#a very like. chopped and remixed sample style of doing his vocal lines. which is very cool 1) because it saves a bit of

[bmpmp3]

thank god for indie devs making like tiny little maximum 10 megabyte freeware games on itchio keeping the art of filesize optimization alive. ASSET REUSE FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[baeddel]

the way chopped & screwed as a style of remix imposes limits on you is interesting: there is a line that you can cross after which the song becomes unintelligible. if you chop too much you will drop the beat entirely, you will mangle the hook. and if you screw too much it will be too slow, the beat will plod along, the voices will be scarecely human gurgles. it is easy to make strange, abrasive, disturbing music this way, and this is why chopped & screwed led to various new experimental styles of music. but once you have explored these new regions you still want to return to chopped and screwed and the pleasures it offers, and to do that you must watch how it hems in the music and respect its borders. therefore chopped & screwed is a style where virtuosity is seldom praised; as they avoid overworking the material, the best hands are light ones.

look at it this way. it is popular now to chop and screw pop songs. DJ Screw left us a prototype for how to do this in his treatment of In the Air Tonight. how does he do it? he slows the song, but not excessively (it is six minutes to the original’s five). he makes one very subtle chop very early, as if to say ‘i am here, watching over the record.’ then he doesn’t touch it again until the very last bar of the song, where he makes another single cut as the track fades out. goddamn! this was a man who knew that elegance is in restraint. yet though the changes are small they are remarkably effective. you see, Screw grasped what was most beautiful in the song—the intensity of anticipation—and prolongs the anticipation. every rubato sighs for that many more moments, every riser takes that much longer to reach its acme. yet the climax that completes our anticipation is likewise prolonged. the song is brought precisely to the point where it emits its excessive intensity. one is reminded of Charles Rosen’s remark on the recapitulation of the Ninth Symphony, that “Beethoven had found a way of making an orgasm last for sixteen bars” (Screw is similarly minimal when handling Sade except for a mysterious seven seconds of complete silence a minute and a half into the song, preceded by a chop).

compare with OG Ron C’s chopped & screwed remix of Time After Time. this is a substantial remix with heavy hands. there are many things to admire about it; the addition of the Roland drum kit is very effective; the claps and cymbals repeat a familiar hip-hop pattern, and best of all, the kick is supplemented with an 808 (which i now miss in every other version). and Ron C layers the vocals with echoes, and creates backing vocals from treated samples (layering them until it resembles a gospel song), and chops these echoes and these backing vocals without interrupting the main line of the chorus. we admit that this is virtuosity in production; it is brilliant in many ways. but i don’t like this song and never listen to it. why listen to a ballad like Time After Time, especially why look for a slower version, if not to suffer its melancholy? yet it is just this that disappears under Ron C’s chorus.

[soaptunes]

Soap’s 2020 AOTY Reviews: JPEGMAFIA - EP!

This EP (!) is really just a collection of all the loose singles Peggy dropped on a roughly monthly basis over the course of 2020. Despite that, and maybe even because of it, it’s still a contender for best rap project of the year.

I feel like I’m getting tired of saying that JPEGMAFIA is one of the most creative artists making experimental hip-hop right now. Even more tired of that appellation is Peggy himself, who on one track here proudly shouts out, “Fuck the underground, I’m going pop.” Of course, on the same song (the raucous, clattering “COVERED IN MONEY!”) he claims he beats his dick when he looks in the mirror and compares his gun to Portia La Rossi’s strap-on, so. Take that as you will. 

It’s strange that Peggy’s 2019 album All My Heroes Are Cornballs is over a year old now. That isn’t that long ago, but a lifetime has happened since then, and the thing still sounds more immediate than most projects that dropped this year. The same is true of 2018’s Veteran, but both projects have some songs that fall short. I won’t get specific, this isn’t a review of those albums, but a few tracks on both are experiments that don’t pan out - they get lost in the weeds of harshness and strange samples, they lack strong hooks or funny bars, they follow an obscure groove that’s hard to get a handle on. EP! proves that cut down to its essential moments, a JPEGMAFIA record can be a 25-minute blast. 

This is only 8 songs, we can take it track-by-track, which I think we’ll be doing for any EP reviews I do on here.

The first song is “BALD!,” a song that dropped in February, just before the pandemic turned this singles series into a quarantine project. If your first thought is that the beat sounds like something out of an obscure Nintendo racing game, that’s because it is - the main sample here is from Ridge Racer 3D for the 3DS. In pretty much every picture of JPEGMAFIA you can find from before this song’s release, he’s wearing a bandana or sweatband or something around his forehead, but this song literally served as the announcement to his fanbase that he’d shaved his head. This is a fucking hilarious concept for a song to begin with, but the beat is genuinely pretty and Peggy’s flow is merciless. Knocking the breakbeats out from under the synths makes them wash out and sound like the audio equivalent of a shitty screensaver, which I mean in the best way possible. 

BEST BAR: “Hairline proof God needs balance, BALD.”

“COVERED IN MONEY!” is a serious contender for song of the year for me. I would absolutely love to watch this guy figure out a beat, because the instrumental on this goes unbelievably hard and simultaneously makes no sense at all. It’s squeaky, stomping, clattering, shambolic, and feels like it’s completely falling apart. Does a beat like this come together in his head first? The drum pattern is borderline nonsensical, did it just come from him messing around in ProTools? I would genuinely love to know, he’s seriously a gifted producer and I wish he’d produce more for other rappers. Somehow Peggy hops into a triplet flow on top of this wonderful mess, the overall impression ending up somewhere in the ballpark of a cartoon character rapping while bouncing on a rusty pogo stick. The man namedrops Ving Rhames, Cannibal Ox, Bernie Mac, and the aforementioned Portia La Rossi all on the same song, and he’s really out for blood on this one, it’s one of his best flows ever. The way he makes the listener wait for the “fuck the underground” line is flawless, he’s slipping between time signatures effortlessly. He does an amazing job of wrangling the herky-jerky rhythms of the beat on the hook, making one of his stickiest choruses yet with the instant-classic line about “borderline dressing in drag.” There’s a beat switch about halfway through the song, which Genius tells me is a second half tilted “The Devil Wears Prada,” but “BALD!” has a lyric about them fucking up his lyrics on Genius, so, you know. It’s not as much fun beat-wise but his bars are just as good, and the song ties up with Peggy repeatedly apologizing and claiming he’s just been “shitted on.” This track is a must-listen, in my opinion, definitely one of the best of the year.

BEST BAR: “I’m covered in money, I’m out for the bag, I flew out the country, borderline dressin’ in drag.”

The sensual R&B of “BODYGUARD!” isn’t a total departure from stuff Peggy has done before - “Jesus Forgive Me, I Am A Thot” had some of those vibes and “Free The Frail” proved that not only can he write a great melodic song, he’s a respectable singer. Bodyguard is Sexy Peggy coming to full fruition though, warm synths draping around  soft beats and lyrics that could’ve come out of any 90’s hit. Peggy’s ear for a nice chord progression is evident, and there’s still strange touches like clipped vocals, off-kilter melodies, background chatter, and what sounds like a bicycle chain winding as part of the beat. This one took awhile to grow on me but it definitely did, and it provides a much-needed moment of calm on the EP.

BEST BAR: N/A, but I do like “who’s gonna turn me? Bitches gotta earn me.”

Then comes the remix of “BALD!” with Denzel Curry. The beat kicks in in the same way as it did before, and Peggy’s first verse is identical, but the entire back two-thirds of the song is one furious verse from Denzel. At first, his section gets a more muscular version of the racing game beat, but midway through, Peggy drops the drums out and just lets Denzel do his thing over a skeletal, washed-out instrumental. He spans a wide array of topics, from his stress over violence in his hometown, to loss of touch with his friends, to how cutting his famous dreads let him feel freer and more in control of himself. It’s a very cool verse, and I appreciate him linking it back to the haircut theme in an original way.

BEST BAR: “Dreadlocks had your boy like Sideshow Bob”

“CUTIE PIE!” puts Peggy on a genuine boom-bap beat, with nonstop flexing about his production chops. He gets pretty specific, and the title is apt given how genuinely adorable the sounds on the beat are. This one rolls almost normal for a JPEGMAFIA song, and despite the trove of weird references and the colorful atmosphere, it feels almost like a breakthrough, like he’s being more realistic or candid in his boasting. Like these are genuine points of pride for him and not just braggadocio, you know? Props for the music video here too, it’s definitely one of the best of the bunch. Super distinctive and weird, with Peggy hiding behind cacti and dancing in the middle of the desert with a near-nude woman.

BEST BAR: “Your beats inaccurate, muddy low end and you over-compressin’, ‘cuz you don’t know what you doin’, so y’all be stackin’ it, don’t know the diff so they just hold and attack it.”

The beat on “THE BENDS!” is almost oppressive, orchestra hits and a glacial pace lending the track a dark atmosphere. Autotune slurs Peggy’s bars, and the lyrics are relentlessly cynical and bleak. His actual political beliefs are obfuscated behind humor like “caught a body in a MAGA hat” as usual, but he ends the song with a breathy “fuck Trump,” so that much is clear. The glowing synth lines under the heavy saw bass give the first verse a cinematic quality, the “fantasies, fantasies, fantasies” line only adding to that. This is one of the briefer cuts, and one of the weaker ones too, but even this one has a ton of personality. 

BEST BAR: “Strap on my hip ‘cuz I’m bitter and old, Mountain Dew sippers, they hating the scroll”

“ROUGH 7” is EP!’s only true miss, and it’s definitely not Peggy’s fault. The beat is shadowy and evasive, and his verse is ice-cold, but the featured rapper, Tommy Genesis, kind of flattens the song. Her adlibs are cringe-inducing and her rapping is flat and devoid of personality, she tries to do the emo-rap scream double-track but it doesn’t work with her style, especially since what she’s rapping about isn’t tragic or even sad at all. The track picks up instantly once Peggy comes on, as usual he can slither into the cracks of an unusual beat and inject his cartoonish, acrobatic character into it. This is a topically unremarkable verse by JPEGMAFIA standards, but he leans into the beat’s rhythms like on “COVERED IN MONEY!” and it ends up working out in his favor and restabilizing the song by the close. His dejected “wow.” and “huh.” and “nasty.” adlibs help make it too, it’s really kind of ridiculous to compare his adlibs to Genesis’s.

BEST BAR: “Light a square n*** up like Billie Jean.”

Peggy closes the EP with “living single,” probably the second-best song either. He sings a surprisingly heartfelt interpolation of Mariah Carey’s “Always Be My Baby” as the hook, bringing to mind his has-to-be-heard-to-be-believed cover of “Call Me Maybe.” This beat could pass for vaporwave, its slurred groove and downshifted vocal snippets lending an atmosphere to it like Peggy is sitting outside a club smoking after too much alcohol. The stabbing synth riff that breaks through the fuzz keeps him on his toes and lets him work up a relatively speedy flow over the dazed instrumental. I’m not sure why I rate this one so highly, but the vibes are excellent and this is one of the best verses on the project for sure, it’s another one where he really hooks his flow into the off-kilter lurch of the beat. That may be my favorite thing about him as a rapper, the way he can tie himself to a beat and make sure it’s working for him instead of being outshined by it, even if it’s completely insane.

BEST BAR: “Champagne for the pain and sufferin’, fans same color as voice of Tim Duncan” 

Hoo, I wrote a ton about that. Maybe I won’t go track by track for the next EP, this is way too long already. In any case, I think due to its brevity and release method this great little record is going to get passed up on a ton of year-end lists, which is a damn shame. It has easily some of JPEGMAFIA’s best work on it - with no time for filler or botched experiments, Peggy delivered a tight, consistent, outrageously entertaining experimental rap joyride.

[airadam]

Episode 122 : Drop It Heavy

"Scripture tell me no one excluded when rain drippin'..."

- Tobe Nwigwe

This month has been a rough one, but here we are once again with a brand new selection for your headphones and speakers! We remember the great KMG, and then sprinkle the selection with some strong UK tracks, overlook gems, rapid genre jumping, and one absolutely amazing remix. While individually there aren't many obscurities in the mix, I'll be impressed if anyone already knows every track on here...

Twitter : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Above The Law : V.S.O.P (Remix)

Been waiting a long time to play this one - it was quite a few years of looking to find a decent 12" copy (thanks Discogs!), and then it was one I was determined to save for an anniversary of KMG's passing. The original from the excellent "Black Mafia Life" is proto-G-Funk, but this version puts a just a touch of extra chaos (and bass) into the mix, courtesy of Cold 187um on both occasions. An ode to late-night partying and cognac, but still bringing the battle edge to the second verse, this has KMG handling the hook solo but going back and forth with Cold 187um on the mic. A much underrated tag team from the west!

Jigmastas : Too Ill (Instrumental)

I love the fact that the "Resurgence" album came with a complete set of instrumentals, just so you can get that DJ Spinna flavour undiluted - here's just a taste!

Tobe Nwigwe ft. FAT : PEEP GAME

Another #GetTwistedSundays killer! I'm bringing this Texan back for a second appearance in the last four months, with a track I think a lot of you will really enjoy. The producer Nell brings a fresh style, with some great change-ups in the beat - and the other half of the bargain is held up with skills galore. Tobe absolutely crams meaning (and syllables) into his devastating monotone flow, and his wife FAT provides a great spoken-word-like breakdown in an efficient eight-bar appearance. This is a trio of brilliant artists (along with their video crew) doing amazing things.

BADBADNOTGOOD ft. Kaytranada & Snoop Dogg: Lavender (Nightfall Remix)

Canada's BBNG first released the original version of this track on their "IV" album, but Snoop Dogg heard it and somehow knew it could benefit from his own unique enhancement! This version ended up as an inclusion on his 2017 "Neva Left" album; his added verse addressing police brutality, in addition to the controversial video, thrust it into the consciousness of a much larger audience. 

DRS : All Time High

I was reminded of this track from the new "From The Deep" LP when DRS performed it live at a Manchester International Festival event recently. He's one of the most important artists the Manchester scene has ever had, with his influence spreading far and wide - whether fully acknowledged or not. While he's now mostly known for his drum & bass work, he was of course one-third of Broke 'n' English (alongside Strategy and Konny Kon) and this album has him displaying his Hip-Hop skills over the production of Pitch 92. 

Lowkey : Hand On Your Gun

If you like politics in your Hip-Hop, then Lowkey is someone you should definitely be checking for - a British MC of Iraqi descent, he brings his worldview to the mic with strength every time. His second album, "Soundtrack To The Struggle" gives us this stinging condemnation of some of the big players in the global arms trade, with ShowNProve providing the Wild West-themed track.

Kaytranada ft. Karriem Riggins and River Tiber : Bus Ride

A nice instrumental from the "99.9%" album. The guest star Karriem Riggins gets busy on the drums in a subtle way through most of the track before showing out right at the end with a little double-time flair!

Children of Zeus : Respect Mine

"Travel Light" is now a year old and it's still getting just as much play as it did on release! Juga-Naut on production, Mr.Thing on the sharp cuts, and Tyler and Konny Kon putting it down on the mic make up a major league quartet.

Robert Glasper Experiment ft. Norah Jones : Let It Ride

As strong as this track is, it's not even one of my top three from "Black Radio 2", which speaks to just how good that album is! Mark Colenburg earns his money on the double-time drumming that you'd think had to be a programmed drum machine, setting a furious pace that the rest of the groove languidly follows. The bass and piano are low-key and do their thing without upstaging Norah Jones on the vocal of this classy cut.

Janelle Monáe : Cold War

This is an absolutely furious cut. The video is definitely worth a watch - similar to the one for Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U", it stays focused on her face for the entire running length and is packed with emotion, as are the lyrics. Clearly one of the standouts on "The ArchAndroid", with the themes of isolation and struggle articulated by one of the best artists of this era.

OutKast : B.O.B

I've been wanting to do the blend from "Cold War" to this for ages! One of my favourite tracks from this duo, this pretty much made my brain explode when I first heard it back in 2000. I was surprised to find out recently that this wasn't a big hit even on the R&B/Hip-Hop charts, but they were actively trying to go against the grain and a lot of the audience probably just wasn't ready. To me, this is Andre and Big Boi at the peak of their lyrical games, keeping up with a track that really would fit the name "organised noize" - but was actually produced by the group themselves alongside Mr.DJ. That's a real gospel choir you're hearing on the hook and the outro, a really serious guitarist letting loose all over the track, and a real MPC being beaten into submission for those drums. Stone classic from the "Stankonia" LP. Oh, and "got a son on the way by the name of Bamboo"? Well, time flies...

[The Alchemist] Cam'ron : Wet Wipes (Instrumental)

This fit the bill here as something electronic-sounding that was also half the speed of the frenetic OutKast track, allowing us to come back down to earth a bit. The Alchemist cooked up a thudding, menacing beat for what was a typically disrespectful Cam'ron track from 2006's "Killa Season". This was actually Alchemist's first MPC beat (he was a devotee of the ASR-10 up to this point) and has the chopping and aggression that is very reminiscent of a track he did years later, Raekwon's "Surgical Gloves".

The Lady of Rage : Raw Deal

I finally sat down to listen to the "Necessary Roughness" album from front to back for the first time recently, and I can confirm that it was indeed slept-on. This was probably a consequence of it being pushed further and further back by Death Row, until it finally got a very quiet release in 1997. If you'd forgotten about the skills that made her a people's favourite, here's a reminder over a Daz Dillinger and Tyrone Wrice beat, laid-back enough to give her the space to get busy. 

Glenn Lewis : Don't You Forget It (Curtis Lynch Remix)

FIRE 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥! The original Glenn Lewis cut from "World Outside My Window") has always been a favourite of mine, and it's one you don't want to mess up with a clumsy remix - for example, the Desert Storm attempt with the most "missing the point" guest rap verse in music history. I can't remember how I found this one, but it stunned me - the re-interpretation is perfect. Lewis is from Trinidadian and Jamaican roots, and the move to connect with someone like London's Curtis Lynch for this remix was a natural but also an inspired move. It sounds like this one has been re-voiced rather than just swapping instrumentals, and it's a rootsy dancehall masterpiece with the drums, bass, and every single accent on point. Turn this one all the way up!

London Grammar : Non Believer

I'm not even sure what genre you'd count this as - Wikipedia claims "indie pop", but even that doesn't quite hit the mark. For me there are definite vibes of what they used to call "trip-hop" - I can imagine previous eras of Portishead or Massive Attack doing a tune like this. This track from "Truth Is A Beautiful Thing" is itself a melancholic beautiful thing, with Hannah Reid's crystal-clear vocals soaring over the moody beat.

Sean Price & Illa Ghee : 2Pac by the Locker

If you know "Juice", you know what this title is all about! I'd describe the track as "short and sweet", if there was anything remotely street about it. Sean P and Illa Ghee come through like a pair of brass knuckles as they do on every other cut on the "Metal Detectors" EP - just beasting.

Jake One : Gangsta Boy (Instrumental)

Coming through slamming like a new take on Dre's "Lyrical Gangbang", this is a monster of a beat from Jake One's "White Van Music Instrumentals". It had to be, since the MCs on the vocal version are the rugged neva smoove M.O.P.

Raekwon : Canal Street

Raekwon is one of the greatest picture painters in Hip-Hop history and this is an absolute art masterclass. From the first lines "All of our fathers is bank robbers, holding TECs/Eights of hero'n, shooting in the steps" he grabs your mind's eye and never lets it go until the track ends. Flawless street imagery all the way from "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx...Pt.II" to such an extent that the video actually takes away from it! Icewater Productions bring a fairly well-used sample in that brings the crime-flick menace the lyrical content demands. One nice touch on the production side - the sudden turn up of the volume in a matter of a beat or two in the transition from the intro to the first verse - definitely makes it hit you in the chest.

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

  Check out this episode!

[jazzreloaded]

More beats than your mama gave you...

Jeremy Sylvester is a highly influential and prolific Producer in Drum and Bass, UK Garage and House . As well as his famed solo work, he claims a huge backlist of remixes and has been a regular collaborator with many established dance producers. He was involved in jungle-drum and bass production in the early 1990s before his more permanent venture into mid-tempo dance music. Jeremy is known almost as well for the number of aliases he uses as he is for the quality of his output.

The backbone of UK Garage – The Drums

A solid drum groove is the most essential element in any UK Garage track. Shuffling swung beats give UK Garage its unique stamp, so when building your drum pattern its important to set your quantize/swing groove to between 50-56%. This will set the tone for the rest of the elements added later on. A good tip is to start creating your drum patterns from a good drum kit, beginning with the kick drum. Spend time searching for good sounds. For 4x4 Garage tracks, a strong punchy kick drum that’s not too bass heavy naturally with a nice mid range frequency is the perfect starting point for any groove. This will leave head room for when you start to look for sounds for the bass to create bass line patterns later on.

Once you’ve decided what kick you are going to go with, which can always be changed later on, search for a nice crispy clap, but try to take some release off it and shorten the length of it, if it has to much sustain. You want it to sound quite short and sharp, but not too short so that you can still hear the natural sound of it. From here begin to add all of the other elements of your pattern. It is very important to keep the groove simple, with enough space in the groove to add all your other sounds later on, so keep that in mind. Lots of people make the mistake, I included by over complicating the drums. Less is more as they say. The key is to make every element of your pattern have a role, so every drum element is there for a reason. Another good tip is to make several patterns, all slightly different to give your overall groove some variety. When programming drums, imagine you are a ‘Drummer’ and how a drummer plays to help you construct patterns.

Try to keep the kick drum and other bass parts in mono and other drum parts such as hi hats in stereo to give the groove a nice spread. Keep your hi hats neat and tidy. Another good tip is to try and keep effects on the drums to a bare minimum. Too much FX such as reverb can drown out the groove and make it too wet thus loosing the energy of the drums. This will be very noticeable over a club sound system. Additionally, try playing around with the pitch of the sounds. De-tuning kick drums or percussive elements of your groove will bring another dimension to your pattern and completely change the overall vibe.

Chords, Stabs & Melodies

As well as the groove drum pattern, another important element of UK Garage is the melodic structure. If you are not a keyboard like like most people, then you can always use one shots / hits to help you. One shots can be in the form or short chord keyboard hits, bass notes, percussive sounds or synth stabs. When creating a pattern, try to listen to the drum groove you have and work with it, not against it. The rhythmic pattern of your melody must compliment the groove, in other words, the drum pattern and the melody line must ‘talk to each other’. It must become part of the groove. Try using low –pass filters automated by an envelope with effects to manipulate and create movement with the sound and add reverb for depth and warmth. Use parameter controls over velocity maps for example to control cutoff and decay. This will create shape and by adding compression to it will really bring out your sound to new life.

If you are going for a rhythmic UK garage 4x4 style, space is important. When I mentioned above about ‘Less is more’, it really means something here. Picture a melody in your head and imagine how people will be ‘dancing’ to it. This will determine the way you create your melodic groove pattern. UKG melodic patterns tend to be ‘off beat’ grooves and not straight line groove patterns. This is what gives it its unique style and vibe. When choosing sounds, try to look for rich harmonic sounds. Obscure jazzy chords, deep house chord stabs or even sounds sampled from classic keyboard synths such as Yamaha’s Korg M1 keyboard for those classic organ sounds.

Arrangement

When arranging your song, always keep the DJ in mind and imagine how he/she will be mixing your track within their Dj set. The intro is very important for Dj’s as this allows them enough room to mix your track into another. Make your arrangement progress in 16 bar sections, so the DJ and the clubber knows when to expect changes within the song. Within each of these sections, some elements of the groove may consist of 1, 2, 4 or 8-bar repeating patterns. These elements tend to move around by adding, removing or altering every four or eight bars.

Breakdowns tend to be in the middle of the track, so if you have a track that is 6 minutes, you can drop the breakdown around the 3 min mark. There is no hard & fast rule to this, so use your imagination, this is only intended as a guide. You could also have a mini breakdown either side of this, for instance right after the intro and just before the first major section of the song when everything is in. Try to be imaginative and try different arrangement ideas. You could start with drums then lead into some intro vocals then the mini drop, or you could start with a non-percussive intro building up into a percussive drum section and into the main section of the song, its totally up to you and depends on the elements you have within your song. Another good tip is to finish the final section of your sing with drums. This is something a DJ really likes, as it allows once again for them to start mixing in another track within their Dj set.

Vocals & Vocal Chops

Garage is known for its very percussive vocal chops which is an essential part of the genre, especially when you are doing ‘Dub versions’. You can use various kinds of midi based samplers and software instruments to do this. Back in the day, Akai samplers were very popular. You would chop up and edit sounds within the device and map it across a keyboard and play it manually. Nowadays there are many different ways of doing this such as Ableton Live sampler or ES24 being the most popular. Have a play around with vocals by chopping up samples every syllable. You could have a short vocal phrase of 5-6 words, but once chopped up and edited you can create double or even treble the amount of samples allowing you possibilities to manipulate the phrase in any way you want, even completely disguising the original vocal hook. Map out these vocals across a keyboard of matrix editor and have fun coming up with interesting groove vocal patterns over your groove pattern. Try adding effects and filters and play around with the sound envelopes in much the same way you would with ‘one shot chord sounds’ as explained earlier. Treat the vocals as a percussive element of the track, but listening to the melody and lyrical content so it still makes sense to what the track is about. It’s a good idea to program 4-5 variations to choose from.

[tune-collective]

Will Vance Shares Production Tips And Releases 'Dry Spell,' Final Therapeutic Single Off Of 'Days Go By' EP

Will Vance Shares Production Tips And Releases 'Dry Spell,' Final Therapeutic Single Off Of 'Days Go By' EP

Will Vance is not only premiering the final release ‘Dry Spell’ off of his new EP Days Go By, but has shared a very in-depth article to help producers improve their game. Below, Will shared 5 production elements producers should focus on to improve their renderings. You can hear Will’s latest release and his list post below. Also, check out past Will Vance posts on Tune Collective here.

https://soundcloud.com/thnktnkrecs/will-vance-days-go-by

Written by Will Vance

Chords

Chords are the backbone of the style of music I create. They are the first thing I do, and they need to be completely dialed in before moving on to the next part of the production. But having the standard I-V-vi-IV progression over four bars can get monotonous after two or three songs, so this is where I turn to the Greats to see how they work their magic.

Having a three chord progression, but holding the third chord out for an extra bar can really give the musical phrase room to breathe. It creates a sense of anticipation that draws the listener into the next section of the loop. At the same time, if gives the musical arrangement some extra space to fill with more a more complex motif or melodic fill!

Another way to spice up your chord progressions is by bumping the chords forward or backward by an 1/8th note. It leaves the chords to be played in the pocket between the kick drums, and can often give a rolling sense to the chords which by themselves might feel quite static. My favorite label to turn to for this is any producer releasing music off of Einmusika Recordings.

Arrangement of the Breakdown

I tend to produce driving melodic music that can often air on the side of the trance genre. That usually means that a massive breakdown will be an essential component of the track. They tend to be upwards of a minute or longer, and being able to maintain a sense of progression, energy, and interest throughout these more ephemeral sections can be quite tricky. Taking tips from the masters, how they use effects or how the bring elements back in, can be an essential part of creating a truly epic breakdown.One thing I always check for is how long they let the tails of the synths, effects, and reverbs drain out before even introducing the initial melodies of the breakdowns. If you have a massive drop with tons of effects and synths building out of the drop, you can easily have those tail out for eight bars or more (this alone is going to take up close to fifteen seconds of your drop, filling it with blissful goodness).

One thing I always check for is how long they let the tails of the synths, effects, and reverbs drain out before even introducing the initial melodies of the breakdowns. If you have a massive drop with tons of effects and synths building out of the drop, you can easily have those tail out for eight bars or more (this alone is going to take up close to fifteen seconds of your drop, filling it with blissful goodness).

Another takeaway you can get from referencing the pros’ arrangement is to have a better understanding of how to introduce some of the more percussive elements to the mix. The standard snare rolls do not always do the trick alongside my subtle melodies and atmospheres. So finding interesting ways to bring the top loops back in or maybe just the backbeats to establish a rhythmic sense again can do wonders in bringing back the energy during the back half of the breakdown section. It goes without saying that any Anjunabeats production will be as perfect starting point for these styles of breakdowns.

Basslines

Once I have done my chords, the next thing I do is bass line. Club music needs this backbone to be perfect, so it is always good to reference how the top-level DJs create theirs. The first thing to check is to see where you want the main focus of the listener’s attention to be. If it is going to be massive chords or complex melodies, the bass line will be rather minimal and act more to just keep the low end rolling along without distracting away from those epic synth lines. Listen to almost any record off of Lee Burridge’s label All Day I Dream, and you will see pristine examples of this.

But if it is a more hard hitting house record, chances are the melodies are acting more as support to the drums and bass of the track. These are the tunes where you can truly go wild with sound design and notation. Rolling bass lines that span the length of two octaves or more while playing every note in the scale are totally doable given that you don’t also have some focal top line playing over the bass. It is all a balance of power between the music and the groove, and having references on hand will save you so much time by not having to blindly shoot in the dark.

An amazing trick I have picked up by listening to Yotto’s records is how he often has two basslines going. The first is a low-lying syncopated sub-bass that rolls along to keep the groove. The second is paired with an utterly massive Moog-sounding synth that absolutely smacks you in the face. The two paired together creates a phenomenal low end that lights any dance floor on fire. I have used this trick to great effect in a couple of my tunes, and it works wonders.

Extending Simple Ideas into Drawn out Songs

If you say you never struggle getting past the loop phase, you’re a liar. We slave away getting the perfect chords together to pair with this wicked bass line, and then dazzle the high end with dancing arpeggiators and heavy pads. . . but then what? We know the common trick of stealing the structures of our favorite songs, but you can do more than just that having your drop be at the same place as Martin Garrix’s, or having a minute long intro just like your favorite song.

Listen to your reference songs very very closing, and see exactly how they are using the instrumentation to create a sense of seamless progression. A trick that I like to do is after the intro is all fleshed out, bringing the full bass in with all the filters open, but only playing the first note of the entire sequence. This saves the full notation for when I want the peak section of the song to b, while still starting off the song with a bang (kind of similar to how all your favorite action movies start off with a car chase or gun fight to really lock in your attention). The song Alcine by the artist Clavis does this phenomenally and is one of the best club records I have heard in a while. A small blip-like arpeggiator beings opening up fairly early in the song, and the envelopes continue to build the sound all throughout the intro growing bigger and bigger effectively turning a simple sawtooth arp line into almost two minutes of attention for the listener before the bass line even considers being introduced.

You can see in the screenshot included how I have almost one sustained bass note playing all throughout, and then when the hook comes in the bass begins to play the entire phrase. By the time the listener even has the opportunity to hear the entire phrasing of the song, I’ve sucked them into almost two minutes of introductory ideas while I was building up that suspense.

To accompany this post, I have included a handful of some of my favorite tracks that I use as references to pick ideas from. Listen to this playlist while you’re reading this post, and refer to some of my favorite elements in each tune to see exactly how I actively listen to music to gain new ideas.

1) Just Her- Let Myself Go: Overall the drum kit in this track in beyond compare. It is punchy and cohesive, and I could listen to just the percussions forever. I could easily see myself taking elements from the shuffle hats and the chugging tom patterns to use in my own tunes.

2) Thomas Schwartz and Fausto Canizza – Rae: Two things stand out in this song. First is the tom patterns and how they pan between the speakers that crate and interesting sequence that stands out while mixing into this tune during a set. The second is the use of two bass lines. They have a more ambient sustained bass that sounds very very Anjunadeep-like, then they have a shorter midrange bass that plays a more aggressive sequence.

3) Clavis – Alcine: As discussed in the post, I love how this song takes simple ideas and develops them over a longer period of time. The art starts as a small blip and works into a full melody. Another thing to note is the contrast between sections, the arpeggiators and drums are more straight forward and easy listening, then the bass line comes in with an obscene amount of energy.

5) Yotto – Personal Space: Again as stated in the post, the use of a sub bass and mid range bass truly has a chance to shine. Also, pay attention to the pairing of the melodies against the bass line. The chords are straightforward enough to where they don’t distract at all from the two bass lines that are playing.

6) Jynx – Calm Mind: This old school vibe of the drums is my go to reference for that old school vibe and bouncing house pattern. I think they used old hip-hop samples for their drums to achieve that vinyl sampled sound. Plus the use of those vocal chops are insane, bravo guys.

7) Amtrac – Renton: I use a ton of vocal bits in my tunes, so I am always looking for good ways to use vocal hits and bits creatively. This is a perfect example of this, but done in a way I think is incredible.

8) Moby – Natural Blues (Kidnap Kid Remix): The use of the short “ooh” sample as a small hook is a great way to add a small blip that your dance floor can latch on to and draw them into the next bar of the beat. It doesn’t have to be a vocal sample, but any element that can fulfill this same purpose is a handy trick to have up your sleeve.

9) MOHN -The Night (Deep Mix) : Always an avid fan of humanized elements in songs, the fact that they used laughter samples as a melodic fill in between sections in quite clever. Try checking out FreeSounds.Org for a whole library of open-sourced sound bites to use in similar ways.

10) Eli & Fur – Hold Me Down: One of the biggest techno tunes of the year thus far, this is another good reference for drum programming. They have a midrange percussion pattern that plays a call and response throughout the entire tune. It is unique enough to stand out as it is being mixed into a DJ set, and the second you hear it coming up you know that Eli & Fur is being brought into the mix.

11) Lane 8 – Midnight: This is a perfect reference on how to get a lot out of a little. The piano chords and arpeggiator are the main components of this track, and Lane 8 gets so much mileage out of them. Also note how the bass line is very simple, just a sub bass rolling along so that no attention at all is detracted from those chords and arms.

12) Lane 8 – Diamonds: This song is a great way to see how to work small and intricate details into the song, especially in terms of melodies. Every few bars, Lane 8 wiggles in a small bubbling rift that connects different sections and washes over the transitions.

Production craft is everything when making electronic music. Shoutout to Will Vance for taking the time here. If this type of content is up your alley, check out Point Blank Music School and the professional, educational offerings they have on their website.

Follow Will Vance: SoundCloud | Facebook

http://tunecollective.com/2017/03/10/will-vance-point-blank-music-school-dry-spell/

[airadam]

Episode 97 : In A Project Near You

"Permanent. Physical. Suffering."

- Prodigy

The eighth birthday of the podcast, but a rough month in the world. A last-minute change to the selection for this episode opened up the inclusion of some verses by Prodigy of Mobb Deep, who passed away just a few days ago. On top of the musical tribute, the title and artwork of this episode are inspired by Prodigy quotes from two different cuts - "G.O.D Pt. III" and "Mac 10 Handle" respectively. As always with a birthday episode, I like to break some favourites out, and I think that there are some classic mixes to be heard this month. Let me know what you think! 

PS - If you got a copy of the podcast last month (ep.96) with the repeated "pull it up selector" sample before the first voiceover, it got fixed within the first few hours, so if you re-download it's gone. Maybe the broken version is a virtual collector's item? ;)

Playlist/Notes

Nas : The World Is Yours (Tip Mix)

One of the all-time great remixes, and one of a track which was a classic to begin with! Q-Tip comes through with a stripped down beat headlined by absolutely perfect boom-bap drums, and Nas slightly changes the lyrics from the original version heard on "Illmatic". While we're here - everyone who listens to this podcast should have heard "Illmatic" at least once. It's an unmissable landmark.

Non Phixion : 5 Boros (Remix 'Instrumental')

Ok, let me get this out of the way - we DJs don't want your "TV Track". Just give us a plain instrumental, without adlibs and hooks, and we're good. This beat is a prime example of one I'd like a clean copy of - DR Period with an absolute monster which is streets ahead of the Necro-produced original. The vocal version appeared on the show all the way back on episode 13, and it's well worth going back for a listen!

IAM ft. Sunz of Man : La Saga

I think this is one that most people won't know, and understandably so. I came across this on "Yo! MTV Raps" many moons ago and was surprised by two things; firstly, that this French crew had got a Wu-Fam feature at a time when that was a rare thing, and secondly - how amazingly extravagant the video production was! The episode 68 notes alluded to this one, which I was saving for a special occasion. I got this on the "Le Flow" compilation of French Hip-Hop, but it's originally from the album "L'ecole Du Micro L'argent".

Group Home : Up Against The Wall (Getaway Car Mix)

Another classic 90s remix, appearing on one of DJ Premier's finest projects, the debut Group Home album "Livin' Proof". Those drums, that piano - perfection. Group Home might not have been the greatest MCs in the world (although I do think Lil' Dap is generally underrated), this album got the most out of them.

Royal Flush : Can't Help It

A great tune from the "Ghetto Millionaire" album. Prince Kaysaan on the beat bringing some 80s soul flavour to the beat, filtering down to the bassline during the verses in that early-mid 90s style with the slapping drums to match! On the mic, Royal Flush is kind of laid back in the style of a Mic Geronimo, and Khadejia reworks Michael Jackson on the hook. Here for it.

Prodigy : You Can Never Feel My Pain

I almost played this on the show a couple of times this year, but it just didn't fit the mixes. With the passing of Prodigy this month, I asked a few people if they thought it'd be appropriate to include it this episode, and everyone agreed. A great closer to P's first solo album, "H.N.I.C", this is an extraordinary track where he goes in depth about his lifelong battle with Sickle-Cell Anaemia, a blood disease primarily found in Black and other tropic-originating people. The lyrics feature what could be regarded as some shots at 2Pac, which likely stemmed from Pac's entirely unwarranted mocking of Prodigy's illness on "Hit 'Em Up". Ric Rude's production is a great backdrop for an intensely personal song.

Mobb Deep : Temperature's Rising

For most people, it's "Shook Ones, Pt. 2", but this is my personal favourite track on the second (yes, second) Mobb Deep album "The Infamous". Lyrically it's as dark as you'd expect from the Queensbridge duo - based on the true story of Havoc's now late brother, who had been on the run for murder - but musically, it's so smooth. This was Q-Tip at  for me, the height of his producing powers, alongside the Mobb. The drums bang hard and then the beautiful Patrice Rushen sample comes in, and Crystal Johnson's hook tops it all off. Prodigy, Havoc, Q-Tip and Crystal created a classic.

Yadava : For Peace

Time to chill things out for a little while! Yadava, resident and co-founder of the Manchester night "So Flute" cooks up something fresh and clean for the "Manchester With Love" compilation, a mammoth gathering of music from the city which is raising money for the Red Cross "We Love Manchester" emergency fund. With a cause like that, and a package of 226 tracks for a minimum donation of £10, I can't recommend highly enough that you get a copy!

Chaka Khan : I Feel For You

Trivia for you - the repeated triggering of Melle Mel saying "Chaka Khan" at the start was a mistake that sounded good, so they stayed with it! This is an absolute monster of a record, with star quality at every turn. For one, Chaka Khan was already a legendary singer at this point, primarily for fronting the funk group Rufus. Featuring in the band, you had some guy called Stevie playing the harmonica (you may have heard of him), and David Frank of The System on the synths. That's not even counting Melle Mel's opening bars. Finally, this song was written by Prince, and actually recorded by him on his second album. Rebbie Jackson and The Pointer Sisters also recorded versions, but which is the one that gets the play? This. Fire.

Suga Free : Hello, Hello, Hello

Sorry Lionel and Adele, but this is in fact the best song with only the word "Hello" in the title ;) "Hello, hello, hello" could easily have been the epigraph for an episode just because of how fly Free's delivery is! Typically outrageous in both ways on the mic, he just slays this old-school flavoured beat from Casino on the "Sunday School" LP.

Clipse ft. Keri Hilson : All Eyes On Me

I cannot work out why this song from "Til The Casket Drops" never got a single release with a video. The Neptunes on production cooked up a beat here which could easily have done well in the clubs, and has been used on many a dance routine! One of the high points of this track is the first line of the hook; I'm not sure if it's intentional, but Keri Hilson delivers it kind of void of emotion - and it works. Maybe it's just me?

Run The Jewels : Call Ticketron

This cut from "RTJ3" has been powering me through skipping (or "jump rope", as some call it) workouts at the gym over the last few months. Crazy hectic, full of energy - if they ever did play at MSG, the place would go nuts over this one!

Miguel Migs ft. Aya : The Distance (Balcazar & Sordo Remix)

The original version of "The Distance" from "Outside The Skyline" is a beauty, and almost got included here, but when I remembered this remix and tried the blend out...it had to be the choice. I do wish they'd used "into the distance" from the original hook here, but that's my only complaint. Aya's vocals are always smooth as silk, and is a great accompaniment to the cold (in a good way), electronic instrumental. Definitely worth checking the remixes release if this kind of thing is your bag!

Trae The Truth : Open Up Tha Trunk

Slow, dark, unnecessarily menacing? Sign me up! Freestyle from the "Another 48 Hours" project by Trae which, as the title suggests, was apparently completed in just two days. Moxiii and Watson The Great come through with an insanely gloomy beat, with the slowed vocal sample for the hook making it sound even more claustrophobic. Teenage me had never heard beats like this, but was trying to make them - would have loved this! 

Curren$y : Take You Higher

Cool & Dre go to town with the sample warping and filter tricks right here for the opener of the "Andretti 11/30" mixtape! Curren$y goes with a common theme of his - smoking up and getting lifted. Nothing complicated lyrically, and he cedes control of the track after just one verse to let the producers show off, which is a smart decision. When you've said all there is to say, why not step back?

Corinne Bailey Rae : Taken By Dreams

Leeds! It's been special to see Corinne Bailey Rae's career continue to build, and her latest album, "The Heart Speaks In Whispers" is a worthy addition to her catalogue. I love the way this track opens as a quite acoustic number, then brings in a wave of other elements before settling back into stillness at the end; great production by Corinne and Steven Brown. And if you ever get chance to see her perform live, do.

Wretch 32 ft.Varren Wade, Bobii Lewis & Avelino : Open Conversation & Mark Duggan

The man Mr Mari put me up on Wretch 32 a few months back and after doing a little listening, this went into headphone rotation and I was searching for a way to work it into the show. Wretch 32 started his career in the grime scene before transitioning over to more of a Hip-Hop sensibility, and his "Growing Over Life" album is a considered piece of work. This track, as he describes it, starts as very much like pages from his diary, with feelings and details that many will be able to relate to. When he starts talking about Mark Duggan, bear in mind that this is someone from his area, someone he actually went to school with - not just a person on the news. The track runs slightly short here, but it's definitely worth hearing the whole thing.

Beyoncé : Sorry (Instrumental)

Had to do a little looping and chopping to get enough of an instrumental bed to fit here, just using the intro which I think is killer. Wynter Gordon, Melo-X, Beyonce, Hit-Boy, and Stuart White are all credited with the production of this cut from the "Lemonade" album.

Oddisee : Like Really

Sometimes, you look at the madness out here, that's your reaction. Taken from Oddisee's latest album "The Iceberg", this was a track I first heard live and very much benefits from the input of live instrumentalists. Oddisee has always been a quality artist since his days working with people like DJ Jazzy Jeff and Foreign Exchange, but I never saw him expanding as much as he has done; it's a testament to hard work and commitment to the art, not the fame.

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!