In your eyes, what makes a great beat?

No surprise a lot of heads are saying drums / drum programming...
but lets get more specific. what about the drums makes them good or bad for y'all?

Hard hitting snares always sounds good. A nice kick with big boom but not too much bass.

DJ Plan A wrote:No surprise a lot of heads are saying drums / drum programming...
but lets get more specific. what about the drums makes them good or bad for y'all?

Hijack.

This isn't about drums, its about 'what makes a great beat'.

Some dudes be too focused on the one element and have nothing to say about the rest.

One dimensional head-nodders and the boom-bap army...

clint246clint wrote:

DJ Plan A wrote:No surprise a lot of heads are saying drums / drum programming...
but lets get more specific. what about the drums makes them good or bad for y'all?

Hijack.

This isn't about drums, its about 'what makes a great beat'.

Some dudes be too focused on the one element and have nothing to say about the rest.

One dimensional head-nodders and the boom-bap army...

i'm from the era where if you say 'beat' i automatically think of drum programming

if you say 'track' i think of other instrumentation/samples on top of drums

It's true some folk attach different meanings to certain words. Personally I choose to differentiate between 'Beats' and 'Songs'. I define a song as being the finished product although it may or may not have been mixed/ mastered yet.

But to me at least, a beat is the foundation for a song but still requires more production in certain areas.

A beat will have drums, bass/ lead and maybe some outline chords and/ or a melody/ or a vocal in basic form.
A beat may not be arranged in the format of a finished song, or include all final instrumentation.
A beat may not have all the edits in place, or the intro/ outro may be missing.
A beat may not be mixed/ mastered yet.
A beat should be enough to start writing to and/ or send to collaborators.

It will be interesting to see how y'all differentiate between 'Beats' and 'Songs'.

clint246clint wrote:It's true some folk attach different meanings to certain words. Personally I choose to differentiate between 'Beats' and 'Songs'. I define a song as being the finished product although it may or may not have been mixed/ mastered yet.

But to me at least, a beat is the foundation for a song but still requires more production in certain areas.

A beat will have drums, bass/ lead and maybe some outline chords and/ or a melody/ or a vocal in basic form.
A beat may not be arranged in the format of a finished song, or include all final instrumentation.
A beat may not have all the edits in place, or the intro/ outro may be missing.
A beat may not be mixed/ mastered yet.
A beat should be enough to start writing to and/ or send to collaborators.

It will be interesting to see how y'all differentiate between 'Beats' and 'Songs'.

In this context, I concur.

Fact! All good beats start with a tall refreshing beverage to help get the creative juices flowing!

This isn't directed at anybody in particular, but a few people seem to be getting a little crazy...

Seriously, what kind of question is it that you're asking? A good beat is greater than the sum of its parts. Somebody can't come in here and say well take drum x and snare y and hi hat z and lay them down on 1/4/7/12, 5/8 and 1/3/7/11/13. They also cannot say what fx to use, what compression settings to use or anything else.

A good beat is heard, felt and enjoyed... it is something that you lay down with the intention to lay down that specific beat, but instead you come to it through your own personal process. Where you start and where you end are wholly different for each individual.

A good beat is personal, if you created it you are more likely to think it is good.

A good beat is subjective, no two people will agree that any given beat is either good or bad.

So how do you make a good beat?

I challenge you to define what a good beat is first. Let's get concensus for that one good beat, and then we can tell you how to make "that" good beat.

Who wants to make cloned beats though? Especially when they might not be as good as the original.

NearTao wrote:Fact! All good beats start with a tall refreshing beverage to help get the creative juices flowing!

This isn't directed at anybody in particular, but a few people seem to be getting a little crazy...

Seriously, what kind of question is it that you're asking? A good beat is greater than the sum of its parts. Somebody can't come in here and say well take drum x and snare y and hi hat z and lay them down on 1/4/7/12, 5/8 and 1/3/7/11/13. They also cannot say what fx to use, what compression settings to use or anything else.

A good beat is heard, felt and enjoyed... it is something that you lay down with the intention to lay down that specific beat, but instead you come to it through your own personal process. Where you start and where you end are wholly different for each individual.

A good beat is personal, if you created it you are more likely to think it is good.

A good beat is subjective, no two people will agree that any given beat is either good or bad.

So how do you make a good beat?

I challenge you to define what a good beat is first. Let's get concensus for that one good beat, and then we can tell you how to make "that" good beat.

Who wants to make cloned beats though? Especially when they might not be as good as the original.

This is all true and I agree. What I think the OP is looking for is something that doesn't exist. There is no "formula" for a beat that will be a hit. Nor is there one for a movie that will be a hit, or fashion that will be the next big thing.

However, the OP did provide one important statement in the question - "In your eyes". That at least tells me that the OP knows that there will be varied opinions.

What I think makes a great beat is ... hard to put into words. its the same thing that made great soul music. the feeling you get, the emotion it evokes. whether makes you wanna jump up and crush something or sit still and ponder something or get close to your lady or whatever it is... it just has to evoke some sort of feeling in you when you hear it. I think its all good when a cat knows how to pick all the right elements.. you know when the drums work well together and the bass compliments the drums and the melody works with the bass line and things are well placed to avoid being overly repetative but even if it is repetative it all sounds so good together that you dont care how repetative it is. I think Q tip and Dilla mastered that with all the Ummah shit.

Marketing also has a lot to do with it. I would bet you that if Q-Tip or Dre posted the same beats as some of the talented cats on here, it would be judged a lot less harshly.