Arts & Entertainment, Music, Science & Tech
Studio Session: Making a Beatbox Beat
Lesson time 27:56 min
Step into the studio to see improvisation and creative feedback at work. Tim teaches you how to build a song around a beatbox, starting with the loop he created in the first lesson and adding harmony, melody, and texture.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: Filling Out the Beat • Adding Ear Candy • Adding Chords and Melody • Layering Vocals • Beginning to Shape Lyrics • Pushing Through Writer's Block
Preview
So, what we gonna do now-- the beat that I made early with my mouth is gonna expand on that. [MUSIC PLAYING] TIMBALAND: (SINGING) She got the . She got me now. She got me standing on my head. - Let's play the loop. [MUSIC PLAYING] - Oh, I gotta sync it. - I got you. One, two, three-- am I on? Quit. I like that. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh. That's like a dope pad, but it needs some chords that go with it-- not long chords. Like Something that move, not this straight. Like something ill. Something different to that. A different sounds. That's cool. What I did is just add on what is there. I'm just adding, just filling in the space in. Just filling in what's already-- I did my mouth with-- digital, with my drum kits. And just trying to fill in the space and make it-- keep the essence of the beat box there, but just not over cluttering it. Just making just special. MAN: That's what I like about starting tracks with you that start with your voice. 'Cause it's a pretty cool concept 'cause you have sound-- these sounds, we could switch the chords, easily. TIMBALAND: Yeah, easily. - You know? It's not like there's sounds that are married to a specific-- There's a key in there, but they're not married a specific set of chords. And that's what's cool with taking something with Tim's voice. MAN: Yeah. And then we could take my voice out and see what is there, you know? - Yeah, just did, you know? [INTERPOSING VOICES] - Yeah, exactly, and just keep the beat box. Or we keep those melodies, and then-- TIMBALAND: And reverse it. MAN: Yeah. So this bass part is a Massive patch, and then I put it through the famous Kickstart sidechain effect. I rolled off a little bit of the bass, and I just played-- [TONES PLAYING] It's just a solid preset for Massive. Very great synthesizer. And all I did was put the sidechain on it. It kind of grew with what Tim was doing with the beatbox in the group. [TONES PLAYING] Yeah, so it's just a little bit of texture with the vocal sample. We're not necessarily committed to it, but it's just a nice little texture that inspired me right off the bat, and we added it. For this one, I used the plugin called Tantra, and I have this preset that we call the Ranch Sauce. And I also filter the low end on it. And then on the other one, it's an ethnic sample. And I put it through what I call the "40 Sauce." Basically, I'm de-sampling, and it's almost as if I'm filtering the top end of the sample. And then I'm running it through an EQ and then also Kickstart. And that's just texture. So it's not a lot. Like, this one-- sometimes, you'll run through samples and they happen to be in the key, and there isn't really a lot you could do. And they work out fine, and you want to use them as textures. So this would be one of them. [TONES PLAYING] That's the original, and then-- [TONES PLAYING] So the sidechain is pump...
About the Instructor
Grammy-winning music producer Timbaland takes you behind the boards to teach you his process for creating iconic tracks with artists like Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, and Aaliyah. In his first-ever online class, learn how to collaborate with vocalists, layer new tracks, and create hooks that stick. Step into Timbaland’s studio and learn from one of the industry’s most innovative hit makers.
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Timbaland
Step inside the production studio with Timbaland. In his first-ever online class, Tim teaches his process for creating infectious beats and making sonic magic.
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