The Secrets To Making a Successful Beat Tape - Part 1: City Girl

Making a beat tape is every producer's dream; but navigating this territory can be tricky and knowing how to give it the momentum it deserves can make all the difference. In this series of articles, we speak to producers who have had incredible success with their beat tapes and ask them to share their insights into the process, from concept realization, visual worlds, right down to promotion.

In this part of the series we spoke with City Girl.

By Eimear O SullivanMusicngear Editor
Article photo - The Secrets To Making a Successful Beat Tape - Part 1: City Girl
Artwork by vickisigh
Beat tape definition: Instrumental productions created by a producer/beat maker, which are compiled into an album.


Musicngear: What does your overall creative process look like for creating a beat tape? 

Each time my process changes. For Siren Of The Formless and Goddess of The Hollow I streamed everything on Twitch. I needed that 'person over my shoulder' to keep me motivated. I don’t know why - I never needed it before that, but you gotta embrace the chaos of creative work. 

I made my early stuff on Logic Pro x (up until Celestial Angel), and then I switched to Live 10. Why? Again I don't know, it just felt right. I didn't have to, and learning Live 10 took a lot of time, but you just gotta embrace that. You gotta face your fears so to speak. For Chroma Velocity I bought an analog synth, and used it for most of the album (I had used Omnisphere before that). Currently, that synth isn't even plugged in anymore - I pretty much ditched it after Chroma Velocity. I don't know why, it just felt right. I guess I should mention that while making Neon Impasse I spent a lot of time practicing piano and guitar in order to learn jazz stuff. I didn’t grow up playing like that, and I never learned it from a teacher or anything, so it took a tremendous amount of work to replicate that sound, even a little.


Musicngear: What are some important things to keep in mind when creating a beat-tape? 

From my own experience, I never set out to create a beat-tape. I feel the most important step is to separate yourself from that responsibility or expectation. The real key to finishing anything is to just get ideas down, to just make stuff, make whatever you are interested in, at that moment. Try and sit down every day and get an idea out - no matter how short. The key is iteration; iterating and improving upon past ideas is the best way to guarantee consistency and quality. 

Every now and then I get a miracle song that works out on the first try and turns out awesome, but I can't rely on that. The most difficult part is just making something cohesive. Musicians tend to love experimenting in lots of different genres (which is great) but can make it hard to put together a project. I always end up with lots of miscellaneous b-sides at the end of a project. The test I face is that of "how much do I really like this genre, enough to make 1 song? 10 songs? 20?" you will only know by doing it.


Musicngear: For producers who are interested in creating a beat tape, what are some strong beat tapes you recommend they listen to?

I don't really have that many recommendations, to be honest. I think ILWAG ( In Love With A Ghost) and Kupla make great beats. I love Windows 96 a lot, even though those are vaporwave beats. City Girl’s earlier stuff is very heavily influenced by Verzache and Swell, as well as Knapsack.


Musicngear: Do you create a beat-tape around a certain theme/concept? (and if so, how do you execute this concept so it translates to the listener?)

I do, but it doesn't come together until the end. 

I don't really have a great idea of what I'm doing for a long while. I have to slowly mold it along the way. Like I mentioned earlier, iteration is the key;  making it feel like I knew what I was doing and executing it perfectly is all a big trick. Maybe other people can do that, but I'm not really the type to think far ahead. I just try and enjoy making a bunch of music and then shape it into something coherent later on.


Musicngear: What is your process for promoting a beat-tape once completed? 

Save up money to pay an artist for good artwork, and then upload it everywhere. Other than that, the best way to promote for free is to have lots of music friends and friends in the community. Take time to talk to people and make genuine connections. Don't go chatting up people who are professionals or whatever, get to know your peers, other people who are just sitting in their room making stuff. Make friends, create a community feeling, and share each other's stuff. If it wasn't for the friends I made on discord talking about music (and paying vickisigh for great art) I don't think city girl would be successful.

Connect with City Girl
Bandcamp / Spotify / Instagram / Twitter


Next up in the series The Secrets To Making a Successful Beat Tape: chordandjocks

About Eimear O Sullivan

Eimear Ann O Sullivan is a multi-genre music producer, audio engineer and vocalist. After receiving a Masters in Music Technology from the CIT Cork School of Music, she went on to operate as a producer under the name Blakkheart. Her releases have received critical acclaim from Ireland's biggest music publications, such as District Magazine and Nialler9, alongside receiving heavy commercial radio airplay. She currently works in Cork recording studio Flashpoint CC. Previous clients of hers include the likes of Comedy Central’s Dragony Aunt star Candy Warhol, rapper Darce and Outsider YP. (Photo credit @Fabian Boros)

Contact Eimear O Sullivan at eimear.o.sullivan@musicngear.com

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