Sound engineer and vocal coach Gareth Henderson explains why type beats are a great starter tool for novice songwriters.

It’s no secret that most beginner songwriters draw heavy inspiration from their musical idols.

Budding writers tend to pay homage – either consciously or subconsciously – to the artists they listen to on repeat.

During this early phase, a tool called type beats can be of real use, as Gareth Henderson reveals on the Singing Teachers Talk podcast.

Gareth runs his own music studio in Western Australia and often helps singers take their first tentative steps into songwriting and music production.

Type beats explained

Up-and-coming producers create an instrumental in the mood and style of an artist they admire.

A producer may create an instrumental that emulates the signature sound of, say, Drake, Billie Eilish or Chappell Roan. (Note: it’s not supposed to be a straight-out clone, but something that wouldn’t sound out of place on the artist’s album.)

The producer then uploads their backing track to YouTube or a beat marketplace and labels it – for ease of searchability – a “Drake type beat”, “Billie Eilish type beat” or “Chappell Roan type beat”.

A singer can then search for a type beat in the style of the artist they love, download it and start experimenting.

“So, you have a go at writing your song over the type beat,” Gareth explains.

“Now, if it’s terrible, that’s the end of it; you just leave it there.

“But if you write your vocal melody over the type beat and go ‘this is awesome, I wish I could actually sing over this’, there’ll be a link that will take you through to the website of the producer that made the type beat.

“You can pay them to be allowed to sing over their type beat, and if you love it so much that you think you’re going to have a number one hit, you can be even more for the exclusive use of it.”

No more excuses

“With type beats, no one has an excuse not to write a song simply because they can’t play an instrument,” Gareth says.

“Clearly, further down the line, when you are releasing your second album, you wouldn’t want to be doing it with type beats – you want to create your own music.

“As a way to get rid of a stumbling block to start writing, I think they’re a fantastic tool.”

Where you can find type beats

YouTube is a great place to start. You can also try websites such as typebeats.com, beatstars.com and airbit.com.

Listen

Tune into our full-length interview with Gareth on the Singing Teachers Talk podcast, where he also discusses:

• Why forensic listening is so important for singers.
• A fast fix he uses in the recording studio to brighten vocals.
• The information a sound engineer needs from a singer before a recording session.

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