NFX posted on February 07, 2007 05:31
This is an area that can help sell beats, as well as protect your beats. A tag is some kind of audio - usually spoken - that is layered over your beat. Often times it contains information about the beatmaker and/or the production company. The primary reason for using a tag is to minimize people using the beat without permission or authorization. Someone who likes your beat will have to pay you for an untagged version that they can use.
Most musicians would prefer an untagged beat for sure. So if you properly tag your beat, it might lead to a sale by a serious artist. The key word is SERIOUS. If a producer or rapper is serious about themselves they will invest in themselves, just as you would invest in yourself. This is how you increase your sales. But to maximize your beat sounding good without some ugly tag info floating on it, follow my basic rules:
Rule #1
Do not use a garbled, computerized sounding voice that can't be understood 90% of the time. So often I hear that fake synthsized voice or overdone echo on a voice. You can't understand the voice half the time and the other half it's just plain annoying.
Rule #2
The best way to tag a beat is to make it work with the song. Popular Soundclick artist
Ozone will use a tempo synchronized tag that says "T-T-T-Toxiq" referring to his company name. He does it leading into the hook. It blends in great with the beat and doesn't kill the groove. This is vital! It's like spreading shit on a sandwich. The sandwich might be great, but all people notice is the shit on top.
Rule #3
Leave you info in the intro only. If your beat has an intro section, just clearly state your info. "This beat was created by NFX at
warbeats.com". That's it, simple and to the point. The intro tag can be used along with a cooler tempo based tag as well.
I have a variety of beats on Soundclick that demonstrate the three methods. I think they are all good, and you'll see that I use a variety of tags. They contain intro tags and outro tags, as well as a tempo based "NFX" scratch that comes in before the chorus and in the middle of each verse.
Listen to the examples here.