It is probably fair to express that hip-hop has been one of the most globally influential type of music since some young wag stepped on Elvis's blue suede shoes. Beginning being a voice for African-American and Latin communities in the us, hip-hop soon spread and became the soundtrack to the 80's, 90's and the new millennium. Wallerboi Each year its influence and penetration increase, from commercials to films, and from charts to bars. On this section I'll explain the basic principles of hip-hop production as well as 20 need to know tips to enjoy the best hip-hop tracks possible.

BEATS AND LOOPS

With hip-hop its everything about the beats - consider getting inspired!

Beats would be the backbone of hip-hop. If you're to the cheeky one-two of Dre's Eminem productions or even the juddering steps of Dj Premier, you should be sure that basically is playing, your beat still stacks up to scrutiny. As US comic Chris Rock put it: "If the beat's alright, they'll dance for hours."

As we've already seen, hip-hop beats started off as breaks from records, beatboxes and sampling drum machines, so its very easy for hip-hop produced on a computer to sound just a little lifeless. Live playing and clever quantisation can fix this, though. The key trick would be to ensure that it stays sparse and when you have a basic groove going, try getting different percussive hits before adding more.

Also, its important to make it simple. Should you pay attention to professional hip-hop productions, you'll find that its rare for 2 different percussive elements to experience concurrently - unless its a layered clap and snare, and even then they'll alternate over a bar or two between both playing and then only 1 or the other. You'll also hear many parts were an instrument being a shaker only plays to get a small, and specific part of a looped bar, as in the event the different percussive elements consider turns. This is no coincidence, as hip-hop culture is about this type of connection. Wether its DJs, MCs or breakdancers, hip-hop is, at its core, about this kind of back and forth interaction, and also this gets in every single production element including beats.

Step-by-step the drums

1-The first thing I do when working on beats is lay down a hi-hat pattern. Usually , I actually do an eighth-note pattern and then go back and alter it if required after I've set the other parts.

2-Next up will be the kick and snare . I have them simple at first since i know that I'm going to be employing a drum loop underneath. I begin with a drum loop and add extra kicks and snares to bolster it. The kick and snare are generally sounds which i re-use on many tracks.

3-Next I'll put in a sampled kick and snare to reinforce the stock kick and snare sounds. This will make the beat sound somewhat thicker and grimier. I additionally leave a little bit of 'air' about the tail end - this acts like 'sonic glue', giving the beat a far more sampled feel.

4-The basic beat is currently complete and able to send to the arrange screen, down the road I'll utilize this pattern like a template for other sections of the song, were I'll add snare fills and rolls.

Detail by detail The loop

1-When using sampled breaks, I usually ensure they're either royalty-free, original approximately obscure they wont be recognized. This way I dont worry about sample clearance. I'm a fan of busy drums so I'll usually choose an action packed two-bar drum break.

2-Now you must match the tempo from the drum break towards the tempo of your song. You can do this with any beat-slicing program.

3-Later on, once you have added vocals and such this can be used drum break, were its needed throughout your song.

MELODIES, STABS, SAMPLES AND SYNTHS

Much like every other kind of music, hip-hop's gotta have hooks

Melody or bass: it's tough to express which you can start focus on first, because hip-hop are at its best when its simple - great tracks frequently have a bassline but no melody or the other way around. And sometimes the bassline will be the melody.

Most hip-hop continues to be made out of samples as the main musical hooks, but while these samples were, for a long time, more often than not sections from classic records, nowadays they're usually far more obscure, edited and processed. Its not enough any longer to sample an area off an 80's rare groove hit and whack it over a beat.

While hip-hop remains very much a sample-based discipline, there are plenty of excellent synth-hop tracks on the market. If you have heard Kelis' milkshake, you will know how funky a good synth line can sound with the right tight beats.

The critical aspect to remember is not to over-egg your production pudding. If you take away one thing from these lessons, its that hip-hop is supposed to be simple but effective, so always try taking out sections or notes prior to starting adding more. Please remember hip-hop is all about bringing seemingly disparate elements toegether - Run DMC's sampling of Aerosmith on Walk By doing this, for example - so dont be afraid to experiment. Even harp solos and steal band recordings make excellent melodies inside the right hands.

Finally keep in mind that in hip-hop you can never go to far wrong in case your riff plays around the first beat of your bar, is easily muted, and then accumulates again from across the third beat. Seriously, this is a winning formula - give it a try!

BASS,BASS,BASS

Busy, bouncing or otherwise in any way... its your decision!

While many other kinds of electronic music are only concerned with the highs and lows (well, in frequency terms, anyway), hip-hop definitely works from the waist down, and is exactly about punchy mids and bass. When you pay attention to a well produced hip-hip tracks inside a club, the bass will shake the room for the core, sometimes a lot more than more difficult dance styles.

There are three main reasons why hip-hop could possibly get away with having such heavy frequencies without it sounding being a muddy mess. First, the tempo is fairly slow, giving far more room for individual notes to breath. Second, the make-up of hip-hop is a lot sparser, often with only an easy beat and bassline throughout. And third, the bass patterns are generally not as busy as other genres and therefore are often played so low how the pitch of human notes usually are not simple to recognize.

Naturally, there are a variety of b-line flavours in hip-hop, but these days basslines in many cases are used just to bolster the beats, layered underneath, or at the conclusion of every couple of bars, creating yet another groove under that of the beats. The golden rule of thumb for hip-hop basslines would be to treat them as another percussive element, as opposed to a melodic one. So that as with any drum pattern, everything you rule out is generally much more important than what you depart in.

WHAT KIND OF BASS?

The question of if you should maintain your bassline simple or funky is really a tricky one, and depends largely about what style of hip-hop you are making fast and funky Pharcyde-style tunes than you may get away with far more bouncy basslines. Similarly, if you are sampling a huge of the famous record, then you can certainly bring your lead from that. But also for other types of contemporary hip-hop, the bassline is a less complicated affair. If theres some kind of sampled or played melody, then the bassline will frequently play in accompanying bursts. Another popular trick would be to have simple sub-bass stabs every couple of bars, in addition to a complete bassline inside the chorus. Actually, sometimes there's not even any bassline inside a track whatsoever.

Finally, for the smokers out there, Cypress Hill as well as other similar artists were pioneers from the deep, slow and simple rolling bassline. Wallerboi Definely someone to consider. Simply speaking, the important thing with hip-hop bass is to ensure that it stays very sub-bass oriented and straightforward.