Hip Hop: Industry Influence

Ah, hip hop. The start of popularised sampled music. As a wise man once said: "Hip Hop, it don't stop."

...But if it don't stop, there where is it heading? And what has it changed along the way? Let's find out...

Back to the old school

To find out where something is going, it's useful to know where it's been! Hip hop's roots are as mongrel as they come - Taking the danceable breaks from funk music, the rhythmic poetry from Jamaican Dub and the sampling from pioneering electronic music such as Kraftwerk, it's a complete mash-up of styles.

The 1970s saw the roots taking place, with the 1980s bringing them together into something closer to what we recognise as hip hop today. The use of samplers and drum machines became more commonplace and samples such as the Amen Break and drum hits such as the 808 kick began their rise to musical fame as hip hop producers, living up to their tagline, didn't stop using them.

1990 rolled in bringing G Funk to the fore and popular hip hop veered away from the dancey aspect and began to take on the more violent imagery that it has become (in)famous for. The music became even more sample-centric, but added the use of some funky synths to further define the sound.

and as 2000 went past and the planes fell out of the sky as the millennium bug hit the world hard, hip hop also underwent a radical change - the lyricism in popular hip hop took a turn for the dancier side once again, with clever imagery being replaced by catchy repetitive hooks in offshoot genres such as Crunk.

Genres it influenced

Now we've got a bit of background, let's see what hip-hopped onto the bandwagon and was influenced by the monolithic genre.

House

You might not instinctively think this is a genre related to hip hop, but some early house artists came from a hip hop producing background. The early, dancey hip hop sound was not entirely dissimilar to House, often advocating the use of the 4 on the floor drum beat and synthesized basslines.

More directly, the genre "Hip House" spawned as a definite mix between the genres. Also referred to as "House rap", it, shockingly, entails emcees spitting their flow over a club-oriented house beat. Chances are you've heard more of this than you might think - ever heard of Kid Cudi - Day n' Night? There you go.

Drum and Bass

Once upon a time someone thought it'd be clever to make a genre out of pretty much a single sampled drum loop. A few years later and that genre moved out of the jungle and into the mainstream as it metamorphosed into what we now know as Drum and Bass.

The single drum sample happened to be the amen break, a sample first popularised by pioneers of a certain allerative genre - can you venture a wild guess as to which? Hip Hop helped to inspire the breakneck breakbeats (even coming up with the name breakbeat, as the loops were from the dance breaks in the funky tracks they were stolen... uh, I mean, sampled from.) that are at the core of Drum and Bass.

Nu Metal

As Hip Hop producers started springing up in different backgrounds, it was only a matter of time before one got hold of a distorted guitar. Taking a Hip Hop approach to Heavy Metal music meant more loop-based riffs with funkier syncopated beats.

The samples, rapping and scratching migrated into the mix as well, bringing the world some bone-crushingly heavy and yet funky and danceable tunes.

Garage

A difficult genre to define, it is undoubtedly derived from some of the aspects of hip hop - sampled breaks and rhythmic lyrics. Proponents of the genre such as Dizzee Rascal have further taken this style into the sub-genre Grime - hip hop's children have already had children.

Where it's going?

With the rising profile of pop-rap - superstar rappers using about 4 samples to create their latest smash hit or employing similarly superstar producers to write pop anthems for them to emcee over, hip hop looks to be pretty much cemented in the mainstream.

But the decline in the sales of conventional hip hop might be a sign of things to come - does it imply that people have lost interest in the messages behind the tunes created in what is known as the "golden age of hip hop" during the 80s and 90s?

Or does it mean that hip hop has left the ghetto and its old vinyl records behind and is quite comfortable in its new mansion with its fancy synths and will just continue to brag about how wealthy it has become?

Either way, we know it's got a definite future ahead, because quite simply - it don't stop.

10 Ways to make your Drums...Punchier!

Are you frustrated that your drums don't kick people in the stomach and punch them in the face?

I know I was when I started out, but over the years I've picked up some useful tricks to make your drums a bit more adept with their martial arts!

Check it out: 10 things you can do to make your drums punchier...

1. Layer your snares - Snares are most punchy when you have a meaty low-mid snare combined with a snappy hi end. Try finding two samples that fit these descriptions and mashing them together.

2. Layer your kicks - Some people say that it's bad to put too much layering in the low end - they're right. Keep one kick for the low end, but have another with a nice clicky attack so you can hear it as well as feel it!

3. EQ your snares - Obviously this will depend on your sample, but if you boost a sweet spot around 250hz for the punchiness of the snare and around 2.5khz for the snappy attack, you will hear the difference.

4. EQ your kicks - the most common problem I've seen with kicks made by new producers is boosting the low low end like mental. This makes mud, which is not good! Boost around 120hz-ish sparingly to add a gut-grabbing punch to the kick (sounds really violent, huh?) and to hear the kick boost around 2-4khz to bring up the attack of the sample.


5. Be sparing with reverb! - It's good to add some reverb to make your beat sit in the mix, but reverb reduces the punchiness of your drums.

6. Compress! - having a compression with a short attack (less than 70ms) means the drums will smack you in the face like an angry farmer after you pushed over his favourite cow.

7. Distortion - Mixing a small amount of a distorted version of your beat in can add a crisp edge to the beat as well as a more textured low end.

8. Try adding synths - A bit of a subtle white-noise synth behind a snare or a low bass (in key with the song for extra harmonic goodness) behind your kicks gives an awesome tone to your beats!

The second most important piece of advice I can give...

9. Don't use low quality samples - I spent years thinking I was a terrible producer because my beats never had any punch. Turns out that fruityloops' default sound bank wasn't ideal when trying to make powerful electronic music. Make sure your samples sound punchy BEFORE you add effects. You can't add to the punch if it isn't there in the first place.

And most importantly...

10. Turn everything else down - In 90% of conventional music the Drums rule. They should be louder than everything else, barring maybe the vocals. Have a look at the waveforms of your favourite songs - notice how the drums are literally about twice as loud, but feel like they still fit in the song? That's 'cause the low end of the drums is boosted and the hi end taken down, meaning they punch like a black belt, but still feel like they are in the mix.

A History of Distortion - Disgusting!

Distortion. What does it make you think of?

If you're a rocker you'll jump to guitars, a drum and bass head then you'll spring to some violent synths... a studio engineer and you'll head for the nearest noose. It's certainly a versatile technique. But where did it come from?

Conception

Arguably the first time distortion was used creatively on a recorded song is a 1950s blues song snappily titled "Rocket 88" - where apparently a broken amp resulted in a distorted guitar tone. So next time your gear breaks, don't get frustrated; chances are you've just been handed the next big sound!

Sound engineers such as Joe Meek pioneered the use of ruining their audio with distortion for effect. Home-made electronics was the way to go back then, since they couldn't exactly pop down to their local music shop and get a cheap distortion pedal. Conventional studio engineers would have called people like Meek and Phil Spector (another producer who conceived the "Wall of Sound" idea of multi-layering instruments) mental at the time. Maybe they'd've said their minds were distorted more than their guitars?

Though I guess they would have been right about them both. Meek ended up killing his landlady, then himself and Spector kinda killed a prostitute recently. Maybe she made fun of his hairdo (which, incidentally, looks like he spent a bit too much time playing around with distortion.)

Back on track, bands such as Cream and the Jimi Hendrix experienced popularised distortion for use with guitars for a cool tone, proceeding to influence acts such as Black Sabbath who in turn popularised it for use with heavier music.

Companies such as Fender and later on Marshall made this possible by bringing out their ranges of purposefully overdriven amps to achieve that magic new distorted tone.

Types of Distortion

There are quite a few types of distortion about - let's take a look at some of the most famous / infamous.

Tube Distortion

When someone pushes the power tube of their tube amp too hard - This is generally for the more overdriven, warm sound. It is emulated by pedals by pushing too much volume into their transistors. Tube amps are widely regarded as the most desirable by guitarists for the quality of the tone.

Preamp distortion

When you push too much volume into an analog preamp - this can really shape the tone of an effect, and used in unison with other distortion types, it can significantly alter the sound.

Feedback

When an output is put into the input of the same device, a high pitched sound is created called "Feedback" - used extensively by obnoxious rock and metal guitarists for years, it can be used to great effect.

Digital Distortion

This is widely regarded as a nuisance, but has recently come into musical maturity with genres like glitch and noise music (What an oxymoron) integrating themselves into other genres. This is achieved when either you record too loud of an input into your audio sequencer and the audio file "clips" where it can't store the volume of the audio, causing a distorted effect, or it can be achieved via circuit bending - where electronic devices (from guitar pedals to children's toys) are short circuited to see what noises they make.

Where is it now?

Distortion has evolved into a fine art. Companies such as Line6 and Native Instruments are pushing the boundaries with Guitar Amp Simulation software and hardware. This gives people the power to change their distortions on the fly if they don't like the initial recording - an invaluable tool to any producer.

It has also become synonymous with some of the heavier electronic music genres - Drum and Bass, The Heavier Hip Hop and Industrial music all use it to beef up their sounds.

Death Metal bands continue to push the boundaries of what is noise and what is music with their often painfully overdriven guitar tones, Electronic musicians do the same by applying so much distortion to their beats that you can't tell what was a kick and what was a hi hat any more.

Effective use of distortion has opened up creative doors for everyone wanting to add an edge to their sound - a beefiness that was lacking with clean tones. Vocals can be made more intense, samples can be given a new lease of life - there are people pushing the boundaries so much that you might thing they are mad for considering their creations "music".

But just think - in 40 years they might be the ones who are millionaire prostitute killers! Who know's!

A Look at the New Logic Pro 9...

It's always exciting to see what's new in the latest version of your software of choice, but Apple really has pulled out a considerable amount of stops with this one.

Logic Pro 9 has some amazing new features. Let's take a look at 5 of the most grin-inducing ones!

Flex time - This is the future of audio sequencing. You are no longer stuck to a single tempo - Flex time can change audio to a different tempo without losing quality. How is that possible you ask? I reiterate: we live in the future.

Organise takes - This is a nice one; Logic organises multiple takes into folders for you. You can even have chorus and verse takes in different folders on the same track. Saves having a zillion tracks; Score!

Sampler Instruments - You can now just select an audio loop and convert it into a sampler track. Logic slices it automatically. This means you can deal with it in terms of MIDI - re-arranging the audio on the computer with midi notes nice and easily, or even playing new loops with those slices with your keyboard. Woah.


Move tracks/settings between projects - Have the perfect Guitar setup on a different track? No more opening the different file, then dragging a million plug ins one by one - you can do it from within your project, just importing the plug ins/sends etc. you want. You can even import audio from different tracks and use Flex time to put it in time with your track.

Drum Replacer - Double up or replace your live drums with programmed ones! This is nice for everyone experimenting with a bit of Electro/Rock or wanting to beef up their Drum and Bass loops for example. No more faffing around with plug-ins - it's just there.

And as a bonus, apple have also included recordings from 3 pro artists including the killers so you can compare your mixes to that of the professionals. See what they've got on their tracks that makes them pop - then shamelessly copy them! Fantastic.

Video Tutorial - Getting to Grips with Garageband

Garageband is a very powerful music-making package from Apple, and can be used to make, edit and remix many styles. If you are new to production, or want to find out more about Garageband, this video tutorial should give you a good overview of what Garageband has to offer. Here we show you the Garageband interface, and how to get to grips with the basics. Check out our other Garageband tutorials, for more in-depth lessons .

10 Ways to make your Dirty Beats...Dirtier!

Sometimes being filthy is a good thing!

It's seen in electronic music from Dirty South to Glitch Hop, Minimal to Techno. It's there to make people pull faces that aren't usually seen outside of lemon taste-testing groups. It's like a good scary movie - horrific, but you can't help but be engaged by it.

Here are 10 ways to make your dirty beats even dirtier.

1. Dark melodies - When writing your synth hooks, use notes one semitone apart to create a dark feel to your beat.

2. Dissonant synths - It's common practice to detune two oscillators from each other a bit to thicken a sound - try going beyond "a bit".
3. Deeper bass - An overwhelmingly deep bass sound can take a listener's stomach out from underneath them. Cut anything above about 300Hz with an EQ and watch the floor shake.

4. Distorted drums - You can't get much dirtier than a drum sample pushed through a distortion effect. Try this with live sounding drums for even grittier beats!

5. Disgusting harmonies - For your vocal hooks, try duplicating the vocals to another track, then taking it up a semitone. Ouch, my ears! ...In a good way of course.


6. Distasteful samples - A quick way to make something dirty is with dirty words! Be creative and try splicing grimey vocals into your choruses!

7. Decay and Release - Try turning down the Decay for a sharp attack sound on your lead synths and turning up the release to make the dissonant notes really stand out!

8. Deranged FX - When searching through your sample banks there are always a few which make you think "Eurgh! I'd never use this in a song!" - Use it. Try processing it with some phase or distortion to make it even more unusual!

9. Drastic Changes - Want to have a song REALLY feel evil? Do a key change down a semitone. I think Satan just called for his mummy.

10. Drop the Beat - Remember to keep your music interesting. Take out the beat to emphasise certain hooks and when you bring it back, it'll feel like a punch in the face.

...and there you have it! Stay in the mix for more production tehcniques like this...every week!

In the Ring: Dubstep Vs Trip Hop

It's a battle of the offbeat titans!

Two British-borne genres with heavily syncopated rhythms and unusual flows will fight it out in this blog - who will be the winner?

In the red corner we have relative newcomer Dubstep, weighing in heavily with its iconic wobble basslines since the early 2000s.

In the blue corner we have Trip Hop, the older and wiser genre, weighing in with its apathetic, heavy beats since the early 1990s.

Let the battle commence!

Roots

As with many electronic music genres, we must venture to England to find the start of both of these genres.

Trip Hop has a 10 year head start on Dubstep - an offshoot of the Hip Hop phenomenon breaking out of America at the time, Bristol Producers decided to take influence from downtempo dub music and apply it to the loop-based Hip Hop to spawn their own genre.

Trip Hop was born! The style evolved throughout the '90s - starting out as a genre based around unusual samples, eerie strings and slow beats, with artists such as DJ Shadow acting as proponents for the genre.

'95 passed and it progressed further; the character of the genre became more distinct, as artists like Portishead and Tricky put their own slants on it, bringing melancholic vocals and syncopated scratching to add to the rickety percussion.

The genre tended towards a dark, morbid sound, but as the late 90s went past, people started bringing in elements of more upbeat genres like Drum n' Bass to the mixing pot, and using other vocal styles with the genre.

2000 goes past and we can jump on the Dubstep bandwagon...

Boundary-Pushing UK Garage producers trying to explore the darker side of the genre were the pioneers of Dubstep. Bringing the heavy bass and drums from Drum and Bass and adding dissonant, painful synths and samples over the top, the Dubstep genre was born.

Unlike Trip Hop, Dubstep garnered an intense club following - people would increasingly go out to Dubstep nights to experience the massive basslines and entrancing rhythms in the manner they were intended. As a result of this, Dubstep tends to be more structured than Trip Hop, so DJs can mix it into their sets more easily.

A typical Dubstep song will comprise an intro, a drop into the chorus, a verse/break, drop into another chorus and another verse/break into the outro, to keep the DJ happy. The length of these sections is up to the producer, however.

Dubstep has kept its iconic wobble bass, but similar to trip hop, several years after its inception, it has been taken in all different directions, with DJs like Skream taking it down the darker route with excessive reverb, repetition and delay and Rusko taking it along a more fun, club-friendly path with silly sounding synths, upbeat melodies and bouncy rhythms.


So now we know where they came from, how about we find out where they're going?

Trip Hop remains in the public's eye with the pioneering bands like Portishead and Massive Attack still going strong, but the scene appears to have died down as of late.

As happens with a lot of genres as they grow up, Trip Hop has had kids - Sub genres such as Illbient and Post Trip Hop have carried on the legacy of the genre into more specific pathways. Will these genres bring the experimentation and sullen feel of Trip Hop back into the limelight?


Dubstep, however, is still on the rise. In fact, with big time artists like Snoop Dogg and Public Enemy taking an interest in the genre, is it just a matter of time before it achieves some major mainstream success?


Lastly, let's take a look at their similarities and differences.

Both genres are undeniably about keeping things syncopated - offbeat and unusual. They can both invoke dark emotions but are also able to bring completely different feelings with to direction of the right producer.

Perhaps the most noticeable difference is the harshness of a lot of Dubstep - while Trip Hop tends to be more ambient, Dubstep's in-your-face LFO filtered basslines are less than subtle, perhaps making it a more intense genre rather than something you can chill out to.

This is not to say that there is no chillout dubstep or in-your-face trip hop - both genres certainly have versatility, which may have attributed to the success they have achieved.

But which is the victor? Which genre has been more successful? The relatively youthful Dubstep or the Wisened old Trip Hop?

Well, to answer that I guess you should ask yourself - which would you rather make?

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