"Full" Song Arrangement/Making a beat sound full ?

H

harsh.jha

New member
Hi there, I'm sure that plenty of other people have this question as well, but when I searched it in the forums, I couldn't find anything on it... so, here's my question:


I've always had a problem when composing my own beats, where as I cannot tend to make it sound "full"... even after mixing, etc. I do make the beats sound full, when I have a pad in the background, but I can't neccessarily make those clubbish/dancable tracks, because my beats never sound full...

I was reading in the mixing engineer's handbook, it says that the 5 elements of a song are foundation (drums,bass), pad, rhythm, lead, and fill-ins.. something like that... and you always need 3 of the following occuring at once...

now, when I'm making a beat, and I don't have a pad in the background, it sounds "weird" (note*: the vocals have not been added yet)... i'm not sure if it's supossed to sound like this or not... i mean, there's plenty of beats which don't have pads but sound great (eg. busta rhymes - touch it, ice cube - why we thugs)...

could someone please explain how to properly arrange a hip hop beat, so that it sounds full, thank you


harsh jha
 
A lot can depend on what type of sounds you're using. Do your sounds sound full? What type of equipment are you using? When it comes to hip-hop even the smallest little thing can fill in a gap. If you have Kick, Snare, Hi-Hat, then you may want to add in some claps with the snare or rimshot. I tend to layer different claps to give it a full sound and have them at different pan positions, then play with some reverb on them. Also using shakers/maracas, just extra percussion instruments can fill in some too. You gotta think outside the box when doing Hip-Hop because you don't want it to sound plain.
 
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yeah, i'm using a fantom x6 (gonna trade it in for a triton next month though, because i like the triton extreme sounds more than the fantom sounds)

one thing i did notice was that reverb does help a bit, but it still doesn't make it sound "complete", i'm not sure if that's because the vocals aren't on it yet, or it actually isn't complete.. but who knows, anyways, thanks for the post! i'm hoping more and more people write in this forum, so we can all gather information/tips
 
layers, or when you mixin the beat mess with the balance of the sounds. Make the same sound twice put one on the left & one on the right.
 
sometimes it just needs vocals. lots of hip hop has very simple beats, but with the vocals it sounds "full"
 
I just do mine to a point that I like. Most of the time it never sounds "full", but I know if vocals are on it it will sound full (I don't like mine to sound very full personally, but I'm not that good of a producer but hey)
 
What are you recording with? Try messing with the eq if you think you have all the elements but still dont sound full. Beef the beat up if it sounds weak.
 
With beats like Touch it the reverb compinsates for the lack of a pad element and the synths in the backround. And the bass on the 808 adds some texture to the beat too. And the vocal element adds some more and keeps it from sound completely empty.

And with Why we thugs the strings really act as the pad and a rythmic element.
 
I discovered an awesome technique to fill in a beat: for example Neo - So sick. If you listen carefully at the beginning of the song, about 10 secs in, you hear an Audience (clapping and voices) in the backround. It plays throughout most of the track.

So i tried it with a hip hop beat, instead of using an Audience, I used "Firesmackers" in Reason's Maelstrome Synth. My beat sounds TUFF
 
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thanks guys, yeah i understand it now.. i'm messing a lot more with my effects (eq. reverb. panning).. i'm visualizing a whole soundstage, and mixing accordingly, so my beats sound more full... i also downloaded a bunch of instrumentals, and saw how they put their tracks together, and it all makes sense now.

oh and about the "audience" pad, yeah, i noticed that too and flipped a beat like that a couple days ago... i got the idea from dj quik's "roger's groove" and i used an applause sound, it seems to work fine...

thanks for all the help!!

harsh
 
so much has been said so

know where your'e at, where your'e going and how you are going to get there.

most time we juse feel our way through the song and if it turns out good, were happy. sometimes I write down what I want to come in where and have sort of a visual of the song. this not only helps when trying to make sure its full, but making sure there isnt too much as well
 
record each track individually kick snare hat keys bass ect. then proccess each track with eq compressor reverb[optional] limiter be careful not to clip anything in your signal chain u should be boomin
 
Astar said:
I discovered an awesome technique to fill in a beat: for example Neo - So sick. If you listen carefully at the beginning of the song, about 10 secs in, you hear an Audience (clapping and voices) in the backround. It plays throughout most of the track.

So i tried it with a hip hop beat, instead of using an Audience, I used "Firesmackers" in Reason's Maelstrome Synth. My beat sounds TUFF
Click to expand...

similar thing wit, Mobb Deep - Shook Ones Part II
 
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