How to create a million dollar beat?

i wasn't really trying to diss you per se, and i'm sorry if it came off that way. but around my way (portland, oregon) there are a lot of "producers" who aren't really producing anything. they think that because they're "underground" or "jiggy" that they're doing something spectacular. anyways...

yeah, keep on doing your thing.

cashstill wrote:I listen to a lot of producers style and I am close friends with several "known" producers out of New Orleans. (Many of the sounds I use in earlier tracks were given to me by these producers to help me build my sound library)

you should help me build my sound library...

"MAKE MUSIC FOR THE LOVE OF MUSIC AND GET PAID TO DO IT, DON'T MAKE MUSIC JUST TO GET PAID".[/quote]

Couldn't said it any better evil one. You stole the words right out of my mouth. I like cats that make music for the music and not let the greed get involed. Of course i would want to get rich off of this, but if making music wasn't my number one passion then whats the point. If getting rich was all i cared about i would have studied really hard in computers and got a job at microsoft.

yeah, it just doesn't make sense. i doubt all of the jazz greats started making jazz because they heard that cannonball adderly got rich or some shit. they didn't have the option to make flashy videos where their piano was on 25" rims, they made music because it's who they were.

this shit from today where cats make music to get an escalade and have a nice chain is really, really weak!

Make some s*** that sounds good. I think I make good beats... I make beats for me to rap over what a better combo???? Me and my beats.

Find a person to compliments your beats... That thinks your the one that's going to get them on... And have the type of subject matter lyrically you want to master.

I don't know if none of this stuff works, but it's what I'm doing. I like dark s***, I rap dark s***... hell I'm dark skinned .... I want some cash, but I am not putting my hopes and dream into the first drop... I'm just doing the best I can the way I can.

Please don't record everything on one track. I did sub mixes from my MPC on my vs....lost all the songs from my MPC (200 of them) on a bad zip... now with my more experienced ears can here the faults....I'm stuck with the bad tracks... you don't have to be... get a vs 880 (350 on ebay or 8 track...2 4 tracks)

If you don't you will learn.

I'm following you'ze guyzes advise as well.... teach me man, teach me.

Leroy

JIMMY D SENATOR makes MUCH money "MILLIONS" I am sure just from engineering!

After Missy Elliots song: Pu$$Y cat she says "Jimmy drop it", Jimmy and Tim have been friends for years before Timbaland was even popular. I have heard that his production is good, but Jimmy makes TIMBALAND sound the way he does! Arrangment and quality is very IMPORTANT.

Hey , I agree withmost of the cats they say sell a gimmick. Having a great trick doesn't always get you good money. If you notice in the music iness, the people with the least amount of talent are the ones who seem to get the most exposure. Like Rand b for example, Ashanti can barely carry a tune in a gym bag and goes platinum, but singers like Tamia seem to take a back seat.


On a different note, the Neptunes are good producers, but their Hip-hop tracks are nothing but copies of old 80's beats just using different drum sounds. I like their sound , because i like old school beats, but they only sell because of their name. They do make other types of music so I give them credit there.

So i would say , a gimmick , a good track and have some good artist on the track, great engineer , and you a need awesome manager with some connects. then you MIGHT get that million dollar track.

bboutit wrote:JIMMY D SENATOR makes MUCH money "MILLIONS" I am sure just from engineering!

After Missy Elliots song: Pu$$Y cat she says "Jimmy drop it", Jimmy and Tim have been friends for years before Timbaland was even popular. I have heard that his production is good, but Jimmy makes TIMBALAND sound the way he does! Arrangment and quality is very IMPORTANT.

JIMMY D is a good producer and great engineer....but you are wrong about jimmy making tim sound way better than he is.....tim is sick.....if you wanna have good music a great engineer is a great step just like great producer,great artist, they run hand in hand.....dre has great engineers......quik is a great engineer.....mannie fresh is a great engineer.....duro is a great engineer(one of the best engineers/mixers in the game).....mike dean is a great engineer...the engineer is just as important as anybody else.......great engineers can't make a wack beat great.....they can make good beatz sound better...but if you working with trash from the start don't expect platinum sound

OOOooohh, I GOTTA put my 2 cents in on this one. First, I'd like to make a request for at least one person out there who is a well-payed, sought after producer to tell us his ideas, because it looks like we all want to know what the secret is. I'm no better. I have made a couple dollars in this, though, so I wanna throw my opinion in, albeit long winded, if y'all don't mind.
It seems alot of yall have the secret about what NOT to do, which personally I think is very important. As they say in G.I Joe, "Knowing is half the battle!" Kalei has alot of good points. This S*%T is daunting, man. Everybody’s a f%$king 'producer' now, right? I wanna back Kalei up on allot of that stuff, cuz it ain't what you know, it's WHO you know. I think the trick is making yourself a person that everyone wants to know. Oh yeah, that takes money more often than not. However, although the game has changed alot, there are still those grassroots success stories.
First of all, only the top echelon of producers is making million dollar beats, if that. Neptunes, Baby, people like that. Are they even getting that much for one track? I don't know. Is Tim and Dre? I don't know. Also, as a producer, alot of us gotta be honest with ourselves. Are you anywhere near these type of dudes in your level of ingenuity, skill and crowd-pleasing? Are you really any good at all? If you're worth the boots your standin in right now, you ask yourself this ish all time. And then you answer 'yes'. Are you just doing shit you heard DJ Premier doing, or are you making new stuff? Yeah, that's tuff. Everything has been done already. But it IS ok to learn convention, cuz that's the only way to defy convention. Just don't be a copy cat. And all those cats who suck at this, and make cheezy swizz-beat rip-offs, or "undergroud" cats who bite off JayDee (you know who you are) can eat a dizzle, you know? A certain percentage of no talent muthaf*%#ers will blow up, but lets not get it twisted: just cause you sample and don't use a keyboard doesn't mean you're not a biter. Likewise, just cuz you copy all those beats that Rocafella buys doesn't mean you gon' sell a million copies.
I think it's ok to go for the gusto; to go after the money. But a dude like me, I done payed my dues at shows and making tracks in the basement and all that. I know what it is to be a real musician. That being said, it don't mean I DESERVE S#*T! No one deserves anything but what they earn. This game is oversaturated, and the asset that is really valuable is persevereance. I know cats who can destroy me at any angle; beats, rhymes, whatever. But you know what? They ain't getting anything, and I'ma have it all, because they sit in the basement burning trees while I'm out on the grind promoting my ish.
So in closing, I feel the Million Dollar Beat Formula is this: make whatever you think sounds hot. Make what you love. Overproduce that Muthaf%#*er till you think it's perfect. And be original too, man. It's better to fail doing something that you own than to succeed at being a parasite. Then we can all stop gunnin for the next platnum spot that sounds just like the one that came right before it...Then, get the hell out of the house!! Go somewhere you want to be, and go be yourself. When you shinin' and real comfortable with yourself, people will be naturally attracted to you, and they'll want to know what you do. And you'll tell them, "I produce music". THEN people will care how good your stuff sounds.

Go Get 'Em

-TruPro

some of the realest talk tru pro----

amen brother!

I'm new to this forum, and am trying to creep in the shadows, but I gotta say that this is some of the most inspiring words that I've read to date on the subject. Trupro just spit the realest s*** ever. See, I love music, and was searching for the million dollar beat. I bought mpc this, pro tools that, big money mics and whatnot, and guess where I was gettin' my f ***ing money from... from my 9 to 5, right! It wasn't until I let that new C.R.E.A.M (Cash Rules Everything About Music) s*** go and stopped trying to be JayDee (fire), and Tim (fire), and West (fire), and Blaze (fire), and Dwele (fire to me, but I think I'm alone ) that I found my own voice and people started to hear me. Everyone knows what it takes to exist in tha game, but who wants to whore themselves for ex-type cats who can't tell David Banner from Bruce Banner, or Wu Tang from Cash Money (really happened to me, I'll tell yall later)? Most of who puts you on in the largest sense are lawyers and A&R, not musicians and master beat makers... they are the decision cats and that's a damn shame! So my advice is to follow every peice of advice given in this forum, cause this is golden. Also, remember muthaf***ers are hungry but lack knowledge, passion, and a commitment to their own voice, their own style, and their own feel... that is why upper echelon producers are the upper echelon, their confidence in their sound and commitment to their voice has been shaped over the years of paying dues ( and that's why crab producers bite and eat off those cats, parasite symbiotes a** birds sucking on a host, feel me).
Check me out...
Pay your dues,
then count your money...
but first be true to yourself and the cats that came before you
and foremost... make YOUR MUSIC!

I don't care about ever making a million dollar beat. Just tell me my sh*t is hot and that's worth a million dollars to me

I would just say write write write and keep writing ... dont worry about the neptunes or anyone else ...the key is write find your own sound and you have the mpc play with it , and seperate your tracks , because you can always go back and take out some add something and if you dont do that your locked into a beat cant make any changes .....

But work on your own sound and once you find the sounds you really like and make it wk for you and then others will be after what your doing ......dont get me wrong listen to what others are doing but take it to another level <s>