Welcome back to the dance floor, Quick Trackers! Once a month, we hook you up with a short production or songwriting challenge, aimed at helping to up your musicianship. To respond to the challenge, just email us, leave a comment, or post to social media with the hashtag #quicktracks and tag us @learntosoundfly. Beats are the best. Whether…
+ Welcome to Soundfly! We help curious musicians meet their goals with creative online courses. Whatever you want to learn, whenever you need to learn it. Subscribe now to start learning on the ’Fly. Disclaimer: Before all you purists out there start typing up angry comments about how Auto-Tune is killing music, just hear us out. By now, I think we can…
Everyone knows that Jeff Mills shreds on a TR-909, that Egyptian Lover shakes up a room with his TR-808, and that legendary percussionist Sheila E (who worked with Prince, Marvin Gaye, Beyoncé, Diana Ross, and more) makes magic happen with a Linn LM-1. There’s no doubt that these drum machines — and the artists that made them iconic — changed…
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…
+ 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…
+ 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…
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…
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.…
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…
+ 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…
