Beat Music Makers

[wub]

The first tape was bounces directly from his MPC, apparently...no mastering whatsoever and a proper gritty vibe to them. His 1200 use is also impressive;

[SunkLo]

Yeah I'd like to really adopt that mentality but I think people were thinking the same thing in the 80s and look what that got us. Now 30 years later all we can do is blame the cocaine and try not to talk about it.

Despite the fact that the trend is towards diluting everything, I don't wanna just give in and float with the stream. Not ready to be a dead fish yet. It'd be nice to create something that actually holds up to time and stands in defiance of the "fuck it" culture du jour. Everything is shit and we have this sort of Stockholm Syndrome that tricks us into thinking that it's great and everything's okay. Too much reflexive unconscious, not enough measured premeditation. Obviously both are important to go anywhere. You need momentum but you also need a degree of stability. Otherwise you're just sliding down an icy hill, out of control, smacking into trees. I'd rather stay stationary than get my head bashed in on the branches of my own hubris.

[wub]

Raw doesn't have to mean shit though. Something can be unpolished and still come across as outstanding. We've discussed at length in here before (possibly before your time);

Shit tune + Shit production = Shit
Shit tune + Good production = Boring
Good tune + Shit production = Raw
Good tune + Good production = Awesome

That's not to say that everything falls into the above, they are broad categories at best and downright pigeonholing at worse. For me, the hardest part is identifying when something is just enough to be let out. There was a time when I used to forgo mastering altogether and just put on an FL Compressor with a Vintage preset, dialled back to ~60% on the master channel and be done with it. Good enough to play out, not so terrible that it'd fall down next to 'real' tunes.

Letting go of preconceptions changed a lot of things for me, musically. I'm more excited now about the weird soundwave shit I'm doing than I have been about arranging the early-Aphex style beats on my SC quite significantly. Not to say I'm going to focus on more one than the other, but the fresh perspective is nice.

Not giving a fuck so much is a worthwhile mantra to adopt, IMO.

[nowaysj]

I know what you are saying, I really do, but I don't know if you are catching me. This mind boggling proliferation of good music has existential implications. There was a time when music/aesthetics was multithreaded, but mostly linear - there were progressions, even if they were ultimately circular. But now the threads are disappearing and progression is in every dimension. In just a few years we'll have enough recorded music to last a global population many many lifetimes. A release of an absolutely drippingly good collection of songs would have lasted a good 5/10 years a few decades ago, now that same release is good for a couple of weeks - not because the music is so insubstantial and disposable, but because of the proliferation of extreme novelty, ie, in those couple of weeks many other collections of drippingly good songs was released.

Nothing anyone does is going to stand up to the test of time. Time wins. There is no time. Participate now.

Wub quick posted me, and his final line was more what I wanted to say in this post, but I have to stop thinking about this now. But there is a freedom that all this enables, an existential freedom.

[SunkLo]

Yeah man I feel you. I can appreciate a good tune with raw production. I just get disappointed when I see producers get caught up in hype and release whatever because, art. Ultimately it's all arbitrary and unquantifiable but a lot of it still strikes me with a lack of intention. If something sounds raw because the producer intended it that way and it's just the right amount of raw, that's perfection to me. But when shit's raw out of ineptitude and then paraded like it's this courageous expression, it strikes me kinda like the emperor's new beats.

I'm not talking about an excellent song with grimy production but just generally kind of lazy beats. Like shit I'd make when I'm too baked in an afternoon and then cringe at the next morning. There's shit like that getting released, and I wish cats would just take the time to strip it back and give it another few coats of paint and a buff job before sending it off. Less of that "whatever, this'll do" attitude and more stringent quality control I guess. FlyLo's a good example because he's one of my favorite producers and he's pretty raw, but he's still got really sculpted tracks. There are still certain bits where I'm like "dude wtf why such whacked sample choice that just blew the mood." He generally makes up for it with style, but imagine a super crisp FlyLo who tuned his shit an extra 10%, jesus.

It just drives me mad to look in a producer's catalogue and find whackness sprinkled about. It's like finding out your girlfriend starred in 'Busstop Gangbang 5'. Bonobo's my other favorite producer and he kind of embodies that "everything in its right place" mentality I'm getting at. He's the ultimate finesse producer in my opinion, he really knows how to get the concoction mixed up perfectly. His whole catalogue is near flawless too, there's never any songs I skip. He's just a bad motherfucker through and through. He's like left brain and FlyLo is right brain.

@nowaysj
Yeah I feel you on the freedom thing. I guess it's just the grapple between the struggle and just going with the flow, being in the present. This is basically the content of every mushroom trip I've had. Do I let go and experience some visceral fulfillment as I sink back into entropy, or do I grind my way up the mountain to ascend at the summit? Infinitesimal instantaneous frame of reference vs infinite timeless frame of reference. Masculine exertion of your will vs feminine acceptance of external state. Duality vs non-duality. Differentiation vs integration.

Factoring in the time dilation, I've spent centuries pondering this question and haven't come up with an answer yet.

[nowaysj]

I have. Submit a track for TUNA! you prick.

[SunkLo]

Heheh I might for this robot sex theme. I think the key is just banging it out in a couple sessions before I get the chance to dig in too deep. I gotta keep repeating to myself "This is just a throwaway." Gotta embrace my wild feminine instantaneous integral non-dualistic muse.

[Jizz]

Its good to have a bit of a throwaway attitude with everything you make tbh, its an easier way to learn from your mistakes when you keep repeating it and you suddenly realize what youve been doing wrong all this time. Personally i cant stand doing thr same track for more than 2-3 days, even 3 days is a Lot

[bennyfroobs]

http://www.hhv.de/shop/en/item/ras-g-do ... rth-240068


alright dno if ive posted him already in this thread but who loves raas g

aboslute legend

[Jizz]

yes yes, ras g & dibiase are 2 under-rated badmens

[nowaysj]

Are they underrated?

[Hex047]

I won't call Dibia$e underrated.

[wub]

Maybe a bit under the radar, same with Knxwledge.

[Jizz]

yeah that's what I meant. I guess they are known among circles that would be interested and thats all that matters

[nowaysj]

And that's all that there is!

That central pop backbone is so disappearing. It's all just what people like now. It's a phase of entropy. We just need mechanisms for discovery, as it can be isolating. Dsf is a major mechanism of discovery for me. Thank you Beat Thread, the snh and all the rest!

[Jizz]

so true, DSF has enriched way more than just about dubstep would love to see more places like this, most other forums i visit dont quite get there

[nowaysj]

Yeah, it pains me to watch dsf die. Very important in my life, on many levels. I honestly don't know what will replace it. Fuck facebook. But I might have to do it.

[Jizz]

nah man, facebook doesnt come anywhere near. Ironically, a good amount of the people I talk to on fb are producers whose music I first heard on here lol

[SunkLo]

IDMf ain't too bad.

[Jizz]

oh yeah I went for a little while, people take things quite seriously over there though hahah