Some of the best beats I produce are instrumentals that I did quick and spur of the moment. Sure sometimes I hear something in my head and put it down, but alot of the time, it sounded better in my freaking head! I suppose the reason for this is that while Im producing the beat, I will start to drop the bass line or keyboards, and it takes a turn in the wrong direction.

I go with it, because it seems like a really catchy pattern, but all in all, when the beat is done it sounds mismatched. When you make your own beats, the best sometimes are ones that have a great keyboard part, and complementing drums. We have all come up with a cool drum track and put a bunch of twinkles ontop, ends up a great club banger, but sometimes you might want to go for a real vintage hip hop sound. You create the drum pattern, you get to the bass line and it takes a certain turn in direction.

I have found a great way to ensure that you create what you set out to create, is to drop your most prominent part first. If you have a good feel on what your keyboards are going to do, do your keyboards first. If you have a good idea of what you want your drums to sound like, then drop your drums down first. Sometimes a certain sound or kick drum will inspire your entire beat. This sometimes works well, but you might grow tired of the sound as well, or you might find out that you "changed your mind." In this case, make sure that your keyboard line compliments the drums well of course.

What do I use to make my own beats? It depends. Sometimes I use Logic, which is installed on my macintosh, sometimes I use SonicProducer, which is an internet website where you can make them really quick and they have some darn good sounds. I have tried everything though. Alot of the sounds I use in Logic I have created from scratch, since I do not really like factory sounds. This is also why I like the beat maker Sonicproducer. I don't know what it is, but SonicProducer seems to have a great "handpicked" collection of the most custom sounding stuff. Talk about sounds that I have not heard anywhere before. It's a mystery to me how they get them to sound so good.

But anyway, your going to have to try it and see what works best for you. I know that when I have some great sounds it works to inspire me to create more & more beats and I won't grow tired of the "same ol' sounds." I remember when I got my first Yamaha Motif. I was so excited to get it, but after a month I =was saying "Youve got to be kidding me." Who on earth is going to make a beat with these "80's kicks."