Rap Beat Spot

A simple way to make some raw beats

To me, the best raw beats are from the 19080′s and 90′s when rap artists and producers used a lot of samples (lots of FUNK samples I should say).

Why do I like that era so much? The beats were raw and unique. How can you reproduce those raw sounds without having to sample vinyl? Go out and do some field recordings of local musicians you know.

Do you have a friend that likes to play drums, and who can bang out some good beats? Grab a recorder, digital or otherwise, and go over to your friends place and record 15 minutes worth of drum sounds and beats. All of these sounds will be raw with interesting room acoustics and reverb, and the recording might even sound borderline bad – but that’s what you want!

You can do the same with other instruments as well. Have a friend jam some guitar riffs for you (you can direct them towards different types of styles as well) and record them, then sample from those recordings and mix in the instrument sounds.

It doesn’t take much…

Take those sounds and layer them into your beats. If your beats sounds a little sterile and need some life, adding a few raw and reverberated samples into the mix can go a long way to “dirty” it up a bit and give your beats and tracks a unique feel.

Tags: funk, production, raw