What do all the greatest songs – in any genre of music -  all have in common?  They are all driven by a great melody. A melody is a set of single notes in succession that form a musical line. The hook to your favorite song, a guitar phrase, and succession of single piano notes are all examples of a melody.

Melodies don’t have to be “catchy” to be effective. A melody that displays a deep, powerful emotion can be a great piece of music without being “catchy” or “poppy.” For example, if you are producing a deep beat about a death or lost love, it can be driven by dark, emotional melodies that don’t necessarily “stick in your head,” but rather portray the emotion of the song successfully through effective melodies.

So what can you do as a producer to become better ar producing great melodies?

Well I do believe that some of us just naturally have more of a knack for this sort of thing than others. The best songwriters who have written countless great melodies are creatively gifted people who can do this  alot easier than some of us. HOWEVER, I do believe that everyone has the ability to learn how to become better at creating melodies. So I’d like to share with you two very powerful tips that will help you to become a better melody-maker:

Listen to Different Kinds of Music: If you always listen to the same type of music, your minds ability to expand into new creative melodical ideas will be severely limited. Do not be afraid to venture out and listen to lots of different styles of music. Hate pop? Listen to it anyway. Can’t stand classical music? Que up that Chopin piece. In fact, I credit a great portion of my melody-making abilities and musical sense to a band that fits into the genre of “Progressive Metal.” Through my years of listening, my ears have consciously and subconsciously picked up ways of combining note sequences to make melodies that I never would have been able to make had I not been a student of their music.

And perhaps the most important way to become better at creating melodies:

LEARN MUSIC SCALES: Ok normally someone would just advise you to learn “music theory.” But I find that people can get intimidated when it comes to tackling the entire subject of music theory. The aspect that can really help you when seeking to become better at writing melodies is musical note scales. Do some research online or buy a book about the different scales used in music. Apply these concepts to an instrument (piano, guitar, etc) and you will really begin to get the feel of how notes are associated with one another, which notes combine optimally together, and which moods are brought out by each scale. Learn the major, minor, blues, pentatonic, harmonic minor scales….and so on. As soon as I learned this aspect of music for guitar, I became a much better musician, composer, producer, and, well, melody maker!

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more articles!

Tim Adamek
Open Minds Entertainment Beats Online

If you are a producer, you have more than likely asked fellow producers, artists, friends or family for some feedback of your beats. You would like all of the feedback you receive to be positive, of course, but this is not always the case. Your friends and family will most likely compliment your work to spare your feelings, but a fellow producer or artist is bound to be critical of your work, offering either a derogatory comment, a simple “I don’t like it,” or some kind of valuable criticism.

I remember when I first started posting my beats for review on the internet, I would sometimes get hundreds of positive remarks (on forums, instant messenger, email, etc.) about a beat, but if I got just ONE negative comment about it, I would be hard on myself and lose confidence. Through the years though, I’ve learned to accept the fact that you can’t please all the people all the time! Once I grew as a producer and understood this concept, I no longer stressed over pleasing every single person with one piece of music.

To put this into a simple perspective, just consider this: Take 10 different people you know personally, and think about what kinds of music they prefer. Odds are, everyone doesn’t listen to the same artists. One may prefer classic rock, one may prefer hip-hop, another may prefer country….and so on.

Well, this same exact concept holds true for your beats….

Some people may love your piece of music, while others simply do not like it because it is not their taste in music. To make this example even more targeted, let’s look at just the Hip-Hop genre. Let’s say you make a Club-style hip-hop beat. Artists and producers who enjoy club hip-hop may love your beat, but those that listen to raw, gritty hip hop may hate it. It’s just one of those things you’ve got to accept, and move forward.

So remember this: If you are getting a lot of positive feedback from valuable sources (fellow producers, artists, sound enginners, etc.), do NOT lose confidence in your music if you receive a few occasional criticisms or negative comments!

In the next motivational article, I will talk about Utilizing Feedback about your beats.

Until Then, Thanks for reading!

Tim Adamek
Open Minds Entertainment LLP

I usually begin by setting the tempo of the track. On your software program, adjust the Tempo (most programs simply have up and down arrows to increase or decrease the tempo) and turn the metronome (click) feature to On. Use the metronome ticks to get a feel for how you envision the beat sounding. Begin nodding your head to the clicks, and increase or decrease the tempo accodingly to suit the tempo you desire.

The next step is one that is entirely up to you: Adding the first element of the beat. Dr. Dre said he always likes to start with the drums. Other producers like to start with the hook melody. I myself don’t have any finite way of beginning a beat. Sometimes I’ll start with the drums, and other times I’ll begin by adding an instrument (piano, guitar, etc.).

If you have a killer melody in your head, I suggest that you lay that down right away so you don’t forget it. Set the metronome to the desired tempo and record the melody with the instrument you had in mind. Have a beautiful piano melody in your head? Record it first and build the rest of the track around it. Odds are, that melody is going to be one of the most important elements in the entire track, so use it as the driving force and add the drums and accompanying instruments around it. Try it!

This same concept works for drums. Some tracks, especially hip-hop tracks, can be almost exclusively driven by the drums. So if you have a solid drum idea in mind, by all means get it recorded into your sofware before you start adding the instruments. This method will enable you to establish a “groove” by which you can begin to lay some new ideas in the form of instrumentation.

When laying the drums first, I usually like to begin with the hi-hats. Next, I pick a snare or clap and add that in. With these 2 elements playing I can establish a nice rhythm to groove to while adding in the kick. Finally I may opt to add in some percussive sounds (bongos or congas for example). Again, this is just how I personally add drums – the order is entirely up to you.

Now that you have the beat started, you can begin adding the rest of the instrumentation, work on arrangement, add your transitions, and mix the beat. I will cover all of this in future articles, but hopefully this one has given you some good ideas to get started making beats!

I’m outta here for now.

-Tim Adamek, Open Minds Entertainment LLP

Before I get into any details, let me answer this question for you. There is no “best” piece of software for making beats. The final product of your music depends not as much on the computer program you use, but moreso on the person in front of the computer.

I’ve heard producers create professional sounding music on every piece of music production software. Just because Fruity Loops costs 1/4 of what Reason costs doesn’t mean it that it lacks potential to make professional sounding music.

Though all software has its potential to make great music with the right producer at its helm, there are some major differences in each. Let me briefly explain the major differences in the “Big 3:”

Reason: Reason is my platform of choice for producing music. Out of the box, I’d say it has the best quality and largest library of stock sounds out of the three programs. The program was originally geared toward producing trance, techno, and drum’n'bass music, but has expanded since its release and is now ideal for just about any kind of music. The Reason interface is set up to look like a rack of different sound modules. You can even wire these modules to each other, to a mixer, and to effects just as you would in real life. This is a useful feature, but it contributes to the program having a very slow learning curve. If you decide to choose Reason to make beats, understand that it will take a lot of time and patience to adapt to the program. One final notable downfall of the program is that you cannot record vocals or instruments directly into this program. You must record them in another program first, and then import them into Reason.

Fruity Loops: Fruity Loops is probably the most used software program for making hip-hop beats. It is very affordable and has a lot of expandability. Fruity Loops does not come with a great library of sounds out of the box. However, it has the ability to connect with different “Virtual Instruments” (VSTs) which contain huge libraries of high-quality sounds, something that Reason cannot currently do. These VSTs give Fruity Loops great expandability, keeping it updated with the newest and freshest sounds. Fruity Loops has a much quicker learning curve than Reason. Within a few days or so, you should be able to grasp a lot of the basics and will be on your way to making beats. Though it offers a lot of plusses, the interface is a bit lacking compared to Reason. It is not as comprehensive (especially the effects modules) and the overall look is a lot more amateur. Overall though, a great program.

Cubase: Cubase does not come with many stock sounds out of the box. Like Fruity Loops, it relies on VSTs for its sound libraries (the same VSTs that can be used for one program can be used for the other). The main difference with Cubase is that it offers a sophisticated recording interface. It allows you to record your vocals or instruments, add effects, and mix and master everything within the program. The programming sequencer is not as smooth as Reason’s, but it gets the job done. Another cool feature of Cubase is that you can “Rewire” the program with Reason, Fruity Loops, and other programs, allowing you to combine the two and use them together. This means you can take advantage of Reason’s rich sounds or Fruity Loops’ famous sequencer while controlling the mixing aspects in Cubase. So overall, Cubase may not necessarily have to be a competitive choice with the other 2 programs, but rather an addition to them to get the most out of everything.

So, please do not continue to think that one piece of beat-making software is superior to another. Each offers its own advantages and disadvantages, and when it comes down to it, it is the producer who has most control over how the track sounds.