14 . Looped shit on a 286 with a Soundblaster card. Crackerbreaks in effect!
Then, Gemini+4 track.
BUT, I never even dreamed of talking to real producers about anything. I just toiled away in solitude until I was good enough to play a few things for people, and then they were critical and I tried harder.
BUT, I never even dreamed of talking to real producers about anything. I just toiled away in solitude until I was good enough to play a few things for people, and then they were critical and I tried harder.
the game has changed. This is ridiculous. Youngsters really don't have a concept of paying dues anymore. Not even speaking on Superpoaster but just the ones I deal with in general. The net lets them think they are a lot closer to "getting on" (whatever the fuck that means) than they really are.
I made my first beat with my boy Hussein at 14 on a Casio. Bought a Roland S-10 when I was 16 and actually started looping up crusaders records and things. I probably didn't play anybody but my close friends my beats til I was 19. I was still wack at that point too. I have some of my first beat tapes from that time somewhere. They are hella funny to listen to.
Big_Stacks"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
BUT, I never even dreamed of talking to real producers about anything. I just toiled away in solitude until I was good enough to play a few things for people, and then they were critical and I tried harder.
the game has changed. This is ridiculous.
Youngsters really don't have a concept of paying dues anymore. Not even speaking on Superpoaster but just the ones I deal with in general. The net lets them think they are a lot closer to "getting on" (whatever the fuck that means) than they really are.
I made my first beat with my boy Hussein at 14 on a Casio. Bought a Roland S-10 when I was 16 and actually started looping up crusaders records and things. I probably didn't play anybody but my close friends my beats til I was 19. I was still wack at that point too. I have some of my first beat tapes from that time somewhere. They are hella funny to listen to. Hey,
I hear ya, Jake! I didn't make my first demo until 3 years after I started making beats. It took about a year or so to work up to playing shit for my cats. These youngstas are impatient, thinking they're fucking super-producer just because they have a machine and some records. Funky beats come from the mind, not just the records and some sampler/keyboard. All the resources in the world can't help a wack muthafucka with no talent or creativity (many a wack dude around my way in NC had great equipment). The shit takes time and dedication.
Youngsters really don't have a concept of paying dues anymore. Not even speaking on Superpoaster but just the ones I deal with in general. The net lets them think they are a lot closer to "getting on" (whatever the fuck that means) than they really are.
Let em live. Technology has changed the game. The old system isnt here anymore, but the cream still rises to the top. This is another post, really.
Youngsters really don't have a concept of paying dues anymore. Not even speaking on Superpoaster but just the ones I deal with in general. The net lets them think they are a lot closer to "getting on" (whatever the fuck that means) than they really are.
Let em live. Technology has changed the game. The old system isnt here anymore, but the cream still rises to the top. This is another post, really.
I'm with you. I try not to get on some old man nonsense but it gets annoying when everybody thinks you have the golden ticket to rap superstardom. I also just went to my managers producer conference that was jokes. 450+ paying little producer duns tryin to get on. It was really continuous comedy. Had fun meeting a lot of the producers but a lot of em were completely oblivious to how wack they were! Primo was crushing dreams on the panel. Superpoaster would have quit making beats after hearing him speak.
I got a late start with beats, I think around 17 or so with a Gemini sampler and a 2-track (that became a million track after bouncing them down over and over).
I was more into listening to Rock the House and trying to figure out Jeff's cuts with some (literal) Kmart equipment - AND STAYING IN MY ROOM UNTIL I WAS READY.
There's alot to be said about paying dues IMO. Microwave, Myspace music pages, everyone with a laptop can make beats, etc...times have changed and I wonder what the future will lose and gain in the process.
maybe 12 or 13 on MTV's music generator for PlayStation. Although its not anywhere near being legit, it was good to visualize music back then and be able to recognize chorus/verse parts.
When I was about 14 I use to record myself playing drums on a microcassette recorder and then hit play and fast forward at the same time to give me drum and bass breaks.
15... I remember the day(s) perfectly. My crew were the "kids" in the crew. Everyone else was in the military. The crew leader, my mentor/idol, used to sneak me into his barracks and lock me in there while he was at work so I could use his equipt. Then he got a drum machine, the Boss Dr-110, and it was his baby. No one could even touch it. Then one day at a crew meeting I'm just sitting there staring at that thing like it was the holy grail. He goes "you really like that thing huh?". I'm like, in some serious teen age excitement, "Yeah!!!". He's like I want you to take it home and learn how to use it". I'm like "huh?". His boys are all upset saying how come we can't touch but the kid can take it home!!! He's like "it's mine and I can do whatever I want".
Man, I took it home and I studied it and by the time he came back the next day I was teaching him things about it. The first beat I programmed was I just recreated the drum pattern to "Beat The Clock" by Jimmy Spicer because that was my favorite beat at the time (1985)...
From there to the Roland 505, to the SK-1, to the Sk-1, to the Alesis Hr 16, to the Roland 808, to the SP-12 and then I "retired" from beats in '95. I just recently brought the Roland SP606 last spring but have hardly even turned it on...but one day...
If we are to go back to two cassette decks and a knowledge of pause buttons, I would say 13. I always made my own tapes before then, whether it was trying to make me sound like a chipmunk, or just repeating the same part of a classical record over and over. But I would say I was 13, since some of the first beats I tried to extend was "Owner Of A Lonely Heart" and "Beat Box". I also got a Mattel Synsonic drums that year, and that was my first "drum machine". The pads stopped playing by Christmas evening, but the buttons always worked. I still have it in storage.
If we are to go back further than that, apparently my parents bought me a drum set when I was 3. I don't remember it at all, but apparently I kicked the bass drum and ripped the head. Reason? "My foot did it". They would later get me some bongos. This I remember, and I always remember one of the skins being ripped too. That was my fault too, although I never found out why. I'm sure I was trying to beat it up.
i first started composing music on the piano when i was 8, started making pause tapes around 11, had my first keyboard/sequencer at 13, was digging and chopping breaks by 15.
if you're creative you will do shit with whatever's around you. if you have passion you will strive to get better. not everyone who makes beats is trying to be a rap superstar. some people just love doing it.
i used to just make beats for me and my friends. but obviously the more people that hear it the better. maybe if i had myspace when i was 15 i would have been more productive.
There we go, the Mattel Synsonic drums. Somewhere in storage, I have a tape I made when I was 13 of my first beats with that. I don't have a way of transferring to WAV's and then to MP3's. The "songs" were just beat patterns, as one was able to create a beat pattern within 16 bars. I also did an experimental piece where I was battling with all of the drum sounds, since with one of the drums, it was possible to adjust the pitch from serious low-end bass to something that sounded like a spacey rifle. With that sound, you could also speed up the tempo, and the more you increased it, the more the drum sound didn't sound like a drum.
I started on drums too. That was in 5th grade. I never really got too good at them. I hated going to lessons because all the teacher had me do was hit the toms.
I made some pause tapes/beats when I was 13 or 14. I tried extending rap beats that I liked. I also would record beats on the drums onto a cassette deck and then play the drums out loud into the air and play a piano on top of it, recording both. It was basically lots of hiss and white noise because it was using the tiny cassette deck microphone. It kind of got the gears spinning in my head though.
First real sampler I got was a Roland MS-1 when I was about16/17 and I do not have very many fond memories of it. I got an EPS after that and was completely blown away at the sequencer, which compared to the MS-1 was amazing.
Back in '92 at the tender age of 11 I was sat in my front room looping my favourite instrumental parts of Vanilla Ice and De La Soul albums with the dual cassette tape deck on my parents hifi, thinking 'This is the schitt... someone needs to do this!!'
That was about 5 years before I haerd anything like Double Dee and Steinski.
Comments
Then, Gemini+4 track.
BUT, I never even dreamed of talking to real producers about anything. I just toiled away in solitude until I was good enough to play a few things for people, and then they were critical and I tried harder.
the game has changed. This is ridiculous.
button beats.
I'm 27 now...
Peace
DJ Zest
PS Big Ups Stein and Thes - you guys are both dope...
I was 15 and made my first beat on a Korg DDM-110.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
playing piano since i was a nipper, mind
BUT, I never even dreamed of talking to real producers about anything. I just toiled away in solitude until I was good enough to play a few things for people, and then they were critical and I tried harder.
the game has changed. This is ridiculous.
Youngsters really don't have a concept of paying dues anymore. Not even speaking on Superpoaster but just the ones I deal with in general. The net lets them think they are a lot closer to "getting on" (whatever the fuck that means) than they really are.
I made my first beat with my boy Hussein at 14 on a Casio. Bought a Roland S-10 when I was 16 and actually started looping up crusaders records and things. I probably didn't play anybody but my close friends my beats til I was 19. I was still wack at that point too. I have some of my first beat tapes from that time somewhere. They are hella funny to listen to.
Youngsters really don't have a concept of paying dues anymore. Not even speaking on Superpoaster but just the ones I deal with in general. The net lets them think they are a lot closer to "getting on" (whatever the fuck that means) than they really are.
I made my first beat with my boy Hussein at 14 on a Casio. Bought a Roland S-10 when I was 16 and actually started looping up crusaders records and things. I probably didn't play anybody but my close friends my beats til I was 19. I was still wack at that point too. I have some of my first beat tapes from that time somewhere. They are hella funny to listen to.
Hey,
I hear ya, Jake! I didn't make my first demo until 3 years after I started making beats. It took about a year or so to work up to playing shit for my cats. These youngstas are impatient, thinking they're fucking super-producer just because they have a machine and some records. Funky beats come from the mind, not just the records and some sampler/keyboard. All the resources in the world can't help a wack muthafucka with no talent or creativity (many a wack dude around my way in NC had great equipment). The shit takes time and dedication.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Let em live. Technology has changed the game. The old system isnt here anymore, but the cream still rises to the top. This is another post, really.
I'm with you. I try not to get on some old man nonsense but it gets annoying when everybody thinks you have the golden ticket to rap superstardom. I also just went to my managers producer conference that was jokes. 450+ paying little producer duns tryin to get on. It was really continuous comedy. Had fun meeting a lot of the producers but a lot of em were completely oblivious to how wack they were! Primo was crushing dreams on the panel. Superpoaster would have quit making beats after hearing him speak.
I was more into listening to Rock the House and trying to figure out Jeff's cuts with some (literal) Kmart equipment - AND STAYING IN MY ROOM UNTIL I WAS READY.
There's alot to be said about paying dues IMO.
Microwave, Myspace music pages, everyone with a laptop can make beats, etc...times have changed and I wonder what the future will lose and gain in the process.
When I was about 14 I use to record myself playing drums on a microcassette recorder and then hit play and fast forward at the same time to give me drum and bass breaks.
Man, I took it home and I studied it and by the time he came back the next day I was teaching him things about it. The first beat I programmed was I just recreated the drum pattern to "Beat The Clock" by Jimmy Spicer because that was my favorite beat at the time (1985)...
From there to the Roland 505, to the SK-1, to the Sk-1, to the Alesis Hr 16, to the Roland 808, to the SP-12 and then I "retired" from beats in '95. I just recently brought the Roland SP606 last spring but have hardly even turned it on...but one day...
http://web.archive.org/web/20020811063230/http://www.drummachine.com/dmmpict/dr110_b.jpg
If we are to go back further than that, apparently my parents bought me a drum set when I was 3. I don't remember it at all, but apparently I kicked the bass drum and ripped the head. Reason? "My foot did it". They would later get me some bongos. This I remember, and I always remember one of the skins being ripped too. That was my fault too, although I never found out why. I'm sure I was trying to beat it up.
if you're creative you will do shit with whatever's around you. if you have passion you will strive to get better. not everyone who makes beats is trying to be a rap superstar. some people just love doing it.
i used to just make beats for me and my friends. but obviously the more people that hear it the better. maybe if i had myspace when i was 15 i would have been more productive.
awwww damn stacks, you takin' me BACK now!! i had one of those batches... dag, i forgot all about that schitt!
before that one, though, i had this-
and after the korg i had this-
and then my last (and best) toy before moving on the pro schitt-
i still got that batch too. lolol
There we go, the Mattel Synsonic drums. Somewhere in storage, I have a tape I made when I was 13 of my first beats with that. I don't have a way of transferring to WAV's and then to MP3's. The "songs" were just beat patterns, as one was able to create a beat pattern within 16 bars. I also did an experimental piece where I was battling with all of the drum sounds, since with one of the drums, it was possible to adjust the pitch from serious low-end bass to something that sounded like a spacey rifle. With that sound, you could also speed up the tempo, and the more you increased it, the more the drum sound didn't sound like a drum.
I made some pause tapes/beats when I was 13 or 14. I tried extending rap beats that I liked. I also would record beats on the drums onto a cassette deck and then play the drums out loud into the air and play a piano on top of it, recording both. It was basically lots of hiss and white noise because it was using the tiny cassette deck microphone. It kind of got the gears spinning in my head though.
First real sampler I got was a Roland MS-1 when I was about16/17 and I do not have very many fond memories of it. I got an EPS after that and was completely blown away at the sequencer, which compared to the MS-1 was amazing.
we are on the same page. that program changed my life.
My first sampled beats I did as a 15 years old. A frined of mine had a Commodore Amiga and we sampled some Mandrill stuff.
I remember how disapointed I was beacuse of the weak sound, 8 BIT I think on some 10 KHZ style. Now I love this sound !!!!!
Peace
Hawkeye
That was about 5 years before I haerd anything like Double Dee and Steinski.
long tyme agoo!