Preping or just improv

WHen you sit down to make a beat do you plan it out. Like know what your gonna do when you sit down, or do you just lay down some drums and then go from there. I come at it as i pretty much have the beat all layed out with the variations in mind, before i seq anything, and sometimes ill add shit on the fly when i have the foundtaion together. But i will sit down and like sample 3 things that i know will mesh well and then go from there. So like i know whats gonna be going on in my head before i lay it down. What do you lean towards? Do you use a little of both? Just curious on others techniques.

Once I've peeped the record (at the store) I know exactly how I want the track to sound and I'll go home, sit down/lay down, and listen to 3 to 5 random albums in full and see what I can mesh into the beat as a bridge, hook, loop or whatever. Next step is looking for an accapela to graft or recording different versions with different drum patterns.

Something Like That wrote:Once I've peeped the record (at the store) I know exactly how I want the track to sound and I'll go home, sit down/lay down, and listen to 3 to 5 random albums in full and see what I can mesh into the beat as a bridge, hook, loop or whatever. Next step is looking for an accapela to graft or recording different versions with different drum patterns.

we think alike. I find this works alot better for me then just starting with some drums then building on top of it. I think that main sample is so nessacary to figure out the tone and the mode of the track. It also helps me think of what im going to do for the rhythm section.

i go with the flow...what ever i like when im hiting the keys i record it
not very methodical, but it works i guess

I just play ti by ear. Grab a record, and see what I can get off of it. But depending on what record it is I basically know what kind of vibe I'm going to get off of it. Once i get that main sample i'll build my drum to get a foundation, and then i'll look for little things to accent the beat (bass, horn stabs, etc.).

Improv....I sit behind my Triton and just start playing the keys!!!!

I very rarely know what Im going to use a priori -- thats latin batches. I sample a ton of things and then reduce it down to its essentials. Then I start sampling again, reduce, sample, reduce.

Depends....If the music is for one of my own projects I just get in and drive with no direction - unfortunatly, most of the stuff I do is advertising where the client thinks they have something specific in mind. Cant tell you how many times though they ask for driving rock, then **** at how it's too heavy....usually ends up they really wanted fookin John Denver or somthing...

I keep a notepad with ideas. Any time I think of an idea, or a technique I want to try out, or hear a piece of a record I want to sample, I write it down.
Then a lot of times when I get on the MPC, I refer to the notepad, and sometimes several different ideas I've written down will all work together in the same track.

That's just one way though. Inspiration comes from all angles.

I normally just lay some drums down, then pickup a record and go through each track sampling something off of each one if I can. After the end of the first side I'll then see what I can do with the stuff I've already got, delete the ones that aren't gonna work, then move onto the second side. If I don't get enough stuff by the end of that, I'll then just pick up another record and continue on that one.