Making a great beat is all about layering and mixing – It’s almost like baking a cake, you need to have the proper flavors and components so that everything balances well.
Step 1) Get a beat maker: Before we even talk about layering and mixing a beat, you need to have some sort of beat maker. For beginners, I always recommend Sonic Producer for its ease of use, quality of content and reasonable price. You can be following these directions and making insane beats in minutes.
Once you have your beat maker ready to go, you’re ready to start putting down layers to your beat.
Step 2) The Kick : Arguably, the most important layer in a beat is the kick drum, also known as the bass drum. This should be one of the loudest, if not the loudest instrument in the beat’s mix. It needs to be loud because it is the foundation of the beat and all the other sounds are going to be built upon it.
Make sure your kick is on the on-beats of the bar – try beats 1 and 3 to start. This will help your listeners feel the beat kick them right in the middle of their chest.
Step 3) The Snare: The next most important part of the beat is the snare. Your snare should play off the kick and be reasonably loud, maybe half as loud as the kick or ¾ as loud.
Make sure your snare is on the off-beats in the bar, try beats 2 and 4 to start. That should give your beat a good healthy backbeat. A beat with a good backbeat will make your audience feel the beat and make them want to dance.
Step 4) The Hi Hats: You likely want to add some hi-hat into the mix, so pick a hi-hat from the Sonic Producer’s bank of sounds and place it in your beat. Hi-hats should subdivide the beat and either be placed every beat on 1, 2, 3, and 4 – Or closer together on the eighth or sixteenth notes.
Step 5) The Bassline: The next thing you need for your beat is some sort of bassline. The good news is, since you’re using Sonic Producer, you don’t have to know how to play the bass, you can get great bass-lines ready to use right in the program. Pick one and lay it down. Make sure it is quite loud, but not overpowering.
Step 6) The Chords: The next essential component to good beat is some sort of chording instrument whether it is piano, guitar or some sort of synthesizer. An audience needs to hear chords to hear the ‘colors’ of the music and also, this helps build up the texture of the beat. Since you’re using Sonic Producer, you’re in luck again! Pick a synth loop or guitar loop from the bank and put it in your beat.
Just make sure that the bass and the guitar or piano sound good together. You don’t want any conflicting notes.
Step 7) Your own personal style: Make sure you add something to your beat to make it stand out. You want to add your own ‘fingerprint’. Do you ever notice that you can tell if Kanye West made a beat or if Dr. Dre did? They have their own musical fingerprints. Add yours!
If you’ve followed these directions, you will have made a pretty solid beat using Sonic Producer. Congratulations!
Follow these fundamentals and develop your style. Find what works and what doesn’t. A great way to learn more about great beat making comes from studying others. If you are looking for some beats to study, check out Beat365.
Keep experimenting and never give up the fight to make the best beats possible!
Guerilla Producer,
Jack Jones
P.S. If you still need help, Sonic Producer has some excellent video tutorials to help you get started!
Your steps are very simple and excellent. A beginner can easily follow it.