Miscellaneous sounds: this could be a gunshot sound, a bell, a dog barking, or whatever spices up the song.

Song structure: transitions between verses, chorus, and maybe a bridge or tag.

Melody: the main hook of the song, the melody people will remember from your song.

Music bed: chords, chord harmonies, extra musical sounds.

Rhythm: drum kit, bass, supplemental percussion.

But there are certain elements of a beat you should include: Music is subjective, so your workflow is really up to you. So now what? How do you start making good beats? You have the tools, but how do you know where to start? You just need a computer and an internet connection. So as you can see, you don’t really need to spend any money to start making dope beats. Listen to the beat I made with Soundtrap:

Shareable link lasts only 30 days before expiring.

Can’t download WAVs with a free account.

Collaborate with others by clicking the icon showing the two people (right side of the screen).

Download your beat as an MP3 (WAVs available for paid accounts).

Edit each instrument’s sound with reverb, pan, and volume.

Add instrument hits by clicking the corresponding squares or via musical typing.

Most of the samples are for paid subscribers, but there are plenty of sounds available with a free account. You can even record a live instrument and do a lot of things your DAW can do. But unlike Splice, Soundtrap has musical typing and has a bunch of different sounds to choose from - drum kits, guitars, synths, pianos, strings, pianos, and more. Soundtrap, like Splice, also has squares you click in order to initiate an instrument hit. Listen to the beat I made with Splice’s Beat Maker.

Can’t download beat unless you pay to be a subscriber.

Can hear and build off of other Producers’ beats.

Out of the three beat makers on this list, Splice’s is the easiest to use.

This will bring up the beat that person made, which you can then edit to your liking. And you can listen and add to other Producers’ beats by choosing a person from the drop-down box at the top-right corner (underneath “Sign Up”). You can also add sounds by hitting the “+” at the bottom right.

To delete an instrument hit, click the square again and it will disappear.

Click a square to make the instrument on that line hit where you want it to.

Just a heads-up, you can make a beat for free, but to download it, you’ll need to become a subscriber (which is about $8 a month).

You get the basic kick, snare, close/open hi-hat, one tom, and a couple other supplemental sounds. Although it doesn’t allow musical typing, it’s super easy to add or remove sounds. Their Beat Maker is the perfect addition to their offerings. Splice is a well-known name in the music software world, mostly because of their plugins.

What is a good beat making software