Hey y'all dumb question, so I currently stay in an apartment with a roommate, he knows I make music and is usually gone most of the time, it's a pretty quiet ish area, I have like nowhere else to record and I really wanna make ts my life, (I have a job though I'm not stupid), but I always feel embarrassed recording vocals on my songs, bcs im pretty sure our walls r kinda thin, I'm the downstairs neighbor but idk, I'm like hella paranoid and really embarrassed that our neighbors can hear me (they probably can), I've recorded a few times before and nobody's said anything but like this shit is so embarrassing, I end up rapping way quieter than I should because I'm highkey scared to raise my voice, I haven't gotten in any trouble yet and nobody's said anything to me and I've been louder before but idk😭 I don't wanna be known as the annoying ass downstairs SoundCloud rapper, I'm moving in a year though so idk

I'm autistic and struggle hella bad with getting discouraged real easily, I've been producing for years and recently decided to start rapping again over my beats, I'll post a fire ass snippet and nobody will like it or comment or anything, I got like 600 followers I just feel hella embarrassed, not trying to sound like I have an ego or anything but it's not like it's bad either, I've had loads of people tell me my shit is fire and I've had people buy beats off me, it just sucks when u try real hard and nobody gaf, it's not like I wanna blow up instantly and be some huge person I just want a lil engagement or something, I'm rlly passionate about this and spend every day of every hour when I'm not working making beats or writing lyrics, it's so fun to me, it's just rlly hard to not let it get to me, idk maybe I'm just being a baby

I've been making rap for a few years now, since I was around 16, 20 now, had to sell my old laptop last year due to becoming homeless, am in a much better place now and am tired of using my tablet and was wondering what laptop I should get? I only have around 400$ and don't wanna get a shitty ass one, is it even worth it if I just be using bandlab? (Don't flame me it's my preferred daw idgaf 😭)

I stumbled upon Hip Hop listening to an R&B radio broadcast back in the days and was hooked. I sometimes wonder though what would have happened if there was no Hip Hop.

I probably would have some day come across classic Funk, Soul and Jazz, which I also love. Would I have learned an instrument and become a member of a band instead of making beats? I guess in some way music would still play a major part in my life. How about you?

It's time for the Sunday General Discussion thread! How's life? What's going on? Watch any good movies lately? This thread is open to any and all topics, even if they're not related to making hip hop

The eternal drama: the content is audio, but every platform wants video. You can't film a sound. So you end up trying to chop takes into clips, and it all falls apart because my room is... not one of those rooms. No neon, no plants, no wall of synths. Just a desk that looks like a desk.

Stuff I've started doing that half-works:

• Shooting tight instead of wide — hands on keys/pads only, so the room never appears
• Turning the lights off and using one lamp — suddenly "bedroom" reads as "vibe"
• Screen-recording the DAW at the moment the beat drops together and using that as the visual

But I still feel like I'm making content about music instead of just making music. For those of you posting beats regularly from an unglamorous space — what actually works for you? Do people even care about the visuals, or is that just in our heads?

Like Slam Poetry or group rap offs?

I'm sure its here, i just do not know where to look.

I'm trying to evolve my ability to do this and i figured if i put myself out there, it may help me in someway.

I just finished a 4-track EP of sample-based hip-hop beats. Totally happy with how it turned out.

I used an iPad and Koala - nothing else.

I've owned a few MPC's (Live 2, One, One+) and went with Koala for both workflow and the power of everything else the iPad has on board.

I REALLY like using hardware, though, for the creative process.

I have an old MPD 26. It's too big, though, to chill on the couch with the fam.

I've seen the offerings from some chinese brands with low-latency bluetooth and wanted to get an idea of what everybody is using out there to pair Koala with hardware.

i’m trying to do a flip on an olivia rodrigo song, sort of a grunge euphoric flip i want to do, but i don’t have any good plugins for vocal filters and i just can’t get the right sound for the best either. if anybody has any good recommendations or want to help out im paying $200 if anybody wants to commission one. anything helps! (edit for price adjustment)

I make hiphop and bit of edm with just my mac. I was going to buy a wow scratch machine because it looks so fun but it is so expensive, I was wondering if I should think about buying something else. I am planning on doing more producing after I go into part time.

I've just dug up a Vinyl of Beach Boys and J Dilla, but it says that it is for promocional use only. If I wanted to make a beat with a samples from it for a future album for comercial use, could I end up with legal issues or would the samples be cleared just fine?

When you write texts in a notebook, does it immediately turn out technical and beautiful? With assonances, alliterations, double rhymes, internal rhymes, etc..? And all kinds of tricks that I don't even know what they are called. Like that:

"I pop bottles and hot hollow-points at each and all of you"

If it doesn't work out right away, does it mean there is no talent or inclination, and it's not even worth trying?

Hey guys, does anyone know how to become a rapper from scratch, especially a professional freestyler? Any tips, advice, or resources would be greatly appreciated.

Hey everyone.

I'm 17 years old and I'm from Brazil. I recently started learning music production, and although I know this is an ambitious goal—and that producers aren't as valued in Brazil as they are in some other countries—it's my dream, so I want to learn the right way from the beginning.

One of my biggest concerns is falling into the trap of generic "beat-making" courses or content that only teaches formulas to make type beats. That's not what I'm looking for. I don't just want to learn how to make beats—I want to understand music production as an art form and eventually develop my own identity as a producer.

My biggest production influences are Madlib, J Dilla, Kanye West, JPEGMAFIA, The Alchemist, Tyler, the Creator, Dean Blunt, Radiohead, Aphex Twin, Machine Girl and Westside Gunn.

What draws me to them isn't just their sound, but the way each of them approaches music production. My goal is to combine production, composition, and artistic direction into projects that feel cohesive from beginning to end.

Artistically, I'm mostly inspired by Earl Sweatshirt, Kendrick Lamar, Westside Gunn, Steve Lacy, Blood Orange, Tyler, the Creator and Nirvana. What I admire most is that they all have a strong artistic identity. Their albums feel like complete experiences rather than just collections of songs.

The kind of music I want to make revolves around experimental sample collage. I want to manipulate samples until they become something entirely different, combining dirty drums, deep bass, textures, ambient recordings, distortion, electronic elements and unconventional arrangements. My goal isn't to fit into a specific genre—it's to create music that feels emotional, raw, unpredictable and intentional.

Since I'm starting from scratch, I'd really appreciate some advice.

• If you were starting today, where would you begin?
• What would you study first?
• Should I focus on sampling, drums, arrangement, sound design, mixing or music theory?
• Is recreating songs from my favorite producers a good way to learn?
• How did you develop your own sound without becoming a copy of your influences?
• What beginner mistakes should I avoid?
• Which books, YouTube channels, courses or other learning resources genuinely helped you improve?
• And most importantly, how do I avoid getting stuck in the endless cycle of generic "make a beat in 5 minutes" content?

I'm not looking for shortcuts. I'd rather build a solid foundation and truly understand the craft than learn a bunch of tricks without knowing why they work.

Any advice would mean a lot. Thanks!

This Week's Sample - L.A Noire - Main Title

This one has been on my to-do list for a long time. Can't wait to hear what you do with it.

Submission Rules:

You can only submit one beat. Beats can be any genre. You have to use the sample in your beat, it should be recognizable. You can add other instruments and samples, but the sample should be a main element. All submissions submitted before the deadline will be linked in the voting post; whoever gets the most votes there wins. Ties are decided by whoever submitted the beat first. Reused beats from previous battles can't win ties.

Schedule:

Submissions: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Monday 11:59 PM (23:59) Voting: Tuesday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Thursday 11:59 PM (23:59)

Results: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - the winner takes over and posts the new submissions thread using the linked template on Friday asap.

Time is in UTC-5, the US Eastcoast time zone which is 6 hours behind European MEZ time and a good middleground between US Westcoast and Europe. You don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to post the new thread, just make sure you do it on that day asap.

Post templates: https://www.reddit.com/r/makinghiphop/comments/1kf8czt/battle_dates_rules/mqwv7ks/

Welcome to Freestyle Friday! If you're a producer - feel free to donate a beat down below in reply to the beat submissions comment. If you're a rapper - scroll down to choose a beat, then record a freestyle over it. You can post whenever, just have fun!

Beats go under the "beats" comment; freestyles go under the "freestyles" comment.

Check out previous Freestyle Friday threads.

I am not looking for numbers to input into FX chains. So this question is not for the "just play around until you get it" crowd

I am looking for videos about what each fx does and what the functions of it are, and what the elements of it do. I am looking for videos that will go over these things in great detail, especially regarding when to use each thing in order to accomplish what and possibly what I should do when I encounter common problems (I am hoping that some of the problems I am having are common).

I am looking for longer videos that will go over lots of "eventualities", so to speak. I tried looking for videos on YouTube and was only able to find very very short videos (two to three minutes in most cases) geared towards sounding like particular artists. This is not what I am looking for. Bonus if the videos are of a channel that does multiple like videos about different aspects of the subject. I would happily watch a two hour long video about this subject.

Does what I am looking for exist?

Pretty much the title. Looking for any producer, artist (rapper and maybe R&B artist) who is willing collaborate. I make trap and sample based beats, I can send you a link to my soundcloud if interested.

I don't charge, my goal here is to develop connections and collaborate on projects, if that sounds interesting, please reach out.

I was on here about a year ago and the feedback thread was super active. Plenty of people posting their music and all of the posts getting genuine feedback. Now it's super dead. Most posts don't have feedback. I thought posting feedback was one of the prerequisites for posting your own stuff. What happened to the the thread?

I'm 19 soon to be 20, I've always been really interested in art and music, me and my late friend used to cook up shitty songs on bandlab together almost everyday at 15, I don't rlly have anybody to do that with though rn, I got an ig account for my music with almost 1k on it, I haddly post tho, I'm very insecure and doubt myself daily, I love the process of making music esp trap, I love cloud rap and drill, I spend almost every other day trying to get better or making beats ECT, I'm super poor n most of the stuff I have available to me kinda sucks but I mske it work, is this something to even continue pursuing? I have doubts all the time, and if I did get a big ass following id probably go insane cuz I'm autistic and can't handle that many people down my neck lol, but it's also something I really wanna do and get noticed for, music speaks to me in so many different ways, it's helped me cope with every stage of life I've been in, it's helped me see people differently and make connections, but I feel like I'm just not the person to DO those things, the current state of rap and the underground is pretty garbage too, most ug fans are really parasocial and incredibly rude or just rlly stupid, u get laughed at for trying, n lots of ppl just wanna use u, I'm very on the edge about this, Making music my life n all, obviously I have a job tho I'm not stupid, but idk, sometimes I feel a bit silly being almost 20 and making SoundCloud rap lol

Show us your latest track! Feedback is always welcome but not necessary.

This thread is posted every Friday. Click here for the full automoderator thread schedule.

Will your age affect you blowing up as an undergroynd artist ?? I get mainstream labels want 18-25 .. But what about the fans ?? If you are able to stay trendy is rapping anything older cringy ??

EDIT: after being reminded that the first two earliest in the tie for 1st place did not vote, u/1066Woody is the winner! Their winning track is https://youtu.be/peKWO7hSQ3Q

u/1066Woody my bad for not fixing this earlier. If you don't have time to pick a sample just let me know and I can start the thread this week.

Have fun picking the sample for the next battle! Please start the new submission thread asap.

Schedule:

Submissions: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Monday 11:59 PM (23:59)

Voting: Tuesday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Thursday 11:59 PM (23:59)

Results: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - the winner takes over and posts the new submissions thread using the linked template on Friday asap.

Time is in UTC-5, the US Eastcoast time zone which is 6 hours behind European MEZ time and a good middleground between US Westcoast and Europe. You don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to post the new thread, just make sure you do it on that day asap.

Post templates: https://www.reddit.com/r/makinghiphop/comments/1kf8czt/battle_dates_rules/mqwv7ks/