How To Make Instrumentals
Laying down a beat of a rap or hip hop song is perhaps the most important musical element. It takes more than just a beat to make a song, however, and that is where knowing how to make instrumentals comes in. Many musicians compose their instruments from scratch. Others, however, sample existing music. Which route should you take? This article will explain how to make instrumentals, and explain the advantages and disadvantages of original instrumentals versus samples.
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Samples
The advantages of samples are speed, simplicity, and quality. Compared to composing your own instrumentals, sampling someone else's song is much easier and faster. Then there's the issue of quality. You may be good at dropping beats, but other musicians have made better instrumentals than you could ever compose. There's nothing wrong with borrowing the talent of musical geniuses... right?
Unfortunately, that's where the disadvantages of musical samples come in. Sampling another musician's work comes with a labyrinth of legal pitfalls. First, there are copyright issues. If you want to sell your song, you'll need to get permission from the artist whose music you sampled.
Second, even if they give you permission, you may have to pay licensing and royalty fees. This can quickly cut into any profit you make off the song. Third, the sampled artist might also license their music to your competitors. Suddenly, instead of being a unique song, you're work becomes just one of many remixes floating around. It's hard to get noticed by a record label that way.
Finally, using too many samples from other artists can cost you respect in the music industry. People who create their own compositions are generally considered more talented than people who simply remix other people's music.
Original Instrumentals
The main disadvantage of creating original musical instrumentals is that it is much more time consuming and difficult. You can easily spend just as much time fine-tuning your instrumentals as you spend on creating the beat, effectively doubling the amount of time it takes you to produce a song. On the other hand, you'll also end up with a truly unique sound that no one else has.
Another important advantage of composing your own instrumentals is that there are few or no legal surprises. If your song becomes a hit, your original instrumental is proprietary. In other words, you own it. You don't have to get anyone's permission or pay licensing or royalty fees. Better yet, anyone wanting to sample your instrumental has to get YOUR permission, and pay YOU licensing and royalty fees!
Which One Should You Use?
How to make instrumentals depends on what you are creating music for. If you're just mixing music as a hobby, or are a DJ creating remixes for people to dance to at a club, sampling other people's music is not that big of a deal. Issues of copyright, licensing, and royalties don't really come into play. Those only become an issue if and when you try to sell your music.
On the other hand, if you're an aspiring musician creating songs to sell for profit, you'll be better off using few or no samples in your music. Take the time to learn how to make instrumentals. You'll get more respect for your work, and face fewer legal landmines blocking your path to commercial success.
