Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/dont-sink-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from 'Trouble In The Water Acapella' by De La Soul and DJ Honda

Visuals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2auRPCFGxv0


I’ve been listening to a lot of disco recently, it started by digging through songs to sample but then I was just enjoying it so much I immersed myself in the genre for a bit. This beat samples a disco song, and originally when I first chopped and sequenced it, I pitched down the sample by -90 on the MPC (which is a lot), to make a really grimey sounding beat that I wanted to put this acapella over, because it fit the really melancholic vibe of the sample. However when I revisited the beat this week after listening to a lot of disco, I decided to completely change what I did; the sample sounded too distorted for how pitched down it was, and because of that it was basically impossible to mix it well. Whilst experimenting with how to fix it I decided to just do the inverse of what I’d done, and pitched the sample up by +90 on the MPC, and worked out completely new sequences for the melody and bassline. This made a way more upbeat track, but it still fit the trouble in the water acapella crazily, I think it works because De La Soul have always experimented and innovated beyond conventions, so this different approach fit their style well.

Because I pitched the sample up so much this was unbelievably long to mix, the high pitch gave it so much next resonance which was too harsh to listen to, so it was a real challenge to lessen that without losing all of the highs and making the track sound muddy, because that completely clashes with the vibe its going for. I think it came out OK, its definitely an interesting outcome, I’m not really sure how I feel about it. Also the record I took the acapella from is pretty beat up, which made this even harder to mix, there’s tons of vinyl crackle which sounds awful (especially on some S sounds in the vocal) and basically gave the vocals the same problem as the sample. I cleaned it up as best I could and I think they both sound good together, not too muddy etc, but I’m for sure going to buy a copy of the acapella in better condition in the future, and do a cleaner mix of this track, but for now I’m happy with how this turned out.

200th upload

Don't Sink

Dedicated to Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal. 

Beats, mixing and mastering by Tapehead.
Vocals and scratches from 'Just To Get A Rep Acapella' and 'The Squeeze Acapella' by Gang Starr.

Visuals: https://youtu.be/wYH3_H5WaoA
Original upload: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/claiming-respect

Since I started remixing and remastering my old beats it's been really helpful to hear the difference and improvements in my mixing ability. The first beat in this track is a rework of a very old beat, probably one of the first 10 beats I ever made. I was so happy with how it came out at the time, particular the way Guru's verse from Just To Get A Rep flowed over it, and it was mad to be able to improve on the concept I worked out back then and execute it better here. I wanted to take it one step further with this one though, and decided to add a new remix as a switchup, flipping a different part of the same sample that I used for the first beat. I initially only did this because of Just To Get A Rep acapella is so short, and I wanted the track to be longer, but it ended being a really great way of building on the ideas and concepts I was playing with back when I first flipped the sample, and mixing that with all the ways I've learned and developed as a producer since then. I'm really happy with how it came out, and will definitely be doing this again with other old ideas and concepts. 

For the switch up I tried a few different Guru acapellas, but eventually settled on his final verse from The Squeeze. I thought it fit really well after the stick up story on Just To Get A Rep, with Guru essentially sticking up those in power and demanding what is rightfully is, it contrasts as an inverse against the story of Just To Get A Rep which worked mad well to me. Because of this I named this track 'Gaining Respect' off a line from the chorus in The Squeeze, with the original remix being called 'Claiming Respect' off a line in Just To Get A Rep, I thought that worked well in showing the progression and development between the two tracks.

Another interesting thing about this track is the original upload was the first of my tracks that @hightopsfeed liked and reposted, reaching out to say he rated it. That began the start of conversations and discussions that really enabled me to begin the process of developing and growing as an artist, and I'll always remember and associate that with this track.

Gaining Respect

No Regrets

Besides

High ground

BEAT 81 (Summer Vibe)

Instrumental for: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/my-mind-is-old-remastered

I bugged out crazily when I first made this beat, I couldn’t believe the loop I flipped and was just vibing out, sending snippets to all my close friends who are into Hip Hop. Because of this I really really rushed mixing it, I just wanted to get it saved on my computer and in retrospect, I’ve always been really unhappy with how it sounded. The main problem for me was the high frequencies, which I thought were too loud and ruined the other parts of the mix, which was a shame. At the time I didn’t notice it too much but something definitely sounded off, but I’ve learnt a lot since then and I’ve been wanting to improve the mix on this beat for a while. There’s only so much you can do with a bad mix (I never actually saved the beat cause my MPC disk drive was broken back then) so it’s been pretty difficult to get this beat sounding how I would have liked it to, but I think it sounds a lot better than it did.

Here’s the original for comparison: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/my-mind-is-old

Peace

My Mind Is Old (Instrumental)

Instrumental for: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/ways-of-the-world

I flipped this sample early March 2018, I’d just finished writing an essay for university about the Black Star track ‘Thieves In The Night’, and was just gassed in general. I’d chosen this module where I knew I’d be able to write about Hip Hop, and in my free time I was always making beats or listening to Hip Hop, so I felt completely immersed in the culture, and that feeling is definitely where this beat came from. I really felt like I’d gained a new understanding of the Black Star track which has always meant so much to me and makes me bug out every time hearing it, and I just felt like expressing that musically. The song is one of the maddest reflections on society and negative states of mind that trap people, so it was the introspective/melancholy vibe of the sample that made me know I wanted to flip it. I was also pretty set on putting this verse over it, there aren’t many Black Star verses out there, and at the time I didn’t have many 12” acapellas, and Deck’s lyrics fit perfectly with the mood.

I definitely rushed the original mix for this beat, at the time I made it the floppy drive on my MPC wasn’t working, so I couldn’t save beats and had to record a final mix out into audacity the same day I made them. The sample sounds nice but the drums aren’t layered very well and don’t really fit in the mix. Also the vocal is a bit quiet, so since I dropped it I’ve been a bit disappointed with it and wanted to rework it ( https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/life-is-hectic-2 ). It was such a nice sample that I got multiple flips out of it, I originally picked two for when I uploaded this remix, bringing the alternate flip in for the outro after Deck’s verse. For this rework I decided to try and combine them both together, using the main loop for the highs, and filtering the second loop as a bassline to layer under it, giving the track more variation without drastically changing the loop throughout Deck’s verse, which I tried when originally remixing this but it was too jarring. I think the two melodies work well together, it gives the beat an interesting vibe, and I think it works in adding subtle variation to the track. One night while I was working on this my brother was watching an episode of the Sopranos in another room, and I had soloed the beat without the C.R.E.A.M. verse to see how the bass levels sounded on speakers, and the dialogue of the scene was fitting mad well with the beat. I had to ask him what episode it was from, and ripped the audio from a clip on youtube to use as an outro at the end of the track, chopping out the dialogue which I thought was relevant to the track.

Peace and thank you to everyone who listens.

Ways Of The World (Instrumental)

Old Memory

Free Labor • No cheap sales • Bailey Daniel

𝐀𝐛𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐞

rio to velo

Beatmaker / Emcee
Contact: tapeheadloops@gmail.com

<--MPC2000 Classic                     

Underground Airplay

Trying to give something back to Hip Hop - really appreciate any comments or feedback.

Peace