Tag: beat maker

  • Take These Words Home and Think ‘Em Through: The Legacy of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy

    Take These Words Home and Think ‘Em Through: The Legacy of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy

    In the years since Mobb Deep‘s 1996 hit “Shook Ones (Part II)” was released, the song has attained legendary status among hip-hop listeners due to its many unique attributes, such as its darkly timbral, sonic world full of police sirens and impossible amounts of lingering reverb, and its equally rugged linguistic play, equipped with menacing threats…

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  • Paranoia in the Key of P: “Mac 10 Handle” — Prodigy’s Anxious Classic

    Paranoia in the Key of P: “Mac 10 Handle” — Prodigy’s Anxious Classic

    + Learn the nuances of producing beats, arranging tracks, and creative sampling, drawing on the rich history and influence of hip-hop in Soundfly’s acclaimed online course, The Art of Hip-Hop Production.  By David Abravanel Mobb Deep built their reputation on heart-pounding stress raps. Whether it was their breakthrough single “Shook Ones Part II” or tracks where even…

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  • How to Make an Instrumental Track Shine with Vocal Samples

    + Bridge the worlds of theory, improvisation, and jazzy hip-hop, and improve your piano chops with Grammy-winner Kiefer in his course, Kiefer: Keys, Chords, & Beats. Tons of producers making instrumental electronic music today scour YouTube and other online forums to find “vocal samples” to add to their tracks. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve googled…

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  • Unsung: In Praise of Rap’s Studio Musicians

    Rappers used to say, “The real backbone of hip-hop is disc jocks.” Nowadays, though, the real backbone of hip-hop is ostensibly the virtuosic studio musicians dominating the most heralded releases of the past few years. In leaving their indelible marks on records by award-winning artists like Chance The Rapper and Kendrick Lamar, instrumentalists like Nico Segal (a.k.a. Donnie Trumpet), Robert…

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  • 6 More Rising Artists on Soundfly Right Now

    6 More Rising Artists on Soundfly Right Now

    It’s only May, but we’re already pretty sure that 2017 is going to be our favorite year ever! This year, Soundfly has nearly doubled our repertoire of available courses and partnered with some of the world’s best instructors. But best of all, we’ve been continually inspired and excited by the work that student artists have shared with us.…

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  • How to Use Polyrhythms to Create a Perfect Beat

    How to Use Polyrhythms to Create a Perfect Beat

    We’ve all felt it before: four-on-the-floor fatigue. That feeling when you’ve listened to too much music with the same square beat. 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4… Don’t get me wrong — I’m a technohead, so 4/4 is my jam. Lots of music is built on 4/4 rhythm for a reason: It’s familiar and easy to dance to. Sometimes you might…

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  • Scrap the Backing Track – How I Create Live Improvisations Using an Ableton Push

    Scrap the Backing Track – How I Create Live Improvisations Using an Ableton Push

    + Master the processes and techniques for programming professional-grade electronic drum beats in Ableton Live with Soundfly’s acclaimed online course. By Dan Freeman In 2013, I had the fortune of receiving one of the first ever Ableton Push sequencers before the model went to market. I was chosen to be the Certified Trainer who demoed the…

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  • These 10 Super Helpful Key Commands in Ableton Live Will Change Your Life

    These 10 Super Helpful Key Commands in Ableton Live Will Change Your Life

    + Master the tools and techniques of producing pro-level electronic music and audio in Ableton Live with Soundfly’s course, Intro to Music Production in Ableton Live. There’s no other way to put it: computers have become a central component of all recorded music, as well as most composed music. Especially when taking on more projects with tighter deadlines,…

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  • How Kendrick Lamar Achieves Mainstream Appeal with a Complex, Innovative Approach

    How Kendrick Lamar Achieves Mainstream Appeal with a Complex, Innovative Approach

    + Learn the nuances of producing beats, arranging tracks, and creative sampling, drawing on the rich history and influence of hip-hop in Soundfly’s acclaimed online course, The Art of Hip-Hop Production.  One of Kendrick Lamar’s greatest benedictions as an artist is his ability to connect, which, on the surface, seems strange, because his stories are so…

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  • 6 Electronic Tracks That Kick Butt Without a Kick Drum

    6 Electronic Tracks That Kick Butt Without a Kick Drum

    There’s nothing quite like a four-on-the-floor beat to get your feet tappin’, heads bobbin’, and butts movin’. But as any truly clued-in musician knows, sometimes less truly is more. In fact, there are many creative ways to produce rhythmically forward-driving music without that dependable low-end kick pulse. So let’s look at six tracks broadly fitting…

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