Purchase music production software. For professional beat-making and production, you will want to choose a professional program like Pro Tools, Apple Logic, Reason or Cubase. Install the software on your PC.
Connect external equipment to your PC. For a clean, distortion-free recording quality, use cables and peripherals that connect via USB. For instance, you can connect guitars using guitar USB cables, connect XLR microphones using XLR-to-USB cables, or just connect all of your equipment to a USB audio interface (external sound card). You can find all of these peripherals at music supply stores. For a more inexpensive option, just purchase a USB MIDI-controller keyboard. With production software, you can use a MIDI keyboard to create entire band arrangements by selecting virtual instruments.
Open your software and create a series of tracks. On your menu bar, an option should read "New Track" (such as in Logic), "Create Track" (such as in Cubase), or "Add Track" (such as in Reason). Multi-tracking is the recording-studio standard for recording music. It involves recording each part of your song or beat onto a separate space. For instance, you can create a guitar track, a bass track, a vocal track and a drum track. If using a MIDI keyboard, select the "MIDI Track" option and use the "Instruments" or "Voices" menu to select a virtual instrument (like a drum sound or bass sound). Create one track for each space that you will need for your beat arrangement.
Click the "Record" button and record one section of your beat at a time. For instance, if you want to start with a keyboard melody, just click "Track 1" to highlight it, then click "Record," then begin playing your music keyboard. A metronome will tick so that you can remain in time with the beat. To make the metronome tick faster or slower, locate the "Tempo," "Speed" or "BPM" on your screen and change the number to a higher (faster) or lower (slower) variable.
Click your second track and click "Record" again. This time, you will hear the music from your first track playing as your second track record (unless you decide to mute it), so connect a pair of monitor headphones to your PC, in order to prevent feedback from leaking into your subsequent recordings. Repeat this process until you have recorded every track of your beat.
Add loops (audio samples) to your tracks to create beats without the use of live instruments. Some programs, such as Reason, Logic and GarageBand, contain a loop library, from which you can select samples and apply them to your project. Alternately, you can download melody, percussion and bass loops for free from such sites as Looperman, FlashKit ad Loopasonic (see Resources). Just drag the loops you wish to use onto your project and layer them onto your tracks just as you would original recordings. For instance, you might place a drum loop on Track 1, a bass loop on Track 2 and a keyboard loop on Track 3, for an original multi-layered beat.
Click your "Mixer" or "Editor" window. Some programs, such as Logic, allow you to access this feature from the menu bar. Others, like Cubase, place your mixing options on the left side of your main project window. Select individual tracks and use your "Effects" options to add appropriate effects, such as reverb (useful for vocals) and tremolo (which gives the illusion of a trembling effect). Use your "EQ" grid to raise or reduce the presence of high (treble), middle and low (bass) sounds in your mix, resulting in more professional audio quality. Apply "Compression" to reduce annoying volume peaks, resulting in more consistent volume and clearer quality.
Save your beat. To truly produce it with precision, walk away for at least 24 hours and then listen again with a fresh perspective. You will notice flaws that you did not notice before, and you can you use your effects and mixing options to make the mix sound even better.
Click the "Export" button (usually found under the "File" menu at the top of your screen) to save your beat as an audio file, such as an MP3 or WAV file. If you do not see an "Export" option, look for one that reads "Save as Audio" or "Bounce."