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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
It feels like Youtubers are always leading the way!! Lo-Fi Hip Hop has had a huge boom and this is definitely thanks to an underground scene of YouTubers and Twitch streamers. Mellow vibes, nostalgic anime imagery, sick basslines! What's not to like!? Let's see why it popped-off so much!! These Lo-Fi hip-hop tracks, otherwise known as chillhop or Lo-Fi study...
Foley percussion!? Grab yourself some pots and pans and start clanging away!! OK, maybe it's a tad more complex than that, but it's not a bad starting point. Check out some creative ways to get more out of your percussive parts using everyday items you most likely have lying around the house. Get involved!! When it comes to studio recording...
Mixing can be a tedious process! It can feel like you're banging your head against the wall trying to get everything to sit in place. Don't let it get you down! Follow these simple steps and you'll at least be ahead of the game in getting that much-needed gloss on those sounds! To mix like a pro, you need to...
Want your sounds THICK!? Everyone's looking to crank the Bass up, but the other elements of your track need some love too, don't neglect them! Check out some ways you can beef up various parts of your sounds and turn your featherweight track into a heavyweight!!! A lot of people struggle to make the sounds in their tracks rich and...
Why!? Cos we say so!!Ok, maybe that's not gonna cut it as an explanation!! But this week we're pretty hyped on the release of TAKESHIDO: Manga Melodies. So we figured you might also appreciate a few tips on how to use sample packs in your own stuff. So let's go in with a few helpful hints! Use Them As Starting...
Lee Perry, right? A stoner genius hunched over a giant 1960's mixing desk, concocting a dizzy swirl of reggae loops and effects? If you wanna mix it up inna rub-a-dub style, you don't need a huge mixing console and an even larger bag of herb. You can do it at home, now pass over the chalice and read on!! Well...
Crate Digging! That's how it's done. It takes time and a lot of trial and error, but you'll find some of the sickest and most obscure gems by getting your hands dirty and diving in! You also need to know where to look; we can help you with that... Electronic music has been showing us for years that a good...
What even is a tracker? Seems a bit dry and a bit too much like coding to be particularly creative right? If you're like the majority of the music-producing masses, you'll probably be used to a conventional sequencer. But there are a group of musicians who think there is merit in having limits. Crazy right?! Well, let's hear them out...
