What’s up yo!?
I found another DOPE article that I want to share, this one was written by my man Sa’id, author of the BeatTips Manual.
He touched on this topic in the manual and I really enjoyed it. In this article he goes into the advantages or disadvantages of focusing strictly on “how many” beats you make per week (some producers stick to this number like a religious sacrament) vs spending some “focused” time practicing a specific skill or technique.
Check it out below and make sure you go give my boy some love, he drops knowledge all day long!
From the original article: http://www.beattips.com/beattips/2011/01/beats-made-per-week-vs-regimented-practice.html
“Making a set number of beats per week has long been an activity well-represented among many beatmakers. Indeed, in the numerous interviews that I’ve conducted with beatmakers, many have told me about the sheer number of beats that they use to (and in some cases, still do) make or attempt to make per week. Moreover, the beats-made per-week quota has become so commonplace among beatmakers that it is now widely seen as a natural link to the development of beatmaking skill. But does the sheer maintenance of a specific quantity of beats made per week actually guarantee a deeper skill for beatmaking?
I suspect that a commitment to such a formula does indeed generate a legitimate level of proficiency—not necessarily great skill—in beatmaking, particularly in terms of actually completing a beat. However, I wonder if this proficiency in “beat completion,” if you will, actually translates to a higher quality (better grade) of beats. For some, I think so. Still, for most, I’m not entirely convinced that it does.
Hear me out. Let’s say you make 20 beats per week. If you maintain that level of output, by year’s end, you will have made over a thousand beats. Does this mean that at year’s end, your sum total of beats made is an accurate measurement of your development as a beatmaker? Well, of course, in some ways it does. But I’ve never been comfortable with evaluating my development based on the quantity of my production output, but rather thequality of my production output, and more importantly, the individual breakthroughs (conceptual understanding, method mastery, etc.) that I experienced amid regularly scheduled practice sessions.
In fact, in regards to a developmental path for beatmakers, I believe that maintaining a strict per week beat quota raises more questions than it answers. For instance, does a rigorous schedule of beats made per week correct your beatmaking deficiencies? Let’s say you have difficulty with programming drums. Will making 20 beats per week correct that problem of yours? It might, but then again, not necessarily. For me, the most effective way to correct any deficiency, whether it be drum programming or any other process, is to hold isolated practice sessions wherein you work on nothing but correcting that deficiency. Such a dedicated drum programming practice session could be 30 minutes of studying the drum programming (patterns) of those beatmakers (producers) whose beats you admire most. And this could be followed up by another 30 minutes of sketching out your own drum patterns, using the ideas and understanding that you’ve gleamed from your study. To me, this kind of dedicated practice offers more promise than arbitrary beats-made-per-week quotas.
And what about those things that you do well as a beatmaker? Does a beats-made-per-week quota help you recognize the things that you do best? Again, for some, I’m sure it does to a certain degree. After all, one advantage of completing an arsenal of beats each week is that it allows you to survey, study, and audit your own style and sound. Still, I also believe that regular regimented practice sessions also help you to identify the better elements and characteristics of your beatmaking style and sound.
Thus, in my final analysis, I’d say that there’s value in both approaches. I do believe that maintaining some sort of beats-made-per-week quota is beneficial. However, I caution that the maintenance of any such quota, without regular regimented practices, is far less beneficial. Indeed, practice in beatmaking, as with any other music process, is always necessary. No matter how developed you may be as a beatmaker, it’s important to continue to sharpen your skills. And by this I mean, practice without the intent of always creating a new beat, but instead, the intent of furthering your skill and understanding of the multiple processes of beatmaking as well as music in general.”
So let me know what ya think fam!
I loved it, and I love reading a lot of what Sa’id has to write, he puts much thought into his articles and always causes you to come away thinking. Make sure you go over to the original post and show him some love. http://www.beattips.com/beattips/2011/01/beats-made-per-week-vs-regimented-practice.html
Spend some time over there and checkout some of his other articles too!
I think it’s way more useful and practical to sharpen skills versus attain some sort of set completion number goal each week. I’d take 25 great tracks over the course of a year versus 1000 wack ones, anyday… Good article.
@MrFresh, word!! I do hear this alot though, and I understand the logic behind it, but I agree, focusing on specific skills is definitely a great use of the practice time in my opinion.
Even a mix of the two is better than just doing purely quantity repetition.
@saintjoe,
Dude, yes…I’m feelin’ that. The more of a good mix…the betta.
@MrFresh, no doubt, thanks for the feedback fam!
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I agree,with both of you. Practicing techniques and working on your weaknesses is more important and beneficial than just trying to meet some superficial number of beats per week.
@William, indeed, honestly I think many think that “practice makes perfect” and that you’ll just get better by repetition, but it’s just like shooting free throws. Sure, doing it over and over will make you better, but only if you’re working on doing it right and fixing the things that need fixing.
I think a quota is good if you’re trying to master your workflow, but depending on what you’re doing to make those beats, you could be chasing your tail as far as musical growth. I personally like to practice my musicianship more than actual beatmaking, as I know that true musicianship never fades. Beatmakers come and go- just check the internet. I strive to be the best producer not the best beatmaker, and in my humble opinion repetition doesn’t help you theorize and learn the nuances of music. It only makes you fast. Again, just my opinion.
@Larue, agreed for sure, I think, repetition can be good if it has a focus, but if it’s just happening for the sake of repetition I think that’s where we need to make adjustments.
I agree with the practice session method because if you correct all deficiencies & continue to sharpen your strong suits in time you would more likely be able to crank out tighter beats by the dozen it least thats my opinion I’m going to put my theory to the test stay tuned.
@London Black, no doubt fam, that’s whasup, I love Sa’id writing man, he always provokes responses and thought.
man you guys hit me right there with this ish..
starting january 1st my resolution was to mAke one completed beat a day for 6 months..that means intro /verse/chorus/break/ending..etc//
and i’ve had 9 so far.. i wasnt sure if it was working or would help me..since i tend to make say rnb one day and hip hop the next and this n that the next..lol. i was JUST thinking about it when i got your email…i wasnt sure if i should pick a style and stick with it for the duration of the resolution or just making a completed beat would help me…
the problem i used ot have though is patience at completing a track. i would have an idea and then just get bored wit it and leave it instead of fleshing it out..so i guess in a way this resolution is helping me with that weakness..
im not so sure if its gonna help me make better sounding track..
im gonna do it anyway though and see after so many months if its working
@whoa…, sounds like you are focused on a specific task though, song structures, you found your own weaknees, completing a “full track” as in the complete song structure…and you decided to work on it. This isn’t aimless, you actually had a plan.
either way, this article is one of those that just makes us think, I love Sa’id for his ability to so that!
being in nursing school probably one beat a month I try not to focus how many beats I make but how good the one is and not trying to make the same type of beat again always trying to do soemthing different hiphopfunk,tronica,jazz,blues,what ever sounds good to me hey any news when maschine 1.6 will be out
@Mehdo, no doubt fam, I feel ya! You should see the beta of 1.6 sometime this month but we will see!
Umm……to be real all that process of making beats does is makes the beat maker music redundant, and repetitive …same progressions same drum patterns = same beats and complaining artist…if you don’t catch yourself sometimes you forget that made ten other tracks that sounds 80% similar to each other… I save listen , and examine your ish….fatten your drums, add harmony and melody to your beats ..work on your breaks(cuz I found out that a sick break makes u stand out as a producer..also intros…oh and 99% of the beatmakers that follow that formular are GARBAGE….
@Eezzy, lol…I hear you man, good input for sure! I think if we take into consideration that we should actively focus on specific things we need to work on, or improve, it will be time more well spent as opposed to aimless repetition.
I think this debate is really interesting, and would like to make a few comments. If we were to look back over time and think how within the arts all artists e.g painters, sculptors or tin makers whatever the art form there has to be a time and place where you can go to learn develop you’re art, now we all do this in different ways which is a good thing because we all are individuals and thats what the arts are about.
Whether you want to bang out billions of beats per year and not have the time for personal develop as an artists, if you’re making that amount of beats were are the period times for development?
Also within have the debate what about those live performing artists (play instruments) who have too spend time practicing as they are just one part of the whole sum if you play within a band, this would also include classical stuff which is were I come from and now putting my hand to producing my own stuff. Then there is the camp, where the computerized musicians comes from a totally different angle to home their craft. Both are good! but have different perspective on producing GOOD quality music.
At the end off the day, isn’t it about making something within the listeners spirit move, whether to laugh,cry or to strut their stuff! Diggggg it!!!
@everythingbutthegirl, great response!!
I think, what I take away from this, is the fact that Sa’id is pushing us to get better. Not just to say ” I make x number of beats each week” just for the sake of reaching a specific number, but being more conscious about what we are doing when practicing/working on our craft so that the time we put in is time well spend. You can do a lot of damage with a hammer, or you can use a sword…focused energy usually yields more precise results!
thanks for the feedback!
My approach to beat making is try something new each time.
Since I really don’t know how to play a instruments I play with instruments .
Every beat is off feeling dusk every beat is different
I play with guitars,bass,keyboard,drums and samples to make a beat then make a song.
I don’t limit myself to just hiphop I can make any type of beat
This year I will be taking music theory lessions to develope my natural instinct to compose music
My biggest fear is that I would make a bunch of copycat beats because I can’t advance because of lack of music knowledge.
But each their own if it bangs it bangs.
@Rudyrhyrhymz, exactly man! Gotta branch out, I’m always looking for ways to improve and educate myself. From music theory, to composition, etc…it all helps in the end. Learning instruments and the actual technical aspects of melody, rhythm, etc…all this helps improve you as a musician.
Thanks Saint for providing us with all the great content, Practice make perfect so Practice practice practice!!!
@Laman (olujade) Richards, yeah man, when I find great stuff I share it! I highly recommend Sa’id website and writings, good stuff!
@saintjoe, I agree with getting over to Sa’Ids site. This guy as a scholar, I would love to be mentored by him. Lega
@everythingbutthegirl, indeed man, that dude is a professor for real, literally lol. Love that dude man, good brother.
I agree with the fact sharpening your skills is the best approach to creating quality beats or music in general. Creating a certain number by a deadline is not the way to do it. I would rather work on one track for two weeks knowing it top-shelf from a quality perspective than throwing something out that is questionable. Quality versus Quantity, it is and always will be the discriminating factor.
@Pjblues, agreed! I don’t have a problem with quantity/repetition, as long as there is a focus in doing it.
If you’re saying you’re gonna do 5 joints a week, where all you do is work on your drum patterns, then that’s different then saying “man I gotta do 5 beats a week, period” with no focus lol.
I’ve heard of BeatMakers using the Beat per Week qouta thing before. But honestly, I have to agree with Sa’id. Making beats for; Beat’s Sake can be counter productive. It’s far better to focus on strengthening weaknesses. Learning and practicing music theory, chord progression building, familiarizing yourself with the features and workflow of your equipment or software.
It’s also too easy to get in a rut, or feel burnt out, or end up feeling like you failed if you don’t meet your quota. It’s like P90X; muscle confusion forces the muscles to strengthen, because you don’t give the muscle a chance to relax with boring and repetative exercises. Variety and new challenges spark more growth!
@Vinnie Badverbs, word man, good point and lol @ p90X son, me and my wife did Insanity!! Both of those programs are nuts! lol.
hey wut up st joe i just seen a video with traumah from traumah drums that was on this same topic this weekend where he was saying using his drum sounds and loops would help you through your beat making process some of it was informitive but i think it is important to improve your skills as much as possible on your own and learn as much as you can with all aspecs there is in the recording process like mixing, sound engineering,as well learning all there is to know what your software or hardware can do then the most important thing the music itself ie. chord structures and music theory these things are most inportant first,then we can get to making beats and how many you can put out a week i find myself with alot of incomplete projects because some of these things are not up to parr and going on to the next one but as long as the main foundation of these songs or beats i can always go back to them its important to do good work that was told to me buy a great musician(verndine white) yaw keep playing peace
@tony, word man, I feel ya, thanks for the input
focused energy is key!
2 hours of practice time a day for me, it’s not the number of beats but the quality
@Picalo32, word, good stuff man. Thanks for the response.
That was a good read and its making me think a good deal. Thanks for posting it.
@Myke, no problem, thanks for reading it and thanks for the comment.
IMO the best way to practice and get better is to mimick other producers and styles. By this im not saying copycat someones whole style but simply take the parts that you like about other production and incorporate it into your own production. this will help you get a grasp on how different techniques and styles of music work, abling you to expand your production skill and styles. Merly making a bunch of beats wont help you. Quality, originality and being able to merge styles to create for the demand is what matters. I’d take two quality beats over 10 average beats anyday.
@risingson, I know what you mean, if there are certain elements you dig in another producer’s style, it’s good to learn that skill and practice as it will allow you to practice on the types of patterns and styles you like.
thanks for the response
I work in VIBE’s .. When i get the vibe i run with it until it’s gone.. and i could make up to 5 beats just in that day or just one…
if i don’t feel the vibe i don’t do anything… im a rapper as well so if i don’t have the vibe for making beats i must have the vibe to write or mix something .. and if not that i just will go hump on my lady or play ps3..
@01halo, yep, I feel that for sure…nothing wrong with that. We not talking about making many beats when you feel the flow, we are talking about people who say “man I gotta make 5 beats a day no matter what” with no real focus other than making 5 beats a day 🙂
with a lil tweaking to that plan, it can be more effective
your flow is alot like mine actually, I gotta feel it to make it lol
Quantity over quality will always be a debate I suppose. Myself, I’d rather work on developing a “skill” in a particular area as a precursor to generating volume. For instance when learning the alto sax I would practice the same scales so often that it inturn trained my ear to the tonalities. Even today if I’m listening to a live performance when someone is off I can tell the difference, despite the fact that it sounds pleasing to the ear.
As they say in the martial arts world, “develop your skills..before your conquests”.
@jamari, perfect example!
and as always, good to hear from ya yo!
Wow, this article touched on my core principles and ideas. So if the question is: Does making X amount of beats per week help you improve? Fundamentally maybe in the beginning it does. Because you have to learn song structure, patterns, fades ect. ect., however once you’ve got the basics, why stick to a script? My beliefs are that music is the expression of emotion through song, no matter how it’s created. 1 track that taps into your audiences core senses of emotion is worth 10,000 beats you made just to improve on nothing but a skill set. Yea you may be able to create a sick drum pattern over time, or a catchy guitar riff, but if you can’t make a person sit back and go “whoa, this song speaks to me”, then what are you accomplishing? Now you may have to practice repeatedly to make a track say exactly what you want it to, but over time you should be able to be more inspired by something instead of wanting to grind it out over 500 tracks to get the track where you want to be.
So, short answer: For beginners, hell yes absolutely. For those that have the basics down and can make a relatively decent track, hell no, live in the moment and be inspired when your inspired.
But that’s just me…do what you do and be proud of it I say.
@K1 Beats, Dope answer fam, I feel you 100%, and as you said, in the beginning, you’re actually working on specific skills, but once you have those down and you just say “man I just grind it out and make 20 beats a week” but we stop looking for things to improve because we’ve become so fixated on that number, that’s when it’s an issue. As in anything else, no right or wrong way, just stuff to think about and I like sharing articles that get us to think 🙂
thanks for the feedback.
I use to want to be that guy that created 20 beats a week, until I started listening to my beats and realized that I started using the same sounds and each beat didn’t have its on originality. That’s when I started taking time to work on my skills versus beats. I think its cool to every once in a while challenge yourself to create a beat or track in a certain amount of time just to see how creativity flows but quantity will eventually hurt quality if you are not growing your skills in my opinion. Good article.
@Kloo, word man I feel ya! Thanks for the response I agree this was definitely a great article, I had to share it with the community!
Mayne just do what makes u happy…thats why i dont get into the politricks of making beats…sometimes i make two beats in aweek..find a sample for a third track..get back to it by monday(WHO CARES)do u!as long as its dope great!…i read it,but cant nobody tell me on when my shit needs to be done and what im getting out of it…thats why we buy all these instruments and work at home..get it..this my house.respect that..bless.
@sky, that’s the point lol, no one is telling you what or how you should be doing anything, the point is to offer encouragement for people who feel they simply HAVE to make X number of beats a week, the encouragement is more to focus on what you doing and as you say, do YOU. So what if you make two beats, so what if you come back to a beat the next week, that’s not the point, the point is to encourage us to take advantage of the time we spend (most of us don’t have much time to spend lol) and be concious of what we’re learning.
If you haven’t been around many producers it may not make sense, but I hear it all the time “man I make x beat a week” or ” mayne I gotta do 25 beats a week son”
no politics involved just thought provoking advice. At the end of the day, if folks feel making 25 beats a week will help them, they will do it. But there’s a chance that some may realize it’s not always about how many beats you make, but about how your skills are improving, even if you don’t complete one beat in a week!
Great article Thanks for sharing Saint Joe! I really gotta hit up dude’s site and read his other articles.
Also, thanks to everybody who posted their thoughts on the article.
Peace
@Beats, no doubt, he def got a dope site!
Sometimes I go weeks without doing a beat or even praticing but I’m always reading about theory or studying other artist’s music or certain compositions and listening to music I never heard before. I find that it gives me different ideas to explore so when I’m ready to practice I have a goal to at least try. I personally don’t like throwing music together without some kind of agenda that I can learn from.
For instance I just put this short R&B track together in a few hours with the focus on primarily guitar playing and song movement.
Track is called So Beautiful
You can peep here:
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=992204
I don’t produce a lot of music when compared to other people but when I produce something I concentrate on the quality of my work and if I’m in fact getting better at it over time. My #1 questions are “Have I understood what I’ve learned? Can I apply what I’ve learned to my own works? Using what I’ve learned can I make professional sounding music?”
@Madbull Studios, great response man, and you KNOW I love your music lol, good stuff for sure and good insight to the topic.
@Madbull Studios, great response man, great insight and you KNOW I love your music lol.