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Hip hop production is the creation of hip hop music. Modern hip hop production utilizes samplers, sequencers, drum machines, synthesizers, turntables, and live instrumentation.Though the term encompasses all aspects of hip hop music, it most commonly used to refer to the instrumental, non-lyrical aspects of hip-hop. This means that Hip Hop producers are the instrumentalists involved in a work.
Hip-hop instrumental music is classified as a drum beat dubbed over sampled music.
The pipeline of hip hop production involves one or more of the following:
- A drum beat
- Sampled music
- A bassline
ELEMENTS
Sampling
Sampling is integral to hip hop production. Samples are usually taken from vinyl and imported into samplers/sequencers.
Sampling is controversial in modern hip hop. Seeing as sample clearance can take substantial parts of profit out of record sales for artists who sample, producers opt to create completely original recordings using computer-generated beats. Another solution is to overdub or re-record the sampled part with a live musician and then interpolate it enough to disassociate it from the sampled material entirely. The fees associated with the latter solution and the costs associated with the former can be significantly lower than sample clearance fees.
A particular brand of "sped-up" sampling which famously used by Roc-A-Fella artist Kanye West (and less prominently Just Blaze, Danny! and various other hip hop producers from the post 2000 generation), is now popuarly considered as its own style of hip hop production. Although Wu-tang clan member RZA introduced this style of production before Kanye, it is Kanye West's vast amount of production work with artists (such as Common and Jay-Z in recent years) that has popularized the use of sped-up samples.
While the majority of producers sample a relatively default niche of 1960-1980 soul, R&B, disco, and funk records, any record of any genre from any era is often fair game for sampling. Jazz records from every era are also sampled. Producers such as P. Diddy, Dr. Dre have been known to sample blues artists such as Bill Withers. Due to the aforementioned concerns with clearance fees, many producers opt to seek out very rare and obscure records to lend their records a unique style and to avoid being forced to pay a clearance fee. People Under The Stairs openly acknowledge not clearing their samples, hoping that the record companies whose artists they sample don't take action.
Beats
The drum beat is another core element of hip hop production. Its speed and complexity dictates the pace and impact of the recording. While some beats are sampled, others are created by drum machines such as the Roland TR-808 and the Alesis SR-16. Others yet are a hybrid of the two techniques, sampled parts of drum beats that are arranged in original patterns altogether. Another mainstay in hip-hop is the use of the Ensoniq ASR-10 synthesizer to provide beats, particularly by The Neptunes and the MPC 2000.
Since the percussive element of hip hop music is the very punctuation of its sound, the sounds a producer chooses to represent the percussion are important. Some producers have drum kits all their own, such as Dr. Dre, Timbaland and Neptunes. Some drum sounds, such as the TR-808 cowbell, remain as historical elements of hip hop lore used in modern hip hop to lend a more credible and mature sound to the recording.
STUDIO PARTS
A producer's studio is the environment where they produce music. It can be as varied as a four-track sequencer and a collection of tapes or a multi-million dollar studio loaded with advanced sound processing hardware.
Recording
In hip hop, a multi-track recorder is standard for recording. Digital ADAT tape recorders have become standard over the years. Alternatively, a producer can use a PC as a multi-track recorder, with or without external hardware (outboard).
Vocal recording
Generally, professional producers opt for a condenser microphone for studio recording, mostly due to their wide-range response and high quality. A primary alternative to the expensive condenser microphone is the dynamic microphone, used more often in live performances due to its durability. The major disadvantages of condenser microphones are their expense and fragility. Also, most condenser microphones require phantom power, unlike dynamic microphones. Conversely, the disadvantages of dynamic microphones are they don't generally possess the wide spectrum of condenser microphones and their frequency response is not as uniform. Many hip-hop producers typically used the Neumann U-87 for recording vocals which imparts a glassy "sheen" especially on female vocals. But today, many producers in this musical genre use the Sony C-800 tube microphone, vintage microphones, and high-end ribbon microphones tuned for flattering, "big" vocal expression. Compressors, both software and hardware, are also prevalently used during recording and post-production.
Sequencers and Samplers
A sequencer or a sequencing device or module is used invariably with instruments. One of the most popular sequencers in old-school hip hop was the Akai MPC60, whose successors MPC2000, MPC2500, MPC3000, and MPC4000 have been quintessential in modern hip hop production. Since a sequencer triggers instruments instead of simply playing back music, it is used in more sophisticated production environments than the basic "two turntables and a mic" configuration that most live hip hop is produced with. A sampler is used to play back samples that will not be interpolated as a media. Most sequencers, like the aforementioned Akai MPC products, are also samplers. Among standalone samplers there are the ShaBoo 3000 S-series samplers, the Roland S-series samplers, and others.
Digital audio workstations
DAWs and software sequencers are used in modern hip hop production as software production products are cheaper, easier to expand, and require less room to run than their hardware counterparts. Some producers oppose complete reliance on DAWs and software, citing lower overall quality, lack of effort, and lack of identity in computer-generated beats. Sequencing software often comes under criticism from purist listeners and traditional producers as producing sounds that are flat, overly clean, and overly compressed.
Synthesizers
Synthesizers are used quite often in hip hop production. They are used for melody, basslines, as percussive stabs, and for sound synthesis. The use of synthesizers has been popularized largely by Dr. Dre during the G-Funk era. Modern use of synthesizers is rampant by producers such as Jim Jonsin,Cool and Dre, Lil Jon, Scott Storch, and Neptunes. Often in low-budget studio environments or environments constrained by space limitations, producers employ Virtual Instruments in place of hardware synthesizers. Virtual Instruments are also now running ramped in high-budget studio environments.
Live instrumentation
Live instrumentation is not as widespread in hip hop, but is used by a number of acts and is prominent in hip hop-based fusion genres such as rapcore. Before samplers and synthesizers became prominent parts of hip hop production, early hip hop hits such as "Rapper's Delight" (The Sugarhill Gang) and "The Breaks" (Kurtis Blow) were recorded with live studio bands. During the 1980s, Stetsasonic was a pioneering example of a live hip hop band. Hip hop with live instrumentation regained prominence during the late-1990s and early 2000s with the work of The Goats, The Roots, Common, DJ Quik, and OutKast, among others. Instrumental hip hop is hip hop music without vocals. Hip hop as a general rule consists of two elements: an instrumental track (the "beat") and a vocal track (the "rap"). The artist who crafts the beat is the producer, and the one who crafts the rap is the MC. In this format, the rap is almost always the primary focus of the song, providing most of the complexity and variation over a more or less repetitive beat.
Instrumental hip hop is therefore hip hop music without emcee accompaniment. This format affords the producer the flexibility to create more complex, richly detailed and varied instrumentals, with less emphasis on vocals. Songs of this genre may wander off in different musical directions without the vocal constraints of the MC.
INSTRUMENTAL HIP HOP
Purely instrumental hip hop tracks were not popular throughout the 1980s, but producers have made and released hip hop beats without MCs since hip hop's inception. The release of DJ Shadow's debut album Endtroducing... in 1996 saw the beginnings of a rise in instrumental hip hop. Relying mainly on a combination of sampled funk, hip hop and film score, DJ Shadow chose to describe his music as "cinematic hip hop", and he has influenced countless producers and musicians from many genres ever since. In recent years, artists such as RJD2, J Dilla, Pete Rock, MF Doom, Danny!, Madlib, and Blockhead have garnered critical acclaim with a number of instrumental hip hop albums.
Instrumental hip hop has yet to be fully recognized as a genre unto itself, and is often lumped in with trip hop, downtempo, electronica, or industrial music. This may in part be due to the fact that it is so hard to classify, as when a hip hop beat is separated from rapping and varied enough to hold a listener's attention by itself, it can go off in many musical directions.
Cubase SX3 - Feature description, screenshots, download and support area, related links.
Apple: Logic Pro - Flagship product of the series provides synthesis of digital audio recording, DSP, MIDI sequencing, and notation.
Ableton Live - Audio sequencer playable in real time like an instrument. User area, support, company profile, purchasing.
Anthem - An advanced open source MIDI sequencer for Unix-based platforms.
Anvil Studio - Win9x/NT freeware to multi-track record, compose, and edit with Audio and MIDI.
AuReality - Offers controller remappings, LFO's, arpeggiators, autochords, drum and note sequences, and echoes.
Band-In-A-Box User Group - A Yahoo Group for PG Music's Band-in-a-Box MIDI based music program. Swap files, styles, and get help.
Breakage - Artificially intelligent drum machine with breakbeat composition employing neural networks and morph functions.
Data Sonic - VSPro is a Win95 sequencing and notation package with a full graphic interface for Roland VS880 control and integration.
Digital Orchestrator Pro - Voyetra's flagship digital sequencer.
Easy Music Composer - MIDI sequencer for Windows.
FruityLoops - Fully featured sequencer with MIDI, VST/VSTi and DXi support. Can be used inside other sequencers as a VSTi itself.
Goltstein.com - Reason Refills and Rex2 files, free and for sale.
Griff Pocket Music Studio - Sequencer for PocketPC running Windows CE. Sampler, instruments, and effects also.
GrooveMaker - [Mac - Win] Loop based mixer and sound libraries, with real time groove-generator and import/match of any audio file, including MP3.
Jazz++ - Feature-rich MIDI sequencer for Linux and Windows.
KinTools - Freeware sequencer allows movement of sound among multiple speakers. Speaker control can be applied to other programs.
Kyma - Symbolic Sound Corporation's Kyma is a graphical language for live, interactive sound generation and manipulation.
LMMS - Open source sequencer for Linux.
Making Waves Audio - Multitrack MIDI, loop, and FX sequencer.
Making Waves Software - Offers Audio 5 and Studio 5. Demo available.
MIDI at Warp Speed - MIDI Station Sequencer for OS/2.
Midish - A simple and lightweight command-line MIDI sequencer/filter for BSD and Linux.
MultitrackStudio - Audio/MIDI recording and mixing environment for home recording musicians.
Ntonyx - Style enhancer processes MIDI files to add human performance characteristics. Stand alone version and Cakewalk plug-in.
n-Track Studio - Multitrack recording program offers realtime effects via DirectX plug-ins, has audio and MIDI tracks.
PC Drummer - Create drum music for less than the cost of a physical drum kit or machine. Built-in sounds sampled from actual instruments.
Personal Composer - Music notation, MIDI sequencing and publishing program.
PowerTracks Pro Audio 5.0 - Features up to 48 tracks of digital audio with effects, EQ, and panning plus 3rd party plugin support.
Propellerhead Software - Creators of the popular Reason, ReBirth, ReCycle software packages.
Quaderno - For MIDI sequencing and to aid musical composition and research. Some unusual options.
Rosegarden - A professional audio and MIDI sequencer, score editor, and general-purpose music composition and editing environment for Linux.
Sonic Network Inc. - Soundfonts, some for free. Many sequencers support soundfonts.
Sonic Syndicate Software - Creators of the Orion audio sequencer.
SQ4² - Controls your external gear through MIDI, controls VSTI's.
Storm Music Studio - Description and features of this program from Arturia with virtual instruments, sequencers, synthesizers and effects.
Syntrax - Mobile music studio for your PocketPC, offers software synthesis, sequencing, and sample editing. Desktop version also.
Tracktion - [Mac - Win] Audio and Midi recording and editing software from Mackie. Main features, screenshots, reviews, documentation and support area.
WiseMix Ltd. - Offers MCmu, an MCU emulator for Windows.
Woltec.com - Music creation tools including Quartet X2 Music Studio.
Z.Matrix - Surround-panning plug-in for any MIDI sequencer that supports SCOPE/Pulsar. Simulates up to 16 sound sources from freely placed speakers.
Zynewave Podium - Audio/MIDI sequencer integrates multitrack recording, external hardware, and VST plug-ins, using a hierarchic mixing engine. Windows.
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