By vmusicbook Inc 

Hip-hop music has become one of the most popular styles of music in United States of America. It consists of two components such as rapping and record scratching. These two components when combined with break dancing and graffiti develop the important elements of hip-hop music. If you wish to enter in the field of hip-hop beat production, you need to understand more about hip-hop music.

Hip-Hop beat production

Modern hip-hop beat production utilizes sequencers, samplers, turntables, synthesizers, drum machines and live instrumentation. Hip-hop production may involve a drum beat, a bassline, sampled music or originally sequenced loops. Beat and vocals are two basic parts of typical hip-hop song. Sampling and beats are the basic elements for producing the hip-hop music.

Sampling

Sampling is an integral part of hip-hop bit production. Samples are taken from the records and imported into the sequencers or samplers. Producers generally opt for creating totally original recordings using the computer-generated beats. Re-record or overdub the sampled part with the live musician is another solution.

Beats

The drum beat is another important element of hip-hop beat production. It is very essential to understand the beats to know the hip-hop construction. Beats include the following-

• MIDI Drum patterns or audio drum loops which include the complete drum tracks

• A Bassline (MIDI sequence)

• Dubs and snips (samples that accent and give character)

• Supporting orchestration (could be synch pads, horns, string sections)

The beat can be short or long and it is 8 bars in its shortest form. If long, it may consist of different parts for the chorus and verse and may add introduction, break and ending.

The vocal tracks in the hip-hop song consist of

• Main vocal-main vocalist performs the rap

• Second vocal- a guest vocal or second vocal that takes a verse

• Background vocals-created to offer a sense of participation by a whole group

• Overdubbed vocals-the main vocal may be doubled, tripled or quadrupled during the chorus and other parts

Recording

For hip-hop beat production, a multi-track recorder is typically used for recording. Nowadays, digital ADAT tape recorders have become popular. Use of a PC as a multi-track recorder with or without outboard can be good alternative. Professional producers generally prefer the condenser microphone for studio recording because of their high quality and wide-range response. The dynamic microphone is a primary alternative to expensive condenser microphone.

Samplers

Hardware samplers have been involved in hip-hop beat production. Samplers outfitted with pads such as MV8000 and MPC can be conveniently used. Software samplers such as Kontakt 2, Halion, Gigastudio, Battery are quite good and can provide more flexibility if your computer is capable to run inside a sequencer. A control pad surface like the Akai MPD16 can be used to provide some hardware control over your software.

Synthesizers

Synthesizers are frequently used for hip-hop beat production. They are used for basslines, melody, for sound synthesis and as percussive stabs. In addition to the analog synthesizer, old FM synths such as cheap Casios, the DX7 and its offspring and other digital synths can be useful for hip-hop elements.

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Mr. P from the forums has posted a great tutorial on how to play “Make It Rain” produced by Scott Storch. Check out the thread here: http://hiphop-producer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=69

Here are the notes of Make it rain.

Tempo is 74,645

First The Intro

Low Strings

Low Strings Variation

Chorus Horns

Chorus Horns Variation

If this helps you, please go on Youtube and give this video a good rating! Thanks.

If you want to learn how to make beats, check out How to Make a Hip Hop Beat in 30 min.

Sheet music and piano roll (click to enlarge)

Intro

Main beat

If you liked this guide and want to see more, you can request a song you want to see the notes for.

Another dope video on Youtube showing you how to play Forgot About Dre on piano by ItzDiPzBaby, but again does not show you the notes. I’ve laid out the notes for you all both in sheet music notation and piano roll notation. Enjoy!

Sheet music and piano roll notation (click to enlarge)

Strings

Bass

That funky synth instrument

If you are just looking for a tutorial on how to make a beat, see how to make a simple hip hop drum beat in 30 min.

aM Laboratory TR-909 Emulator – Flash based drum machine that emulates the Roland TR-90 drum machine.

Beaterator by Rockstar Games – A very impressive online flash-based beat making machine by Rockstar Games. This not only does drums, but you can upload your own sounds and use them in your beat. A little confusing at first if you’ve never dealt with sequencers. Definitely a must try.

Tiny Drum Machine – no real drum sounds involved in this, but a great sequencer experiment with awesome visualizations.

Hexadecimal Drum Machine – drum machine with 3 drum kits and 4 presets.

Monkey Machine Online Java Drum Machine – a Java based web page drum machine. No download necessary. Pretty simple with 10 drums, pattern control, speed control, and different style presets.

zefrank.com Sequencer – not as user friendly as the others because it simulates a “recording” mode where you click in the drums as the loop is playing. Gives you an idea of what recording drums is like in a sequencer. You can load loops that other visitors have saved.

Groovelab – simple online drum machine with 47 drum samples and 3 effects. Allows downloading as .WAV files.

Geneffects -another very simple online drum machine.

Transjam WebDrum II – a live multi-player drum machine. It has horrible drum samples, but fun to play with.

Virtual Drum Machine Playground – a huge collection of simulated drum machines from the 60’s through 80’s.

Worst Drummachine by drx – a VERY simple web page drum machine. Not even flash-based. Just click in the radio buttons to program the drums. Not the best, but gets you introduced to drum machines.