Type Beats: What They Are and How to Start Making Them

First and first, let’s get one thing out of the way: the market for paid beats is saturated. It’s best not to charge for type beats like a novice until you’ve refined your skills enough to produce a high-quality result.

Even still, understanding and reproducing the sounds in your favourite tracks is an excellent production exercise.

It’s a good production practice to analyse the sounds in your favourite tracks and figure out how to recreate them.

You can practise the techniques used by the pros and learn how to apply them in your own work by studying how other producers created their sounds.

You won’t be able to copy every sound in the music perfectly, but capturing the tone and feel is just as crucial.

Here are a few pointers to help you understand how a beat is made:

You could want to dive straight into a Travis Scott-style beat, which is fantastic! There’s no such thing as a bad place to start.

However, if you want to get known, creating type beats for only the biggest artists is a risk.

There are a lot of producers out there crafting Drake Type Beats, so standing out may be difficult.

Consider making a beat for an up-and-coming rapper or beat producer if you’re getting good at making type tracks and want to do something serious.

Someone who may be on their way to becoming a superstar but isn’t quite there yet.

There’s a good chance that someone like them doesn’t have a lot of type beats made in their style.

Many genres, including trap music, are characterised by specific rhythmic patterns and tempos.

If your song is too quick and has an improper pattern, you’ll never be able to achieve the same mood and atmosphere.

Find the tempo of the beat you’re trying to imitate using your DAW or an online BPM analyzer.

Then educate yourself with the rhythms they’re known for.

For instance, does the rapper prefer half-tempo R&B tunes, or should you go with faster trap hi-hats?

A lot of beats have certain basic sounds in common. I’m referring to classics such as the 808 drums and bass.

You may use the 808s that come with your DAW, but you should spend some time altering them to obtain the sound you want.

To obtain unique, punchy, and booming 808s, most producers (including the ones for whom you might be building a type beat) employ a variety of sound design strategies.

If spending hours playing with 808 kicks isn’t your thing, there are plenty of producer-built 808 samples available online that will give you the speaker-punishing sound you’re looking for.

When it comes to sampling…

A well-placed sample can give a beat an entirely different personality.

You may need to find a cool sample on your track to build an authentic type beat.

Always keep in mind that any sample you utilize must be cleared.

However, you can obtain cleared and royalty-free sample packs handpicked by some of the industry’s greatest producers online.

All you have to do is pick a sick cleared sample made by an experienced producer and modify it to fit your style of beat.

Listen to the samples utilised in the rhythm you’re trying to recreate and look for musicians, producers, or sounds that sound similar.

Synthesizer programming is difficult, although certain patches frequently appear in particular genres.

Software synths from Native Instruments, including Massive and FM8, are popular among producers.

Find a video of your favourite producer in the studio and pay attention to the synths they utilise.

If you can’t afford the gear they use, look for a synth VST clone that sounds as close to your favourite producer as possible.

It’s amazing what a DAW, a few plugins, and a basic MIDI keyboard can accomplish.

Signature effects can also help to set the tone of a scene. Pay close attention to any distinctive effects, particularly on the voices or samples, and make sure they’re included.

Beatmakers utilise a variety of effects, so keep your ears open and educate yourself on how different audio effects function.

A song’s identity is primarily dictated by its chord progression. Understanding the chords and progressions utilised in a beat provides the foundation for creating similar patterns.

Understanding the chords and progressions utilised in a beat provides the foundation for creating similar rhythms.

Here’s a little secret: the majority of large trap tracks are written in minor keys. Minor themes are likely to be used by the producer who has inspired you.

As a result, consider connecting with your minor scales and chords.

Nothing beats an emotional and sad chord progression for giving your track a genuine feel.

Then, through trial and error, you’ll have to do your best to match the beat’s specific feel and atmosphere.

The more you practise, however, the better you’ll become.

It’s a lot of fun to make beats, especially because you get to put your name on the track and say, “I made that!”

Sometimes you need to get inspired by the greats if you want your tracks to fit into a specific musical genre.

Making such beats is especially attractive because it comes with the extra thrill of possibly grabbing the eye of your favourite rapper or producer.

However, don’t be too concerned with the economics of producing beats for other artists.

It’s always so wonderful to just exercise your unique imagination and attempt to make something cool; it’s why you do this in the first place!