Tag: kanye west

  • 5 Ways to Tell if Your Vocals Have Too Much Processing

    5 Ways to Tell if Your Vocals Have Too Much Processing

    + Recording and mixing your vocals at home? Grammy-winning artist Kimbra explores how to harness the full creative potential of your music in her new course! When working with the endless options of vocal effects in today’s average digital audio workstation (DAW), it can be very tempting to go overboard. It’s like having a huge, free buffet in…

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  • 17 of the Greatest Televised Moments in Music History

    17 of the Greatest Televised Moments in Music History

    If you missed these 17 moments when they were broadcast on television, relive them and learn their historical impact on not only music but also pop culture.

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  • The Musical and Sociopolitical Evolution of Kanye’s Use of Soul Music Samples

    The Musical and Sociopolitical Evolution of Kanye’s Use of Soul Music Samples

    + 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.  Between the old-school sound of his debut album, College Dropout, in 2004 and the ultra-synthesized feel of his most recent album, 2016’s The Life Of Pablo, there…

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  • 5 Examples of Artists Tastefully Using Auto-Tune

    5 Examples of Artists Tastefully Using Auto-Tune

    + 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…

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  • 8 Ways to Perform with a Backing Track (and Still Engage Your Audience)

    8 Ways to Perform with a Backing Track (and Still Engage Your Audience)

    If your onstage MO includes a backing track or other electronic support, follow these steps to still give a live performance your fans will love.

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  • Money Ain’t a Thang: 11 of the Most Expensive Albums Ever Produced

    Money Ain’t a Thang: 11 of the Most Expensive Albums Ever Produced

    + 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. Most of us record albums with budgetary constraints — that’s just our reality. Imagine waking up one day with unlimited resources at your fingertips. Here and now, there’s…

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  • Music Publishing News: Drake’s Latest, Spotify’s Two New Acquisitions and More

    By Songtrust Every month, our friends at Songtrust compile a round-up of the most noteworthy developments in music publishing. Catch up on all the industry news in our Music Publishing News archive! Drake’s More Life may set a precedent for future releases in the era of streaming. The Canadian artist’s newest project, which he describes as “a body of…

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  • How ‘Hamilton’ Put the Music Back at the Center of the Musical

    How ‘Hamilton’ Put the Music Back at the Center of the Musical

    It’s been dissected as a runaway commercial success. It’s been analyzed as an incisive commentary on current race relations. It’s even, at times, received its due as an example of complex poetry in rap. But, rather counterintuitively, relatively few trained musicians have talked about this Broadway hit as pure music in and of itself. Leaving the…

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  • Music Theory Breakdown: Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam”

    Music Theory Breakdown: Kanye West’s “Ultralight Beam”

    The first song on Kanye West’s The Life of Pablo album, and my favorite so far, is the beautiful, gospel-saturated “Ultralight Beam.” The song uses only four chords, but they’re an interesting four: C minor, E♭ major, A♭ major, and G7. To find out why they sound so good together, let’s do a little music theory. “Ultralight Beam” is…

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  • Rappa Turned Sanga

    Rappa Turned Sanga

    I was scared I would lose credibility as a rapper if I started trying to get my Bilal on. Then a friend taught me to embrace my imperfections.

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Jlin: Rhythm, Variation, & Vulnerability