Grammy Award Winning Producer/Engineer/Songwriter/Publisher, and DJ,
Ricco Lumpkins aka the Vet Boi™, gives tips and advice from recording, mixing, production, to music business techniques!!!
TrapStar and DubStepStar Online MixTape Competition
For all you upcoming Artists (Hip-Hop, Christian Rap, Producers, R&B over TrapBeats, & DubSteppers)
“I will pay you $1000 for your musical talent once you win!
Most people will overlook this; so that makes your chances of winning better.
If you don't do music, PLEASE, share this link to someone you know who can
WIN!!!!
Grand Prize wins $1000, 2nd Place wins a brand new Maschine
MK II by Native Instruments (compliments of Vet Boi Music Group), 3rd Place
wins brand new Beats by Dre Wireless Headphones (compliments of Vet Boi Music
Group)!!!
I use a few different Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) for creative inspiration. I put together these 3 tutorials on utilizing Propellerhead Reasons 6.0. I hope you guys find theme useful.
I grew up playing drums in my father’s church. Once I was
exposed to my very first drum machine, I put the sticks down for years. Today,
I will, occasionally, pick them up and dust them off. I will play along with my
brother. He plays keyboards, piano, and organ. To me, the drum machine was my
escape from reality. Despite the limitations of the ROM chips, I remember back
in the day learning how to create beats with my old friend and production
partner, Willie. He would show me tips and tricks I would have never thought.
Modern music has been utilizing drum machines for many
years. The very first drum machine dates back between1930-1932 by Henry Cowell
who commissioned Léon Theremin. It was called the Rhythmicon. Some experts will
argue the Wurlitzer Sideman from the 1950s was the first (Synthgear).
(Joseph Schillinger and the Rhythmicon)
(Wurlizter Sideman)
Recently, I did a Google search on vintage drum machines.
To my surprise, I found many of them I had previously owned. Here are just a
few that I found:
Linn LM-1 by Roger Linn (Prince made this famous in the early 80’s)
Oberheim DMX
Alesis Hr-16
Roland RY-30
I know there are plenty of sampler based drum machines, but most of these you had to think outside the box if you wanted extra sounds.
With the evolution of the music industry, technology has
also changed. The Maschine brought back feelings of inspiration with the feel
of legacy gear but with the freshness of today’s software integration and
efficiency. I have included two videos for comparison.
Vet Boi™ Maschine Part 1 of 2
Vet Boi™ Maschine Part 2 of 2
Wurlizter Sideman in Action
Ricco Lumpkins aka the Vet Boi™
VBMG, LLC
Linn, Roger (2012). http://www.rogerlinndesign.com/about.html
So, I have been producing pop, hip-hop, dance, and
R&B music since the mid 80’s. Professionally, I have been engaged since the
mid 90’s. However, last week I sat in as a guest lecturer at the Music
Industry Workshop in Chicago. The panel was on making beats in Ableton
Live. Normally, my production is completed in Protools, Logic, or Reason, but I
got stumped on a basic sampling question on how to sample in Ableton. Well, I
am here to dispel that confusion.
Suffice it to say, I rarely use sampling in my production. However, it has been a game
changer for the face of popular Hip-Hop music. According to Thorn Holmes,
author of “Early Synthesizers and Experiments,” in 1944, composers at the
Groupe de Recherchés Musicales at the Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision
Française (ORTF), originally created looping and sampling on magnetic wire. The
Primary intent was to be utilized for compositional pieces of electronic music.
Additionally, Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) and the Columbia-Princeton
Electronic Music Center in New York, contributed to some early findings
(Holmes).
Once digital samplers went into full production,
Hip-Hop evolved by regurgitating old hits into newer generations via sampling
and looping. This opens a totally different issue of copyright infringement-not
for this blog post. However, a sample clearance form is in place to rectify those
potential disasters. Some of the pioneering sampling manufacturers are
Mellotron, Synclavier, Fairlight Instruments, Emu, Akai, Roger Linn, and Roland.
In my early days, I used the Asr-10, EPS 16+, Akai MPC 60, Akai MPC 60-II,
Roland W-30, Akai S-900, Akai S-950, Akai S-1000, Linn Drum Machine, Emu
SP1200, Synclavier, Akai MPC 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, and 4000.
Lastly, I did not realize James Brown was the
number one sampled artist in history (The-Breaks.com).
Here is a video tutorial I
put together specifically for this blog. It demonstrates how to pitch a sample without
changing its tempo within a software-based application called Ableton Live
versus the external physical hardware samplers:
Ableton Beat Making_Sample and Pitch in Time (Pt 1)
Ableton Beat Making_Sample and Pitch in Time (Pt 2)
Holmes, Thom (2008). "Early
Synthesizers and Experimenters". Electronic and experimental
music: technology, music, and culture (3rd ed.). Taylor & Francis.
Artists such as T-Pain, Cher, Lady Gaga, Britney
Spears, Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Akon, Aphex Twins, Chris Brown, Miley Cyrus,
The Dream, Jason Derülo, Jamie Foxx, Jeremih, Ke$ha, Sean Kingston, Avril
Lavigne, Lil Wayne, Drake, Madonna, Maroon 5, Nicki Minaj, New Boyz, Owl City,
P. Diddy, Daft Punk, Taio Cruz, B.o.B, Jennifer Lopez, Colby O’ Donis, Sugar
Land, Justin Timberlake, FAR EAST Movement, LMFAO, Pit Bull, Timbaland, Usher,
Rebecca Black, Natasha Bedingfield, Kanye West, Faith Hill, Alice Cooper, Billy
Joel, R. Kelley, Rascal Flatts, etc. use Autotune to their advantage (Ason). As
you can see, Autotune makes millions of dollars in various genres of music.
Nowadays, there are stories circulating around the
music industry that many recording artists can’t sing. Since the invasion of
Autotune, many artists have relied solely upon its automatic pitch correction parameters
to make superstars. Well, I am here to dispel that myth. There is actually a
sister tool, Melodyne by Celemony, which auto corrects artists that can sing
but may be slightly off pitch. It is a hidden gem in the industry. However, I
have been using both for many years. Each has its own distinct characteristics.
Simply put, Autotune the News,are adjunct instruments. One must still be
able to manipulate parameters or presets in order to get desired effect. There
are also many spoof videos such as the Gregory Brothers Autotune the News,
which has penetrated into YouTube’s popular culture with over 385 million hits
(Youtube).
They definitely understand how to connect with their target audience.
Albeit, the artist must have some form of talent.
If one cannot sing at all, it would be very
difficult to fix. In fact, Autotune works better on an artist that sings
slightly flat. Bottom line, a song has to be catchy before it can become a
hit-Love it or hate it. Fact still remains; the song must come before the
artist.
Grammy-winning, multi-platinum selling producer and songwriter
DJ Toomp is a true friend and colleague of mine. He has been an urban music producer for over two decades. He has helped create, develop, and expand Atlanta's Southern Hip Hop to a worldwide level of recognition (Music Powers). Toomp has appeared in multiple magazine articles, newspapers, blogs, television and radio interviews. I am honored to be able to sit in the same room with him. Plat'Num World ProjeX thanks him for taking the time to do this interview with me from a few years back. In the below videos, Toomp shares his creative force and tips and tricks on production and song writing.
At a very young age of 6, Toomp’s father taught him how to harmonize giving Toomp an early start on dissecting and constructing songs for major productions. Right out of high school, DJ Toomp hit the music scene spinning sounds that resonated in his soul (Music Powers). In 1985, Toomp recorded his first hit record with Raheem the Dream.
According to Cirocco Jones, author of Music Powers.com, Toomp says, "I like to produce artists and for them to come to my studio and just vibe, more than just take a track and put something to it... I'd rather work with an artist so that things don't go wrong along the way (Music Powers)."
Among the impressive list of artists who have benefited from Toomp's talents are Mariah Carey, Jay Z, Kanye West, TI, Ludacris, Young Jeezy, Rick Ross, and many others. Recently named one of the "Best Beatmakers" by Rolling Stone Magazine, Toomp oversees three ventures: Zone Boy Productions, Toompstone Publishing, and NZone Entertainment, and is currently grooming a stable of emerging talented producers, songwriters, and artists (Music Powers).
Toomp humbly adds, "I've done well in this industry...I have these eyes and ears, and I know what it takes to be successful in this business... I want to win."
If DJ Toomp's past and present accomplishments are any signal of his future, the world is truly in store for more great music, hit records, and innovative productions from this multifaceted musical genius (Jones).
DJ TOOMP drops knowledge to upcoming producers (Pt. 1)
Courtesy of archived unseen footage from "Ultimate Producer" by CIU and Vet Boi™
DJ TOOMP drops knowledge to upcoming producers (Pt. 2)
Courtesy of archived unseen footage from "Ultimate Producer" by CIU and Vet Boi™
