If you aspire to produce for the CHH giants then you’ll have to rub shoulders with the right people.  When I say rub shoulders, in part, I mean give dope beats to the right artists for free.  Market conditions have rendered you virtually powerless when you send your beats to that artist.  I recently sat down with Beanz of the Houston based production team “Beanz & Cornbread (Mac Miller, Slim Thug, Paul Wall)” and he made a very true statement.  He told me that most producers make hot music.  Hot music is at an all time high and extremely easy to get and it’s cheap!  This is why you feel so powerless in negotiations with artists.  Producers are forced to become hopefuls in a large pool of producers vying for an artist’s attention.  We hope that out of the dozens of beats that made it into an artist’s inbox he hears something he likes in yours and wants to record to it.  Just getting to this point has taken months and even years of sacrificing great material for some producers. 

The last article on pricing your beats was very well received so I'm sure you're ready for more information.  My first child is on the way and I've been busy preparing for my baby girl so please excuse the 3 month layoff.  I've grown alot as a producer since the last article and look forward to returning with information with greater depth from a broader perspective.  For this edition I've decided to reach out to my fellow producer Tone Jonez.  Tone runs a very successful beat selling business and is an awesome musician and producer as well.  He's been in the game for close to a decade now so I trust his viewpoint on production greatly.  If you want to know more about Tone or contact him after you read the article then please see all of his information below the article.  Without further ado...

One of the greatest challenges producers face in any genre is how much to charge for their beats.  Believe me, this is not as simple as you think it is.  I’ve seen talented producers undercharge for really good beats. They sell themselves short because they don’t have anyone to ask or a place to find out how much they should be charging for beats.  This leads to artists taking advantage of aspiring producers.  Some may consider this “paying dues” but some dues don’t have to be paid if you have knowledge and understanding.  This article is aimed at giving you just that.

Dealing with the artist is quite frankly the most difficult aspect of being a producer.  If you are unskilled in this art you may find yourself without respect and discouraged in a genre that has proven to be quite cruel to the producer.  I’ll aim at giving you some helpful tips I wish I had known at the start of my journey.  Ironically, however, dealing with artists can also be the most rewarding aspect of being a producer.  I’ll admit there’s no feeling like finding that one artist out of thousands who’s soul agrees with your soul and making music seems easier than eating.  I’ve had this experience with a few artists and the result is music that sends chills and warmth to your soul. 

Being that I’m quite cerebral about life, faith, and music amongst other topics, I thought it would be pertinent to start a series based around the life of being a music producer.  I touched on some of the things that need to take place in the mind of a beginning producer in an earlier post.  In this post I’ll talk about some of the necessary attributes that need developing and tools needed for the producer leaving that beginning stage.  Moreover, producing in secular markets and producing in Christian markets has many differences and, disappointingly, many similarities.  

So you want to be a sample producer?  Well it's time you learned the first step: Chopping the sample.  You want to see how it's done? Well, the wait is over!!  You requested video so Jimmy Natural provides a video tutorial on chopping a sample and manipulating that sample in Reason 6.  He then goes a step further by taking that sample and making a beat right before your eyes! 

Today's Hip Hop production market has expanded drastically compared to the market 20 or even 10 years ago. Advances in technology have made it quite easy to make beats so the market is swamped with "Beat Makers".  This has led to an abundance of beats for artists to choose from.  How is a producer supposed to stand out amidst all of this beat making you ask?  One way is by developing and sticking to flawless techniques!

If one studies hip hop production diligently one will discover a set of passed down and copied techniques for hip hop music production.  In part 1, we'll briefly take a look at some of these timeless techniques I use regularly in an attempt to make artists and listeners crave the beats they hear from me. 

I think it's pertinent to enlighten those who read this blog post on some of the many factors that must be taken into consideration when deciding to become a beat maker or better yet, a producer (believe me, there's a huge difference).  If you're like me, you have no clue what you're getting yourself into.  Besides thinking that I was freaking awesome after my first 14 beats, I thought the "Game" would just open itself up to me.  Even when I finally got to a place in my journey where artists were willing to pay money for my beats, I discovered that neither of these were the case.

Greetings my fellow music makers! Often times in this music industry that is ever changing we tend to lose focus or get complacent in our accomplishments way too often. With the software industry now in full effect in the aspect of making, distributing and recording music, things should be easier right? Well not exactly. You see with all this technology comes a  lot of cloudiness in the process of music making nowadays for both the producer and the artist. Newbies struggle with the creation aspect, what software to buy, what other gear they may need while old seasoned veterans of the game often times have their workflow set but fail to adapt completely to the technological aspects being pressed upon them by the industry. Given both of these facts this is why its important to remember the basics of the process no matter how old or young you are. If your desire is to become excellent and skilled in your craft (producer or artist) then below are 7 basic rules you absolutely need to know and continue to revisit as you proceed to succeed in this industry!