Everyone emulates their favorite producers when starting out. For me, I did everything I could to get my drums to sound like Cardiak’s, my melodies like Alex da Kid’s, and arrangement like Max Martin’s. Like everyone else my music sounded terrible simply because I wasn’t good at it. As years went by my sound became more refined and those elements became my own. Years ago I would’ve told you that all I wanted wast to sound dope. Yet at the same time I was still selling beats and something wasn’t adding up. If I wasn’t any good, which is subjective, how is it that artists were still finding an interest in my beats enough to want to buy them? It became super clear when an artist I was working with named MC Lyro said the words, “…and everybody trying to sound like Lex Luger, but I’m working with you cause I want that Hänz Nobe sound.” I was so confused about the statement but as I dived deeper into his it became super clear what he meant. It wasn’t that I didn’t have my own sound, I just didn’t like it.
Comparisson is the the world’s leading cause of death of creativity. From painters all the way down to digital media agencies, creativity runs the world through innovation and to compare your patent to someone else’s doesn’t make sense. When you are creating a beat you are pulling elements from your favorite songs, moments, artists, and sometimes movies. Let’s say tonight you watch an old episode of “The Wire” and then turn on NBA 2K afterwards while Nas’ latest album “Kings Disease” is playing in the background. The beat you make tonight would have elements of all that content you’ve consumed. Maybe you would start with drums that sounded a little like Hit Boy’s who produced most of “Kings Disease.” Maybe your chord progression would have a late 90’s feel that was inspired by some music that was playing in that one episode of “The Wire” you were watching. Then finally the tempo would be high because you just played an intense online tourney on 2K. All of those elements would be translated into that beat. A few days later you would go back and listen to it and instantly think, “wow….this is….different.” Automatically you would think it sucks and won’t go back to listening to it. A year later while you’re in a studio session you would be going through beats and the first 3 seconds of that beat would be playing. Before you you hit the down arrow to move on to the next beat the artist screams out, “Yo! What is that!?” To you bewilderment the artist starts mumbling lyrics and the next thing you know the beat you thought sucked all of sudden is becoming the lead single on someone’s project.
What happened? You were pretty confident that the beat sucked and wasn’t worth playing yet an artist fell in love with it. Here’s the reason, a couple of things happens when you are listening to your music, especially your demos or beats that you don’t like. The biggest thing that stifles your creativity, and confidence, is that is you are comparing your sound at the time to what’s current. Not only is this bad because you’re comparing yourself with someone who has way more experience, but you’re comparing your beat today to something that was made two to three years ago. Now you’re going to think you really suck once you add in the fact that the beat itself may be even older than that and that the artist just didn’t get to it till then. Most of the records you are hearing today were recorded 2 to 3 years prior to release and the beat can be up to 5 years old.
If you are setting out to make an NBA Youngboy type beat and don’t quit hit the mark you instantly think its bad because it doesn’t have the same elements. The reason why the comparison shouldn’t happen unless you are very well trying to make that type of music for that specific artist’s producer. What you don’t like about it actually benefits you. Your job as a producer, or creative, is to stand out from the crowd. The market already has a Chopsquad DJ, it doesn’t need another. So trying to sound like him actually works against you because if an artist wants a Chopsquad DJ beat, well, they can just contact him and get one. One of the many reasons why it's so hard to sound like these major producers, or any other producer, is that you probably don’t have the same plugins, gear, or musical taste that they have. Going back to the example I provided about a television show and video game influencing your music the same applies to your favorite producer. Everyone knows that Babyface is my favorite producer of all time. I’m already at a disadvantage of trying to sound like him because I grew up in a different era and didn’t have a brother who had a guitar that I could practice on for years before picking up songwriting. Therefore, him and I won’t sound the same no matter how much effort I put into it. I may come close in regards to recreating a previous record but I’ll never be able to sound exactly like him nor make something that he’s probably making today that won’t come out until 2023.
The thing that makes you different is what’s going to bring you success. So if today you do not feel like you have a sound, you’re probably wrong. More than likely you do, you just haven’t perfected it yet. Once I mastered making hi hats like Cardiak, creating my own pop melodies like Alex, and memorized Max Martin’s arrangement all of suddden I started liking my beats. This may come from a subconscious list that I check off every time I add one of these elements to my production, but it doesn’t sound like any of those guys I mentioned. You as a producer already know what you like you just have to find a way to incorporate your favorite elements into your production. You’re probably already doing it, you just haven’t mastered the art of it. Keep finding ways to improve on what you’re already doing and pretty soon an artist will be looking for your sound.
Does it suck, or just doesn’t sound like [fill in the blank]?
