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About The New Beatmaker

Hi!  I'm Lee.  Welcome to my blog.  Here we talk music: news, reviews, interviews, tips, tutorials and more.  I'm also working on the upcoming podcast  Influenced  as a guest, writer and researcher alongside music aficionado Mark Williams and friends.  Watch this space! I have been a lover of music for as long as I can remember, an amateur lyricist for 25 years, a music writer for 15 years and a hobbyist musician and blogger for almost 10 years. My tastes range from jazz to house to hip hop and I love helping artists from all genres develop their sound. My music, videos, reviews and interviews have been featured in a variety of magazines and websites, including: B-Boy Tech Report Gimme That Beat Humanhuman Audio Skills Dream House Beats Where Did the Road Go Beat Tape Co-Op Push Power Promo Drum Magazine You can find my music on Bandcamp: Monkey Mind Sounds AKA LeeTNB And you can find me on Facebook: The New Beatmaker page Lee's personal page

Dissecting J Dilla and Black Milk Style Mixing Techniques

HOW TO: Matthew Weiss deconstructs some of the ingredients that make J Dilla and Black Milk beats so special 

Accomplished Mixing and Mastering Engineer Matthew Weiss (!llmind, 9th Wonder, Dizzee Rascal) breaks down three classic tracks, Slum Village's 'Call Me' produced by Black Milk; Slum Village's 'Climax (Girl Sh*t)'; and Common's 'It's Your World', both produced by J Dilla. 



In part one Weiss analyzes the frequency ranges of where the drums and the bass sits in each track and their relationships to one another.

He also takes some time out to break down J Dilla's kicks and their attacks.  This will be of particular note to some beatmakers who think that a kick drum must be excessively 'sharp' in order to 'knock'.  Written down, this may not make much sense, but it will do when you watch the video.

Another interesting point Weiss raises is just how much of the original sample Dilla often left in his productions.  

In part two, Weiss takes a track from beatmaker Cymantiks ('Redemption', which can be enjoyed in full here.) and makes it sound 'Dilla-esque'.

Weiss correctly states that 'no-one will ever do J Dilla as good as J Dilla'; and also points out that the Cymantiks track did not start out trying to mimic J Dilla's sound.

However, this video does a great job in breaking down the techniques that beatmakers and mix engineers can use in their quest to pay homage to the man that many hold as the greatest hip hop producer of all time.



I have been watching a lot of The Pro Audio Files videos recently and found them to be a great resource.  Like all good teachers, Weiss and his colleagues are able to relay very technical information in a way that is neither too jargon-rich, nor patronizingly over-simplified.

If you like these videos, be sure to check out The Pro Audio Files youtube channel here.


If you have been making beats or mixing for a few months and really want to increase your skill set, buy The Pro Audio Files full length tutorial courses below:


Affiliate advert: If you have been making beats or mixing for a few months and really want to increase your skill set, buy and download The Pro Audio Files range of full length tutorial courses below.  



Buy and download The Pro Audio Files range of full length tutorial courses below.  

Popular posts from this blog

About The New Beatmaker

Hi!  I'm Lee.  Welcome to my blog.  Here we talk music: news, reviews, interviews, tips, tutorials and more.  I'm also working on the upcoming podcast  Influenced  as a guest, writer and researcher alongside music aficionado Mark Williams and friends.  Watch this space! I have been a lover of music for as long as I can remember, an amateur lyricist for 25 years, a music writer for 15 years and a hobbyist musician and blogger for almost 10 years. My tastes range from jazz to house to hip hop and I love helping artists from all genres develop their sound. My music, videos, reviews and interviews have been featured in a variety of magazines and websites, including: B-Boy Tech Report Gimme That Beat Humanhuman Audio Skills Dream House Beats Where Did the Road Go Beat Tape Co-Op Push Power Promo Drum Magazine You can find my music on Bandcamp: Monkey Mind Sounds AKA LeeTNB And you can find me on Facebook: The New Beatmaker page Lee's personal page

Learn How to Play D'Angelo's 'How Does it Feel': Piano Couture

Barely a week goes by without me playing 'Voodoo' at some point and with it, a desire to learn how to play 'How Does it Feel'.   This tutorial video by youtube user pianocouture is one of the best 'how to play' videos I have seen for the classic track.   I think that instructional videos like this are good for two main reasons.  Reason one: obviously, a learner player will gain confidence and enjoyment from learning a favourite song of theirs.   Reason two: Even if a beatmaker has no desire to learn to play the keyboard, but wants to create a loop or a riff (a feeling) similar to 'How Does it Feel', what better way to, than playing the song itself (or similar sounds), sampling it and chopping it up? Either way, this is a great tutorial video.  I've subscribed to Piano Couture's youtube page and, if you are looking to get your key game up, I suggest you do too ;) Related Posts: ?uestlove talks new D'Angelo, J Dilla Video: youtube.com/user/pian

Objects In Orbit 'Panoramas'

REVIEW :  The New Beatmaker favourite changes his name, hones his craft on potential best album of 2020 Producer, Sound Engineer, Musician and Videographer Objects In Orbit has been a favourite of the site since 2013. Whilst there is not a single bad project in the catalogue of the artist formerly known as Evil Alex, he has evolved and improved almost constantly from one project to the next. He is a master of sonic suspense with many of his projects sounding perfectly at home in an art installation or art-house cinema. His trademark style mixes hip hop born sample-based techniques and 4/4 beat composition along with jazz influenced time signatures and experimentation. He often incorporates eerie, industrial stylings and at times dissonant tones.  Whilst predominantly instrumental, Objects In Orbit finely weaves into layers of musical samples either long stretches of dialogue, which make the listener feel as though they are eavesdropping on private conversation, or snip