Free Neo Soul Type Beats - Soul Instrumentals

Neo soul type beats are decided less by tempo than by what the arrangement refuses to do: nothing crowding the voice, no drum pattern louder than the melody, chords that arrive late and leave a bar hanging. The neo soul instrumentals collected here follow that idea, whether they lean on keys, a guitar figure or a flute carrying the whole tune over an 808 that stays where it lands. Some sit close to a neo soul jazz type beat, all extended chords and brushed texture; others move toward the rnb soul type beat side, where the drums hit harder and the low end does more of the work. Every one of them keeps the top of the mix free for a singer who wants to be heard without being pushed forward.

Neo soul type beats for Erykah Badu, Cleo Sol and D’Angelo singers

The voices that work here are the ones comfortable sitting slightly behind the beat. Erykah Badu type beats and Cleo Sol type beats want the melody left alone, with a vocal free to float a phrase past the bar; D’Angelo type beats and Musiq Soulchild type beats ask for chords that shift underneath a run, which is why the fuller arrangements on this page keep the middle register open. Jill Scott type beats and Anderson .Paak type beats live at the other end, closer to live drums and a bass line answering the singer line by line. For a first take, the emptier side of the trap soul type beat sound is the safest room to write in: fewer moving parts to sing against, and the melody still carries three minutes on its own.