I realize that a lot of WB members get discouraged about the music they make. I can really relate to this because i am the same way. Even though i have been using FLStudio since 2001, I still consider myself "new". The reason for this is i never had any outside influences as far as makin beats. Until I joined Warbeats a few months ago i taught myself everything i know about the program. But to get back on topic, I have realized a lot about the process of progressing as a producer. I have also learned that some of the things I used to say are being said by others.

   If you don't think your beats don't sound up to par, there are several things you need to consider. As you realize, there is a lot that goes into the whole production process. You have to be able to step back from an unbiased perspective and ask yourself "What is wrong here. Why is don't my beats sound as good as other members"? 

   First, if the selection of sounds you are using are of a lower quality, it will reflect even in your best "masterpiece". All of the really good members here (HS Traxx, GP Studio, Too Integrated... etc) use really nice sounds and know how to use them effectively. Chances are that if you are reading this, you know how also but just suffer from the quality of your sound library.

   The next thing that could be hindering your final beats i the fact that you might be trying to copy others. It took for me to acknowledge that it doesn't matter what you did to make the beat. It doesn't matter what software or hardware you use or if you even bang two sticks together in front of the mic. All of your efforts boil down to what the finished product sounds like. Your audience doesn't care what you did to made your composition, but they know if its appealing or not. If you try to listen to everyone elses tips (which we all know a lot of people give bad advice) you will find yourself doing what they say as routine. What i mean is every beat you make will be treated differently as far as mixing and technique. You have to ignore everything else and rely on your EARS in the end. Once you can hear "what's wrong" and know what it will take to fix it, you won't need anymore advice in that area.

   The beat feedback system on this site is a very powerful tool, if you know how to use it. You might say "Sure I've used it many times" but that is not what i mean. You have to notice that some feedback is an opinion of what you should or shouldn't change. You have to kinda brush off eveything until you know whats good or not. Most times you should already know what is good about your beat or needs improvement. The whole reason you should be using the system is to get outside opinions and gain insight to new things that you may have missed. If you get multiple members saying the same thing that should be a clue that its something worth listening to. So don't just go ripping apart your beat just because someone said you should, and that leads me to my next point.

   You might have heard comments about your beat not sounding "full" at parts. Like I said earlier, all that matters is the end results. Most beats are made for vocals to be added and that might be the thing thats missing. You can have a beat that's not to "busy" but you intend it to be that way because you intend the track to contain a lot of vocal presence. There are a lot of songs now that have simple beats and are mostly based on the vocals. There are some mainsream songs that have instrumentals that seem empty. Add all the vocal aspects and it's a hit. The success of your track is finalized between you and the artist(s) while recording. When it comes to music a lot of times the K.I.S.S(Keep It Simple, Stupid!) method works best.

   Sorry for the long boring post but i'm not exactly an English major and this is my first topic. This was just some of the things that i wish to share because Warbeats is a community and it has helped me. I just wanted to do my part and try to share some of my knowledge. To be honest, I'm depending on others to comment and clean up what i was "trying" to say.

Hope it helped!
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Nice observations...

thank you for that my man! ill take your advice to heart and hopefully it will make me a better producer!

thats a good post my man

Thats some good advice man. Thanks! I guess you made me realise a few things here.
Especially mentioning the K.I.S.S. method will give me more confidence now.
Since i tried making beats these past days i would think they sounded too empty or simple, but maybe i should try and put vocals on them and see what impact that will have.

As for the feedback. Well.. from my point of view its like i am an amateur that gives feedback to other beatmakers.
The only feedback i can give will be:
1) my opinion in how this beat would be more appealing to me.
2) instruments that play too loud.
3) arrangement(depending what type of music genre)

And that would be it. I think a lot of other amateurs couldn't give you more feedback then these points since were not educated/experienced enough with this.

So what you are saying makes a lot of sense to me and will help new beatmakers like myself on our way.

Thanx freband! I didn't intend for anyone to change their feedback or anything and your honest opinions are really appreciated. I just want others to realize that there are precautions to take when receiving feedback. It is so easy to give advice, but its harder to give yourself advice. That is the whole purpose of the feedback system. If you take comments to heart it can really demotivate you or you can easily be steered in the wrong direction.

As far as the "K.I.S.S" theory, just pay attention to some of the songs you hear and know. Try to pick apart the beat and even try to purchase instrumental just to compare to some of you beats. I am actually listening to a track that has a somewhat simple beat as I type this. Prior to now i never noticed it because it has a nice feel to me.

Posted By studio marxman on 20 Oct 2009 07:11 PM
First, if the selection of sounds you are using are of a lower quality, it will reflect even in your best "masterpiece". All of the really good members here (HS Traxx, GP Studio, Too Integrated... etc) use really nice sounds and know how to use them effectively. Chances are that if you are reading this, you know how also but just suffer from the quality of your sound library.

Good point. Invest in good sounds, it gets ya half-way there, but even with lower quality sounds you can get a top-notch production. Back in the day I made some crazy ish with only .wav samples and cheap-ass soundfonts. If you know how to process your sounds and how to fabricate certain kinda sounds you know exactly what you need to 'add' or 'take-away' from your low quality sample/soundfont to make it sound nice. Having the nicest sounds ain't all that. The downside of that is (this is not always the case) that you will be satisfied much sooner with your tune, cuzz it iz so easy to make something sound 'decent' or 'satisfying' to your ears just because of the fact your instrument is of a higher quality. That means your compo skills (which you're always developing) are suffering from this.

Posted By studio marxman on 20 Oct 2009 07:11 PM
The beat feedback system on this site is a very powerful tool, if you know how to use it. You might say "Sure I've used it many times" but that is not what i mean. You have to notice that some feedback is an opinion of what you should or shouldn't change. You have to kinda brush off eveything until you know whats good or not. Most times you should already know what is good about your beat or needs improvement. The whole reason you should be using the system is to get outside opinions and gain insight to new things that you may have missed. If you get multiple members saying the same thing that should be a clue that its something worth listening to. So don't just go ripping apart your beat just because someone said you should, and that leads me to my next point.

This is a good point also. There is a difference in when someone gives you a tip which is only a matter of taste or gives you a tip which will fundamently benefit your mix in a way that will take it to a higher level overall. Many people forget this. The comments which are only a matter of taste can be discarded immediately, because you can 'never' satisfy everybody, and we all know it's 'even' harder to satisfy every producer, because everybody has different tastes (luckily!)..

Posted By studio marxman on 20 Oct 2009 07:11 PM
You might have heard comments about your beat not sounding "full" at parts. Like I said earlier, all that matters is the end results. Most beats are made for vocals to be added and that might be the thing thats missing. You can have a beat that's not to "busy" but you intend it to be that way because you intend the track to contain a lot of vocal presence. There are a lot of songs now that have simple beats and are mostly based on the vocals. There are some mainsream songs that have instrumentals that seem empty. Add all the vocal aspects and it's a hit. The success of your track is finalized between you and the artist(s) while recording. When it comes to music a lot of times the K.I.S.S(Keep It Simple, Stupid!) method works best.

This is serious knowledge dropped. Many people forget about this (I still forget sometimes). It can be really hard to 'take in account' that your vocals need to be added to your mix 'after' you made the beat. The best way to deal with this problem is to develop your way of writing lyrics. If you can write lyrics (to some degree, atleast write 'melody-lines') you can somewhat 'calculate' if I may call it so, how much room you need for your vocals and what kinda melodic or percussive parts you can add to your mix and 'where'. It's a real life-saver. This way everything will sound like a 'perfect fit'. These were just some points which popped up in my mind as I read your post. Very good post! ..

Good advice all around. Just to add:

1) 9 out of 10 times your beat sounds 'empty' due to the lack of instrumentation that covers the major/significant areas of the frequency spectrum. This is one of the reasons why you may hear a beat with only 4  instruments yet it sounds 'full', and this is also the same reason why an Orchestra will never sound empty even though there is no vocalist.

2) There is such a thing as overproduction. If you want to impress fellow beat makers then by all means throw in a Zillion effects and switch-ups, but when it's time to start shopping your beats to potential buyers, it's best you keep it simple-Writing to a complex beat is both difficult and time-consuming, the simpler it is the higher the possibility of reaching more people.

Really good post, keeps people from copying eachother all the time.