Play a song that you enjoy in the genre of hip-hop, you enjoy the flow, melody, and sound. But have you ever wondered how all this is created? When you hear a song, you only listen to the tunes, but have you ever thought about who produces it and what it takes to create the track?
Known as a producer or commonly referred to a DJ, this person designs the unique sound you hear in every track based on their own style and get’s paid substantial amounts of money for their work. With an average pay starting from $20,000 to one million dollars, depending on who the DJ is making the tracks for. Also, it depends on how many beats they can sell.
Most producers don’t need an education for this line of work, it’s more of an experienced job. If you know how to work with computers and music programs, then you are eligible to become a DJ. Producers design music in a variety of ways, from using acoustic instruments to directing specific programs on computers to design their own sound depending on what type of rap that’s being produced. For example, tracks that aim to sound more “old School” would use basic instruments without the use of many sound effects, on the other hand, more modern sound uses the work of electric keyboards, auto-tune, and effects, etc.
Using computer programs such as Fl Studios and GarageBand, producers design their tracks with many features. Using producers can use a collection of unique sounds, literally anything you can hear can be used as a musical instrument on the program. When it comes to recording vocals, they can fix any inconsistencies in the voice by autotuning it or adjusting the pitch basically creating a perfect voice that fits the characteristics of the track. When the track is complete with beats and vocals, producers mix the track to make it sound perfect, in a way that smooths the voice over the beat. This is the final product you hear on the radio.
An example of a producer in the Hip-Hop industry is Mike Will Made it, Formerly known as Mike Will. As an entrepreneur and producer, he’s created many known artist tracks such as Wiz Khalifa, 2 Chains, Beyonce, and Kendrick Lamar, because his unique sound and personality put into his tracks. Debuting in 2011, Mike Will made it until this day makes platinum hits that we hear on the radio and all over the charts.
Personally, I believe that 90’s rap had more meaning and flow to it. It contained more positive messages behind the lyrics. I grew up listening to 90’s hip-hop, studying the emotion and culture portrayed through the lyrics. As I get older, I would hear the more modern music on the radio and definitely noticed a complete difference between the two-time eras. The music of the 90’s portrayed the culture of the time and conveyed the emotion of stories they shared through the lyrics however 2000’s music contains more party music and influential tracks.
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