Music Beats Headquarters

Music beats, to Hip Hop musicians, are essentially the core instrumental part of a sound recording. This includes the percussion, synthesized sounds, and any other sound element of a song that is not the artist's voice. The beat is essentially the framework for a song, because it dictates the tempo, the mood, and the progression of the song.

A beat is usually composed by a beat producer, sometimes referred to as a beat maker or "beatman". A beat can be created with or without a hook. A hook is kind of like a chorus, the part of the song that gets repeated. Although some artists compose their own beats and/or hooks, it is more common for an artist to have a beatman, or a hookman, on staff. Although they have most of the same skills, beat producers are not traditional music producers. Beat producers focus primarily on making good, "tight" beats by experimenting with different sounds and combinations of sounds.

Without a beat, there is no song; however the beat doesn't always come first. Today, many of the popular songs that are performed by major label performing artists are made with beats created by someone other than the artist, similar to an artist performing a song that was written by a songwriter who never performed it. It is more common that the artist would write lyrics to the song, and leave the beat composition to one who specializes in creating beats. Frequently, an artist will have lyrics but no music. The music producer will then locate an appropriate beat, expand upon the beat by adding music to it, and then put the artist's lyrics to it. The resultant song is usually similar to the original beat because the music and the beat need to match or at least work together.

More Music Beats Links

Beat Making Online

Customized Hip Hop Beats

Beats with Hooks for Sale

Free Rap Instrumental Beats

Listen to Rap Freestyle Beats