have you ever been asked to make...

... a very specific type of track?

i love making beats and i can just pump em out... but the second someone asks for something specific or even if i have a goal in mind ... things sometimes change

for example - i have a 2nd instrumental release to work on right now, on a bigger label - something that im VERY excited about.. but when i sit down to make a beat i have to completely FORGET that if i wanna do anything worthwhile... for now i've just been digging, finding cool ass records... even shit on records i spun 5 years ago ... but when u hear with new ears it helps

also, i have a cool collabo coming up with a classic artist (w/ music video!!!) and i have been asked for a completely new beat and im freezing up about it... dunno where to start.. i'll probably end up sending 5 i dunno if htat shows lack of confidence tho........


if any of you can relate... the only way i've found to avoid these problems is just make tons of music and then at a later date pick what u wanna use tracks for, etc...

if i have a beat, and a vocalist -- its easy for me to produce the track around them and make the changes that they want me to make... but when i start with a blank slate and they say they want "X" type of beat, its harder to accomplish even if ive made 100 beats like it before...

any tips out there?

Shit happens to me all the time
Fkn hate it

es-k wrote:... a very specific type of track?

i love making beats and i can just pump em out... but the second someone asks for something specific or even if i have a goal in mind ... things sometimes change

for example - i have a 2nd instrumental release to work on right now, on a bigger label - something that im VERY excited about.. but when i sit down to make a beat i have to completely FORGET that if i wanna do anything worthwhile... for now i've just been digging, finding cool ass records... even **** on records i spun 5 years ago ... but when u hear with new ears it helps

also, i have a cool collabo coming up with a classic artist (w/ music video!!!) and i have been asked for a completely new beat and im freezing up about it... dunno where to start.. i'll probably end up sending 5 i dunno if htat shows lack of confidence tho........


if any of you can relate... the only way i've found to avoid these problems is just make tons of music and then at a later date pick what u wanna use tracks for, etc...

if i have a beat, and a vocalist -- its easy for me to produce the track around them and make the changes that they want me to make... but when i start with a blank slate and they say they want "X" type of beat, its harder to accomplish even if ive made 100 beats like it before...

any tips out there?

I totally know what you mean, I think a lot of us just let it flow, and inevitably end up with various styles of tracks. But yeah, gun to the head, it seems to change everything.

I have a huge iTunes, so I go in and listen to a ton of beats in that particular style, reminding myself to not subliminally assimilate the actual chords and melodies, and then bite something without intending to.

I also will listen to tons of old records that have arrangements or samples similar to what I need to do, but not necessarily ones I'm actually gonna sample.

I think if the 5 beats were all dope, and in the general lane of the work order, you wouldn't look bad at all.

Yea I cant do that.

I just make what I feel like at that moment. Also depends on the sample. I personally think I have a wide range of taste. Mainly because I listen to every type of Hip Hop. I could be bumping some Large Pro and the next track could be Lloyd Banks. So my beats are usually very different.

yes i can only do me

the guys that help me to get signed to their label gave me a .wav to lace with lyrics but one the bpm was 90 am normally on 130-140 so tht felt alien and the music wasnt me it was just not right.

when i get channeled by magnu the demon and im composing my catchy melodys ,he makes me sing and i feel the music in my heart and i burst ino tears as my childhood comes back ,the childhood where i remember humming all these songs ,the childhhod before they broke my heart.

So your not the only one

this is how you know ur an artist

My problem is, when I do work from scratch for some artists etc... the problem I have is what they want sounds wack to me. I hate saying that or thinking it because then I feel like some **** with a superiority complex or something... but it's true. I work on the track and show what I have done... and when I'm expecting a less then enthusiastic response but it turns out they like it a lot... it's as if I am questioning their taste in music hahaha.. I feel like asking what's wrong with you... or why would you pick that.

I dont know, I mean sometimes you gotta bite the bullet and do the work to get some cash but that's where it stops being a fun hobby. I found myself trying to create reason for doing music I wasn't feeling... I mean one singer I was working for doing editing work on all her garbage tracks actually earned me enough cash to pay a months worth of bills, plus a minty mpc60 and motu interface.. that was about a week's worth of work though... I hated every moment of the work but it helped me get the gear I wanted for one of my own projects.

I cant do that shit either...I guess this is what separates real musicisinas from beat makers

konc3pt wrote:I cant do that **** either...I guess this is what separates real musicisinas from beat makers

I think you hit the nail on the head there bruh.

Anybody I know who can play keys has no issue what so ever doing styles by request. I guess when you have the language of chords and scales it's much easier to lay a blueprint.

It's ironic, because so many of us have engineering and mixing skills well beyond our musical ability. It's an odd juxtaposition.

yeah but I think half the battle is about motivation, inspiration, and willingness to be a part of other people's personal projects... it's hard to explain. I mean most of us here know how to work a DAW, we know how to design music and what have you as we do it all the time anyways. The skill is not the factor I was thinking of.. rather it's the setting your pride aside and making music your tastes dont agree with... hard to explain but I am guessing you get what I mean.

For example... I hate shitty pop music tracks and dreaded the times I had to make them.

konc3pt wrote:I cant do that **** either...I guess this is what separates real musicisinas from beat makers

Been playing music and reading music sin e I was 5!!!! Lol I can play bass, cello, guitar, and make my way around piano... I rhink its more abouf getting in the right mindstate.. sry hate this phone keyboard. But yea for me its more about trying not to think bout it too much I think

mr_debauch wrote:yeah but I think half the battle is about motivation, inspiration, and willingness to be a part of other people's personal projects... it's hard to explain. I mean most of us here know how to work a DAW, we know how to design music and what have you as we do it all the time anyways. The skill is not the factor I was thinking of.. rather it's the setting your pride aside and making music your tastes dont agree with... hard to explain but I am guessing you get what I mean.

For example... I hate **** pop music tracks and dreaded the times I had to make them.

I was just meaning how helpful proper theory is. I totally know what you mean about the difficulties of someone requesting something outside your usual lane or worse, that you just think is wack.

I'm a hardcore hobbyist too lazy to really get grinding, but I can't lie, knowing I'll have the conundrums you guys are describing kinda keeps me putting it off more.

But you're so right, it's dope to learn how to really collaborate with folks, especially when divergent styles are getting bridged, or just getting more comfortable switching lanes.

The thing that trips me out about what you mentioned, is how people will insist you use an inferior plugin or not realize the "Lex Luger Kit" they downloaded and brought over gets s***ted on from the high heavens by literally a quarter of a million hits on my HDs.

I'm teaching my neighbor basic synthesis and sound design lately, and he's getting it and liking it. But every time we sit down to do a beat, he's right back to shoehorning cheezy Nexus trance presets into what could have been a decent hip hop track. Sounds like some of your clients are similar.

Again, I really feel what you're saying. I would look forward to working with something off the beaten path like Breakbeat/Folk music or something I'd want to explore. But I struggle with the fact that if I try to sell some tracks, way too many people will want that synth preset "pop hop".

yeah absolutely ... man the thing I get all the time (honestly it's helpful to understand what people want who dont know the technicals or lingo.) is people send youtube links or show me youtube videos while down at the spot and say they want drums like that or that type of lead synth... but what gets me is when I get one similar but with my own twist.. they dont like it cause it's not close enough... I try to explain that I dont wanna bite but sometimes they have their mind set already... so in that situation I typically make another similar sounding one and say that is as close as I can get it because I dont have the same gear hahaha...

I have to feel the artist and dig in their soul in order to make something for them. But if I'm not feeling them then I tell them to find someone else. And the same if they don't like what I did.

I've done some interesting payed work in the past, from bottom of the barrel stuff like ringtone creation, to doing intro music for presentations etc. Just basic multimedia stuff.

The 30 second D&B track on my soundcloud was a nice little 2 hour project that earned me $500. Nice.

konc3pt wrote:I cant do that **** either...I guess this is what separates real musicisinas from beat makers

speak for yourself ,I am defo a musician never a beatmaker