Tips for producing hip-hop

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Nowadays, it is easier than ever to start making beats. All you need is your laptop, a pair of headphones, and a DAW. And there are a lot of useful tips and tutorials online you can use to upgrade your skills. In this article, we will give some tips to improve your workflow. If you already have a track and you want it to be mixed and mastered to make it sound professional and polished, visit our website ekmixmaster.com

Train your ears

One of the crucial skills you must develop as a producer is a good ear. It is important when it comes to selecting samples for your drums. Having trained ears is also important for layering sounds. Sometimes to get the full sound and cover all the frequency spectrum, you have to layer many different samples on top of each other. So the sooner you start, the better. Experiment with samples, see which ones go better together. 

Leave the room for vocals

When producing hip-hop tracks, it is important to remember that your track will be used as an instrumental for rap. So don’t overcomplicate your mix and leave space for vocals. If your mix is overcrowded, it will distract from the most important element – the rap. So listen to your track and make sure that every instrument serves a purpose. If it doesn’t, mute it and see if the track sounds better without it. How to mix rap vocals is another topic all and of itself, but you’ve got the basic idea.

Reduce conflicting frequencies

The term conflicting frequencies is usually used when two or more instruments occupy the same frequency space. It often happens with the kick drum and bass, as they sit in the same frequency range, and if you don’t do anything about it, they will end up creating mud in your track. To avoid it, all you should do is apply a side-chain compressor to the bass. It will automatically make the bass quieter every time the kick-drum hits, thus making the kick-drum pop out. 

Use hi-hats

Hi-hats give hip-hop its recognizable sound, so no hip-hop beat is complete without hi-hats. Programming hi-hats could be tricky if you are doing it for the first time. It is more comfortable to draw your hi-hats manually rather than record yourself. Especially if the tempo is quick. To give your hi-hats a human feel, you can play with the volume of individual hi-hats. It will give your beat a nice swing.

Add high frequencies to your 808

A big, boomy 808 is an essential element of modern hip-hop music. Many beginners try to boost the low frequencies with EQ to make the 808 sound huge, but the track ends up clipping, and 808 still sounds dull. The secret to getting a great 808 is adding some high frequencies to it. There are many ways to add high frequencies to your 808. You can layer it with the saw wave, use an EQ or a saturator. It all depends on the initial sample. 

Get inspired by your favorite beats

Deconstructing and recreating your favorite songs is one of the best ways to learn music production and beat-making in particular. When listening to your favorite song, make note of all the little tricks to implement them in your songs later. 

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