better track, that's a loop with a beat made in 5 minutes, they put something hot on an average beat you might have passed on.

good example...thats a perfect example...