How To Produce Hip Hop Beats?

(What Do I Use In My Home Studio?)

How to produce hip hop beats is a question I get a couple times a week from people who visit my website. They simple answer to that question is go to www.futureproducers.com. I don't have time to explain over 7 years worth of tips and techniques on this webpage.

Now if you want to know what type of equipment I use so you can get on a fast track to upload your hip hop beats then I can and will help you right now.

If you read my information on the page how to buy a beat then you remember me saying some producers don't like to give away the information about what type of equipment they use. Scared of some competition or something hell I don't know.

Well that's not me....check out the pics of my gear then I'll explain why I use this gear.

Becoming a Rap Producer was not what I graduated high school thinking. This profession kind of creeped up on me. Man am I glad it did though. I love every bit of it. I'm thinking about writing another book and calling it How To Come Up As A Hip Hop Producer.

Anyway let me run down the list of what you see above. I have other stuff but this are my weapons of mass destruction.

Roland Fantom X - Keyboard - This is my work horse. I have a midi-controller that I also use sometimes to control my VST's in Cubase or FL Studio but for the most part. I always have my Roland Fantom up and running. With just my Fantom X6 I can bang a track out using the built in drum pads, mix the beat down, record vocals in the board via the 8 track audio recorder inside, master the track via the built in mastering software, export the tracks as wav. rap beats to my computer via the USB. Then turn the wav. files to an MP3 so I can upload to my website. WHAT? All of that with just one board. YES!! Get cha' mind right!!

Korg Triton Rack Module - I have been around Korg products since the Triton was called a Trinity. So of course I had to have a Triton in the studio. It just doesn't feel right without one. What would the rap producer gotti say if he didn't see one in your production layer?

Roland Fantom XR Sound Module - I know what you are saying. If you have a Fantom X6 board why do you need a Roland XR module. Aren't they the same? Yes...they are. The only thing the XR is missing is the keys. I bought the XR because many times I need to do and track out beats for artist in a studio and I don't take chances of bringing my X6 to thier studio to get smoked around or liquid spilled on it. So what was my option? Yup! You guessed it. I simply bring my XR sound module to the game. Damn I'm good!

Yamaha Motif ES Sound Module - If you like extra clean sounds. Then you cannot overlook the Yamaha Motif. Again I didn't need the keys so I simply purchased the module to get those ridiculous Rhodes and Strings from this company.

Roland JV-2080 Sound Module - By now you probably figured it out. I am a Roland fan. This sound module is not even for sale anymore it's vintage. I might hit you with some crazy sounds and you will look for them all day on your equipment and it will not be there. You have to know your stuff. Every real producer has some vintage gear in the studio. That reminds me peep out my other piece of vintage sound gear... 

Yeah pimpin that's my MC-303. If you ever watched Bow Wow on MTV cribs then you know that he also has one sitting on his dresser in his room.

Akai MPC-2000XL Drum Machine - If you go to a studio and the producer does not have one of these drum machines in there........LEAVE! Ha-Ha-Ha seriously though. This is an industry standard piece of production equipment. Nothing in this world swings drums like an MPC...not even my Fantom X6 drum machine. Dammit! 

If you battle another producer and he really knows how to use one of these like I do. You are in a world of trouble.

EMU Mo' Phat Command Station - I bought this because I travel alot and I need something I can take with me that has the power of producing beats with the same professional quality level as the rest of my gear. Besides that EMU and it's Mo' Phatt and Proteus 2000 sounds can be found on probably 85 percent of all Rap and R&B instrumentals right now! Please believe that!

Mackie 12 Channel Mixer - Well when you have 5 sound modules, a drum machine and a keyboard in your studio something has to marry these beast together outside of MIDI. My choice was simply Mackie. I don't feel I need to explain that choice any further.

Cubase SX Recording Software - Protools, Pro tools Pro-tools......

NO! No! No! Quick note. Unless you have ProTools HD in your studio which cost $100,000 plus. Don't mention it to me. Just because you or somebody you know has Protools Digi 001 or 002 etc..etc with a controller. I don't care and I'm not impressed.

I use Cubase because I am a real producer. Steinberg introduced VST's (Virtual Instruments) to this world and I have enough Platinum Waves plug-ins to kill any Protools setup outside of the HD system. So my advice there is simply stay in your lane.

FL Studio Production Software - Some people think this is a toy production software. Please! I hear cats everyday that produce on this software and make $1,000's of dollars doing it. Not to mention I have mine setup as a VST in Cubase SX so again stay in your lane. Don't ever sleep on this production software it can be your worst nightmare if I'm using it.

Mackie Monitors - Don't place a bunch of weight on what type of monitors I use to mix. This is simply a producers choice on how they want to hear their music. I'll tell you this. The Mackie 824's are not the best Monitors on the market. Not when you have Yamaha, Tannoy and Genelec on the scene.

Here is the difference between me and other producers though. I have mastered the frequency of my monitors in the environment they sit in. I know exactly what my bass and highs should sound like. You can have the best monitors in the world but if you don't know haw to mix or master the frequency levels you might as well have a pair of Wal-Mart headphones!

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