High,Drunk or Clean?

Everybody is different....but for me. I puff mad trees when im diggin, listening for samples to chop and when im punchin buttons.

I do this music stuff as serious fun, so puffing is not a big deal... I'm not on a deadline or anything. It has become part of my routine. I like to turn the red lights on, crank the monitors and just chill while making beats. If I were doing it serious, I think it would be a bad idea to puff. I don't know how serious producers do it.

The one thing I have noticed is that sometimes when I haven't puffed it's not as much fun and I have a hard time coming up with ideas. It definitely makes you psycologically dependent to some degree.

I usually do my stuff sober, once in a while if 99 bananas got me right, I do it a bit bent but not drunk to the point that I'm... well you know. I was feeling what your boy said about throwing on a porno though, once I did that like 8 months ago... nothing clears your head like busting a nut, now I can focus!

Some dawgs of you think that weed is not for serious producers?
To mee it has no influence of my concentration for making a beat. It gives me more inspiration then sober. My fantasy is unlimited while I'm high..

I usually make my beats sober, there have been a few occasions where i came home from the club and jumped str8 on the MPC, but I could'nt tell you if being under the influence made my production skills any tighter. Alcohol does bring out your inhibitions, so i guess if there was something you were hesitant to experiment with being drunk may cause you to be more explorative. I don't have anything against smokin either I just hate it when cats say I can't ______ (fill it in, ex. freestyle, produce, write, etc) unless I'm high. That is a cop out IMO.

Peace,
D. James

sober. unless ive been drinking and feel like being creative.

ive been on tour in an act at some pretty big events and world class festivals and have seen the who's who of the dance music scene in their best and worst. ive seen the junkies, the fakers, and the rarer few who are in control of their business and choose carefully when to bliss out

without getting into details, im amazed how people like Fatboy Slim are still active (although he does get engineers to do his work for him).

as im pretty active and have a lot of responsibilities with my job in multimedia i cant afford to be blazed or drunk and rely on that for creativity. theres too much down-time involved in that, which may not mean crap for you, but for me i work better on edge and focused.

a few times a year i will chill out though like last night when i saw AMON TOBIN and HEXSTATIC perform. a gig like that calls for a spliff. massive stereo sound system, stereo visuals on large visual screens... awesome

amazing. HEXSTATIC are the best hiphop act in the world (in terms of hiphop as a progression of technique, sampling and social statements). you dont need an MC and a **** up attitude to be hiphop.

D_Samp wrote:sober. unless ive been drinking and feel like being creative.
a few times a year i will chill out though like last night when i saw AMON TOBIN and HEXSTATIC perform. a gig like that calls for a spliff. massive stereo sound system, stereo visuals on large visual screens... awesome

amazing. HEXSTATIC are the best hiphop act in the world (in terms of hiphop as a progression of technique, sampling and social statements). you dont need an MC and a **** up attitude to be hiphop.

Yeah, I saw Coldcut a couple years ago. They had their whole video-sample thing going. That whole crew is pretty amazing.

itchyvinyl wrote:

D_Samp wrote:sober. unless ive been drinking and feel like being creative.
a few times a year i will chill out though like last night when i saw AMON TOBIN and HEXSTATIC perform. a gig like that calls for a spliff. massive stereo sound system, stereo visuals on large visual screens... awesome

amazing. HEXSTATIC are the best hiphop act in the world (in terms of hiphop as a progression of technique, sampling and social statements). you dont need an MC and a **** up attitude to be hiphop.

Yeah, I saw Coldcut a couple years ago. They had their whole video-sample thing going. That whole crew is pretty amazing.

yeah. see im the tech-geek type so being too blasted isnt an option. learnt that the hard way onstage (as you do) heh... knocked shit to the ground (mpc, digital video camera etc) and tripping over things etc. all part of the life of a lvie breaks act i guess.

having said all ive said, i should state im not prejudiced at the mindset of others in the studio. theres no smoking in my studios but i dont mind if someone gets blazed outside and comes in to work. only thing i cant stand is people too pepped on speed or with that goofy E face in the studio you know... theres nothing worse then trying to program a track when your collaborator is wasted on wizz and talking 121212 miles an hour

I'd have to say, to each his own. Everyone has their own way of getting inspired to create. I have a friend who is a painter who produces good sh!t only when he comes out of a bad relationship. Because of this, he looks for bad relationships to get into to get the creative juices flowing. Is this better or worse than say smoking reefer, drinking whiskey, porno, etc.? I'm certainly not one to say. Porno is too distracting for me personally and drinking alone gets me depressed. Depressed and horny... not a good way to start a beat making session.

Beets - I did try the Nag Champa. Nice smelling stuff.

I did the Best Breaks' mix I ever did on an E... I was matching beats like a guru and scratchin' like a genius... Just hearing the music full wicked...

But, I wouldn't smoke or nuttin' when programming a beat... its too technicall and you need all your braincells for that!!!!

But, if your Jamming live with a Drummer getting stoned can be good for Ideas, but it depends on the person... Ive done it a few times.... but don't get stonned if your doing a recording 'cause it will take you 10 takes to get it right..!!!

I'm sober when I make my beats. I've had people comment that I must have been smoking weed when I made certain beats though. I'm not a smoker though I like to drink. I might grab a drink to sip on while I'm in the lab but nothing to get me drunk. If being drunk or high works for you then do your thing. You can't knock how other people get their creative juices flowing.

how bout like smoking crack and making beats?
do you guys think that is a good combo?
maybe stay up for a week and smoke some glass or what not
just get them creative juices flowing.
just curious.

im clean when doing anything that counts. I cant lie i have try to do something high but if i was playing basketball i most likly got crossover and my ankles broke or i was lifting weights and almost killed myself or i took a hot song and mix it down all f up. So now if i smoke i let it be use for things like when i playing music something that i can layback and zone out but soak up it all(no hands on).

breakbeat mechanic wrote:I found that being drunk, I would end up producing some sort of little kid type beat, that was typical of the early days of my beat production.
I think i just get too damn sloppy.

ha. im all about the little kid sloppy beats (i call them "stupid"), but i make em that way drunk or sober. there are far too many "perfect" beats out there. i dont want my music to sound like it came of a sample cd...

gordongecko23 wrote:how bout like smoking crack and making beats?
do you guys think that is a good combo?
maybe stay up for a week and smoke some glass or what not
just get them creative juices flowing.
just curious.

If that's your thing then do it. I don't f*** with no drugs period. The person doin it(drugs) knows the repercutions and that's on them.