B
BeatTips
Guest
What up.
I'm often asked:
"How long did it take you to get good at Producing".
Here's my answer:
"My aim was never to be good at producing!
I've always understood that no matter what you do, there will be people on both sides... People who think that your music is good, and people who DO NOT.
So, for me, my focus has always been, and will always be, on creating and producing quality music...
'Good' is subjective.
What one may think is good, another may consider it to be whack, nahmean.
For instance, I like a variety of styles of music, from Roots Reggae to Country, to 1980s Ska.
And in studying these forms of music, I can immediately determine the level of quality, before I can get any sense of whether it's good or not.
Chasin' after good music can be a very misleading path.
There's always a risk that you can confuse your personal thoughts about what's good with what is currently popular.
In a situation like this, a producer (artist) almost always becomes a trend follower rather than a trend setter!
That bein' said, I don't think that there is any usual (typical) amount of time that it takes to develop a quality level of production.
Many producers (well-known and/or somewhat established) will often say that it takes years. But in my opinion, that's becuase in reality, it took them years.
However, I don't think that this is true for everyone.
Hip Hop-Rap has changed.
Production-based technology has changed.
Production forums have emerged.
New pathways and/or short cuts into the music business have been opened.
All of the aforementioned factors, and many more, make it possible for new producers to develop their production level much more faster than I (or the majority of producers who began producing over 7 years ago) did.
The biggest obstacle that I faced when I began producing was information!
Production gear & equipment was very intimidating to me as a new producer...
And the manuals that came with that gear & equipment might as well have been rocket science, word up.
There simply were not that many information outlets when I began producing.
You either had to know a producer, who really knew what they were doing, or you painstakingly stabbed through the manuals. That was it; no other alternatives!
Now, however, man listen...
There are weekly equipment tutorials at retail music stores.
There are a countless number of music production forums.
There are instructional videos.
There is just an overall wealth of knowledge to help aide new producers with their production development.
All of these things considered, I would say that a new producer, from scratch, could develop a quality production level in as little as three to six solid months of practice!
Of course, decrease or increase that time for producers who lack a good understanding of the history of Hip Hop-Rap Music, as well as the Blues, Jazz, and Soul!
I say this because through the years, my production level, and career for that matter, have changed (improved) due to specific points of information.
On the real, there are so many things that I know now that could have shaved YEARS off the time that it took me to develop my production level.
In hindsight, had I known (or even had the right access to figure it out) many of those things--when I first began producing--my production level would have developed much more rapidly.
For instance, I didn't really know how to filter bass lines when I began producing.
I knew what I wanted to do, I knew how I wanted my bass lines to sound, but I had to settle for what I thought was close.
I went on like this for 5 YEARS!
Then one night at my man's studio changed all of that.
We had began to lay down this new instrumental that I had produced...
I described to him how I wanted the bass part to sound.
(Actually, what I was describing was my imagination of two separate bass parts, but I didn't know how to translate that into a functioning technique).
He understood what I was saying and proceeded to explain to me that in order to do what I had described, I needed to first set up the parameters in my sampler in a particular way.
Before he even finished going to the Edit Program mode on my sampler, I knew what to do...
See, he pointed me in the right direction, and then gave me one of the keys that I needed to know.
From just that one key, I was able to open doors (both musically and technically) that had stood locked for 5 years...
5 YEARS reduced to 2 minutes!
Later that night, after the session, I went home and changed ALL of the default settings that I had created in my sampler; and I literally threw nearly every beat that I had made, up until that point, into the garbage!
The point is, I had always known what I wanted to do musically and sound-wise, but I didn't know how to translate this into my production.
If I had access to the right information when I first began producing, I most likely could have reached a quality level of production in a relatively short period of time.
If the emotion is their, once you get the functional know how, you're own your way."
The above exert was from the article, Achieving a Quality Production Level, written by Sa'id.
Originally published in the May 2004 issue of SUPERCHAMP Magazine.
one
Sa'id
(917) 270-2005
www.superchampnyc.com
I'm often asked:
"How long did it take you to get good at Producing".
Here's my answer:
"My aim was never to be good at producing!
I've always understood that no matter what you do, there will be people on both sides... People who think that your music is good, and people who DO NOT.
So, for me, my focus has always been, and will always be, on creating and producing quality music...
'Good' is subjective.
What one may think is good, another may consider it to be whack, nahmean.
For instance, I like a variety of styles of music, from Roots Reggae to Country, to 1980s Ska.
And in studying these forms of music, I can immediately determine the level of quality, before I can get any sense of whether it's good or not.
Chasin' after good music can be a very misleading path.
There's always a risk that you can confuse your personal thoughts about what's good with what is currently popular.
In a situation like this, a producer (artist) almost always becomes a trend follower rather than a trend setter!
That bein' said, I don't think that there is any usual (typical) amount of time that it takes to develop a quality level of production.
Many producers (well-known and/or somewhat established) will often say that it takes years. But in my opinion, that's becuase in reality, it took them years.
However, I don't think that this is true for everyone.
Hip Hop-Rap has changed.
Production-based technology has changed.
Production forums have emerged.
New pathways and/or short cuts into the music business have been opened.
All of the aforementioned factors, and many more, make it possible for new producers to develop their production level much more faster than I (or the majority of producers who began producing over 7 years ago) did.
The biggest obstacle that I faced when I began producing was information!
Production gear & equipment was very intimidating to me as a new producer...
And the manuals that came with that gear & equipment might as well have been rocket science, word up.
There simply were not that many information outlets when I began producing.
You either had to know a producer, who really knew what they were doing, or you painstakingly stabbed through the manuals. That was it; no other alternatives!
Now, however, man listen...
There are weekly equipment tutorials at retail music stores.
There are a countless number of music production forums.
There are instructional videos.
There is just an overall wealth of knowledge to help aide new producers with their production development.
All of these things considered, I would say that a new producer, from scratch, could develop a quality production level in as little as three to six solid months of practice!
Of course, decrease or increase that time for producers who lack a good understanding of the history of Hip Hop-Rap Music, as well as the Blues, Jazz, and Soul!
I say this because through the years, my production level, and career for that matter, have changed (improved) due to specific points of information.
On the real, there are so many things that I know now that could have shaved YEARS off the time that it took me to develop my production level.
In hindsight, had I known (or even had the right access to figure it out) many of those things--when I first began producing--my production level would have developed much more rapidly.
For instance, I didn't really know how to filter bass lines when I began producing.
I knew what I wanted to do, I knew how I wanted my bass lines to sound, but I had to settle for what I thought was close.
I went on like this for 5 YEARS!
Then one night at my man's studio changed all of that.
We had began to lay down this new instrumental that I had produced...
I described to him how I wanted the bass part to sound.
(Actually, what I was describing was my imagination of two separate bass parts, but I didn't know how to translate that into a functioning technique).
He understood what I was saying and proceeded to explain to me that in order to do what I had described, I needed to first set up the parameters in my sampler in a particular way.
Before he even finished going to the Edit Program mode on my sampler, I knew what to do...
See, he pointed me in the right direction, and then gave me one of the keys that I needed to know.
From just that one key, I was able to open doors (both musically and technically) that had stood locked for 5 years...
5 YEARS reduced to 2 minutes!
Later that night, after the session, I went home and changed ALL of the default settings that I had created in my sampler; and I literally threw nearly every beat that I had made, up until that point, into the garbage!
The point is, I had always known what I wanted to do musically and sound-wise, but I didn't know how to translate this into my production.
If I had access to the right information when I first began producing, I most likely could have reached a quality level of production in a relatively short period of time.
If the emotion is their, once you get the functional know how, you're own your way."
The above exert was from the article, Achieving a Quality Production Level, written by Sa'id.
Originally published in the May 2004 issue of SUPERCHAMP Magazine.
one
Sa'id
(917) 270-2005
www.superchampnyc.com
Last edited by a moderator: