Hip Hop Production For Beginners (Step By Step Masterclass)

[00:00] all right we're rocking and we're

[00:02] rolling if you're wanting if you're

[00:04] wanting to produce music like Kendrick

[00:05] Lamar Jack harlo Lil NS X Drake Kanye

[00:09] West or Tyler the Creator then you are

[00:11] in the right place my friend I'm going

[00:12] to show you exactly how to produce a

[00:14] hip-hop song it's going to be super

[00:15] simple for you to follow along because

[00:17] they basically all use the same formula

[00:18] I'm a professional I've toured the world

[00:20] as a musician as a DJ got over 100

[00:22] million streams on Spotify and I am

[00:24] qualified to teach you so all that to

[00:26] say buckle up and trust me you're not

[00:28] going to want to skip this because this

[00:29] is the foundation this is the building

[00:30] block for you to be able to produce any

[00:32] style of hip-hop music that you want and

[00:34] it's going to be so sick okay once you

[00:36] got able to open if you remember our

[00:37] formula the first thing we need to do is

[00:39] add some drums also some of you guys

[00:41] with your Keen Eye you may have noticed

[00:43] I'm in a new studio maybe I'll give you

[00:44] guys a little tour at the end of the

[00:45] video but it's kind of in the process of

[00:47] being built out right now so I might

[00:48] wait a couple videos to give you guys

[00:49] the tour but it is so sick it's

[00:51] definitely an upgrade first thing I want

[00:52] to do is I want to build out a drum

[00:54] pattern so I'm going to set the BPM up

[00:55] here to the left in Ableton till like

[00:57] 150 that's a good Tempo and all I did

[00:59] was just go to drums and click on Kick

[01:01] and filters and go down to kick bricks

[01:04] which I think is the best for hipop in

[01:05] terms of Ableton samples also I'm going

[01:08] to do my best to use all Ableton sounds

[01:10] so that way you guys can follow along so

[01:11] let's get a click

[01:13] going D do now I hear the pattern in my

[01:15] head and to bring it to life I can click

[01:17] on the sample and press command C to

[01:18] copy it and then click and press command

[01:20] V to paste it so here's the pattern I'm

[01:21] hearing for the

[01:22] [Music]

[01:24] kick and I'm just going to keep it

[01:26] simple and I'm going to duplicate this

[01:27] out a couple times and let's press

[01:29] command t and make a brand new track now

[01:31] I'm going to click on clap in filters

[01:33] find a good

[01:34] clap o 808 is pretty hard to beat let's

[01:37] drag the 808 clap in here now we got our

[01:39] drum

[01:40] [Music]

[01:41] beat okay so that's sounding decent I

[01:44] kind of want to spice these drums up

[01:45] just a little bit so what I'm going to

[01:46] do is shorten this clap just like this

[01:48] just holding command to get really

[01:50] precise with the shortening and then

[01:51] using the

[01:52] Fades I want to be shorter and then I

[01:55] also want to let's say add a little bit

[01:57] of saturator on it maybe make it a bit

[01:59] warmer

[02:01] and we'll bring it way down cuz it's

[02:02] super

[02:04] loud and then you know we can use Redux

[02:07] if we want we can try some

[02:09] dust it's just a way to make it kind of

[02:11] cool this is without those plugins this

[02:14] is with them sounds like it's basically

[02:16] just making them louder which it kind of

[02:18] is then I want to add a little pattern

[02:19] with a clap so it's

[02:20] [Music]

[02:26] like ah great so I want that to happen

[02:29] every four bars sick so we got a little

[02:31] drum pattern going if you're struggling

[02:33] coming up with your drum pattern I would

[02:34] just drag in a reference track and try

[02:36] and copy the drums from that reference

[02:37] track to do that all you do is just drag

[02:39] in a song Maybe from iTunes find the BPM

[02:42] on Google and then you want to click

[02:43] warp and you want to change the BPM here

[02:45] to the BPM of the song and that's going

[02:47] to tell Ableton what the BPM of the song

[02:49] is and then it will be lined up to the

[02:51] grid and you can turn it off and you can

[02:52] solo it and listen to it now I'm not

[02:54] going to listen to the song cuz I don't

[02:55] want a copyright strike but that's how

[02:56] you drag in a song and you line it up

[02:57] with a grid and then you can copy the

[02:58] drums for that if you want okay let's go

[03:00] ahead and get some high hats going

[03:01] usually for drums you have kick then you

[03:02] have clap or snare and then you have

[03:04] high hats so for high hats I'm going to

[03:05] do midi drums and all that means is I'm

[03:07] basically going to make a piano roll and

[03:09] play drums on the piano so to do that we

[03:11] press command shift T that's going to

[03:13] make a new midi track I'm going to go

[03:14] ahead and highlight a new section on

[03:15] that midi track and press command shift

[03:17] M and then let's go ahead and go to

[03:19] instruments and let's drag simpler right

[03:21] onto that track now we need to drag a

[03:22] high hat sound onto simpler so let's go

[03:24] to Drums let's select high hat and I

[03:26] think I'm going to go with probably 808

[03:28] I'm going to search for 808

[03:31] oh this classic closed data way is great

[03:33] so if we click on the record icon right

[03:35] here to the right and arm the track and

[03:36] then we click on this little piano thing

[03:38] right up here to the right we can use

[03:39] our computer

[03:40] keyboard as a media

[03:44] keyboard it's kind of challenging and if

[03:46] you have a midi keyboard you can

[03:47] actually use a midi keyboard as well so

[03:48] if you want you can click record up here

[03:50] at the top and try and play in a

[03:52] [Music]

[03:54] pattern or you can just highlight a

[03:56] section like I did before press command

[03:57] shift M and then you can draw in your p

[03:59] pattern here on the piano roll if you

[04:00] want to be able to hear the notes as you

[04:02] click them just click this little

[04:03] headphone icon right here you can also

[04:05] change the pitch which is sick let's try

[04:07] that I'm just pressing command D to

[04:09] duplicate these

[04:10] [Music]

[04:14] notes and at the end of this I want it

[04:16] to go da da da da da da so it's like

[04:19] [Music]

[04:20] this and then here I want it to go let

[04:23] me show you what I

[04:28] mean yeah

[04:31] [Music]

[04:35] yeah sick and I want to kind of mix up

[04:38] the pattern a little bit

[04:39] [Music]

[04:41] too sick all right last but not least a

[04:44] lot of hip-hop beats kind of have some

[04:45] sort of Rim shot or percussion element

[04:47] or even like a laser type sound let's

[04:49] see does this even have lasers that's

[04:51] lazy maybe like a blip let's look under

[04:53] percussion

[05:00] [Music]

[05:10] all right let's go ahead and save our

[05:11] session before we forget and lose

[05:13] everything on accident once you've saved

[05:14] it go ahead and hit file collect all and

[05:16] save and hit okay make sure all those

[05:18] are yellow and now everything's saved on

[05:19] one project folder so we can send that

[05:21] to other computers share it with friends

[05:23] all that kind of stuff what's also nice

[05:24] about simpler is we can adjust the

[05:26] length of this too the length of the

[05:27] high hat

[05:29] [Music]

[05:35] okay so we have our drums now what's

[05:38] next if you remember from our formula

[05:39] base so there are two ways that we can

[05:41] do 808s one is we can just drag in

[05:43] samples I have 808s from my sample pack

[05:45] for complete producer Pro which is my

[05:48] paid

[05:50] course so that's just the drag and drop

[05:53] method just like we did with the

[05:56] drums and that's cool you know we can

[05:58] create different patterns with with that

[05:59] as well just by pitching it up in

[06:01] Ableton do something like this 1 2 3 4 5

[06:03] 6 7 maybe a pattern

[06:05] [Music]

[06:10] like but another way to do that is we

[06:13] can either use simpler again and do

[06:15] exactly what we did with the high hats

[06:16] so we just press command shift T to make

[06:18] a new midi track we drag simpler onto it

[06:20] and then we drag an 808 onto simpler and

[06:22] then we can use our our piano roll to

[06:25] draw in notes or we can literally just

[06:28] go to Ableton and go to instrument and

[06:29] click base and just look through all

[06:31] these different

[06:34] instruments obviously you want to find

[06:36] something that sounds like an 808 I'm

[06:38] not sure if you guys have this base or

[06:39] not but it sounds pretty

[06:40] sick that one sounds pretty hard

[06:43] too okay I'm going to try going with

[06:45] this base but if you're having trouble

[06:46] finding 808s just Google free 808 sample

[06:49] pack or free subbase sample pack there's

[06:51] tons of free stuff out there no excuses

[06:53] that's what I had to do back in the day

[06:54] and it worked fine and there's more

[06:55] resources now than there have ever been

[06:57] and another thing that's really going to

[06:58] help us with this 808 is music theory so

[07:00] just make sure you know the key of your

[07:02] 808s so for example in my sample pack

[07:04] this Astro 808 right here if I drag it

[07:06] onto a new track you can see it says e m

[07:08] and that means it's an E minor so

[07:10] basically we want to build out the mids

[07:11] for the song in the key of the 808 which

[07:13] is going to be E minor I'm going to go

[07:15] ahead and draw in a pattern with our 808

[07:17] sound here on the piano roll and if you

[07:19] don't know music theory which you should

[07:20] it's going to change the game for you

[07:22] especially for all music production but

[07:24] especially in hip-hop like you just need

[07:25] to know music theory in order for your

[07:27] song to sound professional and all the

[07:28] elements to be cohesive I have a video

[07:30] on it if you want to check it out it's

[07:31] right up here just go ahead and click

[07:32] that and then you can come right back to

[07:33] this video and join us for our

[07:36] [Music]

[07:49] 808s you know that's that 808 sound is

[07:51] fine but I think I actually want to try

[07:53] bbas which I know that Ableton has so

[07:55] you guys can just copy this if you

[07:58] want I'm going to adjust the Decay here

[08:00] to get the length

[08:03] right I'm going to go ahead and turn our

[08:05] whole song down a little bit clicking on

[08:07] the top track scrolling down holding

[08:08] shift and clicking on our last track and

[08:10] then just using these Fades right here

[08:12] to the right the

[08:13] [Music]

[08:19] faders sweet so now we come to sort of

[08:23] the song part of hip-hop music this is

[08:25] when we get to mids now mids there's

[08:27] just such a big range of mids that we

[08:30] can use as far as instruments go in

[08:31] Ableton most of the instruments I

[08:33] believe are mid sounds and we can go

[08:35] through any of these sounds that we want

[08:36] we could even go to Strings we can click

[08:38] on lead and once we find a sound that we

[08:40] like we can just drag it onto a midi

[08:42] track and then we can start chipping

[08:43] away at some chords and a

[08:47] melody and once you have a melody and a

[08:49] progression that you like like

[08:54] [Music]

[08:56] this I really like the sound of those

[08:59] notes notes I just don't really like the

[09:01] sound itself but once you have that in

[09:02] Ableton it's super easy to audition

[09:04] different sounds so you can just click

[09:05] on this little hot swap button right

[09:07] here and audition different

[09:11] sounds some of them are insane

[09:14] [Music]

[09:20] obviously that's kind of hot

[09:24] [Music]

[09:30] and then I want to add one other sound

[09:32] with this maybe playing some chords so

[09:34] because I know music theory which you

[09:36] should watch the video if you don't to

[09:37] find some kind of uh I want to say piano

[09:41] and

[09:42] keys let's try that something it's

[09:44] [Music]

[09:47] like dude there's so much latency on

[09:50] this okay so now we have some cool

[09:51] chords

[09:55] [Music]

[10:03] now if we wanted this to sound a bit

[10:05] more like Jack harlo or Lil NX or

[10:07] something we could just use brass and we

[10:09] could Branch out of Ableton plugins and

[10:11] we could go for something third party

[10:13] what about play this might just crash

[10:16] let's see oh my gosh it actually worked

[10:19] pop brass

[10:21] [Music]

[10:41] they would probably do something like

[10:43] this I just used play East West which is

[10:45] like some good brass

[10:46] [Music]

[10:57] sounds and we can also add something

[10:59] like these strings right

[11:01] here

[11:02] [Music]

[11:06] gorgeous and what we do with mids for

[11:08] hip-hop is what I like to do at least I

[11:10] like to create almost like a separate

[11:12] song this is like its own kind of

[11:15] song and then I like to group all those

[11:17] tracks together by clicking on one and

[11:19] holding shift and clicking on the last

[11:20] and pressing command G and then we can

[11:22] mess with this whole kind of group and

[11:24] we can go to audio effects go to

[11:26] something like eq8 and we could put like

[11:28] e base vintage on it and play with

[11:31] [Music]

[11:32] [Applause]

[11:36] these we can even put stuff like Redux

[11:39] on it vintage sampler kind of play with

[11:41] that

[11:43] [Applause]

[11:49] [Music]

[11:59] and then another thing we can do is we

[12:01] can put Ott on this sample to really

[12:03] make it huge so got to multiband

[12:05] Dynamics drag Ott onto it and we'll drag

[12:07] these guys down and drag these guys

[12:10] [Music]

[12:15] up and I'm loving the sound of these

[12:18] strings like they're beautiful but the

[12:20] problem is that they're just taking up a

[12:21] bit too much space so I think what we're

[12:23] going to have to do is have them play a

[12:25] little pattern like this instead

[12:35] and we could probably find something a

[12:36] bit more

[12:40] Plucky it's kind of

[12:56] insane that's sick

[13:03] yes big yes just going to EQ this a

[13:05] little

[13:09] bit I'm going to put some chorus on this

[13:11] trumpet

[13:12] lead not too much

[13:17] but I just want it to be a little bit

[13:19] wider in the mix and if you're watching

[13:21] this and you're like H you know he's

[13:22] using all these sounds I don't have all

[13:24] these plugins like it doesn't matter

[13:25] just use Ableton plugins there's a ton

[13:27] of amazing sounds in Ableton if you're

[13:29] willing to dig and if you're willing to

[13:31] tweak some stuff I guarantee you can

[13:32] come up with something

[13:41] awesome now I want the 808 to be a

[13:43] little bit

[13:47] longer and you know there's one more

[13:49] little thing I want to do with this 808

[13:51] is I want to side chain it with a kick

[13:53] now you may be a little confused on side

[13:54] chaining but all it is is you just drag

[13:56] a compressor on and you click side chain

[13:58] click e Q so it's gray ratio all the way

[14:00] up attack all the way down click on this

[14:02] bent line bring the threshold down and

[14:03] then we route it to the kick and you're

[14:05] like great what was all that about now

[14:07] what this does is now when our 808 is

[14:09] playing and our kick is playing when the

[14:10] kick hits it's going to make the 808

[14:12] duck in volume so let me make it really

[14:13] extreme and I'll solo the 808 so you can

[14:15] hear

[14:16] it you can hear the 808 tucking

[14:22] volume that's because when the kick is

[14:24] playing it's causing the 808 to duck in

[14:25] volume the reason that we do this is cuz

[14:27] if we don't when that kick and that base

[14:29] are playing at the same time it's going

[14:31] to cause clipping and Distortion and

[14:32] it's just a mess in terms of sound

[14:34] design so we just want to play this

[14:35] threshold and we can solo the kick as

[14:37] well by holding command and pressing

[14:39] solo just making sure that those can

[14:42] live together in the same space really

[14:46] well

[14:47] [Music]

[14:49] yeah now we can also add one more little

[14:52] element one more little mid-range thing

[14:56] [Music]

[14:59] so like

[15:03] this and we'll have it pretty quiet in

[15:06] the

[15:06] [Music]

[15:10] background and the reason I'm doing that

[15:12] is cuz I want there to be a section kind

[15:14] of before the chorus comes in where

[15:16] there's no 808 maybe there's no drums

[15:18] either and it's just like a clap

[15:20] going something like this so that way we

[15:23] can have it come in when the drums come

[15:25] in and it could just be like a clap like

[15:26] this

[15:31] and then everything comes

[15:32] [Music]

[15:37] in okay so what I'm going to do now is

[15:39] I'm going to take some time I'm going to

[15:40] try to write a hip-hop song over this

[15:42] I'm going to try to come up with one

[15:43] verse and one chorus and then I'll show

[15:45] you guys what I did and we'll kind of

[15:46] wrap it all up it's going to sound super

[15:48] sick and if you're following along right

[15:49] now and you're making your own be just

[15:51] make sure that you have drums make sure

[15:52] that you have base and make sure that

[15:53] you have mids and then you should be

[15:55] pretty good in terms of having a beat

[15:56] and if you want to structure your beat

[15:58] out you just drag another their song in

[15:59] and copy their song structure but I'm

[16:01] going to go ahead and write something

[16:01] over this and we'll be right back real

[16:04] quick if you're enjoying this at all you

[16:05] feel like you're learning something I

[16:06] would really love if you would consider

[16:07] subscribing and giving me the chance to

[16:09] help you make the best music that you're

[16:10] capable of that's what I'm here to do

[16:12] and so yeah it's free for you and I'd

[16:13] really appreciate it let's get back to

[16:14] the video all right we are back I have

[16:16] officially written a song to this it's

[16:18] pretty sick actually I think some of you

[16:21] guys might find it pretty hot I think

[16:22] it's pretty hot let me show you real

[16:23] quick what I did in terms of production

[16:24] I did a little mixing as well but I just

[16:26] added some mids

[16:29] like some lower

[16:30] horns and

[16:32] this that's all them together and

[16:39] then and if you don't have a horn sound

[16:41] just look up horn samples you can find a

[16:43] horn sample like a one shot drag it into

[16:45] simpler like I showed you or just use

[16:47] other sounds from Ableton it's no big

[16:48] deal and other than that I just added

[16:50] some vocals and I'm tentatively calling

[16:52] the song Safari just for fun the lyrics

[16:55] are kind of silly so without further Ado

[16:57] I give you my hit hipop song tentatively

[17:00] titled

[17:01] Safari yeah tell them what it

[17:05] is complete producer

[17:10] Pro

[17:11] yeah I'm just looking for

[17:14] somebody to chop it up with me like

[17:17] karate like karate I only tell them if

[17:19] you really want me or we can keep it

[17:23] private like Safari Safari Saar go I

[17:27] said it once and I'll say it again and I

[17:29] got enemies saying they are friend just

[17:30] out the way they stay out the way unless

[17:32] you got something they trying to get 10

[17:34] years in I finally see through that b

[17:36] shooting this comedy how these wab bees

[17:37] want to be like me without working it

[17:39] without working it yeah I know what I'm

[17:40] doing just trust me there's no need to

[17:42] rush things I can get rough like rug be

[17:45] but let's take it slow cuz I'm Rusty

[17:46] when you're talk it out I got just a

[17:48] thing is called emphasis on recovery so

[17:49] just hug me and don't bug me I'm just

[17:51] looking for

[17:52] some to chop it up with me like karate

[17:56] like karate I only tell them if you

[17:58] really

[17:59] me we can keep it private like Safari

[18:02] like Safari yeah like

[18:06] Safari kind of sick right it's kind of

[18:08] like Jack Carlo Lil nosx kind of that

[18:11] territory if you want to sound more like

[18:13] Kendrick do the same thing for drums

[18:15] like get a sick beat going and then

[18:16] instead of doing these mids just pull

[18:18] another song into Ableton and just

[18:20] sample it so like pull a song in double

[18:22] click on the file on the song and then

[18:24] pitch it up or pitch it down using this

[18:26] where it says pitch right here and en

[18:28] Ableton you can double click and create

[18:29] warp markers and stretch it out and do

[18:31] all this kind of stuff to sample

[18:33] something but that's for another video

[18:35] this is if you want to create your own

[18:36] fully original hip-hop song vocal

[18:38] processing I have a whole video on how

[18:40] to process vocals using Ableton plugins

[18:42] and third party plugins so if you just

[18:44] want to use Ableton plugins or you want

[18:45] to see my vocal chain go ahead and click

[18:47] up here and you can see that video so if

[18:48] you want to see my vocal chain you know

[18:49] where to find it but structurally I just

[18:51] had a lead vocal and just looking for

[18:53] somebody and then I did a double so I

[18:55] recorded the main vocal again two more

[18:57] times and pan those left and right and

[18:59] this is those I'm just looking for some

[19:02] so that's super wide in the mix like in

[19:04] your ears this is them together I'm just

[19:06] looking for some and then I added some

[19:08] harmonies which is

[19:10] this which sounds so silly on its own

[19:12] but this is all of it

[19:14] together to chop it up with me like

[19:17] a I only tell them if you really want me

[19:22] or we can keep it private like Safari

[19:24] and then I got the rap vocal here yeah I

[19:27] said it once and I'll say it again again

[19:28] I got enemies saying they are friend

[19:30] just s the way they stay out the way

[19:32] unless you got something they trying to

[19:33] get pretty hot same vocal processing

[19:35] that I talk about in that video I

[19:37] believe and the mic I'm using cuz I know

[19:39] there's going to be people who ask is

[19:41] Microtech gell this is what it looks

[19:43] like gmbh can't remember which one it is

[19:46] but you saw what it looks like and it's

[19:48] great and it obviously sounds freaking

[19:50] sick so yeah with all this stuff the

[19:52] biggest thing is just going to be

[19:53] following that structure as long as you

[19:55] can check those things off the list I

[19:56] got drums I got bass I got mids I got

[19:58] vocals then you're going to be good to

[20:00] go I didn't talk about effects you can

[20:01] definitely add

[20:05] effects so you can add like a riser like

[20:07] this sound right

[20:09] here and just in context it sounds like

[20:14] this I'm just

[20:17] looking and you could even add the

[20:20] [Music]

[20:23] after and you know there's room to add

[20:25] effects that's kind of the usual

[20:27] production formula but really if you

[20:28] just stick to those first four and

[20:29] really focus on making each one of those

[20:31] as good as you possibly can then I think

[20:33] you'll be well on your way to making

[20:35] awesome hip-hop music and so much of it

[20:37] is about the song guys like so much of

[20:39] it is about the lyrics the delivery

[20:41] making sure the hook is memorable and

[20:43] catchy you know there's tons of hip-hop

[20:45] songs without singing hooks they're like

[20:46] wrapped so if you're somebody who can't

[20:48] sing or you struggle with singing on key

[20:50] but you can rap like don't let that stop

[20:51] you all that to say you're never going

[20:53] to improve or make great music unless

[20:55] you actually apply what I teach so go

[20:56] ahead and open up Ableton take some time

[20:58] try try to make a hip-hop beat you can

[20:59] make a beat in like 10 minutes so at

[21:01] least try to make a beat and you can

[21:03] watch some more videos and learn some

[21:04] more some of you guys love just chilling

[21:05] on Youtube Learning a few things going

[21:07] about your day there's going to be a few

[21:08] of you guys who want to go above and

[21:10] beyond and you really want to learn step

[21:11] by step how to make professional music

[21:13] how to produce like a pro and for you

[21:14] guys I have a course called complete

[21:16] producer Pro and that teaches you guys

[21:17] how to write and produce professional

[21:19] music all the way from the ground up

[21:20] beginning to end it's very comprehensive

[21:22] and it also comes with my new course on

[21:24] EDM production so complete producer Pro

[21:26] is all music with an emphasis kind of on

[21:28] Pop music and then I have a course on

[21:29] dance music there's also a mini course

[21:31] on drill style beats within complete

[21:33] producer Pro it's just a ton of

[21:35] information and I think for a few of you

[21:36] guys it's going to be an absolute Game

[21:38] Changer so if you want to learn more

[21:39] about the course just go to the link in

[21:40] the description of the video and you can

[21:42] check it out down there so all that to

[21:43] say might I remind you to stop making

[21:45] excuses and start making music

[21:49] cheers also if you have any comments or

[21:51] questions try to read the comments when

[21:53] I can and respond so go ahead and

[21:54] comment any questions or anything down

[21:55] below CIA Bella