Things You'll Need:
- Passion for Hip Hop beats
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Step 1
Search for your sounds. 808 bass drums, hand claps, grand pianos, orchestral strings, flutes, clavinets, these are the types of instruments that can be found lacing West Coast Hip Hop tracks. Almost as important as what you play is how unique and catchy the sounds are. A lot of West Coast MC’s are known for their testimonial style lyrical delivery.
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Step 2
Lay down your drums. The drum patterns usually use a feature called shuffle, which give the sounds being played a slight rhythmic skip that can create nice effects. Some producers just play the drums without quantize and play the shuffling live. Another technique is to double up your drum tracks and shift the second track slightly left or right, then pan the tracks in opposite directions.
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Step 3
Create your bass line. Usually the bass line will ride the drums, meaning that the same time the drum sounds hit are the same time the notes from the bass are played. Funk is a very popular style in West Coast music productions. A lot of music producers will sample old funk bass lines, or these days replay the bass lines.
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Step 4
Create the melodies. The melodies can be composed of flutes, strings, or pretty much any sound that is smooth and gets the job done. This is the point where you will set the tone for the style of beat you are making. Mobbish bay area beats have more strings and flutes, whereas gangster So Cal L.A. type of beats have more sine waves aka worms and piano chords.
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Step 5
Add fill in sounds. At this stage you want to balance everything out in your mix and make sure there are no empty spaces unless they are absolutely necessary. Make sure your highs, mids, and lows are accurately represented and the level of clarity is there to make it a commercially viable release.
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Step 6
Shop around! At this point your beat should be finished and you should be ready to get some feedback and/or compensation for your efforts. Remember handle your business first before any songs are recorded to your music to avoid future issues after a song is released.
