Learn About Sean "LiveWire" Smith

Hah, such a lovely pun. Well, normally when making hip hop music, you rap over it. Well, I am not going to teach you to rap in this section because you're merely the producer, the man behind the rapper. If you rap, then I don't need to teach you how to rap. If you can't rap, find somebody who can. This section is for miscellaneous things. One thing I have to touch on is volume (also known as velocity). To edit volume in the piano roll, simply find the value of each note in the bottom of the piano roll, assuming it is visible there, as in FruityLoops, there are different values that can be displayed there, so you have to select which value is shown with the use of the drop-down box beside it (note that Reason users, and possibly others, must make sure that the velocity controls are visible by checkin their menus and selections). Higher volume makes things stand out, obviously, but don't overdo it. Loud music is hard to record over and if you want your bass heard, just make it hard at the start of the sample. People will probably turn the music up to hear the bass. Volume is also useful in a certain kind of transition. Have you heard southern-style songs such as "Never Scared" where theres a lot of snares as a transition, but they somewhat fade in? Or songs where a series of 'tom' hits will make a transition into the song? Simply start soft, end loud. Not a hard concept to grasp. And don't worry about a sound being too soft. Even if its not dominant, it's still complimentary and will probably do well with the song.

There's tons of things I could touch on here, but since there are entire websites and underground communities where you can learn specifics, I won't get into them. But before I go, I want to share with you a little advice. One: SAMPLES. Always use high quality samples. Bad sample CAN affect your song. However, don't blame a bad beat on the samples. It is very possible to make a good beat with bad samples, just not easy. Two: REFINEMENT. Dont just leave a beat alone. Add and delete things to the beats and make them sound better. Three: COLLABORATE. I realize many people don't like to let other producers hear their music because they are afraid the other producer will bite off of their style. If the other producer has to steal from you, then they aren't better than you are and you've nothing to worry about. I personally don't trade sample and believe I am self-sufficient, but I'm always willing to listen to other people's beats and sometimes let them hear mine. Four: BEATBOX. Even if you cannot actually beatbox, do it in your head and when you come up with something good, find a way to write it down. A good way would be to follow the ways used in this tutorial. At least, thats how I do it. Five: THINK. Don't copy, be original. You can imitate a style, but don't duplicate it. There's plenty of ways to make beats. Maybe, if you find someone to rap for you, you can find out what style they like and try to make your beats like that.