Question on Beat Production Theory

Peace,

I am interested in purchasing a MPC or MPD machine in the near future but I do not want it to become a waste of money, time and input. So here's my question, Im brand new to beat production I have tried playing around on my comrades MPD16 & MPD24 from Akai but not enough to even be dangerious to myself lol.

What material should I look up online to show and teach me the theory behind beat making and just any amount of usefull information to assist me in grasping the concept better than I currently do?

Read these forums. A valuable source of information. Check ur favorite beats and try to break them down. Maybe try to recreate them to understand how the big guys built their beats.

Check some beatmaking vids on youtube. There's a lot of junk, but one of the better ones are from boon doc. His vids are fun to watch, plus he gives a few pointers.

I feel you Menco, but when it comes to reverse-engineering (far as recreating the beats I like) I am not knowledgible in the field of music theory so me recreating a beat I like would be like a bee recreating some of divinci's work.

I dont want to google "Music theory 101" because I find a whole slew of topics that are helpful but at the sametime rear me in the opposite course Im trying to go. But I def. will check out the youtube videos.

Preciate it again

J Hill wrote:I feel you Menco, but when it comes to reverse-engineering (far as recreating the beats I like) I am not knowledgible in the field of music theory so me recreating a beat I like would be like a bee recreating some of divinci's work.

Never say that type of ish to urself. If u don't shoot u'll miss the target anyway.

Start with something simple, like BIG's juicy. Just a simple loop from the song 'juicy fruit' I think, very easy song to find.

Sample the loop, loop it in the mp and throw some random drums underneath it. Of course it won't sound as professional as the original one. Look for the differences and the reasons why it sounds different then the original.
After u've found out what u did 'wrong', u can start improving urself

I see where you coming from, Lol naw I aint tryna sale myself short but I aint tryna gas myself up either.

J Hill wrote:I see where you coming from, Lol naw I aint tryna sale myself short but I aint tryna gas myself up either.

Thats fair enough, but start slowly - and you'll be surprised as to how much you will improve, given time.

And also - those little mistakes you make may well become part of your style...it happens

Ight ima keep that in mind. preciate it though

Click on the MPC Resources button at the top of the page which will link you to mpc-tutor. There you will find tutorials on operating the MPC.
Once you understand a little how the MPC's work, then you can apply that to how to put beats together. It takes some time to get comfortable with the machine, but if you practice enough, you'll definitely figure it out. Good luck!