A lot of beginning rap producers think that making hip hop beats is all about having the right equipment or samples. The fact of the matter is that some of the greatest beats of all time have been made with just 3 drum sounds and a lot of creativity. It’s better to start learning beat production with the basis before focusing on collecting samples and buying equipment. Here are 5 basic tips to keep in mind when programming your beats:

1. Roll Up Your Sleeves And Get Your Hands Into It
I highly recommend starting your beat by actually playing it into either a keyboard or a drum pad. If you start with step programming or visually writing them into a computer, you’re writing your beat from the left side of the brain instead of the right. Dig in by pounding the beat out with your hands – you’ll notice the difference.

2. Don’t Be Afraid to Get Messy
Don’t quantize your beats right away. Embrace your human-ness by keeping your mistakes and building the beat around them. Some of the most original beats were build around glitches or mistakes. This is why Pharrel starts all of his beats on a real live drum kit.

3. If You’re Going to Quantize – Less is More
Try starting with just quantizing the kicks – try to keep as much of the human groove as possible. If you’re going to quantize the snares, try dragging them behind the beat a little bit so they have a bit of shuffle. Try a swing quantize on the hats. All in all try to be as creative as you can with the quantize – less is more.

4. Don’t Tweak Your Sounds Until You’re Pattern Is Finished
Its very tempting to go in right away and start testing different snares or EQing the kick for that perfect boom – but if the beat isn’t written, you’re wasting your time. While you’re doing your building, you want your sounds clean so you can focus on the writing and the performance. Once the beat is banging, then you can go and mess with the sounds.

5. Try Layering Sounds For Originality
If you want your beats to stand out, you’re going to need an original sound. The best way to break out of the standard kits and sounds is by layering them on top of each other. Take two different snares (or kicks), put them on top of each other to create a brand new sound. This is a great way to mix the boom from certain kicks with a sharp attack of others.

All in all, originality in Hip Hop is key. If you can create original drum patterns and original sounds – you’re way ahead of the game. Encourage and embrace your mistakes – capture them and build entire beats around them – they’re what creativity is all about. Experiment with sounds – layer and tweak them to perfection and your hip hop instrumentals will be rocking hard in no time.

For more detailed breakdown of how to download beats and even how to create original beats yourself, check out http://www.cuthiphopbeats.com

1. How to Become an Expert Hip Hop Beat Producer
2. How to Make Rap Beats
3. Hip Hop Beat Production Software – Sonic Producer
4. Rap Beats And Hip Hop – How To Set Yourself Apart From The Rest Of The Aspiring Rappers And Singers
5. A Free Rap Beats Site

I remember reading that Thom Yorke of Radiohead prefers music production on the computer than on actual instruments. And this is Thom Yorke, one of the most talented musicians of this generation. This idea is shared by everyone from Trevor Reznik of Nine Inch Nails, to the reigning king of music production, Timbaland (who is, in fact, coming up with his own music game for the PSP, called the Beatrator).

So when it comes to hip hop beat production software, you essentially have the following options available to you:

1. Pro Tools

This name has become synonymous with music production. Very powerful, very complicated, and unfortunately for you and me, very expensive.

I’ve used Pro Tools and let me tell you, it will help you do things with your music you didn’t think were possible.

The downside is that it is TOO powerful. If you are just a hip hop producer and don’t want something that includes everything PLUS the kitchen sink, Pro Tools will leave you confused and infuriated. With the number of effects and tools you have at your disposal, you will be spoiled for choice. And unless you are working in a fully fledged recording studio, there is little chance you will end up with something coherent.

As Uncle Parker said, “With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility”. You’ll more than likely f**k up big time with something like Pro Tools. Stay clear.

2. Reason

Reason isn’t something I would recommend. The software is slow, complicated, obtuse, and very difficult to put to work correctly. The only time I used it in the past, I ended up getting frustrated (I was using a friend’s copy). You’re much better off sticking to the other options on this list.

3. Fruity Loops

Fruity Loops is pretty popular with dance and techno artists. Made by Belgian company, Image Line, Fruity Loops has a huge following in the dance/techno and lounge circles of Germany and Austria.

For electronic music, Fruity Loops is a pretty powerful piece of software that will help you arrange tracks and make the best of whatever limited instruments you might have at hand. For a hip hop producer, however, the kind of beats supplied by Fruity Loops are mediocre at best. The interface can get clunky if you want a no-frills beat producer that will do its job without pushing unwanted features in your face.

If you want to make dance/techno/electronic music, by all means, get Fruity Loops. If you are a hip hop artist/producer who wants something solely to make beats, you are better off with something like Sonic Producer, or even Pro Tools.

4. Cubase/Nuendo

I was a long standing user of both Cubase and Nuendo – both made by the same company. I had copies of both, though I could never really understand the difference between the two; except for a few features, the programs were identical. They are recording tools and not exactly production tools, but I’ll throw them in the mix nonetheless.

I used Nuendo primarily to record my acoustic guitar through the microphone. It has a great interface and a ton of features for recording instrumentals, not so good at recording beats and drums. The vocals are pretty too, and you can play around a lot to get your desired vocals.

But since this article looks at the viable options for a hip hop beat producer, Nuendo would fail at this criteria. The support for beat production is mediocre and you have to resort to a ton of plugins to get any value out of your investment.

5. Sonic Producer

This is my current baby when it comes to beat production. Its cheap, geared specifically for producing beats, and has an interface that my 10 year old cousin could use effectively. More importantly, it has a s**t load of tutorials on music production that will make any idiot a hip hop rock star.

Since it was made by a prominent NY producer, it has features that will help you out a lot when you start producing your own beats. Its interface is clean and easy to use, and it already has a huge library of sounds built into it.

At $29.95, its only a fraction of the cost of the other production softwares listed here. Sure, it may not have the power of Pro Tools, but if you want to only make beats, I cannot help but seriously recommend Sonic Producer.

1. Hip Hop Beat Production Software – Sonic Producer
2. My Favorite Beat Production Software
3. How to Become an Expert Hip Hop Beat Producer
4. Rap Beats And Hip Hop – How To Set Yourself Apart From The Rest Of The Aspiring Rappers And Singers
5. How to Roll Your Own Beats From Scratch – The Easy Way

I read it some time back…its quite good stuff.

Check it out now

1. A Free Rap Beats Site
2. How to Roll Your Own Beats From Scratch – The Easy Way
3. Rap Beats And Hip Hop – How To Set Yourself Apart From The Rest Of The Aspiring Rappers And Singers
4. My Favorite Beat Production Software
5. How to Become an Expert Hip Hop Beat Producer

Just stumbled upon this site that has a lot of free beats to use in your original compositions.

They also have a nice selection of premium beats you’ll have to shell out $20 for.

20DollarBeats.com

1. How to Make Rap Beats
2. How to Roll Your Own Beats From Scratch – The Easy Way
3. Rap Beats And Hip Hop – How To Set Yourself Apart From The Rest Of The Aspiring Rappers And Singers
4. 50 Cent Free Concert Plan Doesn't Go Down Well With Parents
5. Hip Hop Beat Production Software – Rappers.org Weighs Your Options