Beats (music)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Composing a hip hop beat was traditionally done with a turntable and later evolved to the use of drum machines and samplers.

Samplers took on different forms, such as MPCs and computer programs. Programs such as Reason, Cubase, and Fruity Loops are common in the underground hip hop industry - a lot of which is made in small, low-budget studios.

Over the years many new sounds have been experimented with. In the early 90's, Dr. Dre was one of the first to put a melody in a hip hop beat, and this influenced many producers coming after him. Currently producers such as 9th Wonder and Kanye West tend to sample old soul songs, and speed the voices up, and add them to a simple drum beat.

In rapcore, beats are generally done with live drums and sometimes guitars as well.

The latest years a lot of instrumental-producers have come up online as well.
Through soundclick and myspace some are even able to sell their beats.
examples are:
Jee Juh Beats & Instrumentals GreenHouse productions: [1]
ShadowVille productions: [2]
Highfly productions
and several others