Rapping is just one of the elements of hip hop and I feel that I don’t do enough to cover some of the others. I’m a music producer and I know that a lot of readers here make beats themselves. So I’m going to began adding posts to this site that cover the craft that I love, and that is music production and and beat making.
There was a post on this blog about the differences between beatmakers and music producers that you should check out too. So along with that I wanted to create a post touching on the professional development of those who just make beats into music producers who can also be instrumental in more aspects of recording of a project from beginning to end. So for those who don’t know, here are 3 important ways you can begin to become a pro.
1. Learn more about recording gear
It will help you to learn more about the recording qualities of some microphones, audio monitors, compressors etc…This knowledge will not only give you a larger variety of choices when you’re recording, it will also increase the quality of your recordings when you know how to use them properly.
2. Getting more involved with the artists who are writing and performing to your beats.
Let’s be real. Most of the classic albums of the past involved only one ore two music producers on the whole album and those producers where heavily involved with developing the concepts for those projects.
Too may beat makers I know just send the beats off to artists with no involvement in the vocal recording process whatsoever and just accept whatever is sent back to them. This in my opinion is why we have so much mediocre music out here today. It’s because more minds aren’t getting together and challenging each other to develop better, more creative ideas. It’s just an attitude of cut it whenever, however, wherever.
3. Learn how to mix and master
I’ve said it several times here. A bad mix can destroy a great song. If you can’t afford the services of a professional recording engineer, buy some quality audio monitors, get your skills up, and learn how to do it yourself. The quickest way to hear if your mix sounds bad is to compare it to a track that’s professionally mixed and observe the differences.
There are thousands of videos on YouTube and articles on the Internet that can point you in the right direction if you want to sharpen your mixing abilities.
To conclude, the producer is like the director of a movie. The sound quality of the song or project their involved with should become their responsibility. Unless you have full trust in the engineers, you should be involved in every aspect of the project from beginning to end.
