Awesome beats

The Producers Corner Sample Challenge

This is my forty-first entry in The Producers Corner "sample challenge", where everyone is given the same source music from which to sample, and the results are diverse and entertaining. The source this week was Shinichi Tanabe's whimsical and ethereal soundtrack for the 1977 film "Gokumon-tō". I edited and layered and combined about twenty different loops and snippets from the source, and added my own drum programming, bassline, and just a hint of piano. I didn't really spend a lot of time "chopping" the source, preferring to use what was there as layers and instruments to conduct into a brand-new confection. I figure there's no way this is going to win anything, so I decided to have fun and open it up to four minutes. I hope you enjoy the final product, and please everyone stay safe and healthy out there!!!

4 Feet High And Rhyming

The Quickening Art

The Quickening Art (TPC Sample Challenge #182)

C - Lance - Shoot My Brains Out

This is my first try at a "sample challenge", where a bunch of different producers are given the same sample source and a limited time to come up with a piece of music based around samples from that song.  In this case, it was the Facebook group The Producers Corner, and the source song was "Quest Under Capricorn" by The Shaolin Afronauts (2012).  I sampled no fewer than nine different snippets from the original song, added my own drum loops and percussion programming, and worked in a few loops from other similar-sounding jazz fusion records.  My finishing touch was some subtle voice clips I scratched onto the track from an old 45 I have containing the original Apollo 11 radio broadcasts.  I was inspired not only by the source material "Afronauts", but also the impending 50th anniversary of the Moon Landing.  I received the challenge at 9AM on Monday, and finished my mixdown at 3PM on Tuesday, making for 30 hours of work, not counting the odd minute here or there for sleep.  I hope you enjoy the final product!

Link to behind-the-scenes making-of video:  https://youtu.be/1Mm4VL0_gho

* This, my first entry into the TPC Sample Challenge, was lucky enough to win 1st place!

Kickin' Up Some Dust

Watch making-of video!

Kickin' Up Some Dust (TPC Sample Challenge #94)

This is my second entry in The Producers Corner "sample challenge", where everyone is given the same source song from which to sample, and the results are diverse and entertaining.  People seemed to like my last one, so I thought I'd throw another one into the ring this week.  Having just won, I'll be listening to everyone else's and giving the admin my top five favorites; so knowing I can't be the winner this week, I was freed up to just have fun with it.  I was previously unaware of the two minute time limit on beats being played on the live YouTube show, so even though my 4:30 entry won last week, I have kept this one to exactly 2:00 so that everyone can hear the whole thing on the live show.  The challenge this week was "Love Serenade" by Barry White, from which I simply lifted a huge long chunk of sample and fed it through a few different noise gates to get a percussive synth-y sound, and then popped in a couple string accents from elsewhere in the song.  Other than that, it's just my beats and edits, and a vocal sample from the acappella of "Love Hangover".  Since the entire thing is only two minutes long, it didn't take me very long; from about 9 AM to 5 PM today.  But it was fun, and I hope you enjoy what I came up with!

Que Sera Seranade

Que Sera Seranade (TPC Sample Challenge #95)

This is my third entry in The Producers Corner "sample challenge", where everyone is given the same source song from which to sample, and the results are diverse and entertaining. After winning my first week and judging the second, I was a little burnt out and in need of a vacation anyway, so I didn't make a beat for Challenge # 96. But after a long weekend escaping the heat in a secret desert island location, I decided to jump right back in with this week's challenge.  The source material is "Dagarnas Skum" by Ragnarök, a cool Nordic jazz fusion instrumental.  I took a few loops from it, added sampled beats and drum programming, replayed the bassline, added piano and chorus and scratching, and got it done in about ten hours today. The vocal sample at the beginning is from a poem about Ragnarok, spoken in some dead Asgardian tongue. The "interruptus" part in the middle is a recording from the first Sample Challenge live video I watched, in which there were certain audio problems getting started. Well, one man's technical difficulties are another man's production ideas, I guess... I hope you enjoy this, it was a lot of fun to make!

* This came in 2nd place.

Dagarnas Interruptus

Dagarnas Interruptus (TPC Sample Challenge #97)

This is my fourth entry in The Producers Corner "sample challenge", where everyone is given the same source song from which to sample, and the results are diverse and entertaining. The source this week was "Skylab", a 14-minute electro-prog-rock instrumental by Dan Lacksman a.k.a. Electronic System. The song was released the same year as Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon", and really could pass for an unreleased B-side for "Breathe" or something. So being a fervent Floydian myself, I dove right in, embracing and expanding upon the similarity. I grabbed five different sections of the original song, including the intro and an isolated bassline, added my own sampled beats, drum machine, piano, and scratching. And then as the final shine on the diamond, I took a bit of Clare Torry's astounding vocal solo from "The Great Gig In The Sky" and edited it to fit with the music loops. I generally enjoy beginning and ending instrumentals (hell, EVERYTHING I produce) with vocal samples, snippets from movies or TV, but even though I tossed some stuff in from "The Wizard Of Oz" and from a making-of DVD for "Dark Side Of The Moon", it felt cluttered so I just left them off in the final mix. Overall this ended up a lot "smoother" than I anticipated or intended, but that's how it is sometimes; you go in wanting to make a head-knocking banger and end up with a mellow slice of sampledelica. Grab your headphones, plug in, and drop out!

Pink Fraud

Pink Fraud (TPC Sample Challenge #98)

This is my fifth entry in The Producers Corner "sample challenge", where everyone is given the same source song from which to sample, and the results are diverse and entertaining. The source this week was twofold: "The Nostalgia of Empty Bottles" by Strings Orchestra, and "Gruner Wind / Vent Vert" by Francis Coppieters. It's also a special challenge because it's the 100th contest, and will be accompanied by a get-together of producers and artists at the home of the organizer. Anticipating the celebratory week, I knew I wanted to do something which ran through the history of my favorite and most influential hip-hop producers of the past, giving a measure or so to display sampling in their style before moving on to the next one. This plan was complicated by the inclusion of TWO source songs, but that turned out to be a gift as I wanted to change the sample with each segment. But more problematic was the new time limit - 1:30 instead of the normal 2:00 - designed to keep the live YouTube show down to a manageable length. In order to fit the maximum producers into the space allotted, I eliminated the segments dedicated to Man Parrish, The Dust Brothers, The 45 King, and Large Professor, and bumped the speed up to 100 BPM. I was still left with things progressing from Arthur Baker to Dr Dre and cutting off there at 1:30, but I figured screw it, I'm just going to make the thing two full minutes even if it gets cut off on the live show. This turned out to be a lot of work, and I put it down and walked away a few times before finally finishing almost a week after starting - a frustratingly snail-like pace for me! I stopped at RZA, figuring that covered 1982-1993, the "second" decade of hip-hop (the first being Kool Herc in 1973 through Grandmaster Flash in 1981). Note: I did NOT actually sample any work by these producers, merely created beats from scratch in their distinctive styles; early Linn drum, 808 and 909 drum sounds, Marley's obsession with "Impeach The President", a Wattstax vocal grab over funky drummers for The Bomb Squad, a crackly children's record for Prince Paul, Pete Rock's signature voice interjections, Dre's G-Funk, and RZA's dark simple catchy kung fu grip. I abandoned plans to continue up through the present, from J Dilla through Timbaland, Puff Daddy, Cut Chemist, DJ Shadow, Kanye West, Madlib, and concluding with DJ Khaled, which would have just been him shouting his name followed by a few seconds of crickets and then the sound of a cash register. It would have been a funny moment, but it would have made the beat twice as long, and I'd still be working on the thing now. I'm glad to get this thing out of my head and into stereo; it drove me nuts for a week, now it's your turn!

Namedrops Keep Fallin' On My Head

Namedrops Keep Fallin' On My Head (TPC Sample Challenge #100)

C - Lance - Ancient City

C - Lance - Fears Of Death

C - Lance - Ghosts Behind The Walls

C - Lance - Clown Makeup

After decades of recording and touring, and many turbulent ups and downs, Bostonians TYPE 4 are still going strong.  They've never let go of that golden age of hip-hop, still digging through vinyl for musical samples, and digging through life for lyrical stories.  Tommy O'Deed, Matt Reyes & Bill Ierardi make hip-hop for grownups, the old fashioned way: for the love of it.