Experiences of Long-Time Producers

S

samurai

New member
Saluto you future producers,

I´d be glad if some long-time producers could share some experiences with newbies like me. So let me ask you some questions:

1. What made you start making beats? Friends? A love of music? Do you rap, too? If not, why?

2. How long did it take to reach a level that allowed you to produce really well-made beats? Were you producing every day like a maniac or just now and then?

3. Whats your relationship to music? What music do you listen to except rap? Do you listen to music 24/7 or more or less seldom? Only rap, or other genres, too?

4. How did making beats change your lives? What weight has the music in your lives?

5. What three "wisdoms" would you tell a newbie, based on the experiences you made on your way?

6. How productive are you? A beat per week? A beat per day? A beat per month?

I´m looking forward to your answers!

Greetings from Germany.

Edit: Just realized that this would fit much better in the "getting started" section. Hahaha. I´m so sorry guys, maybe some admin can put this thread in there.
 
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1. Love for hip-hop. Grew up as an Asian kid in a suburban neighborhood and just loved the vibe of the culture.
2. I've never produced for an industry artist, but the track in my sig is an example. Been producing for 2 years.
3. Being a sample heavy producer, I listen to every genre.
4. I'm still figuring that out. Haven't had a lot of extrinsic success but it's definitely intrinsic satisfaction.
5. Still new to this but "understand the importance of brand"
6. Average 2/week. Spend maybe 4 hours/beat.
 
I'll shoot.

1. Love of music, wanted to make my own "heat" after making beats in my head and hearing my influences production. I rap as well. I've actually produced 3 of cds with me doing everything from beats, raps, mixing, etc. (except artwork)
2. I'd say it took me about 3-5 years to really make beats i considered "well made" for the sound i wanted the bar was set high for myself, i tried to produce everyday, and if not produce just tinker around with my equipment whether daw or hardware to get more familiar with my tools.
3. My relationship to music is what the soul is to the body. R&B, techno, dubstep, pop, a little rock, edm, anything from the 70's, and anything else except country. I don't listen to rap 24/7 i honestly don't even listen to alot of rap nowadays, if i do it's usually something that came out a while ago.
4. Beats gave me a outlet to express how i felt and be creative at the same time, it also gave me a opportunity to make a little extra money and consider this as a career possibly.
5. 1) Work on your craft everyday or as much as you can, you only get out what you put in. 2) Don't listen to those who put you down and doubt you with negativity 3) Listen and study your influences to mold your own sound
6. I produce probably 1 beat a day or two, i'm a slow picky beat maker because i choose to be and i don't like just throwing beats together, i know how i want it to sound from the mix, to the chop, etc. and i just take my time and put it together. I usually just fool around and see what i can run with as well instead of always premeditating to keep it fresh.
 
1. What made you start making beats? Friends? A love of music? Do you rap, too? If not, why?: Curiosity. I was 14 when I started making beats (18 now) and I have been doing it ever since.

2. How long did it take to reach a level that allowed you to produce really well-made beats? Were you producing every day like a maniac or just now and then?: I was studying for the first few months. I was experimenting with several DAWs and utilizing the internet to aid me in bettering myself as a beatsmith.

3. Whats your relationship to music? What music do you listen to except rap? Do you listen to music 24/7 or more or less seldom? Only rap, or other genres, too?: I listen to music EVERYDAY, ALL DAY. I listen to Hip-Hop, Electronic, Grunge, Indie, Soul, Jazz, Funk, etc.

4. How did making beats change your lives? What weight has the music in your lives?: It is my creative outlet!

5. What three "wisdoms" would you tell a newbie, based on the experiences you made on your way?: Practice, practice, and listen.

6. How productive are you? A beat per week? A beat per day? A beat per month?: Roughly 3-5 a day when I hit the record store. I usually make 1-3 daily (bad days), and 4-6 (on good days).
 
Dope thread! here are my answers:

1. What made you start making beats? Friends? A love of music? Do you rap, too? If not, why?
I was always curious about making music and I've always loved hiphop, so I wanted to try it out. Just never tried it, because DAW's always looked complicated, until a friend of mine told me about this online where you could just **** around with a couples of preset loops and stuff. after making 5 beats using that I decided to finally try out FL Studio and i was sold.

I don't rap, cause I suck at writing rhymes. I'm a pretty good writer, when i'm writing short stories or commercial documents for my job or something, but I suck at poetry.

2. How long did it take to reach a level that allowed you to produce really well-made beats? Were you producing every day like a maniac or just now and then?
My beats where sounding well made after 8-10 months, but it took me about 8 more months to really find my own sound. I've been doing this for about two years now and have recently released my first instrumental album 'Circles'. I can honestly say that I feel my music sounds really good, but of course there is always room for improvement.

3. Whats your relationship to music? What music do you listen to except rap? Do you listen to music 24/7 or more or less seldom? Only rap, or other genres, too?
I try to listen to music as much as I can. I mostly listen to hiphop, but I can enjoy a lot of different genres as well.

4. How did making beats change your lives? What weight has the music in your lives?
Well, I haven't really been able to make a career out of music or anything, but making music is kind of like therapy to me. My music is a way to express myself on a creative level. When you listen to my project 'Circles' for instance, you'll hear all kinds of emotions I felt in the six months it took me to create the project. As a result, I've been a lot happier ever since I started using my music as a release, instead of washing my emotions away with alcohol. I wasn't an alcoholic or something, but I did used to drink and smoke a lot.

5. What three "wisdoms" would you tell a newbie, based on the experiences you made on your way?
1. Make sure your administration is correct, write down important info and remember where you wrote it down. Things like which samples you used on a beat, contact info of artist, etc. Just make sure you have all the info you'll need at your disposal.

2. Work on your relationships with artists, bloggers and fans. Nowadays a person is only as big as his/her network, use that to your advantage.

3. Don't trust someone, just because he/she likes your music, this is a dirty industry and the people in it can be just as dirty.

6. How productive are you? A beat per week? A beat per day? A beat per month?
I try to make at least two beats a week, but it really differs. Some weeks I make two, some weeks 0 and sometimes I make multiple beats a day. I'm still in college and got a job to support it, so I got a very busy schedule. I don't always have the time, and some times when I do have time I just feel uninspired and stuff.

Kalm Kid said:
I'll shoot.
3) Listen and study your influences to mold your own sound
Click to expand...

I think this one is really important, i've learned so much from studying guys I look up to.
 
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Boom.

1. What made you start making beats? Friends? A love of music? Do you rap, too? If not, why?
I was literally bored one day and saw that the demo for FL was free, so I downloaded it. Never looked back since; got so hooked on making beats. I make house music, so no rap for this guy.

2. How long did it take to reach a level that allowed you to produce really well-made beats? Were you producing every day like a maniac or just now and then?
I've been making music for around 2 years now. I'd say that it took me at least 6 months to really get to the point that I felt like I was actually producing some decent stuff and not just shit lol. I wasn't really producing like a maniac; I'd pretty much do it whenever I had some free time on my hands. Like everyone else, I did have the occasional "stay up until 4am to finish this dam song even though my eyes are redder than a fresh apple". But it was so worth it.

3. Whats your relationship to music? What music do you listen to except rap? Do you listen to music 24/7 or more or less seldom? Only rap, or other genres, too?
I was always into hip hop and rap growing up. My fav rapper was (and maybe still is) Lupe. Then I started listening to some house music while it was still unpopular in America. (Old David Guetta, Mau5, Kaskade, etc).

4. How did making beats change your lives? What weight has the music in your lives?
It's interesting, but I think the biggest thing that producing has made me very analytical of everything I hear. Every track I hear, I'll think about how it was made and how I could visualize it in a DAW. I'm just making stuff as a hobby, so there is no professional thing or anything like that.

5. What three "wisdoms" would you tell a newbie, based on the experiences you made on your way?
 1) ALWAYS FINISH AT LEAST SOME OF YOUR TRACKS!!! Don't just start 390844 tracks and leave them there to rot. You learn a lot more than you realize by going through the whole process.

2) Don't worry about loudness in the beginning. You're only going to piss yourself off.

3) Keep having fun with it. Try new things if you start getting bored.

6. How productive are you? A beat per week? A beat per day? A beat per month?
Lately, I have a new track done every two weeks or so. Usually it's because I've got a bunch of other things going in life and I can't work on my hobby as much as I'd like. I don't conciously try to make a new one in any defined period of time; I just go with the flow and do whatever I feel. Sickest hobby ever :D

Big shotout to Pellle0809 for italicizing the questions. Saved me a few seconds.
 
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