Jingle Bells Jingle All The Way

Christmas is such a good time a good time and this time i thought of giving that sweet old jingle bells a hip hop spin check it out here !! and let me know what you think.

The Beat Colection That Expresses it All

The Sahara beat collection expresses a phase in my life . A point where I just felt like I was in a desert , a place where am in deep need and help seems far or inadequate . One of the beats , Broken captures this whole mood . listen to the  Sahara Beat Collection  here .

Rihanna ft Drake - Work Instrumenal Remake by VALETHATBEATBOII

check out my new remake ! let me know what you think !

Introduction to African Music 101

African music typically ranges from 110 BPM to somewhere around 128 BMP .

It mainly uses a poly-rhythmic structure and features ethnic percussion instruments like kalimba's , Silimba's djembe's or ngoma's . Unfortunately there a few places where you can find sound sample packs of these instruments but if you have a K100 or $10 then just visit Kabwata Cultural Market in Lusaka or a local drum in your area they might have some .

Traditional African music like Kalindula and Rumba tend to use guitars a lot . Kalindula however places a lot of emphasis on guitar picking, the guitars are usually acoustic guitars or electric guitars , most notable Kalindula artists like Kalambo Hit Parade or PK Chishala had powerful guitar skills .

Rumba in contrast places emphasis on the vocals and bass rhythm of the track .

In recent years Afro beat another sub-genre of African Music has gained massive popularity , Afrobeat tends to fuse African musical elements with foreign music elements . It tends to use African rhythms and percussions accompanied with synthesizers  . Popular tracks include Davido's Dami Duro , Wizkid's Azonto , Fuse ODG's Antenna and P - Squares Shekinini. Notable producers include Don Jazzy , Oscar , Shizzi , Killbeat ,Dice-On-The-Beat and Tonny Breezy .

In our next post we shall continue with our introduction and discuss South African House .

Simple Tips On How To Make Trap Beats

Trap is a sub-genre of hip hop that has gained popularity in recent years , it is genre that is said to have originated from the TR – 808 synthesizer , from which its signature 808 bass is sourced from. Some of the biggest trap songs include Cassper Nyovest's Doc Shebeleza , T. I 's Top Back ,  and  Beyonce's Drunk In Love ..and most recent Desiigner's Panda .

Lex Luger , Mike Will, Zaytoven , Metro Boomin  and  Ganja Beatz are one of the most prominent producers of trap music.

Basically trap is around 130 to 165 beats per minute but it can also go as low as 80 bpm .

808s are one prominent part of trap , almost all trap beats feature 808 kicks , 808 bass , and 808 hats .When you are making a trap beat it is important that you first program your kicks , claps and hats first .After that you may add strings , synths , etc.

Then the next step is adding your 808 bass.If you are using FL studio , do click on the channel and in channel settings , reduce the attack and release of the 808 bass from the ADSR envelope. Doing so will keep your bass clean . Other producers like to play their 808 bass from the sharp notes , however I personally like to just match it to the notes of the strings or synths of entire track .

Adding some  vocal samples spices up your track . One of the most sampled (and almost abused lol :) ) vocal samples is the "hi vocal sample " ...ever since Lex Luger used it on Rick Ross' Blowin Money Fast its been on so many tracks its hard to count .

3...2...1.....Lift OFF !!

There comes a time when the sun has to go up,

a time when the eagle has to fly higher,

A time when we have to reach for the stars !

Last year , when I was very much of an amateur and still learning how to mix beats in Fruity Loops , I happened to encounter a paradigm shift .

I met a friend who introduced me to Mr Champs from 260 Africa . Mr Champs pretty much taught me most of the things  I know about mixing and sound synthesis .

After the enlightening experience with Mr Champs , my beats slowly started to improve.

At the time I was working on a trap  beat I called Apollo which I just re-uploaded this evening  here .

Apollo marked my transition from amateur to intermediate , and hence the idea of Apollo was about changing levels , attaining new heights and reaching for gold !

Next week I'll do an article on how to make trap beats . Sign up to my email to stay updated !!

How To Create Magical Captivating Songs

Ever heard a song that sends shivers down your spine and has you nodding your head and  pumping your fist in the air ? And you just can't get enough of it ?

Every time you hear it is like the first time and no matter how much you play the song it still captures your body , mind and soul .

Well , here are a few tips to help you turn your tracks into magical , phenomenal and captivating pieces  of music.

1. Let The Energy In Your Song Build Up To The Chorus.

Everything in your track should always build up to the chorus . The chorus is the focal point of your track , let it be full of energy...let it be audiogasmic ! One of the ways you can make your chorus more energetic is by giving one of the instruments in the chorus a certain melody or adding more instruments to it than any other part, listen to Eiffel 65's classic hit Am Blue or Zone Fam's award winning Translate. However, too many instruments create noise and make it hard for your listeners to enjoy your music , so don't add too many instruments. 

2. Have Captivating Intros

The intro is the first thing your fans here , so make  the first 10 to 15 seconds so captivating your listeners will have no choice but listen to the whole track  . It is also important to not let your intro go for than 30 seconds.   

3. Pan Your Instruments

Panning your instruments creates "space" in your track and allows your audience to pay more attention to the instruments in your track.

Let some of your instruments come out from the left , center, right or both left and right . However it is good practice to pan to the  opposite instruments that occupy the same frequency band , for example a piano and a guitar ; you pan the guitar to the left and the piano to the right . Kicks, snares and basses are usually panned center.

4. FX Are The Spice To Your Track

Effects are like spice , they bring the track to life. Adding a low pass to high pass filter  effect on the bridge helps to create anticipation for your chorus . Adding reverb and delay creates depth and gives your listeners a perception of the relative distance of the instruments. However, just like the way adding too much salt spoils the food , adding too many effects or too much of one  effect will spoil your track ; it will make it hard for your fans to pay attention . So use them sparingly.

5. Build Simple But Catchy Melody's

Simple and catchy melodies  make a track easy to follow and remember. You probably remember the melody to Kid Ink's and Chris Brown's Show Me or AKA's  All Eyes On Me.

6. Play Around With The Rhythm And The Drums.

For your track to be memorable it has to be unique in someway . Other producer's use different drums for the chorus or extro, others create different rhythms for the bridge , verse or chorus. For example , Slap Dee's Somone has a different rhythm for the chorus and verse , Jay Z and Kanye West's Paris also has a different rhythm , kick and snare   for the extro. You can check out my beat here  for a demo and pay attention to how the rhythm changes for the verse at the 1:30 mark. Changing rhythms and drums keeps your track from being monotonous and boring , but do it carefully , the transition from one rhythm to another should not be sudden let it be smooth.

7. Carefully Craft Your Lyrics.

This is particularly important if you are a songwriter.

Sing or rap about something your fans can easily relate to, sing about something that easily captures there emotions or something trending at the moment. And also sing words that are easy to pronounce . There's no point in singing a song people can't relate too or a song whose words they can't pronounce . Another thing you can do is to no give your words a feeling as they leave your mouth, otherwise they will be plain . Listen to Shenky's Kontamako or Beyonce's Formation and notice how they sing about things most of us can relate to, also notice how they give the words emotion as they leave their mouths and reach your ears !

There are many ways to create a captivating track and sometimes you just have to be unique , (check out this post about the 5 ways you can have a unique sound).  Listening to many hit songs  will help you to discover the art of creating exciting master pieces. For any questions or clarification, please post them in the comments.

5 WAYS TO HAVE A UNIQUE SOUND

         

Every chef has her or his own style of cooking , if you give chef A to prepare  scrambled eggs he/she will probably prepare them differently from chef B . Because chef A maybe adds a little powdered curry while chef B adds some garlic or uses little or no oil at all  .

What am trying to say here is that just as chefs and painters have their own distinct style , as a producer you also  need to have a sound that differentiates you from the others , a sound that is truly yours , your signature sound .

Even without hearing the voice-tag you know it is a Dj Mustard , Mike Will, Tonny Breezy or Dice beat because of their respective signature sounds . 

So how do you make your own sound ?

1. Learn Sound Synthesis.

This is the key to making your own signature sound. Learn the LFO(Low Frequency Oscillator) , the filters , the ADSR envelope (Attack , Delay, Sustain and Release), and the different wave forms ( Sine , Saw , Square , Triangle) and how to manipulate them to come up with new sounds .

2 . Learn music scales .

Learning music scales expands your horizons , it enables you to put your notes in infinite creative ways 

.

3. Stop Sampling Other Peoples Work !

But how come everybody is doing it ? The thing is if you choose to sample you reduce and limit your creativity, it may be interesting to sample Kanye West's Power intro ...but your audience have probably heard that before and they will not give you juice for that . You need to understand that the music industry thrives on newness , so come up with something new. But if you choose to sample do something totally creative with the sample that will blow the world !

 4. Presets Are Start Points Not End Points.

Learn how to edit your sound presets . For example, open the Sytrus plug-in  in FL and select the chasse preset , now slowly adjust the FX knob in the matrix . You'll notice that the delay reduces . If you turn on other knobs and apply some effects and filters you end up with something new.

Check out Give It To Me ; where I used my own knowledge of sound synthesis to come up with the arpeggiated saw and pad .click  here .

5. Never Give Up

It might take you a week or more to learn but never give up, continue to learn more music production techniques , that is how you make your own signature sound .

If you have any questions please post them in the comments .

How Come Ifwe Lyonse Ni Wala Wala!! - The Story Behind The Chef 187 Wala Wala Instrumental Remake.

My life has not been so pretty, though it has its own shining moments.

Generally speaking, I have always been a "good kid" ever since child hood. I have always played by the rules of my society, obeying my parents, going to church, reading the bible and working hard at school. I have tried by all means never to be associated with bad company. As a result I became I model kid in my neighbourhood and school ; actually even up to now my former primary and junior school teachers still tell their pupils about me (my younger brother who goes to my former school told me so ) .

Despite me being a good person and quite prayerful their moments when no matter how much I work or pray things just keep going from bad to worse , as if not being accommodated at UNZA is not enough am now also struggling with my government student loan , as result I now owe the school K20,000 :( ....its a depressing situation ....  The other thing is that nowadays society just doesn't value good people any more ( I learnt this in high school when I was called a snitch ...it was traumatising )..it seems to accept people that either drink too much , are thugs , or F-boys . Anyway when I heard Chef 187's  Wala Wala and Fashion , I felt a deeper connection to the songs it was like he was rapping about my life ...so being a beat maker I felt like doing a remake of Wala Wala which is available here :

You can also listen to Snitch  here

Let me know what you think of the two beats! :)

See you soon!

New Blog , New Sounds !!

Hi Every one welcome to my new blog ..
lately me and my team have been working on a series of projects.
and umm...we also participated in a beatbattle held by Hexloops ...and we are really hoping to win.

One more thing , I have started working on Paradigm Shift , my 4 piece beat collection, which will be out soon.
check out my new video here for #Snitch , a Jay Z  type beat .

See you soon.