Behind the Beat: Analysis of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing album

Behind the Beat: Technical and Practical Aspects of Instrumental Hip-Hop Composition (May 2011)

http://www.academia.edu/970719/Behind_t ... omposition

Came across this thesis by Michael A. D’Errico recently and thought some of you might find it interesting. It provides an interesting and through academic analyses of several tracks by DJ Shadow, Madlib, and Flying Lotus. For those who dislike the academic writing style pages 19-39 focus primarily on the technical aspects of producing the Endtroducing album on the MPC60. Similar insight is given to Madlib's use of the MPC4000 to produce the Beat Konducta series of mixtapes.

nice one Clint!

Thanks, Clint. I got the PDF and plan to take a look later.

this could be intrsting..

did madlib use the 4000 on BK?

everyone seems convinced he uses the SP303 for all his stuff.

SP303 is the most overhyped sampler ever.

Thank you Clint!

SEED78 wrote:did madlib use the 4000 on BK?

everyone seems convinced he uses the SP303 for all his stuff.

SP303 is the most overhyped sampler ever.

Are you still recording all analogue?
M: It's a mixture. I keep my jazz analogue. But it depends. I mean, I still use my SP-12 and I've got an MPC-4000, but what I like the most is my little 303. A $200 machine, and I've done everything on that. So that shows you that you don't need all of this other stuff.
http://www.stonesthrow.com/news/2004/09/madlib-in-tokion

i agree i think he is overhyping it's use a bit.. kind of like rock stars that say they did everything with broken guitars etc while neglecting the fact everything was recorded & mixed in billion dollar facilities... obviously not saying that is the case with madlib, his early stuff definitely sounds lo-fi but he's definitely downplaying the 4000/SP's role imo...

..as for the book, a little too academic in the writing and not substantial enough imo.. i feel like it's mostly guesswork going on, also those MPC screenshots are kinda weird , what MPC OS is that??

SEED78 wrote:
SP303 is the most overhyped sampler ever.

It has got a sweet lil sound tho.And some pritty nifty features.

daftmunk wrote:..as for the book, a little too academic in the writing and not substantial enough imo.. i feel like it's mostly guesswork going on

It is not a book it's a Masters degree thesis. It is supposed to be written in an academic format and be fully referenced, which it appears to be. The writer takes information from existing texts and uses it to present and support an view he has formed. I doubt you could have done better yourself. It is a good thesis on a subject that is not often covered. If you have produced better written work I'd like to see it.

great post clint, def gonna read through this

This is very cool, pretty deep stuff I've never really taken the time to sit on. For example the part about white producers rejecting the African american they are trying to be somewhat accepted by, or the "balancing act" African American artists have to play to conform/not conform to stereotypes all at the same time.

Dude dosnt have a real practical knowledge of hip hop. But he makes up for it with his pretty profound connections. Definitely a good read.

It's also cool cause you could send this to one of your parents or some shit and they could read it without really knowing anything about anything. I enjoyed how multi dimensional he portrayed the genre as.

Thanks Clint.

clint246clint wrote:

daftmunk wrote:..as for the book, a little too academic in the writing and not substantial enough imo.. i feel like it's mostly guesswork going on

It is not a book it's a Masters degree thesis. It is supposed to be written in an academic format and be fully referenced, which it appears to be. The writer takes information from existing texts and uses it to present and support an view he has formed. I doubt you could have done better yourself. It is a good thesis on a subject that is not often covered. If you have produced better written work I'd like to see it.

chill out man... are you the author or something?

only giving you my honest feedback, i thought it was a snoozer, clumsy & inaccurate in some parts..also as mentioned above "dude doesnt have a real practical knowledge of hip hop" this always makes me cringe, even more so in an academic format like this... could i have done better? actually maybe yes although probably not.. either way i have no purpose/intent to do so.. doesn't mean i can't have a pov on it, must a food critic be a chef?

I also think a lot of the conclusions he drew were a little embellished. He didn't really take into account the basic idea of artists asking themselves "what sounds best?" but makes every single choice a cold calculated well thought descision thats akin to writing a novel... I don't think everything shadow or madlib did at the time was some deep satire on the state of the human race... But I'd say a great deal was probably them making tracks the way they wanted..

But like I said, great read. Its not like this subject gets fully sussed out like this every day...

daftmunk wrote:i feel like it's mostly guesswork going on

I'm not the author, but I'm glad you didnt mark my thesis.

Academic stuff isnt everyones cup of tea, the author deserves some credit for his work. That is all, we will all have an opinion so I'm glad you enjoyed reading it and sharing yours. I'm off to do some guesswork and chill out...

SEED78 wrote:
SP303 is the most overhyped sampler ever.

TOTALLY agree with that... only people who have plenty of time use this machine....

the thesis looks interesting. but a hell lot to read...