How do you make your beats?

[debra1rlo]

I make my beats so phat they're obese.

[trimph1]

So, they're obeats?

[thecontrolcentre]

My beats are so fat they'll mug you for your lunchbox

[quayquay17]

Mac, I think that's more down to the culture of their music and the amount of technical knowledge necessary. Back in the golden days, an artist didn't NEED to know about compressor ratios, phase, stereo placement, etc. Their head could focus purely on writing music and the headspace that accompanies that. These days, young musicians have much more to be conscious of, and are always learning. Therefore they dedicate much more headspace to tech.

I'm sure if computers didn't exist and young electronic musicians just had an analog synth, drumkit, and 4 track, they would be much less technical and "heartless"

[Mac of BIOnighT]

Mac, I think that's more down to the culture of their music and the amount of technical knowledge necessary. Back in the golden days, an artist didn't NEED to know about compressor ratios, phase, stereo placement, etc. Their head could focus purely on writing music and the headspace that accompanies that. These days, young musicians have much more to be conscious of, and are always learning. Therefore they dedicate much more headspace to tech.

I'm sure if computers didn't exist and young electronic musicians just had an analog synth, drumkit, and 4 track, they would be much less technical and "heartless"

I see what you mean and up to a degree I agree with you, however... I really don't want to move the discussion into territories that perhaps do not belong in a forum like this, but I most definitely do think that it is ALWAYS a matter of choice and what kind of human being you want to be. Being heartless is a choice. If somebody gets run over by a car and dies, you can either see if you can help and if you can't, you can understand the horror of it and imagine the pain of the people who loved that person and show respect. Or you can take a picture with your phone and share it with your "friends" on facebook. It is a choice and it is your responsibility. What truly and profoundly horrifies me about today's world is this process of de-responsibilization that's been going on and getting worse for way too many years now. Nobody is ever responsible whatever they do, the fault is always with the family, the school, society, somebody else. My ass, if you pardon my French. Everybody is fully responsible for their actions, because there is always a choice, and what one does is their own responsibility, not somebody else's fault (except for some terrible cases, of course).
Being an empty, heartless buyer who shows off his toys (or whose toys show off through him, as is mostly the case) instead of a musician (or anything else, including a human being) is most definitely a choice, and society is not good enough an excuse because everybody has a brain they can make choices with...

[glokraw]

At the risk of being seen as a troll I dare this:
I use my fingers. I load drum sounds and play them with my fingers on the keyboard.Is that weird?

I was beginning to think I was the last one on Earth to do this. No offence meant to anyone, but - quite honestly - I find it totally depressing that a question like that only finds as answers a list of programs and methods (not to mention loops), and not a single "musical" answer. Not one. Just my point of view.

If you have or get an old Yamaha XG/PSR keyboard, most allow layering two instruments, so choose 2 different drumkits as the instruments (there will be many duplicate samples) and then put one of them on one of the two alternate octaves, putting 2 different samples on each keypress (effectively replacing duplicates with multi-samples)
Now if you use the XG 'harmony settings, which actually are rythmic repeats,
nothing harmonic, you can go hog wild with the fingerdrumming. Various XG/PSR
keyboards also have various reverb, chorus, delay etc. Maxing out the
XG windchime is great fun, among many others.
Happy Easter, to KVR

[hailduong]

There are some tutorials here about making beats: http://www.realmusicmaker.com/make-your-own-beats/