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Showing posts from July, 2013

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

LowTone Society: Jazz, Neo-Soul, Reggae and Hip Hop Combined Effortlessly

Jazz, neo-soul, reggae and hip hop combined effortlessly by a first class ten-piece With alumni including Quincy Jones, Aimee Mann, Arif Mardin, Tony Maserati and Roy Hargrove, Boston's Berklee College of Music is one of the world's most highly esteemed music institutions. Formed on the College's hallowed ground in 2011, LowTone Society, one of the most exciting new groups in music, have the potential to join these aforementioned legends as a name synonymous with musical excellence. 'Reel Me In' is sublime jazz full of lovely instrumentation.  An especially nice touch is the interplay between the horns and the acrobatic yet subtle flute.  The drums have a satisfying hip hop thump and the infectious chorus demonstrates Joanna Teters' ability to switch effortlessly from a smooth-but-smokey lilt into a rugged reggae delivery.   'LowTones' is a neo-soul number with warm Nord keys, expression-filled brass, Frankie Leroux's understated and engaging drums

BOON DOCUMENTED: Lost Sessions

The New Beat Maker favourite Boonie Mayfield shares some of 'the lost sessions' from his hugely popular 'BOON DOCUMENTED' series and, as any fan of the series would expect, both are   educational, funny and very well put together.   Check out our exclusive interview with the man himself here and be on the lookout for his 'Boonie Mayfield Presents: Solomon Vaughn' album coming out in August. Related posts EXCLUSIVE Boonie Mayfield interview: Progressive Soul Featured Artist: Solomon Vaughn / Boonie Mayfield Video: Boonie Mayfield and T-Mos collaborate   Credits Video: youtube.com/user/BlackTuezday Image: facebook.com/booniemayfield

String Sample Pack: 'Urban Strings' Sample Library: theproducerschoice.com

More newness from theproducerschoice.com .  Buy Urban Strings Sample Library for Kontakt 5 here From the guys themselves: 'We concentrated on big, full, EPIC sounding ensembles, and giant staccato and pizzicato strings. If you need huge and realistic strings then this sound module was made for you. Whether you compose hip hop, EDM, trap or even film scores & soundtracks - Urban Strings will blow you away. SPECS: 1.35GB - 23 Full Kontakt Instruments in total (including 6 Multi Instrument Stacks) Also comes as multi-sampled WAV version (C1-C6) to use with other samplers 9 Full String Ensembles, 2 Spiccato Patches, 2 Pizzicato Patches, 3 Orchestra Hits, 1 Tremolo, 6 Multi Instrument Stacks. 200MB of royalty free orchestral loops and construction kits.' Buy Urban Strings Sample Library for Kontakt 5 here

Hip Hop Drum Kit: 'Boom Bap Nostalgic': theproducerschoice.com

Shout out to the guys over at theproducerschoice.com .  From the guys themselves: Buy 'Boom Bap Nostalgic' Kontakt Library Here    If you love old school, crunchy sampled drums then we have a treat for you.  Boom Bap Nostalgic is a brand new library for Native Instruments Kontakt. If you like super tight, clean drums then this is not for you . But if you love that vintage vinyl feel - then you'll love this library. Vinyl Drum Samples > Akai MPC 60 / Akai S950 = CRUNCHY DRUMS These samples have that gorgeous, warm crackly goodness that only comes from real, vintage processing using the Akai MPC60 and Akai S950. These legendary samplers added that sexy 12-bit crunch to this library! Boom Bap Nostalgic Kontakt Library includes: 3 Full Drum Kits: Gritty, Punchy & Raw 1 Patch of Noise, Crackles & Vinyl Hum 1 EMU SP12 Bass Patch 1 Patch of Drum Rolls and Fills ADSR controls to manipulate and control the samples Vintage Mode: Gives extra punch and flava to samples M

FilthyBroke Recordings: 'Best Buds Vol. II' (v / a) and 'The Beginning At Last' (Morbidly-o-Beats) Reviews

Chicago Represents Again with a Forward-Thinking Double Bill, Courtesy of FilthyBroke It's a hot July thanks in no small part to the good folks over at FilthyBroke Recordings . Earlier this month they dropped the superb 'Best Buds Vol II'.  A compilation featuring some of the most exciting new artists from Chicago. The project is of a consistently high standard, but immediate standouts include the dub-meets-g-funk of Morbidly-o-Beats & Hoot's 'GutterSnipes', the rugged beauty of 'THEURGY' by The New Beat Maker favourite Lanzo , the electronic soul of Julian Edwardes' 'Working You' and the string-heavy 'Divine Tree' by SEENMR. The most impressive cut however, may be the haunting 'Montego Bay' by Zackey Force Funk.  Short and sweet, this sounds like a Prince b-side being performed in the mirror by a love-lorn HAL 9000, which, folks, can only ever be a good thing. FilthyBroke Recordings Best Buds Vol. II by FilthyBroke Record

Make Hip Hop Beats: 'Reclaiming the Remix w / Maschine': BangOut and Nashiem Myrick

More inspirational viewing courtesy of Dubspot's hugely popular 'Reclaiming the Remix' with Shareef Islam. Up top, underrated producer BangOut details how he created 'In My Hood', for 50 Cent's 'The Massacre' album. Granted, 'The Massacre' wasn't exactly the most well-recieved of albums, but this track, with its tense-but-tasteful strings and dusty (in a good way) drum loop, is an undeniable gem.  In true 'it's not what you use, but how you use it' fashion, BangOut confides that the track was created with the help of a Casio keyboard 'with the speakers on the sides...and two broken keys'. Below, another unsung hero Nashiem Myrick talks about one of hip hop's greatest tracks 'Who Shot Ya' for the Notorious B.I.G.  Along with CNN's 'T.O.N.Y.' and L'il Kim's 'Queen B*tch', this is one of my favourite beats from the Queens producer.  One of the most interesting points in this video is Na

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

Beatmaking Documentary: 'Boom Bap Heroes Vol. 1: ASR-10' !llmind and Jake One Teasers

!llmind and Jake One talk about what makes the ASR-10 just so special in these two teaser trailers for the must-see 9 minute documentary 'Boom Bap Heroes Vol. 1: ASR-10'.   I can't wait to see the rest of this series.  Any bets on what other classic pieces of hardware are going to be featured and who is going to be waxing lyrical about them? 'Boom Bap Hereos' is brought to you by Cyrus 'The Great' Alexander and The Drum Broker . Check out the full 9 minute film here Buy !llmind's 'Blap Kit Vol. 4' here Buy Jake One's 'Snare Jordan' here Related posts   Exclusive Alkota interview: Business Class Featured artist: Alkota  Credits Video: alkotabeats.com  Image: garciastudios.com  

The World Famous Beat Junkies Interview: dubspot.com

The good guys over at Dubspot sit down with the DJ / turntablist legends. From beatjunkies.com : 'Check out this video interview of the crew when they were in New York for their 20 Year Anniversary Show at The Brooklyn Bowl . The video was brought to you Dubspot NYC….special thanks to John Carluccio. “The World Famous Beat Junkies stop by Dubspot to discuss their love for turntable music, their evolution as artists over the past two decades, and how forming a group helped them to individually develop their skills.” Related : The Beat Junkies 'For the Record' documentary  Credit  Video: dubspot.com  Image: frolab.com  

Showcase Your Music, 'Your Beats': Moduloktopus 'Circles' RMX, 'Black Bay' (Re-Lit Jive) 'B*tch Dont Kill my Vibe' (reTwerk bootleg)

Many thanks to the 'Electronic Music Chameleon' Moduloktopus for sending me his latest offering: a reworking of Adam F's drum 'n' bass classic 'Circles'. On this Future Bass remix Moduloktopus does a great job of keeping enough of the original to pay homage, whilst at the same time being imaginative and creative enough to take it somewhere else. I love the whole remix but the climax is especially great.  'Circles' is one of my favourite tracks of all time so, truth be told, I was a little nervous to listen to this remix! However, I am very glad I did.   I was so impressed with his 'Circles' re-imagining that I just had to check out some more of his music.  I absolutley love the 'Re-Lit Jive' track 'Black Bay' featuring Myss Ripley.  Again, the way the track energetically explodes, then retreats, only to slowly build up again works really well.  There's a great use of strings in this which you may not notice at first, tha

Boonie Mayfield / Solomon Vaughn: 'The Wonder Years'

A brand new one from The New Beat Maker favourite Solomon Vaughn AKA Boonie Mayfield : the bittersweet 'The Wonder Years'.  This is the first single off of the upcoming album 'Boonie Mayfield Presents: Solomon Vaughn', to be released next month.  As anyone familiar with Boonie's work will expect, this offering is a triple-threat of great visuals, soulful production and lyrics that are bound to resonate with many listeners:  'Me and my n*ggas walking / Listening to my walkman, F*ck what them girls are talking 'bout / 'Muddy Waters' a-droppin' Another album I'm coppin' / There's somethin' about hip hop When I play it, I feel important...' 'Me and my fellas drivin' / Holding onto the time when The only responsibility's finishing these assignments...'  Another banger, Boonie.  Bravo. Credits Video: youtube.com/user/BlackTuezday Image: soundcloud.com/booniemayfield Related Posts Featured Artist: Solomon Vaughn / Bo