You’ve probably seen a video or read an advertisement about how to become a “professional” at something you have to invest in yourself. This is usually followed by the opportunity to spend your money on the product and/or services the advertiser is selling. Thats called marketing and as a beat maker trying to sell beats you will find you have to market yourself someday, but you should be aware that in many cases you can achieve your goals without falling for some false promises.
Fist of all, anyone who says you can’t achieve success without paying them is outright lying. Now maybe they can offer you something that might help you, I can’t argue for or against that, but I know that history has shown us that many of the biggest names in hip hop didn’t have any formal training. I mean I could have waited tables at a restaurant and served Jay-Z a meal, does that mean I can tell you I “worked with” Jay-Z? if I was trying to sell my product, I might twist it like that if I had no ethical compass.
The point is there are so many free resources on the internet these days, there is no reason to believe the hype of shysters and snake-oil salesman. Will using Sonic Producer Pro make you an instant beatmaker? Yes. Hell, just making a beat by beatboxing will make you a beat maker! Will it make you a professional beat maker? Probably not. Of the thousands and thousands of people that may have used Sonic Producer, how many have had a hit record? If that ever happens I guarantee that Sonic Producer would be trying to use that to sell you even more products.
The truth is that the biggest investment you can make in yourself is one of time and service to others.
Take the time to research things like music theory. Use websites like wikipedia and others to learn about it. Use forums and interact with other people into beat making to discuss tips and tricks.
As for the “service” part of it, this means be of service to others. Learn to give advice when you can and promote knowledge. doing this will enforce your own knowledge and connect you to others who are all about sharing and coming up in the hip hop game. You’ll get a lot of love and respect and that might help you catch a break and meet cool people. All without spending a dime.
Please don’t get me wrong there are many resources worth paying for out there, but don’t fall for the old tactic of someone trying to sell you their service because they say it’s the quickest, easiest or only way to make your dreams come true.
