Blog - Crate Kings

Marco Polo Makes A Beat w/ Vinyl, MPC, Software Synths

March 24, 2010March 23, 2010

Marco Polo returns to lab to further demonstrate and explain the concepts behind his construction of individual track elements such as bass lines and drums, MPC2000XL pad layout, and use of software based synthesizers. Much respect to Marco Polo for taking the time to explain some of the finer points behind drum loops, proper use … Read more

Crate Kings T-Shirts Now Available

March 23, 2010

Crate Kings T-shirts are finally here! Of course, since this site originally started as a tribute to vinyl, it’s only fitting that the first round start off with another tribute to our favorite subject. Rest assured though, many more producer and DJ inspired designs are on the way. Visit the t-shirt store. Become a fan … Read more

Buckwild On Production “It’s A Competitive Thing”

March 23, 2010

Sean C & LV interview D.I.T.C. legend Buckwild discusses the importance of directly meeting and staying in contact with artists, misdirected beats such as the instrumental for “I Got A Story To Tell”, which was originally created for and rejected by Foxy Brown, modern day A&R business issues, and the danger of giving away free … Read more

To Have & To Hold: Vinyl “Musicmentory” f/ Questlove

March 22, 2010

Add this one to your list of must see vinyl inspired documentaries and movies. Director Jony Lyle gives a quick teaser of his upcoming film entitled To Have & To Hold, which Lyle describes as “a ‘musicmentory’ to celebrate the age of vinyl records.” The film promises enough archive footage, records rooms, music collections, … Read more

King of The Beats 4 f/ Ed Strong, Tha 4orce, Solomon Caine

March 19, 2010

Director/event organizer Pritt Kalsi offers all production fans a full viewing of his film King of The Beats 4, which took place live at London’s Vibe Bar on February 27th, 2010. The event featured producer/beatmakers Ed Strong, Tha 4orce, Solomon Caine, and Kewba Dagreat. It’s important just to represent. It’s not even about winning. It’s … Read more

Just Blaze On Pursuing Personal Dreams & Goals

March 18, 2010

Part 2 of Grind Music Radio‘s interview with Just Blaze features the producer talking about his favorite beats, the importance of aiming to make timeless records, and the experience of hearing his own music played in front of thousands of fans. Later on in the interview Just Blaze also discusses the synthesis of samples vs. … Read more

Cardboard Record Player Is Simply Beautiful

March 19, 2010March 18, 2010

GGRP-Cardboard-Record-Player

How do you showcase your mastery of everything sound related? You design, manufacture, and distribute a completely self contained cardboard record player of course. That’s exactly what GGRP did when it wanted showcase its sound design and engineering services.

The record player is constructed from corrugated cardboard and features a built in spindle and needle, which amplifies sound through the folded cardboard.

Good luck getting your hands on one though. Unfortunately the players were only sent to selected North American creative directors.

[AofW via Gizmodo]

Additional pics after the break!

Rockwilder & J Hatch: Behind The Rhymes Interview

March 18, 2010

iStandard’s J Hatch interviews Rockwilder (Redman, 50 Cent, Xzibit) while running through a number of the producer’s hits and accomplishments.

The Behind The Rhymes Session covers the producer’s introduction to the music industry, his early appreciation of Quincy Jones, studio stories, and more.

I always thought a record was weird. I used to always think like, “Damn, how could all of that beauty come out of that record like that.”

Part 2 after the break!

Clean Vinyl Records With Wood Glue aka The Vinyl Facelift

January 20, 2023March 17, 2010

All vinyl collectors and DJ’s share the same never ending annoyance, dust and grime on records. To deal with these issues, more adventurous vinyl collectors have tried more than their fair share of DIY methods and treatments, some of them a little crazier than others. This particular treatment happens to include, of all things, wood … Read more

Chaka Blackmon On Using Record, Reason, Logic

March 17, 2010

Producer Chaka Blackmon (Christina Aguilera, Will Smith) explains experience with Propellerhead Record, Reason, and mixing DAW’s with hardware such as Akai’s MPC and EM-U’s SP1200. Chaka also gives a walk-through with his favorite techniques and talks about keeping his workflow moving.

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