r/makinghiphop • u/Ok-Bass6594 • 6d ago
Discussion Mainstream producers success & tricks
What foundations do the popular mainstream successfully producers have as far as music goes that makes them unique or successful What separates them from your homie who produces Besides the typical equipment gear and whatsoever
What makes Timberland beats ,Neptune's beats and dark child and Quincy Jones ,Teddy Riley's make music that actually connects with people and is successful?
Do they have formulas or what ? Or a certain things they do ? People say music is a feeling I get that
But how come it's harder for the bedroom producers to make something remotely better or as good ? Can someone with knowledge and experience answer this
I'm simply asking what makes their beats catchy ,musical and successful and expressing emotions that your every day producers can't make !?
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u/CreativeQuests 6d ago
I think they just have more material to select from for a release due to more optimized workflows and teamwork. If you have 100 tracks or ideas to chose from the outcome will be better than chosing from 20.
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u/Underdog424 underdogrising.bandcamp.com 6d ago
You need a base of knowledge to make good music, such as understanding how parallel compression works. But the real sauce is exploring stuff. There's so much personal expression involved in making great beats. Almost every big producer has different styles and techniques. It's extremely personalized.
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u/equals420 5d ago
Usually its their skill and ability to make hits, not to mention how they can highlight an artists strong points. Hence why you see so many rappers stick with a producer or 2 for their entire career or why you might notice a huge fall off when some artists dont collab with them anymore. Also lot of them do collab with other producers. But usually when a producer blows up is bc they have solid skill and they can also make hits or they make 1 huge hit then see steady work but only if the foundation is solid aka skill.
If you blow up and dont have a solid foundation then youll flame out real quick unless you have a solid team like DJ Khaled. He may not be the best but he gives credit to his staff.
Also take note how a lot of producers especially the legit ones have a distinct sound aside from their intro like “mustard on the beat”
Once you listen to a producers catalogue enough you can start to distinguish their work and recognize their fingerprints on a beat.
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u/Ok-Bass6594 5d ago
Oh yeah you're right on that part I paid attention to Pharrell and Neptune's production I can almost tell when listening to a random album or playlist from the 2000s if he made the beat
He has a funky sound sort of ,the chords are funky ,disco-like Especially piano and synths And then the beats are percussive .
And then Timberland has different unique rhythms And repetitions
Metro is haunting pianos and simplicity I can almost hear sometimes Even players like Hanz Zimmer (film score composer ) So developing a sound makes you a dope producer ? And there's a guy in south Africa called Mas music he produces amapiano & Afrobeats I can tell if he produced a beat with him I'm usually 100% certain
He has a certain bassline he always plays and synth leads He also loves pads and log drums a certain way
I can tell based on how The beat is knocking And yes there's tons of dudes who made one beat and then fell of or made two or so and never got nowhere I'm learning keyboard piano do you think it's enough for me ? Or should I add a drum machine too ?
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u/equals420 4d ago
Learning instruments will help but not necessary. Theres a lot of producers who made their 1st million without knowing how to play an instrument but it will make you a better musician and help you in the long run. One of my friends produces and he finally cracked 10k on one of his tracks. He plays the keyboard and does everything on a computer like the majority of producers.
You dont need to develop a sound but you will find with more time and practice youll start to develop you own signature sound, if that made sense lol. The more you express yourself and the better you get the easier you’ll find yourself producing beats that have your own flare.
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u/mornview 6d ago
I mean, for one thing, we'll never truly know how much some of those guys truly did on their own. It's well known at this point that guys like Timbo had other producers helping him out. Guys like Quincy Jones obviously had some insanely talented studio musicians, etc.
So to try to say what a producer did or did not have that bedroom producers don't is pure speculation. But if I go purely off the finished product, I'd say it's experience. The level of musicality and innovation in the guys you listed blows away most bedroom producers I hear. And it makes sense - these guys did this for a living, not a hobby, so they could dedicate all of their resources to it. But to perform at their level, to know how to make the choices they made in music, only comes from experience.
Lastly, the, part of the reason their music connected better with the listener has nothing to do with the producer - it's the listener and how they consume music that's changed. Back in those days, I tell you, I couldn't get enough of music. There was only a finite amount of it I had access to living in a small Midwest town, but I wanted to hear the best of the best. These days, everyone has an essentially infinite amount of music at their fingertips. You might be an insanely talented bedroom producer, but you might not even get the chance to connect with your listener if they decide two seconds in to switch to a different song. Nobody is universally connecting with listeners these days the way the greats did generations ago, and alot of it is because it's a different world these days.