Good morning/afternoon/evening my dear Steemers.. Steemiters? Steemitians?...
My name's Edmund, and I'm a UK Based, 19 year old, producer. I do think that nowadays Producers are underrated, and most of the credit (and money) are given to rappers/singers... But I'm not here to discuss that.
In this thread, I'll be discussing the first part of my second beat tape. Of course, you can access the first blog I made about my first beat tape if you missed it (over here: https://steemit.com/music/@reddutopia/redd-utopia-my-first-beat-tape-trip-hop-or-jazz-or-glitch-part-1)
In the same way I did before, I'll be embedding the music and giving my own input on it, hoping it gives you guys an extra insight into what I've been doing. Of course, if you enjoy it, please take an extra few seconds to upvote/repost
Finally, I called this tape "What Happens When I'm bored", as I made the Tape within 2 weeks, while at university, at a time where I didn't have that many hours of lectures and could spend my time on producing.
But enough time wasted, here's the real deal.
1- Should've:
So this one is a bit of a simple one. A sub that contrasts with the slow and calm percussions and Piano/Pluck. I've really always enjoyed taking bits and pieces from everywhere and adding them up in what I do. Here, Trap is a really interesting pick. The drums are just clean and compressed so they Hit through the rest, and the play with the HiHat really makes the vibe stand out. And as I'll talk later about, I've always been really influenced by Kaytranada, so I got to enjoy shifting the end of the track. Here, I took out most instruments, kept the bass, added a new drum pattern and kept the Violin-ish Piano.
.
2 - SideHat:
This one opens up with one of the US' most famous discourse (if I'm not mistaken, it's Kennedy's). It's a bit of a trippy one. I played on the role the drums/percussions have to add anything in and make it fit. So I played with some electronic Pads and some really high pitch sounds (Plucks, Effects, Resonating sonars). 1mn20 in, the gate on the pad (which made it fade in and out) stops, making it a more sustained sound. I enjoyed how this changed the vibe for the best while still keeping it true to itself.
.
3 - Midnight:
So I found this quite atmospheric sound, like a set of piano notes. What I did was add some reverb to it and cut the low frequencies so it would just stay behind and fill up the track. Once again, some Trap-based drums, a more subtle bass (instead of a Sub, which is lower in pitch and aims for power instead of funk). I really don't use that many pads anymore, but at the time, they filled up something I lacked, so I might have overused them. Of course, I'd often finish a track, and go through all the effects/sounds in my library, trying to find some really trippy stuff that could add up to the vibe.
.
4- Kay to the O:
After saying vibe so many times, you might have noticed how importance the vibe is to me, as it takes you and makes you travel from beginning to end. Also, here's the Kaytranada touch I was talking about earlier. The way he plays with Electronical sounds and mixes them with a funky Bass and Drums just amazes me. So I tried my best to get something similar, and somehow, it came out quite clean. So a HiHat that has no competition for the high frequencies, and a Bass that has the same for its low frequencies. I just needed to fill in the rest of the drums, and make a Pad. You'll notice even though I used Pads a lot, I still tried to get them to have a different sound, feel and vibe. You NEED to experiment around with sounds! Even if it sounds shit for a while
.
5- Mis(t)ery:
Misery, Mystery... This track made me feel like both, thus the name. With a darker piano and bass, and those same trippy drums (I always try to diversify the drum samples I use within the realm of Trap/Hip-Hop), this track was only missing something that would come out, crash on everything. So I played around with sounds and found this quite overwhelming sound you can find a few seconds before the first minute. As always, different effects to add up to the vibe and make those "beats" diversified. As a producer, it's a tough one to keep people's attention for a full 2/3 mn, so that was and still is my method: Make changes, twists, surprise the listener and make sure it's details they can notice.
.
6 - End Lighten:
So to produce, you always have to start somewhere. Wether the drums (Rythm) or a Piano (or anything melodic). here, I played around with a piano, and some weird samples (they're too weird for me to have made them at the time so you might notice them). I also used a gate on this bassy Pad to make it really trippy. Once I had most of the track, I felt like some things were missing, so I started looking for some Jazzier samples. I really quickly found this pack with Saxophone samples, and picked one, which isn't used too much, but enough to penetrate through the vibe and get people's attention. I always try to make sure every details, sounds and instrument are fully faithful to the vibe. Even if it means tweaking, monitoring, or EQ-ing (basically cutting specific frequencies so some sounds don't compete with each other)
.
So here was the first part of my second Beat Tape (made nearly a year ago). And looking back at it and trying to find how I came up with some sounds or ideas is always quite entertaining, and makes me realise how far I've came in just 9/10 months.
I'll soon be posting the second part, and then the 3rd Tape later in the month.
Of course, you don't have to wait for me to post about the rest, just check them out here if you're digging my vibe: https://soundcloud.com/far-from-utopia
Thanks for reading through all this mumble jumble, It's a tough one to know how much you guys know about producing, and trying to find the accurate words. Of course, let me know if you think I can do better, or you have questions!
Have a great day, and best of luck in any activities you'll be throwing yourselves in!