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REMinisce & REMix (Listen + Download for FREE)

One of the worst things you can do as a recording studio intern is show up late. Especially when your first task of the day is to pick up one of staff engineers from the BART station. Punctuality is even more important if said engineer is to start his recording session on time. I was that intern who majorly fucked up and woke up late, forcing the guy I was working for to walk three miles as his clients waited outside of the studio. Why wasn’t I fired? I’d like to think it was because I was viewed as a valuable part of the studio but it was probably because the studio chief needed me around to pull another unpaid all-nighter with rappers in the studio. The previous night was my first late night recording session at the old 17 Hertz Studios in Hayward, Ca. It was also the first time I smoked kush. Before working at 17 Hertz, I had smoked before, but I never smoked like this. In a session that started at midnight I was honored to have the Jacka (RIP) pass me a blunt so I took a hit. Before I could catch my breath another one was passed. I look up and three fat ones are lit with another two in the process of rolling. You can’t blame me for waking up high and missing my alarm clock. That night the Jacka and Joe Blow wrote and recorded The California.  

That summer and the four years that followed were full of late night sessions that helped sharpen my producing and engineering skills. I no longer smoke but at the time, OG Kush was a staple and it felt customary for the clients to pass to the engineer. I rarely received tips but getting the ganja passed to me was all the gratuity I needed. The Bay Area 17 Hertz era is a time I will never forget.

Many of the songs on this mixtape are by artists that I have worked with in some capacity at 17 Hertz. I shot and edited videos that featured the Hoodstarz, Lil Blood, and HD. All of whom were cool to work with and extremely talented. I had never attempted remixes before because I was intimidated by the process. Lining up vocals seemed tedious. Not having beats that fit the tempo and beats not sounded better than the original scared me away from remixing. My recent work with the rapper Memphis Reigns helped me develop new techniques to speed up the remixing process for me. He gave me files where he needed beats replaced. Because I finally organized my files and grew my catalogue, it was easy to find beats with similar tempos and match with vocals through trial and error. The key to remixing is to have so many beats on hand that you are bound to have an instrumental that fits the vocals.

So why West Coast? First and foremost, I grew up in the Bay Area. E40 and Too $hort’s Rappers Ball remind me of rocking the Penny Hardaway Magic jersey with the pinstripes with white and blue Nike Air More Uptempos to match. “What a Job” by Devin the Dude came out around the time I started working at 17 Hertz studios and was my go to reference song to calibrate my ears for mixing, especially the line where he says “this goes out to all of the engineers who smoke weed…” The rest of the artists that I remixed represent the West Coast as well. It was tough to find alot of acapellas but I made sure I found joints that had messages and lyrics that were profound. RIP Nipsey Hussle, all of his music is inspirational. It is difficult to remix better than the original so I tried to inject my boom bap flavor along with a west coast vibe into all of the remixes. I used to be uptight about sounding too different than what most producers sounded like but now I see it as a strength. I hope you enjoy the mixtape and the story. Thank you for listening.

You CAN Make Beats In Pro Tools Only

How I Use Pro Tools As My One-Stop Shop For Making Sampled Hip Hop Beats

A typical Pro Tools beat making session using my custom template.

My production methods revolve solely around the Pro Tools editing window full of a bunch of empty audio tracks and several aux’s. I am not using any cool midi instruments or sound libraries. The only pieces of outboard gear are my audio interface that I’ve had since 2004 and a turntable. The most used piece of gear: apple keyboard with 10-key. You read that right, not a keyboard or drum pad, just a qwerty keyboard. This common apple accessory is not meant to be a replacement for a MIDI controller but a controller for the myriad of quick key commands that I utilize to execute all of my editing functions. That’s right, I am not playing music, I am merely editing existing music until it transforms into a hip hop beat. Don’t get me wrong I have keyboards, controllers, and even an original MPC60 but I seem to gravitate towards my original methods. My full-time job at the moment involves video editing. I started making beats long before getting into video but my beat making approach resembles that of a video editor. I am cutting up the best parts to create a new complete picture. To be honest, I used to be terribly embarrassed about my style hence the long list of unused gear. Everyone else was making beats with drum pads and performing cool demos. Synths were the rage and so was Ableton Live. A while back I competed in the Scribble Jam producer competition where finalists had to dig through record crates and make a beat live on the spot. Humiliated by my strictly in the box style, I lugged around a MIDI keyboard just to fit in.So over the years I ended up with an MPC60, Emu Vintage Keys keyboard, MPC500, M-audio ProKey 49 for Logic Pro, Akai APC40 for Ableton Live, etc. But guess what? I learned that I don’t comprehend advanced music theory and I have no rhythm. As much as I practiced, I still did not produce work at the same level as the original sampling techniques that I developed when I first downloaded Sonic Foundry Acid Pro. Over the years I jumped from DAW to DAW and kept reverting back to my old reliable “editing” style. It wasn’t as sexy as finger drumming and knob turning you see on youtube but it got the job done.

Some might disapprove of my methods claiming that the drums should be played or sampling is cheating. But at the end of the day all that matters is how the song makes you feel. Leave all the technicalities to the purists who enjoy the traditional practices such as hitting tape and splicing samples in drums machines. Music is subjective anyways and an artist should not have to get caught up in all of the hypothetical b.s. and opinions of people who aren’t helping you make your shit. It’s like the popular Kevin Durant to the Warriors debate. “KD is cheating by getting a championship with the Warriors, he took the easy route.” People who say that probably never won a championship themselves and probably realize that you still have to play the games and actually win them. I played on a National Championship winning high school football team that went undefeated and blew out damn near every opponent. Was it easy? Hell no! A lot of hard work goes into making good music let alone getting people to listen. Improvement means experiencing failures. There is no wrong way to make your music but you will never know what is right for you until you actually try and fail with different methods.

So if I am basically pasting drum sounds onto the grid and step sequencing, I am obviously losing the ability to create a loose human-like groove for the drum beat, right? Not necessarily. If you study the look of “live-sounding drums” you will notice that the kick drum might lag a bit or the snare is rushed. I recreate this feel by using the nudge tool.

Adjust nudges to 10 samples to nudge your drum hits to a groove.

 I will set my nudges to 10 samples so I can use the < and > keys to nudge the one shots slightly. The M and ? keys will allow me to do a much larger nudge of 100 samples. It sounds tedious but I will move the drums around until it feels right. Another method is stealing another beat’s groove. I can grab an 8 count from another song, time stretch it to match my beat, and place the track right above my drum layers in my Pro Tools session. Then it is just a matter of lining up my drum hits with the reference beat that I just imported. Sounds like stealing but it helps to borrow a tried and true groove. If you feel that you need to be original and there isn’t a groove out there that can replicate your intentions, I have another trick that requires a microphone. Once I have my drums laid out out and snapped to the grid, I will record enable a mono track, hit record and tap a rhythm onto the mic or on my desk. I have a Shure SM57 sitting on my desk for this purpose. I take the track with my rhythmic tapping and line up my drums to it. Again, this looks like a grueling process but if you practice your quick keys and shortcuts, you can get it done quickly.

Drum sequence in the edit window.

My reference microphone technique can also be applied to tuning basslines. As I mentioned earlier, I do not play instruments. I don’t load instruments into my sessions because I am used to using slow computers and synths typically bog down my CPU usage. So I learned to develop workarounds such as recording myself singing or humming melodies and using melodyne to transcribe the notes. I then take my 808 bass and use melodyne to tune it to the same notes I hummed.  The technique can be applied to any other sample as well. Melodyne coupled with elastic audio makes Pro Tools a powerful tool for editing samples. The possibilities are endless.

The beat making techniques that I present are a bit unconventional but it works for me. In several aspects of my life I often try to take the less obvious route. No one wants to be a sheep and it is often difficult to stand out in a sea of trend chasers. I try to be honest with myself to like what I like with conviction. This is not always the case but I keep the importance of being unique in the back of my mind with all creative choices. For example, with sampling for a hip hop beat, I’ll stay away from chopping up the intro, at first. It’s common practice to find a section of the song that does not have vocals or drums. I don’t care. The more vocals, drums or distractions, the better for two reasons: 1. It will be a selection that is overlooked by other producers and 2. It will be more challenging to chop up. 

Cutting the original sample into multiple layers and grouping regions for organization

 For these reasons, the completion of the beat will be much more rewarding and you may develop a few new tricks in the process. This is exactly why I prefer the Pro Tools edit window for editing and laying out my tracks for my beats. I can see the entire song, quickly cut the parts I like, and try many different sequences until I am satisfied. The Pro Tools time stretching engine makes it easy to manipulate samples. I will cut samples into bars so that I can time stretch sections into the desired tempo of my beat. This simplifies the process of moving parts around and experimenting with different combinations. This is another one of the processes that I have developed to help me make fast decisions. Always remember, the idea is to sound unique so it is crucial that you take the time to explore who you are, what you like, and what your strengths are. Having a strong foundation in knowing your personal sound will help you make quicker decisions in the beat making process.

 

I deploy a specific process but I will eventually alter and improve it as I get inspired and evolve my sound. For now, I want to maximize what I already have and if I find success, I will reward myself with some new gear. Dan Lok mentioned that his sifu made him practice a only straight punch for weeks until he mastered the move. When pitted against another trainee who was at a higher level he was able to defeat him with his one single straight punch move. I strive to master my current process first before I move on to playing my own instruments or learning new programs. There is a significant benefit behind working with limitations. If I had all the instruments and all the plugins in the universe, where would I begin? I’d probably start with just one and mastering that first. That alone tells me I am better off with what I have right now. I have an original MPC60 which has 5 sec sampling time limit. I bought the sampler back in ‘03 because it was the weapon of choice for DJ Premier who has countless hits. Limitations force you to think creatively so I have learned to embrace using an outdated laptop top and so called “crappy” DAW software. When I first started engineering at 17 Hertz Studio I was recording paying customers on an ancient Mac g4 tower (the model right before they used metal casing) and a bootleg Pro Tools HD system. The CD burner didn’t even work so I’d have to transfer files to my laptop, a process that took nearly 20 minutes when some clients were only booking 1 hour sessions! With that shitty set up, I learned how to manage my time creatively. Let the purists and production snobs be haters. The real reward is in personal growth and inspiring others.

In addition to its creative limitation (the limits that I give it), Pro Tools offers numerous benefits for the overall music making process. Each track that I lay out in the session is already tracked out and ready for mixing making it easy to mix as I go. Since I am making beats with the intent to have an artist record over it each session is ready for the recording phase. The beat can also be sequenced for the artist right on the spot. My template is designed in a way that streamlines the mixing process as well.

Pro Tools beat making template with empty elastic audio enabled audio tracks routed to master aux.

Mixing engineers loved to work with session files from 17 Hertz Studio because we all used a similar template for recording where our sessions were meticulously organized. Every single file has a distinct name and every track, aux, and even internal routing had appropriate names within the session as well. Being creative is a difficult task so I try to do everything I can to make all of the technical crap simple for myself and anyone else who would be involved in creating a finished song.

 

You can use any program or tool to make beats. I make the case for Pro Tools because I have over 10,000 hours of experience in the program from engineering to mixing to beat making. The ability to time stretch and conveniently edit sounds in the multitrack window work well for my style. Working directly in Pro Tools means that it’s immediately ready for mixing which is an added bonus. Most importantly, the flexibility it provides ensures that I can constantly tweak my workflow and methods to be unique and creative. As I continue to build my home studio and integrate outboard gear that I have accumulated over the years, Pro Tools will most likely remain at the core of my production process.

Pawz One – God Gene REMix | Stream & Free Download

Here is a Remshot REMix of Pawz One’s God Gene featuring Napoleon Da Legend from the album Watch & Learn by Pawz One and DJ Dister. Check out the original and the rest of the album below.  

So You Need Pro To Mix Your Music

How To Set Up Your Sessions To Send Out For Mixing

I once had a studio session with a new client. He busted out with a hard drive rather than an audio cd with beats on it. “This guy knows what he’s doing” I thought to myself. He navigates me through his hard drive which appeared to be fairly organized and directed me to a folder that had the file he wanted to work on. I open the folder only to find that it was a session file for a DAW that was not Pro Tools, Logic, Garageband, or Ableton. I even had an old PC with Cubase, Acid Pro, and Cool Edit but I could not get that file opened. There was however, an audio folder with 134 wav files of vocals and bits and pieces of a beat. I could have asked him for a reference track and attempted to reverse engineer the beat but that would be a waste of everyone’s time. I convinced him that it would be more efficient to load up a 2-track of the instrumental which he had on his android phone, and he recorded the vocals over again. Within 15 min we reassembled the song and I had a session that I could mix for him. We were both fortunate that I had a space where we could meet up and record on the spot. But in this day and age, transactions take place over the web between collaborators who can be many miles apart. So how do we avoid confusion and making a mess of session files? What are the best practices for sending files to be mixed? Here are a few guidelines that at least help me with my collaborations and clients:

 

  1. Communicate and figure out what programs your engineer or collaborator is working with. It is just as important to find out what version of the program they are using. When I first started working at a rap studio, we had a professional Pro Tools HD rig running PT5 on a G4 Mac tower. Sounds cool but at the time Pro Tools was on version 7 and the G series was defunct and Apple’s newest flagship machines were the Mac Pro’s. The studio had two rooms and one room finally got the upgrade to 6, so we had a bunch of client files that were saved in PT6. If they ended up with studio time in the room with PT5, I had to interrupt the session next door and politely ask the engineer to close out his client’s session and convert my file to version 5. It sucked but, you need to keep in mind that some people have older versions.
  2. If sending out a pro tools session name all tracks, regions, and file names.

    Label tracks, files, groups, and markers with appropriate names

    Not only will naming files and tracks help the mix engineer navigate through your session, but labeling will help you stay organized thus saving you time when you produce beats. I have had to do quite a bit of detective work and translating when receiving Pro Tools files from clients. Make sure you label everything as well as creating markers for verses and hooks. The session you hand of should be a road map of your recorded song. Another thing to note, not everyone has the same plugins. So try not to send out a session full of plugins. Send a reference track so the engineer will know what you are going for.

  3. In the case where your engineer is using a different program you must send stems. If sending stems only, make sure you note the BPM in each file name and track out each layer from the same starting point. I prefer each file to start out at the same beginning so I do not have to spend too much time checking the reference track to reassemble the song. It does save space to just send over WAV files of each loop however, to avoid any confusion or mistakes I make sure I make it as easy as possible to piece the song together.
  4. Turn off the limiter on the master. For beat layers make sure you put a light mix on it and track it out at its intended level. The mix engineer will import all the layers and leave every level at 0 and use that as a starting point. As for vocals make sure they are recorded at a good level and not clipping.
  5. Export vocal mono tracks unprocessed without effects. Important: export each layer from the beginning of the song. Save the engineer some time. Yes, some clients have sent me the raw vocal files and a reference track, but do the engineer a favor. If you don’t want to create long files you can always start the file a bar before it starts so it snaps to the grid on time. However, if you must have an effect on the vocal, export the vocal layer with the desired effect. Send the dry vocal as well.
  6. Record and send WAV files at 48 khz sampling rate at 24 bit. Everyone has different preferences and capabilities. This is not necessarily a standard that is set in stone. It is a setting that most engineers I know work with. At times you will have higher rates such as 96 khz 32bit that is more common for more complex recordings such as an orchestra symphony.
  7. Zip it and send via email or through a file share site. (link to how to) I use a free program for mac called Yemuzip. PC’s with Windows have Winzip for zipping and unzipping. Google drive allows you to upload into a folder and the link to it will deliver a zip file to its recipient. Dropbox is also a popular site for file sharing.
  8. Send a reference track of the rough draft. This helps with the assembly of the song. I like to refer back to the rough draft to make sure the timing of each layer is correct. There are times when every track stem and vocal don’t exactly line up for some reason.
  9. Send a reference track of a song or songs that you would like your song to sound like. Be sure to be realistic with your expectations. A good engineer will let you know what is possible and might even be able to replace some sounds in your mix to get your desired result. In some cases, I will recommend that the song be recorded over again if I do not think I could rescue the vocal quality.
  10. Attach a note. Make sure you communicate all of your requests and concerns. I used to mix songs for my rap group and everyone had different vocal styles and preferences. One rapper liked all his vocals doubled, another one didn’t. One rappers vocals always came out too low in most mixes. These are the types of concerns that will be helpful for the mix engineer. If you have a session file that already has a rough mix that you already like, please relay that to the engineer. For example, a client brought in a song that he liked the placement and level of the vocals but wanted the bass of the overall track to be louder. I understood that I should leave the vocals at the level where they are at. On the other hand, if you trust the engineer or flat out hate your own rough mix, be sure to let him or her know that the entire song will require a full on mix. The more dialogue you have with each other, the more the engineer will understand what you are going for. Lastly, be sure to note how many different versions are required for the song such as a clean version (no cuss words), instrumental version, and a showmix (instrumental with background vocals, adlibs, and/or choruses).

Now get your files together and get your songs mixed. There are few aspects of the process that are more exciting than finally hearing your tracks with a professional mix on it. Follow this guide and enjoy the process.

 

Why You Need Tracked Out Beats

The Importance of Mixing and Creative Control

Have you ever listened to a rapper’s mixtape and thought that the vocals were too loud? Or the beat too loud? Maybe the vocals sounded OK but the beat didn’t hit as hard as commercially released music. For those of you familiar with mixing, perhaps the vocals sounded like they sat right on top of the beat, lacking cohesiveness. When we are distracted by quality issues, listeners will automatically tend to think that the mix, the song, and the artist are unprofessional. It doesn’t matter how fresh the rhymes are or how dope the beat is. Any perceived error or sign of unprofessionalism and the music will instantly be taken down a few notches on the quality scale. This is why mixing is a vital aspect of the music production process. Mixing may be done during the beat making process but once vocals are added, the dynamics change. Below are 5 reasons why it is crucial to get your beats tracked out (individual track stems) for mixing.

  1. Make Room For Vocals. Vocals are the most important part of the song. Track stems will allow mix engineer to make space for your voice. This will include EQing instruments to cut out or reduce levels of frequencies that are competing with the vocals. Putting vocals at the forefront of the song can be as simple as turning the fader down on one or more sounds. The same goes for the layers of the beat. The vocals might be taking away from something like the certain notes of a piano layer in a beat. The engineer might be able to compress the piano layer enough so that the entire loop can be leveled out and heard underneath the vocals.
  2. Creative control. You don’t have to bother the producer who never gets back to you to make changes to the beat. If you have all the layers for the session you can make more creative decisions such as making a verse longer or shorter, having a particular instrument play during the verse, removing a sound you don’t like altogether, or adding drops and breakdowns throughout the song.
  3. Sound Replacement. I had a client who was an r&b singer purchase the stems from me after he recorded over a beat because he wanted to have a live drummer replace the drum track I produced. He was going for more of a live neo-soul sound instead of electronic hip hop. When you have the stems you can even have harder hitting drums added or even completely remix the beat. I have had a few mixing sessions where I replaced a cheesy bassline with a live bass player. Sometimes you can like the idea of a beat, purchase the stems and take it where it needs to be sonically in the mixing stage.
  4. Ability to Make Multiple Versions. When promoting a single, multiple versions of a song are typically required. You might need an extended version that will play in someone’s documentary or short film, you will need snippets for social media, you will need a showmix version for live performances, as well as a cuss-free edit for the radio. All of these alternate versions can be made with the 2 track of the song but having the stems gives you more creative control. The engineer scoring a film might want to have long instrumental sections in between verses. Instead of bleeping or dropping out a bad word for the radio, you may want to add some instruments or even record new lyrics. You might want your showmixes mixed differently than the song version. When I used to perform with my group I would mix in classic hip hop drum beats into the instrumentals of our songs.
  5. Professional Mixing. Make sure your music is ready for mass consumption with professional audio quality. You don’t want lack of quality to distract from the intent of your song. It always help to get an extra pair of ears to work on you song. They may hear something that you don’t notice. Or they may have tools such as high quality studio monitors in a treated sound environment to help them analyze every detail of your song. You might as well give the mix engineer the flexibility he or she needs by providing the track stems of the beat along with your vocals for mixing.

There are many benefits to having your song professionally mixed but keep in mind that while a bad mix can ruin a good song, a good mix cannot make a bad song any better. Make sure to put the work in and get constructive feedback on your work. When you have a song or songs that you are proud of and are ready to share with the world, go ahead and splurge on mixing services.

12 Crucial Moves For Pro Tools

My “Go To” Pro Tools Moves for Cutting  Samples

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my beat making approach is similar to that of a video editor. I take the best clips and arrange them in the edit window to create music. Here are a few of the moves that I frequently use to splice and reorder my samples:

  1. How to enable elastic audio for an audio track in Pro Tools

    Timestretch tool (F6) on an elastic audio enabled track set to Polyphonic. This is my go to move for matching a sample to my desired tempo. I can import a sample and extract a 2 bar section from it and stretch it to match the session tempo so that when I make cuts on grid mode, I know that each part will be on beat. This is especially useful for sample flipping. Remember to hit the F6 key until the drag tool with the clock appears.  

    Using elastic audio to conform a sample to the Pro Tools session’s tempo.

  2. Tab To Transient (tab key) function. I use the tab key when I am trying to find the tempo of a song. Tab to the first beat or kick drum to move the cursor to the transient and hit B to splice. Then move the cursor close to the first kick drum of the next eight count (or beginning of bar 3), hit Tab then B to slice. Double click on the loop and hit CMD + I to identify beat. Type in 1/1/00 for start and 3/1/00 for end and hit enter. This will give you the tempo of the beat as well as set the session to that tempo. I also use tabbing to transients for splitting up drum loops. You can pull up a drum loop, tab to each drum hit and cut to create some one-shots.
  3. Region Grouping (ctrl + opt + G) and Ungrouping (ctrl + opt + U). A 2 bar sample loop can consist of many chopped up pieces, region grouping will pack it all up in one box that can easily be duplicated and copied. I do this for all of my drums. My hi-hats will sometimes reside on 3 separate tracks because I want each sound to be at different levels. To avoid confusion when trying to edit and duplicate, I will group all 3 layers into one group that can be looped.

    Placing a 2 bar loop of a chopped up sample into a Region Group

     Another benefit to packing regions into groups is to help remind me of changes in the beat. For Example my sample is a 2 bar loop but becomes a 4 bar loop for the chorus. I will pack the chorus loop into a 4 bar group so I know that they should not be separated. This comes in handy in case I need to clean up the original loop such as adjusting the timing or removing pops and clicks. I will edit the first region group and then copy and paste to replace the older version of the loop. Seeing that the chorus has a longer region group will remind me not to copy over it.

  4. Duplicating (CMD + D or opt + drag or C then V) the duplicate function can help you loop your region groups or quickly duplicate your entire 24 bar loop multiple times to make an entire beat. I like to use option drag to copy and place parts within a loop.

    Using the Duplicate key command to loop your verse/chorus sequence.

     I use this function when repeating a parts of a sample within a 2 bar loop as well.

  5. Fade in (D), crossfade (F) and Fade Out (G) this is helpful in minimizing unwanted pops and clicks in you chops. When sampling drums from drum loops I often use a fade out at the end of each drum hit. Without a fade, you can hear the decay of the drum sound getting cut off. Be sure to note that you cannot group audio regions on elastic audio enabled tracks when you add fades. I find this annoying but the workaround is to add your fades, highlight the fade, and hit shift + option + 3 to consolidate the fade region into a new waveform. From here you will be able to group the region.
  6. Pencil tool. Sometimes there will be a pop in the sample whether its from a crackle from the record or just a bad edit. You can zoom in until you see a pointy peak that looks out of place and you can actually use the pencil tool to draw the irregular waveform out.

    Use the pencil tool to remove unwanted clicks/pops

     Noticeable clicks and pops in your sampling sounds unprofessional. Sometimes you won’t hear it when the entire mix is playing but on a set of high end speakers those noises will be apparent.  

  7. Mute/Unmute Region (M). If you have the playback loop going it helps to be able to quickly mute and unmute when auditioning different sounds and combinations. I will sometimes separate a portion of a region and mute it instead of deleting it. There have been instances when I have changed my mind and went back and unmuted regions.
  8. Cut (B) or cut everything to the left of cursor (A) or cut everything to the right of cursor (S). Right clicking and selecting the cut tool or even using CMD + E to chop is for amateurs. Here are some quick keys that require you to tap just one key. Or if you want to highlight part of a region and cut out whatever is not selected use the trim function: CMD + T.
  9. Melodyne Editor. Melodyne has many uses with regards to pitch shifting. For one of my beats I had a musician add keys and synth. For awhile we had a difficult time laying down anything that sounded good. Then the musician realized that he was able to play something decent when he held down the pitch wheel on the keyboard. He considered taping it down in place but I suggested that we adjust the pitch of the entire sample. I moved the waveform up and down the grid in Melodyne as he held down the C key on the keyboard until it sounded like we had a match. The result was this joint here: 
  10. Grid mode (F4) and Slip mode (F2). I am constantly toggling between each mode when chopping up samples. When grouping regions I obviously want to be in grid mode to make sure my loops are exactly on beat and uniform. Using the grid also helps me lay of drums for a starting point. I will then switch over to slip mode to move the drums around or to rearrange the sample within a loop.

    Use Zoom toggling to quickly zoom in and out of various areas of your Pro Tools sequence

  11. Toggle track height for selected regions (E) This allows me to navigate to the desired regions I would like to edit and quickly zoom into them. You can also select multiple tracks you would like to edit and zoom into only the selected regions.
  12. increase /decrease grid divisions (ctrl + option + Plus or Minus). Use this function while in grid mode. I can quickly set the grid to whole bars when I am ready to duplicate my 24 bar loop. When I need to cut out a snare at the end of the verse I can set the grid to quarter notes so I can quickly highlight the snare and delete it. When laying out hi-hats, I will split the grid into 32nds.

These are the Pro Tools moves that I find useful for cutting up samples and sequencing beats. Hopefully these tips can help you navigate more efficiently freeing up more time for creativity. Remember to memorize the quick keys and keep practicing. What moves or functions do you find helpful for your beat producing process?

10 Musician Mistakes That Lead To Quitting

Why We Fail As Artists and How We Will Succeed

My biggest regret in my music career is taking a hiatus. To be real, it was quitting disguised as making an informed life decision. The recording studio that I put all of my savings in, the studio that finally started to gain steam with ended with a raid by the local police. My shady evicted landlord failed to tell me that they were in financial trouble, probably because they did not speak a lick of English. No, I did not have an agreement in writing, just one of the many lessons I have learned along the way. But the biggest lesson I have learned thus far is the value of perseverance. Five years have passed since that disgraceful day. Five years of rationalizing why I could not make it in music. Five years of trying to forget. During that time span I went to business school with hopes of running a business the right way. After some serious soul searching for what business that should be, I realized that the answer was there all along and I did not need an education to learn how to succeed because I already fucked up in so many ways.

  1. Putting too much focus on completing a project or album. It is actually a good thing to be obsessed with your craft and to enjoy the process of making the music. However, the production aspect isn’t everything. People have to hear it. I rigorously worked on albums with my rap group only to run out of gas by the time it was complete. Not only did I pay almost no attention to promotion of the music, but I also neglected to assign the task to someone else if I was too busy for it. We would release the CD and initially our friends and family would purchase it. Once we recouped the money spent to produce it. We ended up handing the surplus amounts of cds out for free. We thought that we could just churn out an album and somehow we would magically get a call from an indie label that would book us shows and do the promoting for us.
  2. Posting music online and just hoping that it gets views. This appears to be a common mistake. We would all like to believe that our music will speak for itself and that if people just heard it, it will spread like wildfire. This goes back to the challenge of balancing promotional work and production work. If we were manufacturing something T-Shirts, you understand that the shirts don’t sell themselves. You need to get them online yes, but the description and the page need to sway buyers. You would have to convince department stores and boutiques to purchase your T-shirts for their stores. It takes a lot of hard work to create something worthy of posting and a lot of courage to actually post it. But people aren’t going to click on it just to be compassionate. Yes, you can spam your friends and fam to get you to that quick and respectable 1,000 plays. But the idea is to build a fanbase and chances are that most of the people you already know don’t necessarily fall into your target audience. They might think what you’re doing is cool but you are looking for the people who wait for you to release something and are willing to buy whatever you are selling because they are true fans. Consider the artists you are a fan of. Have your ever went to a concert? Bought a t-shirt? Got a paid subscription to Spotify and listened to their channel? More about getting plays for a purpose later down the list. The point is here that you can’t just post something and hope to get plays. Some legwork needs to be put into meeting the right people that will repost your music and give you access to a new audience. There is a whole nother grind that goes into networking within the influencer economy. I have found success in expanding past the “friends and fam” circle by collaborating with artists that have a good amount of clout going on for them. For one particular rap group I produced a song and music video for them. A rap artist that I followed released acapellas of her album and I jumped on the opportunity to remix them with my beats. When I worked as a recording engineer, many independent rappers would pay rappers like San Quinn, E40, The Jacka, The Hoodstarz, etc. hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars just to write 16 bars and record a verse on a track. Featuring a well known artist on your own songs gives you more visibility but you need to make sure that their audience would be a good fit for what you are producing. The same goes for influencers on social media. You can pay some of them to post your stuff for their followers but again, research must be done on their audience versus your target audience to make sure it will be a profitable investment. But nothing beats building a genuine relationship with the people you meet and getting them to support you by reposting your work. You never know who is going to blow up one day. So be nice to everyone. We are all trying to make it. Make sure you do everything you can (short of spamming) to get plays.
  3. Taking on too many different projects/skills. In other words starting a new project or idea when you haven’t finished the one you have committed too. As a creative artist, new ideas come up quite frequently. I fell into this trap when I finally had some money saved up to buy some new gear after I just completed mixing and mastering a full albums for two separate clients. At the time I was working on expanding my beat producing skills so I had a free version of Ableton. I decided to buy an APC40 controller and quickly agreed to perform with a band. With money still leftover, my shopaholic self decided to buy a DSLR camera also. Adding an expensive hobby on top of another expensive hobby, the story of my life. After one performance with that band, I did not really touch Ableton Live anymore. The APC40 however, was put in display in my recording studio and placed on “light show” mode to impress my clients. I ended up picking up videography quickly and was able to secure paying gigs. I now have a full time job as a video editor. However, looking back at my studio days, part of the reason why I was never able to break through was due to juggling too many hats. I was a music video director on Monday, a beat producer on Tuesday, an audio engineer on Wednesday, a rapper on Thursday, and a YouTube show producer on Friday. Nothing exactly took off like I hoped because I lacked intense focus on one specific area. Starting a new endeavor was the perfect distraction for reaching a challenging point. It felt noble to take on video production on top of running a recording studio but at the time I was trying to avoid the pains of taking the studio to another level.  Even as I am embarking on my current venture, I am constantly resisting the urge to take action on other brilliant ideas.
  4. Setting result-based goals. Setting a lofty goal seems feasible when you are motivated as you are writing it. However, when the going gets tough, an unrealistic “reality” kicks in and all of sudden the goal appears to be overly ambitious. A couple years ago I took my production gear out of storage and declared that I was going to get back on the horse and start beat making again. I set an ambitious goal of making 100 beats for the remaining six months of the year. I burst out of the gate cranking out a beat a day for the first 2 weeks. I was texting my old rapping buddies and sending over hot tracks. They returned with words of praise and encouragement. Then for reasons I can’t even remember I slowed down until eventually, beat making didn’t even cross my mind anymore. An entire year passed until I turned the production laptop back on again. But this time, after understanding my past behavior and the unpredictability of my behaviors,  I placed my focus on a process oriented goal. Rather than aiming for a mountain to climb, I merely committed to spending 30 min a day minimum sitting in front of my laptop working uninterrupted on music for 40 days straight. It didn’t matter if it was whack or if it was just to get familiar with the program again, I was going to get on it. The first couple weeks were challenging because I have a full time job, a pregnant wife, and a toddler. I couldn’t do it when I got home from work or even the weekends because that was reserved for quality family time. Late nights were out of the question because I had to get up in the morning. Then I finally decided that I am going to have to get my music making done in the early mornings. I set my alarm for 5am. It was tough to get used to but then I began optimizing other aspects in my life in order to make the early start time work. I meal prepped my family’s breakfast and lunch the night before. I cut out watching binge-worthy tv series (other than Westworld of course). Instead of putting on a Netflix movie to fall asleep to, I read a chapter of a book right after I read a bedtime book to my son. This nightly routine ends with me in bed at the same time as my kid, 9pm. However, I found that waking up at 5am, although easy to do once I made adjustments, was not giving me an ample amount of time to knock out my beat making. Rather than go back to being my former overambitious self and declaring that I wake up at 4am, I decided to set another process oriented goal. I started with an alarm at 4:57. Then the following week 4:54 and so on until I settled on a 4:45 start time which gave me enough time to brush my teeth, have a cup of coffee, get a good 50min in for working on beats, take a shit break, then cook and eat my breakfast all before my wife and kid wake up. I start my day refreshed and already feeling accomplished. With that type of productivity you can set bigger result based goals from there.
  5. Viewing rejection as a bad thing. Who wants to be the guy that has bad breath and doesn’t know it. Maybe you need to be rejected right away so you can become more aware of what you are doing wrong. Sometimes it’s not even your music that’s the problem it might be a character or personality issue. Back in my recording studio days, the owner flew in an r&b artist who was fresh off of an appearance on American Idol to record her demo. I was tasked for recording her session for the week. The first session, just like with any big rapper that came through the studio, producers lined up to play their beats for her. As her recording engineer I had the obvious advantage to get a placement. I was going to be the one of the last producers to showcase my hits and blow the other guys out of the water. Right after me was our head of security who also made beats, an imposing presence who looked like he can play offensive line for the 49ers. When he walked in the room he turned on the charm and got her giggling before I could even press play for his beats. While my beats and others were received with a stoic response, his joints lit up the place and she danced to the beat and proclaimed “that’s the one!” Don’t get me wrong it was a sick beat and he was extremely talented but so were all the other producers. The thing that set him apart was personality. I proceeded to record her demos for the week and when it ended I thanked her for her time and joked around a little bit. Later that afternoon I received a tweet from her thanking me for my service followed by a “not so mean after all.” The message was a wake up call that I need to make better impressions and step out of my comfort zone when interacting with people because my current zone was putting people off.
  6. Trying to impress the people who have nothing to do with your potential success. Not considering the customer or target audience. When starting out friends and family are your initial audience but there comes a point when you need to venture out of that bubble and nail down a niche. With the myriad of subgenres for every genre, including hip hop, every type of music has a following. A fanbase could potentially exist outside of your country. However, I was caught up trying to impress the homie who was into my rivals or I was trying convince my hipster cousin who never pays a dime for anything, especially for music, to go to one of my shows. Again, this goes back to understanding your own self and the niche that fits you.
  7. Disregarding other artists and not seeing his or her potential. You never know who will “make it.” Imagine how it would feel if the guy that you thought was whack became a big time producer? Dan Lok said “man’s worst fear is meeting that man that he could have been.” Have you ever clicked on an old acquaintance’s music page and found that they have over 10k followers and 100k plays on each of their songs seemingly overnight? Well it didn’t happen overnight. When you were binge watching Game of Thrones they were honing their skills and networking. When you hit them up, they don’t remember you and even worse, they aren’t familiar with your work. So how are you going to ask them to retweet your music now?
  8. Putting a time limit on your career. The notion that music making is for young people is a misconception especially for Hip Hop. There are hundreds of sub genres and niches out there so there is a need and an audience for all types of music. Do you know the ages of the people who produced the music that you heard in the background of the last YouTube video you watched? It doesn’t really matter. The music scene is typically associated with a rock star lifestyle of late nights at clubs with drugs and alcohol but it is possible to be a musician who is a responsible adult.
  9. Focusing on numbers and especially other people’s numbers. In other words, I would get caught up in how few downloads my album got and get intimidated, discouraged, and depressed over how many more plays another local artist would receive. During the early years of YouTube immediately after posting a video, it was a race to spam everyone I knew until the video received a “respectable” 1,000 views. In hindsight, I realized that the numbers don’t matter in the marathon of making a career out of music. Worrying about play counts and views meant that I cared too much about what other people thought which is an easy way to get on the fast track to quitting. The only number that matters now is how many consecutive days I can stay consistent with my productivity.
  10. Not collaborating enough and when you do, not giving your best. Some will quit when it seems like no one wants your beats or wants to fuck with you. But when you did have the opportunity did you give it your best effort? Did you share your best beats with that rapper? Did you spit your best lyrics? Around the time that my beat productivity began its slow decline, I aimlessly posted beats. Discouraged by the low level of interest, I failed to read comments and my inbox. I missed a dozen messages from rappers and producers who wanted to either purchase beats or collaborate. A good way to become irrelevant is to ignore your messages. I can count another half a dozen times that I was in talks with collaborating with a rapper and not having a song produced because we lost contact after they did not pick anything out of the first round of beats I sent them. Like I mentioned before, you never know who will blow up or who will hear the music so give it your best. If you are worried about wasting your best beats the simple remedy is to just make more heat. I got attached to my best hip hop instrumentals because they were so rare. You will easily part with gems when you are confident another hit is on its way.

 

Should You Go To Audio School?

The Pros, Cons, & Alternatives To A Formal Education In Sound Engineering

A decision to pursue higher education is a tough call to make for anyone and should be taken seriously. I certainly did not consider all of the factors when I made my choice. As an aspiring musician, I saw my name in lights, rubbing elbows with celebrities while stacking paper. Getting a college degree in audio engineering was going to put me on the fast track to stardom. Of course reality presented a much different story, filled with lessons in hard work and developing thick skin. My education did have its pros and cons:

Pros

  • Networking – The primary benefit of going to audio school was the networking. I made important connections but also made a few lifelong friends. Among those friends was a student who was running his own record label at the time who ended up funding one of my rap group’s projects. I met various graphic designers to do my album artwork, web design and photo shoots. Another colleague of mine landed a job with Avid, and hooked me up with a beefed up version of Pro Tools which was even labeled as the “Remshot” edition. I was a very quiet guy so I was fortunate to meet such a great group of people. I highly recommend focusing on personal development to maximize your opportunities whether it’s in the form of reading self help books or making efforts to step out of your comfort zone. There was a student at the school that I knew nothing about. I wasn’t even sure if he was an audio or a visual arts student. All I knew is that this guy always smiled and always said hello to everybody. That guy had a job waiting for him at Pixar upon graduating.
  • Brutally honest feedback from instructors and peers –  When I shared music with other students at audio school, it was the first time in my short career that individuals openly criticized my music. I previously shared my work with friends and family, people who did not have much experience with music production. Either they were too afraid to say that my music sucked or I was insecure and close minded to feedback. Probably a combination of all of the above. However, leveling up to future music professionals, meant that I had to step my listening game up. The criticism was a breath of fresh air. As I beginner, I was dumbfounded by the huge difference in quality between my beats versus those of the pros. When fellow students would give me hints on what was whack about my beats, it was like finding out that Bruce Willis was dead in the 6th Sense for the first time over and over again. Hooked on the countless epiphanies, I would offer people rides to the BART train station in order to get a chance to play my music for them. One classmate critiqued my overuse of the lo pass filter in all of my sounds. Another mentioned that I need to put more emphasis in my raps. Again personal development of a thick skin is a necessity. I had to learn to not be oversensitive because being butt hurt all the time stunts your growth.
  • Exploring a multitude of potential career opportunities – At my particular school the curriculum opens up with a video production class that includes a mix of visual art and audio students. This was my first hands on experience with video production. The class consisted of one group project of creating a short film. Our final product was just ok but that small experience eventually evolved into a full time video editing job for me today. Live sound was another course that was outside of my interests but the skills I acquired turned into a part time AV job to make a little extra money while having free access to expensive audiovisual gear. The “over/under” cable wrapping method that I learned in live sound class was a quick way to gain the respect of fellow AV techs. It’s kind of like flashing sick handles on the basketball court or showing off nifty shuffling tricks at the poker table to show everyone that you mean business. Finally, another class that had me venture out of my music making comfort zone was Video Game Audio. I’m not into video games but I know that if there are videos of people playing video games going viral on YouTube, then it is a huge industry. Sound design is fun and it is an overlooked aspect of production. Great visuals can be ruined with bad audio. Try watching Star Wars without sound. It won’t have as great impact. The variety in curriculum helped me and others discover alternate career paths. Not all of us would end up becoming Pharell’s and it was good for many of us to discover back up plans.
  • Hands on experience with expensive gear – I maximized my studio booking time which was limited to 8 hours per month but booked late night sessions so I can use empty studios in the early AM. I ended up with 40+ hours a month in million dollar studios utilizing every piece of holy grail gear I could get my hands on. I tried all the Neumann mics, SSL compressors, the actual harware versions of the LA-2A compressor and the Manley Massive Passive EQ. Getting my hands on all of the gear helped me make more informed decisions on what kind of gear to buy and what software emulations to use. If you are a musician or creating projects take advantage of getting in the lab.
  • Role models for instructors – I used to give a talk at UCSC to prospective students where the gist was basically to choose a college with individuals who will inspire you. Many of the instructors have worked or work in the industry. These individuals have great stories to tell and will provide useful feedback.

Cons

  • Debt – college is ridiculously expensive, learned about credit scores the hard way. This goes back to the importance of personal development. But then again, what young aspiring musician isn’t irrational to a certain extent. If you are able to pay your tuition as you go, more power to you. Although, if I had the money at the time, I would likely have spent it on other items.
  • Highly competitive market, especially if you are an artist – Most don’t get that dream job or make it big. Those individuals get gobbled up by hotel AV companies with rigid grooming codes and suffocating work schedules (yes, I’m talking about myself). A while ago I decided to get a part time AV gig to pay for my defaulted loans. At the time I was renting a commercial space for my recording studio and life was good until it got shut down by the cops (I’ll save the details of that story for another post). So I regrettably took a full time job doing hotel AV and hated life. Nearly all of my co-workers were fresh out of audio school, DJ’s, or musicians. We all moped around the hotel in a self loathing death spiral. One co-worker and good friend actually ended up getting a job as a sound designer for a reputable video game production company. So there is hope and hotel AV is not the end. Finishing up an audio degree does not guarantee a job in the industry either. Making a living requires creativity in marketing yourself and an entrepreneurial spirit.
  • Overthinking – You learn all of these new techniques, programs and gear so you begin to second guess all of your abilities. I got caught up in the music business side of things and decided that my bread and butter “sampling” was not going to cut it anymore due to its legalities. So I abandoned what I was good at and attempted to work with musicians to record my own samples. Little did I know that I was too insignificant and irrelevant in my young career for any of that legal stuff to matter. I was able to work with talented musicians and even learn how to play a few instruments myself but I strayed away from what defined my sound and what made me great. 
  • Most of the information is online and free – However, the flip side to this is that you don’t know what you don’t know. For example, my first couple of years making music, I did not understand why my songs were not as loud as the CD’s I was buying. I assumed there was some magic involved and I ended up buying gear that would end up collecting dust. I would later learned that songs required mastering and it involved a limiter at the end of the process. Nowadays, every single technique is a YouTube search away.
  • Time is better spent on mastering your craft – At the end of the day, practice is what gets you to where you need to be. For myself, because I excelled in nearly every class, I felt like I can do everything from live sound, to video production, to mixing, to rapping, to producing. I bounced around from project to project when I should have given more thought to which one thing do I see myself doing long term. Remember Kanye’s Spaceship, “Lock yourself in a room / Doin’ five beats a day for three summers / That’s a different world like Cree summers / I deserve to do these numbers” Try putting up numbers like that when you have to write papers and study for exams while holding down a job.
  • Lack of real world experience – When it comes to the job market or getting paid good money for your services, nothing replaces good old fashioned real world experience. Most places I work and currently work, employees don’t have 4 year degrees let alone specialized trade school audio engineering degrees. Most people get hired off of their experience. Potential clients will check your credits. How does it look when your resume or bio only lists school projects?

Alternatives:

  • Youtube: Literally type anything you are curious about or want to learn.
  • Online classes (instead of entire degree): https://ask.audio/academy?nleloc=course/1660/producing-hip-hop
  • Practice Practice Practice – Pick one thing and find a way to work on it 5 to 8 hours a day.
  • Find a job that gives you the freedom to work on audio. Bonus points if the job provides benefits such as gear. One of my past part time AV gigs was sitting in an office and waiting for people to pick up their rentals. You can take a guess on what I did during my down time. If you come to my home studio, please ignore the labels on all of the cables, power strips, and adapters.
  • Find a mentor –  Find an individual who has been doing what you want to do and ask questions. If you are lucky enough to find a mentor, you will be able to skip some of the mistakes they made early in their careers just by listening to their blueprints for success.
  • Follow a mentor on Social Media: Some of my favorites to follow via Instagram and YouTube are illmind and DJ Pain1. Both produce heat and are willing to share their knowledge of the craft and the business. They set a good example of giving back to the producer community with they effort they put forth.
  • Intern at a studio – When I got out of school I interned at 17 Hertz Studios and learned a whole lot just from watching the engineers and doing grunt work. Some of the work you have to do might be tedious such as editing 8 hours of an audio book or organizing and backing up 4 years of recording sessions but it helps you build toughness and an appreciation for working in the music industry. Plus if you kick ass at being an intern, the studio might offer you a job.
  • Jump into the deep end head first – When I first started making beats and recording, I didn’t take any classes and there was no YouTube. At that point in my life I wasn’t into reading books either. I just bought the software and the mic and dove right in. Through trial and error (and a few broken chairs due to frustration) I put out independent albums with my rap group. I recall walking over to the local music equipment shop and asking the clerk tons of questions such as “how am I supposed to hear the music when I record?” and “How do I record a record player into the PC?”   I learned how to make music by hitting roadblocks and making mistakes. If you do decide to go to school, make sure you have an end goal in mind and break down its pathway to make sure school fits into YOUR plan.

Lists of reputable audio schools:

What Successful Rappers Do NOT Do

My Experience As A Rapper & Why It Didn’t Work Out

What is considered a successful rap career? Getting a song on the radio? Getting signed to a major record label? Reaching 1 million views on YouTube? I have seen rappers achieve one or more of the aforementioned milestones yet never make a living, or end up fading away into irrelevancy. There are tons of ways to define success and different individuals have different goals. In my opinion, a respectable career involves longevity and the creation of a fan base that will buy your music and attend your shows. If my goals were that simple, why I am I here now writing this blog as a beat producer talking about how I used to rap? Today, I am happy with my decision to focus solely on production but the big reason why I did not reach my targets in the first place was because I gave up. I accepted every excuse that I could think of to justify my unworthiness. In hindsight there were several adjustments I could have made. Here are a few reasons why my rap career did not work out:

  1. Didn’t Work On Stage Presence. Performing live is the perfect way to gain new fans and gain some recognition. The point of a live show is to entertain the crowd. What to people find entertaining? Charisma. A sense of humor. They want to see passion. They want to be inspired. They want any hint of personality yet I displayed none whatsoever. I would stiffen up to the point where I couldn’t even nod my head on-beat and when it was my turn to rap, my arms would start flailing around as if I was getting my first swimming lesson and I was pushed into the deep end. My eyes were glued to the floor preventing my from making eye contact with anyone. The image I projected made me forgettable thus making my music forgettable as well. The purpose of performing at a gig is to make a connection with your listeners. Over a five year span I was able to land live gigs up and down the California coast with my rap group, many of which were paying gigs. It was a fun experience but I can’t help but feel like they were wasted opportunities due to my shortcomings in my stage presence. With time and work, it could have been improved upon.
  2. Stayed In Comfort Zone. How does an artist continue to improve his or her craft? The path to excellence is through personal growth. One way to grow spiritually and intellectually is to force yourself to step out of your comfort zone. During the heydays of my rap career, I only interacted with people that I knew well. I rarely made the effort to build relationships with the people I met. I only recorded songs with my group and rarely collaborated with other rappers. As for the content of the music, I did not challenge myself lyrically. We rapped about rapping and focused on developing tongue twisting rhyming combos where an entire bar rhymes with the entire subsequent bar. If I wanted to improve my rapping perhaps I shouldn’t have stopped free-styling. I stopped joining in cipher sessions and stopped entering emcee battles because they were challenging and required me to work harder. As for promoting my music, I made sure I was as comfortable as possible, literally. I’d be at home in my pajamas submitting emails and posting music online. Nobody likes spammers but on the other side of the spectrum nobody will know you exist if you don’t get outside and meet people.
  3. Made Excuses. When things didn’t work out such as landing gigs or selling CDs, I would put energy into justifying my failure. I would say things like “If my band mates would just put more effort in promoting…” “If I had a bigger budget…” “If people in my city weren’t such haters…” “If my own friends weren’t such haters…” “If I just had more time…” All of these excuses had one thing in common. It placed blame on other people instead of myself. We all hate excuses but we often find comfort in them because it gives us the illusion that the responsibility is taken out of our hands. If I had just owned up to my shortcomings and mistakes, I could have addressed them head on and made some progress.
  4. Acted Too Sensitive. I was ready to make music but I wasn’t ready to take on the criticism. I once had a gig and noticed some drunk kid in the back flipping us off as we performed. As soon as our set was done I rushed off the stage and confronted him. We were separated but I looked like a fool. What was even worse than criticism for me was the lack of interest from others. When my music didn’t rack up play counts and comments online I would take it personal. The negativity would eat me up inside and my productivity suffered. Instead of taking the feedback and turning it into positive improvements, I would take the blows, hit the ground, and stay down. Failure, mistakes, and critiques are actually cheat sheets to instant improvement if you learn to develop a thick skin. When I say “thick skin” I mean not giving a damn what people think or at least not putting so much energy in something that you cannot control.
  5. Didn’t Find & Cultivate an Audience. Remember how stage presence helps you engage with the audience? So does your online presence. It sounds obvious, you can get a feel for who your true fans are by who leaves comments, what they say, and what they purchase. I failed to compile some sort of mailing list of people who were willing to buy anything we put out. I failed to respond to positive comments on our music pages and videos. Once we figured out who our audience was, we did not really put an effort into creating music for them. In other words, When we wrote our music we did not solidify our identity. We gained some fans because they really dug our tracks with singing. Some fans really liked battle raps and others liked the inspirational songs. As far as content, we were all over the place, making it difficult for fans to know what they were getting, preventing them from becoming loyal long term fans.
  6. Unrelatable Lyrics. Once I found my voice and mastered the art of rhyming, I was able to rhyme multiple combinations of words and have it all make sense. My writing focused on this skill excessively. While from a technical standpoint it is impressive, it doesn’t appeal to listeners on an emotional level. One blog reviewed one of my last albums and referred to our lyricism as being a bit too “cerebral.” Writing relatable lyrics and connecting with the listener begins with what I discussed earlier, personal growth. People relate to stories not techniques. I wrote one of my best songs after I visited my grandmother’s province of origin in the Philippines for the first time. Discovering my roots and getting in touch with my family history inspired me to write. It is one of the few songs that fans sang along to when I performed it. The key takeaway is that impactful lyrics come from the heart.
  7. Did Not Eat/Breath/Sleep Rapping. If you are a rapper, embrace it as part of your identity. If you are too embarrassed to tell a coworker or don’t think it’s appropriate to tell a stranger how are you going to muster up the courage to pitch your music to an industry professional. Are you writing raps everyday? Do you scribble rhymes on napkins? Are the margins of your math homework riddled with punchlines?
  8. Did Not Challenge Myself. One of the biggest excuses I gave myself was “I am not hood enough so I can only go so far.” Being a musician is about creatively expressing yourself. I kept focusing on a limitation that was a figment of my imagination. All my rap development needed was growth. As I discussed earlier you grow when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations. Right out of college, I moved back into my parents’ house while I tried to make it as a musician. Perhaps moving to Hollywood would have motivated me more. Trying to make a living in New York city might have given me a new perspective. Maybe relocating to a foreign country would have forced me to experience the adversity that my personal development needed. Challenging yourself as a rapper isn’t just about writing better lyrics. The words you write are a reflection of life and your experiences. Experience something new everyday. Your lyricism will benefit from it.
  9. Walked Away When It Got Tough. I will never forget the string of events that led to the demise of my rap career. My rap group which was once ten deep, was now just me and one other rapper. We were polar opposites. He was making a name for himself on the battle rap circuit and I was on the same grind but with beat battles. We got to a point where we were performing at 2 gigs a week. Then the bookings became fewer and fewer. Then we finally got three gigs in three days. It was a glimmer of hope. I showed up for the first gig and I wasn’t even on the list. We even had to pay $20 each to get in the club. Humiliating. I then receive an email, notifying us that our next gig was cancelled. Strike two. Deflated, I pick myself up because the third show booked that week was at the UC Berkeley campus. We always had success with crowds in Berkeley as well as on every college campus we ever performed on. This was going to be the slam dunk to get my confidence back. As we walk up the steps to the Zellerbach hall, the friend who booked us the gig to perform for the school’s Filipino student association greets us right outside of the venue. “I have bad news” she tells us. She didn’t even have to explain any further. I somehow already knew that it was just our luck that the set was cut for time. I sat on the steps right outside the hall and contemplated my career up to that point. The latest strikeout showed me that it was time to hang em up. It was a choice that I don’t necessarily regret but I do wish I had a little more perspective back then.You are going to get rejected and ridiculed at some point. It’s just the nature of the business. The same goes for the good times. It is easy to revel in a big accomplishment such as opening up for one of your idols or getting airplay on the radio and expect the good times to keep rolling. At some point it will get dicey and you will experience some adversity. I now realize those bumps in the road are positives, signs that I am heading in the right direction. 

How To Truly Win Beat Battles

Getting The Most Out of Putting Yourself Out There

The Beat Battle: an event where bedroom producers emerge from their dark dormitories to climb onto a stage in front of an audience of music snobs in a crowded club. All eyes on the beat maker for a brief moment of silence right before he pushes play on a CDJ and proceeds to begin dancing like an idiot. I was once one of such producers that mustered up the courage to subject myself to the scrutiny of a crowd that probably just wanted to come out and have drinks at a bar and maybe there to support a friend. For myself, performing in this way was nerve racking to the point where I was just an off rhythm stiff looking down at the ground for the entire 60 seconds that my battle beat was playing throughout the club. Others were able to dance and exude excessive amounts of confidence. My self conscious self would say “man, my beats aren’t that good, so I can’t really dance like that to my beats.” And I would tell myself that I probably lost because I showed zero personality whatsoever while on stage. I just couldn’t help but focus on all the people staring at me, judging me, rejecting me. I once did a battle in out in Modesto, CA. When my name was announced as I approached the stage “next up we have Remshot,” that was quickly followed up by a heckler yelling out “rimjob!” As immature and irrelevant as the insult was a few people giggled and I felt as nervous as ever. I played my beats that night and I ended up winning the whole thing. It was a nice little ego boost but winning isn’t everything. Not everyone takes home first prize but there are a number of benefits in participating in beat battles.

 

Constructive Criticism: First and foremost beat battles give you a chance to get feedback on what you think are your best beats. In some cases, a battle will have judges who will provide a critique as they are choosing winners. When I participated in the Bay Area producer conference, I received harsh criticism from the judges who, after hearing my beat, a sample challenge for a classic blues sample, said that they thought my beat didn’t have enough melodies and they preferred playing your own instruments over sampling. “But its a freakin’ sample challenge” I thought to myself. Nonetheless, I lost and learned two things. If my intent is to win a battle, I must do my homework on who the judges are and what they have worked on. The second thing I learned is that other people’s opinions are completely out of my control. I ended up selling exclusive rights to that particular hip hop instrumental that “lacked melody.” Another form of feedback is the crowd’s reaction in a club setting. People are drinking and itching to dance, if people aren’t moving to you music, its an indicator that your groove may need some working on.

 

Personal Growth: Another benefit is stepping out of your comfort zone. Beat battles were a chance for me to face my fears of rejection. Just the fact that I came out and put myself out there was a big step for me. I constantly worry about being judged. Continuing to answer the challenge helped numb those fears. My very first beat battle, I went up to the stage shaking in my boots. I didn’t even know how to use a CDJ, it played the wrong beat and I couldn’t figure out how to skip to the next song on my cd. The button I was pressing kept repeating the wrong beat over and over. My worst fears imaginable happening in front of a tough crowd who eventually decided that I would lose the head to head battle. The experience sucked but I got it out of my system and I came prepared from that day forward.

 

New Listening Environment: My personal favorite aspect is getting to hear my beat mixes over a super loud PA system. Club speakers are built to knock so if your instrumental tracks don’t slap as hard as what the DJ is spinning, then you have work to do in the mixing and mastering department. The things I like to listen for are the balance of the mix, the behavior of the bass frequencies, and the overall loudness. My first couple victories involved using beats that were mastered by a mastering engineer. In other words, I went to a friend who had the entire Waves plugin bundle and some experience mastering a buddy’s rock album. The difference was night and day when compared to other beats that were not mastered. The added benefit of working with a mastering engineer is getting feedback on what needed to be adjusted in the mix. The mastering engineer’s job is to produce a final output not correct mistakes. A few times he would send a beat back to me and refuse to master it until I get a new bassline on it.

 

Networking: Beat battles are an excellent way to meet like-minded individuals who will check out your music if you listen to theirs as well. You will meet other producers as well as prospective clients. A charismatic host of one beat battle I did would ask for the producers number as soon as the beat finished playing to show that he was digging it. At these events people are exchanging phone numbers, twitter handles, soundcloud pages, facebook accounts, emails, etc. If you plan on attending a beat battle, I highly recommend having your profile ready to be shared. As a musician you should have at least one social media account with pictures and music that you are proud of. It is kind of a buzzkill if you are sharing contact information but you have to give out a disclaimer or an excuse of why your shit is whack. It is also important to be ready to network even if you aren’t competing. Producers who compete will be approachable. All you have to do is compliment them on their beats. You never know who might end up blowing up or have something to offer that might benefit you. Networking for me paid off, when I met a beat producer that specialized in web design. I featured a mix of her beats on an online radio show I was producing at the time so she agreed to help me out with web design. I admit, networking and being outgoing is not my strong suit but it is something that I have been practicing. Like I mentioned, being prepared with music and visuals that you are proud of will help build up confidence.

 

Inspiration: The benefit of befriending fellow producers is the inspiration you can draw from each other. It can come in the form of obsessive competitiveness or the sharing of new ideas and techniques. Over the past decade it amazes me how much each former beat battle competitor has improved over the years. It forces me to step my game up.

 

Motivation: If you are experiencing creative block or you desperately need a swift kick in the ass to get up to make beats, signing up for a beat battle is the perfect way to motivate you to get in the lab. The battles that involve a sample challenge will get you on your beat machine with a starting point and a deadline in mind. The fact that hundreds of people will be watching you will add some pressure and force you not to cut corners. If I know that I am mixing beats for a beat battle, I will do everything I can to check my mixes on the homie’s DJ setup, in my garage from my car, and on the PA system at my job (after hours of course).

 

Free Advertising: Producer competitions are an excellent way to promote your beats even if you do not come out victorious. The key is to make a good impression and walk away with people collecting your contact information. I used to rock 17 Hertz Studio T-shirts to my battles and was able to generate a few leads. Regardless of the outcome, I would come out a winner if I acquired one customer who would ultimately end up booking multiple recording sessions, buy a beat, purchase mixing services and shoot a music video. If you don’t provide services and you aren’t seeking clients you can still acquire fans. They are the ones who will rack up plays on your soundcloud and youtube pages. Fans will share your content on social media. I’ve seen some producers hand out business cards and fliers. If you are feeling bold it might even be more effective to wear a t-shirt or headwear that has your website or twitter handle on it.

 

Prizes: The champion is blessed typically with cash prizes which can range from $0 up to $1000. Sometimes just the exposure is all the reward you need. Sometimes you can get free apparel. I once won a beat battle that took place at a streetwear store in Oakland, CA. In addition to a cash prize I got a couple of free Oaklandish shirts. There have been times when I received a cut of the door money.

Different Types of Beat Battles:

Producers need to keep in mind that these types of competitions are based on people’s opinions and that it is tough to control how someone responds to your beats. However, you can give yourself an advantage by doing your homework and being thorough with your beat production. An important factor in winning is understanding context and niches. Are you going to a bar on a night where an older more knowledgeable crowd with regards to hip hop is on hand? If yes, then it might be a good idea to make sure you play beats that don’t have recognizable soul samples or you better make sure you flip it way better than the classic hip hop track that used it. I once played a beat where I flipped a Dean Martin sample, not realizing that the Gravediggaz already flipped the same song. I ended up losing and I was approached by a member of the crowd who called me out on it. Remember, with these types of events, winning the contest isn’t everything. Below is a list of different types of battles and their benefits:

 

  1. Live Tournament Style (in a club setting) – In these battles the format is head to head contests judged by the crowd or by judges on the spot. This setting is a great place to gain fans and network with other producers. I got my start entering battles organized by good friend and producer Phillip Drummond. To break up the monotony of your typically beat battle he sent the competitors the samples ahead of the event. Producers had a week to produce beats from his sample package that usually had a theme such as Beatles songs, Rock music, or Reggae.
  2. Message Board/Forum Battles – This beat battle can come in the form of a sample challenge where the moderator will assign samples to the producers.These take place on forums such as Battleflips and winners are usually determined through member votes on a message board. This is a good way to direct traffic to your social media sites or music pages. It is also an avenue to get detailed thoughtful feedback from forum posters. Individuals on such forums are typically knowledgable and honest.
  3. Submissions – Sites such as Beatstars will have contests where you remix a song. The contest will provide the acapella for you to throw your beat on and submit. Winners are determined by a panel of judges and prizes can include studio time and gear. I entered a remix/cover contest to remake a John Legend song where users of the music site voted for the best covers. This was a great way to gauge how good I was at producing at the time.
  4. Live Beat Making – I competed at the final 2 Scribble Jams. A hip hop festival which ran from 1996 to 2008 that was famous for its ‘97 emcee battle between Eminem and Juice. The latter years of the event featured a producer competition where its finalists had to dig through crates of vinyl records and make a beat within one hour. Preparing for such a task helps you sharpen your listening and chopping skills.
  5. Producer Competition (In front of an expert panel) – In 09 I was selected to compete in the Bay Area Producer Conference beat battle. This contest was set up tournament style but its setting differs from a club atmosphere in several ways. The battle takes place in a theater or a ballroom so the acoustics are going to be quite different than a crowded bar. It seems like you can get away with average mixes in a club because the PA system is blasting and the crowd absorbs much of the sound. In a ballroom/theater setting, people are not getting drunk and trying to dance so your music is under much more scrutiny as it is played on a system that has been tuned by an audio engineer. Moreover, instead of trying to impress a crowd that wants to party, your beats are being analyzed by industry professionals who have mixed and produced gold records for decades. Even if the feedback is negative, such a panel can provide some useful career advice. AN example of a well known producer competition is the events organized by iStandard.

 

In conclusion, beat battles are a great way to step outside of your bubble to gain some exposure. Even if you are not exactly winning championships, the fact that you are able to play your music for an audience of strangers can be considered a win in itself. So go out and join one and get the most out of the experience.

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