Fly is Made For Loves

So I get these requests ALL the time; you know the kind. The kind that I figured a Premo or a Madlib or 9th Wonder would get: “…where you do you get your samples from? Can you hook me up with some dope samples…” I feel like sometimes, much of the art form of making beats is not even in the sample. It’s in the pursuit of something else. You ultimately end up either spending a few dollars on vinyl or you download something just to experience it at face value. You end up with something special. Well that’s the fairy tale take of it. Of course you could always (before you ask) try to find something that you can make totally yours. It has no influence, no bias point of views, and won’t make you feel obligated to do anything other than enjoy the experience of real, soulful music. And even with a point of view as strong as that, I also feel that somethings are so good… they are worth sharing. Some people are going to hear what I hear; other will dismiss the mix as something used to fill up blog space. I feel like what you are about to embark on is beautiful; simply put. Whether you just listen to it while cleaning the crib, or try to use it in place of a very old and very scratched “baby making music” CD, or whether you rip the sound waves into seventy-five samples chopped… you will enjoy what Fly is Made. Check for it at the jump.

Fly is For Lovers by Cosmic Souls Collective [via Mediafire]. Enjoy!
…oh, and please leave a comment! Thanks.

Since I’m a design freak and I just like the practice, I hopped on Photoshop CS3 (yeah, no version 4 for me!) and cranked out this final art for A Kid Love, beta. Proceed to the jump for the back artwork.

This is the official artwork for the album (now). That’s the cool thing about beta versions. lmao.

Another Fresh Sole Beat Season 1, Episode 2

You would not believe how late it is. I’ve been feeling a bit withdrawn. The fact that I’m not getting any sleep or much cut these days (laughs it off) doesn’t help. So I was supposed to “inebriate” away my sorrows tonight… with various alcohols and meaningless conversation. Well I was actually supposed to be at Diamond Head underneath a pitch black Hawaiian sky. FML.

Enters this sample I had been playing around with all day… to chop or not to chop? That was the question. I was planning to go small and massive, but I instead went for a traditional 16 x 4 using different parts of the sample. Since virtually no record of this sample being used has surfaced on the internet, I will choose to kept my mouth shut on this one. This is turning out to be a blog, huh?

So I have to tell this story too; I’ve been teaching myself Music Theory as of late, in an attempt to enlarge the territory that is my beat-making artistry. Half way through the book, like any person not being institutionally trained, I start doubting myself and my ability to take things whole and decompose them creatively in my mind. As a result, yesterday was mundanely productive. I say productive still, because having made it more than half way through the first course book, I accomplished the feat of connecting several principles of playing that before didn’t make sense. What in the world does this have to do with beat-making? I don’t know, however, I would take a stab as feeling that once you’ve understood, at least, bass clef and treble clef… their underlying principles… and their relation to each other and musical notes in general, it should open an array of sounds up for use in your production, but more or most importantly, strengthen what your hears allow you to sensibly hear. [This paragraph pertains to the bass line notes used in the beat. I totally sucked at playing bass lines in the past.]

Back to the beat. Drinking wasn’t working out for me at all… so after being in a room with three random people and knocking a couple back… I respectfully got up and walked back to my end of the barracks and slid my ID card in the door thingy. (Don’t laugh.) From there it was the refrigerator to grab the last Full Throttle and some peanut butter M&M’s. Then it was to my work desk, F3… what are the homie’s doing. Time Travel had just gotten off AIM, so myself, Juno Complex and Nefarious! chalked a few laughs and F-you’s to Twitter seeing as Nefarious! lost about 500 followers and the good admin people were evidently ignoring him, or fixing the problem without notifying him (laughing at the latter actually being a possibility.)

We wrapped up talking out and planning of our Teaser tape and I told my ex-girlfriend peaces and said I would get to making a beat. Works for me, because there was already a sample stretched across the screen on Recycle.

Add a few slices in across the wave form for chop points (92 to be exact) and then we’re moving along. Reason was already prepped since I had been practicing chords previously during the day. So how do you go about making your beats? Some people do drums first. In my personal opinion, I feel like the sample becomes the fine sketch you paint over. So I lay the sample first. (Regardless of how I prepared it in the video. Then I actually laid the bass down next and added some reverb and fold back distortion. Just a note: it brings out the beauty in whatever channel you aux it to; especially samples and bass instruments in the rack. Just drag and drop it underneath the mixer (four max).

After the bass was done and where I wanted it I laid the drums and then added some spice to it… very subtle though. I had actually planned on making a video from another sample I was working on, but it was late, I had nothing to do and I figured why not? So I created the video, threw the footage down in iMovie and added some creative breath to it. The end result is AFSB Episode 2, still Season One. Enjoy.

So the above image is an example of what I do while I’m not making beats. I’ve just been having trouble finding motivation. After all of the free albums, putting blood, sweat, and tears in to them and getting next to nothing in return, you start to feel discouraged. Like “Is this really worth it?”. I do make music for myself though. It’s just a way for me to express how I feel without having to come out and say it. The Crush Groovin’ for example. People close to me know what that was all about, but to others it might just be another beat tape. And that’s cool too. Where I’m trying to go with this is that it isn’t just a beat to me. That’s why I get pissed off when people jack my work. The average myspace rapper doesn’t get this, so they think they can just rap on whatever and think it’s going to be all good. Some people say now that I’m selling beats, I have sold out. But my soul is out for free download via MediaFire if you’re interested.

Here is a track that was supposed to be on The Crush Groovin’ but I decided not to put it on there. It was going to be the outro. I decided to put it up now because it seems like I went full circle with how I’m feeling. I feel exactly how I did when I made The Crush Groovin’ a year ago. It’s crazy how that works. Just check it out. For those who havent heard the whole album yet you can stream it via BandCamp here.

The Crush Groovin’ (Alt. Outro)

The Crush Groovin Outtake