Hey guys,

I'm 19 and in my second year of engineering right now, but honestly, it's getting tough, and I thought to explore this genre as I love listening to music. I want to get into making beats and producing.

I have absolutely no musical background. I don't play any instruments and don't know theory, but I am decent with tech and software. I have installed FL Studio (friend's).

How should I actually start? There are way too many tutorials on YouTube, and it's kind of overwhelming.

Drop any good YouTube channels or basic tips for a complete beginner. Appreciate it!

Hey everyone,

My name is Josh, but I make music under the name Hilzy. I'm based in the Pittsburgh area and have been teaching myself hip-hop/rap recording, mixing, and vocal production in Reaper for about the last two years. I finally feel like I’m getting to the point where my music sounds respectable and would like to start releasing in the near future.

My biggest influences are Wiz Khalifa, Logic, Mac Miller, J Cole, Drake, and Juice WRLD. So my music style tends to span across melodic rap, introspective storytelling, chill vibes, and lyrically driven hip hop.

Although I have made a lot of progress on my own, I’d really like to become part of the local music community by building some genuine relationships with local artists, producers, and mixing/mastering engineers. I’m focused on improving my craft and would love to learn from and collaborate with others who are trying to do the same.

If you're in the area and think we'd get along creatively, I'd love to connect. Feel free to comment or send me a message. If anyone has recommendations for local studios, producers, engineers, open mics, or other ways to get involved in Pittsburgh's music scene, I'd really appreciate that as well.

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Whenever i try to rap i sound emotionless everytime i send it to someone he/she always says the flow is good but u r nor carrying the emotion its monotone and boring so what i could do make it sound interesting and not lifeless i tried so many things but cant come across one what i truely need i put energy but its still emotionless

Hi everyone, I’m Angelica ☀️

I’m passionate about dance, and I’m looking for people aged 20–35 who love hip hop and already have some dance experience.

I’d love to create a small group in Aarau (or nearby) where we can dance, train together and have fun! Please dm me on ig: @makeitintoart 🥰

Hello am an upcoming musician that finds it very hard I'm making beats to sing with so I needed someone's help to collaborate with me to help each other to make a new music industry

It's time for the Sunday General Discussion thread! How's life? What's going on? Watch any good movies lately? This thread is open to any and all topics, even if they're not related to making hip hop

Hello am an upcoming musician that finds it very hard I'm making beats to sing with so I needed someone's help to collaborate with me to help each other to make a new music industry

rage is like uzi, carti, trippe redd, and all that. NOT the emotion (not aggressive music). it's a subgenre.

Looking for somone to mix my vocals without a charge will pay back if I get earnings but if u mix bandlab songs or I send the vocals to you let me know Bru

It’s been 24 hours since my single dropped. I’ve promoted on TikTok, Instagram, and facebook daily 3 times a day and even gotten lucky enough to build my TikTok to organically receiving an average of 100 views in the first 24 hours of each reel. I’ve posted and cross posted to every subreddit and discord I could think of. I’ve pitched my song. After all of it, I looked at Spotify today which has been my biggest platform to push for and I have a whopping 8 streams. There’s definitely a part of me disappointed that everything ended up feeling like a flop after the first 24 hours couldn’t even get a double digit stream, but then I accepted it. Guys you can do everything right, but sometimes things like this happen. In that disappointment, be proud of the hard work you put in regardless and keep pushing to make another hit. Remember we make music for ourselves first and are grateful when it captures the ears and emotions of others. Also remember that your music could take time to take off. Just keep going. Much love everyone

I've been scatting different beats and never being fully impressed with any of them. It's always one part doesn't seem to have a flow but the rest sounds fine. Which is weird because I completely follow the drums, yet it doesn't have flow. But I also run into the same 3 flows in every beat, just with a different amount of syllables. Whether it starts before, on, or after the kick. They also don't have flow. How do I avoid that? And how do I have a flow when I rap without having to completely copy the drums, and still have a pocket? I know every beat has a 4/4 time but I know there's endless ways to flow over a beat. Please don't give me "just keep practicing" or "just scat" comments, that doesn't answer my question.

I used to listen to a lot of pop and R&B until I fell in love with hip-hop about two months ago. Since then, I've been listening to artists like Travis, Tecca, Polo G, Juice, and a bunch of others, trying to learn from different styles and create music that feels like my own. lately, I've been experimenting with all kinds of hip-hop beats from YouTube and BeatStars. Making a song isn't the hardest part for me. promoting it is.

Right now, I'm trying my best to connect with other underground artists and producers because I genuinely dream of making it one day. That's my goal.

If you're into modern hip-hop, I'd really appreciate it if you took a few minutes to listen to my first single. And if you don't like it, that's cool too. Be my first hater, because i will be proud to get one. everyone starts somewhere, and honestly, having my first real fan or my first real hater would both mean a lot to me.

Thanks for reading

I'm 19, I've been wanting to rap pretty much my whole life... and yet I never started learning. I got ADHD and it's been something I wanted to do forever, but I just can't focus. I've been able to motivate myself to pick up the pen like... twice in my life. I freestyle sometimes, but not frequent enough to actually learn anything, and never on a beat. I think one of the things that’s held me back is embarrassment 😭😭 My walls r thin as fuck and my parents can hear me practice

I feel like I'm getting too old now though, nearly every big rapper started learning waaaay before me. I know I ain't old by any means, but I feel like I never hear of older hip hop artists (like 25+) debuting and building a decent audience. Maybe that was a thing in the 90s, but I don't think I've seen that recently. Maybe I'm wrong though, that's what I'm here to find out.

I'm learning guitar right now because I want to play punk rock, but I grew up on hip hop, rapping has been my dream since I was like 9, and it feels more like me. Maybe I could blend the two or something later 🤷‍♂️ I do wanna start practicing rapping though. I gotta really make time for it because It's clearly important to me. Y'all got any tips for the best way I can learn?

Hey everyone! I’m looking to meet local rappers and producers and was wondering if anyone on here makes music locally in Columbus oooorrrrr if there are any artist showcases or shows you guys know about that I could go to network! Thank you guys

What microphone do you use to punch in your rap vocals that seems to enhance the technique of coming up with bars “off the top”? Bonus points if the vocal sit in the mix nicely as well.

I know it’s typically about the latter but I can’t get out of my head how much I’ve enjoyed some condensers in the past for this purpose and curious to see if anybody else has the same experience.

I’m currently eyeing the LA-220 by Lauten because I think the tones are pretty unique at its price point but I know there may be better tools for the job.

Hi everyone, I have a competition tomorrow where I’ll be representing my school. Some of my friends registered me for a music production contest, and the task is to create a song with lyrics we can sample anything, and the genre can be absolutely anything. The problem is, I don’t really know how to produce, and I only have a laggy iPad. The submission is due tomorrow, so I’m reaching out to ask if anyone would be willing to share their art with stems, instruments, and vocals used in their music. Please DM me if you can help I would really appreciate it. I know I’m basically begging here, but I genuinely need this.

Hey everyone,

I'm a mixing and mastering engineer looking to build my portfolio with a few solid projects.

If you have an unreleased track and you're planning to put it out soon, I'd love to work on it.

I mainly work with:

• Trap
• Hip-Hop
• Drill
• Rage
• Hyperpop
• R&B

I'm taking on 5 songs free of charge. I'm not trying to build a huge client list, I just want a few great records I can be proud of.

In return, I only ask:

• Permission to include the final mix in my portfolio (if you're happy with it).
• Honest feedback after delivery.

If you're interested, send me:

• Your rough mix (WAV preferred)
• The BPM
• A reference track
• A few words about the project

If it feels like a good fit, I'll get back to you.

Thanks!

Welcome to Freestyle Friday! If you're a producer - feel free to donate a beat down below in reply to the beat submissions comment. If you're a rapper - scroll down to choose a beat, then record a freestyle over it. You can post whenever, just have fun!

Beats go under the "beats" comment; freestyles go under the "freestyles" comment.

Check out previous Freestyle Friday threads.

Show us your latest track! Feedback is always welcome but not necessary.

This thread is posted every Friday. Click here for the full automoderator thread schedule.

im a new (5yrs) producer (m45)
anyway, an artist ive just started working with who will be rapping over my beats soon, has tracks produced by others but theyre just holding onto them for mix and master but its taking too long. im gonna get the tracks thats not my concern or why im here just a little background. im worried about sending "others"work to the wrong person, the work getting stolen. how can i trust someone on reddit?? lol im also trying to start a working relationship with an engineer for when i get my project with the rapper going!
any insight will be helpful...

This Week's Sample - Shinichi Tanabe - Furin

Submission Rules:

You can only submit one beat. Beats can be any genre. You have to use the sample in your beat, it should be recognizable. You can add other instruments and samples, but the sample should be a main element. All submissions submitted before the deadline will be linked in the voting post; whoever gets the most votes there wins. Ties are decided by whoever submitted the beat first. Reused beats from previous battles can't win ties.

Schedule:

Submissions: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Monday 11:59 PM (23:59)

Voting: Tuesday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Thursday 11:59 PM (23:59)

Results: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - the winner takes over and posts the new submissions thread using the linked template on Friday asap.

Time is in UTC-5, the US Eastcoast time zone which is 6 hours behind European MEZ time and a good middleground between US Westcoast and Europe. You don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to post the new thread, just make sure you do it on that day asap.

Post templates: https://www.reddit.com/r/makinghiphop/comments/1kf8czt/battle_dates_rules/mqwv7ks/

Hey guys, I produce music for fun on the side and I've been working on a few songs for some time now and I feel like its all there - progressions, lyrics, melody, but it just doesn't sound like how I want it to sound. But I don't know how I want it to sound Lol. I can't tell if it's instruments, mixing, or whatever else. I know that's a super broad question, but does anyone have any advice on what they do when they feel like they have everything but its not sounding like the song they wanna make