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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

Beatmaking Inspiration from Just Blaze, King I Divine, Arturia and Spitfire Audio

MUSINGS: I share Just Blaze's 'Rhythm Roulette' performance, King I Divine's 'Convos In Marrakech' teaser and upcoming reviews of Arturia's Beatstep Pro and Spitfire Audio's BML Bone Phalanx

My beatmaking inspiration this month his repeatedly come from the following videos.



Just Blaze's 'Rhythm Roulette' feature was particularly poignant and fascinating.

Poignant due to being filmed on the same day as the passing of Blaze's good friend Sean Price (who was Blaze's muse for this session).

Fascinating because of the insight it gave into Just's workflow.
Just Blaze's 'Rhythm Roulette' feature was particularly poignant and fascinating.
It was an insight sure to reopen the whole 'producer vs beatmaker' debate (which is referred to very, very briefly below).

Just practically plans a whole composition in his head before getting started with chopping and flipping; in apparent opposition to many an artist who seem to, for want of a better phrase, 'wing it, on the show'.



In direct contrast to the slightly impersonal feel of The Sprite Corner's Rhythm Roulette residency, King I Divine takes you deep into his world with a beautifully shot teaser for 'Convos In Marrakech'.
King I Divine takes you deep into his world with a beautifully shot teaser for 'Convos In Marrakech', a highlight from the King of Swing's latest opus...
'Convos...' is a highlight from the King of Swing's latest opus 'Crown Jewelz: Lost Jewelz 1'. The full project can be purchased and enjoyed here.   



On a more personal note, The New Beatmaker's was recently lucky enough to receive Arturia's Beatstep Pro.

There will be a full review; tutorial videos and more dedicated to this sequencing, performance and production powerhouse in the coming months; but in the meantime, feast your eyes and ears on this little beauty in action via the video below.



The New Beatmaker recently reviewed Spitfire Audio's 'Artisan Cello' and 'Artisan Violin' additions to their Producer Portfolio series (read here).

A review for Spitfire Audio's 'BML Bone Phalanx' is coming up in the near future.  For the time being, check out the below from Spitfire Audio.

 
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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