What Do You Need to Make Beats on a Mac?
Composers and producers usually have a lot of options when it comes to making beats. You’d be surprised at how little you’ll need to get started. Starting with the best equipment that money can buy is an advantage. This is an undeniable fact. The truth however is that you don’t need high-tech equipment to get started or even to make the best beats. What will take you further than any fancy equipment is skill and passion.
More often than not, people that are talented in making beats are discouraged from doing so because they think that the equipment they need will be quite expensive. Surprisingly, it actually isn’t.
There’s a wide selection of inexpensive equipment and software to start making beats. When you start making money from your music, you can upgrade to more sophisticated and expensive equipment.
Most popular beat masters and producers like Dr. Dre all began with regular equipment, so not having a lot of capital for fancy equipment is no excuse.
In this article, we are going to explore what you will need to make beats on a Mac. We will focus on giving you our picks of what you will absolutely need and other essential additions. So sit back, relax, and read on to find out more. This will certainly be an insightful read for you!
What Do You Need to Make Beats on a Mac?
Some of the items on this list are absolutely needed to make beats while others are not absolutely necessary but would be great to have. You need a high-performance laptop. You probably already have a Mac so that’s covered. If you don’t have one, consider getting a MacBook Pro with an i7 processor. If you can’t afford this, a decent Windows desktop computer will do just fine.
If you are on a budget, here are some of the things you will need to make beats on a Mac:
- Beat Making Software or DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)
To make beats, having functional software or Digital Audio Workstation is an absolute necessity. It is the most important requirement for making beats on your Mac. Without it, there is really no way of making beats. It is installed into your computer and has tools and features for making beats, mixing, and mastering them.
There are so many DAWs in the market, making a choice on which is the best one for you to make beats on can be overwhelming. The most popular choice for most people is FL Studio.
FL Studio is one of the industry’s most sought after DAW. It makes music production a breeze with simple beat making, mixing, and mastering. It has numerous plugins and effects that will help you to make the best beats.
FL Studio has a simple interface that makes it very easy to use. It doesn’t have much of a learning curve so you won’t take a lot of time getting acquainted with it.
You can get the FL Studio Producer Edition which will give you access to a large array of tools to use which will cover the essentials you may need to make beats. By purchasing FL Studio, you will have a lifetime of free updates so you won’t ever have to worry about paying for the latest features.
The majority of the stock plugins that come with FL Studio are quite powerful thus eliminating the need to invest in effective plugins. The synths that come with it are quite powerful as well and give you a lot of presets to work with if you are yet to learn beat making.
You can find FL Studio Producer Edition on Amazon.
- MIDI Keyboard (MIDI Controller)
The purpose of a MIDI keyboard is to help you control the virtual instruments on your DAW. It is made to mimic a piano. It gives you the feel of playing a physical instrument when in fact it is just the interface of the instruments in your DAW.
The keyboard doesn’t produce any sound itself. It sends signals from the keys you tap to the software running in your computer so the right instrument voices or samples can be played.
The realism that a MIDI keyboard provides gives you a feel of the beats as you make them. It has weighted and pressure-sensitive keys that make you feel like you are playing a real instrument as opposed to a virtual one.
We recommend the Akai Professional MPK Mini MIDI Keyboard. It is portable and you can stick it into your backpack with your Mac so you can make a beat whenever inspiration hits you. It has a lot of features for playing and editing beats.
It has a full-size pedal input jack, spotting controls for dynamic pitch and modulation control, and a slender build. It combines portability with plug-and-play connectivity for convenience and the ultimate beat making experience.
You can find the Akai Professional MPK Mini MIDI Keyboard on Amazon.
- Audio Interface
It is the device you use to control your audio input and output. If you are going to be recording live instruments and vocals, it is a b=necessity. It is where all your efforts are translated into the beats you hear.
It connects monitors and headphones from the back, and instruments and microphones from the front. Its greatest utility is its ability to cut sound latency. This is the sound delay you often notice between audio input and output. It uses a soundcard to ensure a consistent sound.
Our pick for the best audio interface is Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. It is quite durable and is quite efficient for digitizing your live instruments into your beats. It has halo indicators that show recording signal strength, a large dial that controls the volume in your speakers. It also has a direct monitor switch that allows you to listen to the beats you make without wiring them through the computer first.
You can find the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 on Amazon.
- Studio Headphones
You need a way to sample your beats. For this reason, quality studio headphones are an absolute necessity. The sound from these headphones needs to be crisp and clean without any distortions or alterations.
Our pick is the Audio-Technica ATH-M30x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones. They have superior audio clarity and sound isolation and are specifically made for studio beat mixing. It produces a clear and smooth sound and with it, you can pick every little nuance as you mix, equalize, and master your beats.
They have a tight fit to ensure maximum sound isolation so you can sample your beats in the purest form.
You can find Audio-Technica ATH-M30x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones on Amazon.
Some other additions you could consider having are:
- Studio Monitors.
- External Hard Drive.
All in all, these are some of the things you’ll need to make beats on a Mac. With time, you can consider upgrading to more high-performance equipment!
