Producing beats has become an art blending creativity and technology. Without the best equipment, you will fail to create high-quality, professional-sounding tracks. The gear you use can significantly affect the way you work and the result. In this article, we’re going to discuss the best gear to create beats. We will also break down how they will bring your sound to the next level and turn your musical ideas into reality.
Best Gear to Create Beats
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Computer
The majority of today’s studios will be computer-based. Technology has made it so easy to make professional-quality music without having to spend thousands of dollars. To create beats and not necessarily finish them as full songs, you’ll need a laptop and beat-making software. Having MIDI drum controllers and a keyboard will make everything so much simpler.
Studio Headphones
You’ll need a proper pair of headphones to hear your audio signals. Studio-quality headphones are an absolute requirement if you’re to properly hear what you’re creating. There are many different options out there. So, you may want to go and take a peek at these yourself at your local music store rather than buy them online.
Some good ones to consider are:
Shure SRH 1840, Sennheiser HD280 Pro, AKG K701, Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro, Audiotechnica ATH-M50x, and Sony MDR-7506.
Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)
You’ll also require a DAW—Digital Audio Workspace. This is software where you’ll edit and mix your sound samples and instruments to build a beat. It’s a full software-based studio setup. With the exception of the hardware pieces, you’ll need everything for beat-making and songwriting! Ableton is an excellent choice for a DAW. Most of the producers also use Logic Pro X, FL Studio, Cubase Pro Tools, or Studio One.
MIDI Controller
A MIDI controller is a piano-like keyboard that plugs into your computer via a USB cable. Unlike a piano, it creates no sound. Rather, it manipulates data for your music production software. The sound actually comes from the virtual instruments (plugins) that you use with your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) on your computer.
While there are many excellent MIDI controllers to choose from, some of them are considered the Best Gear to Create Beats, such as:
Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol A49 and the Arturia Keylab Essential 61. Ableton Live Push is the hardware companion software for Ableton Live.
It allows users to produce songs from the ground up while keeping hands-on control of melody, beats, and forms. It incorporates a sequencer and is highly intuitive for producing and creating beats.
Sound card
If you desire to record any type of acoustic sound (e.g., voice or guitar) or play back your files via a pair of studio monitors, you will require a sound card. A sound card converts analog to digital data so that your computer may record it. It will also convert digital information back to analog audio so that you may hear the sound being output over your speakers.
Some of the best sound cards you can buy are:
Universal Audio Apollo Twin X, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, PreSonus AudioBox, and Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 MK2 Audio Interface.
If you’re looking to begin with ProTools, you may look into Avid’s MBox + Pro Tools Express.
Drum Machine
A drum machine is a digital drummer. It can emulate a live drum set and other percussion gear. You can use it to generate sounds or sound off pre-recorded sounds. Most of them contain pressure-sensitive pads that can be used for finger drumming. If you are planning to purchase a drum machine, consider Roland’s TR-8S.
Creating beats is a blast and an end-to-end satisfaction, and the right equipment makes all the difference in your music-making career. From the fundamentals of a trusty DAW and MIDI controller to the subtler nuances of studio monitors and audio interfaces, every piece of equipment adds up to your overall sound.