Making Hip Hop Beats

Making hip hop beats has changed in the last 10 years. As little as ten years ago, making your own beats required a professional sound studio with lots of specialized audio hardware.  A few years ago, however, computer software became available that let you simulate beat-making studio software on your own laptop.  Unfortunately, high quality beat making software tended be both difficult to use and highly expensive.  More recently, however, a new type of online software has hit the scene allowing you to make your own beats online over the internet relatively cheaply.  This article will tell you how to select a good online beat-making website to use, and how to make beats online.

Making hip hop beats with the right program will help propel your ideas. Before you can learn how to make beats, you'll need to make sure you have good equipment to work with.  Make sure any program to make your own beats online has the following things. 

Making hip hop beats is made easier with the right program. First, look for online beat making software that has a music sequencer with at least sixteen tracks, each with a separate volume control.  Many online beat making programs offer only eight tracks.  While this is enough to create a simple beat, it doesn't give you enough tracks to add instrumental hooks, let alone lyrics and vocals.  Also look for online beat making software equipped with a virtual keyboard.  This will be invaluable when it comes time to overlay instrumental hooks over your beat line. Another thing to look for is software with BPM (beats per minute) controls.  This allows you to control the tempo of your song, from a slow love song to a fast dance beat.  Online beat making software without BPM controls forces you to always use the standard 4/4 tempo, which can quickly become both limiting and frustrating.  Choosing an online beat making program that has a large, high quality sample & sound library is critical.  All beat making software programs have libraries, but some have a small, poor selection, or their samples quality is not terribly high. 

Making hip hop beats is made easier if you have the right options available. If you make your own beats online, make sure any online beat making software you use has an easy to use download option for your completed songs.  Make sure it puts you finished music is a common file format.  The MP3 music file format is the best option, as it is open-source and is compatible with almost every music player available.  Online software that downloads your completed project into some obscure file format that few music players use can be very frustrating.