How to Make Rap Beats in Seven Simple Steps

Making rap beats has never been easier. Ten years ago, to make rap beats you needed a professional sound studio with lots of advanced (and expensive) sound equipment. To make rap beats today, you only need to find audio production software online for cheap or free, and you can make music on you laptop in your bedroom. One thing has not changed, however: knowing how to make rap beats still required talent, training, and practice. Many would-be laptop DJs open their audio software excited and ready to make hip-hop music, only to realize that they have absolutely no idea what to do, or even where to begin. If you're one of these people, this article will give a very brief introduction on how to make rap beats.

Step One: Before You Start

It's best to write your lyrics ahead of time, so that you know how where your song is going and how to build it. Make sure you understand the basic structure of a rap or hip hop song. Lyrical verses that are sixteen bars long is the industry standard. The instrumental hook at the beginning is commonly eight bars long. Keep this in mind when creating your rap beat.

Step Two: High Notes

The first thing you should do is set down your high tones. These are most commonly cymbals, but you can also use chimes, whistles, bells, etc. It doesn't need to be too complex. The main goal of laying out your high notes is to establish for yourself the basic tempo and BPM (beats-per-minute) that you will build your song around.

Step Three: Bass Line

Next, add your bass line, the "booms" or low tones. Using the tempo you established earlier with the high notes, flesh out the basic rhythm of your rap beat. Again, it doesn't need to be that complex-it just needs to regulate the beat of your music.

Step 4 to 7 in next post.

Author: Beebob, http://www.beatsmusicworld.com, 2010