Buena Park Music

I have a friend who wants to be a rap producer. He’s a bright guy and he’s been into hip hop as long as I can remember. The passion is there, but like most passionate people he is tragically flawed. OK, I hope not tragically flawed, but flawed just the same.

Here’s the thing, see. He’s really, really hung up on status. Always has to have the latest, greatest equipment, which to him means the most expensive equipment. He’ll spend months or years saving up for some plugin or whatever that he feels like he has to have.

He’s the best, you know, and he’s got to have the best.

Of course, while he’s working nonstop at his day job, saving up for this or saving up for that, how much time do you suppose he has left over to, you know, produce?

How many beats has he sold? How many rappers has he worked with?

None!

Not like it’s any of my business or anything, but my feeling is that you’ve got to produce to be a producer, and that my friend in question has his priorities turned around.

My feeling is that if you have talent, you should apply it however way you can. No need to take my word for it, though. Look at the most successful rap producers in the field today. Are they successful because of the equipment they use, or are they just that talented?

What A Producer Has To Do

A producer’s job is basically to get an audience into a groove, to back up a vocalist and make it all sound good, etc. A successful producer is one who can do all that by just beatboxing. I know I’ve witnessed this, and I know you have too.

Now, back in the day a young producer just starting out had to prove his worth using beatboxing and little else. Drum machines and tape recorders were expensive. It was an uphill battle all the way.

Things have gotten a little better since then.

Take Sonic Producer for example. It’s pretty inexpensive for what you get: thousands of sounds, a sequencer, ability to export to mp3, all the tools you need to do your thing, as you can see:

It takes all of 5 minutes to get the hang of it, and if you’re good you can sell the beats you make with it for like $30 a pop. I know it’s cliche, but the thing pays for itself.

My friend was laughing at me when I mentioned it to him, I guess because it doesn’t cost thousands of dollars. But when I suggested that making and selling beats with Sonic Producer could help him quit his job and maybe buy more fancy equipment, his eyes lit up and he stopped laughing so hard.

See, I told you he’s a bright guy!

What You Need To Succeed

I guess my point is that, if you’re focused on making good music and you have talent for it, there’s no time like the present. An online beat maker is really all you need to establish yourself as a producer to be reckoned with.

Well, that and a decent bass line. And a good sense of rhythm. But money doesn’t buy musical ability. That has to come from you.

We all know how many “producers” out there are nothing but hype. They have fancy studios and big budgets, but they can’t produce good tracks because they don’t have talent. Then there are people like my friend, who is talented and should be heard, but who feel like they have to have their own studio in order to practice their art.

Try saving up for a top-of-the-line studio on an hourly wage, or on tips. Then, once you’ve bought all that equipment, you have to learn how to use it.  The music you make will be out of style by the time you get around to making it.

How does that make any sense?

What’s Holding You Back?

This not an easy business to be in. You have to constantly move forward. The minute you’re not moving forward, you’re falling behind. Hip hop producers just starting out have to make sure that every day they get closer to where they want to be.

If you’re a rapper, that means scouring the web looking for fresh beats that are suitable for your lyrics.

If you’re a producer, that means making beats that rappers can license from you, and making a lot of them.

That’s what gets you paid.

Check out the Sonic Producer website and see what you think. They’ve been in business for a while now, and they make life easier for lots of producers just starting out.  Click the link below to find out more: