Apologies for the radio silence on the blog! The last half of May & the beginning of June have been bananas for us here at Melodics HQ, and we have a whooooole lot to share with you. Let’s get it.
Up first: New Lessons
Tha Trickaz – Bless That
Already huge in the French Bass Music community and on YouTube, Cat-masked producers Tha Trickaz were kind enough to bless us with a suite of lessons covering their absolute monster tune “Bless that”. Starting easy, and building up to a total playthrough of the track, including frantic Hi Hats and sneaky triplet fills, this lesson is super fun and very challenging to play.
Check the boys themselves perfecting the advanced version of the lesson 😀
Buddy Peace – Desert Burner
The master makes his return with his second Melodics lesson “Desert Burner”. A rolling, up-tempo break with plenty of hat-clamps, this one requires fast (and accurate) fingers, and has been one of the most popular lessons since release.
Beat Drop – Stank Jam
A massive lesson from our friends at Beat Drop, based on their hit sample pack. The advanced version of this lesson will have you all over the controller, running the bass, drums, and multiple leads.
New features & optimisations
A bunch has gone in the last couple of weeks, including updated pad lighting for devices, end-of-lesson recommendations have been tweaked to better target where in the grades you’re playing, levelling & progress has been changed slightly to give you a better idea of how you’re progressing, and playing in Practice Mode now counts towards your daily practice goal time!
And the big announcement is…
Coming tomorrow There will be a post here on the blog, and across all of our social channels. Stay tuned!
And of course, the post title is a reference to indisputably one of the greatest album covers ever produced:
Starting out as a DJ back in 1993, Buddy Peace has naturally progressed into the realms of beat making and production. Known for his attention to detail and his ‘collage like’ offerings, Buddy continues to push musical boundaries. This week were able to ask Buddy a few questions about some tracks that have inspired him through out the years, and also delve into his creative process when it comes to production and DJing.
On your Youtube Channel you have a series of Finger Drumming videos called the ‘Bag Lunch’ Sessions. Each episode sees you finger drumming in a different location including a schoolyard, train and even a rooftop. Can you give a bit of insight into what inspired this series and the eclectic locations?
I really wanted to make some battery powered pad-tapping performances where I wasn’t bound by plugs and mains outlets, just me outside with a battery powered sampler and a recorder. They weren’t all rigidly rehearsed, mostly I just familiarised myself fully with my pad arrangement and got a rough idea ready, and then just powered through. They were made around some of the coldest times of year too and the will of myself and that of the cameraman didn’t hold out to laborious sessions, so I made them as quick as I could. I just wanted to have something interesting in each session, just different and pleasant or somewhere I passed by a lot in London. The train one was fun, and the rooftop one was cool because of the time of day. You can get some lush sunsets round London sometimes.
You stated in a previous interview “Some ideas I have start rattling in my brain and I can’t work on anything else until they’re finished, I get proper tunnel vision on things like that.” Are you able to explain this and how it relates to your creative process?
It’s a process that still retains control over me to this very day… Sometimes I have ideas that grab me by the collar and won’t let me go, and I’m basically a slave to them until I’ve seen them through – not all the time, but usually with the bigger ones that’s how it goes down! I’m a little better these days with time division though actually. I had to spread my efforts around a bit more efficiently to get certain things done, but yeah I do get that locked on tunnel vision thing happening a lot!
You have also been asked if you could have a scotch with any musician dead or alive it would be Jason Molina? What about his music or as a person inspired you? Do you have any songs from him that you would recommend to people who have not listened to his music before?
Ahh… That’s a musician choice which, in retrospect, I wish I had made differently. I said that before he died, and as far as I’m aware his death was very much connected to alcohol. That was devastating, I guess you can only know so much about certain artists but I definitely didn’t know that his private life travelled that path. I was lucky enough to see him play solo before he passed, and it was pure magic. I knew his music so well before then, but what hit me was the way that literally on the first second of him singing his first note, the entire venue – which at that point in the show was full on noisy and chatty – completely fell silent. His voice quite literally shut the whole place up with such quickness and it gave me chills. He and one of his bands (‘Magnolia Electric Co’) made one of my favourite songs ever, which is called ‘Farewell Transmission’. Again, something that just hits you from the very first chord as soon as the track starts. I’m getting goosebumps thinking of it, I have to play it now! So yeah – check that and the whole album, as well as the album ‘Didn’t It Rain’ (by his band ‘Songs:Ohia’), and his solo ‘Pyramid Electric Co’. All gorgeous, all haunting as all hell, and just wonderful bittersweet, soulful, end of the day perfection.
We all have songs that shape us musically as we move through life. Are you able to give some insight into the relevance of these two songs and this album for you personally?
Yeah that’s my trio of childhood right there! Wow. Basically my first 5 years distilled into three track titles. ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ triggers a very exact memory in me as a toddler, sitting playing with cars sitting by the radio. I’m right there as soon as I even think of it, it’s like memory synaesthesia or something. ‘The Show’ was one of the first rap records I full on fell in love with. My brother bought it and we rocked that 45 for all it was worth. As for Dire Straits, that was a firm fixture in the car stereo on many road trips for me as a kid. As far as Adult Orientated Rock music goes, I’m sure that still has power in it to melt me into tearful mess as a full grown man. Ah I can’t front, I still like them!
You’ve worked with many great emcees in your career so far from Sage Francis, Buck 65 to B.Dolan. What for you is the most inspiring thing about collaborating with others when creating music?
It can cut through a lot of the voices you have in your own head when you make stuff solo, which is a good thing indeed. I don’t mean necessarily negative voices either – just those judgmental ones and some that want you stay on that familiar road. When you work with someone else, especially in the same room, you have so many intangible benefits and conscious/subconscious cues happening that all add to the end result (I mean, if you get on, of course!). I think I’ll always enjoy the process of working by myself first if I’m truly honest, but I love the differences and the enjoyment of working with others – it really is a refreshing process and gets you out of your own head.
You have previously said that it all started with DJing for you. Tell us about who ‘DJ Chronic’ is and your first mixtape in 1993?
Haha, good lord. DJ Chronic was the ever so awesome name I gave myself in my very first year of DJing with a Technics hi-fi turntable with pitch control and a Soundlab DLP-3. I was reading a ton of hip hop mags and listening to non-stop rap radio and was crazy inspired by it all and so I gave myself that name after all that weed I wasn’t smoking and started drawing graffiti ganja leaves on everything. My graf was okay actually back then but yeah, that name was shortlived (probably lasted like 6 months) although I did keep scratching and mixing.
What was the first equipment you used for Djing and production. What set up do you have now?
That janky mixture of turntables I mentioned above, as well as I think a Kam mixer, which had one of those shitty built in samplers. You’d sample in and boom, an instant low-grade low-bit barely audible sample at your fingertips. It was fun sampling gunshots though, I had a time with that. My first sampler was a Yamaha SU10, which is dope for loops and things but not a lot else. I did make a lot on it though. It was all Akais after that. I now use mostly laptop but I still have a gang of controllers and pad-based toys around me, loads of Novation goodies, that kind of stuff.
What advice would you give to a person who woke up this morning and decided that they want to become a hip hop beat maker like you?
It helps to have a core love for it, which won’t be shaken by either fame or setbacks. Some people can blow up quickly, some people can take a while, but it’s the same with most areas of music and creative arts – if you’re in it for that fame then you’re missing the most interesting parts. It sounds simple but love for what you do, and of course skill and practice, will take you a long way. You’re also off to a good start if you know music – music in general, as much as possible from all areas. I think in my day things were a little more walled off than today, and it was harder to widen your musical perspectives as you couldn’t look anything up on the internet which was a far off sci-fi idea for many of us. There really aren’t any excuses to broaden your interests these days which is awesome. Get inspired by it, it’s amazing.
The word ‘collage’ has often been used to describe your productions and mixes. Are you able to give a bit of insight into this and how a mixtape by DJ Riz played a role in this development?
That Riz mix triggered all of that in me for sure! Goddamn, that tape. That thing was insane. I was into the Steinski stuff from years ago, which I heard on old radio shows and my brother got me into old jungle which I always recognised samples and breaks from, and I just loved the idea of taking chunks of music and contextualising them into whatever form you like. I wanted to start doing that soon as possible, and Riz was a huge inspiration scratching-wise. I love hearing it now and knowing what’s going on – back in ’93 I was just having my wig pushed back by an avalanche of 80’s and 90’s rap and wasn’t sure what were the tracks and what were the mix parts (I did know some of it though at that point from radio tapes and such). Later on I got into DJ Shadow, Skratch Piklz and all them, Beat Junkies, Madlib, Mr Dibbs, DJ Signify, and stuff like that. Lots of DJ stuff but mainly around drum heavy and psyche bits and pieces. I think that’s why I fuck with Gaslamp Killer and the Low End Theory squadron these days. I love all of that stuff so much!
How did you find out about Melodics?
I met some wonderful people through Novation, and was invited to perform a demo for their Launchpad Pro, and Sam from Melodics got in touch with them who got in touch with me, and that was basically it! Sam showed me what it was about and talked me through it, and I was all in. It’s such a great idea and to be honest, a long overdue one! There are a lot of pad-pushers around and with so many innovations in controller technology and interface improvements, it’s an area that’s really growing and developing in such an exciting way. I’m really glad Melodics are here!
You are releasing your Melodics lesson called ‘Disco Frost’ What can Melodics users expect to learn from these lessons?
That one was a steady uptempo jam which is a goodie for just hitting certain pads simultaneously which can be trickier than it looks. It’s not a complex one by any means, but I use mainly separated chops and not whole chunks of beats or samples that often and that’s what this is really. I have a ton up my sleeve though, you’ll hear those soon!
How has finger drumming changed the game for both producers and DJ’s? How do you incorporate it into your work?
It’s kind of what I said above really, the changes in technology mean that you can chop beats very quickly, and you’ve probably already got your controller there ready and waiting for you, so right there you have so many barriers to creativity broken down instantly. From there you can just jam and bat ideas around with those chops, and it’s a cool way to get that rhythm in your hands. Also with DJing meaning different to things to people now, you can use pad controllers to control a DJ set which can be a set in Ableton, so again, you can incorporate all that stuff into a set so easy. I like to do just that actually – recently I’ve really been enjoying making sets using vocals and drums and just layering things up in Ableton, with parts in there to allow me to rock some pad-drums live. It’s so satisfying and while I’ll always love turntable DJing, after doing that for around 20 years or so this way is a really interesting change up for me. I’ll always want some kind of turntable element and I don’t want to change forever or anything, but having a new take on it all is mad exciting.
I understand you have been spending a lot of time in South East Asia and have visited all sorts of locations and places like Bangkok and ‘Noble Remix’ – What has been the most inspiring part of your travels so far and what was your reason for visiting this part of the world?
I can’t believe there was a signpost for ‘Noble Remix’. So dope. My girlfriend is over there a lot and we try and roll as a unit for the most part, so we end up hitting parts all over the place there and digging all over the place. I’m a big fan Zudrangma Records / Studio Lam and everyone involved, they’re a great crew who really put in work for that side of the world and I played at Studio Lam back in 2015 which was fantastic. It’s just madness, such a busy and frenetic place but with such dope musical heritage. They have some beautiful music in their past and right now in the present and I’m always so heavily inspired whenever I leave there, just tons of ideas floating around my head. I discovered Khruangbin in early 2015 too who use a lot of cue points from Thai music, and I’m a huge huge fan of them.
You are stranded on a desert island for a year and can only bring three records with you. Which ones would they be?
We have a laid-back jazz infused hip hop lesson called ‘Vib’ now available on Melodics. The samples for Vib come from the Smokers Unite sample pack on the Loopmasters website and can be downloaded for your own productions.
To mark this release the team has decided to do something a little different and have made a list of some of our favourite laid-back hip hop tracks.
1) MF Doom – Saffron Original Sample:Sade – Kiss Of Life
Starting off the list is the one and only MF Doom. The masked emcee has rapped over many amazing productions in his career. The track ‘Saffron’ contains a Sade sample and some Special Herbs for Metal Fingers himself.
2) Pete Rock & CL Smooth – They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y) Original Sample:Tom Scott – Today (Featuring The California Dreamers)
The legendary combination of Pete Rock and CL Smooth released two albums and an EP in the heart of Hip Hop’s golden era. The sampled horn for ‘T.R.OY’ is arguably its most iconic element.
3) Souls Of Mischief – 93 til Infinity Original Sample:Billy Cobham – Heather
‘Yeah, this is how we chill from 93 ’til’.. The lyrics to the hook say it all. The original sample is sped up significantly, most likely on a SP-1200. This was common on jazz samples at the time because the SP-1200 did not have much sample time.
4) Nas – Still Dreaming (Featuring Kanye West & Chrisette Michele) Original Sample:Diana Ross – The Interim
One of my favourite tracks from Nas’ Hip Hop Is Dead album. The verse and hook from Kanye West sit beautifully with Chrisette Michele’s vocals. Oh and how can we forget that Diana Ross sample capping off a truly beautiful track.
5) GZA – Beneath The Surface Original Sample:Jean Plum – Back To You
The third track of GZA’s 1999 album with the same name lives up to its name sonically. This track has an almost atmospheric and film score feel to it that compliment the lyrics.
6) The Herbaliser – A Mother For Your Mind Original Sample:Roy Budd – The Car Chase
A hip hop duo out of South London. They are renown for there jazz influenced productions. Other notable career accomplishments include making the soundtrack for the movie ‘Snatch’.
7) Nightmares on Wax – Les Nuits Original Sample Of The Bass Line:Quincy Jones – Summer In The City
Sampling one of the most heavily sampled tracks of all time Leeds producer Nightmares On Wax put together this song back in 1999. As the video suggests this song is perfect for going on long scooter rides and singing in a laundromat.
Flying Lotus is no stranger to the experimental. His adventurous productions have made him a household name amongst beat makers around the world. Tea Leaf Dancers utilises a Free Design sample and has sultry vocals from British songtress Andreya Triana.
9) Lupe Fiasco – Dear Fall Original Sample:Weldon Irvine – Morning Sunrise
Many may have heard this beat initially from Jay Z’s song ‘Dear Summer’. Lupe Fiasco also went in on this Weldon Irvine sampled beat dropping some incredible bars for his version ‘Dear Fall’.
10) Apollo Brown – Blue Ruby Original Sample: Unknown
Our final beat is a pure instrumental from Detroit based Apollo Brown. Apollo was fired from his office job in 2009 and gave himself one year to make it as a producer. Three months later after the release of his first LP ‘Clouds’ he was signed to Mello Music Group.
So what do you think of our list? Is there something that we missed? If so let us know in the comments.
Next week we have some more lessons from our growing team of Melodics Artists. You will have to wait and see who it is. But I can promise that it will be ‘Massive’!
Eskei83 is a German DJ and producer that was the winner of 2014 Red Bull Thre3style World Championship. His victory has catapulted him to the upper echelons of the DJ game which sees him tour the world doing what he loves. This week we were fortunate enough to ask him a few questions about his DJ journey, touring the world and get insight into what inspires him creatively.
Your hometown is Dresden, Germany. Tell us about the city and how it shaped you musically?
I started my club DJ career in a local club in Dresden. At this time it was the only club for hip hop, RnB, funk, soul, etc. I came there with just Rap records to play my first show, but the manager said I won’t need my records – they had a whole collection built in the DJ booth. I discovered a lot new music, new & old. I learned about the history of the music and about the tracks that made this club so popular. They had some tracks that nobody else in the city played. I learned a lot about selection, building a night & became creative because I was DJing Friday & Saturday each and every week for 4-5 hours straight. I tried to come up with a different set every week. All on vinyl records.
What made you want to become a DJ? Was it a particular moment,artist or song etc? How old were you?
I started getting interested in Hip Hop culture & Rap music when I was 14 and wanted to become part of it when German Rap got popular. I wanted to be part of the movement and was impressed by the DJs for each group. So I made my own beats and got turntables to record scratches on my beats.
What was the first DJ equipment you ever bought? What equipment are you using now for your live sets?
I started with belt driven Turntables and a 2 channel mixer with no EQ, only 2 up faders & 1 crossfader. That’s it. After my first gig on Technics 1210 turntables I knew I had to get them. I also got a Cassette deck to record my mixes.
Now I use a Pioneer DJM S9 mixer with turntables & Serato DJ, after rocking years with the Rane 62 in combination with a NI Maschine MK2.
What was the hardest thing about learning to become a DJ when you started out?
Bringing records from A to B But honestly it is to stay focused and rock the party no matter what. You’ll never have a crowd in front of you, where everyone knows you. So it’s about making people happy and showing them your way of putting songs together. I like to catch their interest with interesting songs, new techniques and live performances. Staying motivated every night, even when you play for a half empty club or your equipment is not working – That’s the hardest.
You won the RedBull Thre3style in 2014 in Baku! Your winning performance had everything from Kanye West to Lenny Kravitz and even a shout out from Grand Master Flash. How long did it take to build that set and what is your process when creating your DJ performances?
I didn’t create a specific set for Thre3style in 2014. I learned the hard way in 2013 what happens when you are stuck in your set and not able to react to the crowd/venue/judges. Everything I had for Thre3style 2014 were routines that I had been playing in my previous shows. Some of them I had been playing for years already. In regards to my winning set I decided to put it together in Baku after watching the other DJs & judges playing and made last minute changes after soundcheck. I had my bits & pieces ready and just had to squeeze it into 15 min. And that’s the way I prepare my sets all the time. Also when I come across new ideas while improvising during my shows & live streams I try to perfect them in the studio later.
Describe what winning the 2014 Red Bull Thre3style felt like.
I’m very happy about the title. I’m even more happy about all the interest I have received since entering the competition. It opened many doors internationally and it helped a lot with promoting myself as a live performing turntable act than a regular DJ just playing tracks. They book me on stages now, give me space to do my little tricks here and there. The promoters that book me, know what they will get and its cool to get booked for this type of DJing.
How did you hear about Melodics? What did you like most about the program?
I know Sam Gribben from back in the day when I was working for Serato on trade shows like Namm & Musik Messe. We stayed in touch and I was really excited to see what he will come up. Last year he wrote to me about his new app a couple of weeks before the launch to get my feedback on it. I think this way of learning is awesome. I’m a big fan of the DJ Hero game, that is similar to Melodics – however Melodics is more professional. More about learning. In my first few sessions with the software I became better at finger drumming and had so much fun learning. Some people say I’m good at this – Melodics showed me that I’ve still got a lot to learn. And to practice on Melodics with the hardware you’re also performing on stage with is awesome. You learn new patterns daily and can practice them to internalize them. The cue point drumming lessons teach how other DJs flip classic drum loops. The lessons from DJ Day introduced me to a new way of breaking down a loop. Really dope.
How do you use cue point drumming in your live sets? How do you see this skill evolving in the future?
I use it very often to create surprise rhythm changes to popular tracks, do tone play or just jump through the track. People love it when they can see what you’re doing. I like creating something with the sounds they just heard before and understand easily. Plus it’s a dope visual element too, easier for them to understand: you hitting a pad and a sound comes out the speaker.
Scratching is more complex to understand for the regular viewer/listener, because you are moving records & fader. I love both techniques though.
I think Finger Drumming is famous already and people are interested in learning it. There are big names like Araab Muzik that made it to festival stages “just” with finger drumming. That’s amazing. To incorporate a simpler style of finger drumming into my Dj set makes it more unique and I think more & more DJs are catching on.
You have released a set of cue point drumming lessons this week for all Melodics Users. Can you give a bit of background about these lessons and what users can expect?
These lessons are actually the rhythms that I use when I play live. In these lessons I use a track from Elènne who is on my label Crispy Crust Records. The song came out late 2015. The patterns work with all kind of tracks and I use them couple of times in my sets with different tunes on all kind of tempos.
If you could give advice to a DJ just starting out what would it be?
Have fun learning and don’t get distracted when some techniques you’re trying are not working. Sometimes it takes repetitive learning to master a new finger drumming or scratching technique. I’m learning all day and try to get at least 10 minutes practice a day.
You perform over 150 shows a year all around the world. However you have previously said that you ‘rarely get to see the city you are playing in’. Is this one of the hardest parts of being a world famous DJ? Are there any other downsides?
I travel a lot and I have so much fun doing what I do. I’m blessed to be able to go and party with crowds from all over the world. The positive feedback on my shows is what keep me going. But yeah – it’s sad not having enough time to catch up with friends in the city or do exploring/sight seeing. I’m at the airport in Vancouver at the moment and didn’t managed to see my Thre3style family Kenny MacIntire & FlipOut. Another downer is to not being at home with your family. I wasn’t home to spend Valentine’s Day with my girls this year. But I’m on the way home now and happy to see them soon.
What is the most rewarding part of being a world famous DJ and touring?
Going to places you never been to before and realising that people already know who you are and who love what you’re doing. Also to inspire people and get a positive reaction is what really keeps me going. If I’m down & exhausted from touring I need just one cool track, idea, inspiring video, or positive email/post from fans to go back to being creative. It’s cool to see that I can give something back to the scene and keep people inspired.
Tell us about your label ‘Crispy Crust’.
Crispy Crust is the label I founded end of 2014 with the Drunken Masters from Munich. We met each other in 2013 and had the same vision. I’m a big fan of them as DJs but also as producers. It was logical to team up and to create an outlet for the music we make, love and want to support. That’s Crispy Crust.
Final question. If you were stranded on a desert island for a year and could only bring three records what would they be?
I think it would be a Q-Bert Super Seal scratch record and two J Dilla instrumental sampler to cut over it. After a year practicing I think I would be a lot better than I am now.
Loopmasters the #1 website for royalty free sample libraries has teamed up with Melodics. Their brand new set of samples were created by Niche Audio as a part of their ‘Hyper Dubstep’ sound pack.
The team at Melodics took these samples and turned them into some fun Dubstep lessons entitled ‘Synthol’.
To get a feel for the sounds used in these lessons, check out the official ‘Hyper Dubstep’ trailer.
This week we have new cue point lessons from one of Palm Springs finest musical products DJ Day. With a career that has spanned over two decades DJ Day has done it all. From cutting his production teeth in the LA underground with the likes of Exile and People Under The Stairs, to becoming a highly acclaimed DJ behind the turntables.
The Lessons
DJ Day brings us five lessons that are cue point flips of the “Impeach The President” classic break.
In fact one of the lessons will walk you through exactly how to perform the flip and recreate the beat for ‘Top Billin’
The other flips that DJ Day has cooked up include Dancehall, Shuffle and Swing grooves. These patterns can be further applied to other tracks in your library to help add something extra to your DJ sets and production sessions.
We have more coming from DJ Day this week with an interview and a video of him performing some of these lessons. So stay tuned and enjoy the lessons.
This weeks New Lesson Tuesday covers the Classic Breaks affectionately known as ‘Doggone’ , ‘Sing Sing’ and ‘Think’. These three drum breaks have been used in 100’s of tracks throughout the decades in a variety of genres. We will run through each, break by break to give you a snapshot of the history behind there influence.
Love – Doggone – ‘Doggone Break’
Love was an influential psych rock band active in the late 60s / early 70s. The band had a small degree of commerical success but were later praised by critics with there 1967 album Forever Changes being listed #40 on Rolling Stones 500 Best Albums Of All Time List in 2003.
Clocking in at whooping 12 minutes long, Doggone features a 9 minute drum solo by George Suranovich that provides lots of sample opportunities. However the loop that can be heard in the video above has been most widely used. This break went widely unnoticed by producers and collectors until Kanye West used it in his productions in the early 2000s. Below are a few more recent examples of tracks that have sampled ‘Doggone’.
While Gaz’s 1978 disco track ‘Sing Sing’ may not be considered an all time classic by most its iconic drum break has been heard the world over. The drum break has been used in hip hop circles by the Wu Tang Clan, took Kylie Minogue to court and is essentially the backbone of Baltimore club music.
“It’s like that lady in the Southern Baptist church with the tambourine – until the lady starts hitting the tambourine, the church don’t start jumping.
DJ Technics (On The Sing Sing Break)
Below are a few examples of the many songs that sample the ‘Sing Sing’ Break.
Perhaps the most unique and iconic break out of the set for its ‘Yeah, Woo’ vocals. Derived from a 1972 Funk record from Lyn Collins the track was produced by the legendary James Brown. Appearing in a variety of genres this song has also been featured heavily ever since and is among James Brown’s most sampled productions.
Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rocks track ‘It Takes Two’ is the most well known and blatant use of this drum break. While Dizzee Rascal also used the break for his hit grime track Old Skool.
So there you have it. A brief look at what makes this weeks Classic Breaks so ‘Classic’. You can play all of these lessons now on Melodics. Master them and even include them in your own productions like so many great producers in the past have. As always send through any videos of yourself playing Melodics via Instagram using the hashtag #Melodics.
Get ready for some deep house vibes this week courtesy of Polish DJ, producer and finger drumming sensation Carl Rag. Coming from a classic piano background Carl rose to finger drumming prominence through a reasonably popular website called Youtube 😉
For most absolutely killing it on a Launchpad would be a finger drumming dream. However Carl took things to another level when he decided to play on a Maschine and an Akai APC40 at the same time.
Outside of making these incredible videos Carl Rag also has a love for Tech/Deep House. The lessons he is releasing on Melodics this week are from his deep house beat ‘Piano Weapon’ and were shown in a recent video he did for Reloop.
Expect to be playing all the interesting fundamentals of deep house from the bass lines to the chord progressions. The Piano samples and overall feel of this lesson makes for fun practicing.
As always send us through videos of you playing these lessons over Instagram using the hashtag #Melodics and we will feature them on our channel.
Welcome to another wonderful Tuesday here at Melodics. This week we have some funky drums fills made by the Melodics team that will help you harness your inner ‘Bernard Purdie’
We’re taking a quick trip into the past. Funk music originated in the US during the late 60’s with James Brown , Sly & the Family Stone and others taking the genre to #1 on the charts. Since then the genre has influenced many artists from the funk rock styles of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers to the G-Funk craze that was prominent in West Coast Hip Hop during the 90’s.
Our drum fill lessons this week will have all the other elements of the track playing, with you only needing to focus on the jamming out on the drums.
So enjoy the five new lessons and as always feel free to post videos of you jamming away on Melodics via Instagram. Just post your video add in the hashtag #Melodics and we’ll find you!
Last week our lessons introduced you to the art of cue point drumming and how it can be used in DJ sets. This week we are taking it a step further and using cue point drumming techniques to flip tracks to create new and unique variations.
Flipping has been used throughout the years by producers in particular to sample old records and express them in a modern context. Some of your favourite tracks all have origins from older tracks with hip hop and soul being closely linked. In this week’s lessons you will be able to take an old soul song and flip it into a hip hop jam. These techniques and flipping patterns can potentially be used in other songs in your library to make your DJ sets even more interesting.
Before you dive fingers first into our new lessons check out some of histories finest flips to get you in the mood.
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There will be a post here on the blog, and across all of our social channels. Stay tuned!
