You know them, right?! You've seen them everywhere. From house parties to clubs, to the scratching world championships; they're everywhere!! Well, they were, until CDJ's took over and people moved away from Vinyl due to the ease of filling a USB stick with your MP3's. They're the creme de la creme of turntables, especially if you wanna learn to scratch...
Can I get an Amen!? If you've ever been to a Drum and Bass rave, you would've skanked to it; if you're into hard, old-school Hip Hop, you've bopped your head to it; you've seen B-boys do their thing to it, it gets chopped up regularly at the DMC championships - that's right, we're diving into the backstory of one...
Looking for a drum pad to make some beats? Ask any Hip Hop producer worth his salt and they'll always recommend you the MPC! Used by the Dopest of the Dope, passing through the hands of the likes of Dr. Dre and Big Boi through to Mark Ronson and Kanye West, this machine has been around for time and played...
Wanna dutty up your sounds?! You can mash up your beats using Tape, yes, Tape (ask your Dad). You can add grit, dirt, fuzz, wow and flutter and all other sorts of Lo-Fi goodness by reading through the steps below and getting experimental. Dive into the world of Lo-Fi now... In the age of Lo-Fi Hip Hops’ burgeoning popularity, it...
Beatboxing!! But more, much, much more!! The multi-talented, gurning maniac, Beardyman has taken just what's possible to do with your voice, flipped it on its head and launched it into space. Using state-of-the-art tech, he can create anything you can imagine, plus a lot that you can't (!), with his voice and have a whole auditorium skanking out in no...
To this day, one of the finest looking machines on the market!! This bad boy has captured the hearts of everyone from early prog-rockers through to Hip Hop royalty! Producing some of the sickest sounds for its time, no other synths could step to it. Even now, peeps wanna cop it and are willing to pay top dollar! Learn how...
Remember that old toy keyboard you used to play with as a kid? Well, that sort of thing is gold dust to a Circuit Bender! A bit of rewiring wizardry here, a dash of circuit manipulation there, and there you have it, you've got yourself some crazy new sound to tweak to your heart's content! There's plenty to explore in...
A stone-cold classic! You won't get sounds like this out of your laptop!! Up there with the Minimoog as one of the all-time greatest synths. Have a look below as we explore what made it stand out from the rest and find why it was so loved by so many... Released in 1978 after being developed by Dave Smith and...
Got Bass?! You know how, sometimes, you need your bass to hit harder, so you decide to build yourself an oversized double bass about 3.5 metres tall? No?! You've never done that?! Well, we've dug up the story of a French guy who felt the need to do just that; read on below... We’re back again with our foray into...
WRITERS BLOCK! The bane of anyone trying to stay creative. The struggle is real!! It’s all too easy to get caught in a routine when creating. Break the cycle, step out of your routine and try something different. You've probably heard it all before. But there are some tried and tested ways to get the juices flowing again... Going through...
Prime Loops is a Black and Asian run business We believe in peace, not chaos. Music from the black communities has shaped our lives. Hip Hop, Soul, Reggae, R&B, Dancehall, Dub, Jazz, Blues, Rock, Drum & Bass, Dubstep, UK Grime, Garage, the list goes on. Commercial music is dominated by genres from black communities and we owe our careers to...
From Russia With Love!? Not exactly the first place you'd expect to crop up in an article about Synths, but here we are. They have made, and continue to make, some banging synths. Who woulda thought?! Come join us on an unexpected journey through the history of synths to come out of...Mother Russia!! When you think of nations pushing the...
The Whatty-Whatty?! Yep, dope name; a crazy bit of kit. You're not that likely to find one going cheap in the local pawnshop and if you're not a French revolutionary jamming out in the Baroque-era parties, you've probably never heard of one either. Here, we're gonna take a look at what this weird little gizmo is all about... Most people's...
An analog beast!! An icon in the synth world with a powerful sound! Fat and hard-hitting there are few contenders when it comes to synths that are all-around powerhouses! With a who's who of celebrity endorsements, if you manage to cop one these days, you'll have musicians queuing around the block to get a go. Take a trip with us...
FOLEY! No, not the crazy overdubbed sounds of someone being punched in a movie! Grab your iPhone and get out on a ramble!! When producing these days, you can get stuck inside the box and, whilst you may have a dope tune on your hands, it can be missing, well, something... Use what you have on you and record your...
Booming Kicks!! That's what comes to mind when you hear the digits 909! Spawning an entire era of dance anthems and pushing Hip Hop in a more funky direction, this little drum machine is a masterpiece in sound design and machine development. Get to know a bit more about the 909!! From its humble beginnings in Osaka, Japan, the Roland...
Gully man ting! UK Grime has had a stratospheric rise to become THE sound of the last decade in Britain and beyond! If you wanna learn how to make your beats DENCH, then take a look at our dive into the inner workings of Urban UK's dopest genre... The Birth of a Genre Its earliest conceptions come from the likes...
Crunchy nostalgic vibes! Lo-fi Hip Hop conjures up chilled-out feelings and hazy memories. Beautifully simplistic, it makes the most out of a few basic sounds and boy does it make them work!! Lo-Fi Hip Hop continues to go from strength to strength, especially with the emergence of YouTube channels such as Chilled Cow, ChillHop, The JazzHop Café amongst others. The...
'Trap Soul'...Soulful Trap? Soul with hints of Trap?! Or something new entirely? Don't worry, we're here to investigate and get to the bottom of this sick and soulful subgenre... ‘Trap Soul’ is the budding new star to emerge from contemporary R&B. First gaining notable success and prominence around 2016 with breakout stars Fetty Wap and Bryson Tiller achieving Top Ten...
No studio? No problem!! Yea, yea, it's not the flash space, decked-out in expensive kit that you see the big players using when conjuring up some new fire. But that doesn't mean you can't make the most of what you've got! This gets harder when your studio doubles up as your bedroom!! But luckily we've got some ideas to help...
