Essential Set-up For Creating Rap Beats

Starting your rap beat production career can sometimes appear very daunting. Perhaps you have been a rap music fan for most of your life and always wondered how the music producers were able to compile such compelling sounds. Maybe you are an up and coming rapper yourself and want to get into the production side of the industry as well. Either way you are going to have to start somewhere, which includes putting together the right set-up for your production endeavors. Time to dive into the nitty gritty of setting up your own studio, which surprisingly is not that difficult to do these days.

Hardware

Do you even need to start buying hardware? The answer is really up to your budget, creative process and amount of time you have to put into this new career. You clearly need space to record samples, vocals etc. but with a desk and or table(s) you will have the ideal set-up. The question of whether you need top of the line equipment such as a keyboard, MPC, microphone and speakers really comes down you your pocketbook. If you can afford to put out thousands of dollars for the highest quality hardware then by all means go for it. However, many people these days are going with a combination of hardware and software, with their hardware not costing them an arm and a leg.

Consider too whether you are a more tactile person, and therefore might need a physical midi keyboard or MPC. You might not want to be spending so much time on the computer and more time on your equipment. Another important aspect to consider is how much time you have to invest in learning the beat making process. If you don't have very much time then you will want something you can learn relatively quickly. However, if you have many hours per day to put into learning equipment and software then don't worry about how complex something may be.

Software

In today's beat building world you must have a piece of software in order to record, arrange or even create the beats. There are many different options, which break down into cost and complexity. Some beat creators even use software exclusively to craft their beats, eschewing hardware all together. With software you can potentially get a lot of tool for much less money. Many software packages such as FL Studio and DUBturbo come equipped with a keyboard and drum machine packed with amazing samples. No need to purchase a two thousand dollar MPC when you can spend around one hundred dollars or less, and get your own virtual drum machine.

Samples

Whether you have software with thousands of pre-loaded samples or intend on buying or creating samples it is imperative that you have quality samples at the ready. A sick beat is layer upon layer of sampled drums, piano strokes, chords, bells, claps etc. and therefore you must have a ton of samples to work with when building your beats. Many software packages come jammed with samples already, meaning you will not need to buy any when you first start off. Most software allows you to import new samples as much as you want if in the future you want to add different samples.

Take all of the information from this article and go out and start putting together your own unique set-up for creating rap beats.

By: Andrés Saavedra

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I have always wanted to make rap beats, but never thought I could afford to do it. However, when I found out about the different software programs available I jumped at the chance to have my own home studio. There are so many more beat making options today than ever before.