Who's making urban music and with what DAW & other hardware/software?

[Straight2Vinyl]

I was just curious who else focuses more on urban music ie. hip-hop, r & b etc. and what DAW and/or other hardware/software are you using?

At the moment I'm mainly using Reaper + Renoise along with some stuff from Komplete, SWAM and various samples. Not looking for recommendations because I'm good with my setup. Actually the recent addition of Mixxx for DVS control has sort of completed anything I really need.

So what about you guys? What's your setup like?

[lectropunk]

Maschine mk3 is deadly I'm a hip hop and techno producer but I find it hard to get my head around side chain compression with ableton and a great hip hop instrumentals are based on good samples I download music off you tube and use simpler in ableton.. also I love zebra . Sylent hive and synthmaster..

[Straight2Vinyl]

With all the advancements in software, you don't necessarily need samples to make hip-hop though. It's what most still use, but it can be done in other ways.
This is what I've been trying to get to since getting back into writing and producing music. Very high end virtual instruments and sample libraries can emulate anything. The thing is you have to be very and I mean VERY skilled. So far I've figured out how to get some horn solos that nobody can tell are not sampled until I tell them it's SWAM stuff. It's going to be some time before I can play parts that sound like a horn section though, as it takes an understanding of arranging for horns which is a different skill, still I've heard it done and there's a thread in VI Control where one composer demonstrates it quite nicely.
What I struggle most to emulate now are guitar tracks. It can be done, but it takes a degree of knowledge of guitars themselves and I only know a few open chords, which aren't used in the funk and soul stuff that hip-hop originally sampled anyway. Or the later neo-soul music that came along. Hopefully in a year I'll be closer to the right sound though.

I still use samples, but more for percussion, sounds for scratching and other embellishment.

[lectropunk]

I love the rza sample old skool funk and soul.
And the reason havoc off mobb deep started producing was they didn't have a large budget for their infamous album.. Pete rock was looking for 25.000$ for a beat .. and I'm wondering how do work with a beat with bass ?. Side chain compression I can't get to work for me

[Straight2Vinyl]

I love the rza sample old skool funk and soul.
And the reason havoc off mobb deep started producing was they didn't have a large budget for their infamous album.. Pete rock was looking for 25.000$ for a beat .. and I'm wondering how do work with a beat with bass ?. Side chain compression I can't get to work for me

Are you trying to duck the bass during the kick?
Add a compressor to your bass track and a send from your kick to the sidechain input of the compressor on the bass track. Adjust to taste.
A quick youtube search should find you the exact details for your specific DAW, but that's how I learned in Reaper. The principles will be the same.

[lectropunk]

Cheers pal..

[telecharge]

It seems to me a lot of hip-hop producers use MPC-style hardware for banging out their beats. Their melodies are often loops/riffs - sampled or performed. There's much less guitar these days compared to old-school hip-hop - more synths.

When it comes to brass or orchestral parts, I'm looking for a variety of quality samples I can layer to taste.

[Obsolete236871]

I know this is mainly an electronic music forum, but I was just curious who else focuses more on urban music ie. hip-hop, r & b etc. and what DAW and/or other hardware/software are you using?

At the moment I'm mainly using Reaper + Renoise along with some stuff from Komplete, SWAM and various samples.

What about you guys?

KVR is not only for "electronic music", if by "electronic music" you mean music styles like techno. In the broader sense one could argue by the way that hiphop is also electronic music, since it is typically produced electronically, with tools like samplers and so on. But to make my point: KVR is a general forum for music production with a strong focus on music that is produced with software (DAWs, plugins, sample libraries and so on).

There is no DAW that is specifically made for only one genre of music. However, if you want follow the classical MPC style approach of production (sampling, pattern sequencing), you could get either Native Instruments Maschine or Akai's MPC software - hardware controller combos.

You can also use any other DAW with a dedicated sampling plugin, but the more classical DAWs (Cubase, Logic) are not designed primarily for pattern style sequencing. That doesn't mean that they don't work well for urban music. Logic for example is used by many well-known hiphop and urban producers, the same is true for other DAWs.

Ableton, FL Studio and Bitwig do pattern style sequencing and also have dedicated sampling plugins on board. They too are quite popular among producers from urban genres.

Currently, Serato Sample is quite popular. It's a dedicated sampling plugin which makes the process of working with samples creatively extremely comfortable. It can be used with any DAW.

From my own experience I can not recommend Reaper for hiphop. Reaper is not very streamlined and efficient in what it does. Yes, theoretically you can do everything with it, but often you will have to click through many menus and options to find the most trivial functions. The user experience for a Sampling + Midi based workflow is just very bad IMHO. Cubase, Logic, Ableton Live, FL Studio, Bitwig and even Maschine and the Akai MPC software are much superior in that regard (even though Maschine and MPC are not fully featured DAWs).

[Straight2Vinyl]

I know this is mainly an electronic music forum, but I was just curious who else focuses more on urban music ie. hip-hop, r & b etc. and what DAW and/or other hardware/software are you using?

At the moment I'm mainly using Reaper + Renoise along with some stuff from Komplete, SWAM and various samples.

What about you guys?

KVR is not only for "electronic music", if by "electronic music" you mean music styles like techno. In the broader sense one could argue by the way that hiphop is also electronic music, since it is typically produced electronically, with tools like samplers and so on. But to make my point: KVR is a general forum for music production with a strong focus on music that is produced with software (DAWs, plugins, sample libraries and so on).

There is no DAW that is specifically made for only one genre of music. However, if you want follow the classical MPC style approach of production (sampling, pattern sequencing), you could get either Native Instruments Maschine or Akai's MPC software - hardware controller combos.

You can also use any other DAW with a dedicated sampling plugin, but the more classical DAWs (Cubase, Logic) are not designed primarily for pattern style sequencing. That doesn't mean that they don't work well for urban music. Logic for example is used by some of the most popular hiphop and urban producers and Cubase is also used widely.

Ableton, FL Studio and Bitwig do pattern style sequencing and also have dedicated sampling plugins on board. They too are quite popular among producers from urban genres.

Currently, Serato Sample is quite popular. It's a dedicated sampling plugin which makes the process of working with samples creatively extremely comfortable. It can be used with any DAW.

From my own experience I can not recommend Reaper for hiphop. Reaper is not very streamlined and efficient in what it does. Yes, theoretically you can do everything with it, but often you will have to click through many menus and options to find the most trivial functions. The user experience for a Sampling + Midi based workflow is just very bad IMHO. Cubase, Logic, Ableton Live, FL Studio, Bitwig and even Maschine and the Akai MPC software are much superior in that regard (even though Maschine and MPC are not fully featured DAWs).

Bro, what's with the lecture? Lol. I was just asking what other people make and i find that i tend to read more comments on the forum regarding dance/electro type stuff than hip-hop and r & b. But I'm sure there are people writing urban music, rock, pop, jazz and classical on the forum.
In my case Reaper is excellent because i am not making purely patterm and sample based hip-hop and besides its not my only daw. I'm also using Renoise when i do want classic live sampling from vinyl etc. as i get along faster with it than any other software. You can do pattern stuff in it that would surprise you and quickly too once you get the hang of it. I also have Mixxx when i want to use vinyl control.

Reaper is perfectly fine for my purposes which include mixing, recording vocals and also playing CC heavy stuff like SWAM instruments.
Not everyone uses the same tools or makes music the same way.

[Obsolete236871]

Bro, what's with the lecture? Lol.

Yes, free lecture for you today. Did not realize you just wanted to start a trivial discussion for entertainment purposes. Much fun with Reaper! lol

[reggie1979]

n/m

[fedexnman]

Lecturing ? I seen it more or less like blatant synth nerd snobbery ...

[Straight2Vinyl]

Lecturing ? I seen it more or less like blatant synth nerd snobbery ...

I was going to say worse, but couldn't be bothered.

[Aloysius]

Does Urban Elevator Music count?

[thecontrolcentre]

Does Urban Elevator Music count?

1,2,3,4 (repeat ad infinitum) ...