10 Reasons Why Your Beats Suck

great article up at bboytechreport!!

http://bboytechreport.com/2014/05/15/10-reasons-why-your-beats-suck/

10. You are obsessed with the gear that your idol uses.
9. You haven’t studied the craft.
8. You are overthinking the damn thing.
7. Less is more.
6. The Internet hates you.
5. You got bugs.
4. Be inspired, don’t bite.
3. Hardware and software specs don’t make beats.
2. You are officially boxed in.
1. You are not a music tech, you make beats (music).

before you think one of those doesnt make sense check the article - good supporting paragraphs for all those - an interesting read.

11. Turning off quantise doesn't mean that shitty grooves will pass as good because it's 'cool' that you've turned off quantise. Pick your takes carefully and listen to the groove as a whole.

jimmie wrote:11. Turning off quantise doesn't mean that shitty grooves will pass as good because it's 'cool' that you've turned off quantise.

es-k wrote:before you think one of those doesnt make sense check the article - good supporting paragraphs for all those - an interesting read.

Great article, I share those same thoughts and feelings 100%.

PSR is on point, as usual.

Number 8: I am guilty as hell of.

Number 2 may be an issue for me as well...I don't have time anymore to dedicate hours and hours to this like I used to, but a banger will pop-up every tune or two.

........... sheeeeeit is real in the field !!!
there can be bout another 10 more reasons !!

Dope! thanks for the repost ES-K
Yeah there may end up being a part 2

we all like talking about this gear vs that gear.. the sound of this sampler vs that sampler.. etc. But when it comes down to the making of beats... you gotta leave that online conversation here on the forum so you can get down to business on the gear you already have. No waiting for this and that to arrive in the mail.. or for the new updated software version... none of that.


One of the beautiful things about using old gear though is that we know what we have and that were aren't getting anything more than that... we ain't waiting for OS4.0 for the mpc60 to drop...

also that boxed in bit with the making the music style that is trending is a big problem with some people I know... I always try to point it out in a way that isn't insulting.. but frankly we call them bandwagon hoppers. When dubstep got big a few years ago.. everything they made was dubstep emulations of other artists... then that got wack and they adopted trap. WTF are they gonna do next? I always say make what you like, and do it well... if it's done well that is the priority before trying to cater to a target market you shouldn't be aiming for... you do you and then find the lane it fits in. I'm no platinum selling artist myself... but it makes sense.


All that shit doesn't even need to apply to beat making though... it can be seen in other mediums.. even rappers do that shit. You got old rappers with a catalog of well done music trying to get on trap beats because they think they are gonna get some spin in the club and it always comes out sounding stupid and frankly embarrassing. You can tell when a rapper doesn't belong on a beat hahahahaha....

mr_debauch wrote:we ain't waiting for OS4.0 for the mpc60 to drop...

Well now that you mention it....OS 4.01 is floating around, albeit quietly.

Cool article psr, saw it the other day as I'm a suscriber to BB.

Good article, and good points made in this topic.

The less is more is SERIOUS. So many cats trying to make some deep, confusing ass 'hip-hop electro-prog folk-dubstep jazz' shit with tons of change-ups and loads of synth sounds layered on top of each other. It's like they don't feel like they've made a piece of art until shit sounds like a mess. I used to feel lazy when I kept it simple all the time when I didn't know any better, but now I don't give a damn. KISS: Keep it simple stupid.

Biting pisses me off too. So many people wanted to sound like Flying Lotus round here. They thought they were being artistic ('look at me i'm blending hip-hop dance music isn't that kewl?'), but it was lame as hell. Cookie cutter kids.


12. You hang around with 'yes men' all the time who will 'feel' any old crap made from their hood.

I'm guilty of "less is more" when it comes to mixing. More than half the time my rough cuts from the MPC sound at least 5 times better than the carefully tracked and mixed DAW beat.

Great article. The gear lust and endless reading about 'what the pros do' is a huge pile of pointless.

I was probably the most productive when all I really used was an old S1000, Korg X3, cheap multi-fx and a junky mixer. I had to scrape every penny for that so wasn't looking at the next expensive must-have killer product in the music mags. I just got on with it.

One thing I argue with is when people say 'Oh, X only uses FL' as if that's using nothing. Is that a modern DAW, even with just the stock plugins, is like having a massive studio from 20 years ago. It may be virtualised and compact but 'minimalist' it ain't.

This is one downside of DAWs - you can spend all your time learning allthese high-end studio audio engineering techniques in the virtual domain, wrap it all up in in commercial plastic... and forget all about making a top drawer beat, a killer hook, the big idea, the soul, which are the things that'll make people want to listen, whether or not you used that 'cool' technique you learned from some self-appointed YouTube guru.

i never understood the software vs hardware stuff. isn't everything based off a chip and an OS? maybe im missing something there.

i over think my stuff WAYYYY to much, instead of just sitting down and just vibing out and making whatever my heart feels. i went back a few days ago and listened to some of my old music, when i was just making what i felt, and it all sounded so cool to me now.

as i've studied theory and chords and music in general, i've gotten very "technical" with my work, which is ironic, because when i didn't know shit or give a shit, my stuff sounded way better.

less is more and apparently ignorance is bliss

On software vs. hardware it totally depends. Ultimately when everything's done in a DAW it's going to get summed together by an algorithm and those algorithms are going to be pretty similar whatever DAW you use. Years back, when Protools was starting to take over as the most common way to record people blamed it, rightly or wrongly, for all the samey-sounding records.

Add in the fact that 'what the pros do' type thinking in books, courses, websites, etc. has got everyone working in similar ways the idea of the recording process as an experimental tool to mess around with and subvert has been lost.

I'm not dogmatic enough to say 'hardware sounds better' as there are a million variables that determine what something sounds like but, from my own home-studio level experience, I'm convinced a bunch of modules pumping through even a cheap analogue desk sounds much more lively and punchy than something souped together in-the-box.

But what I really like about working with relatively old school tools (generally speaking, an MPC, module or two, master keyboard) is that it reduces the palette and reduces distractions. Sure, when it's done I'll move it over to Logic to upgrade parts with cool plugin synths, record live bass guitar or vox, etc. But by that time all the beats, hooks, riffs, and much of the arrangement is done. I just don't find staring at a blank Logic arrange screen an inspiring starting point.