![blitz op native sun fat beats[1]](https://instrumology.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/blitz-op-native-sun-fat-beats1.jpg?w=300&h=200)
![op scribble live beatmaking[1]](https://instrumology.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/op-scribble-live-beatmaking1.jpg?w=203&h=300)
![gio da g[1]](https://instrumology.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/gio-da-g1.jpg?w=300&h=300)
Pri: I started learning how to produce back in early 2000. My current production focus is on film and television, which include licensing placements with MTV & Viacom.
My son’s father, Afrobluu, was a DJ and producer (We started as a hip hop group and well…..you know…lol…a child was born). We had a home filled with crates and equipment. One day I asked him to teach me how to DJ (I’m not a DJ now, so obviously that didn’t work…lol), then he purchased a Tascam Porta One and that became the very first piece of equipment I learned to use. Back then you had to double up on tracks in that machine like a motha’ to create a song! However, I stuck it out and then moved on to chopping samples in the ASR and EPS keyboards with a Protools set-up. By that time I had found my own style, which tends to be very dark…hence the name “Pri the Honeydark”, and it was on from there!
I like working with my crew The Anomolies, which includes Invincible, Helixx C, Big Tara and DJ Kuttin’ Kandi. We are an all female Hip Hop collective. Each individual has a unique style that challenges me to work in various genres.
Pri: After the ASR and EPS, I moved on to Propellerhead Reason. I found out about it by accident after bumping into someone who used it while I was shopping for new equipment at Rogues Music Store in NYC. At that time the Reason software was kind of low key. I had never heard of it, but once I used it for the first time, I knew I found what I had been seeking to go further and I have been using it ever since. My keyboard trigger is an M-Audio 61 Key. I also have Logic, but rarely use it. I tried the drum machine set up, but I just feel more comfortable playing keys. I also use loaded midi keys to play keyboard drums, which I use a lot to make certain tracks sound more live. I hope ONE day, I will have a large enough space to store, learn and play on a real drum set….sigh.
WE are back with the BOOM BAP! Sorry for the breif absence of Instrumology.com. I know that a lot of you were wondering what happened to the articles and interviews? Well, for the past few months, I have been promoting my Instrumology 2 album (Available on iTunes, Google Play, Amazon, and EMusic). Also WU:Mixed (Available at VerseAll.com) which took up a lot of my time. But now WE are back with more interviews, insightful information, tips & tricks, and Good music!!!!!
Setting off the the producers spotlight list is El PresBeats! El Pres Beats has a hip-hop with a rock edge, complimented by adding dope scratch phrases and super lyricist such as Nutso, Creature (Rebelmatic), etc. to make the cipher complete! El Pres shares his story with us about the artist he has worked with, the equipment he owns, and his favorite producers. BMP’s (Beat Maker-Producers), I introduce you to El Pres Beats.
INST: Let the world know who you are and where you’re from?
EPB: I am ELPresBeats. I am a beatmaker / producer from Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. Right now I am living in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
INST: Who have you worked with & how long have you been beat making or producing?
EPB: I have worked with Nutso (Poor Pocket Music), Jak Danielz (Cold Heat), Starvin B, Marvalous, Creature (Rebelmatic), DJ Irie, DJ Friss & DJ Milton on my Glenwood Hostel EP.
I have been making beats since 1998.
INST: What equipment and or software are you using?
EPB: I make my beats in Renoise and on the MPC 1000. For making tracks I use Cubase SX.
INST: What made you want to create beats?
EPB: Growing up in the nineties and listening to all the great hiphop music that came out then, made me eager to give it a try myself. I didn’t know what samplers looked like and when I went to the musical instruments store in the city I grew up in, all they had was some crappy drum computers with some presets in it. I had obviously heard about the MPC’s and the SP 1200 but never saw one in real life. I knew they were real expensive too, at least for a 14 / 15 year old boy they were. In ’98 my mother got her first PC with a Soundblaster, so I was able to run Fasttracker 2, a free software tracker that was extremely suitable for making sample based beats. I learned how to work the program from a classmate of mine that was already making beats. From that moment on I started to plunder my parents’ record collections and second hand vinyl shops for vinyl I could sample from.
INST: Do you use or prefer sampling over playing live instruments?
EPB: I use sampling. It is the backbone of my style. 99% of the samples I use come from vinyl though. No sample packs or anything. Every sound you hear on my beats was found by me listening to the actual vinyl. I hold the art of diggin’ in the crates for samples up high.
INST: Who influenced your style?
EPB: Sample based producers that came up in the 90’s like Premo, RZA, Tru Master, 4th Disciple, Pete Rock, K-Def, Large Pro, Buckwild, Showbiz, Diamond D, Lord Finesse, Prince Paul, Muggs, Easy Mo Bee, Beatnuts, Beatminerz, Erick Sermon, Shawn J. Period, Alchemist, Hi Tek, Nottz, Madlib, Jay Dee, Havoc, DJ Spinna, Ski, Clark Kent, No I.D., DJ Honda, EL-P, DR Period, SD-50’s and many more influenced me a lot when I started making beats. Also the Blue Monks production team – they used to do production for a crew called the Proov from my hometown Leeuwarden – influenced me, because they were coming from my town and were making some noise nationally.
INST: Do you ever see yourself quitting or retiring from beat making?
EPB: Never.
INST: Is there a difference between being a producer and being a beat maker?
EPB: I guess a beatmaker is somebody who just makes beats (only loops) and doesn’t make arranged tracks with for example vocalists or instrumentalists. A producer is someone that makes a whole track and not just the beat. You become a producer when you start making arrangements on your tracks and think about the track as a whole more. Also soundwise a producer thinks more about the mixing and mastering of the track. Most beatmakers are producers too though, in my opinion. There’s a thin line between a beatmaker and a producer. Where do you stop being just a beatmaker and start being a producer as well? I think every beatmaker has to be at least a tiny bit a producer to be a good beatmaker.
INST: Any tips, tricks, or advice that you’d like to share?
EPB: Be original.
INST: Where can we hear your work?
EPB: Stream / download EL Pres – Glenwood Hostel EP :
http://elpresbeats.bandcamp.com/
More beats:
Follow:
https://twitter.com/ELPresBeats
Like:
http://www.facebook.com/ELPresBeats
Peep “15 Cents” Video, Performed By Creature (Reblematic), Produced By El PresBeats:
DJ Prince Paul is a true legend in the world of beatmaking. A founding member of the 80’s rap group Stetsasonic and producer to artist such as De La Soul, Gravediggaz, 3rd Bass, Queen Latifah, Big Daddy Kane, and Chris Rock to name a few shows his wide range of versatility.
Prince Paul sits down with Mark 45 King for an interview in the video below.
Beatmaker-Producer Verse All has finally released :Instrumology 2: iTwo, available on iTunes today. :Instrumology 2: iTwo is an 18 track instrumental LP and the follow up to Verse All’s first full-length album entitled :Instrumology: The Science Of Beat Making. Each track has it’s own unique vibe, full of soulful samples, and gives you that good ol’ Boom Bap street feeling at times. If you do not have an iTunes account, not a problem! You can purchase iTwo from Amazon.com, Rhapsody.com, Emusic.com, and many more digital retail stores where available (Coming soon to Bandcamp.com). Below is a link to iTunes music store, where you can preview and purchase the full album or individual songs. Show your support to a veteran beat maker. Enjoy!
WE ARE BACK: With another installment of producer’s spotlight. Today’s Producer’s Spotlight Shine’s on J57! I first met J57 at the famous Fat Beat Records Store, once located at west 4th street, New York, NY. Any time I’d visit Fat Beats, I’d make sure to catch J57 for a little hip-hop talk plus to find out what new albums dropped. J57’s crew BBAS also known as the Brown Bag All Stars also consist of Soul Khan, KonCept, and Audible Doctor. Without further due, I bring to you, J57!
INST: Let the world know who you are and where you’re from?
J57: I’m J57. I’m an emcee & producer from a group called Brown Bag AllStars. I was born and raised in Long Island, NY and have lived in Brooklyn for the past 6 1/2 years. I was lucky enough to work at the legendary record store, Fat Beats for 6 years before it closed in late 2010 and I’ve been a part of DJ Eclipse’s show ”Rap Is Outta Control” on SIRIUS/XM (Channel 44 – Hip Hop Nation – Every Sunday night 10pm EST) for the past 3 years.
INST: Who have you worked with & how long have been beat making or producing?
J57: My credits so far consist of Brown Bag AllStars(groupwise & solo), Homeboy Sandman, Sene, Action Bronson, Meyhem Lauren, AG da Coroner, Nitty Scott MC, Rasheed Chappell, Denitia Odigie, Charlie Smarts, Von Pea of Tanya Morgan, Jefferson Price, Tenacity, F.Virtue, Booda French, Sabac Red of Non Phixion, ILL Bill (Not released yet), Reks & Termanology (Not released yet), Nutso, Blame One, Exile (Not released yet) and like a million other incredible artists – too many to list. Very blessed to work with everyone I’ve worked with/work with on a regular basis.
I’ve been making beats since December 2002, so that’s 10 years of blood, sweat and tears.
INST: What equipment and or software are you using?
J57: I use Propellorhead Reason 3.0, a 32 key midi-controller keyboard, the Akai MPD 32 and work closely with a bunch of talented musicians like PJ Katz, Akie Bermiss, Recess, Mike13, and more.
INST: What made you want to create beats?
J57: I started out being the main beatboxer in ciphers back in high school and my good friend/very talented emcee & producer; Hi-Q, was like, ”You really need to start making beats. I have a feeling you’re going to be dope.” So, he and our good friend, producer, EQ then taught me how to make beats on Reason and the rest is history.
INST: Do you use or prefer sampling over playing live instruments?
J57: I like both equally. It just really depends on my mood. If I’m in the mood to sample records, then nothing in the world can stop me from digging through the endless supply of records that I’ve been saving for the past ten years. But, if I’m in the mood to make huge sounding sample-free stuff, then I bring in my ‘go to’ musicians and orchestrate some big, big production. That’s NOT saying you can’t make big sounding beats with samples, ofcourse. I’m just talking about the vibe/style.
INST: Who influenced your style?
J57: My main influences are: DJ Premier, RZA, Marco Polo, DJ Khalil, Exile, Jake One, S1, Alex da Kid, J Dilla, Madlib, Dr. Dre and Moby.
INST: Do you ever see yourself quitting or retiring from beat making?
J57: Never ever. Not even when I’m old and hard of hearing or crippled and can’t pound on the MPD – I’ll pay someone to do that part for me and I’ll just mutter the ideas of what’s going on in my head haha. As long as I have my hearing and can verbalize or write down what I’m hearing in my head, I’ll be good.
INST: Is there a difference between being a producer and being a beat maker?
J57: Absolutely. A song to a producer is always a work in progress, where they’re constantly adding to the track. Where as a beat maker, makes the beat, sends it to the artist and let’s the rapper or singer have their way with the beat. A producer just really oversee’s the song and constantly builds the track around the vocalist, sometimes brings in live instruments to spice the track up, etc.
INST: Any tips, tricks, or advice that you’d like to share?
J57: Yes; put in your 10,000 of work. Once you hit 10,000 hours you can do anything you want. Once you’ve worked on beats for exactly 10,000, you’ll be an unstoppable force that the world will embrace. Or, you could just be dope from the start like my man DeeJay Element. He’s been DJ’ing for 10+ years and was immediately incredible at making beats because of his knowledge from DJ’ing, mixed with raw talent. But the other 99% of people, like myself, this stuff takes a lot of time, so work hard and never ever give up.
INST: Where can we hear your work?
J57: The best places to check my stuff out would be;
J57music.com and BrownBagAllStars.com
A ton of good, free music on both sites – check it out!
Whether you are a beat maker-producer, DJ, or a sound engineer, we are all in search of the same thing, “a perfect pair of headphones”. A good quality pair of headphones can do a lot for the final outcome of your musical project. How do you know what a good pair of headphones sound like? Well the answer to that question is that it’s all in your ears! You’ll know when you have a good pair of headphones from the difference in quality and sound coming from out of your headphones.
In a perfect pair of headphones, bass, hi-Fi, and lo-fi would be heard with more clarity and better built for a longer life span plus will cost more than your typical or average pair of headphones.
An average pair of headphones are usually less expensive and if you’re lucky enough , you’ll get close to the same quality of the more expensive headphones. However, you will usually get a good sounding bass but lose either your hi’s or lo’s and sometimes both.
If you are looking to purchase an in-expensive pair of headphones, it will be more than likely that you will get an in-expensive sound. Although you might get a really cool looking pair of headphones for less money, you will get just that, “a really cool looking pair of headphones”. Cheaper headphones are not built to last and definitely will not give you that quality sound that you’re looking for, when trying to mixdown your projects. Bass, hi’s, and lo’s will all give you a muffled sound because the frequencies are all fighting to be the dominant sound in your headphones.
So if you’re a student of music engineering, a newly inspired beatmaker-producer, or a dj, I would suggest staying away from wasting your money on the less expensive headphones and just save up to purchase a pair of headphones that will give you exactly what you need to get started on that road to becoming the best in your profession, and that would be a good quality pair of headphones.