Producer Interviews

Eliot Lipp Causes Analog Gear & Record Lust

Producer Eliot Lipp talks about his start in music and takes us into his studio to show off his crazy collection of analog gear including: Jomox XBase-09 MFB Synth-II Plan B modular synths Atari Synthcart Sequential Circuits Six-Trak Wurlitzer Electric Piano I love his attitude about making music for yourself and completing instrumental compositions.  There’s … Read more

Bangladesh Billboard Q&A: From Barber To Beatsmith

Shondrae "Bangladesh" Crawford just can’t stay out of production related news nowadays… this time he speaks on the journey from being a barber to making beats, his creative style, and networking with Ludacris.  Of course, there are the obligatory "A Milli" comments and talk of upcoming projects. Read the complete Q&A

Sha Money XL On The Birth of G-Unit

G-Unit co-founder and creator of the One Stop Shop Producer’s conference talks about the birth of G-Unit taking place in his basement, being a self-taught producer/engineer, then moving on to management.

J Dilla On The Making of Pharcyde’s “Running”

A little something for a Sunday morning… J Dilla talks about working with The Pharcyde, the making of "Running", and arguments about the filters on the Akai S950 vs. the ASR-10.  There’s also a little taste of the sample originally used in the track.

Cheese Beats Open Labs Miko Interview

While stopping by to pick up his Timbaland Special Edition Miko, Cheese Beats talks about his past use of the ASR-10 & Akai MPC and the decision to transition to Open Labs hardware. They also demonstrate a bit of Reaper templates w/ Proteus VST… this thing is a monster!

Don Cannon, Danja, J.U.S.T.I.C.E League, DJ Toomp Production Roundtable

Talk about a meeting of minds… heavyweight producers Don Cannon, Nate "Danja" Hills, Tricky, J.R. Rotem, DJ Toomp, J.U.S.T.I.C.E League, and Grind Music come together to discuss topics including lackluster A&R’s, getting signed from MySpace, decreasing label budgets, fee collecting tactics, influence of technology, and long distance production. As you can imagine, some very interesting … Read more

Flying Lotus Talks Records, RZA & Spirituality

XLR8R drops a stream of consiousness piece with Flying Lotus. Take away the odd  "wonky" references and it turns out to be very insightful, particularly his views on the spiritual nature of music, distaste for trendy club scenes, and crazy RZA stories.  In addition to the piece, there’s also a nice bonus musical Q & … Read more

Q-Tip Interview: The Renaissance & Production Legacy

Bonafide legend Q-Tip talks about the upcoming release of his solo album entitled The Renaissance.  While mostly covering the history of his career with A Tribe Called Quest, solo ventures, label misteps, and the circumstances leading up to his upcoming release, there’s some very insightful commentary from Pharrell and Santogold regarding his legacy as a … Read more