6 Tips to Make Better Beats

A lot of new producers ask the question of how to go about making "better beats." so here's 6 simple tips that might help you make some better beats.

1.  Listen and recreate. This is definitely a must to get better at making beats. Study all of your favorite tracks by people and try to recreate them. You don't have to recreate each track perfectly. Just recreate the general sound of the track. This will help you get a better understanding of how to put tracks together. Analyze how the drum patterns were programed. Analyze which instruments were picked and how they were used. You really want to pick apart songs and get an understanding of the thought process behind it. Before you know it, you'll  be picking up all kinds of new skills, just by breaking down tracks.
2. Upgrade your sound library. I hear a lot of new producers using stock sounds from their daw. It's not necessarily bad to use stock sounds, but they often need to be tweaked or layered for a more professional sound. I recommend new producers to google free high quality drum samples. There are plenty of resources for great free drum sounds. Also, download free vst instrument plugins. Again, a simple google search of free vst instruments will yield a vast amount of great resources for instrument sounds.
3. Learn basic music theory. This is something that music producers tend to shy away from. It seems like something that takes too long to learn, but it's well worth it. The most important things to learn in my opinion are musical scales and chords. Learning scales allow you to know what key you're playing in plus keeps everything in tune and learning chords allows you to start forming chord progressions to have a solid foundation for a track. Just learning those two things can take your musicality to a whole new level. 
4. Learn basic mixing/mastering techniques. Mixing is one of those things I think all producers struggle with, but learning the fundamentals will go a long way. The most important fundamental thing to learn is proper volume balance of sounds in a mix. Listen to a lot of producer instrumentals you like the most and try to mimic the way their sounds sit in a mix. How loud is the kick? How loud is the snare in relation to the kick? How loud are the instruments? Once you learn how to get a good volume balance then you can focus on learning eq, reverb, delay, and compression. As for mastering, research lots videos on mastering in your daw and videos on using free plugins to master. Whatever you do, make sure to keep you mastering subtle. Getting your mix to sound proper before mastering will make mastering a ton easier.
5. Collaborate with other producers. Never forget to look to your peers. Align yourself with other producers who you can learn from and collaborate. Look for producers who can fill those gaps in your own productions and vice versa. If you're great at melodies but your drums aren't as great as you'd like them to be, find a producer who's drums stand out but they need help with melodies. Collaborate as much as you can and you'll be strengthening your weak spots in no time.
6. Put in the work. Always keep producing! No matter what. That's truly the best way to get better. Even learning or doing everything on this list won't matter unless you keep at it and practice as much as possible. Practice makes perfect!  

Written by Dar'rell Banks