In the Spring of 1997 I was in San Louis Obispo, California with my friend Jason (RIP). He didn't have a working vehicle at the time, so I drove us down from Monterey to visit his on again, off again girlfriend. We were finishing up our weekend and exploring the downtown area. I remember the weather was fantastic and walking down a disgusting corridor known locally as “Gum Alley”.
We randomly popped into a record store (I can't remember the name), and I recall they had listening stations set up. One LP on display piqued my curiosity, so I approached the turntable, put on the cans, and what happened next would unknowingly at the time change my life forever.
The album was Entroducing by DJ Shadow. At this time in my life I was deep into underground Hip-Hop. My heavy rotation at the time was probably a mixture of Company Flow, Saafir, The B.U.M.S, and Aceyalone. I had also discovered indie labels from the UK called Mo-Wax and Ninja Tune that were putting out experimental electronic music that was still hip-hop adjacent.
"Entroducing was everything to me. I cherished that record, and the man behind it. "
Entroducing was everything to me. I cherished that record, and the man behind it. Not just as an avid explorer of music, but also as a fledgling beat maker. When I researched the record and discovered that it was made entirely with samples and composed on an AKAI MPC series sampler, I felt like it was destiny that I walked into that spot that day.
Around this same time period I befriended a dude named Koa. I was 18 or 19, and he was an ‘old head’ at around 25-26. But the dude was loaded. He owned a house on Asilomar Beach in Pacific Grove right on the water and said that Coach John Madden (RIP) was the prior owner (I never vetted that). He was also THE guy for drugs, and had a dope ear for music. He skated and was into anime. He put me onto so many artists and even had DJ Mark Farina spin at one of his legendary house parties.
"One day he showed me a brand new AKAI MPC 2000 XL sampler just sitting in the box."
Koa had a den on his first floor which housed a grand piano, Technics 1200 turntable, records, a tape deck, and a 4 track. One day he showed me a brand new AKAI MPC 2000 XL sampler just sitting in the box. I asked him if he was going to use that, and he said eventually but mentioned that if I wanted to learn how to use it that I could.
Prior to this time I think I was making pause tape loops using my mom's CD's and a tape deck. Some friends and I were also starting to form a hip-hop collective similar to Freestyle Fellowship called Ostrich Head. We had a weekly event called Freestyle Friday, a Sunday hip-hop radio show on AM radio down on Cannery Row in Monterey, and were featured on the “big” hip-hop radio show out in Salinas, Ca.
Koa left me alone, and I learned how to sample and make beats on the AKAI MPC. Within a couple months I was cooking up beats, learning quantizing, chopping samples and making beautiful mistakes along the way. Even my earliest beats were dope, I was a natural and the act of making beats felt inherit to me. Like I was made for this.
"Throughout my 30 year career producing I have experimented with a lot of ways to make music."
Throughout my 30 year career producing I have experimented with a lot of ways to make music. For a while I went full electronic using synths and drum machines. I had an organic phase where all I wanted to use were natural instruments. Then I started to try and make my beats sound like they were samples. I have produced on lots of hardware; here's a list off the top of my head: AKAI MPC 2000 and 3000, Korg Triton, Maschine, FL Studio, Nintendo Switch (using the Korg Gadget App), various midi controllers and virtual instruments and finally my current set up.
Around 2 years ago I discovered an app that cats producing lo-fi and boom-bap were using called Koala Sampler. They were cooking up really dope stuff on their phones and tablets, so being a gear head I downloaded it and it honestly reinvigorated my entire creative processes.
I'll avoid getting too technical, but it's essentially a sampler. You can import audio, video, use your phone or tablets microphone and record straight to virtual pads reminiscent of physical drum machines. It clicked with me and I learned it within a couple hours. It's fast, has impressive built in effects, dynamics and busses. The sample chopping alone is amazing, and it even has stem splitting (the act of taking a big chunk of layered music and virtually separating the instruments, e.g. bass and drums and isolating those samples on their own pad).
I've been using it exclusively for 2 years, and now have integrated a Roland SP-404 mkii into the signal flow. This allows me to route samples from a turntable, through the Roland, into the Koala. I then make my beats and run that mix back through the Roland where I am able to add Roland's signature processing and trigger real time effects in my bounces. It's dope to me, and I can bang out beats very quickly.
"I am a firm believer that while musical notes are finite, musical composition is infinite."
Sampling is beautiful. As a purely sample based artist I go and hunt for music of all genres, I get excited to do it. I love buying random records and capturing a fragment of time and bringing that back to life. I am a firm believer that while musical notes are finite, musical composition is infinite. Everything that can be created has already been created and will continue to be created throughout time.
There is an art form to pulling samples from say 3 different records, and piecing them together to make a new beat. I recently watched a Reel on IG that takes deep dives on beats that use samples. This particular video went into all the samples used on the hip-hop classic: “Passin Me By” by The Pharcyde, and the sample layering is impressive.
I think to truly be a hip-hop “producer” you have to sample. As someone who steered away from it, the sound just looses its authenticity. Hip-hop beats were born from dusty records. You can certainly layer elements on top of beats via instrumentation or synths, but the heart of the beat should be sample based and I will go to the grave believing this.
In summary, I think I've reached the point in my career where I am not trying to prove anything. I've traveled parallel to all the modern day greats: DJ Shadow, Alchemist, El-P, Danger Mouse, Mumbles, Premo and Dilla to name a few. I was putting out releases and performing while these dudes were coming up. My path was rocky and while I have yet to be “successful” or discussed in the same circles I do feel accomplished and confident in my beat making abilities.
One of the best things I've ever heard in my life happened quite recently, when one of my productions was compared to DJ Shadow during a respected YouTuber's live stream. And while I'm not selling records, or have a large following, I take great pride in my music and so hearing that from a fellow beat head was such a dope look. The beat he reviewed was one of my newer ones that was 100% sample based. Sample.Everything.
Peace-
RC