Tapehead

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/2P9FPXdMFu3ncPpkhqxCoL?si=9fdd9bc091404713
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/true-love-heart-soul-instrumental/1626154372?i=1626154373
Bandcamp (HQ Download): https://tapehead.bandcamp.com/track/true-love-heart-soul-instrumental

Instrumental for: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/true-love-from-the-heart-soul

I was so motivated to flip this sample because it had so many nice melodies which were separated and very brief, so I wanted to combine my different flips to make new melodies out of the new melodies I already made and properly extend the parts of the sample which I thought were way too crazy to be so brief in the original song, it’s difficult to write down but hopefully makes sense. I did lots of layering here too, to really give the beat weight, and emphasise/build on the atmosphere of the melodies. 

Hope people like this beat, glad to have released it as an instrumental. Peace!

True Love (Heart & Soul Instrumental)

Debut Album Out April 26th!! https://linktr.ee/tapeheadlinks

50 Cent Remix Instrumentals: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/tapehead-remixes-50-the-instrumentals

MF DOOM Remix Instrumentals: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/doomsday-tribute-tapehead-instrumentals-full-beat-tape

Full Length Crime Side Album Out Now! https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/tapehead-enter-the-crime-side-36-chambers-remixes-full-album

Full length remix over this instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/crime-side-extended-mix

Behind the scenes of how I made this beat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOv3jo2zljI

Now out on Spotify (and other streaming services):
https://open.spotify.com/track/7E7XrsH9croPa5CCiRy0DB?si=e9841bdf0b7a4d96
https://music.apple.com/us/album/crime-side-instrumental-instrumental-single/1577843527?uo=4&app=apple+music

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nArcfLLPFnY
Bandcamp: https://tapehead.bandcamp.com/track/crime-side-instrumental-2019
Crime Side: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/crime-side

I made this beat in February 2019. I had just spent all night in a library to meet a university coursework deadline, and got home at 6am wide awake from all the caffeine I'd been drinking.

I thought I'd want to relax after working all night but I really felt like making a beat to celebrate I guess. There wasn't space for tons of vinyl and a turntable in my room that year, so I was sampling through YouTube. I can't remember the name of the sample sadly, but I know that these strings were at the start of the track and as soon as I heard them I went into autopilot and turned on the MPC to chop them up. 

It was still early in the morning and all my housemates were asleep, so I made the whole thing using headphones, which I remember being a really immersive experience. Using headphones actually allowed me to be more precise with my chops, and ever since I've always chopped samples this way. I must have chopped around 20 seconds of the track into 16 pieces, because every pad on the MPC was taken up, and from there I was able to just be creative and work out which parts I wanted to use for my flip. I had a couple of loops sequenced but this one was my favourite, so I added drums which I had chopped from a break a while ago.

By the time I had mixed and saved the beat it was the afternoon, so I cooked food and worked on which acapellas sounded good over the beat, narrowing it down to a couple by the end of the day. I crashed at around 10pm, and the next day I finished up the remix, choosing Raekwon's verse from C.R.E.A.M.

Crime Side (Instrumental)

Instrumental:
https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/relax-your-mind-instrumental

Youtube:
https://youtu.be/hTKLcAEt980

I made this beat on 11th November 2020, sampling the soundtrack to Chinatown (1974), which I've seen a couple of times, and each time I was blown away by the soundtrack, so I decided to use it for a beat. I capitalised on the ambient atmosphere of the film and its soundtrack, and heightened those aspects when making this beat by pitching the sample down crazily. I used two samples from the same 20 seconds of the soundtrack that I ended up chopping up, a flute/string melody which I filtered and pitched down loads to create the main ambient sample, and some piano notes which I tuned to match the ambient sample, and then layered them on top at certain moments, adding to the atmosphere of the beat.

The beat turned out pretty smooth and laid back, so I thought it made sense to put the acapella for 'Relax Your Mind' over it, as it fit the vibe of the sample well.

Relax Your Mind (Remix)

Relax Your Mind Remix:
https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/relax-your-mind-remix

Youtube: 
https://youtu.be/7d_WIi4ymKc

I made this beat on 11th November 2020, sampling the soundtrack to Chinatown (1974). I capitalised on the ambient atmosphere of the film and its soundtrack, and heightened those aspects when making this beat by pitching down the sample crazily. I used two samples from the same 20 seconds of the soundtrack that I ended up chopping up, a flute/string melody which I filtered and pitched down loads to create the main ambient sample, and some piano notes which I tuned to match the ambient sample, and then layered them on top at certain moments, adding to the atmosphere of the beat.

The beat turned out pretty smooth and laid back, so I thought it made sense to put the acapella for 'Relax Your Mind' over it, as it fit the vibe of the sample well, and I've left the hook on this instrumental because of this.

Relax Your Mind (Instrumental)

Youtube:
https://youtu.be/0ElLpm9RJcs

18/11/20
I've got to shout out @hightopk because he really inspired me to do something productive that day and make something music-wise, which led to me dedicating the whole day to flipping this sample, forcing myself to keep at it until I had something I really liked, not just being satisfied with the first loop I got, I wanted to flip it as well as possible.

The sample was ridiculously long to flip, the original BPM was around 144, so I pitched my turntable all the way down, and sampled it into the MPC, where I chopped up the main loop so it would fit at 97 BPM. The flip worked, but I wasn't happy at all with it, as it was basically an exact loop of the original sample, just slowed down and chopped up, and it had no style to it. Because of that I started experimenting, and pitched down all the chops to try and make a hardcore sounding beat out of the sample. This didn't end up happening, but by tuning all the chops down to -160 on the MPC I was able to properly listen to which chops were dope and which ones weren't, if that makes sense. I deleted all the chops which didn't sound good pitched down, narrowing it down to a bank of 16 chops from various points in the sample which all sounded good on their own. I then pitched them all back up halfway to -80, and managed to make this loop out of what I had left, which were in my opinion the best parts of the sample. Each chop was barely over 2 seconds long but when slowed down they all blended together and flipped really well at 97 bpm, way better than my earlier loop. 

This took 8 hours and there was a lot of trial and error throughout the process of making this beat, but I think it was worth it in the end, as it gave the flip a lot of style and originality, which I think is mad important.

I'm keeping the sample quiet for now, because I'm planning on doing a video showing how I flipped it in the future, peace.

Rock The Mic

Remixed and Remastered. 

Original upload:
https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/hopeful-days

Youtube:
https://youtu.be/dQfE2JfqXcA

"It's sweet scented, when you been down for a minute."

This beat marks a turning point in my life. I had completed the 1st term of my 2nd year at university, and had spent the past year and a half living a negative lifestyle; smoking weed everyday and living to get high and escape reality. I spent the whole of this first term thinking about the way I was living, but did little to change my lifestyle, and was desperate to get away from it all during the holidays. Luckily I was able to spend Christmas 2017 at home away from this negative environment I felt trapped in, spending time with family. I instantly made the decision to quit all mind altering substances, as during my time at home I stayed sober, and was the happiest I had felt in years. I made this beat the day I returned to my rented accommodation at university in January 2018, and truly felt like a different person, certain in my decision to stay sober, feeling content and at peace. I was excited and hopeful for a lifestyle centered around creating music out of genuine enjoyment and passion, and I've stayed that way ever since.

I can still remember riding my bike to lectures after putting this Mos Def acapella over this beat, listening to the rough mix, and feeling truly optimistic and positive about everything. All of the lyrics concerned with leaving (although written in a completely different context), really resonated with me, as I was leaving a negative lifestyle in the past, in order to move on with a life focused on music.

Hopeful Days (2018)

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