**Your Beat-making Process**

[Raydio]

I usually start off with the keys and work my drums around what I played. I play my hi hats and other percussion in real time. I also automate the mutes on certain tracks to give my tracks a little twist. I rarely compress my drums because they are mostly from high quality sample CDs I get from EastWest. They are already EQed and compressed, but sometimes I need to mess with the EQ. If the track is hard hittin, I use light reverb; if any. On strings I like to add a nice chorus to give it that rich sound. Strings work good for artist with lots of energy (like hip hop DMXish rappers) in my opinion. To end my tracks I use Cubase to match up my instrument tracks with my drums. I use T-Racks sometimes over my whole mix to get that BIG sound!!!

HOW ABOUT YOU GUYS??? FAVORITE SAMPLE CDS? FAVORITE INSTRUMENTS? HOW LONG USUALLY DOES IT TAKE YOU TO FINISH A TRACK?? DROP WHATEVER! PEACE!