Jermaine Dupri and Brian Michael Cox in the Lab

Great vid of Jermaine Dupri and Brian Michael Cox crafting a pair of beats for Anthony Hamilton's latest project. We get a pretty good glimpse at their workflow. I love listening to these guys studio banter. Very informative. Plus any vid containing somebody chopping and programming samples on an mpc3000 is a good one.

Vanderslice Beats

in this clip, ill producer Eric Vanderslice showcases a few gems.  The SP606 has relatively low key existence but Vanderslice has mastered the unit and manages to use it to twist out his dark, menacing, signature sound.  If you're not up on big homey do yourself a favor and check some of his stuff!

Bink! working on a beat for the MMJB

BINK! X MMJB: Session from Michael Béon on Vimeo.

Bink! workin on a track for the Money makin Jam boys. Bink slappin greatness out of the mpc3000 as always.

Questlove Flips a sample and (SURPRISE) plays drums over it!

Legendary drummer for of the Roots gives you a rare glimpse into his production process. Watch as he uses a beat machine called the drums. He goes on to explains the lengths he has to go to in order to get a Michael Phillips Thomas sample to sound ill. Questo also gives us a good look at his drum-tech as he makeshift-mic's the drums with electric tape. Its great to see the process of people playing live drums over production. Love it

Check out the flip below!!!!



ow!

Mphazes Beatmaking Workshop (Tutorial pt 1)

Amazing Australian based producer Mphazes demonstrates a track during a recent Production workshop he conducted in South Africa. This act of selflessness allowed Mphazes to act as an ambassador for authentic hip hop and explain how we can all share a passion for music that expands beyond nationality, color and creed.

He also took the time out to showcase some amazing beats. Please enjoy!:

Evidence making a beat

Nice lil clip of Evidence (of Dilated Peoples)making a beat that would go on to become "Kindness for weakness" from Dilated Peoples second lp "20/20". Nice to see footage of the ASR-10 being worked on. Very dope machine.

Dwele making a beat...song

Very innovative clip of soulful Motor City genius Dwele creating a conceptual production based video that evolves into a very soulful vignette. Very Creative, but what else would you expect from Dwele.

Ryan Leslie makes "Maybachs and Diamonds"

In this widely viewed video Ryan Leslie effortlessly creates a soulful 80's tinged sound-bed, complete with some amazing analogue synth riffs, for Rick Ross to weave an elegant narrative to.  Very interested to see where this song ends up as it seems to have missed Ross's "Deeper than Rap" and "Teflon Don" lps.

Boola chopping a sample on the 3000

Short but sweet. Boola, (Young Chris, Neef, Beanie Siegal, Freeway, and a slew of other Roc affiliates) chops up a sample in his trusty mpc 3000. Not a whole lot of content here, but I always find it interesting to see somebody chopping on the 3k. Love that machine!

J Dilla Documentary

"J.Dilla: Still Shining" from B.Kyle on Vimeo.

Must see!

Bink Interview

in this interview Bink explains his influences, production equipment and process. He also speaks briefly about how he incorporates live instrumentation into his tracks. Something that he is employing increasingly lately. Very dope vid from PMPWORLDWIDE.COM

More King Karnov

Once again, King Karnov! This dude is impressive. Straight up. In this clip, Karnov gives us a brief interview after playing a BANGER! Bonus points to anybody who can identify the synth at the 0:57 second mark.

Just Blaze Red Bull Academy Interview

An extremely thorough interview with super producer Just Blaze. If you have an hour and 45 minutes to kill at work this is a must see!!!

Enjoy!

Double O talks about "Sampling"

Great interview revealing producer Double O (one half of Kidz in the Hall) thought process as it relates to sample. As a huge fan of sample based music I find it very interesting to hear producer's views on the practice. Double O makes some very strong points and explains a very open minded and reasonable stance on making sample based music.

Moss Interview

In this clip from Onsmash.com, Toronto based producer Moss explains his affinity for records, and how he has been able to place phenomenal tracks with some of the most respected artists of our time. Great interview, very informative. Moss is extremely underated!


Shout to DJ Teknik for the find.

Black Milk Flips a sample

Hands down one of my favorite beat videos ever. Black shows you the whole process as he previews vinyl, finds a section he'd like to flip, flips said section, and lays down drums and a bassline in a matter of 10 minutes of elapsed time! Dope track too! What more could you ask for!?

DJ Khalil and his "Secret Weapon"

DJ Khalil showcases some of the music he and his band "The New Royales" have been working on. Producers Jake one and duo "The bizness" witness Khalil's amazing sound-scapes first hand. Towards the end of the video Khalil showcases an amazingly unique instrument called the Omnichord. Very impressive!

Jake One Interview

Great interview of Seattle production genius Jake One. Kind of lengthy but stay tuned as the interviewer prompts Jake about how he finds inspiration, how he started, and some of his influences. If you would like to skip all of that and get to the beats there is a section where Jake displays how he starts a beat, plays some sample chops and explains why the ASR-10 is his machine of choice.

Ty Fyffe plays slaps!

People would kill for an opportunity submit beats for 50's (then much anticipated) "Before I self Destruct" LP. Veteran Ty Fyffe not only gets that opportunity, but he also blessed us with footage of him playing beats for former G-unit President Sha Money XL. Listen as Ty plays beat after beat that could have drastically improved the sound-scape of that album. As we now know, none of these slaps ended up on the album, which is extremely unfortunate, as any one of them would have been much better choices than some of the tracks that made the album. 50 has a great ear for beats and I imagine he will defer to Ty Fyffe for future albums as he has for albums past.

Apollo Brown showcases a beat!

Detroit beatsmith Apollo Brown takes you through his workflow as he showcases an absolute banger he constructed in Cool Edit 96......COOL EDIT 96! Cool edit 96 was a program strictly intended to be a wave editor. Somehow Apollo manages to create the whole beat entirely in Cool edit 96 (With the understandable exception of the bassline). Apollo programs some extremely hard drums and then chops up a sample before combining the two into an aggressive masterpiece. Proof positive that heat can be achieved on just about anything as long as you learn your gear! Aspiring producers! Stop trying to stock pile all the hottest gear and learn your current gear inside out!

(Sidebar: Are their any producers from Detroit that aren't amazing!?)

Double O

Kidz In the Hall producer, Double O, quickly chops up a sample before adding some sparse keys to the track.

Boonie Mayfield!!! (Boon Doc)

More Boonie Mayfield!!! This vid is great as it shows Boondoc's evolution into more organic/live textures. The man is a natural. Watch as he effortlessly lays down Rhodes keys and then layers strings and other ambient sounds. Boondoc continues to show his growth as he picks up a bass and adds a live bassline to the increasingly soulful slap. Just when you think he's going to wrap it up, he reveals that he recorded background vocals....from his Mom. Apparently everybody in his family is an amazing musician because his mother's background vocals sound great and fit the track perfectly. Very talented guy, and he seems to be good nature and very humble. A welcome change from wack producers with jerk personalities.

Kev Brown, track in progress

Maryland based production genius Kev Brown gives us a sneak peak at a very soulful track he's cooking up on his trusty MPC2kxl. Kev is crazy nice, he always makes the whole process look so easy!

Just Blaze and Dr. Dre reveal much delayed release dates!!!

Just blaze preps everybody for Saigon's super delayed "Greatest Story Never Told" on February 15th. (finally)!

BUT!

just when you think you've seen it all JB pans the camera over about 3 inches to reveal the legendary Dr. Dre who warns us to look out for "4/20". WOW!! There is so much epic-ness in this tiny video its crazy.

Can we expect some Just Blaze contribution to Detox?

M-phazes plays Slaps!

Australian beat mastermind "M-phazes" plays beats as DMV Representative Oddisee (Production mastermind in his own right) narrates the action. Great vid as M-phazes plays several bangers. Buy M-phazes latest project "M-phazes, Good Gracious"

LinnDrum II

Many of you know that Akai's MPC would not exist were it not for Roger Linn's "Lindrum" drum machine. Under the design of Roger Linn, the Lindrum would eventually evolve into the mpc 60 then MPC 60II and then the MPC 3000. (Roger Linn had no direct input on later models of Akai's flagship series however he can be credited with inventing the Midi Production Center (MPC).
As of 2001 Roger Linn has started his own company Roger Linn Designs, or RDL. RDL has designed several interfaces and machines since its inception however I find his newest (As of May 2010) project to be extremely appealing.
Roger Linn is creating a sampling drum machine much like his initial design for the Lindrum 1; however, this newer iteration will have modern spec. If RDL can pull this off we may be looking at a new age mpc3000/60 with modern capabilities!!!

Please check the blurb and concept pics from the RDL website below:

LinnDrum II is a drum machine that’s currently in development. Following on my (Roger's) early drum machine products like the LM1-1 Drum Computer, LinnDrum and Linn9000, as well as the MPC product line I originally designed for Akai, the goal of LinnDrum II is be a new musical instrument for the real-time creation and improvisation of beat-oriented music, both in live performance and in the studio.

Originally conceived as a collaboration with Dave Smith, along the way we discovered that Dave’s customers and mine wanted different products and it would be too expensive to make a product that met the needs of both. So it’s going to be a Roger Linn Design product, but still contains many benefits of Dave’s earlier involvement.

There’s still plenty of work for my small company to do, but when we’re closer to release we’ll be posting more information on this page. For now, I can only say that while it won’t be an analog product it will introduce a number of creative and fun ways to create beats, and will provide a very high degree of hands-on, real-time control of beat and sound manipulation in an intuitive way designed to guide new and surprising ideas from the musician’s head with very little effort. And I suspect most people will find the price less than they were expecting. Please hold your questions for now; as more information is available, I’ll post it here and significant updates will be sent to our LinnDrum II Email List.

I recognize that this product has been in development for a while now. However, the fun for me in designing a product is to try to implement it in a new way that surprises and delights, and for better or worse I tend to take my time getting the details right. Thanks for your patience.

- Roger Linn

Shout out to Roger Linn!!!

Hi Tek

Sneek peek into the making of a record for Mike Posner. Hi-tek reveals a small yet very soulful snippet of a slap he contributed to the project.

Nottz and Rah Digga Session

Rah Digga X Nottz - Studio Session from Raw Koncept on Vimeo.

Nottz and Rah Digga work on a track from Rah Digga's Latest (And entirely Nottz produced) lp "Classic". The two take a few jabs at each other's choice of cell phone as a nottz banger plays in the background.

DJ Toomp!!!

This clip offers a rare glimpse into the collaborative process of Atlanta legends, DJ Toomp and T.I. Note DJ Toomp laying down lead synth keys for the track as T.I. explains an idea he has about its progression. Then watch as both of them light up once Toomp realizes T.I's vision and adds the embellishments. Great moment!!
In the second half of the vid watch as a few musicians add live guitar to the mix before superstar drummer Travis Barker lays down his signature over the top drum work. Lots going on here!

Alchemist making "Hold you down"

Vid of Alc chopping up what would become "hold you down" from his debut album "1st Infantry". Its always good to get insights into some of your favorite records. Hopefully P can refocus himself when he touches down and the Mobb will be able to return to the powerhouse they once were.

OH NO plays Slaps!!!

Behind the scene's of, rap/producer duo, Gangrene's video shoot, "Oh No" decides to bless us with some unheard blap! Crazy stuff here. The oxnard native unleashes his unique blend of unorthodox sample based production and off kilter drum programming that he and his brother (Madlib, for the uninitiated) have become known for. There are some GEMS in here!

BINK PLAYS MORE SLAPS!!!!

Money Making Jam Boys In Studio Session from Time & Tide on Vimeo.

In this clip, Bink plays a few amazing beats for the newly assembled Money Making Jam Boys (Black Thought, Truck North, Sugar Tongue Slim, Rhymefest and Dice Raw) during a studio session last year. Bink often masterfully combines sample based production and elements of silky smooth live instrumentation that makes his tracks very hard to categorize. Most times his tracks are street, soulful, sultry, and uptempo at the same time. Very impressive.

Nottz's BEAT ARCHIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!!!

Nottz just posted this vid on his twitter account.  It appears to be a video of the Virginia legend scrolling through an archive of his beats!!!!  There has got to be thousands of beats on that computer!!!  

And you just know they're all crazy!!!  Very intimidating!  LOL!!!  SMH!!!!!

 

More heat from Khalil!

more footage of DJ Khalil playing yet another banger. This legend in the making has truly mastered his sound. The way he utilizes live instrumentation combined with his ability to apply and program some really ill synths and effects allows him to create epic peices of music that nobody can emulate. I'm amazed almost every time.

How to program Analog Synthesizers!

If you have an analog synth or analog synth emulator and you havent tweaked a crazy amount of parameters and adjusted signal paths etc, then you have not used your analog synth for what it was intended for. The reason these synths sound so amazing on all of those old prog rock records isnt just because the keyboardists were able to play well, its mostly due to them knowing how to program those beastly machines. In this vid a narrator walks you through a basic tutorial of analog synth parameters and generally explains how to get that warmth and expression out of your analog synthesizers. Its a lil on the dry side, but if your into vintage synthesizers then you'll find some pretty good value in this.

King Karnov Pt 2

Producer King Karnov builds another banger while revealing his workflow.  Watch as the Minneapolis based beatsmith flips a sample and then layers synth, percussion, and live guitar over it.  Dope as always!

Boi-1da

Boi-1da is quickly approaching super producer status and couldnt be more humble about it.  In this video Boi-1da works with a couple local musicians and crafts two amazing beats with two distinctly different feels.  This vid really displays his range as a producer which is important as many (myself included) had prematurely placed him in a box in terms of musical direction.  Very good stuff here, stay tuned!

DJ Khalil!!!

Nas Lets Go Esco first listen Dj Khalil
Uploaded by Bounce2dis. - Explore more music videos.

Anybody familiar with DJ Khalil knows that he is SCARY nice!  Calling him a beast is a drastic understatement.  In this clip DJ Khalil demo's Reason at the Propellerhead booth of Namm (2008), by playing a track he produced for Nas' then upcoming album entitled "Untitled" (Ironic.  Initially the album was to be titled "Nigger" but threats of major chains refusing to stock a physical copy of the album scared Def Jam into helping Nas decide that a different title would be a better idea).  Inexplicably, this song didn't end up making the final cut of the album.  Fortunately we can still enjoy Khalil's impecable production on the song.

Jaisu Beat Tape Volume 8

This kid is special. The United Kingdom's own Jaisu brings us another installment of his increasingly ill video beat tape series. Jaisu graciously reveals his sample source and quickly segue's into playing the track he made on his trusty MPC2000xl. I'll post some of his earlier beat tapes in the future but I wanted to start with his latest mainly because the intro also advertises his "Straight out the MPC" beat tape, which is a collection of some of Jaisu's craziest beats to date. If your not familiar with this kid PLEASE check him out. He's a monster!

Boon Doc makes a beat!

Denver Based beatsmith, Boon Doc, reveals his process as he cooks up an extremely soulful track from scratch.  Boon Doc displays quite a bit of musicianship as he plays live hats and percussion after laying down a basic kick pattern and then layering silky smooth rhodes keys over everything.  Always good to see Boonie Mayfield get busy.

Nottz Raw -- Red Bull Music Academy Interview

Super Producer Nottz is interviewed as a part of Red Bull music Academy's Lecture series. Nottz runs down some of his history by playing some of his placements, past to present. Nottz Raw is responsible for an amazingly consistent streak of Bangers! He also goes on to play several unreleased beats where he flipped various songs/scores from the "Back to America" movie. Extremely enlightening interview with the usually elusive Virginia native. You have GOT to check out Nottz recent release "You need this music" for that hard hitting amazingly soulful hip hop.

Black Milk and "Will Sessions" Band!

In this vid, Black Milk works with the Detroit based Will Sessions band.  Always love to see a producer of Black Milk's caliber work with instrumentalists as talented as Will Sessions.  In this short clip you'll see Will Sessions Drummer and trumpet player lay down some parts over a Black Milk produced track for Slum Village.  I'm not sure if the actual song has been released yet as it was not on the groups latest lp "Villa manifesto" (Correct me if I'm wrong).  But I look forward to hearing the finished version in the future.  Black has a history of working with Will Sessions and currently tours with the band so hopefully we'll get many more collabs between these two acts in the future.

Justice League Sample Battle!

All three members of Justice League have a sample battle judged by Drake... What else needs to be said?

Bink plays SLAPS!!!!

Legendary producer Bink! plays beats for half of what would later become the Slaughterhouse crew. While this isnt really a beat-making video, listen as Bink! plays amazing beat after beat for Joe and Royce, who, not long before this video were actually taking shots at each other.  I bought the slaughterhouse album as a result of seeing this video, only to discover that Bink had no songs on it.  But I wasnt too angry because if you check for the end of this video Bink plays an amazing beat that he intended for Jay and notes that he "Hadnt gone to see Hov yet!!".  So that piqued my anticipation again until I checked the Blueprint 3 credits and noticed no mention of Bink....Well, 2011 is looking much better for the VA legend as he already has huge placements for Kanye West, Jamie Fox, and Rick Ross.  Hopefully many more are on the horizon!

Moog Minimoog Demonstration

If you all are anything like me then you love analogue synths. (And you cant afford any but you have an emulator of it even though its not exactly the same, but its close enough for now so either buy me a moog or shut the hell up...but I digress,) In this vid keyboardist (AutomaticGainsy) demonstrates the wonderfully rich sounds of the Moog Minimoog. Its amazing that with all of the technological advances we all enjoy today, our current synths still struggle to find the expressiveness and warmth that many of the synths of yesteryear so easily exuded.

KEV BROWN!!!!!!

You would be hard pressed to find another producer with Kev Brown's penchant for soulful samples, drums that find that perfect groove, and neckbrace worthy basslines.  The Landover Maryland based beatsmith is easily considered a genius.  In this clip Kev flips a Eddie Floyd sample before layering drums, strings, and of course one of his legendary basslines.  While new to some, Kev has been making classic music for some time now.  To catch up you HAVE GOT to Cop his two albums from Itunes.  His latest LP "Random Joints" and his debut LP "I do what I do".  You will not be upset in the least!!! 

Swiff D!!!!!

In this vid Pac Div producer Swiff D plays several BANGERS for an eager crowd at the Cewest Gallery in LA.  When this man chops samples he is among some of the best to do it!  Dope flips, creative sequencing, great bassline's, kid's got it all.

Focus making a beat

Untitled from west coast theory on Vimeo.


Aftermath producer Focus builds a beat with some minor assistance from his engineer Brian.
In this vid Focus excellently flips a sample and then plays and layers bass guitar over it. End result is amazing as always. I'd really like to hear alot of this guys input on the upcoming (and epically delayed) Detox. Focus has always been able to balance west coast flavored instrumentation with a strong east coast influence. Nice MPC 3000 and bass guitar work on this one. Love it! Check for the West Coast Theory DVD for this and other examples of some amazing left coast knob twisters (pause).

Battlecat Studio Session

Battlecat is a legendary west coast producer that I'm sure most of you are familiar with already.  This is one of my personal favorite videos, mainly due to some of the amazing quality of his production but mostly because of his unique brand of philosophy.  Very...interesting commentary going on here.  Perhaps influenced by some of cali's famous export... But I digress.  This is part 3 of a 4 part series.  Please check out the rest when you get a chance, lots of great stuff there.

9th Wonder Presents: The Soul Council

Grammy Award winning producer 9th Wonder has assembled a staff of some of the illest up and coming producers with intentions for them to fuel his IWW Jamla Academy label much like Motown was propelled by the Barry Gordy led Funk Brothers.  In this clip, 9th introduces each member of the IWW Jamla conglomerate.

Illmind interview and Production setup tour

In this installment of Kevin Nottingham's Producer CEO series, Jersey based budding super producer Illmind explains his workflow while giving a brief "tour" of his equipment (pause). Very interesting that he samples everything, including vsti's and Reason, into the asr-10 where he flips it like a sample and then tracks everything into protools. This kind of stuff makes me want to run to my setup and get busy! (again, pause)

King Karnov pt 1

King Karnov is a beast of a producer from the Minneapolis area.  He’s been putting in work for a while racking up some notable collaborations with Busta Rhymes, Bishop Lamont, Lord Have Mercy, and Stat Quo just to name a few.  A skilled guitarist who isnt afraid to chop vinyl, scary nice.  In this video King Karnov reveals some of his process and workflow as he flips a sample in Logic, and plays some keys, synth and live guitar to create a ill joint.