Beat battles can provide an excellent way to help you progress your skills and try producing new, exciting music, and get you outside your comfort zone!
There are many reasons why you should enter a beat battle, but here are 7 reasons that you should consider entering a beat battle:
- Learn to finish a beat within a strict timeframe.
- Challenge you to experiment with new genres and ideas.
- Get your beat critiqued by the host.
- Competition inspires creativity and progression.
- Become known and recognized by your peers.
- Learn from defeat.
- Prizes.
Create A Beat Under A Strict Timeframe
Beat battles have a deadline that you must meet to submit your beat, otherwise, you miss the opportunity. Some beat battles have a few months as a timeframe others only a couple of hours!
Attaching a timelimit to the creative process can boost creativity as it forces you to live in the moment and concentrate on the goal – completing the beat.
The deadline will force you to create something meaning you’ll be focusing less on making mistakes and more on getting something done. This sounds bad in theory but works very well in practice.
You’ll be surprised at how quickly you can get something done when you’re focused on the goal.
To practice getting better at completing beats under a timeframe try doing daily 10-minute beat challenges (or any timeframe you like). This will help develop your skills and time management!
Challenge You To Experiment With New Genres And Ideas.
Most beat battles will have a genre or theme associated with them and it may not be what you’re used to creating. This will allow you to experiment and start creating songs in a new genre!
Getting out of your comfort zone can help get past beat block. Additionally, it can lead to new ideas that you wouldn’t have had if you stuck to your same beat-making routine.
Creating a beat, especially for a competition, may seem daunting at first, but it will open up so many new ideas and techniques that you may have overlooked or haven’t had a chance to use in your regular beats.
Do you make Trap beats all the time? Try entering an EDM contest one time and see what you come up with, even if you don’t win the competition you may get a win where it counts the most – your skillset!
Get Your Beat Critiqued By The Host
One of the most beneficial aspects of a beat battle is being able to get your beats critiqued by the host. Now, don’t expect it to be all praise all the time, be open to hearing your flaws and even why they don’t like your beat!
Some competitions don’t critique your beat, others only critique the top 5 or 10 beats. So there is a chance you may not have your beat critiqued, or even listen to if the battle follows a similar format to Kenny Beat’s beat battles.
If your beat does get critiqued listen to what they have to say, even write it down. And most importantly try out their suggestions, even if you don’t agree.
Trying something new or entertaining a different insight to your music can lead you to learn new techniques or hear something different when you make music.
Two battles stick out in my head that I got advice for:
- One was to my drums needed to come to life more. The suggestion to me was to get the Waves plugin Smack Attack. I saved my money up, bought it, and it made my drums sound soooo much better! $30 well spent!! One of my favorite plugins now.
- The second suggestion was about my chops. Was I chopping with purpose or chopping just to chop? And, that made me think about how I was chopping up samples and there were many times I was chopping just to chop!
So, try to enter a few beat battles where you can get feedback, it can propel you further in your mixing, techniques, or ideas!
Competition Inspires Creativity And Progression
Competitions help inspire creativity and progression as you want to stand out from the crown to win the contest. This becomes even more true when you’re part of a community and want to show that you’re improving each battle and not just a one-trick pony!
Entering a beat battle will help inspire you to try new things to stand out from the crowd, especially if you’re used to making beats for rappers or singers.
You now don’t have to worry about someone being able to rap over your beat, your beat is now the center of attention!
The competition also helps progression as you’ll be trying to make the best possible beat you can to win and stand out from the other competition!
Even if you’re not winning you will find yourself wanting to prove to yourself and others that you are progressing and becoming better. One day you will find yourself being the one everyone fears to see in the competition!
Become Known And Recognized By Your Peers
Beat battles are not just about winning they’re also about becoming part of a community and cheering each other on. Creating amazing beats and being one of the top beats will also get you noticed as people will be looking forward to what you have created!
People in the community will notice that you show up to listen and support their beats and you will find that over time they will do the same for you.
As your beats progress you will start seeing people even looking forward to hearing your beat, especially if you’re creating crazy beats that get everyone talking!
Eventually, you may even see them start popping up on your socials and following your music too. It’s a great way to make friends and become part of something more than another beat.
Learn From Defeat
Learn from defeat. Maybe your mix isn’t as crisp as it could be, your arrangement doesn’t make sense, your sound selection is subpar. Whatever it may be, listen, take notes, and pay attention to where your beat sits with the others.
You don’t have to change the style of music you make or even your workflow, but knowing why your beat didn’t place or win could help you progress and learn how to become a better producer.
I’ve seen people lose beat battles because their sound selection brought their beat down to a subpar beat. If they used more appropriate sounds they would have won the battle. It had nothing to do with their beat.
Entering a beat battle may not result in a win and in some cases you might get a lot of dislikes on your beat.
Don’t take this personally, we see massive artists get hate all the time for the music they produce. It doesn’t matter how small or big you are, there will be someone that dislikes your music.
Prizes
Prizes can be the main reason why you enter beat battles. Some battles offer free plugins, sample packs, or even money!
Maybe you’re not looking to be part of a community or critiques on your beats, maybe you’re there just to slay the competition and collect your check. There’s nothing wrong with that either!
Prizes are awesome and I’ve seen beat battles give thousands of dollars both in plugins and money!
Summary
Beat battles can be a great way to challenge yourself by creating new, creative beats that stand out while meeting a strict deadline. Competition can force you out of your comfort zone which can open you up to new possibilities and ideas.
Showing up to a weekly or monthly battle can help you get noticed in a community and bring new followers to your music. Whether you’re cheering people on or creating crazy beats that everyone jams with, you’ll become part of a community.
Not only can beat battles can offer prizes you may get helpful advice from the judges/host to accelerate your progression as a producer. And the more you try to push your skills and stand out the better you can become.