Tapehead

100+80

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/love-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead.
Vocals from ‘The Love Song Remix Acapella’ by Da Bush Babees, Mos Def and De La Soul.

Visuals: https://youtu.be/JskhIFkB-Hk

This beat was LONG to flip, took me multiple days of working on it for 8+ hours until I was happy it. I’d sped up the sample on my turntable to flip it around 90 BPM (originally it must have been 70 something), and based on the way I chopped it, it was looping at around 94 BPM. It was just one of those samples where it was from a more freeform part of a song which wasn’t necessarily constricted by one BPM or time signature, so even though my chops were looping at 94 BPM, certain notes and areas were out of time, which just took absolutely ages to fix. Essentially I had to listen to the track over and over across several days, working out which chops were out of time, and then chopping them up into one, two or even three more pieces depending on the issue, so I could sequence it myself and slightly adjust the timing to match the BPM and time signature of how I wanted to flip it. It was definitely worth it in the end, I was really happy with how the beat turned out. 

After the length of time it took to flip this beat I was mad grateful that the first acapella I tried over the beat was this one, I had a feeling it would match the tone of the sample. I have no real knowledge of music theory, so it’s always a nice surprise when the key of an acapella happens to be the same as a sample I flip for a beat. This is definitely the best that’s ever come together for me, it feels like every note Mos Def hits in the chorus is in key with the note of the chop which is playing in that moment, I’m just glad I happened to buy the record with this acapella a few days before I sat down to mix and master this beat, which kept it in my mind as a possibility to remix. I think it came together really well, as well as the acapella matching the beat tonally, I think the whole atmosphere, vibe and lyrical content that Mos Def went for perfectly blends with the beat, making it sound a bit less like a remix and more like an original song, which is always mad.

I’m also too happy with how the visuals turned out. There isn’t a video for the remix of The Love Song, so I initially tried using the video to the original, but it didn’t really fit because Mos Def actually spits a completely different chorus in that. This forced me to be more creative, and I was just watching other Mos Def music videos on mute with my beat in the background, seeing which ones fit the vibe best. I ended up choosing the visuals from UMI Says, which I chopped up in Davinci Resolve to play over my remix in a way that made sense. I think this really leveled up the visuals, its mad how well they both work together, but it does make a lot of sense given the themes of both tracks, I’m just happy to have been able to put this together.

Love

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/relaxed-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals and scratches from 'Relax Your Mind Acapella' by T-Max

Visuals: https://youtu.be/FvWxa4CYFaI

It's always nice when you get 2 flips from a sample which gel together. Here I filtered both flips to act as a bassline for the beat in different parts of the track, giving the sample more weight and flavour by combining the best bits of each, it's something I've been trying to do in most beats I make now and I definitely focused on it here, trying to give the track more variation and progression as well as building the vibe of what made the sample stand out to me.

When I made this beat I knew I'd need a laid back acapella to go over it. I tried a few Masta Ace verses from the acapella LP but I wasn't really sure. I tried this acapella from T-Max and was gassed with how his flow sounded, it fit well with the drums and sounded very very different to the last remix I did with the acapella, and it fit the laid back vibe of the beat perfectly. I was considering making the drums laid back but I decided to make them hit hard, partly cause the sample didn't have much low end so I needed the drums to fill out the mix. 

Peace and thank you for listening!

Relaxed

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/watch-your-back-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from 'Rainbows Acapella' by MF DOOM as Madvillain

Visuals: https://youtu.be/DTGcv762Tzk

Original upload: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/drainin-them

I remember when I originally flipped this sample I thought it had a real wild west vibe to it, the guitar just had that feel to me and I flipped it in a way that chopped it up even more, cause the notes had that short staccato quality to them which I wanted to exaggerate in the beat. 

I originally wanted to put 'Rhinestone Cowboy' over this beat for that reason, but I couldn't get the flow to match well so I started looking at other DOOM acapellas, cause I thought he'd fit the beat well regardless. I tried loads of acapellas, chopping them all up to get the flow right on the beat, and even though they fit, I still wasn't 100% sure. For about 2 days this week I was set on this track being a remix of Money Folder, cause I thought the subject matter fit the cowboy sound well, but after working on the mix for 2 days I wasn't really feeling it anymore. I didn't initially think Rainbows would sound good over this beat so I didn't actually try it until that day, and was immediately way more excited about how that sounded, cause the notes DOOM sings fit really well with the notes on the sample, and in my opinion the subject matter actually fits the vibe of the beat well too. It also worked out well that DOOMs laid back 'singing' style contrasted against the staccato sample, so both of them stood out to me in a way that both complemented each other. Even though it took a bit of experimentation I ended up happy with how this one turned out, hope people enjoy it too.

Peace and thank you for listening!

Watch Your Back

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/who-the-is-you-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from 'Question (Extended Raw Rhymes Version)' by MF DOOM and Kurious

Visuals: https://youtu.be/lxUNK3th8yA

Operation Doomsday is probably my favourite MF DOOM album (it’s hard to say really, Vaudeville Villain is a close second). Being a huge old school hip hop fan, when I first heard the album it blew me away with how innovative everything was. There’s something about DOOM in this period which is just different to me, he was making music for the pure love of it, was homeless at some points, and you can just hear that this album was born out of sheer passion to keep on with music to continue what he and his brother started, and what they had planned. It’s always resonated with me.

This acapella is the Extended Raw Rhymes version of Question from the deluxe version of the album. I've actually tried to remix this a couple of times, and each time I went straight to the main verses and skipped DOOM and Kurious freestyling at the start. For this beat I thought it fit a kind of stripped down freestyle vibe cause it has that rugged feel to it, so I tried their freestyles over this beat and was immediately bugging out and have just been mad motivated to work on this throughout the week. The freestyle just sounded right over the beat to me, DOOM's flow is so crazy cause he's not really trying too hard, just coming at the beat with mad style and aggression which works crazily, and is definitely something that I hear all over Operation Doomsday. 

This beat has always had 2 flips, so I thought it would make sense to switch the beat up when DOOM and Kurious finished freestyling and started their verses from Question. I didn't want to remix the last verse because I think it's too emotional for this kind of beat, and I've already got an idea for how I'll be remixing that in the future. 

Really hope people enjoy this one, peace and thank you for listening.

For anyone interested, here's the original mix on this beat: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/one-love-1

Who The ? Is You

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/when-i-die-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘Suicidal Thoughts Acapella’ by The Notorious B.I.G.

Visuals: https://youtu.be/P6gDNFEKKKc
 
I don’t think I’ve actually ever remixed this acapella before, it’s such a serious verse and subject matter so I’ve always been hesitant about working with it cause I wouldn’t want to do something that didn’t work. I had a few other beats that I was trying this verse over, all of them were sad piano melodies, but I felt like this one fit the acapella best. Originally I don’t think the beat was super sad, I actually originally made it to celebrate finishing a coursework deadline, but I pitched it down to fit the tone of Biggie’s vocals better, and with this verse ontop it really brought out the sadder side to the melody I flipped for the beat. 

I remember when I first heard this track when I was younger it sounded pretty over the top, and I didn’t really understand what made it so powerful, but it was definitely hard to listen to. Now I’m older the track still stands out, but I get why Biggie made it, and it for sure wasn’t to be shocking or over the top, you can tell he was just using lyrics and spitting as therapy to the fullest, really going deep on it. That’s something I can relate to crazily, whenever I write lyrics I’m always looking at the negatives just to come to terms with what I’m feeling and express the emotions to get them off my chest. I’ve never felt like Biggie did on this track, and it’s sad to hear he had suicidal thoughts of course, but in my opinion, it’s mad inspiring and positive that he made a track about it, 100% way better than keeping the feelings inside and not speaking on it, and to be honest, without that inspiration I’m not sure if I ever would have been as vivid and honest with myself in how I write my own lyrics. I wanted to try and build on that emotional release in the beat I chose to remix this over, and really went all out on the low end to try and emphasize the weight of what he’s saying, and how hard it must have been to actually write and record too. Hopefully that shows in the remix, peace.

Here's the original mix of the beat for comparison: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/proud-to-be-alive

When I Die

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/freestyle-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘Freestyle Acapella’ by Masta Ace

Visuals: https://youtu.be/mitXyIvjWdU

Always love remixing Masta Ace acapellas, and I was very lucky to find the acapella LP whilst out digging recently. I’ve always thought this acapella would be a great one to remix, cause the fact that Ace is freestyling means that the style is really open to interpretation and could work in different ways on different beats, cause it’s more of a raw verse showing skills rather than a polished song which was written with a specific beat and vibe in mind. I chose these beats cause they both feel like ‘freestyle’ beats to me, by that I mean they’re beats which aren’t too focused on one specific emotion, and are more just about capturing that East Coast Hip Hop vibe, which always fits Ace super well, and I thought with this acapella in particular it would work well. 

Peace and thank you for listening!

Original mixes of these beats:
https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/come-get-it-rmx
https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/underground-science

Freestyle

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/dont-mind-me-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘Money Folder Acapella’ by MF DOOM

Visuals: https://youtu.be/a81-toGlUWk

Back when I first flipped this sample I put the acapella from ‘Strange Ways’ over it cause I thought the beat fit DOOM’s style. Looking back though it’s clear that the vibe of the beat doesn’t really fit what DOOM’s talking about on that track, so I switched up my approach for this rework. I thought ‘Money Folder’ fit it way better, DOOM has a sort of carefree attitude on that track which I think goes with the beat, has a sort of go with the flow kind of vibe. I’ve been wanting to make this one for a long time now, I actually first put the Money Folder Acapella over this beat at the very start of the year when I was working on my first DOOM tribute track, and then left it for time as a rough concept idea. Now after spending this year really dedicating myself to music, I felt crazily motivated to revisit this idea and do it justice. I really am too grateful and humbled by all the support I’ve been getting throughout the year, and I’m now more than dedicated to keeping on and growing/improving as much as I can. To me this beat gives of that vibe of contentment and focus: knowing what you want to do and being in a blessed place doing it. It makes sense to me that I set up the ideas for this remix at the start of the year with that focus and grind to music in mind, and am now revisiting and releasing it after spending the year doing what I set out to do, if that makes sense. 

Peace and thank you for all the support and feedback, hope people enjoy the vibe of this one!

Original version: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/same-game

Don't Mind Me

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘One Love Acapella’ by Nas and Q-Tip

Visuals: https://youtu.be/0CaM6Wp8zDY

I was considering dropping this last Sunday when I hit 1K subscribers, but it wasn’t quite ready, so I decided to leave it until this week. It’s given me enough time to properly arrange and mix this remix, which I was intending on dropping as a thank you to celebrate hitting that milestone, so it was actually nice to have a whole week to work on it after having hit 1k, cause that really put me in the zone to finish up this idea properly and do it as well as I could.

As soon as I started chopping ‘Love’ vocals out of this sample, I had a feeling I’d be remixing ‘One Love’ over it. Honestly, it might be my all-time favourite Hip Hop song, without a doubt top 5, and every time I remix it I want to go all out and make it as emotional as possible really, cause that’s what always stood out to me about this track. The last remix I did called ‘Watch Me Speak’ ( https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/watch-me-speak ) was a remix of the 3rd verse only, and for this one I decided to do the opposite and remix the 1st two verses. I didn’t actually intend this when I made the beat, but I also ended up chopping a melody that used the vocals ‘day’s have gone’, which in the song was talking about a relationship ending, but obviously translates to what Nas is talking about here too, in the sense that being locked up means you’re wasting days that are essentially gone, so it’s cool that it ended up working out like that cause it makes the remix more convincing and effective imo.

There’s a lot of layering in this beat, so much that it definitely won’t fit into a 1 minute short, so when I do a Behind The Beat for it that’ll have to be a normal video, so I might just go in on that one and go in depth on everything to really show the whole process, including drum layering etc. 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 when I show what I did it will make sense.

Peace and thank you for listening! I hope people enjoy this one, I’ve got a lot of music releasing over the coming weeks, including a 4 track EP which will be out on the 18th of February – One Love!

True Love (From The Heart & Soul)

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘Wrong Side Of Da Tracks Acapella’ by Artifacts

Visuals: https://youtu.be/J-sYmg7qlEk

Like the ‘Ill Street Blues’ remix I uploaded recently, this is one of the first remix concepts I put together back when I first started producing. I was too happy with the flip of the sample, and it immediately brought this acapella to mind, so I layered it on top and was mad happy with how they sounded together. Back then I didn’t focus on drums or have any real mixing or mastering experience, so it was very rough and not put together well, but the idea always shone through to me. I actually reworked this beat last year, but pitched it down and only had the Artifacts hook over it because there was so much resonance in the verses, and I had no idea how to mix vocals back then. Now that I’ve been mixing vocals for over a year it felt like a good time to revisit this one and finally do a full rework of the idea, so I decided to have the normal pitch to start and then lower the pitch for the second verse. I also went all out filtering this one, cause to me the sample always stood out for the warm vibe the low end had, and I wanted to really focus and exaggerate that by filtering and boosting those frequencies in this mix.

Original rough mix: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/wrong-side
2020 rework: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/wrong-side-1

Peace and thank you for listening!

Wrong Side

Instrumental: https://soundcloud.com/tapeheadloops/top-illin-instrumental

Beat, mixing and mastering by Tapehead
Vocals from ‘Gazzillion Ear Acapella’ by MF DOOM

Visuals: https://youtu.be/xXRrNEMQA6o

This flip took a while to get right, I was trying to be more creative with the way I flipped the sample. It was crazy on it’s own (and I kept longer chops to use with the vocal flip that comes in second), but for the main flip I wanted to make a melody from chops in-between the vocals, which is always fun and gives the beat a very different vibe to the original sample. It also took a long time to layer both the flips I made, but I'm definitely glad I persevered with it.

I felt like the finished beat ended up having a cartoonish vibe with an upbeat melody, so I immediately went to DOOM acapellas which I thought could fit over it. I chose Gazzillion Ear because DOOM is really having fun on that one, loads of cool punchlines different flows and switchups, which I thought would work well here. It just feels like the kind of beat made for an emcee to show skills over without being too serious, just demonstrate some lyrical skill and technical flows. It was long to get the acapella to fit over the beat though cause of how abstract and varied the flows are, so I had to chop it up into loads of different pieces (basically for every line), just to get it to fit in the right places over this beat. I think it was worth it though, I can’t really imagine many other artists over this kind of beat, and I always love remixing DOOM.

Hope people enjoy this one, thank you for listening! Peace

Top Illin'

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