How did you get into this?
- Thread starter ayo4yayo
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I started playing drums when I was 9....Started DJ'ing at 14 (and back then there were few DJs around unlike today).....Had some Gemini belt drives and a Radio Shack mixer. Upgraded later to Technics and a Gemini mixer. I made beats using my DJ mixer that had an 8 second sampler on it...I would cut in a breakbeat on the TT and by hand trigger the sample/loop while recording to a cassette. Later I got a 4 track and did basically the same thing but now I could layer samples. Problem is if ONE sample was off at all I had to redo the whole thing lol....So it took like 6-8 hours sometimes to get some basic shit laid down.
Then I got a Yamaha keyboard (the type with speakers on top) and I started playing keys over the beats. Shortly thereafter I got an EPS and a talkbox. I think I was 16 at the time. I triggered the EPS with the yamaha but was still an idiot and couldn't figure it all out so most samples were done manually.
After that I got an ASR-10 and spent days upon weeks learning it. No youtube tutorials at the time so it was all trial and error. I learned it inside and out (although there's STILL shit on there I don't know). But I was able to learn sequencing, playing more keys etc.....I also somehow acquired a Dr. Rhythm drum machine but I just sampled the sounds into the ASR and did all my drums on there. The ASR-10 is what I used solely all the way up until about 2002 when I got a Triton and an MPC thru a "deal"....Both of which I've sold since but I still got the ASR-10.
I found the light with VST's and that's pretty much where I'm at now. Although I don't knock hardware at all.
I wasn't taught or really mentored by anyone in the beginning but later I can honestly say Johnny Z showed me ALOT just about songs and arrangement. And believe it or not, just one day in the studio with Khayree gave me alot too. If you want to learn and you're serious, you will learn.
Then I got a Yamaha keyboard (the type with speakers on top) and I started playing keys over the beats. Shortly thereafter I got an EPS and a talkbox. I think I was 16 at the time. I triggered the EPS with the yamaha but was still an idiot and couldn't figure it all out so most samples were done manually.
After that I got an ASR-10 and spent days upon weeks learning it. No youtube tutorials at the time so it was all trial and error. I learned it inside and out (although there's STILL shit on there I don't know). But I was able to learn sequencing, playing more keys etc.....I also somehow acquired a Dr. Rhythm drum machine but I just sampled the sounds into the ASR and did all my drums on there. The ASR-10 is what I used solely all the way up until about 2002 when I got a Triton and an MPC thru a "deal"....Both of which I've sold since but I still got the ASR-10.
I found the light with VST's and that's pretty much where I'm at now. Although I don't knock hardware at all.
I wasn't taught or really mentored by anyone in the beginning but later I can honestly say Johnny Z showed me ALOT just about songs and arrangement. And believe it or not, just one day in the studio with Khayree gave me alot too. If you want to learn and you're serious, you will learn.
btw it's a trip, I just realized this is the first time I've ever told about the history of my equipment lol. But to be honest I'm GLAD I had shitty stuff in the beginning because it made me more dedicated and better at what I do in my opinion.
I think it's great that alot of younger cats now have access to computers/VSTs/Reason etc., but it's a double edged sword. It's now SO easy to make an 8 bar loop, throw it on soundclick and call yourself a "producer". In that instance I think it's sad.
I think it's great that alot of younger cats now have access to computers/VSTs/Reason etc., but it's a double edged sword. It's now SO easy to make an 8 bar loop, throw it on soundclick and call yourself a "producer". In that instance I think it's sad.
It all started back when I was a little chamaco. Playing with my homies big brother's Alesis HR-16 Drum machine and playing with my older bro's Boss DR-550 drum machine and MPC2000. Then I found my own shit and moved on to Acid for a bit, then FL Studio3. Now I'm onto FL Studio 8 and love that shit. I fuck strictly with software.
my high school had a digital audio class... i was introduced to cubase vst 4.0 10 years ago this september, and i started off making generic ass beats with the quicktime synthesizer...
anyone know how to connect the quicktime synthesizer to cubase SL3? i recently unearthed the beats i made on cubase vst 4.0 from a zip disk and i'm trying to play them on SL3 in its original form.
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anyone know how to connect the quicktime synthesizer to cubase SL3? i recently unearthed the beats i made on cubase vst 4.0 from a zip disk and i'm trying to play them on SL3 in its original form.
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Started flowing wit the homies in 97..started buyin cd singles just 4instrumentals. In 99 I met my boy konquest thru a mutual friend.. Hwe was the only dude serious around me. He was a dj.. Long days and nights just vibing to the music.. Rocked for a year with 2 turentables ansd a mic.Started buyin vinyl for him and us to rap over.. Bought a boss br-532 4 track digital recorder. Alesis drum machine and a 300 dollar casio.. We started sumthing.. Soaked game from a few southbay vets @ chinas cabinet(SBU)..chunk/china/ray dogg to name a few...Fast foward now.. My boy quest got a room converted to a studio witha sound proof booth. Expensive mic the whole 9 wall to wall foam.
We had a dream and he's still at it.. Im at it still but on a very tight budget/schedule.(family).moved to a new state.. Almost back @ square one.. But the desire is still there. AND AS LONG AS YOUR WILLING TO WORK AND PUT YOUR HEART INTO IT. NOTHING WILL STOP YOU FROM ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS...
We had a dream and he's still at it.. Im at it still but on a very tight budget/schedule.(family).moved to a new state.. Almost back @ square one.. But the desire is still there. AND AS LONG AS YOUR WILLING TO WORK AND PUT YOUR HEART INTO IT. NOTHING WILL STOP YOU FROM ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS...
I bought Pro Tools LE when it FIRST came out in 01.. I was in the 10th grade.. It was the Digi 001.. They only had the Pro version.. this was before MBox and shit.. That shit was expensive.. did too much to get that shit.. but I came from a digital 8 track recorder so i sorta new the basics.. but software/hardware was very different.. I just started fuckin with it.. and I got sharper and sharper. No classes whats so ever.. Now I have an extensive resume.. Bottom Line.. you are your best teacher.. But if you're close in the frisco area, holla! You can sit in on sessions with me for free..
[email protected] --- D.E.O.
[email protected] --- D.E.O.
i started with windows recorder in 95 or so just sampling my favorite beats and looping them. moms got pissed i was using the computer for rap shit, she said "youre gonna break it thats not what its meant for". this is while i was on house arrest so instead of motivating me to do something positive, i ended up on the wrong side of the law pretty much until i was 21. that was 2000. i got a job and a boss dr 202 drum machine. it was a little plastic toy but i learned it quick and returned it in a month and got a yamaha rm1x. then i got the mo phatt and started using the computer to record it all on cool edit. i eventually upgraded to a nice computer and sold all the hardware and got into reason. ended up with an mbox and sold all that shit too. felt dumb afterwards. i sold a mbox2, shure ksm27, alesis qs 6.1 and all my cables and hard drives for 525. couple months later i went and got a fantom so now im back in the game. i miss the ease of use with software but i love the sound quality i get pre tweak with the fantom, plus i can integrate it with reason when i get the board completely learned. quick word of advice, dont sell your shit unless you need the money.
I use to want to be a rapper when I was in the 6th grade, which was in '97. From then up until 2002 I was rapping, but realized I wasn't into it like I thought I was. Got a copy of HipHop eJay from a friend (my then producer) and started playing around with that, looping the preset loops making beats. Later that year I convinced my dad to get me a keyboard. Went out and bought a little Casio WK-1630 and started playing around with that. In 2003, I convinced pops to get me an MPC. Got the 2000XL and didn't know what the fuck I was doing with it. Between 2003-2005, the MPC just set up (being touched every once and a while) while I focused on recording and mixing with Cubase SX3. In 2006, I started playing with Reason 2.5. Later pulled the MPC back out and started to learn how to use it. Now, I'm still learning, but I'm a little more knowledgeable. Working with my MPC, Reason 4.0, and Pro Tools M-Powered. No classes, not teachers, self taught; until August that is, taking a Recording/Technology class.
In jr high i used to kick it with a bunch of other dudes that rapped. One dude had a lil set dj set up in his pad with a mic and a tape recorder. everybody used to record there. I high school there was also a dude that used to go to my church that had an MPC 3000...I think that got me into producing. I made a few drum loops on that thing and I was hooked. After that i started downloading little drum machine freewares off the net until i discovered Mtv Music Genereator...After I learned that I started buying gear.
In about 1997 I knew these cats that was the first to be rapping around here MC Cliche and Mike the Bastard. They always had fire ass weed so one nite they ask me to go to the stuido and Im like sure but really just went to smoke. Well I seen what they did and I was hooked. Mike had the Sp-808 back when that shit was expensive as fuck. He would let me borrow it, and I fucked with it alot even tho I had no clue what I was doing. Those guys both ended up moving out of state and when I got my first computer one of my boys gave me Acid 1.0. I chopped my own samples in that and was making decent beats. Eventually got Cool Edit but I was mad broke for a long ass time, so I stayed on that original acid for beats for a long ass time. Finally got a good job and bread and asked around and did tons of online research and bought my setup with the goal of never having to upgrade again. Now I do everything exclusively in Ableton Live which is absolutely ridiculous if you take the time to learn it. I was on that Acid 1 so long it actually helped, because Ableton is closer to that than any protools shit.
Real thanks to Mars and G-Dubb for answering my 1,000's of questions online, those guys helped me the most since I didnt really know any local cats doing this until recently.
Real thanks to Mars and G-Dubb for answering my 1,000's of questions online, those guys helped me the most since I didnt really know any local cats doing this until recently.