How comes beats arent so simple nowadays?

gescajadillo said:


this might be an ok example. pauses, layers. filters. sounds like a big flp project to me.
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Yeah i fucc with that beat definitely FL made. But you gotta understand what you mentioned is predominantly done in post-production. I saw a vid where the guy who made the beat showed what he did and I mean when you break it down it makes more sense. Drums/congo bridge, Layering like crazy with the synths n pads/arps.

Whoever said HipHops been jacking from EDM is TOOOO right. Gross Beat/Glitching like 808 mafia do as a transition is some edm ish and it sounds pretty dope too
 
Modern beats are busy as hell.. Not complex really though. A lot of older beats may SEEM simple, but often the little nuances were subtle.
 
I think most of today's beats are very simple. Especially that trap beats. All you need is a simple piano loop with an 808, snare rolls, and hi hats and everybody will call it a banger. Don't get me wrong it is hot but after awhile it gets played out.
 
I think it's just the age we are living in now, where people are posting there music online. Producers are making their beats more so to entertain the listener than anything else, now matter how simple your beat sounds if you get a great artist who knows how to format a song out of that beat the result will always be good music.

 
I generally found since I've started trying to make beats that:

- Less is more
- Trap is easier to make than Boom Bap
- 128 BPM house is as easy to make as trap

...the faster the tempo the less attention that needs to be spent on smaller details.

I would concur with the people saying music definitely sounds "busier".

The music that's popular right now can't be danced to. Actually, no, it's physically impossible to dance to. You can only jump up and down, moving your fist to the majority of chart music now. So yes, it's busier. Busier does not translate to complexity.
 
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The answer to your question is this...... these new producers arent exactly producers they're beatmakers. So they are making beats and not producing songs. Believe it or not its harder to make a simple beat. Anybody can throw a hundred sounds in a beat but how many can make a hot loop that can stand alone .not many
 
DaVizzy said:
It's the cycle of all art.

People in the renaissance and baroque era thought art thought art had to be an almost perfect portrait or an elaborate landscape of angels and demons.

Then artists like Matisse drew childlike pictures with pretty colors. A step down in complexity but fine art nonetheless.

Eventually there was minimalism where artist put almost nothing down. And then avant garde and modern art where basically a while bunch of random shit slapped together.

Hiphop is art and it goes through its phases.
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LOL, I like this post because I just took my final exam for my art history class yesterday and we learned about all that shit.. Its a required class I had to take for my digital arts major at my college. Pretty interesting though!

But yeah, I see what your saying.. kinda.. People complain that beats these days are so simple, but at the same time think about it, are they really that simple? what is simple anyways??

Back in the days, the mix sounded ruff, and it just kinda looped; not much filter tricks and dancing snare rolls ever 8 bars, and no beat drop-outs ever 4 bars... but they were still melodic. I liked it, the beats were easy on the ears. Never thought about it back then.

In my opinion, although I don't pay it much thought, but I do see what your saying though. I think beats and songs in general sound like they are trying to be 100% perfect sometimes. it ruins it for me. all quantized and stiff. but at the same time, I like older beats that were quantized perfectly.. I don't know what it is.. I guess its like stated above, hip hop is an art and its bound to go through many changes. It is what it is. Good topic.
 
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gescajadillo said:


this might be an ok example. pauses, layers. filters. sounds like a big flp project to me.
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Just a sidenote, never heard this in the studio. Anyone else notice Nicki sounds like her part was recorded in a bathroom on tour or something? Not clowning, I only noticed it in here, so it's not serious.

On subject, trends change. You kinda got to fill in beats more when you're not sampling a full song for a main melody. Let's not act like a song like "Hola Hovito" or "Jigga What" by Jay-Z from back in the days wasn't just as intricate and alot of this stuff now. Then on top of the fact tempos have decreased give you more open space to fill with percussion, most of these changeups are just logical in the development of a song.

Listen to old RnB records and it doesn't seem as strange the way these change ups happen. But even with all that, you can get a track in that just goes and doesn't need alot of change ups. Think of "Hustle hard" by Ace hood.
 
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Another proble is, mixing has become a more "in your face" thing. No more subtle sounds in music, everything is brought up front. There's probably a good 30 tracks to this beat(not counting individual live drums), they just weren't all thrown in your face.

 
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deRaNged 4 Phuk'dup said:
Another proble is, mixing has become a more "in your face" thing. No more subtle sounds in music, everything is brought up front. There's probably a good 30 tracks to this beat(not counting individual live drums), they just weren't all thrown in your face.

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Exactly! no more subtle sounds in music no more.. no more subtle pizzicato laying beneath the beat that you only hear while you high one day, out of nowhere LOL.. everything sounds like a limiter is thrown on the main mix making everything Loud and In Your Face... That's what I meant by when I said the music back then was easier on the ears.

All the sound frequencies seem full blast, with the frequencies' cut later on, and then they just arrange it and add breaks and high hat sections, snare rolls... it seems overkill sometimes IMO, and starts sounding the same, but the average person won't pay no mind.

I still like the sound of todays music, its just my producer ear won't shut up while I'm just trying to listen to music.
 
^^^Not that I know of, but that could be an interpolation of another song. Musiq Soulchild has a song called "L is Gone" with the same melody. Not sure which came 1st.
 
Simple beats work because people are distracted a lot by phones and gadgets. There's no time to care about what's going on. The more simple the beat, the more you can focus on that text message and walk into that pole at the same time. When people do sit down to enjoy music... there minds are still somewhere else more than likely.

Plus, I don't like music that overcrowds the lyrics or artists.

Laffy Taffy was a hit....
 
Maino punked James... it was sad to see / hear.

I've never seen anything like it.

Maino should get the keys to the city if not the entire "inner city" everywhere in the Nation.

Use your words wisely kids, try not to offend or REAL GOONS may get offended.

I checked a dude so hard the other month, I apologized to him when I saw him BUT! he said ROME I really needed that checking you gave me. I still felt bad though.

Don't get around bytches and start running down dudes they're seeing, leave that to "WOMAN FOLK", it ain't "WHOA".
 
BiggRome 2.0 said:
Plus, I don't like music that overcrowds the lyrics or artists.

Laffy Taffy was a hit....
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Many famous rappers today have no lyrics or an original flow, so the beat might aswell be so loud that i cant even hear the guy & i definately wouldnt call rappers artists.
 
i fux wit these beats though. i always liked how the south did their hi hats.
lean wit it rock wit it had a hotter melody and percussion though.



 
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