Why Do You Produce?

[s & m]

Nobody else was making the stuff I was hearing in my head.

This.

[ninjadog]

For me it was from the music of the mid nineties. I was into punk and had a band but when I found out about acid / hardcore it was really easy to get into it. Then I got into scratching.
It wasent untill 2001 when I could afford to start producing when I got my PC and Reason.
I do it for a creative outlet and because it is fun. I got into dubstep the first time I heard it, and it rekindled my love for electronic music.
I'm 33 1/3 BTW.

[misk]

so that my dad will love me.

[d+]

lived in london all my life

listened to what my mates listened to as a youngster

this was when no one had internet, so if you got a new CD or tape it meant you had gone to the shop - risked spending your money on it - and put it in the player yourself

back then, i must have been 12 or 13.. i was at a friends and i was playing his older brothers computer.

i ended up stealing a tape from the tape player in his room

took the tape home without having any idea what was on it

put it in the player.. boy... i was officially hooked

it was wu tang clan - 36 chambers, i loved the swear words. i took it into school and it got passed round everyone, we all knew the words to the "torture motherfucker" skit. a couple of my friends older brothers were mc's/dj's but they were all into the garage scene which was big in london.

me and my group werent really so into garage, between us we delved deeper into rap.

when we hit 13/14 we realised it was time to get some pussy, so we started going to the under 18 raves (london guys will know about these, lol) at those raves they were playing some rap but mostly it was what the older guys were listening to... around these times people started getting garage cds... pure silk, pure garage etc etc

then grime came along.. everyone in school was either an mc, dj or producer. everyone knew all of d double e's bars and the whole of so solids discography. these were realy healthy times for uk music and it was exciting to be able to see all these mc's and dj's around london all the time

then i went to university, i wanted to get deeper into music but i didnt know how. a friend was a dj and he showed me a few record shops in london where i could buy this grime on vinyl (uptown). i'd already bought some turntables but i only had rap and didn't know a thing about mixing. my turntables werent even on a table, i'd have to lie down to use them.

my nextdoor neighbour at uni was a korean who produced "industrial" music on fruity loops. we ended up making a rap tune together and i sent it to some of my friends who mc'd.. it got vocalled and was quite popular.

as usual i carried on hunting for new music, following leads and talking to people. i knew about some of the darker garage producers like wookie and elb and this lead me onto dubstep.

i like dark music, but if theres no groove and seriousness in it, its not for me. dubstep began to get stagnant.. not neccessarily the wobble, but just the boring beats and the lack of groove and originality. plus in the raves those jagged basslines with lots of high/mid freqs and cheesy film samples were hurting my ears. there were no women in attendence and the crowd got quite immature... kids doing mosh pits etc. i realised that my tasted had changed. i was hunting for the groove, not the hype.. the depth not the anger. so i started to get into minimal music, i discovered moritz van oswald and his many monikers

from here i investiagated minimal/techno further. i liked some of the sounds but it was souless and too clinical at times. next thing that happened was that a radio station i used to listen to religiously on the fm dial (rinse) started to get some house dj's on. id always disregarded house as cheesy and "pop". but i noticed that there was a form of house which was more of an amalgamation of everything i liked about dubstep, techno and even rap in some cases. not uk funky... not tech house... not soulful house... but instead different pieces from each genre.

throughout this journey i've kept up the production and my own music reflected what i was listening to at the time. so i've learned techniques from almost every underground genre. i like to think this is evident in my own music but i let the listener decide that. my dj sets now aren't under one umbrella as they used to be... but if i were asked i'd say "house". but you may hear a kerri chandler tune next to an omar s tune next to a tigerstripes tune next to a matt flores tune next to a move d tune. i try not to pigeon hole myself and believe that if its got a certain sound, a certain groove and makes me nod my head then itll make people dance.

now as a dj i want people to enjoy my sets. that doesn't mean youll find my playing crowd pleasers or begging for bookings. never, ever that. but it does mean that i have an open mind and that i spend time sourcing tunes and making my own beats which i think you will like!

essay over.. whew

[tempromental]

was a DJ mixing garage (been mixing since 98 ) and i got bored of DJing but wanted to still be involved with the music and i wanted to make my own tracks.
Started making garage in about 2001 on and off self teaching myself (had used cubase for a bit years before after buying a book about it from a charity shop but didnt really know too much about producing).
Started using fruity loops with the fruity tracks sequencer.

Stopped for a while then got my hands on the first version of fruity loops where everything was in the same app, and this got me back into it again.

Garage started dying out and this really shittly produced music was taking over. It got me angry that tunes were poorly made and i could probably have made them myself. Then realised that if they could do it, then i could probably do it too. Started making grime, and after a while started really feeling it.

Got a slight bit of fame around this time for my fruity loops production guides on UK Garage worldwide / UKMusic forums (and it has surprised me the amount of "Names" that contacted me regarding that).

Fell out with producing again. Started listening less to grime and more the darker garage from the earlier days of it (basically dubstep before the name).

Then started getting into newer dubstep and then started getting back into grime, and i got the itch to make tunes again. and here i am today.

[richard sweat]

i used to spin dnb back from around 01-03 (then moved out to LA). stopped spinning as i didn't have my plates or tables with me.

started hitting up the la dnb weeklies and just getting into the scene (figuring out who the dope locals were and all that).

Pure Filth opened up a few years later and got me up on the dubstep tip. Listened to and attended dubstep events for a couple years, then started coming up with my own ideas on what would sound sick with dubstep.

Now here in 09 I have purchased some gear (kontrol AI, novation sl25, ableton and some vst's)...now i'm trying to get myself into gear and start putting my thoughts about the music into the computer and get thangs crankin! Try to get folks movin on smoe of my own shit to give back to the scene and not just be a party feller.

[twitch]

Started about 5 years ago making nu school breaks. Dubstep has similar feel to some of the heavier breaks i was into - but the beats are way more fun to produce.

By why do i do it? Just fun. And to hear your own shit on a big system is a buzz.

[mumble]

I never really answered why I produced in my previous post so in an attempt to answer the question I produce because I want to share my ideas and music with people, obviously when I feel its a high enough standard.

Im not sure if I want to make people dance or think though, havent figured that one out yet.

[b-lam]

for the bitches

finally someone telling it like it is!

[mumble]

Im not sure if I want to make people dance or think though, havent figured that one out yet.

I think the music you produce comes from your subconscious, so you can start to see where it's taking you the more you make. At least this seems to be the case for me.

I like the idea of musical influence coming from the subconscious, very interesting.

[monksta]

from listening to a nasty crew b2b rolldeep b2b east connection b2b boyz in the hood grime tape in hospital when i had my spleen removed , was on morphine and it was one of them continuous play tape players that switches sides when it gets to the end. i literally listened to it the whole time i was in there (nurse can you change my battery's please) lol and realised every single piece of music was probably made by someone my age from the same area , got me thinking why couldnt i do it, already had my pc plugged into my decks just seemed like natural progression to me really


check out lewi white platoon and pick and mix 2 of the greatest grime instramentals ever both have there dubstepesqe features

[DZA]

some really interesting storys in here keep um coming