What I've learned in the last 6 months - DRUMS FIRST!

"1. If your drum sounds suck, hang it up.
2. If your drums can't stand by themselves and make heads nod, hang it up.
3. A beat with a great drum track will win any day to one that is a better composition but has weak drums."

If I could add any "rule" to music, it would be to "Find Yourself!" What will make people need YOUR music! Don't get caught up with etched in stone rules unless you purposely want to sound like a person/genre that currently exists. Some of the rarest and costly music is made by artists that are so different than the norm. If you follow rules, you will sound like the 99%. When you break the rules you become a leader in your own sound. Music is feelings and emotions. Give the world "YOU" in its purest form.

a rap with just the beat at the end...one rule no rule

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drums are whack tho![/quote]


my point. evan a dope beat can have wack drums.

For me there's not a hierachy of which comes first when I produce. Sometimes its just loading a few drums and playing around with a pattern until I produce something that I can head nod to:)

More often I hear a riff or hook which I sample and play around trying to create 'melodies' not in the strictest sense but some that can act like a anchor for a beat to hang on.

Riggs wrote:Now that I've had my MPC for over half a year, I've picked up a few things… mainly… drums are where it's at.

1. If your drum sounds suck, hang it up.
2. If your drums can't stand by themselves and make heads nod, hang it up.
3. A beat with a great drum track will win any day to one that is a better composition but has weak drums.

Now if I can just make the drums hit AND have a solid track behind them… ahh yes!

This forum is a great place and the beat battles are a great place to get yourself going!

Thanks!

Man it took me years to really come to that pov. There are a lot of cats who won't accept it either.

^ "is it me" by Method Man and Scott Storch.

this is exactly the song i was referencing actually when i thought of Storch's weak drums. great melody! awful drums, just awful...not the sample choice/drum SOUND, but the composition is crayola. if i could get a copy of this song with no drums, i guarantee i would bring the rawness and attitude. drums are too FUN to not do correctly. scott got lazy on this one.

check out "fall back" which is also on this album. produced by eric sermon. AWESOME drums, awesome everything. not complex, just unique and dope

Yeah, I get all the exceptions to the rule but....

I've been making all kinds of different types of music on and off for about 25 years and the drums have always been an afterthought for me. They were something to support the rest of the music, not a prominant feature. (hint: I'm not really a hip hop producer but I've worked with some as an instrumentalist). So this shift in thinking is good for me.

Well, some tracks that I was proud of didn't go over as well as I thought. And some weak tracks with great drums went over really well. I realized I needed to take a look at where my focus is. For instance, take the awesome acapella away and see how great a track with weak or no drums goes over. Would it win a beat battle here?

Well now... some might say 'be true to yourself' but there's a fine line between being true and getting heard. It's nice to make something that people feel. It's why I make music. I still make obscure, creative tracks but I have to push out an A side track every now and then too just to see people smile. It makes it all worth it to me.

Now I'm not a paid producer so none of this really matters right now anyway but I've learned a lot from working with the MPC that I wouldn't have in other situations. Especially about the production of recorded music.

KevWestBeats wrote:this is exactly the song i was referencing actually when i thought of Storch's weak drums

The songs soo good you kinda forget about the drums but I think a harder kick would have done the job. The drum pattern is right.

oof, really? the drum pattern is exactly what bothers me

Yeah man! maybe I'm being bias cus I like the song I just think maybe a switch in drum kit and it would have sound better. I think he could have done without the triple kick but I think the pattern matches the melody.

Another thing i think of... Before i started making beats, i used to think that some songs were really really dope! And now i listen to them and think, they are nice but drums are not that good!
Maybe we ovethink this as beatmakers? I don't know but when you don't make beats, you don't listen to this as if you're involved in it... My best example is Black Moon-enta da stage, this album is a classic but since i started to make beats, i don't listen to it like i used to. Like the drums don't knock that hard... Maybe it's something about the mix or mastering i don't know
But i really think that when you start making beats you have a different vision about it

exactly ! when i was just listening hip hop music i always thought i would have done this or that and now that i'm making beats i don't think like that anymore

Borat wrote:Another thing i think of... Before i started making beats, i used to think that some songs were really really dope! And now i listen to them and think, they are nice but drums are not that good!
Maybe we ovethink this as beatmakers? I don't know but when you don't make beats, you don't listen to this as if you're involved in it... My best example is Black Moon-enta da stage, this album is a classic but since i started to make beats, i don't listen to it like i used to. Like the drums don't knock that hard... Maybe it's something about the mix or mastering i don't know
But i really think that when you start making beats you have a different vision about it

yup i listen to a lot less these days think its cos ur ear develops and u hear frequencies differently.

u hear chops differently for the past 6 to 8 years i find that on any given mixtape or album i only like b3tween 2 to 5 tracks the rest i dont like.

Thy_Cow_punchers wrote:the neptunes where the only ones in hiphop that decent drums

this is false