Production Tips

Nas – What It Is (Produced By DJ Khalil) Beat Breakdown + Demo

Aftermath staff producer DJ Khalil breaks down the making of “What It Is” by Nas, including how the sample was replayed, chopped in Recycle, and recreated using Reason. He also goes onto talk about his passion for European progressive rock records, the importance of having your track mixed correctly, and the upcoming release of Dr. … Read more

Kev Brown Production Commentary Vol. 1 & 2

Yet another reason why we love Kev Brown. This has been floating around for while, but has been a bit hard to find lately.  Kev plays instrumentals straight out of his MPC while giving production insight and commentary into how the beat was made and which techniques were used to obtain his sound.  Major respect … Read more

Erik Hawkins Tells How To Become a Great Producer

Berklee College faculty member Erik Hawkins gives simple sage advice on how to become a great producer.  He addresses some of the issues that tend to plague aspring producers and offers the most simple solution to get it done! Check the article

Young Guru & Pete Rock Talk About Audio Harmonics

The rule for learning about Hip-Hop production is pretty much this: When Pete Rock speaks, you better listen. In this interview with Remix Magazine, Pete Rock talks about the importance of harmonics, the overuse of compression, and reveals a few tricks such as pre-eq’ing audio before sampling. Read The Interview I’d also like to mention … Read more

Red Spyda – In The Lab Interview

In The Lab delivers as always with another dope interview. This time Red Spyda talks about building sound libraries, advances in technology & equipment, and calls out names about Southern bubblegum rap music.

Are Mastering And Compression Killing Sonic Quality?

Author Robert Levine explores the idea that, due to direct technology such as CD’s and mp3’s, music has become overly compressed and too loud for listeners to distinguish sonic subtleties.  This trend is especially interesting when considering the preferred aesthetic quality of Hip-Hop is loudness, particularly when applied to drums, and effects such as compression … Read more