Now of course this is only my recommendation based on my experience from the past as a music producer who has been producing for well over a decade.

Hip-hop and general modern rap production is a genre which can pretty much be produced in any major DAW.

I have tried many DAWs in the past for trying to produce hip-hop and general rap beats (instrumental compositions).

What have I learned when trying to produce hip-hop and rap beats in general?

I have used the free trial of Cubase, and also many years ago tried Logic Pro (when I was in university studying). I have also used GarageBand, which is the default DAW on macOS computers.

I have, however, been using FL Studio Producer Edition (which I purchased back in 2018), and I am still using this DAW software today, as it comes with new free upgrades for life along with my purchase.

Is there any difference between these DAWs when it comes to hip-hop and rap production in general?

Well, I must admit, I was able to produce the style of hip-hop and rap compositions with mixing and mastering effects without any issues on GarageBand, Logic Pro and Cubase in the same way as I do in FL Studio.

But why did I stick to FL Studio and not the other DAWs when it comes to producing hip-hop and rap-style beats (projects)?

I must admit, it’s the way FL Studio is designed and developed; it’s simple to use, has great amounts of shortcuts and loads of great features. I found that GarageBand too simple for my liking and almost like an app people download on their phones to mess about and create music for fun, my personal opinion.

I also found that Cubase had similar features to FL Studio, as most professional DAWs contain similar features, which include the playlist, piano roll, view step sequencer, effects, inputs and output settings and the mixer.

Garage band was simply too basic for me.

And when it came to Logic Pro (which I used in university to compose music at the University of Greenwich). I found that FL Studio had the view step sequencer to input the drum patterns, which was a huge turning point for me. I mean, it's my personal preference to input the drums within the view step sequencer; within Logic Pro, the producers are pretty much limited to piano roll. Of course there are plugins for view step sequencing, but FL Studio has implemented this feature within the mixer and its overall DAW, making it easy to access and easy to use.

Saying that we have made a topic when it comes to Logic Pro VS FL Studio.

So why did I select FL Studio as my main go-to DAW when it comes to composing hip-hop and rap compositions?

The simple answer is the view step sequencer, and its features to simply drag the edges to make it fit more drums and the easy send to mixer sorting feature that it comes with are very beneficial and quick to work with. It also comes with an easy-to-understand playlist and sorting the playlist with multiple shortcuts to ease the workflow.

Yes, this is my personal preference, and of course many people will find a DAW of their own choice, so I would recommend trying and testing out different DAWS and seeing how you get on, but personally I would recommend FL Studio for hip-hop and rap production, mainly because it comes with loads of free tutorials on YouTube and is very quick and fun to learn, and its new step sequencer features.

Hope this topic will help everyone make the correct choice when it comes to selecting a DAW for modern hip-hop and rap beats (instrumental composing productions).

Any questions, feel free to drop a reply below. Love and Peace!

Can you mix vocals professionally using FL Studio Core Plugins?

The truth is, it’s all about knowledge and belief, or not; professional vocals can be achieved just by using core FL Studio plugins. But saying that using professional VST plugins would help dramatically when it comes to quality.

And when it comes to mixing and mastering vocals, it also depends on the genre. Most vocals nowadays contain pitch correction, which is simply done with vocal sound signal processing VST plugins. These plugins tend to simply improve the pitch of the vocals, making them sound professional if the singer has sung the wrong pitch during live recording. This is where plugins such as Autotune come in.

But also as an experienced music producer, when it comes to mixing and mastering rap vocals, I have learned that not all rap vocals contain pitch correction, meaning these vocals which don’t require pitch correction can easily be mixed and mastered inside FL Studio. Don't get me wrong, FL Studio has its own pitch correction tools, but the automated versions, which are premium plugins, are simpler and much easier to use, making the whole process 3/4 times faster.

So can you mix and master vocals professionally inside FL Studio with just using basic plugins which come with FL Studio?

The trust is YES! But it depends on what kind of vocals you are recording. Also, I wanted to share a vocal stack example below for simple rap vocals which don’t require pitch correction or any huge major enhancements.


Example of using the FL Studio vocal effects stack, which I would simply call the 'pro vocal effect master'.

FL Parametric EQ 2: this can be used to saturate the vocals and get rid of any unwanted bands.

FL Compressor: this can be used to compress unwanted frequencies. This is great when vocalists need full control of low, mid and high bands. It also comes with ratio settings and full control of frequencies.

FL Limiter: this is great for vocals when vocals need a shelf where they sit. This plugin is great when it comes to frequency levels and setting up min and max outputs for frequency bands.

Soundgoodizer, this plugin inside FL Studio is a great way to alter the sound signal completely with 4 different sound signal processing modes. This is a great FL Studio plugin; I simply use this on all of my vocals. Each of the selections can be used for a different style of vocals. Pre-made presets with mix output processing volume make it very easy to use and a simple way to add richness or smoothness or to simply saturate any vocals even deeper, as required.

Now by using premium plugins such as

• Pre-amp
• Autotune Antares
• Vocal De-essers (to get rid of muddiness) such as vocal cleaner.

However, Figma is a much better online UI design tool. I have used this to design some major professional looking VST plugin UI, you should check it out!!

Once you use Figma, you won't go back to photoshop or GIMP, well at least I won't, but it's a personal preference to be honest.