yo... what kinda music are we making here?

[drex]

are we making rap beats? look, when I hear the word beats it's always intended for rappers. don't mix in backing music, which technically could be anything but generally means other than rap cause beats are for rappers. you can further differentiate by saying instrumental music, but when you say beats... that's music intended for an emcee. Right? Am I the only one? let's say stuff.

 

[drex]

what about the terminology?

 

[skidflow]

All my beats are formatted for verses and choruses for emcees.

 

[2GooD Productions]

all I know is hip hop used to be pretty diverse, if an emcee was dope they could rip it on anything. Also you get people who like to listen to hip hop instrumentals. I like to make music that grabs peoples attention and have thousands of beats I made for rappers that have nobody on them nor ever will. So I decided to make good music that people could enjoy whether it has vocals on it or not. Thats just how things have evolved for me personally. Each to their own, Im not going to dictate somebody elses craft, I either like it or not.

 

[OGBama]

When @drex I hear the term beat I think of BPM so I use the term instrumental.

 

[drex]

thing is we gotta use the same language. what bought this to my attention is voting on battles. we all make beats, but we judge them differently, and that's cool, cause irl people are different everywhere, but I judge like an emcee, where some judge like a producer/arranger, and that difference is blaring. I think that instrumental is too generic a term for our level of activity when songs made to be instrumental music (not for vocals) are called instrumentals and have a different structure type and mix performance.

 

[Iron Keys]

For me I had a weird one ages back, I stopped liking the word "beats" it felt a bit cheap. I started preferring to refer to myself as a Producer as opposed to someone who "makes beats".

For me the words beat/instrumental/backing track are pretty synonymous; I feel they're just different parlance for different scenes. In a more modern kinda pop or commercial vibe they get used interchangeably, whereas in something more "sophisticated" you probably wouldn't hear them referred to as beats, likewise in "urban" scenes you'd likely hear them referred to as beats.

They're also compositions *shrugs*.

I wouldn't worry too much here, 'cause even if we're all talking the same thing, people will still have different values for what they expect.

 

[2GooD Productions]

For me I had a weird one ages back, I stopped liking the word "beats" it felt a bit cheap. I started preferring to refer to myself as a Producer as opposed to someone who "makes beats".

For me the words beat/instrumental/backing track are pretty synonymous; I feel they're just different parlance for different scenes. In a more modern kinda pop or commercial vibe they get used interchangeably, whereas in something more "sophisticated" you probably wouldn't hear them referred to as beats, likewise in "urban" scenes you'd likely hear them referred to as beats.

They're also compositions *shrugs*.

I wouldn't worry too much here, 'cause even if we're all talking the same thing, people will still have different values for what they expect.

The difference between a beatmaker and a producer is a beat maker makes beats, a producer makes songs. A producer has a vision and sees it through to a finished product. A beat maker makes beats hoping that somebody will buy/lease that beat.
I agree that beat and instrumental are synonymous, its just in the genre of hip hop production the term beat has become used instead of instrumental, its just using different words to mean the same thing, like the word dope means really good.

 

[Iron Keys]

@2GooD Productions yeah i don't think i was clear enough, part that reasoning for Producer over "i make beats" was because i saw myself more as someone with a vision, direction. With an idea. Not just someone programming beats. I wanted to make records.

But as for the rest yeah.

 

[KimeraTheHangma]

I make music.. my crew can flow to my music, and so can i - hence i call it beats.. I just try to be as creative as i can be, which is the way i feed my passion.. some like it -some dont, thats fine with me.. I try to do my own thing, but i can go generic too - if need be

 

[DJ Wax-Turtle]

I still call them beats or tracks. Although House artists call them beats to. (Or tracks)
But i understand it like thinking 'it has a beat but it's more than just a beat, like it has a sample, bass, synths, strings etc)
It's kinda weird.

 

[maklopp]

are we making rap beats? look, when I hear the word beats it's always intended for rappers. don't mix in backing music, which technically could be anything but generally means other than rap cause beats are for rappers. you can further differentiate by saying instrumental music, but when you say beats... that's music intended for an emcee. Right? Am I the only one? let's say stuff.

I think most producers these days and even fans use the word beats in general.

but then you do have producers who are now creating more professional instrumental projects.

but the word beats is more global now even for the regular non music person...