Professional hip hop music production: Learn how to create and write Rap/Hip Hop music like the Pros, without having to invest in expensive recording equipment. Learn how to make hip hop beats, find reviews of popular music software for creating hip hop beats; find useful tips, techniques, and strategies to write great songs in this genre.
Introduction to Rap Music
Do you love rap, urban, and hip hop beats?
Almost everyone loves rap, urban, and hip hop beats because these types of beats usually “get the party started”.
So what is Rap Music?
Rap music (also known as hip-hop) is basically a genre of African-American music in which rhyming lyrics are chanted to a musical accompaniment. So the lyrics are spoken, rather than sung.
The music often consists of beats and rhythms that are inspired by soul, funk, and rock genres. Musicians typically use those rhythms, and add-in their own innovations and other synthesized musical elements.
Love rap and hip hop music and wish you could create your own beats? It’s now possible to make awesome beats on your computer quickly and without much learning curve.
Hip Hop Song Construction / Structure
Here are the main elements of any Hip Hop song, which you need to create using the tools you have.
You need to first get the beat right, which means having the following tracks:
- Drum patterns
- Bassline
- Supporting Orchestration
- Dubs and snips (samples that accent and give character), you may use royalty free samples for these.
You also need vocal tracks in Hip Hop, which typically consists of:
- Main vocal track
- Second Vocal track (usually takes a verse)
- Background Vocals
- Overdubbed vocals (for emphasis, the main vocal can be doubled or tripled)
And though most beats follow a similar structure, and it’s best to model your songs on those structure – at least when you are starting out, over time you should experiment to add your personal touch.
It’s because you don’t want your music to sound like any other ordinary hip-hop music.
So try to develop your unique sound!
If it’s unique, you’ll definitely find many takers for your song, even producers who would be willing to promote your song.
Basics of Writing Rap Song
Here are some simple steps to follow:
Your beats need to be good to make it successful, so get some beats or get equipment to make your own.
With that said you don’t just start writing.
Listen to the beats at various tempos, add some sounds if need be, and play over and over again.
You want to write your chorus first. You want it to be fresh and if possible you want it to deliver a message, because the rest of your song is going to be hinged on those few bars.
If you’re an upcoming artist don’t just put anything out there, wait until you have your first song really ready. Remember, a one hit wonder can generate a million dollars just off one song.
How do Pros Do it?
Pros do this for a living and have a good structure in place for everything. Here are the steps they would usually go through.
- You need a topic first
- Think what to write
- Write the hook
- What beat to use?
- Next comes the words, writing the Rap Lyrics
- You can choose from a variety of structure for the Song
- You need to Refine the song
Most amateurs would stop here, or even if you are not concerned with the production part.
The next steps involve recording the song, so additional steps would be:
- Perform Your Song
- Produce the Songs
How Rapper Eminem was discovered by Dr Dre
Whether you hated him or loved him, rapper Eminem in the early 2000s was simply impossible to ignore. With a seemingly endless stream of chart-topping hits — which featured lyrics that were both clever and notoriously offensive — Eminem quickly became a cultural icon.
Though Eminem’s recent albums haven’t been as impressive as his previous work, there’s no denying that Slim Shady for a good number of years was one of the most influential rappers on the planet.
A clip from HBO’s series The Defiant Ones’ where Eminem, Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine talk about how Eminem was first discovered. The footage was on YouTube earlier but has now been removed.
Ways to Create Music
Here are a few options that you have, when it comes to making your own music.
- One would be to rent out a professional studio, but then it can turn out really expensive if you often go there for recordings. For one time recordings, its not a bad option.
- Other option is to setup a home studio. But then, if you’re new to using recording software, expect a relatively big learning curve getting used to all the instruments.
- Another option is to find a good, studio-like program online that costs next to nothing but can help you produce that “real studio” sound. Something that allows you to master the creative side of making beats rather than suffer the learning curve of real studio software.
Using a Software
Nowadays, it’s possible to create awesome beats and music using software, and with practice, you can really create professional sounding stuff.
No doubt the big/professional studios have expensive equipment, but you can create some amazing beats using software that comes pretty close to studio setups.
There are some cool music-creating software that you should check out.
Advantages of using software
- One of the major advantages of this type of software is the short learning curve. You can be creating your own beats within minutes, as opposed to trying to learn the ropes in a studio which could take days, weeks, or even months!
- Another great advantage of online music beat software is the cost, which costs a tiny fraction of full blown studios.
It’s very likely that you may not have the big budget required for a physical studio, and even if you did, if you’re just starting out, you don’t want to risk all that money to simply create some beats.
Instead, it makes perfect sense to find an inexpensive yet robust alternative software, and there are a few great products out there ready for you to test out.
So, now you can create awesome beats, or hip hop music, all within the comfort of your home and for the cost of a meal in a restaurant.
Checkout a Beat Making Software
Having a studio at your disposal means you can create as many songs as you like, and learn from your mistakes. That’s the only way to improve!
But, its easier said than done.
A decent studio with thousands of dollars in equipment is the most ideal situation but, unless you know exactly what to do with it all, it’s most probably going to be a waste of space and money.
- Many would-be rappers or beat-makers simply want to lay down some beats and see what they can come up with.
- They just want the chance to express their creativity without breaking the bank in the process.
The good news is, there are some great software programs online that will allow both, the novice beat-maker as well as the experienced producer, create some mad beats online.
Can be Versatile
And no, these aren’t those silly “game-like” beat makers made from Flash, we’re talking online software that includes thousands of beats, drum kits, samplers, sequencers, and much much more!
There are so many options that you can literally create almost any type of music you want. You can choose from the tons of available samples, add score of special effects including reverbs, fade outs, and others, to create that special music.
And, the cost is a fraction of the over-priced studio equipment.
Free Rap Beats?
If you’re looking for some high-quality beats just to check how they sound like, or if you’re looking for beats for non-commercial use, you should also be able to find them online for FREE.
Most of these beats are available under Creative Commons licensing, which means you cannot use them to make money, even though you may be able to download the beats for FREE.
However, if you have any inclination of using them for commercial use, and/or want to showcase your creativity, you can always take the time to learn how to use these software and create your own high-quality beats.
Even you could then offer it to others, for free or for a nominal charge!
Setup a Basic Home Studio
What you want to look for is a program that has a keyboard, pre-built in sounds, a beat mixer, and even the ability to save your finished beats onto a CD. Being able to play around with hundreds of beats, samplers, sequencers, drum kits etc. is what you need.
You want something that lets your creative juices flow, with practically all the features you’d find in a real studio, at your disposal.
How to Become Better
One of the true beauties of the internet is that there are often solutions to almost any problem. If you’ve been seeking for a way to create your own hip hop or rap beats then we’ve got great news for you.
Now, anyone, no matter if you’are a complete beginner or an experienced pro, can create amazing rap beats and music as easy as 1-2-3!
As a lover of rap and hip hop, we all have our favorite beats and sound tracks. Would it be cool to be able to create your own, or maybe put a spin on an old classic?
While the internet is a great place to find such software, it can be frustrating as some of the free products out there are nothing but simple flash animations that are a bit gimmicky and certainly not going to have all the features you’ll need to create your own master pieces!
The alternative, usually renting a real recording studio, is simply way too expensive for the average beat artist, especially if you’re just starting out.
However, there are products out there that CAN and DO offer some amazing features to allow you to create some serious rap beats to rival your favorite artists.
Depending on the software program you go for (have a look at the products we recommend), if it’s a good one then you’ll have video tutorials to help you get up and creating those awesome beats within minutes. And the best thing is that you can also download your music or burn them to a CD to share it with others!
Conclusing Thoughts
It’s easy and cheaper to set up a home studio nowadays, and one great advantage of using a beat making software is that even a beginner can watch the video tutorials and be cranking out some awesome beats in no time. You can check out the products we recommend here on this site, hand-picked to help you get started ASAP!
When it comes to songwriting, there are several ways of writing, and incorporating punch-lines are also important. These along with the emotions and flow help make a good rap song. However, not every track may need strong emotions and even punch-lines, but if you can master how to convey that, the rap songs that you write will be popular .
Share your experiences, tips and suggestions to become better at hip hop music production.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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