Choose a beats program to help you make your beats. Depending on your budget, free and pay programs are available. Most pay programs have a limited demo version that allows you to try out the software for free. Audacity, Rebirth, Acid Xpress, and demo versions of Ableton sound software are available for download.
Download and install your beat-making program according to the software manufacturer's instructions. When installing more than one kind of software, run the installation packages to completion one at a time to make sure the installations do not conflict.
Configure your beat-making software by locating and setting the audio input and output settings. These settings are often found in the Preferences or Setup menu located under the Edit drop-down menu. Set your sound card as your audio output device.
Start a new project in your beat-making software and get some virtual instruments loaded. In Reason, create a mixer, then connect the virtual drum machine to the mixer using the Create command. In Rebirth, the only instrument is a drum machine, so your virtual instrument is already loaded. In Acid Xpress, you must begin by inserting an audio, loop, or MIDI track to program a beat.
Lay down the beat. Drum machines allow you to program a beat pattern that the drum machine repeats. Drum patterns often start by programming the bass or kick drum, then programming a treble or snare drum sound to complete the groove. Many beat making programs offer pre-made patterns or loops that you can embellish upon to make your own beat.
Lay down a beat pattern. Using the programming functions on the software you chose, program your beat to repeat and vary its pattern over the course of 3 to 4 minutes, the approximate length of most pop songs. A common composition technique is to repeat a pattern 3 times and change or noticeably vary it on the fourth repeat.
Export your beat. Whether you want to add vocals to your beat or just publish it to a site to sell online, you will need to output your completed beat to a file format you can use.
Add vocals to your beat. For artists who want to take the beat to a complete song, free audio recording and editing programs such as Audacity can be used with a microphone plugged into your sound card to lay multitrack vocals on top of your beat. Once the song is complete, you can export and convert the file for distribution as in your beat making program.