Syl Johnson, Second in Line, Right on Time

Behind Al Green at Hi Records, But Syl Johnson Just as Valuable to Hip hop/Rap Music

By Amir Said (Sa'id)

Blues-Soulman, songwriter, and producer Syl Johnson is an ironic example of how being second on the depth chart can sometimes work out for the best. In front of him at Hi Records was a more well-known legend: Al Green. Even still, Johnson carved out his own name and niche.

Like Green, Syl Johnson had an arresting, soulful sound. But if Al Green was the crooner, Syl Johnson was the belter. Syl Johnson distinguished himself through a vocal delivery that was piercing, and way, way out front, a style no doubt owed to his blues roots. His seminal hit, "Different Strokes," (which he recorded at the age of 41), offers a glimpse at the powerful phrasing that could have made him as big--if not bigger than--Al Green, had either been on a different label.

Still, for my deep diggin', I prefer the virtual obscurity of Syl Johnson over the popularity (and most often sampled) Al Green...

And if you didn't know Syl Johnson, check out a couple of these cuts. Listen, and see if anything sounds familiar.

For educational purposes...

Syl Johnson - "Wind Blow Her Back My Way"

Syl Johnson - "I Hate I Walked Away"

Syl Johnson - "Could I Be Falling Love"

Kool G. Rap - "Talk Like Sex;" beat by Marley Marl

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The BeatTips Manual by Sa'id.
"The most trusted source for information on beatmaking and hip hop/rap music education."

Beatmaking Offers Extensive Music Experience

Beatmaking Points to the Core of the Hip Hop/Rap Music Tradition; Leads to New Kind of Multi-Skilled Musician

By Amir Said (Sa'id)

Among the many different ways to experience hip hop/rap music, there is no other art form in hip hop culture that allows one to immerse themselves more extensively than beatmaking. And among the various elements that make beatmaking a uniquely intricate art form, I have found that there are three major characteristics that most underscore its uniqueness.

The first characteristic that jumps out at every beatmaker is the meticulous nature of the various processes that beatmaking requires. Because beatmakers are one part musician and one part programmer, we have to control a number of different steps in the musical process that DJs (and traditional musicians) simply do not. For instance, prior to the compositional phase of the musical process, beatmakers are enjoined with the task of finding and making sounds to work with. And in beatmaking, after the compositional and arrangement processes are completed—processes, I should add, that require any number of programming steps—many beatmakers transform into defacto mix engineers, as we further lock in the sound and sonic impression that characterize our individual styles.

The reliance upon technology in the creative process of beatmaking is another major characteristic that, on one hand, helps define beatmaking's uniqueness, and on the other hand, leads beatmakers to experience hip hop/rap music more extensively than fellow artists within hip hop culture. In beatmaking, the connection of creativity and technology is paramount; it's a force that binds beatmakers to the perpetual pursuit of creating and manipulating sounds. Moreover, as witnessed by beatmakers' staunch product and brand loyalty to leading electronic music production instrument (EMPI) manufacturers, the connection of creativity and technology in beatmaking serves as a form of identity and, in many ways, a badge of musically creative honor.

The depth of analytical study that's involved in beatmaking is the third, (and perhaps most important), characteristic that most underscores beatmaking's uniqueness, and prompts beatmakers to experience hip hop/rap music in quite an extensive manner. Beatmakers engage in a high level of self-imposed study. In the constant pursuit of a higher skill level, we study a great deal—often much more than traditional musicians. Indeed, all beatmakers necessarily study the fundamental techniques, methods, and practices of the beatmaking tradition as well its history, in particular, the lineage of styles and sounds from beatmaking's inception to the present. And while most traditional musicians will never study the art of beatmaking, even once in their life time, most beatmakers regularly study the elements and processes of other music traditions outside of hip hop/rap. In fact, for beatmakers, no music form is forbidden territory; wherever we find inspiration, we use the styles, techniques, methods, and practices of our tradition to convert such inspiration into hip hop/rap form.

Here, it should be noted that the level of analytical study involved in beatamking leads to time-intense and style-focused practice. And it should be further noted that whenever we work on the creation of our beats, we enter into a ritualistic-like cycle that's every bit hypnotic as it is therapeutic and creatively meticulous. Finally, it also bares mentioning that precisely because of the analytical study component of beatmaking, many beatmakers subsequently become serious purveyors of music history. Thus, no matter how you look at it, in the final analysis, beatmakers represent a new kind of multi-skilled musician.

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The BeatTips Manual by Sa'id.
"The most trusted source for information on beatmaking and hip hop/rap music education."

Diggin' in the Crates: The Marvelows

Overlooked, but Jewels Abound

By Amir Said (Sa'id)

In the early/mid-60s, rhythm and blues was transitioning to soul. There were many recording artists who served as a bridge to both music; most notably Ray Charles. But there were many other recording artists that had less recognition, but still made contributions all the same. Here, in this vein I present to you The Marvelows - "In The Morning."

For educational purposes...

The Marvelows - "In the Morning"

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The BeatTips Manual by Sa'id.
"The most trusted source for information on beatmaking and hip hop/rap music education."

Proven Leaders Found in the NFL, Not the Music Industry

Poor Leadership Often Rewarded in Music Industry

By Amir Said (Sa'id)

Why is the NFL's business model so solid, and why is there so much talent parity throughout the league? I'll tell you why: It's because the NFL values veteran leadership. Indeed, the NFL routinely recycles proven winners at coaching and front office positions.

In contrast, the major record companies have traditionally relied on leadership that was never REALLY proven at all. In the old music industry, a "hit record" was secured through the avenues of traditional media and controlled distribution channels. So when traditional media gave way to "new media;" and when new distribution channels opened up, the fraudulent music experts—so-called "proven leaders"—were exposed.

Success of Miami Dolphins: One Example of NFL's Solid Business Model

The competitiveness of the Miami Dolphins football team is not a fluke. It is a direct result of Bill Parcells' proven leadership. On the other hand, the so-called proven track record of some of the music industry's greatest names is not the result of their leadership, but instead the benefit of a rigged playing field that virtually guaranteed hit records—so long as the general public only had real access to just a few artists already in the machine. And now that music listeners have real access to choice and variety, it should come as no surprise that many of the music industry's most celebrated leaders have nothing really to celebrate at all.

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The BeatTips Manual by Sa'id.
"The most trusted source for information on beatmaking and hip hop/rap music education."

Alternating Pitch on Drum Sounds

Technique Adds Unique Dimension to Your Drum Frameworks

By Amir Said (Sa'id)

Even though "the drums" are fundamental in beatmaking, many beatmakers overlook the various ways to get the most out of their existing drum sounds. One way to get more out of your drums sounds is to alternate the pitch of each drum sound within various measures—if not all measures—of a beat.

Changing the pitch of drum sounds is something that I often do in the creation of my beats. For snares, I typically have the same snare sound landing in a beat at three different pitch speeds (degrees). That is to say, I'll have one snare sound set at its original pitch level, the same sound set at a faster or slower pitch speed (usually one eighth or quarter note faster or slower), and the same sound again set at a faster or slower pitch speed (usually one eighth or quarter note faster or slower). Sometimes I determine the right pitch-degree of each snare-hit in real time, usually by assigning the same snare sound at three different pitch-speeds to three different pads on my MPC, and playing the snares while the rest of the beat is in play/record mode. Still, there are other times (perhaps more often) where I simply play each snare-hit at the same pitch, then I later go back in and program the pitch changes at the points that feel right to me.

For hi-hats, rides, and tambourines, I use the same alternating-pitch technique for; however, for hi-hats, I usually only alternate the pitch of hi-hits at specific points within a beat. And when it comes to kick sounds, I use the alternating-pitch technique even more sparingly. With kicks, I only slightly change the pitch of the kick at certain times within the drum pattern.

Finally, I should point out that not only does alternating the pitch of your drum sounds allow you to get much more out of your existing drum sounds, such a technique also helps you create drum frameworks that really come alive. In other words, in addition to creating unique textures and sonic impressions, using the alternating pitch technique allows you to make your drums come off more natural, and it helps lesson the mechanical feel that often occurs with electronic drum sounds. Moreover, used in the right way—that is, for feel and sound, NOT just for the sake of using a technique—the alternating pitch technique also helps with the tightening up of the rhythm of your beats.

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The BeatTips Manual by Sa'id.
"The most trusted source for information on beatmaking and hip hop/rap music education."

BeatTips Community Question: Chopping Samples?

When Chopping a Sample do you fade out the end of it to make it sound smooth?

By Amir Said (Sa'id)

This BeatTips Community question comes from member BrandonF4208:

"Yo when you chop a sample do you usually fade out the end of the sample to make it smooth instead of abruptly stopping making a click sound? Obviously you don't want that click shit but I am just wondering what other people out there do. maybe you use a different technique?"

Here's my response:

I never "fade out" the end of a sample! If there is an unwanted sound at the end, whether it be a click or pop, I just chop the end a little more. And in the case where I don't want do that, I decrease the amount of "sustain" and "release" on the sample. These sustain and release functions are inside of my Akai S950.

Note. Another way that I sometimes handle this situation is that I just sample a really short sound-stab—something close in sound to the sample—and layer it (overlap) the very end of the sample; this masks any audio defects at the end of the main sample. Also, the sound-stab that I use in this case usually sustains (lingers) for at least 1/8th note longer than the main sample. So not only does it work to mask a glitch or abrupt ending, it also serves as an effective sample blend.

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The BeatTips Manual by Sa'id.
"The most trusted source for information on beatmaking and hip hop/rap music education."

Jewel Droppin': Bangout, Pt. 2

Drawing Inspiration from Other Beatmakers is Pivotal

Bangout interviewed by Amir Said (Sa'id)

Sa'id: What would be the first thing that you know about making beats that you would want to teach your son?
Bangout: The first thing… Fuck with the drums, learn how to sequence drums! That’s what I want my kids to do. Put your heart and your soul into your drums, that’s your rhythm right there.

Sa'id: Do you have preset drum patterns or do you always start drum patterns from scratch?
Bangout: I literally start from scratch every single beat. But I got my program that I always load up, my Bangout kit. It’s got all of my favorite kicks, all my favorite snares, all of my favorite claps and hats. I load it up every time.

Sa'id: How do you approach arrangement? Do you look at arrangement as sort of a typical Hip Hop producer or more like Gamble & Huff?
Bangout: I can tell you how I arrange shit… I make the whole fuckin’ beat, I’ll fill the beat up as big as… like I’ll make the hook first! The hook is all the sounds in at once. Then after that, I start breakin’ the beat down. Then I start finding out what part is the verse or what part will be right before the hook come in, what part could be the bridge…

Sa'id: Most people don’t start with the hook. You fill it up, then start breaking it down. Usually, most beatmakers start with 2 bars, 4 bars, copy, then they build it up. They get to certain segments, then they build the hook part up. Not too many dudes can do it the other way, let alone try doing it the other way… Making beats is a "moment" thing. You go on immediate feeling, you know what I mean. So if you invest a lot of time in filling it up right off the bat, by the time that you get an ill groove you may be burnt out from that beat. So that leads me to my next thing. You must kick off beats real fast! Do you have a time frame that you try to deal with?
Bangout: I can kick off a beat in 5 minutes, and it’ll be a fuckin’ smoker. But I take my time to get there, to the actual beat. Every sound gotta be there for a reason. I’m not caught up with how fast I can make a beat. Sometimes I’ll spend a whole day on a beat! And as far as erasing beats, sometimes I’ll have something in mind that I’ll want to get out. And I’ll go to the beat machine, and I’ll try as hard as I can to get that shit out. And I’ll listen to it for a while, then I’ll be like: ‘You know what, I ain’t gonna commit to this, ‘cuz this ain’t it. It’s almost there, but that’s not it. And I’m not going to be able to get that sound in my mind, if I keep listening to this.’ Cut the machine off!

Sa'id: Sometimes you measure a man sometimes by what he can give up, not how much he can try to get. I’ve been tryin’ to tell dudes that it’s better to sacrifice 10 joints that could be good for 1 joint that’s an absolute flame! That one flame is going to be the last thing in your mind, and your mind mentally is going to tell you to make something at least as good as that. A lot of producers, they got it twisted. They concentrate on quantity, not quality.
Bangout: I be seeing niggas produce, and they’ll take anything. And I be like: ‘That’s why you ain’t got no placements right now’. I got mad beats that niggas would never hear, ‘cuz the thought is not complete. That’s why I erase so much shit at times.

Sa'id: When you’re doing your joints, since you start off with the hook, do you start off with 8 bars or do you start off with 2 or 4?
Bangout: I start off with one bar, my nigga…

Sa'id: That’s what I do… In the third edition I talk about getting one bar, one main groove…
Bangout: Exactly!

Sa'id: But the way that sequencing is being taught, by certain people, it’s so strict…
Bangout: Yo, I’ve seen niggas do beats and literally do the whole drum pattern for the whole 4 minutes, come back and play the keyboard for the whole 4 minutes, come back and play the bass line for the whole 4 minutes. Now that shit is amazing to me [Pause] but it was whack! [Big laughs] It was amazing, but it was very whack!

Read Jewel Droppin': Bangout, Pt. 1

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The BeatTips Manual by Sa'id.
"The most trusted source for information on beatmaking and hip hop/rap music education."

MusicStudy: Toots and The Maytals

"Sweet and Dandy" Gives Cue on Sound Blending

Toots and The Maytals are what I call "absolutely essential" Jamaican soul music. But more than that, for me, Toots and The Maytals has always been a lesson in sound blending. Out of the rich tradition of Jamaican harmony-based groups, Toots and The Maytals come with a forcefully harmonic sound. Through my study of their music, I learned a great deal about what types of sound textures can be blended most effectively.

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The BeatTips Manual by Sa'id.
"The most trusted source for information on beatmaking and hip hop/rap music education."

For Educational Purposes...

Toots and The Maytals - "Sweet and Dandy"

Jewel Droppin': DJ Clark Kent, Pt. 2

Creativity Linked More to Imagination than Technology

DJ Clark Kent interviewed by Amir Said (Sa'id)

Sa'id: Now, equipment can do more. But music is so mimicked today. Do you think that this ability to do so much more with equipment is creating a lack of creativity?
DJ Clark Kent: When you give somebody 30 to 40 minutes of sampling time, stereo, what do they have to be creative with, if they got all that time? Like I can take [just] two bars of a song and create 8 different musical loops with it. I can create you 8 sections to make off of a 2 bar loop. And the best part about this interview is that my engineer is right here. He’s seen me do it, hundreds of times. Look at “Brooklyn’s Finest” [Biggie and Jay-Z], it’s a five bar loop. First of all, everybody was lost on how I made that beat. But if you listen to the beat, I did things inside of the beat, inside of the five bars. It wasn’t a loop!!! It was pieces that I had to put together so it would go without the singing.

Sa'id: I believe that song ushered in the whole style of being able to layer drums over loud samples. Because remember people use to be heavy on filtering and bringing the mids and the highs down.
DJ Clark Kent: I’ve been telling people. I’ve been using vocals in samples, at least 5, to 6, to 7, to 8 years before anybody started using vocals in samples. Like I did it forever ago. So when I look at the things that I’m hearing now, you hear vocals go through samples, I’m just like ‘That’s hot, now?’ I did that like 10 years ago. That’s not new to have a vocal going through. I’m like, "O.K., so now it’s cool." When I was doing it, people thought it was crazy.

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The BeatTips Manual by Sa'id.
"The most trusted source for information on beatmaking and hip hop/rap music education."

Slow Jams Pack Beatmaking Jewels

In Soulful Slow Tunes, Plenty Lessons for Beatmakers

By Amir Said (Sa'id)

Some of my deepest musical understanding has come from what I've been able to extract from soulful slow jams. Although slow jams carry tempos that are much slower than even the slowest beats, I would argue that it is precisely because of this "slowness" that you can more closely examine all of the elements of a song, and get a better idea for how each element is woven into a structure. Indeed, I've found that not only do slow jams typically give off an obvious "good feeling," they also often yield much information about music creation. Oh, to be certain, slow jams have had a rather profound effect on my musical process. So below, I want to share a number areas in which I've learned a great deal from studying slow jams.

Regarding Arrangement, Tempo, and Movement

Soulful slow jams offer great instruction on what effective, engaging core grooves sound like. For me, the concept of arrangement used to be difficult. But slow jams helped me develop a stronger understanding for how to create independent musical sections and then blend them into one cohesive audio composite. Moreover, slow jams specifically gave me cues on when, where, and how to add secondary musical events to the core groove. For instance, it was through my study of slow jams that I learned how even the most subtle strokes of sound could make a huge difference in the feel and movement of a beat.

Thus, in addition to helping me to better identify the ways in which beats can be arranged (programmed), slow jams have taught me a great deal about the movement of musical parts. Commonly, many beatmakers think that the programmed tempo is exact and "precise." Well, that's technically true. Fact is though: No two songs of the same tempo ever move the exact same way. In other words, songs of the same tempo can actually move and feel slower than one another, depending upon the specific elements of the song. Because of this understanding, whenever I make a beat, I go with the tempo that feels right rather than the one that simply sounds right.

Regarding Individual Sound Design

Among soulful slow jams you will find some of the most beautifully rich tones and audio "colors" in recorded music. Slow jams, which are delicate audio affairs indeed, require great care to pull off. Because the vocalist is called upon to do more carrying of the song than in the case of faster tempo tunes, the instrumental pallet of slow jams usually calls for softer sonic impressions, which each instrumentalist obliges, (being ever careful to stay out of the way of the vocalist). This is one of the main reasons that slow jams sound so incredibly smooth. But remember, these are soulful slow jams; and thus, the instrumentalists who play on these songs typically render some slight embellishments—and it is these boldly-soft and impromptu embellishments that make for some of the most magnificent sound colors.

Because most musical parts in slow jams are less deliberate and much more subtle, it's easier to make out the individual sounds. Through my study of soulful slow jams, I was inspired to create short harp phrases and unique organ-sound-stabs (truncated and sustained). Furthermore, I developed ways for dissolving horn-stabs into an array of different sounds, making brand new sound textures from otherwise opposing sounds.

Finally, with regards to sound design, I should point out that the harmonizing of backup singers on most soulful slow jams has also improved my musical understanding. The harmonizing of backup singers on slow jams is always warm; it glides and fades in and out, often cradling the song with even more emotional feeling, a nuance I strive to add—in some way—to every beat that I make.

Regarding Drum Frameworks

As for the drums, soulful slow jams have taught me to commit to the core drum framework, and to avoid trying to get too fancy or complex with the drumwork. Indeed, I've learned to just anchor the groove and make sure the drum framework keeps the rhythm steady rockin', no matter the tempo. Even when I add in heavier syncopation to my drum frameworks, I NEVER get caught up in the trend of adding useless "snare repeats." Instead, I only use the snare as it fits with the general scheme of the kick and the movement of the other musical elements of the beat.

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The BeatTips Manual by Sa'id.
"The most trusted source for information on beatmaking and hip hop/rap music education."

For educational purposes...

Major Harris (former member of The Delfonics) - "Love Won't Let Me Wait"