hello i have an issue is when i rap i cant stay on beat i tryed doing the 1.2.3.4 count budt when i start using words i just cant get it to sound good i think thats because i dont sound on beat. also what is the best writng process i write and then i find a beat and it doesnt fit it does rhyme
how do i stay on beat in rap
- Thread starter P.S.L
- Start date
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
Practice staying on the beat until it becomes automatic.
Eric V
Inquiring mind wants to know
I agree. Do you use a metronome? That could help. As for writing lyrics that takes practice too.
Folkcafe
Well-known member
I've always had issues with following just a click. Drums & bass, I'm a lot better. Even better for certain things is a metronome that includes a visual indicator. I've got a lot of things going on that my ears are paying attention to, and my eyes are not really being used for much. I discovered this when I started using Ableton. There is that little visual wheel that goes around. I found it really helpful. For practice, I use a metronome app on my iPad called Atomic. Big clock like wheel broken into beats and I can easily visualize half, quarter and eight beats. I'm probably a bit odd for certain but I find tools that work for me vs trying to work in ways that don't feel natural.
Then add to your practice with the words printed in front of you, hum them instead and place emphasis where each beat lands in the vocal phrase. Then mark it out on the page. This way you can focus on the rhythmic nature of it without having to focus on the words themselves. Once you've got the rhythm down, add the words.
Then add to your practice with the words printed in front of you, hum them instead and place emphasis where each beat lands in the vocal phrase. Then mark it out on the page. This way you can focus on the rhythmic nature of it without having to focus on the words themselves. Once you've got the rhythm down, add the words.
TimOD
Active member
"I've always had issues with following just a click." Yeah, me too, so I usually find a simple drumbeat to use instead of a click, and that later is muted after I've got the drums or beats I want. To the OP: It sounds like you're trying to fit in words/rhymes/lines that don't fit. This might sound tedious, but you might want to try doing it line by line, or phrase by phrase. For me and a lot of other people, the lyrics are the hardest thing to get right, or simply just to get! I've had to re-work lines, or throw out lines that I loved, but they simply didn't work. I've also managed to re-work lines that didn't quite fit right into something a bit different that did fit. And, I've recorded three-stanza songs going line by line until I got it to where it was right, and then re-sang the whole song. By the end of the process you can work out the tune and the lyrics where you've got it refined to exactly what is right. You also wind up memorizing the lines, and constant repetition gets you right on the beat, or around it in a pleasing way. It's a form of practice, a process that is worth it. Very few singers/rappers can get up with a new set of lyrics and belt it out right away.
rob aylestone
Moderator
Keep in mind we are all different and somethings are easy, some hard and some impossible, but much is style. With rap, the lack of pitch means 100% is in rhythm, and which words fall on the beat and which don’t. It is also not always something you can learn, but have to feel. I have no skills whatsoever in that area. No point even trying. Do you have any friends who are skilled in delivery that you can ask? What you need is an assessment from an expert who can tell you what you need to do, or, worst case, give up.
I have always wanted to fly. After trying three times over the years, the last instructor just told me I don’t have the natural ability or special awareness and was throwing my money away. All the exams I breezed, but the real bit, I just can’t do. Just not possible.
I have always wanted to fly. After trying three times over the years, the last instructor just told me I don’t have the natural ability or special awareness and was throwing my money away. All the exams I breezed, but the real bit, I just can’t do. Just not possible.
that sound like a good idea i will try that
budt will it not get more confusing going line by line to keep it organized
rob aylestone
Moderator
I've never tried it, but in Cubase it's easy to move vocals back or forth quite invisibly? Would that work to correct iffy timing/rhythm?
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
I did the first couple of times, but then, it became quite easy. If I ever do use a click, I've become adept at moving with, against, off or around the beat of the click. The essential thing to always keep in mind is that the click/metronome is a timing reference, nothing more, nothing less. It makes a wonderful servant but a lousy master.
Many a time, I've found that my lyric doesn't fit the musical line ~ but I make it fit. I call it being fast-mouthed ! But although I have changed words before, in order to fit the line, I'm not a slave to the meter. The funny thing is that if the words are strange sounding in their particular place, once you've heard them a few times, it becomes normal.
That's the way I do vocals now, a lot of the time.
Not at all. Just keep listening to each segment you do in conjunction with everything else you've done up until then.
Folkcafe
Well-known member
For some maybe, but I am a lost soul when it comes to time. It is fundamentally why I ended up as a recording/live sound engineer vs a musician. It is also why I eventually ended up working with Folk artists. If ever there were a group that viewed time as a loose guideline, well, these are my people. Yup, guy or gal with guitar, far more focused on the emotive than time. It's just not that important apparently.
All kidding aside, I can focus my ears on what I am playing or on the click but not both. Don't know why. This is why a visual indicator works for me for some reason. Otherwise, I've got a great sense of time if I'm not playing anything.
rob aylestone
Moderator
Tend to agree. When i first started playing with a click in my ear, i struggled to rigidly follow it. When i started producing click tracks i had tempo maps to follow, and when i actually played to my own tracks, i never ever heard the changes I had put in! A. Drop of 1bmp for a couple of bars needed to align something was transparent, as you sort of get washed along with a click, not really controlled by it. Its feel really with rap. Consider two words “point” and “spit” does the ‘p’ go on the beat or does the first sound go on the beat? I dont know because that’s a stylistic choice for the artist. Tell Frank Sinatra he’s singing behind the beat? Probably not.
i will try that then thank you for helping
Correct me if I'm wrong, or missing something here. But isn't the ''music'' for rap computer generated patterns that run for a couple of minutes and you lay your rap on top of it? Not sure where the issue is here or where counting or a click would help or relevant. The music timing and/or BPM is on point if it's computer generated. So to me it would be a matter of making the rap fit the ''music'', similiar to making a melody fit. From what I hear on some rap recordings, there isn't an emphasis on timing with the lyrics. Not to say there isn't some type of method to the process, but it seems like a free for all to me. There's no need to have a natural sense of rhythm to make it work. I'm not trying to diminish the OP's dilemma but rap, as opposed to playing all the instruments track by track and laying down melody vocals, is one of the easiest genres to record.
My son and his friends recorded rap stuff as teenagers and from what I saw with them was once the music was down, they took their word compositions and rehearsed and edited as they listened over and over. Sometimes recording sections at a time if they found something that worked. Not a rap fan but they put out some really decent stuff.
My son and his friends recorded rap stuff as teenagers and from what I saw with them was once the music was down, they took their word compositions and rehearsed and edited as they listened over and over. Sometimes recording sections at a time if they found something that worked. Not a rap fan but they put out some really decent stuff.
TimOD
Active member
No, it will not. Write it out. As I said, you're gonna wind up getting very familiar with lyrics and the song. In fact, the wording may inspire you to change the beat to fit the words. Or you may decide to add other elements. It will work itself out. The rap is the most important thing, and how it flows out.
Talked to my son about this and how he did it and it somewhat mirrors my previous reply. He said it's not so much the music but ''the flow'' of the lyric. If it's not fitting, then it's the flow that is the issue. He would edit by changing the words or substituting using less syllables or more to make it fit. He said often he would have a beat in his head and compose the lyric on that, and try to recreate it when putting the beat together, then lay down the flow. He often had multiple beats recorded and would pick and choose what lyric he had written or partially written to use with whatever beat it fit best. But often editing down for the flow to work.