Thirteen words, two beats
This brief is barely a sentence, but every word in it is load-bearing: a mood, a drum kit, one melodic instrument and a tempo. Both takes came back usable, at different lengths.
The prompt that made it
“Dark aggressive gang trap, heavy 808s, hard drums, eerie piano, 145 BPM, instrumental”
“Dark aggressive gang trap, heavy 808s, hard drums, eerie piano, 145 BPM, instrumental.” The piano line is the hook, the 808s sit where you would expect, and there is space left in the middle. 2:15.
The prompt that made it
“Dark aggressive gang trap, heavy 808s, hard drums, eerie piano, 145 BPM, instrumental”
Same thirteen words, 2:00, a different piano figure and a harder hi-hat pattern. Two takes per generation means you are picking a beat, not accepting one.
Note what is not in that brief: no artist name, no reference track, no key. A named mood plus a named drum sound plus a number is enough to get something you can rap on.
Beat briefs are the ones that get tempo right
From every request between 4 September and 4 October that asked for a beat — a trap beat, a type beat, a beat for a verse — and this is the sharpest contrast on the whole site:
| In the request | Share of beat requests | Compared with |
|---|---|---|
| A tempo or BPM | about 3 in 5 | fewer than 1 in 10 for country, nearly 1 in 2 for dance |
| Instrumental switch actually on | about 1 in 4 | The other three in four got a beat with vocals on it |
| A described beat rather than pasted lyrics | about 1 in 2 | The other half arrive with lyrics pasted in — a song request in a beat's clothes |
| Made on the free plan | about 3 in 4 | Most people make their first beats on the free plan |
People who make beats know to say the tempo. The thing they forget is the switch: the brief says beat, the setting says song, and the setting wins. Tick Instrumental and the same brief gives you a track to rap over.
The four words that shape a trap beat
A beat is drums plus one idea. These four slots cover almost everything worth specifying.
| Slot | Examples | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Mood | dark, menacing, melancholy, triumphant, playful | The melodic instrument and its key |
| Drums | heavy 808s, fast hi-hat rolls, snappy snare on 3, half-time | The whole feel — this is the beat |
| One melodic instrument | eerie piano, detuned bell, muted guitar, choir pad | The hook you will remember |
| Tempo | 140 BPM, 145, drill at 142 with a sliding 808 | Trap sits 130–150, felt at half speed; drill is close but the hats and 808 slides differ |
Two optional extras that pay off: where to leave room (“space for a verse, no melody in the first eight bars”), and how the 808 behaves (“sliding 808s”, “punchy short 808s”). Everything else — mixing, mastering, bar counts — happens whether you ask or not.
How long a beat comes out
Beat requests came from too few people to time on their own, so this is every track made with the Instrumental switch on between 4 September and 4 October, measured from the files: median 3:00, eight in ten between 1:53 and 3:42, and none under a minute.
| Length | Share of instrumentals |
|---|---|
| 1 to 2 minutes | 13% |
| 2 to 3 minutes | 36% |
| 3 to 4 minutes | 46% |
| 4 to 5 minutes | 4% |
| Over 5 minutes | 1% |
Nearly half of instrumentals land between three and four minutes, which is two sixteen-bar verses, a hook and an intro. If you need a shorter loop for a video, say so in the brief; if you need a longer one, extend a finished beat rather than generating again.
Rapping on it, and the rights
Three routes once the beat exists. Rap over it yourself outside Tunely; use Add vocals to have a sung or rapped vocal performed over it at the same tempo; or upload your own recording and have it turned into a full track. On Pro and Ultra you can also pull the beat and the vocal apart as stems afterwards.
On the rights: a beat made on the free plan is licensed for personal use, and Pro and Ultra add a commercial licence covering every track in your library — with a certificate and a licence code — including beats made before you upgraded. That is what matters if you are selling the beat or releasing a song built on it.
Before you press Generate
- The Instrumental switch is on — this is the step three in four beat requests miss.
- A mood word: dark, menacing, melancholy, triumphant.
- The drums named: heavy 808s, fast hi-hat rolls, half-time snare.
- One melodic instrument to carry the hook.
- A tempo — 140 to 150 for trap, and say “drill” if you want sliding 808s.
Sources
Written and fact-checked by the Tunely team · Updated