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How to Mix Hip-Hop Vocals with Another Beat

The practice of mixing the rap vocals of one song with the beat of another song is as old as hip-hop culture itself. This practice represents the very tradition rap music was founded on. When you first start out learning how to remix rap songs, it’s best to stick to the very basics. Get a good grasp of the fundamentals before attempting fancier remixing techniques that incorporate extra effects, such as scratching, or more complicated mixing techniques, such as manually looping break beats with rap a cappella.

Instructions

    • 1

      Determine the beats per minute (BMP) of the rap song that has the vocals you want to mix. This can be accomplished in one of several ways. You can use a digital metronome to help you count the beats. You can use an electronic device known as a beat counter. You connect your audio playback device (such as a turntable or CD player) to the beat counter. When a song is played from the playback device, the beat counter gives a digital reading of the song’s BMP. BMP diction software can also be used to ascertain a song’s tempo.

    • 2

      Get the a cappella version of the rap vocals you want to mix with another beat. Sampling and remixing songs is such an ingrained art in rap music, it's standard practice for rap record labels to release strictly a cappella and instrumental renditions of popular rap songs. It’s a form of promotion. By making it easy for club DJs to remix the songs for an audience, the song gets more play. The more play a song gets, remixed or not, the more exposure an artist gets. Record stores that carry an inventory of rap LPs will likely have a stock of the a cappella versions of some rap songs. You can also download the a cappella version of some rap songs on the Web. If you download the song from the Web, convert the song to .wav format (using a 441000 Hz, 16-bit sampling rate) and save it to CD.

    • 3

      Determine the BMP of the song that has the beat you want to mix. The BMP of this beat has to correspond to the BMP you discovered in Step 1; otherwise, the vocals will sound off when mixed with the new beat. Depending upon what the beat’s BMP is, you may have to slightly speed up or slow down the beat during the mix to make it match the vocals. Avoid trying to mix songs with radically different BMPs.

    • 4

      Mix the song, using equipment found in a traditional DJ setup (two turntables or two CD players and a DJ mixer equipped with a digital sampler). Play the song that has the beat you want to mix. If you don’t have the instrumental version of the song, use the sampler on the mixer to record a sample of the song’s break beat. Then loop the break beat. Adjust the tempo of the beat to match the BMP needed for the vocals. Begin playing the a cappella version of the rap vocals at the beginning of a new bar in the beat. The song is mixed.

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