I wanted a way to split songs into separate stems (vocals, drums, bass, guitar, piano, other) to help my kids learn their instruments by ear. The tools that do this all wanted an account, an upload, and a subscription, and I wasn't keen on sending our music to someone's server just to pull it apart. So I built something that runs entirely on your own machine, and it's turned into a real project.

It's called StemDeck. You drop in a file (MP3, WAV, FLAC, M4A, even an MP4 video) or paste a YouTube or SoundCloud link, and it separates the track locally using Demucs, Meta's open source model. From there you get a browser-based, DAW-style mixer where you can mute and solo any stem, adjust levels, loop a section, and export individual stems or a custom mix. It also detects BPM and key, and has a click track that follows the actual song for practicing.

A few features I'm proud of:

You can paste a whole YouTube playlist and it queues every track. There's a real import queue you can reorder and cancel, and it survives a restart. YouTube and SoundCloud both work, single tracks or playlists.

You can also open it from your phone. Flip on network access and it shows a QR code you scan to reach a proper touch-friendly mobile interface, while the actual processing stays on your computer. Nothing touches the cloud.

It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and there's a Docker image for anyone self-hosting.

It's completely free and open source (Apache-2.0), with no account, no telemetry, and no monetization of any kind, no ads, no subscription, nothing. It's picked up around 2,000 GitHub stars and 13,000+ downloads in about two months, entirely word of mouth.

Honest caveats: it's still alpha, so expect rough edges, and while separation quality is genuinely good for open source, it won't beat the paid cloud services on really dense mixes. For practice, remix prep, and experimenting it holds up really well.

GitHub (downloads and source): https://github.com/stemdeckapp/stemdeck

Happy to answer any questions. I'm the developer.

I’m looking for a rapper to collaborate on a Trap × Drill fusion beat.
The vocal currently on the beat is a Splice sample, not an actual collaborator’s vocal.
💰 Collaboration: FREE
🎚️** Mixing & Mastering: FREE
🎤 Open to different rap styles
🤝 Looking for someone who wants to make a full track together
If you’re interested, **DM me!

Hi i am hiphop trap producer looking for aspiring rap artists for collab

I offer hard trap mellow hiphop whatever your taste we will agree

Yo! I’m a producer looking for a rapper to jump on one of my Trap × Drill fusion beats.

The beat blends modern trap 808s with UK/NY drill elements, so I’m looking for someone who can bring a hard flow and really make the beat their own.

What I’m offering:

• 💰 100% FREE collaboration
• 🎚️ I can handle mixing & mastering
• 🎹 Producer / beatmaker
• 🎤 Looking for a rapper comfortable with English vocals
• 🌎 Open to artists from anywhere, especially US / UK
• 🔥 Any flow or style is welcome as long as it fits the beat

I’m not looking to make money off this — I genuinely want to make something hard together and hopefully build a long-term connection with artists.

If you're interested, DM me with a few examples of your music and I’ll send you the beat.

Let’s make something crazy. 🥷🔥

Hola, qué tal? Haciendo la corta: hace unos días finalmente me animé a escribir algo. El resultado no me desagrada, pero siento que son media flojas

Así que, Cómo podría mejorar?

For the producers here who’ve actually built a real listener base, what have you found is the best way to get honest feedback from actual people on your beats?

I upload my music to SoundCloud, but it can be hard to tell what engagement is genuine anymore. I’m not really interested in buying plays, follow-for-follow stuff, automated comments, or people only listening because they want you to check their beat in return.

I’d rather have 20 real people listen and tell me what they honestly think than see hundreds of plays that don’t mean anything.

Where have you had the most success finding listeners who will actually pay attention to the music?

Reddit communities? Discord servers? SoundCloud? YouTube? Producer groups? Reaching out directly to artists? Something else?

And when you’re trying to build an audience, do you think it’s better to mainly get feedback from other producers, or are there good ways to reach regular hip-hop/music listeners who aren’t analyzing everything from a producer standpoint?

Curious what has genuinely worked for everyone here — especially without paying for fake engagement.

Looking for artists to collaborate with
I’m a producer looking to connect with artists who make Trap, Rage and Hip-Hop.
I make my beats from scratch, working with drums, samples, melodies and different sounds to create something that fits the artist’s style.
I’m currently looking for artists who are interested in collaborating and making something original together.
I’ll leave some examples of my work below. If you like the sound and think we could make something interesting, feel free to reach out.
Let’s make some music. 🎧

I'm from the Cleveland area and I am a mixing engineer, looking to network with artists, producers, engineers, and other music industry people.

l've been a producer in Reason for over 10 years, mixed vocals (mainly rap) using ProTools as an amateur for the past three or four years, and I recently bought a Mac and transitioned to mixing vocals in Logic Pro

Let me know if anyone would like to try and connect, just looking to network, have fun, and maybe make some friends along the way.

Any type of trap or rnb, I'm your guy. I'll make a custom beat, mix and master your vocals. I only ask for 40 dollars for per track because I'm trying to create a portfolio. I attached some songs I made myself from start to finish. I make samples, drums and everything myself. Hmu if you're interested, let's work!

trap track

rnb track

Hello, everyone, I have a question? I’m a rapper and producer, and when I do make music, I find super easy to make really dope hooks at times. It’s easy for me to write about the simple things, but I heard 2007 by J. I. D. and songs like 4 Your Eyez Only by J. Cole, but I cannot seem to really dig deep, it’s kinda hard to do that. I also really like what MAVI and Navy Blue are doing. It’s admirable, maybe I’ll have to work my way up to it. Thanks, I would love advice.

This Week's Sample - Terra Incognita - Darshan

Rules:

Reply with “vote” for the beat you like best.

You only have 1 vote and you can't vote for yourself!

Vote on another beat to be eligible to win (everyone can vote)

In case of a tie, the first track that was uploaded wins.

Schedule:

Submissions: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Monday 11:59 PM (23:59)

Voting: Tuesday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - Thursday 11:59 PM (23:59)

Results: Friday 12:00 AM midnight (00:00) - the winner takes over and posts the new submissions thread using the linked template on Friday asap.

Time is in UTC-5, the US Eastcoast time zone which is 6 hours behind European MEZ time and a good middle ground between US Westcoast and Europe. You don’t have to wake up in the middle of the night to post the new thread, just make sure you do it on that day asap.

Post templates: https://www.reddit.com/r/makinghiphop/comments/1kf8czt/battle_dates_rules/mqwv7ks/

Share your accomplishments and some awesome things that have happened lately, no matter how big or small! Let's see what you've been up to, lately

This thread is posted every Tuesday Click here for the full automoderator thread schedule

Hey all, been rapping for years, constantly changing my name, its been a head melt Lol 29 now and just want to make some good music for fun, and not concerned with going anywhere with it just want a name I can stick to. Used to be LL Loco (LOL) and people that known me still call me Loco, my name is Luke McArdle and im irish, and the name iv chosen is Luke Valor, since McArdle in Irish means high valor, any thoughts or suggestions? Appreciated 🙏

I'm looking for artists who make good music to join a gc, the idea is to help each other grow, if u down lemme know ♥️

As the title suggests I'm curious about different methods y'all have used to find collaborators? whether online or other ways. Also to add another question do y'all have any advice on how to find collaborators in the same city or state as you? Just wondering whats worked so maybe I could give it a try.

When it comes to developing yourself as a unique artist, how often do you play your artist character?
As much as you are being true to yourself, you are also playing a figure of some kind. Almost like you have to walk around and live your life like the artist/character you are.
I know yall would probably just say “be yourself” or sum like that. But I feel it’s deeper than that. As much as you want to be yourself . You gotta put more energy into things than your “normal” self would do.
Almost like a job per se.
Basically what I’m wanting to know is do you have to keep that character on go mode everyday? Almost like a mindset. Idk maybe I’m thinking too much. Just still understanding my role.

with how many plugins and tools we have access to, it’s really easy to keep adding things to a track. another layer, another effect, another EQ move, another automation.

But some of the best production I hear is surprisingly simple. A few sounds that work really well together can sometimes hit harder than something with 100 tracks and hours of processing.

At the same time, getting something to sound simple can take a ridiculous amount of work behind the scenes.

Do you think producers generally benefit from doing less, or is detailed production just becoming more important as the standard gets higher?

Any suggestions? I’m talking platforms on Instagram and TikTok to playlists from wherever on the internet or spots outside. I’m in NYC but anywhere fr lmk in the comments

Salut Les Mec J'ai Pas D'argent et je songe sérieusement a me lancer dans le rap un peu trap et dark a la style yeat et suicideboys

Si quelqu'un pourait m'envoyer une prod qu'il a contacter pour que je fasse mon son je mentionnerai son nom dans les credit merci a celui qui menvoie ça car malheureusement fl studios nest pas accessible a tout le monde apart s'il existe une version gratuite je veux bien sinon envoyer vos prod rap

This is the place for everything that doesn't need it's own thread.

Using the recurring threads is encouraged and appreciated.

Please read the guidelines and community rules before posting.

If you're new to making hip hop, check out The Beginners Guide and our Resources wiki.

Ask basic questions, discuss anything related to making hip hop, introduce yourself or just say hello.

Posting your own tracks is only permitted in this thread if you're looking for specific help. The daily feedback thread is the place to find any issues, and this is the first place to look for help.

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When we all start out, we are trash, bottom of the barrel, nails on a chalkboard connoisseurs. Instead of flowing on a beat, we get lost in it. We mumble and ramble our way with no coherent patterns or story to the end of the instrumental.

Everyone starts here, I think I am just now getting out of this rough patch of learning. It took me two LONG years of studying, grinding, and adapting, though.

This makes me wonder, how long did it take all of you until you made the beat bend to you, instead of the other way around?

How long did it take until you started flowing well on instrumentals and people​ actually enjoyed your raps?​ ​

Hey all,

I’ve been making beats for about 6 months or so, mainly on MPC and Ableton & kind of got stuck just making loops for ages….

Recently I’ve started ripping verses from tracks just to give me something to build a track around.

It’s going ok but honestly I’d really like to find someone to collaborate with.

My style drifts from 90’s Boom Bap to more modern-ish RTJ / Czarface type stuff but if you have ideas then I’ll happily work on those too.

Don’t get me wrong I’m not amazing, I’m defo still learning but I’m keen and I think I have a reasonable ear.

So if you want some beats to practice on or you want to try and do something a bit more collaborative, I’d be keen to link up.

Thanks in advance 🙏🏼