Ahh A Fellow CM reader!
Great mag, and great stuff on the dvds that are issued with the mag.
I hate to tell you this onlydude, but your beats might not get all that hot just by getting yourself some hardware...It's more or less a learning process with the hardware itself. There's alot of stuff you can do from within your chosen sequencer software that would probably improve them quite a bit.
How long have you been producing beats?
Do you know your way around a compressor and EQ? Familiar with layering sounds and drumtracks to beef them up? If YES, YES & YES Try it some more.
Getting the "pro sound" has nothing to do with the right equipment (Don't hate on me ya all) It's skills that separates a shitty track from a good one. Skills with programing drumtracks, skills as a musician, great ears, being able to see the technical side of the music as a part of the composing (not just something to ignore), +,+,+ last but not least...If you don't have a burning flame within yourself for music, then all the equipment in the world won't help you.
Besides thinking of yourself as "just a beatmaker" Nowadays you need to see yourself as more or less the composer/beatmaker, the mastering engineer, the promoter of yourself, the salesmen of a good product. I'm saying mastering engineer allthough the majority of us really shouldn't dare to call ourselfs that, cause that's what makes or breaks a track; Good mastering, and we need to posess that knowledge aswell (as good as we can).
You won't get your beats out there if you're not pitching them to anyone (salesman)
No one wants the beats if no one has heard of the maker (promoter)
No one wants a beat that sounds dull and lifeless (mastering engineer)
and well...if you got no beats...who would want what you don't have? (beatmaker/composer)
I'm way of the initial question here, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to leave my own opinion and experience behind
-92