Alright, so, if you know anything about me, you know that I love that "boom" in my drums. Most of my kicks can be described as 808-esque or derived, but, truthfully, I actually synthesize most of my drums, not culling them from the millions of online 808 sample collections that can be found out there (though some of them are actually some good shit).

And, no, sadly I don't own an actual Roland TR-808.

Well, what I've decided to do today is share with you two drums (no, not a whole mo'fuckin collection) that I myself have "engineered". Some may find them useful, some may not, but, hey, they're here for ya, so, stop pouting. Let me know what you think and if you do get to put them to use in a song, I'd love to hear it. Also, another great idea would be to layer the two and get that real "can't hear a single word your girl is saying" effect after. Hmmmm, kay??

Next up, more breaks...

P.S. - The significance of my using that picture is to drive home a point to all the mofos that love to post on production forums asking questions to which the answer could easily be found in that lovely manuscript known as the manual. As we would say in my Guitar Center days, 'RTFM', in other words "Read The Fuckin Manual". Shit, I remember one day a cat called GC and was trying to get me to teach him how to use some Akai machine (not the MPC series, or else I would have recalled what it was) OVER THE PHONE. Folks are hilarious...

Ten Tips For The Fledgling Producer

So, being that I'm somewhat frustrated with the lack of flight in regards to my musical career, I figured I'd give a list of ten things that you need to know upon disembarking on an "attempt" to make music your career, catered specifically to electronic music producers (and yes, folk, hip hop music is electronic music).

Here's part 1:

1. Don't NOBODY believe you're gonna make it with this "little" hobby of yours more than you. For example, as much as your girl loves you, somewhere inside of her, she really just wishes you'd give up this shit and go back to school like you've been saying for the past five years (odd thing is, as I listen to this, Saint Etienne's Lose That Girl is playing on Pandora on my Iphone, and they make a reference to dropping out of school; weird). Of course, that is, until you start making some shit that she feels is competitive with the stuff she listens to on the radio (that is, unless you're one of the lucky blokes to find a chick that's into the weird or hardcore shit that you be producing; and, if you are, hold that motherfucker in a headlock and don't let her out of your sight for a second).

2. Being a music producer is never an intriguing thing for folks you encounter until you can turn to them and say, "You know that song by so and so? Yeah, I did that." Until then, expect them not to give a fuck. Or say, "Oh, that's cool." So, by that end, don't waste your time getting their opinion on your output, for, to the casual music listener, shit don't sound good until it's either on MTV, the radio or played in the club.

3. Getting your music to the artist that you envision gracing it is doubly as hard today than it was before the advent of myspace, facebook, blogger, etc... Reason being, you're just 1 0f the 1,000 cats that try to get at said artist through that venue every month. And yes, your shit may be leagues better than their shit, but, after a month or two of sifting through shit, most artists are sending beat submissions either to their lackeys or straight to the trash.

4. Fuck a music production forum. And, that's not to say that there's not some valuable information to glean from these social communities, but, there' s also a lot of bitter people on there who, due to their own lack of success, have now chosen to deflate the balloon of anyone else hoping to float up into the ether of musical greatness. So, yeah, that cat telling you that your snare is too loud or that your music isn't Ed Banger-ish enough, or doesn't have enough Timbaland derivatives, trust, he's gonna be there doing the same shit 5 years from now, with nothing to show.

5. Use what you've got. One thing I've learned is, no one tool is better than the other. Some will have you believe that Fruity Loops is the devil, Reason is his cousin and anything other than a good ole MPC (and not just ANY MPC, has to be 2000XL or earlier; anything else is just sacrilege) is just nonsense. Hodge podge. People are making all kinds of wonderful music these days and there is NO way of telling what someone is actually using without sitting down and spending some time with them during the production process. And, when you factor in that a lot of cats just straight up LIE about what they actually use (so, ignore those cats on your favorite music forum telling you that Madlib only uses the SP303), you'd be terribly mistaken to trump one tool over another. So, the next time that cat on that production forum (see rule #4) says that a particular beat sounds like it was made on Fruity Loops, don't pay his ass no mind. There's no real way to listen to a track, and, by listening to the sequencing of the track, tell what piece of software or equipment it was created on. The one thing someone CAN recognize is stock sounds, but, with the internet being what it is, Fruity Loops stock sounds are being used in Reason and samples from almost any sound module you can think about are floating out there somewhere, so, let's get off that bullshit, please?

The Drum Beater

So, we're back to the breaks. This time around, I've got a break that's in 5/4 time that's pretty hot. There is a little piece of the track at the end, just so that the break could loop right, but, it should be nothing for you aficionados to discard of that and put the rest of the break to use.

I DO have another break that I'm just about to post over at my twitter page, and, trust, if you think this break is ill, then that one will knock your socks off. For that one, I actually posted two versions of the break, one with all the reverb of the original track and another showing how Recycle can be used to decrease the amount of reverb that is present in most drum breaks.

Get over there and see what I mean.

P.S.

Both of the files include a wav file for those not fond of Recycle or who are just holding out on this great piece of software.

Also, I wanted to post links for two "free" VST's that support rex files so that, even if you don't own recycle, you can still get your groove on. There are plenty of "commercial" plugs that support rex files, but, in this time of recession, I'll focus on the freebies.

Ilio Satellite

Shortcircuit

Satellite is both Windoze and Mac while Shortcircuit is only Windoze. These were two that I found with a quick search of the KVR Database, so, you may be able to find some more if you're willing to look.

Pass in comments, as usual.

So, I'm back....

Well, I'm back. Thanks to all that have raped the drum breaks but never bothered to leave a comment. I guess that's to be expected with the anonymity that the internet allows. Anyway, just stopping by to let you guys know that I started an online mixtape over at 8Tracks. I guess they're doing things a little different than Muxtape, so, they should be straight for a while.

But, anyway, here's my mix. The pic that you see is of the ferry dock on the east side of St. Thomas, which is my home. I love it and will be there soon enough. Either way, other than that, new breaks up this week, so, stay tuned. Maybe even as early as tomorrow. And I'll be posting at least two, so, get ready. As always, they will be rex'd and ready to go for Reason, MPC, Battery, etc... digestion.

Well, it's 3:47 on the dial right now and I have to be at work in like the next 4 hours, so take that for now and let it marinate.

I'll leave ya'll with a question: Why is it almost impossible to find a woman that's into music as much as you are? It's like, I meet women all the time and, being the musicophiliac that I am, that's the first thing that I tend to talk about. But, they tend to just "brush" it off. I don't know about other folks, but, when someone tells me that they have a strong passion for ANYTHING, I want to learn more about what that is, even if it's something that I've never had an interest in before or even after that conversation.

Maybe that's what makes me different.

But, let me know, ya'll.

So, here's a little about me and shit I been feeling recently.

So, first off, I'm an MPC nut, like, something crazy. Currently own a MPC 2KXL, but, had a chance to really put in some work on a 1000 from Summer 0f '07 to March of '08. That JJ OS makes that thing a beast. It's a cot damn shame that Akai is pussyfooting it on the development of their own OS. At this point, it kind of seems to me that they're happy that someone else is doing their work. But, let those cats from JJ OS truly get enterprising and decided to release a software version of the OS. Suddenly, cease and desist orders will flood their inboxes.. Way of the world, eh?

Anyway, as you can tell from the music that suddenly comes blaring through your headphones or speakers whenever you enter my page, I'm an aspiring producer. A little history behind some of the beats, you say? Why not...

Dillishis was kind of my tribute to Dilla without really aping his style. I kind of just poured my emotions into that one and that's what came out. That man truly changed my life since the first time I heard one of his productions, which was on the Pharcyde's "Runnin", followed shortly thereafter by Tribe's 1nce Again. Been hooked ever since.

Be Tough was me just trying to utilize this sample that I had sitting around for the longest (probably since like 2005). My original intent was to make this really 808 heavy, down south type of beat but with the ill vocal sample throughout. Needless to say, it didn't come out that way. But, maybe one day I will decide to "remix" it and get more closer to my original vision. I guess you could say that beat is the closest thing I have up that's "hip-hop".

I started as strictly hip hop but then this "electrocrunk" (the name I created for my type of music) just started coming out whenever I touched the keys. I'm trying really hard to get back into hip hop but it's kind of hard to get "reacquainted" with the sparseness that hip hop music entails. Not that I'm knocking it or anything, cause it still is the largest portion of my listening diet, but, it's just difficult. I want to add a synth here and some strings there EVERYTIME. ARRRGGHHHHH.

Funny story: I posted a link to some of my tracks over at the Crate Kings forum, and , what was the first thing most of the cats replied: "Why don't you make some hip hop; What's up with this electro stuff?; Where's the filtered samples?" You know, the prototypical closed-minded hip hop listener response. Dudes really need to raise up off that shit. I don't know when was the last time they saw Jel or El-P top the charts or go gold, but, they seem to think that stuff is God's gift to hip hop. And, don't get me wrong, I love that stuff. I listen to it way more than I do stuff like Akon or Souljaboy, but, that type of hip hop is very limited in the ears it will touch.

Electrocrunk is just some other shit. I knew this chick who was on this French comp and she let me hold the cd for a bit. I came across the ill sample and decide to freak it a bit. Since the beat had some much going on in it already (melodically), I decide to just append drums. Came out pretty ill, I think.

"Can't I Dream??" is that other OTHER shit. I kinda wanted to make something really impromptu, in the vein of Madlib's Beat Konducta stuff (which, for the most part, I don't really like, but, I digress...). Also, it was kind of powered with my frustration of not being where I want to be right now, as far as my musical aspirations. I just sort of feel that I'm making some pretty good shit and all these other hipster cats be getting all the praise on the internet for their off-kilter, Flylo and J. Dilla derivative beats. But, my lack of exposure is to a large degree my fault, so, I'll be working on correcting that soon.

Trancey was kind of my response record to Usher's Love In This Club. I REALLY liked that record and kind of wanted to challenge myself to create something similar but BETTER. And I think the BETTER part was affirmed for me when I found out that Polow (a cat that I still respect heavily) used two Garage Band loops to create that one. In the end, I can't knock that man because he got paid off of his lackadaisical effort and I'm still grinding. By the way, mine is totally original, inside and out.

I Need It was something I just wanted to knock out to create an R&B track for a boy of mine that sings. It is wholly original also. I kinda wanted to get that "Strawberry Fields" kind of thing going on with the flute in that song. Hopefully I came somewhat close. As you can tell, I still need to get a little work done with my bridges. I kind of "don't" know where to go, but I think I'll start maybe jumping to the relative minor of the scale used for the main portions or the 3 or 5th of said scale. If ya'll have any suggestions, holler.

New Wheels was just another ill ass sample that I came upon and just kept adding stuff until that which you hear came out. My boy claims it's my illest beat thus far. Don't know about that, cause, if you heard the shit I got coming??!! WHOOOOOO!!!

Lastly, is Neptuney. I guess, kind of my homage to the Neptunes and their exemplary discography. I think a lot of dudes tend to knock them, but, they are some of the most idiosyncratic yet successful producers known to the urban music genre. I'm like, who else can take cheap synth and string sounds, stock keyboard drums and percussion and come up with some shit that has serious replay value? While most electro bands continue with their self-masturbatory idealization of vintage gear and the records they love to emulate that were concocted from those pieces, these dudes were using whatever was at their disposal, including such frowned upon gear as the Korg Triton and Korg 01w. And, I say, WHY NOT. Fuck everyone that tells you need a specific piece of musical equipment in order to legitimize your art. FUCK THAT. Make good music and leave those bedroom producers in the same room of their house that they woke up in.

Now, in conclusion, I'd like to hip ya'll to this joint that got me going crazy for the past few days. It's a song by Brandy called "A Capella (Something's Missing)". I did an entire post over at OKP discussing this same track, so I won't take up any more space or time on my blog retreading the already trodden. I'll just let you peep and be the judge.

Just to let ya'll know, I think I might do an "official" release of my first beat tape, which will include the songs you hear on the left with maybe 1 or 2 additions. Let me know if ya'll interested in that.

Until then.... If you'd like to talk production techniques, exchange drums, talk about production styles, let me know.

P.S. If any of you guys can "correctly" identify any of the samples in any of my tracks, I'll hit you with a free drum break for you and you only.

Peace.

Heating That Ass Up Better Than The Hibachi

Well, here I am again. Been on a little Sabbatical and haven't really had much time to put up that niceness for ya'll. Here's some shit I came upon while trying to block out the noise that is so prevalent on my job. But, I'll tell you this little known fact: This is not the break that I originally wanted to lace ya'll with. I actually forgot the track that I had found that break on, so, just for ya'll, I'm going to have to go back and listen to all the albums I have ripped on my Sansa clip to see if I can find it. If I do, we good to go.

Anyway, no passes, no bullshit this time around. Just heat. And, oh yeah, that track in my now playing sig? That's a little bit of the same. Be sure to check out the man Kenny Fresh to find out what that's really all about.

Also, the .aiff file is in there this time for those who need all that extra fluff.

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Now playing: Hawthorne Headhunters - She Wanna (feat. JimiJames & Coultrain)
via FoxyTunes

Feels Like Another One...

Just so that ya'll can't say that I've left ya'll hanging. Here's another one. Gotta find that link though. Pass will be in the comments shortly. Also, wanted to let ya'll know that I've got a pretty interesting post going at Okayplayer where I'm trying to devise a Record Industry Rulebook. Check it out, ya'll might be able to glean something from it.

Also, I got a new track in the Reverbnation player to the left. It's called "Can't I Dream??". Feedback would be great.