The Big Elektronauts Hip-Hop Thread: production tips, sharing our music, feedback and inspiration

The Lounge
#1293

Thanks! I dig your beats a lot - you have a great ear and an obvious appreciation of/knack for that timeless boom-bap sound.

I know everyone here has different tastes and levels of experience but this thread is a cool little corner of the internet… glad I got an Elektron box and decided to check out this forum a while back…

I’ve been doing this for 20+ years and saw a little success early on thanks to the time & place - early 2000’s Pacific Northwest hip hop scene was pretty fertile soil. My groups Sandpeople & Oldominion collectively made some noise. Macklemore then shattered the ceilings that I thought existed for artists in our little scene but he always had some pop-star charisma underneath his “conscious hip hop” exterior.

But yea, Atmosphere, Madlib, Doom are all influences. Dilla & El-p are probably my all time favorite producers and I love Timbaland & Neptunes on more of that pop sound - but still so much classic hip hop has been made by them in my opinion. And I owe a ton of whatever my sound is to those PNW artists that I came up with.

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#1294

Ah, man, I know your stuff. Big ups! I initially became aware of Oldominion through Scribble Jam DVDs and collabs with Dibbs (the mixes for Barfly & Grayskull and their appearances on his Dead World album). I’m an ocean away so apologies if I’ve got this wrong, but weren’t there 20+ members in the crew at one point?

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#1295

That’s dope that you’re somewhat familiar… Oldominion was indeed pretty massive. Probably not a sustainable model for the long term but it was a cool moment.

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#1296

I think there’s a lot to be said for collectives - both in terms of community and also when it comes to visibility. There’s a definite amplification effect, especially when you’re somewhere outside the more predictable hip-hop hot houses, I think.

There’s a collective over here called SIN Cru (Strength In Numbers). They include artists from across the whole spectrum of the culture and turned their collective identity into a non-profit organisation which provides educational outreach programmes for schools and community groups. I always dug that idea.

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#1297

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Whatever

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#1298

Gonna spam this thread with my new track as this is where most of the people I talk to on Elektronauts hangout. More of a lofi jazz/experimental project and all instruments, but my roots are in hip hop and sampling, so it’s got that vibe I think (Moog, Rhodes, bass, drum, lo-if piano). The guy I’m collaborating with is usually a guitarist (in punk bands) but he has a secret love for synths, jazz, and experimental music, and we bonded over Strata East here in Tokyo. :slight_smile:

Hopefully a chance to channel my inner Adrian Younge.

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#1299

@Sleepyhead @Sleepynumb

Holy shiiiiiiiiit! I found it randomly listening to a mix tonight (the whole mix is killer, btw!)

Vinyl copy is now inbound :slight_smile:

7:23 Hiromi Iwasaki - Campus Girl

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#1300

Eeey! Analog journal has some great stuff.

Something that’s been bugging me too since you posted the track that sampled it… is this also the same sample? It instantly reminded me of it but I’m not sure:

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#1301

Sounds like the same sample to me. A record collector buddy of mine was telling me there are a couple of great breaks on that album as well. I read that Babu used one on this mix, which is also a cool listen, btw.

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#1302

Nice one. Thanks for sharing the Babu mix!

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#1304

Another from me for @aarb420’s Bi-weekly record-diving sampling extravaganza. New one is also up!

On this, https://www.elektronauts.com/t/who-can-post-their-first-ever-electronic-music-recording - I’m gonna find my early attempts at hip hop beats and post em up here :grimacing: Reason 2.0 ftw! Anyone else got some real early stuff they fancy sharing?

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#1305

Holy sh*t, @looms, sounds sooooo good!

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#1306

Thank you! It was one of those ones that came to together fairly effortlessly. Doesn’t always happen but nice when it does. Listening back this morning I think it’s maybe a tad slow and a bit heavy on the compression but moving on :fast_forward:

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#1307

Dusted off the old hard drive and found 'em! Some gaps in the years haha.

These are the earliest from 2004/2005 made with a mate. Think they were done with Reason 2.
I remember us debating for ages over 1 or 2 bpm slower or faster on this first one :joy: -


Then 2007 - Ableton Live 5ish by then

This one complete with Powah Cutzzz at the end :smiley: I remember trying to ‘do a Pete Rock’ with this beat. It doesn’t sound much/anything like him ha.

Sorry if this is very self indulgent. Would love to hear other people’s early stuff too though :v:

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#1308

These are excellent! I’m not surprised, as your stuff is always amazing.

Last year I found a cassette with my earliest electronic stuff, from an electronic music class I took in college in 1997. I was using a Kurzweil sampler, tape loops, etc. I did some hip hop tape loops and chopped up the Amen break, which I had on a Zip disc. Lol. That stuff was all pretty terrible though. Haha. It was my first time touching this kind of equipment, and we only had an hour a week in the electronic music lab, which is just not enough time (that’s where I first began to dream of having a home setup).

I also found some of my early (2002-2008) home stuff done with an MPC1K. That stuff is much better (but not great), maybe I’ll share a few tracks later.

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#1309

Thanks man! It’s quite fun(ny) hearing them back. That’s awesome you still have that old cassette. I bet is sounds nicely fuzzy. Would be ace to hear that and your MPC era stuff. Also aware getting them digitised can be hassle though :slight_smile: I never had a hardware sampler until the 404 around 2011ish. Always wanted an MPC… still never had one!

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#1310

Dope man! I love the fact that you have a very recognisable sound (which does include heavy compression sometimes ;))

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#1311

Nice! Some of these actually sound kinda modern. The third one is amazing and would fit on any griselda album released right now.

The earliest stuff I have released is from 2007, which means the beats are probably made 2005/2006. All mpc 1k with some mixing in emagic logic 4 :joy:.

This one is straight up 9th wonder bitten/inspired:

I did the first beat on this project, which I made around 2007 or so:

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#1312

Wow man, you were making smashers right from the start. That’s a very very good 9th Wonder style! Really cool to hear. The second beat sounds recognisably you to me too. And aaah emagic logic before Apple got their hands on it!

Thanks! I do need to calm it down with the compression. It’s partly habit, partly liking the sound to a degree but I often don’t notice how far I’ve taken it until after considering a track ‘finished’ and listening fresh. Also partly lack of skills with mixing and mastering haha.

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#1313

So I recently got myself a Roland Sp-606 to complement the 404 MKII and the Live and it delivers character is spades

Here it’s used with a sample pack I’m working on…

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