The AMazon
It all started with a sample from the Album ‘Aguas da Amazonia’ by Third Coast Percussion, Philip Glass featuring Constance Volk, Specifically the track Xingu River. The sample somehow disappeared and I was left with the track ‘The Amazon’ below and a looped dub version. How I ended up here I don’t know. This track took me awhile to decide to leave it, as it was filled with pops in the beginning that I couldn’t figure out for sometime how to get rid of them. It’s been three months since I bought the MPC and I am looking forward to the next phase. Learning how to use the machine has taken me to this point. It’s slow but music is my place I go to when I want to zone out.
getting there
With Christmas approaching I wasn’t able to spend as much time learning how to make music but I did produce these two tracks. Again, these are based around samples I took from the Albums below, fully in MPC Standalone Mode, I make no money out of this and I share for educational and creative purposes, keep your lawyers away.
United Vibrations - The Myth Of the Golden Ratio (Whom I got to see at the Oslo Jazz Festival and had a great dance, also met the two brothers after the show and got to see the now excellent solo artist in his own right Yussuf Dayes.
Julie Bryne with Laugh Cry Laugh - Julie Byrne with Laugh Cry Laugh (Julie is an artist I go to when I want some healing, she has a certain way about her).
Slowhill -Lento (An album I found while in Finland - Finnish music has a special place, they know how to hang in Finland).
JS Epperson - Hibernation (This album got me through some really difficult moments, I once listened to this album while I had surgery. Once I contacted the artist to Thank him, who lives in Portland, and he got back to me).
Nordub - Sly & Robbie Meet Nils Petter Molvaer (The famous Jamaican Duo who helped Grace Jones make her incredible album Hurricane, team up with a Nordic Jazz great and the totally unique album is very enjoyable.
In life there are many challenges, just being around people can be a challenge, they can agitate and stir. Making music is a kind of grounding, yet there can be long periods of suffering. These two tracks are a representative of music I made during the last month, trying to put something down as a record of what I was working on. Most of the fun was had while making it, trying to put down music is always very hard for me. I’m learning and seeing, and what I’m discovering is there may be a way forward for me to create music I like using the MPC, I am looking forward to the process, it’s taking me time but I am seeing a way. This is rare thing, one can lose hope pretty easily, so to have something in my life that gives me a little hope, a little space to focus on the space, the time, the period we have on the planet, to create, to enjoy, to be artistic - its a beautiful opportunity and one every human should get to experience , that of expressing in a creative format and making music often goes beyond barriers, concepts and ideas.
MPC Part 2
When you are learning something new, things can take time and these latest attempts at making beats are full of errors, so be forewarned!
I’ve been watching a lot of music making videos on YouTube and enjoying learning about how music has been made. From Hans Zimmer, Massive Attack, DJ Premier, 9th Wonder and more. From the theory of sampling as understood by people in the US and those Jungle, Garage, Drum and Bass artists out of the UK like El-B and MJ Cole, it’s taken me a long time to understand how music works.
Learning that many of my favorite tracks were made using samples has been eye opening. From Erykah Badu beats, J Dilla’s work, De La Soul, Arrested Development, there is a thread of sampling that runs through music history. Its taking someone else’s creation and making it your own, like all artists many start out by copying and imitating, some are innovate, think Jimi Hendrix with Machine Gun on the Band of Gypsies Album, wow what a track!
For these three tracks I’ve sampled a number of albums but the three that I will list are Albert Kings ‘I want to Get Funky’, Ibrahim Malouf - Capacity to Love and an album by BOP (A Russian minimalist DNB artist) which one I am not sure. These days sampling is difficult because artists have to get clearance, combined with the AI, and other production techniques music making is increasingly complicated.
These are unreleased, unsigned and I make no attempt to make money out of these tracks, they are for educational purposes and are showing my evolution in beat making.
“Artistic expression is purely a vehicle for expressing one’s spirit and soul”.
Garry Shandling.
What this music says about me is part of why I am enjoying making music. You don’t know what is going to come out of you, taking the journey is the experience, is the fun part. I am still learning and have a lot to learn, my music will improve if I practice if I create or not, in the end it’s somewhat irrelevant, what relevant is the journey, the expression its self, its all for the self, yet its now self absorbed.
MPC EXperiment begins
I purchased an MPC XSE for my birthday, as I figured I wasn’t going anywhere, time to make some beats. I don’t drive, live in an isolated area, it’s hot and I am helping to take care of my Father whom has ALS. These are a few sketches I made while learning how to chop samples. They are basic, unmixed and not finished, but you can see my thinking or rather not. I am a long way off, the MPC has a steep learning curve, but I am enjoying my time on the machine, I hope I can make some nice beats.
Mix 1!
Artists included in this mix: Marvin Gaye, Rosie Lowe, Dam Funk, Roots Manuva, Chronixx, Grace Jones, Hans Zimmer, Special Request, Bop, Anthony Hamilton, Calibre, Seba, DJrum, deadmau5, Charles Bradley, Melissa Fortin.
My first attempt at recording a Djay mix. All music has been purchased and no attempt to monetize these mixes has been made. These are for your enjoyment, and unlike streaming services, all the music in my mixes I pay for, so music goes towards the artist, hopefully!