Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

Discuss the various methods you use in music production, from compressor settings to equipment type.
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Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By jjbing3 Tue May 21, 2013 4:16 pm
Another myth is that everything was chopped into finite pieces and then reassembled, so not the case. :mrgreen:

Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By Phra*DOC Fri May 24, 2013 11:42 am
I guess drums were always a little quantized, while samples were with quantize off (it's the way I do it too, I find it comfy and great sounding). I recall Premo telling precisely he took the quant off to play chops.. think about "mathematics" for instance...

Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By Phra*DOC Fri May 24, 2013 11:56 am
btw, to those who said that quantize off is a 'soft' quantize: 'course it its.
But resolution was 24 (sp12,sp1200, older stuff) or 96 (mpc's ecc) ppq.
let's say the average beat was 90bpm, so a quarter lasted 0,6666 seconds. 0,6666/24= 0,027. The 'poorest' sequencers replayed what you had played with a quantize of average 2 cents of second.. yea, soft quantize. So soft you couldnt possibly feel it ;)
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Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By Coz Fri May 24, 2013 2:19 pm
Phra*DOC wrote:So soft you couldnt possibly feel it ;)



You'd be surprised what you can 'feel' if you have the right tools for the job.

As an example - I've recorded a bunch of tracks in the 4K with quantize off. The drums are complex but everything else is relatively simple. Because the 4K is blessed with realtime quantize audition, you can bounce between different values to hear the impact in realtime. 'OFF(96) (10)' is effectively a 96ppqn quantize, so you can hear what your pattern would sound like if it were playing from a regular MPC without quantize. It definitely tightens things up.

It's not the difference between note A and note B. It's the collective pushing and pulling of every note onto a grid that makes the difference.

Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By Phra*DOC Fri May 24, 2013 2:28 pm
well of course with the right tool you can analyze it and see it. But I guess music is made more for being enjoyed than being analyzed. Like yesterday night I read somebody telling the PR basslines suck because if you analyze the spectrum you clearly see it's a pitchshifted single note. Like, who the f*** cares if it actually sounds good....
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Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By Coz Fri May 24, 2013 2:34 pm
Phra*DOC wrote:well of course with the right tool you can analyze it and see it.



I'm talking about hearing it. You know, that thing you have to do when you make music.

Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By Hermit_Crab Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:53 pm
This should have gone in the tribe called quest beat kit thread, but since it's closed I'll put it here. With regards to old school producers and sampling other producers drums, check out where Ski Beatz says he got the drums for Jay-Z's Dead Presidents.

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Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By crossings Tue Jul 09, 2013 6:56 pm
Hermit_Crab wrote:This should have gone in the tribe called quest beat kit thread, but since it's closed I'll put it here. With regards to old school producers and sampling other producers drums, check out where Ski Beatz says he got the drums for Jay-Z's Dead Presidents.




ski beats and jay-z have both contributed to the death of real hip-hop... neither one has shown respect for those that came before them and are only in it to make a buck. i wouldn't use either person as an example or a means of justifying wackness.

you're either making hip-hop with respect for the TRUE ARTFORM or you're just in it to make a buck. people's real intentions become apparent when this topic comes up.
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Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By crossings Thu Aug 01, 2013 6:12 pm
Wal Martian wrote:
crossings wrote:you're either making hip-hop with respect for the TRUE ARTFORM or you're just in it to make a buck. people's real intentions become apparent when this topic comes up.

Who cares where they got the samples, it's art there are no rules.



i'm hungry, so i'm just gonna steal food off your plate... there are no rules to the art of eating.

it's called having class, respect, or simply ethics.
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Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By SEED78 Fri Aug 02, 2013 4:34 pm
people have been layering with 808's for a very a long time - marly marl for one.

the role of engineers using expensive MCI, Neve, SSL massive mixing desks has long been forgotten - some specific studio engineers that were go to's for hip hop labels prob have done more to shape the sound of that era than some artists production techniques. lord only knows what a mess those tracks were until they were mixed and mastered, a lot of those tracks would have just existed on the SP or MPC, with no eq or fine tuning available until it was tracked to tape in a expensive studio. would have sounded very flat.
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Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By n4l Fri Aug 02, 2013 9:38 pm
SEED78 wrote:people have been layering with 808's for a very a long time - marly marl for one.

the role of engineers using expensive MCI, Neve, SSL massive mixing desks has long been forgotten - some specific studio engineers that were go to's for hip hop labels prob have done more to shape the sound of that era than some artists production techniques. lord only knows what a mess those tracks were until they were mixed and mastered, a lot of those tracks would have just existed on the SP or MPC, with no eq or fine tuning available until it was tracked to tape in a expensive studio. would have sounded very flat.


That's probably the very truth.
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Re: Common Myths Re: 90s ERA Beats!

By Ill-Green Fri Aug 02, 2013 10:33 pm
SEED78 wrote:people have been layering with 808's for a very a long time - marly marl for one.

the role of engineers using expensive MCI, Neve, SSL massive mixing desks has long been forgotten - some specific studio engineers that were go to's for hip hop labels prob have done more to shape the sound of that era than some artists production techniques. lord only knows what a mess those tracks were until they were mixed and mastered, a lot of those tracks would have just existed on the SP or MPC, with no eq or fine tuning available until it was tracked to tape in a expensive studio. would have sounded very flat.

Yes my man, that is definitely true. The engineer is the unknown hero in Hip Hop's sound. They actually made the music stick from where it was at. The beat producers would craft the beat and idea but the recording engineer would eq the sample because some samples have low end floating about so you must remove those. The producer wasn't even a producer back then, he was just the DJ. Title producer started coming of age when DJs were fading away from turntablism and were just on beat and drum machines, keyboards and sound boards. The gear turned modern DJs into producers overnight at the time and it was acceptable too because stepping up from two turntables and a mixer to two MPCs and a Jupiter meant success and a promotion in Hip Hop. Gear like that was thousands a piece so its like a rapper sporting the fattest chain.

Nowadays my grandmother makes beats and gets a thousand views on youtube.
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