What Makes A Good Trap Beat?

Trap beats are more common than ever. Almost every hit hip-hop song released these days is a trap record.

The gene has certainly made an impression and you can notably hear its elements used in other genres.

Music producers looking to produce trap records need to know how to create and compose trap records.

An easy way to learn this is to basically understand the characteristics of good trap beats.

In this post I’m therefore going to discuss this and give you general knowledge that you can apply to your own trap beats.

With that said what makes a good trap beat?

A good trap beat is one that is well mixed and has a catchy melody accompanied by supporting elements such as bass, kicks, good hi-hats and snares.

Trap beats are usually considered simple beats but nowadays, they involve complex composition processes.

Which is why it’s helpful to get some basics about what makes a good trap beat.

With that said, let’s get into the actual things that make a trap beat better and ultimately good.

The right mix

The things that really stick out when you listen to modern day trap records are quite simple things that don’t really need a lot of dissection.

For example, a beat that is well mixed will make a notable impression on the listener.

Clean beats that allow the rappers vocals to be heard and not conflict with other sounds in the beat are the best trap beats out there.

The right bass

Bass is a huge part of trap music as you obviously know, but this doesn’t mean that any bass will work with all trap beats.

The right bass will stay on key in a beat, whilst making an impression but won’t be too overwhelming to overshadow other elements of the beat.

For example, a clean 808 drum can sound great without getting in the way of other instruments.

Notice, I used the word clean?

Like I mentioned earlier, a clean mix goes a long way.

A beat with clean elements sounds sonically better always.

Well composed melody

The melody of the trap beat is what gives the song its catchy-ness.

A good trap beat is composed of a melodic composition that’s catchy enough to make a lasting impression on the listener.

This has become even more true now that we have sample makers spread out across all over the Internet.

The Kick has to hit

A good trap bass has to always blend with a kick. Bass has to work hand-in-hand with the Kick.

Most trap beats these days are made up of hard hitting kicks paired with an 808 that drives the bass.

Bouncy hi-hats

Well patterned hihats that create a groove are found in good trap beats.

Hihats are sometimes overlooked because people think they don’t require too much work.

However, the pros know that good Hihats define how people vibe out to the beat and paying attention to them is important.

How to make better trap beats

Now that we’ve discussed what makes a good trap beat, let’s get into some of the ways in which you can make better trap beats.

Learn a bit of music theory

My first piece of advice is to learn a bit of theory to help with your composing journey.

Composing is much easier when you know the basics of what you’re doing.

In addition, learning the foundations of making music will put you in a better position to make smarter musical decisions.

Invest in splice

A great resource for drumkits and sample/loop kits is splice.

To make the best trap beats, you need to invest in the right samples because trap music is a very distinctive in the elements that It encompasses.

You can go through forums like reddit and get advice of the best sample and drumkits on splice.

This way you can save yourself the time of going through a bunch of bad kits.

Keep it simple

Making the best beats doesn’t mean you need to have a bunch of wild elements that are complicated.

In music, simple always beats complicated when it comes to music.

Listening to heavy complicated music can be fatiguing for the listener.

So keep your beats simple and use fewer instruments.

Improve your sound selection

Pay attention to the kinds of sounds that stick out and make an impression on you in other records.

The more you listen to good trap beats, the more you’ll get better at picking sounds.

Sound selection is everything in music creation.

Mixing

You should also learn how to mix your beats.

A good mixed beat is one with all elements in their specific frequency spot.

This allows all beat elements to be heard, clearly.

Invest in good plugins

Last but not least, invest in good effects and instruments plugins to help you in your beat making and mixing.