LEAK-A-BEAT
June 22, 2008
At Producer’s Skill, we take pride in the skill of production. We want to provide you with the opportunity to showcase your skills. If you think you have the skills, send us your best produced song or track for consideration. The song or track can be an instrumental or vocal version but it must demostrate structure, arrangement and originality. The producer with the best overall rating will get “The S.K.I.L.L Certificate” for the week. The track will be rated using the following criteria on a scale of 1(lowest) to 10 (highest) in each catagory with a grand total of 100 points:
- Quality( Sound)
- Originality (Does it sound like….)
- Marketability (Can the track be played in today’s market)
- Signature Sound (Sounds like no other)
- Influence (Projected and Current on production)
- Impact On Hip Hop
- Technique (Sampling, instrumentation,sequencing)
- The Essense (Usage of elements ex. vinyl,sampling,breakbeats,etc)
- Feeling (Does it envoke emotion)
- Overall Production Skill
Please send only one track and a high resolution photo for consideration to: leakabeat@producersskill.com
I’m Che’Zee Da Beatmaker
June 21, 2008
Che’Zee Da Beatmaker’s Crib
(Rumors)
DISCLAIMER:
All content within this section is pure rumor and generally have no factual information. This is purely for entertainment (wink, wink) read on.
What’s up yall? Welcome to my crib. Right now, I’m working on some beats but be sure to come by every now and then to talk some sh** about production, hip hop and everything else.
“Ucoolwiddit?” Produced by EP
June 27, 2008
1/5 of the hip hop group Fab Nickel, producer EP has displayed a true understanding of Raw hip hop production. Check out this track “Ucoolwiddit?” by Fab Nickel produced by EP. [Read more]
SOUNDS
June 26, 2008
SOUNDS
www.rapdrums.com
www.motionsamples.com
www.drums.sk/
www.modernbeats.com/
www.modernbeats.com
www.phatdrumloops.com/
MISC
June 26, 2008
I would rather stay at my parents house
June 26, 2008
Remember where you heard it hear first. Scott Storch will be the first music producer on E True Hollywood Stories. Speaking of Scott Storch. Rumor has it, he’s been working with Dre on Detox. By the time that drops, Dre might be in an old folks home.
Gotta love Soulja Boy. He reached all the way back into the 80’s and started using that horrible Orchestra Hit sound for his production.
Is it me or are southern beats getting weaker than ever now!
In 2008, will Hip Hop return to using snares or are they long gone and forgotten?
A while ago, Papoose and Fat Joe supposedly got into it and Joe may have taken a hit…Supposedly. But there are no signs of bruising or cuts on Joe’s face. So I pose this question…What has less of an impact? Pap’s fists or his beat selection? Is his album ever going to drop?
Can anyone tell me what can I do with these 3 ADAT recorders collecting dust?
I bet you don’t have this album. It’s a Jazzyfizzle product-shizzle!!!!!
Production ART
June 24, 2008
Please, feel free to send in any production related artwork to display on our site.
MUSIC FROM PRODUCERS
June 24, 2008
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GEAR
June 24, 2008
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Now picture this
June 21, 2008
ARTICLE by Supa Sam
Now picture this. An Akai MPC sitting on a desk next a Triton, Motif, or a Fantom keyboard. Accompanying these items is a Mac or PC loaded with Protools, Reasons, Logic, Cubase, Fruity Loops, or any other of the fine music programs that technology has to offer. Then, you add the turntable, CD player and mixer for your sampling and you’re just about set. With some of these musical weapons you are know ready to become the next Dr.Dre or Kanye West …… not. But many aspiring producers have this ideology. Becoming a producer takes much more than having the equipment or being able to speed up records to sound like the Chipmunks. Producing hip-hop music is an art, craft, and skill that requires time, dedication, and understanding. Over the last few years’ hip-hop music has seen a decline in many areas and production unfortunately is on that freefall. Here are a few reasons why I think that production has taking such a hit.
1. Find your own style.
I would be lying if I said that musicians don’t have influences over other musicians or producer having the same over other producers, but where would hip hop be if Herbie Luv Bug copied Marley Marl down to a science or if Pete Rock bit Premier’s style. Hip-hop would be stagnated and very repetitive. Ever since Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Heatmakers laced artist such as Jay-Z and the Dipset with speeded up souls samples (RZA was actually the first to do so), the sound spread like an epidemic. Massive producers starting emulating that particular production sound all over. The same thing happened with Lil John, Scott Storch and a host of other producers. It’s alright to admire a style or sound and implement a little of it into what you’re trying to do as a producer but to just take a producer’s sound is not hip hop, that’s Xeroxing. Don’t get me wrong there are definitely some A-list producers who have taken a thing or two and incorporate it into their production catalog but because they understand what producing is about they always manage to put their own style into whatever was taken so it still sounds like their own work.
2. Appreciate the art
Music is an art and just like any other fine art it has to be appreciated. Today’s producer does not pay homage to their predecessors or the music they take from. Many producers sample things and don’t know who their sampling or if the recording was previously used by someone else. Most people who want to become producers do it for the acclaim and monetary benefits and not for the love of the art.
3. Production gridlock
Due to the large influx of producers, artists are being bombarded with tracks daily. Whether by CD, email, or listening session, this massive submission of music has caused production gridlock, which in turn has brought down the value of production. For example, 10 years ago the average producer could fetch anywhere from 5000 to 10,000 for a track from an artist/label even if the producer wasn’t well known. Now that production has become so saturated and under cutting has become so popular, the average producer is now getting anywhere from 1500 to 3000 if they’re lucky. The relationship between the artist and producer has become estranged and has negatively affected the quality of the music and the direction of hip-hop, which brings me to my next point.
4. Producer vs. Beatmaker
A producer is supposed to follow his/her music from the beginning to the end. Collaborating with the artist and making sure that the artist is doing the right thing with the music and the music is doing the right thing for the artist is an obligation meant for the producer. Now days, producers have been reduced to become beatmakers. Beatmakers make a bunch of tracks and submit it to artist, managers, labels, and wait for a response. Artist 2 track what music they like and pretty much do what they feel to the music. The producer doesn’t really have any input or say so on the direction of the song. The producer then has to live or die with the product whether they like it or not. In some instances the song comes out hot and the producer is looked at as a talent but that is usually rare and the producer has to account for sub par music, which destroys their creditability. Another problem that occurs with being a beatmaker is that artist put out music that they haven’t paid for or have gotten authorization from the producer to be used publicly. Artists basically kill the value of tracks by recording it and putting it out on mixtapes and radio because other artist hear the music and lose interest in the beat.
5. Blame the Producer
You can look at many issues and attribute it to the decline of hip-hop but the bottom line is the music. Personally, I put a majority of the blame on producers because they create the music. Producers have to reclaim their status and take back control of the hip-hop game if it’s going to survive or better yet be resurrected. People such as Kool Herc, Afrika Bambatta and Grand Master Flash help give birth to the hip-hop production game and it has evolved wonderfully until the last few years. The next few years are going to be crucial in hip-hop production because the music and the culture are symbiotic to each other. So if there is no music, then there is no hip-hop.
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