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Showing posts from August, 2012

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

Mecca: 83: Golden Era Inspired Beatmaker Risin' to the Top

Golden Era Inspired Beatmaker Keeps Risin' to the Top Manchester's Evan Jones was 11 when he discovered hip hop, on a skate video soundtracked by A Tribe Called Quest's classic 'We Got the Jazz'.   The year was 1994 and the young Evans began buying records by Tribe and other legends flourishing in the second golden era, such as The Pharcyde and Gangstarr, with his pocket money . Fast forward to 2007 and Jones, now known as Mecca: 83, is getting love from the likes of Giles Peterson for his own production for artists including Replife and Deborah Jordan. In 2011 he ups the ante, releasing his first solo album 'Messages' under the name Rise.   He follows that up with 'Life Sketches Vols 1&2' later in the year.  Both receive acclaim and broaden a dedicated fan base.  Source: www.youtube.com/user/solarsoundsystem This year he released 'Sketchbook Pieces, Vol 1'.  A collection of recent remixes and production work, 'Sketchbook...' se

Make Music at Home: ART Tube MP Pre-Amp, Audio-Technica AT2020 Mic, Lexicon Alpha Soundcard

Source: thomann.de For the last few months I have been looking to buy my first external soundcard/audio interface to help reduce latency and allow me to record vocals and ideas using my microphone, the Audio-Technica AT2020 .  After much deliberation, I took the plunge and bought the Lexicon Alpha audio interface and the ART Tube MP preamp . In this post I share my experiences in choosing my first external soundcard / audio interface and explain why I also bought a Pre Amp.    Whilst I found the whole process of learning about soundcards and preamps very interesting and exciting, I also found it a little daunting, so I really hope the below post helps you if you are in a similar position. Choosing the Lexicon Alpha As a new beatmaker, I needed something that was cheap and easy to set up and run.  With just my microphone to use at the moment, I only needed a basic model.  What drew my attention to the Lexicon Alpha was the many positive customer reviews on websites such as Amazon. Th