Instrumental basics in Hip-hop production

Hey everyone! So today, I’m going to share with you all the basis of a hip hop song. 

Let’s get into it

The hip hop Skeleton 

So the hip-hop foundation is actually no different than a pop foundation or a country foundation, it’s just the way that we attack each aspect of the production. 

Let’s go over some fundamental aspects of all music production. 

There are 

1. Drums
2. synths
3. voice
4. backing voice
5. guitar/piano/other rhythm instruments
6. pads
7. Effects

So these are the foundations that all pop music, pop in this instance is all music that is mainstream, relies upon. 

It doesn’t matter if you’re doing country or Hip-hop or rap or pop, all of these elements are used in every song. 

The thing with hip-hop is that it often relies upon a few distinct music theory practices. 

Say for example it relies on heavy and slow bass patterns. 

It also relies on the use of minor scales and tonalities to give a dark and strong feeling. 

But believe it or not, Every musician in the music industry whether that’s pop, hip-hop, rock, or rap uses the same tools that they all use. 

So let’s talk about each of those elements in rap and how they differentiate from rock and country

Drums

So, it’s not called this, but I’m going to go with it because it’s what’s common in most rap terminology. 

But the standard bass and drum sounds that we use in almost all pop music is called boom bap. 

It was called something else back in the 80s but I forgot what it’s called. 

It’s like rat pack, or scat rack or something like that.

But for the sake of this blog post we’re going to talk about boom bap. 

you hear a boom from the bass and a bap from the snare or clap. 

And it follows a pretty basic pattern of bass on 1 and 3 and snare on 2 and 4. 

But the bass can actually be anywhere that you want but it has to be in a groovy manner. 

If you cannot dance to your drums by themselves, then it’s not groovy enough. 

And there are certain ways that you’re supposed to mix these drums.

Because in a standard bass drum, there is a kind of high end in the frequencies and a very strong low end. 

If you actually pronounce the word boom, the high end is the b- and the low end if the -oom.

and what you’re supposed to do is with the EQ, you’re supposed to bring out both of those elements a lot and almost entirely take out the mid range. 

You can and it’s actually advised that you cut off a little bit of the sub bass frequencies as well, but you decide what you want to do.

If it was me personally, I would do it every time because it can cause a lot of muddiness in the mix. 

The snare is the high end of the frequency spectrum. 

So what you have to do with the snare is cut off a little bit of the mid range and use a wide Q to take off a little bit of a wide range of the mid range. 

Because what’s going to happen is that your voices are in the mid range. 

And if you have your snare which is a very high end frequency competing for the same space as your voices, then it’s going to get muddled and it will sound like a big mess. 

That’s how you make the drums

Guitars, pianos, and other rhythm instruments

So guitars and pianos add a rhythmic element to the whole production. 

Guitars and pianos help to establish a foundation of harmony to the whole song. 

Often times when we hear a song being sung, we will often hear the chord changes in our head even without the chords being played. 

And that’s what guitars and pianos do. 

They create a foundation for harmony so that the melody can be sung over. 

*quick tip, so some general advice that you’re supposed to follow with the eq is that you’re supposed to carve out a space for each individual instrument. 

And specifically, you’re supposed to carve out the space that they mainly reside in . 

So say for example guitars and pianos, they actually occupy a little higher of the frequency spectrum than the voice does. 

So you can eliminate some of the frequencies from where the voices are at and the other instruments are at, so that each instrument can really shine. 

So when you’re mixing the guitars and the pianos, you have to boost the frequencies where the guitars and pianos reside and cut the ones where they don’t.

But be careful because if you cut too much of all of your frequencies, it can sound thin.

The thing with using the eq is that you’re supposed to think in small cuts and boosts to really enhance your sound. 

So make the cuts where you need to, but make them small and nice. 

Synths and pads

So imagine that synths are just the guitar chords but maybe layered over the guitar in the same rhythm or maybe even in one long chord that occupies the length of the chord that is being played.

That is what a synth does. 

It adds depth to the song by introducing a layer to the song. 

Pads are soft subtle synths that create a sort of background noise. 

It helps to fill the space in the songs and not make it so quiet. 

I currently have some pads that are my go to pads whenever I”m making a song. 

And might I say that I’m almost always using those pads. 

You use the eq the same way as any other way, except you have to be careful because sometimes the pads and synths are already low enough, so you just have to hear out what you’re supposed to do. 

Effects

So there are two types of effects in music production. 

There is the composing effect and there’s a mixing effect. 

A composing effect is like a riser that serves as a transition from one part of a song to another. 

A mixing effect is like a chorus. 

In this instance, we’re going to talk about the composing effect. 

Effects are actually more than just risers.

It comprising a sort of technique where you make noises for your music so that your music can be filled with excitement. 

Learning to make different effects can really boost your songs ability to resonate with people. 

Broadcast

I sure hope that I have been an inspiration and a hope to you all. Please remember to pray, read your bible, go to church, and love God above all else. Like, comment, share, subscribe, and I will see you all next time.

If you want to go to heaven, then believe in Jesus and you will go to heaven. (John 3:16)

Thank you all for listening in on this blog post. 

German Gonzalez, signing out!