Making Beats on Your Computer

Posted by Ramone Hardnett Posted on 12:17 PM 1 comment


Making Beats From Your Computer


Making Beats
Making beats on midi keyboard












I started making beats 15 years ago. Back then, I used hardware beat machines and analog tape recorders to record my individual tracks. As time went on I focused more on music production and beat making. With consistent practice and equipment upgrades, I made more beats than I could ever imagine!  As a result, I sold beats to local artist wanting hot beats to rap over. In this post, I will show you how to make beats from your computer.

Starting Out

With new digital technology, learning how to make beats is not difficult and the price point is rather appealing.  No need to invest huge amounts of money purchasing digital audio workstations, plugins and recorders, there's beat software on the market under $40.  The best method in my humble opinion is for you to jump in and get started making beats. Most beat software come with back end support: video tutorials, forums, ebooks and a host of features that are designed to help you succeed at making beats, selling beats online and networking with other producers.

The Solution

When buying beat software be prepared to pay upwards to about a $100, upgrades and add-ons are included. If your budget is low, purchase the stock software; you’ll have a decent amount of tools to work with it. Look to invest $26-$40, fast internet access will be needed for huge file downloading, most beat software come with high quality 24 bit sound .wav files.

Beat Software To Buy

Dub Turbo and BTV SOLO are two highly recommended online beat makers. If you'll be making hip hop and pop beats, go for the BTV SOLO.  It has an authentic hip hop feel with an adjustable swing function, the only downfall is it does not have a open interface where you can drag and drop patterns. The selling point for me about the BTV SOLO was the sounds hands down especially the drums!

Dub Turbo is great for electronic music, it comes with a open interface allowing you to drag and drop sounds, the sounds to me are a little mediocre but that is a matter of opinion. Overall it is a solid beat software platform so using your own sounds is an option. If I had my way, I would buy both beat software applications and used the BTV SOLO sounds inside of the Dub Turbo beat interface.

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    • Wired or Wireless Headphones

    Posted by Ramone Hardnett Posted on 10:53 AM No comments



    Wired or Wireless headphones?


    Wired or Wireless Headphones
    Todays post will focus on the question of which headphones are better for beat making, wired or wireless headphones? With so many types of headphones on the market, beat makers are having a difficult time deciding on which one is better for their needs. 

    Wired Headphones



    Wired headphones are reliable for music production. Most professional brands for music production have great audio quality and are cheaper than it’s wireless version. You won’t have to worry about buying batteries or recharging wired headphones either.  They come in all sizes from ear buds, medium size headphones and larger. 

    On the downside, wired headphones can get in the way of your performance if you have plenty of wires hanging around the studio.  With wired headphones, you do not have the freedom to move around the studio, as you would like. Having pets can make this an unwise choice for your studio; make sure you secured them away from curious pets. In my opinion, wired headphones are a safe bet for audio quality, secured connections and affordability. 




    Wireless Headphones


    Wireless headphones have come along way as far as reliability, sound quality and price. Although still expensive you can find a good pair for under $400.00. Some brands come with a rechargeable battery station; this will surely save you money overtime. A major benefit for using wireless headphones is having the ability to move around the studio, for busy music professionals this is something to rave about. 

    The downside of wireless headphones is they can be pricier than their wired counter-parts. I’ve also heard people talking about the 1-3 delay that some wireless headphones have. This is surely not every brand but you want to research the brand to make sure that this issue is corrected.  Sound interference has also been an issue in the past with wireless headphones. Being that they the sound travels via open air they may pick up unwanted frequencies in transmission. 

    Conclusion 


    Both wired and wireless headphones have pros and cons it really depends on what you are using them for and the environment. The best advice I can give is to figure out your needs and way them against this post. If you need more freedom and mobility while you work go wireless. If you want better sound quality and security, try wired headphones. Please leave comment below.

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    Learn how to produce music.

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    • How To Produce Music

    Posted by Ramone Hardnett Posted on 12:22 PM No comments


    How To Produce Music


    Growing up watching artist on TV and in the recording studio intrigued me enough to want to know how to produce music. With all the buttons, switches and music workstations in the background it seemed like an exciting career to get into. As it looks simple enough to just jump into, there are some guidelines and rules you should follow before moving too fast. If you are really serious about learning how to produce music, take this article in consideration and TAKE ACTION NOW!


    How To Produce Music Tips


    Learn how to find the key of a song by ear. This is really important to understand, knowing what a key a song is in tells you which note to play.  Most producers today are fly by night, looking for fame and fortune. That will come in time but only if you know what you are doing and understand how to find the key of any song or instrumental. I’ve researched a really good program that gives you 4 free video lessons that will show you how to produce music.

     



    Tools Needed To Produce Music


    To get started producing music you need: a music keyboard with or without a built in sequencer. You’ll also need a pair of good headphones to hear what you are doing just in case others are around. I also suggest you to get a chord guide to practice your chords along with the Hear and Play video tutorials. If you can afford too get yourself reliable audio production software that allows you to record your performances. 

    Practice Your Craft


    I cannot say this enough, to learn how to produce music well, you Must practice performing everyday. Hear and Play will show you how to produce music by ear but you should take it a step further and practice everyday! Practicing everyday will help your hands get use to playing keys with muscle memory. You have to treat this as your newfound profession that pays the bills.

    Conclusion on Learning How To Produce Music


    Learn how to produce music is just like any other hobby or career that you want to get involved with. You need to understand the basic fundamentals of hearing notes, play chords and progressions. To be successful, you need a music keyboard workstation to practice on and a solid music production workstation to capture your performance.  I hope this article gave you some insight on how to produce music, check out Hear and Play 4 Free Videos.

     
    Learn how to sell beats online.

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