The Hip Hop Producers Headquarters

A typical MIDI Keyboard often used in hip hop production.

Music production today is much different than it was years ago. Yes, artists still spend a lot of time in the recording studio, but with the technology of music production, one would need to be an expert user of the software programs that are popular today. Virtually everything is (or can be) done on a computer. The software; Frooty Loops XXL, Pro Tools, Acid Pro 6.0, Cakewalk, and Reason 3.0, are all complex, powerful programs, that require mastery.

Hip Hop beat composing was traditionally done with a turntable and later evolved to the use of drum machines and samplers . Samplers took on different forms, such as Music Production Centers and computer programs. Programs such as Reason, Cubase, and Fruity Loops are common in the underground hip hop industry -a lot of which is made in small, low-budget studios. Sampling , a similar technique, is still used today, though a bit less popular now than it was a few years ago.

Sampling takes a portion of a popular song and reuses it to form a new song. Frequently the chorus will remain mostly intact. This technique of creating music was more popular in the mid 80's and made a huge entrance into main stream music via the Police's "Every Breath You Take". The song's hook was the basis for Puff Daddy's collaborative tribute to murdered rapper The Notorious B.I.G., entitled "I'll Be Missing You". Then in 1989 "U Can't Touch This" was MC Hammer's most widely-known single, propelling sales of its album, Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em, which for a time was the best-selling rap album of all time, selling over ten million copies. The song heavily samples Rick James's "Super Freak".

Over the years many new sounds have been experimented with. In the early 90s, Dr. Dre was one of the first to put a melody in a hip hop beat, and this influenced many producers coming after him. Currently producers such as 9th Wonder and Kanye West tend to sample old soul songs, and speed the voices up, and add them to a simple drum beat.

Here is a common visitor question: How do producers get paid when an artist wants one of their beats? Is it upfront money and how does a producer gain royalty off of their beat if an artist purhases one?
-Kenneth April 6, 2008

Answer: How you get paid depends on the contract or agreement you have with the buyer. You can do it however you want but this is how we do it; most of the beats we sell are called "nonexclusive". It means that we can "lease" them to whomever we want, as many times as we want. Our contracts say that for a period of one year, the buyer can "use" the beat for anything they want, but that they do not own the beat. It says that the buyer must report any published recording that uses the beat to us. We collect our money upfront and we charge from $50.00 - $2000.00 per beat. So in other words we are not worried about collecting royalties on most of our beats, we are interested in making money now on the beats we produce. If you are just starting off in the business, we feel it is best to get a little bit of experience before you start to worry about royalties and all that stuff.

Major label artists who work with well known beat and hook producers do things differently. Those producers may get paid royalties if they retain rights to the beat/hook. For example they may have an agreement that says the artist can use the producers beat with no upfront fee, but if the song becomes popular then the producer gets royalties.

Usually though if an artist hears a piece they want to use, the producer will sell their rights to the beat/hook to the artist for a large lump sum. On an agreement of this type (referred to as "exclusive") the producer does not own the beat/hook after the sale. The producer can't do any more with it.

Many artists have producers on staff. The producer and the atrist collaborate and the producer gets paid a salary to work with artist. This agreement is known as a "work for hire" and it means that anything the producer creates while in the employment of the artist, belongs to the artist.

Learn More in our Music Beats Section