Learn How To Make Beats – Software & Tutorials

The first thing we need when wanting to learn how to make beats, is some capable digital sequencing software.

Right off the bat, it is recommended that you download DUBturbo, which is the most popular production platform, for a number of good reasons:

1.  This program is incredibly user-friendly
2.  Instant download from manufacturer website
3.  Amazing sounds & drum kits built in
4.  keyboard sound triggers – drum machine style

So before we move on, download and install the software on your computer, so you can follow along with this basic tutorial.

Click to go to the supplier:

 

How To Make a Generic Hip Hop Beat:

For today’s example, we are going to produce a very simple hip hop style beat, which can be changed in a number of ways to make it sound unique.

Once you have downloaded setup DUBturbo, we are ready to get started.

A basic beat is comprised of four primary elements:

  • Kick Drum – the “boom” that we all know and love
  • Snare Drum – the “Crack” or tap
  • Hi-hats – the high frequency cymbals
  • Bass line – the low end groove or melody

The bass line is melody based, and will be drawn into the sequencer by hand or played on your midi-controller/piano if you have one.  So we are going to leave it out of this tutorial.

Choosing your sounds:

Within the program there are a number of great drum kits with varying sounds to choose from. However, the manufacturer also has a wide variety of additional drum and instrument sounds that can be obtained, which is recommended you do.

Way too many people become concerned with choosing your drum sounds before you have even programmed your beat, but to anyone who knows what they are doing, this is completely backwards.

While you are motivated, just quickly program the beat and then take your time to choose sounds later. This way, you will hear the sounds in context as the beat is playing and you don’t lose any ideas or inspiration whilst you are determining the sounds.

The Process:

Here you really have two options:

Keyboard Trigger Config

A: Trigger the beat live with your keyboard

If you go with this method, most people choose to use the kick and snare first. It is impossible to get you hats at the same time, as we only have two hands, but not to worry, you can lay your kick and snare, while still manually adding the hats by hand after.

 

B: Draw in the entire beat with the mouse

Editing With Mouse

So you are going to use the mouse to place the drum sounds in the respective location as follows:

1. Set your tempo – in this day and age the tempo (speed) varies a lot, however we are going to set something more traditional at around 94 BPM (Beats Per Minute).

2. Place you Kick – The kick drum will always come first when you make a beat and in this instance we are going to place it on the 1st and 3rd beat of every bar (a bar is every 4 counts).

3. Snare – You can use a snare or “clap” sounds if that’s that beat your going for, but for now we will proceed to refer to it as a snare. Traditionally, snares will be placed on 2nd and 4th beats, so do that now.

4. Hi Hats – We are going to simply place them on every count in this instance. You can add a hi-hat “suck” wherever you desire. This is the high frequency “psssup” sound.

5. Further instruments – The beat is just the beginning of your track. Composing melodies is a whole new ball game and can’t really be taught, so the best we can do is to advise you to play around with it.

Mixing:

Set your volumes using your mix controllers. Remember not to let any of the sounds stand out too much, though this is something you will get used to and develop an ear for over time.

Exporting:

With Dubturbo, you can export super high quality .wav files with the click of one button. Pump your original tunes at parties, in your car or even sell them and start making a career out of being a producer.

Download the software from the manufacturer website now.

 

For a full review of the best beat making programs, check out this page here.