Making Beats

[sgrevs]

Does anyone here actually make beats/any sort of hip-hop?

Listening to so much Flying Lotus lately has sort of inspired me to want to make some stuff of my own, but I wouldn't really know how or where to begin. What programs or hardware or software would be essential/easy to use for this kind of thing?

If you make music post the stuff you use for it.

[Already_Taken]

the easiest to use is fruity loops studio. it is limited in the sounds you can get. if you're good though you can make sounds in reason and use them in FL as samples.

but for basic beats just get FL studio 8

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

FL could be the most versatile daw it can do basically anything any other will. Though feel free to use other ones.

Flying Lotus uses ableton live, with an m audio trigger finger, they are pretty affordable, he has various other instruments too, a monome midi controller, he's used an sp303 sampler, the key is mostly finding sounds in records or on your software synth and composing a textural voice for each tune.

heres my latest beat
http://www.box.net/shared/uj3dkyrd75
using fl, samples, reaktor, lots and lots of vst for plugins

[LostChild]

I make beats on FL studio on a constant basis

You can make legit hip-hop beats with it but I primarily do electronica

[sgrevs]

FL could be the most versatile daw it can do basically anything any other will. Though feel free to use other ones.

Flying Lotus uses ableton live, with an m audio trigger finger, they are pretty affordable, he has various other instruments too, a monome midi controller, he's used an sp303 sampler, the key is mostly finding sounds in records or on your software synth and composing a textural voice for each tune.

heres my latest beat
http://www.box.net/shared/uj3dkyrd75
using fl, samples, reaktor, lots and lots of vst for plugins


Dude thats a seriously mad beat. post some other stuff you have done. Thanks for the help everyone.

[Apocalyptic Raids]

yeah that was nice

[comity]

turn quantize off then all ur beats will b AmAzzIng

[ATM]

If anyone wants to collaborate with my group, let me know.

[Gattsu347]

Midi keyboard and a midi recording program.

i use Reason 4 with a M-Audio Axiom 49 key. works wonderfully. i got reason for free from my buddy so all the cost was 249 for the keyboard. its pretty solid too.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=902480&songID=7478331

[Led_Zep_Bonham]

I throw down beats fer munny.

[Already_Taken]

reason is such a bitch to use. every time i edit something it deletes everything except the section i want to edit. i still haven't figured out how to make repeat sections, or changes in time, and triplets? yeah right.. basically i know it can do what i want it to, i just don't know how and don't feel like reading the instructions.

[Detective Dan]

Yeah I'm not a fan of Reason.

I use Logic, Garageband, and as of lately Cubase. I suck at finishing songs because if I take a break from working on one, I can't get back the inspirado that I had before.

www.myspace.com/danheartisalive

"Robotix" and "Garbatuan Rides" are the most hip-hop like I'd say

[comity]

trakkerz or Die!!

[Time]

ive been ****ing around with Renoise, its a weird program mostly for electronic beats. I want to get Reason and maybe an MPD 24 or Trigger Finger type controller but I need to experiment more

[comity]

yeah i use renoise
cant export anything with it though, dont got no money

[Gattsu347]

dude reason is soooooooo easy

[Time]

hey noonward or anyone else, where do you find good vst plugins? I'm trying to find some good stuff because I'm having mild success in Renoise but I don't think it's possible to sample with it.

[comity]

renoise has some decent vsts that come with it

just google free vsts or whatever, look around

okay plugin pack

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/MDAPlugsAU/

some instruments etc

http://www.freesoundeditor.com/VSTSyntheng.htm
http://kunz.corrupt.ch/
http://rekkerd.org/

[Time]

danke nigga

[naut]

i'd like to pick up a software that'll allow me to create the beats i want, but as of now i still have a lot of fun with simple sampling. like this one i sliced from The Winston's "Amen Brother."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF6FLD1bfU0

[comity]

would've been fine without you playing over it

[naut]

methinks a beat repeating for a 1:40 with no accompaniment would be pretty boring.

[kingsoby1]

yeah, not diggin the guitar, sounds like aerosmith trying to be hiphop.

get a keyboard man, throw down some spacey synths.

[naut]

it wasn't supposed to be hip hop...it's not really anything. just some dicking around for yubtub, as with all my videos.

[MJFI]

I usually make triphop remixes, here's one of the most recent...
Fadeaway by Celldweller : http://www.fixtremix.com/display.php?ID=187

I use Reaper for pretty much everything.

And while I'm self-promoting, here's some old remixes
http://www.myspace.com/sikotikremixes
And my "actual" music, which is much more interesting, I assure you.
http://www.myspace.com/mjfiscariot

[kingsoby1]

it wasn't supposed to be hip hop...it's not really anything. just some dicking around for yubtub, as with all my videos.

word, that's cool. i dont know anything about you-tubing.

[comity]

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?mjzzyeifzgk

made this recently
had to record it into audacity so there's static, might be a little too bassy so will have to mess around with stuff a little
not hip hop

[Iai]

the best thing to do with Reason is to use it to get the sound you want on one track and then export it to .wav and import it into Cubase

or Pro Tools which i totally wish i had

[kingsoby1]

www.isohunt.com

listening to a lot of minimal electronic lately eh slaapkumers. not bad, needs moar bass.

i now approve of the avatar bro

[comity]

nah im just too lazy to makeg music thats interestin interesting

[Iai]

www.isohunt.com
won't run without compatible hardware and runs like **** on a PC anyway

[SgtPrimus]

hey noonward or anyone else, where do you find good vst plugins? I'm trying to find some good stuff because I'm having mild success in Renoise but I don't think it's possible to sample with it.

http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/freeware/


This is a good free VST sampler.
http://www.kotkasuniverse.com/download.php

[easylee]

**** is so frustrating

[kingsoby1]

ok, can someone approve of my plan/ make suggestions? i wanna make my own beats/ other stuff

- buy usb compatible turntable for listening and sampling
- buy mpd 24, looks awesome for the price tag
- get some kinda software
- eventually get some kinda m-audio input for instruments
- eventually get a keyboard

not sure if a keyboard is necessary, but i like that electro detroit sound, so it might? i'm dumb.

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

mmm

-mpd is good idea
-usb turntable is cool

i think you should get something like a saffire le or mbox with midi and shi or even something with less inputs and routing features as an audio interface more importantly, something with its own hardware to reduce latency on your mpd instead just a midi hub or preamp

the oxygen maudio keys are cheap with some midi assignable knobs

and yeah a hardsynth will be worth it

only thing is maybe up the priority on the audio interface its the center of my system and i have roughly what you do, a daw based midi vinyl sampling system

[kingsoby1]

can you give me some background/ stuff to read, cause i know nothing about recording/ etc.

[easylee]

what if u buy all this stuff and then ur beats suck

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

idk lim wat if

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

can you give me some background/ stuff to read, cause i know nothing about recording/ etc.
oh god thats the hard part

uhhh, i searched around forums and internets for a long time
also read the ****ing manuals for real

[kingsoby1]

idk lim wat if

yeah, i really dont care if my beats suck... it's just for me.

well, when you get time, i'd appreciate some pointers.

[easylee]

y wud u want sucky beats 4 urself

[niobium]

its like being a bad cook i'll still eat my crappy eggs til i can make bumpin *** eggs

[We_Love_Lime]

I just use an MPC 500 :(

[Jaundice]

its like being a bad cook i'll still eat my crappy eggs til i can make bumpin *** eggsthis.

I just sample things in FL 8, it's cool people seem to like the beats.

[easylee]

they are lying to you

[Amit]

Does anyone here actually make beats/any sort of hip-hop?

Listening to so much Flying Lotus lately has sort of inspired me to want to make some stuff of my own, but I wouldn't really know how or where to begin. What programs or hardware or software would be essential/easy to use for this kind of thing?

If you make music post the stuff you use for it.

i make beats i love making beats mmm

[horseypie]

my beets are really nice
silver beets

[Sexypastries]

I just use an MPC 500 :(

honestly the extra 500 for the 1000 was definitely worth the money. i haven't fcked on my mpc in a minute, but i made a few tracks a bit ago.

"In Case You Weren't Aware": a daring song/statement about running **** in a yuppie's paradise

http://www.box.net/shared/0bm7k9oij0

"Choo-Choo-Choo-Choobineh": more of an audible portrait of a great man i know than a hip hop song. listen closely for ella fitzgerald

http://www.box.net/shared/r4vmga4xy1

"I Truly Miss Kemptown Elementary": a nostalgic piece for those looking to reminisce on the good ol' days of K-5. not for the faint of heart.

http://www.box.net/shared/0ub14nk6dm


i take this stuff really seriously

[We_Love_Lime]

Well I needed the one with the portable capabilities honestly, and it's working well for me now, so...
But I know what you mean.

[Jawaharal]

dling fl studio 8 right now. I have an older fl for a while and liked it

[Amit]

fl studio sucks ableton live forever

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

cant get used to it

and warp markers **** my head up

[Amit]

your workflow will thank you

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

fl is easier with midi anh the piano role is more intuitive

but most of all routing through the mixer

i couldn't seem to to find and equivalent for the formula controller in ableton
(maybe someone could tell me?)
you can do some clever stuff with that

more vst support, there were a couple effect that i used a lot that i couldnt use

i find fl to be as easy anything for tracking live input

ii find arranging midi patterns to be easier

tho yeah i think certain parts of workflow would be improved especially for live playing but there a few subtle things that ableton is less adept at, :}


hey what do you make of this:
http://www.presonus.com/products/SoftwareDetail.aspx?SoftwareId=11

[Amit]

i find midi to be far more easy to work with live than FLS or any other DAW for that matter

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

don't you import all your midi from gp?


fruity loops is easier to route automation and arrange/splice midi patterns and the piano roll has way more features

you can use the formula controller to write equations that can control any knob or automation and also sidechain anything to anything

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

mixer is better too instead of just two sends, you can you use any track as a send to any amount of other tracks

[Amit]

i import a lot of my midi from GP but these days i do spot changes and pattern variations in live because it's even faster than GP

and umm you can send like an unlimited sends from anything to anything in live

[Jawaharal]

ok, **** making beats this **** is too hard ill just listen

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

i import a lot of my midi from GP but these days i do spot changes and pattern variations in live because it's even faster than GP

and umm you can send like an unlimited sends from anything to anything in live
i write it alll in fruity loops

fl has the same or even more functionality as ableton

i do intend to get used to it, twice i spent a days trying to get used to it and reading the manuals .. eventually

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

also the way its setup is like insteading chopping a sample up in a different part of the program, the arrangement view, midi patter arranger and samples slicing and automation is all in the playlist window, i mean ableton isn't focused like that

[Gattsu347]

am i the only one who uses reason?

i have ableton but it really confuses me, i took to reason very well from the very beginning.


what program do you use to manage your samples noonward? right now my real audio program [reason is MIDI only] is audacity and it sucks pretty hard.

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

fruity loops man, you can do anything with it very few people realize

i use little to no stock vsts fx or synths i use fl as the perfect tool for my library of stolen software

even at this early point in my production you can hear im not limited, i can slice, tempo change, mange att and release cropping all in the main window alll with arranging midi patterns

[Gattsu347]

i make most of my synths and whatnot, usually use stock drum and just modify the existing parameters to get the sound i want. but im having a hellava time looping real audio and samples precisely.

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

heheh thats the fun part

http://www.box.net/shared/upuf69oecz

heres an old soul thing chopped up from a record i importied in fl i played the bass live, done all in fl
just about every vocal phrase is chopped/triggered with midi on my interface (keys/triggerfinger)

you can do it on fl

time stretching on fl > in the sample's channel window switch from 'resample' to 'auto' or which of the stretching algorithms you want

also matching samples in general try going by the hats sometimes that gives you the key to lock it in

ill help yeah usually unless i dont feel like it but i like talking about this ish helps me learn so cool

[bette midler coming back]

sometimes i jam with the fruitloops keyboard i hook it up to my speakers and play ambience in a jam setting

[gaslight]

These are just a few things I made for a digital technology class a year or two back. They're made in Ableton or Logic, I forget which. A combinaton of samples and keyboard-controlled synths, everything that isn't a sample was improvised on keys during the take. Found them on a USB stick of mine, they aren't full compositions as evidenced by the lack of nice endings. I forget much of the rest of what they were about.

http://www.box.net/shared/9fzzeqblfv

http://www.box.net/shared/3hu4cpqsru

[Led_Zep_Bonham]

Songs were totally grooving, especially the second.

[ExquisiteGhost]

bump for dude

[gaslight]

One more of mine, this is the last one I have. I like it the best of what I did in that batch.

http://www.box.net/shared/2pupc89pqv

[ExquisiteGhost]

dope man i looped for a bit

really nice samples, it was well put together for sure

work on beefin up ur drums tho i think
maybe the reverb on them is too wet
but ya cool

[gaslight]

Yeah I forget what the particulars were on that track.

Anyone got a non-computer program drum machine? I'm looking at getting at Akai XR20 for fun.

[ExquisiteGhost]

idk my buddy has a roland 505 idk much use for them when but idk if you can turn quantization off, i have a pack 55 drum machine sounds on my computer i use those a bit for basic classic dope stuff

[Dean Graziosi]

Hi,

Here is your solutions, Flying Lotus uses ableton live, with an m audio trigger finger, they are pretty affordable, he has various other instruments too, a monome midi controller, he's used an sp303 sampler, the key is mostly finding sounds in records or on your software synth and composing a textural voice for each tune. i use Reason 4 with a M-Audio Axiom 49 key. works wonderfully. i got reason for free from my buddy so all the cost was 249 for the keyboard. its pretty solid too.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=902480&songID=7478331

thanks!

Dean Graziosi

[horseypie]

Flying Lotus uses ableton live, with an m audio trigger finger, they are pretty affordable, he has various other instruments too, a monome midi controller, he's used an sp303 sampler, the key is mostly finding sounds in records or on your software synth and composing a textural voice for each tune.

hahahaha noon he copied your post!

[Crysiss]

I first started with FL Studio, than moved on to Reason, and now im using Logic Pro.

I started making beats, because I wanted to share my music with other people in any other form rather than a midi file made from Guitar Pro.

Im lazy as hell sometimes, so at times I post up a song with fake guitars. lol. Heres one. http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7512530

And other times, my cousin will ask me to make something sound like another beat. This is one he wanted me to make that sounded like "My Love" by Justin Timberlake. http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7549283 I knew what he wanted, was just a gated synth.

I also made a Saw Remix theme, if anyones interested in hearing it.

EDIT: Sorry about the links, just copy and paste them.

[lain_lain]

I only use FL studio and a yamaha keyboard. i got up some stuff on my myspace http://myspace.com/lainlainofficial but only the snippets

[Nuro Beatz]

If you cant use reason ur an idiot and you should not be making beats. Figure it out and take some brain time away from the tv to figure it out. FL is easy to learn so challenge ur self with some Reason Oh and yes get a midi controller Axiom is the best. Besides that figure it out cuz it takes years to get even good! Hit me up for any question I'm happy to help. Peace

- Nuro Beatz

myspace/nurobeatz
soundclick/nurobeatz
beatsclick/Nuro_Beatz

[SgtBaker]

not only didn't you put clickable links, we can't even copy and paste those

[(*The Noonward Race*)]

If you cant use reason ur an idiot and you should not be making beats. Figure it out and take some brain time away from the tv to figure it out. FL is easy to learn so challenge ur self with some Reason Oh and yes get a midi controller Axiom is the best. Besides that figure it out cuz it takes years to get even good! Hit me up for any question I'm happy to help. Peace

- Nuro Beatz

myspace/nurobeatz
soundclick/nurobeatz
beatsclick/Nuro_Beatz
thanks for titling your post as to help us ascertain what kind of poster you are

[Surf]

I mess around in reason a bit. i tired ableton but my rubbish computer was too slow.

link to stuff
some hip hop stuff some dubsteppy stuff some click stuff

http://www.box.net/shared/0o0xoj4z6y

i might just start trying to make everything sound like the whisper song or play

idk my buddy has a roland 505 idk much use for them when but idk if you can turn quantization off, i have a pack 55 drum machine sounds on my computer i use those a bit for basic classic dope stuff

I used to have a 505. got rid of it since i could just use my computer. it was good fun. you can turn quantise off.


edit: ****ed the link up

[JohnRey]

Check out Sonic Producer if you want to get started really quick.
Strongly recommend it!

Here's a youtube vid with it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5p-nzox10


Best of luck

/John