Beatmaking

It’s during the Pioneers/Avant-Garde Period that hip hop/rap music experiences a second art-based renaissance. By 1988, the modern hip hop/rap music era was two years old, and hip hop/rap music had shifted from a mostly dance-based music to…

Diamond D is a producer and a rapper from The Bronx, New York who came up in the '90s.  He is one of the original members of the hip hop collective D.I.T.C.  The collective featured Lord Finesse, O.C., Big L, Fat Joe, Buckwild, Showbiz and…

Of all the early adopters of drum machines, as part of the recording process, nobody used the drum machine like Sly Stone first did in 1969. His use of the drum machine is the precursor to what beatmakers (producers) in the hip hop/rap…

You hear a sample. Then what?  What's the next step? Do you leave the sample as is? Do you change its pitch?  Do you chop it?  If you chop it, where do you chop it?  Do you leave this up to "auto-chop" functionality to decide?  Do you add…

In The BeatTips Manual (2015) and previous editions of The Art of Sampling (2013, 2017), I noted that the sampling tradition of hip hop/rap music was never in jeopardy of dying. In view of recent commentary that continues to suggest that…

Some people think that sampling is only for people who can’t play “real” instruments and people who don’t know music theory. But this is a terrible lie! Sampling, which represents its own art form and music process, has been chosen as a…

Drumless Loops Defined “Drumless loops” marks a minimalist, deceptively simplistic style, sound, and aesthetic of beatmaking that also emerges in this period. Typically with this style, sound, and aesthetic — the seeds for which appear to…

Early funk from obscure, little-known band from Long Island, New York offers a great education on the relationship between the drum patterns of modern beatmaking and that of those found in early funk music.

You’re in the lab making a new beat.  You’re nodding your head to it. The beat is dope — almost, you think. You just have to add one more thing. Hold up, wait a minute! Before you add that “next thing,” always consider whether or not…

Most of the foundational hip hop beatmaking icons belonged to and made their name in groups before they became known separately as top beatmakers (producers). Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest. DJ Premier from Gang Starr. Dr. Dre from N.W.A.…