Why Does Hip Hop Production Have So Many "Rules"

chipmunked vocals were whack in the 60's when people figured it out and they are whack now

word , i phucken hate that sh!t, i never done it nevr will do it it sounds stupid , i dont even listen to music that has pitched up vocals , i just turn it off or change it,
not worth listenin to in my book.

thats MY only rule

BlackestBeats wrote:^^^

REAL SPIT! When I have vocals, its rare that I pitch it up. The way I see it, I'm hip-hop emo, so when I sample vocals I want that emotion that the artist put into the song when they recorded it and the way to get that emotion is to leave the pitch untouched.

Yeah, that's wassup!!

word. ****** be like, "naw man, all you did was loop that sample!" So what, it's a hard loop so I looped it. If the ish needs choppin I'll chop it up. I got no problem with the two. I just do it when I feel that it's appropriate, not because I'm following some stupid rules.



Game....

People who hate on looping are just plain stupid. Everybody loops, some of the dopest tracks are looped, Premo looped, Pete Rock looped, No ID looped, Hi-Tek looped, loops are loops. When the chop ish got real popular after Premo effin perfected it(Premiers joint on Common's Like Water For Chocolate is a perfect example as well as Mos Def's Mathematics). All these cats started doing it, then chopping became almost annoying like with these pitched up vocals, which I cannot stand. For real if you go to Soundclick all these Reason toting 'producers' have these nasty intrumentals with pitched soul tracks, it's relentless and it doesn't hide their nasty programming. And this cat who said filtering basslines was 'dated' needs to go back to the lab. Wanna make a bet he aint ever gonna make a classic. Filtering is an art in itself, Word I made a complete track off of a 4 bar loop minus the drums and it's hot, but anyway.

I only don't use loops 'cause I ain't tryin' to get sued over some sh!t. I'll loop some ol' never seen the light of day sh!t, but never anything that I think anyone I'll ever talk to has heard before. I'm not gonna front, I'm not much of a fan of loops anyway, and the copyright laws make it easier to have a more producer-accepted reason to why I don't do it. I just don't feel them, not 'cause they're dated, I just never really felt like that was making my own music. Not gonna sh!t on others for it, it's just not my thing. I don't drink, but I'll buy my under-age friends' sh!t for 'em, ya know?

As far as pitching vocals, I do it all the time, up and down. I ain't feeling those chipmunk voices either (sometimes they're aight), but I do pitch shtuff to make it fall on beat better. I also occasionally timestretch it, but that does wierd stuff to voices sometimes.

Mic Pro unless you have some pretty widespread release, you don't have to worry about copywrite. I hear cat's vibin about how "i chopped that shite till it was un-recognisable" which beg's the question of why you would sample in the first place. Isn't the whole idea that we are referencing all the heart and soul of those era's in music? Sure the "sounds" themselves are important (i multi sampled a bunch of ray charles organ/epiano notes and replay them coz they are well stankey) but isn't it really about HOW they were played? It's like cutting up the mona lisa and sticking it back together again in another sequence- its probably going to be cool, but its not gonna be hanging in the louvre- ya dig?

yeah but heads dont understand that. they too caught up in what everyone else is doin. might as well say 'i chopped it up until i sucked all the soul out of the original'

dunno but think its a unqiue genre thats for sure...never known a genre so full of haters, blaggers, biters and generally peeps who seem more focussed on the quick buck...

certainly nieve to suggest that no other genres are affected by greed and stuff but ive never known a genre so focussed on money....

its not completely true but it definitely seems everyone wants the same breaks, the same sample cds, the same romplers, everyone wants to sell there beats for hundreds at a time- doesn't seem to be a lot of originality or love of music in the majority of cats....

i think its the uniqueness of the genre that causes such weird rules and such bizaare aspirations- and to me the genre is ready to implode....thats not to say there isn't good stuff out there- im always hearing good beats- but its getting crazy the amount of people badly sampling stuff, wacking a poorly preset sounding beat down and then trying to sell that for a couiple of hundred quid.....where are the collabs, the garage band equivelivent of heads who just love music and get together, make beats, rhyme and stuff and have a great time doing- of course they exist but they seem out numbered by these less than taleneted loan-wolfs with delusions of granduer-

greg

dubmunkey wrote:.where are the collabs, the garage band equivelivent of heads who just love music and get together, make beats, rhyme and stuff and have a great time doing- of course they exist but they seem out numbered by these less than taleneted loan-wolfs with delusions of granduer-

greg

there's tons of great stuff out there that you won't hear, because the people making it could not care less about pushing their product. most are just happy to play that shyt to their friends and whatnot, maybe press a small batch of wax and send it to a couple of shops or even set up a party and perform just for fun but that's it.
keeping it real as they say!

bobbydesign wrote:Mic Pro unless you have some pretty widespread release, you don't have to worry about copywrite. I hear cat's vibin about how "i chopped that **** till it was un-recognisable" which beg's the question of why you would sample in the first place. Isn't the whole idea that we are referencing all the heart and soul of those era's in music? Sure the "sounds" themselves are important (i multi sampled a bunch of ray charles organ/epiano notes and replay them coz they are well stankey) but isn't it really about HOW they were played? It's like cutting up the mona lisa and sticking it back together again in another sequence- its probably going to be cool, but its not gonna be hanging in the louvre- ya dig?

I sample because I can't afford to buy (or house) a bass, piano, guitar, oboe, flute, 4,000 drum kits, harp, harmonica, clarinet, synthesizer...

I'm sure you get my point. I don't sample someone's music, I sample thier instruments. I do sample loops occasionally, as I said, but I don't sample anything I think anyone I'll ever talk to will ever hear if I didn't sample it. Sh!t from back before MTV when artists could get signed and produce major label records but still never have anyone hear of them. I'm not really worried about getting sued, as I stated before. I just use that smokescreen to avoid having people bombard me with reasons as to why I should like loops more than I do. I just feel like I'm not making music if I use someone else's music. It's always seemed like some kind of remix. I know I'ma prolly get told why this isn't true, but whatever.

FLUENT wrote:yeah but heads dont understand that. they too caught up in what everyone else is doin. might as well say 'i chopped it up until i sucked all the soul out of the original'

The reason I chop is because I try to put my OWN soul into it, instead of just sampling someone else's soul (which is OK too, in my book.)

With chopping, you can take something that's not funky or soulful and make it funky and soulful. Dig?

yea , i hear that. theres a few exceptions. but lots of stuff that i hear 'chopped' doesn't appeal as much to me

im not trying to spread the closemindedness plague . i just prefer to hear some heavy loops

Rules are for ppl that are scared enough to obey em. Set your own rules. est example for this is kanye sampling drums off raplps or soul supreme using mp3s and fruity or even 9th for using that same snare over and over or even for using fruity... I dont care about any of those no-nos (i try to obey alotta rules myself, but sometimes the best beats come out when you break em), but I can imagine countless heads hissing about this. **** it! Be creative - the rest will follow by itself if you have enough descipline

enough psycho-godfather-gibberish.
Back to the mackie

nah mic pro i totally know what you mean, none of my stuff really resembles the original becuase of the wide pool of different genre's of wax, live instruments ive composed for and my pretty heavily tweaked synth sounds. I guess if i was JUST sampling, it would be worse. Often i'll have a great loop, compose new stuff around it and end up dropping the original loop becuase its not adding anything, or sitting comfortably sonically (given my limited mastering skills). I feel you on the remix coment, but i feel bad chopping up some masters work too (thats why alot of stuff i sample one shots/chops from is pretty bad music ) which is like what itchy said- putting soul there where it wasn't to begin with.

Blakksmiff wrote:I have noticed that over the last 6 months to a year, everyone has jumped on the sample "chop" band wagon, and I hear many people looking down on looping. I have heard some stuff recently, and immediately thought "this could have been ill if he didn't mess it up by chopping the damn sample!". Don't get me wrong, there are times when chopping is necessary, but not everything should be chopped. What is wrong with looping a break or an intro and personalizing that joint with your own additions (keys, fx, etc). Hip-hop production has so many "rules" now, that it's almost like people can't do there own thing anymore. For example I told a dude that I had an ill sample that I wanted to filter the mids and high out and use just the bass. Dudes first reaction was "nobody filters basslines anymore, your track is going to sound dated". Damn, whatever happened to being able to express yourself.

I'm not sure if you have noticed but Music Production is like Fashion, whats in whats not. etc.... the ones who make it big are the ones who a cut above the rest, the different ones. u figa deal me?