Translating several chapters from a very useful book for beatmakers, Making Music - 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Producers

Ableton recently released its first book, Making Music - 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Producers, a sort of desktop encyclopedia for anyone who dreams of making music in the digital age. Journalists from the authoritative electronic music portal Resident Advisor have already looked inside the book. In turn, we did not miss the opportunity to follow in their hot pursuit into the world of practical advice that will be useful to any musician.

“For most artists, nothing is as thrilling as creating art,” reads the preface to the book. “The fear that tells us we’re not good enough or we don’t know enough is reflected in countless creative crises and potential masterpieces that never saw the light of day.” In 350 pages, veteran electronic producer Dennis DeSantis offers his practical methods to overcome this fear. The book itself is divided into three main parts - Problems at the initial stage, Problems in the process of creation and Problems at the final stage. each chapter offers simple steps to overcome studio problems familiar to many: from starting work from a blank project screen to completing a previously rejected track. Here is the first chapter of each section.

Getting Started / Three Ways to Get Started

Problem:

Are you looking into the vacuum of an empty project in your DAW? work station, virtual studio,), and you have no idea where to start. Familiar situation?

A blank slate is perhaps the most intimidating thing in the entire creative space. As soon as we dive into the flow, our ideas begin to generate even more additional ideas. But before we settle on something, all options are available to us, and therefore it seems impossible to choose any one.

“It doesn't matter where to start; just do it!” - such an answer only sounds simple. It could make a great sports slogan, but it's still too loud and dismissive to really apply to the creative process. After all, the number of things that can potentially be "just done" tends to infinity, and the way forward is not always obvious. Especially for you, here are three practical tips on how to start from scratch.

Solution:

1. Start with the foundation. For most genres, such a concept as the “foundation” of music is applicable, which can be instruments that sound in a low frequency register, or purely rhythmic ones, such as bass or drums. Above them are instruments, the frequency range of which is much higher. Starting from the foundation, we create the conceptual and musical foundation for everything else. Drums often lay the groundwork for the timing of a track, while bass is often responsible for the notes that define and solidify the chord order. If you're working in more experimental genres that don't use these traditional tools, there should still be elements that can be considered fundamental. Perhaps it will be a layer with some kind of buzz or something that creates a repeating rhythm.

2. Start with what you hear. Many musicians never (or very rarely) come up with spontaneous musical ideas - music is created in the process of active work. If you're lucky enough to hear original musical sketches in your head, then you absolutely must use them as the basis for your work. For example, you have a melody in your head that you mutter under your breath, or a rhythm that you tap out on the table. Don't dismiss these ideas just because they came to you outside the context of active music recording. On the contrary, such accidents must be the most interesting thing you have.

3. Start with what you know. If you play a "real" instrument, try using it to generate your own ideas. Even if you're a pure electronics writer and don't plan on recording live sound as you work, your natural connection to your own instrument can help you come up with more interesting and organic musical ideas than you'd come up with purely with a mouse and MIDI controller. For example, guitarists tend to strike chords and create harmony in a slightly different way than keyboardists. However, due to the fact that the latter de facto control the entire space for transferring music to a digital studio, many guitarists may never consider using their instruments in the context of electronic music recording. As far as drummers are concerned, they rarely play the kind of beats used in most electronic music. But if you personally sit at the drum set, then perhaps this will spur you on to such ideas that may seem alien behind the controller. The whole trick with this approach is to carefully transfer the acoustic idea to the electronic space. But it is better to have such a problem than not to have ideas at all.

Problems in the process of creation / Create in breadth, not in depth

Problem:

As you progress in the creation of a track, you are always suddenly overcome by the desire to bring some particular aspect to complete perfection. For example, you are preoccupied with the idea of ​​making your kick drum sound only to the right. You can spend a lot of time behind this process, and the result will most likely disappoint you, which can completely discourage you from working on the track further.

If you already know that eventually you will have to improve every aspect of the project, is there any compromise that will help you make at least some of the improvements in the process?

Solution:

Especially in the early stages and in the middle of work, when the ideas themselves may not yet exist, excessive deepening in any one area can harm the whole process. Yes, you will have to work on the details anyway. But the idea generation stage is not only extremely important, but also very, very fragile. By definition, this is a very chaotic process that does not stabilize well, especially when confronted with external factors. Idea generation requires experimentation, risk taking, thinking outside the box, etc. On the other hand, working on details is a completely different kind of workflow that requires a certain train of thought. Here you need to think very carefully and concentratedly. Often in such work it is better to rely on known methods than to try to discover fundamentally new directions.

When in idea generation mode, it's best to focus on large-scale work: get ideas out of your head and into the sequencer as soon as possible before you start working in depth on individual parts. This method can be useful for a number of reasons:

1. It helps you learn to listen in order to see potential in a track, not perfection. During a large idea generation process, parts of a project can sound bad for some reason. Perhaps your mixing is lame, or you have chosen sounds or notes incorrectly. But you draw inspiration from music that does not have any of these problems - finished, mastered tracks have their own professional charm, which at times better than that, which is on your individual records. This can be discouraging, because even though we can always polish some points at the end, we want to hear the finished result now. And if your music is this moment incomparable to your sources of inspiration, how can you be sure that you are moving in the right direction? That is why it is important here to learn to listen through all the imperfections. Instead of thinking, "This bassline doesn't sound powerful enough," say, "This bassline can sound powerful enough with some sound design and mixing." By learning to hear more than just the absence of certain impulses, you will become a much better judge of your creativity and begin to understand whether any particular part (or entire track) is moving in the right direction or not.

2. The creative process is fleeting, and therefore you need to act quickly. As mentioned earlier, the idea generation stage is very fragile. This is the only stage of music creation that you have no control over. So, when it does come, you have to squeeze as many ideas out of yourself as you can, work as fast as you can, and generate as much material as possible before your mind gets out of this phase. Once you've got your hands on the right ideas, working on perfecting them can sometimes require a lot less creative energy.

Problems at the final stage / Arrangement as a subtractive process

Problem:

Let's say you have enough ideas to make a complete composition, but you have no idea how to arrange them in a single sequence. Even the process of arranging seems intimidating. How is it possible to start somewhere here, not to mention the final stage? In the context of creating music on a controller, arranging means arranging individual parts of a song on a timeline. Suppose you have a large amount of material, but it is the process of arranging it in a certain order, which would reveal itself during playback, and makes a full-fledged song out of your blanks.

The process of transitioning from the “heap of nonsense” mode to the “full-fledged track” mode is complex both conceptually and technically. The most common method used in arranging, usually the most banal, is to gradually fill in the gaps with various combinations of the finished material, moving from left (from the beginning) to the right (to the end). With this approach, the timeline is like a blank canvas on which you apply paint until a finished painting emerges from the empty space.

This method certainly works. But to face the void is always scary. Even if you have already spent enough time preparing the material you plan to use, you still end up with what may seem like a fresh start. Getting started is always difficult, and a blank canvas (or timeline) can be that mental bridge that is not easy to cross.

Solution:

If you find yourself stuck in the arranging stage, there is one process that will help you. Start immediately filling the entire timeline, each track, with material. At this stage, you need to spend as little time as possible thinking - your goal is not to create a good arrangement. You just need to start at least somewhere. It's okay if you suddenly don't know how long your song will end up being. Just take the average length of the track (or a little more) as a basis and fill the timeline with any fast way for your software - whether it's copy-paste blocks or stretching the duration of fragments.

Most likely, you already have some idea about the division of material into separate fragments. You may even have named some sections, such as "Verse" or "Chorus" in order to better organize them during the arrangement. But don't worry too much about this. It's enough just to take a little bit of ideas from each track and fill in the empty space. This should not take you more than 20 seconds. Spent more? So you are trying to make some creative decisions. For example, you think: “I already know that this block of ideas will come before this block, so I’ll put them in that order right away to save time later.” Resist the temptation to organize anything at this stage and just go as fast as you can.

Once you complete the timeline, the process of creating music from your arrangement becomes more subtractive than complementary. Where traditional arrangement is like painting, the subtractive approach is more like sculpting. You start with a solid piece of rough material and then gradually cut off the excess, creating space where there was none, instead of filling the void.

This approach can be much more productive for a number of reasons. For example, it is often easier to hear that something sounds bad than to imagine that there is nothing wrong with that element. If a certain combination of ideas seems to make no sense musically, you can simply get rid of it, and the steps to correct it will be quite obvious. Perhaps some element is too loud or the bass line breaks the harmony. Plus, by listening to certain sounds over and over again, you'll likely learn to intuitively sense when a section is playing too long—your own taste will tell you it's time to change something.

If you're working in a genre where texture density goes up and down over the course of a song, you probably already have your own, denser sections of finished material. At some point, you will probably find that you can work backwards from the end of the song to the beginning, removing more and more elements from the timing.

Of course, this list of tips is far from complete and covers only the general points of creating a track. Ready-made recipes for making hits are not given here, and they are unlikely to exist. Nevertheless, this is an extremely intelligible and useful read for anyone new to the difficult business of sound production, as well as for ordinary listeners who are interested in the technical side of the issue. Create, practice, make mistakes, find your own style and sound. Who knows, maybe you will become the “next big thing” regardless of genre bindings

Some passionate rap fans may want to try their hand at this musical genre. To do this, you may need your own high-quality beats (they are usually understood as drum-minus parties, that is, in other words, this is the music under which rap is read). To write a high-quality beat, we need special software tools that allow us to create such melodies at home. In this article I will tell you what programs for creating beats for rap can be used, and what are the specifics of their work.

Rapper songwriting options

In most cases, when creating beats for rap, two different methods are used:

• The first method involves cutting segments from other musical compositions, their correct location in the music editor, overlaying drums, various effects, and so on;
• The second method involves creating music from scratch. This requires a good musical qualification of the creator of the composition, as well as a high quality of his command of the relevant programs.

Today there are dozens of different software solutions to create beats. The most popular and professional of them are FL Studio, CUBASE, Magix Music Premium, Logic Pro X, Mixcraft 7, which have the necessary set of tools to create high-quality beats. Simultaneous work with many tracks, professional equalizer, automatic recording, MIDI editor, various virtual instruments, plug-ins, time stretching and other useful options.

In this article, I will focus on solutions that will be useful primarily to beginners in creating beats.

The best programs for creating quality beats for rap

Consider programs that will help us create and record a beat for MC.

FL studio

FL Studio is a popular music editor that will be useful for beginners in creating music. It is a powerful virtual studio for creating and editing music on your PC.

The program window allows you to access all the necessary tools for creating music, including presets and scores. The software has an impressive set of plug-ins for writing music (DirectWave, Fruity Squeeze, ReFX Nexus, etc.). A powerful mixer, piano keyboard, etc. will help you create music. useful features. Music file created in FL Studio can be saved in mp3, wav, ogg format.

When editing tracks in FL Studio, a pattern window is used, where all the instruments you have selected are placed, and a playlist window, divided into a pattern area (top), and a music track field (bottom).

An example of creating a beat for rap in the FL Studio program is presented in this video:

"Hotstepper"

"Hotstepper" is free program, which will allow you to easily compose beats for rap and . This software includes 12 sound channels, numerous sound samples to create different beats and other useful features. You can stretch the sound, use the BPM slider to work with the tempo, apply various musical instruments. After creating your beat, you can save the track to a wav file and export it to the desired directory.

The working screen of the program "Hotstepper"

You can watch a video with an example of the Hotstepper program on YouTube:

"MuseScore"

MuseScore is an intuitive software for creating beats. It has a free character, a fairly user-friendly interface, supports MIDI keyboard input, and interacts well with other music editors through support for MusicXML, MIDI and other formats. It can be recommended to those users who are taking their first steps in creating and editing music.

Ordrumbox

Ordrumbox is a unique open-source project that has become very popular in the last couple of years due to its advanced functionality. If you are a Windows 10, Linux or Mac OSX user, then "Ordrumbox" will be one of the best solutions to create your beats. You can download this program absolutely free of charge and use its features. One of the advantages is the ability for the user to change the built-in settings of the program to suit the style of his music.

"Hydrogen"

The Hydrogen program is one of the best in beat making. You can easily create, edit, mix, and record your music using the program's powerful toolset. She has a simple and intuitive interface, and you do not need professional skills and abilities to work with this product. Music created in "Hydrogen" can be stored without any difficulty in various formats(mp3, wmv and others).

Conclusion

In this material, I have reviewed the best programs in composing bits of rap music performers. They have a wide range of musical instruments, and will be useful for beginners who want to try their hand at creating beats. I advise you to especially look at the FL Studio program, which is quite popular and has many of its admirers. Use its capabilities, and perhaps someday there will be a rap battle with your participation.

How to use the online tool

To be able to create a beat online on the RapMe website, you need to go through a small procedure: log in using account in VKontakte, being subscribed to our VK group.

If VK is not available to you, for example, due to blocking in the territory of your country of residence, turn on VPN.

• Adblock is enabled, it blocks the pop-up window automatically;
• the entrance is made through the browser Mozila Firefox. It has installed basic settings, which assume the same functions as Adblock. You should fix this problem by allowing pop-ups in the settings.

If all the points are completed, you can use it, creating masterpieces for pleasure.

purpose

Making music online is not difficult, but you need to understand what it is for. If it's a professional album or EP, it's best to skip it. Indeed, for such a huge scale of creativity, it is very important to have serious beats, with dozens of selected loops in their components. If you are an experienced performer, then there can be no talk of this kind of backing track.

In addition, online creation implies the absence of effects, many instruments, the possibility of recording vocals or introducing your own variations of samples.

If you need voice processing, a lot of different chips and features, choose an offline program. It is filled with the necessary qualities and capabilities, and for more information on how to choose software in this area, read the "Blog". Well, if the computer cannot handle this option, the only alternative would be to create a beat online.

When the track has a non-commercial basis, you can safely write the instrumental yourself in such a program.

Process of creation

Tools

The actual process of creating a bit is simple. Go to desired section site and get started by clicking on the "Open beat creation" button. After the authorization procedure, if necessary, the window will display desired interface where the music is actually created.

It is equipped with 8 positions:

• Kick drum (large bass drum);
• Snare (snare drum);
• Closed hihat (closed hi-hat);
• Open hihat (open hi-hat);
• Tom (tom-tom, small musical percussion instrument);
• Percussion (percussion);
• Fx (special effect);
• Synth hit (synthesizer).

You can choose tools different styles and areas listed below. working panel. You create a rhythmic pattern, a sequence that will repeat. Track looping is provided so that the beat can play for a long time.

Above you can see already basic rhythms created by musicians who also tried to make beats online.

Simplicity and Publications

The tool does not require much experience with programs of this configuration. Creating online requires only a little ear and a sense of tact from the author. The problem occurs with English, but the names of all tools are translated into Russian above.

In addition to creating a potential track, it is not difficult to place it on the service, making it visible to many users, as well as those who are interested in your talent as a customer or partner.

Pros and cons

A professional studio is different from an online one. Creating a melody is not so difficult, you do not need to deal with the software device.

Making a track online is easy and also not system requirements All you need is a PC and the Internet. No cash injections are required, music will not cost a pretty penny, because the instrumental can be created for free.

Main disadvantage online creation- this is that the result is just a sketch, a sketch. It's more like a game that develops a sense of rhythm than serious work with sound. Yes, it can demonstrate the author's skills, but it is unlikely to become the basis for a strong piece of music. In addition, almost all the effects for processing the backing track are missing, which has a bad effect on the details and nuances in the sound. There are no simulations of musical instruments, no voice recordings. There is no mention of convergence.

You can create a track online, but the result is not a full-fledged beat (((.

Good solution for beginners

If you were looking for a simulator or an amateur program where you can make beats online, then this is your choice. It is here that the opportunity opens up to train your sense of tact.

It is worth noting that the user has at his disposal an impressive supply of loops with which it is easy to experiment. All rights of the creators to the samples are indicated. Thanks to this, it is easy to get acquainted with the work of other creators in this field. It is not difficult to draw mistakes and achievements from the work of colleagues, thereby improving oneself.

The main thing is that it is possible to create a track, whether you are a DJ, a rapper, a punk artist, a dubstep artist - it does not matter. A huge selection allows you to develop absolutely equally well in all genres of music.

Good luck

Broken or complete, your bit will be born depends on the efforts. If you do not make an effort, then such work is worth nothing, you can consider it a vain transfer of time. If you have already decided to make an instrumental yourself, this is a great opportunity to prove yourself. But if it's just fun, don't waste your time. It is better to order a minus from a professional beatmaker, whose product is worth the money invested in it.

Creating a track online is easy, the main thing is to do it with high quality. It remains only to wish good luck and creative inspiration. Do not write on the table, do not abandon your work, develop. Don't let stagnation overtake you. Be interested in hip-hop, create beats online (if necessary), and everything will work out.

Listen to a lot, a lot of hip-hop/funk/music in general and enrich your mind with different rhythms. The fact is that in hip-hop as such, quite inventive rhythmic chips are often used. You can learn about them if you (besides listening to music) learn how to play percussion instruments. Even by watching videos on YouTube. There you will be shown fills, and shuffle, and swing, and pulls, and guest notes and much more delicious. The problem with modern beats is boring, unmemorable beats. And this, by the way, is the basis of the beat. If you look at how beats were written in the 90s, 80s, you will see how much importance was attached to this.

To begin with, select at least an approximate direction in which you want to work. It can be instrumental hip-hop, aggressive symphonic epic, cute trap or snotty lyrics. Learn, listen, what is used in the direction in which you want to write. Choose for yourself some of the coolest beats that you get the most and analyze them. Try to figure out why you like them, and then try to come up with something of your own based on them. And I don't mean plagiarism or repetition of melodies. Try to understand the very chip of the beat that rolls in to you and use it. For example, I love aggressive, angry, epic symphonic beats. Many of them are built simple principle- there is a continuous direct melody (some kind of "brute force" eighths), and under it the whole orchestra notes the accents. Well, for example. Also, these beats often have rises, falls, and so on and so forth. Then I just wrote something of my own, based on this information, and then I hung some more of my chips, ideas on this skeleton. That's what I wrote at the beginning.

Learn to use the tools you will have to work with. At first, most likely, you will download all the synthesizers, effects and libraries that come to hand. But over time, you will select for yourself a small set of all this, which you will use. In the meantime, check out how to use Kontakt, how libraries work, how synths work, and what libraries and synths are out there.

1) The Producers Choice - they have one beebla with a bunch of different hip-hop samples. Percussion, distinctive kicks, 808 basses, workers and cymbals, thousands of them. In addition, in this bible there are cuts of all sorts of voices, cries, phrases, from which you can sculpt fancy effect samples. One of the best hip hop libraries.

2) Massive synthesizer. Easy to use, if you know the basic concepts, you will understand. plus it is that there is an overdofig of all kinds of presets for every taste and color.

3) Heavyocity - Damage. Industrial drum library. Very juicy. In commercial hip-hop, it is unlikely to come in, but you can experiment.

4) Cinematic Strings - simple and quite sound (up to a certain moment, certainly. Any of your wishes will not be fulfilled, but for bits it’s very) bible with strings.

5) Thousands of them.

Learn basic music theory (aka "elementary music theory") and not noah. It will come in handy very, very even, no matter what anyone tells you there. If you have a creative streak, then you will instantly learn how to write melodies and select harmonies for them, collect the form. Also, study the arrangement. You will learn how to create the mood you need in a particular beat, what you will need to do for this, what you need to use. And don't watch youtubers who make "how to write a beat in 5 minutes" videos. They won’t explain anything to you, they’ve already passed, it’s slag. Or rather, you can learn something from these videos at first (some specific techniques, something else), but you will not find the essence in them.

Rap is now becoming one of the most popular genres along with pop and rock music. There are more and more young performers, and with them beatmakers who create beats. This process is carried out through special programs. In this article, we will consider several prominent representatives of such software.

Cubase delivers everything necessary tools for creating, mixing and recording music. From the main one, I would like to note the presence of an equalizer, a multi-track editor, I will support VST plugins and effects. In addition, the user can upload a video to the program to replace the sound in it.

This program is perfect for users who want to create music from scratch, edit a track, add effects or make a remix. Beats are also created with Cubase. The demo version is distributed free of charge and is available for download on the official website. We recommend that you read it before buying the full version.

FL Studio

FL Studio is rightfully considered one of the best DAWs for creating music of different genres. A huge set of tools and functions allows you to implement even the craziest ideas in any direction. The program offers users a multi-track editor, mixer, equalizer, allows you to engage in sampling, mastering and mixing. Supports third-party VST plugins, samples and loops.

The finished file is saved in one of the available formats: MP3, WAV, OGG and FLAC. To continue working with the project in the future, save a copy of it in the standard FLP format. Thanks to the limitless possibilities, FL Studio is suitable for both professionals and amateurs, not only in creating beats.

Ableton Live

This representative is suitable not only for creating music, Ableton Live is actively used by famous DJs during live performances. Therefore, it is worth noting that the program supports two modes of operation. Beat makers will need to take advantage of the mode "Arrangement", to create minuses.

In Ableton Live, you can mix, master, process songs with various effects and do everything that other audio workstations allow. The program has a user-friendly interface, each element is located in its place. However, there is no Russian language, and this can be a problem for some users.

reason

Reason is a professional software, which allows you to create, edit and manipulate compositions. Immediately I want to note the bright interface, which is very comfortable to work with. There is a built-in explorer that will be useful for quickly finding a specific function. Except standard set Reason allows you to connect MIDI devices and supports MIDI files.

The process of creating a beat is practically no different from what would be carried out in other similar software. The track is assembled from pieces in a multitrack editor. A good addition is the presence of built-in libraries of various sounds, presets and loops. Reason is distributed for a fee, and trial version available for download on the official website of the developer.

mixcraft

If you have never experienced working in a digital audio station before, we recommend starting with Mixcraft. This program is equipped with everything you need to create music, has a simple and clear interface, and a beginner will need a minimum amount of time to get used to it.

As for the functionality, Mixcraft has collected all the main tools and functions that are present in other similar programs. Of the unique, I would like to note the possibility of working with notes. It is implemented at a basic level, but for some users this is enough.

Reaper

Another representative on our list is Reaper, a well-known digital audio workstation. It supports multitrack editor, virtual musical instruments and MIDI devices. Audio recording from a microphone, import and export of audio files is available.

We recommend that you pay attention to the built-in virtual machine, it provides a set additional features. Launched using JavaScript source code plugin. Users can edit this code, changing some of the plugin's functions or completely redesigning it.

Cakewalk Sonar

sonar- professional program to work with music. It supports use in a multi-track editor, has a built-in set of tools, loops and samples. Users can connect additional MIDI devices or plugins with a little pre-configuration.

Sound recording from a microphone is available, and there is also "Audio Snap", added in one of the recent updates. This function allows you to synchronize tracks, adjust their tempo, align and convert. Cakewalk Sonar is distributed for a fee, but the trial version is available for free to everyone.

Sony Acid Pro

Our list includes a professional Sony program Acid Pro, the principle of which was originally based on creating music using loops (cycles). With each update, bugs were fixed and new functionality was added. Now users have become more positive about Acid Pro, and many have begun to work in it constantly.

This representative is endowed with the same functions, has the same tools as most of these programs. There is a multi-track editor, full-fledged work with MIDI devices is implemented, VST plugins are supported. But that's not all, users can expand the program's capabilities with third-party add-ons thanks to the ReWire protocol.

PreSonus Studio One

Studio One in its short time of existence managed to get an impressive number of fans who switched from other digital audio workstations to this one. Interested this program many convenient implementation of functions, an individual approach to the selection of built-in tools and an original interface.

Through the use "Multi Instrument" there is a fusion of several sounds, due to which something new and unusual appears. Using PreSonus Studio One becomes even more comfortable due to the arrangement track - this allows you to break the track into several parts and work with each separately.

The list is quite large, but not complete. There are many more similar programs on the Internet that are suitable for writing beats, but we tried to choose the best representatives that provide unique functionality, are simple and easy to use.