Amir SA’ID is now on the 5th edition of this hop hop beat making manual.

When it first shipped, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew I had heard about it before.

Once I got it, the first thing I noticed was that it was HUGE!  I’ve had it for a few months, but wanted to really get in and read it thoroughly before giving you a  proper review on it.  Now that I have read it, let’s get into it!

What is the BeatTips Manual?

At the core it is a producers love for the art, history, and technique of beat making.

The manual starts with a few chapters on the history of Hip Hop as an art form, why and how it started, then goes through the process of the first beatmakers, the djs, on up to beat making as a skill and art.

This thing really could be the book for a college course or something, it’s very thorough and I learned many things I never knew.

Especially about  the environment that birthed the Hip Hop culture, not just the cliche stuff you hear, but actual background info on the social and political climates from which this culture was born.

After that you get into the various eras of hip hop beat making….

Complete with a nice and thorough chart going from sample based up to keyboard and computer based, documenting and explaining the tools of the various styles of production.

He broke it down into 7 large periods which include:

• the break beat period
• the studio band period
• the electronic drum machine period
• pioneers/avant garde period
• post pioneers period
• southern bounce period
• retro eclectic period

Within each period and between periods he documents the styles, major players, gear, techniques, and sound that was prominent during that era.  This is not a “skim the top” type of book, you really get a lot of detail and Amir is an amazing writer who you can tell really has a passion for this artform.

From there you jump into a journey of learning the various types of beat making tools, setups, and what sound each tool is best for.  Here he goes deep into what makes each type of tool important, and more importantly why the specific style of music you intend to make should determine your setup, not just what’s new or hot.  A strictly sample based style of production will benefit from different specific tools than someone who wants to do a lot of keyboard based music.

In addition to learning about the gear, he also goes into the basic foundations of beat making, laying out the common drum pattern upon which pretty much every type of beat can be derived, covering things like swing, ghost notes, arrangement, song structure, etc. He even covers ways and the importance of laying out samples and sounds that ensures your best workflow.

He has whole a whole chapter dedicated to the art of sampling, explaining the process, the different types of sampling, as well as giving out many tips, tricks, and techniques to better work with your samples. He follows that up with a chapter on the legal side of sampling, the different amendments and laws, copyrights, licensing, etc.

Following that chapter Amir gets deep into the need for regular practice of your craft not only hands on, but reading and consumption of manuals, documentaries, studying various forms of music, studying and learning from other beatmakers, basically anything that can help improve your musical talents, and making it a regular part of your life.

After that, in the next chapter, Amir goes into the study of music tradition, culture, and theory. I mean he gets deep laying out the foundations of music theory like harmony, rhythm, and melody.  Getting into things like texture, tone, arpeggios, chords, scales, dynamic…I mean, it’s a serious collection of the basic building blocks for any musical creation.  Having it all in one spot is very useful.

Part 4 of the book, which is made up of 3 chapters focuses on the business aspect of beatmaking or producing.  Everything from knowing the difference between a beat maker and a producer, to understanding contracts, putting together beat cds, copyrighting your works, shopping beats, and handling the marketing of your product.  There are even some sample contracts for you to study and get familiar with.

Knowledge from those deep in the game…

The last part of the book, really could have been a book on it’s own, and will surely be a favorite of many.  This is where you get access to the interviews with many top producers, engineers, and beat makers as well as some that are up and coming.  So who exactly did Amir Said interview?

• Marly Marl
• Buckwild
• D.R. Period
• DJ Toomp
• Steve Sosa
• DJ Premier
• 9th Wonder

My final thoughts on the BeatTips manual 5th edition

This is a great book, it’s thorough, it’s deep, it’s very informative, and it’s a great resource to have by you while working on your craft.  Sure there may be some things you know, but also some things you don’t.  It’s also entertaining to read, and get other people’s outlook on the craft and creative outlet you love.

I find no faults in this book, and though I’m not a huge book reader, I really loved this one.  I consider it a reference manual, like an encyclopedia on making beats! Not just for learning, but for education, entertainment, and enlightenment! You don’t have to read it from start to finish, if you just want to learn or review a few skills, techniques, or just want to be entertained on a specific area, go for it.  Just want to read up on some history real quick? Go for it!

The candid interviews are great and will no doubt be something you read multiple times.  The sections on business and music theory are really a great addition, even for those that have been making beats for a while.  You may not need help in the area of drum programming, or song arrangement,  and that’s cool, there are some that do.  Any little tip or trick that can help you be creative is worth it in my opinion.

I say if you make beats, or have any interest in making beats/producing, this book is a must have, no questions, period.

429 pages for $29.95

Go check it out at http://beattips.com/ and also read some of his other articles on the site, they are great as well and frequently updated.

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You may wonder why I chose to go with part 2 first instead of part 1…well I figured part 2 was the newest and probably improved on a lot of things they received feedback on from the first Urban Arsenal.

It’s a Kore soundpack, meaning it can use the free Kore player so you don’t need to buy the full versions of the plugins to use it.  However, if you do have the full versions then you get some extra tweaking abilities.

So what’s up with Urban Arsenal 2?

The whole idea behind Urban Arsenal 2 is to provide all the tools and elements needed when producing urban music, all in a nice simple package.

You don’t need the full version of Kore, Kontakt, or Massive to play the sounds in this collection, it runs in the free kore player.

This makes it very attainable for many who don’t have or may not want to purchase the full plugin versions.

(as a side note, I’m a huge fan of the kore soundpack system. It let’s folks build up a library of great sounds and access some of  Native Instruments popular sound engines without owning the full versions.  While you don’t get the full tweakability of the plugins, you do get sounds made with the same sound engines, very good setup in my opinion)

This collection includes everything from drums and loops, to pianos and synths, bass, guitars, and anything else you can imagine using in an urban production environment.

Again, it’s all neatly organized for quick access in the free Kore player.

Quick Specs

• Content: around 1gb of sample data.  29 drum kits, 80 Kontakt patches, 87 MASSIVE patches
• Format: Kore and Kore Player ( Kontakt and MASSIVE patches can be opened in their respective plugins as well)
• Price: $119

Most “made for Hip Hop” instruments are kind of cheesy, how does it sound?

This collection is incredibly versatile.  It’s not a collection of precomposed “hip hop” riffs and loops. You get actual instruments, that you play yourself.  The idea behind the content is to provide quick access to sounds that fit well in an urban music context.

Everything from the instruments sampled, how they were sampled, and how everything was processed lends itself well to urban music.  In my opinion not just hip hop, but other forms of urban music like electronic, house, dubstep, grime, etc.

Some of the dubplate sounds, give you that classic “from vinyl” sound. Not covered with fake vinyl fx, but just that slightly less pristine sound many urban producers are used to.  They also processed some of the sounds through tape.

The synths are fat, the basses are deep, and the drums are bangin…I mean…really, they hit pretty hard.

The brass is thick and bright, the strings are silky smooth, everything is recorded to sound pristine.

They even sampled some classics like the Studio Electronics SE-1 (crazy for bass), Moog Voyager/Minimoog, Alesis Andromeda, the Prophet 600, Juno 60, Waldorf Pulse, and the Korg MS-20.  They went straight to the source and sampled instead of simply emulating these synths, giving you a more authentic sound.

So is Urban Arsenal 2 worth having?

I really think so, I was really impressed by the library as a whole.  I was a little skeptical at first, but once I started going through it, it’s very easy to see how one can use this as a complete tool for urban production.

I like the fact that everything is tweakable within the kore player instrument, as well as deeper editing abilities for those with the full plugins.

I was most surprised with the usefulness of the drums…I’m very picky about drums but I think these stand up against most libraries available, defeating many drum specific companies.

I’m going to give this collection a 4.5 out of 5 subs. It’s really good, but there are a couple of things I would like to see…maybe for volume 3?

More brass and woodwind sounds please, these are very popular in current urban music trends and hip hop in general, so I would have loved to see them flex the Kontakt engine a little more and provide a deeper selection of brass and woodwind sections, as well as some solo instruments.

To be a complete urban workstation, which it definitely is…beefing up in this category would make it pretty much flawless in my opinion.  These sounds are NOT cheesy, they are useful, fat, and inspiring.  Not to mention they are fun to play with.

I”m very impressed by the diversity and usefulness of the sounds, and I just don’t think a complete “urban workstation” experience could happen any other way than with the Kore platform.  The fact that the developers are building upon all the technology that NI is known for, right under one roof…makes for a very complete library.

A “Sample only” product lacks some of the freshness and experimentation that virtual synths like MASSIVE are known for, whereas we all know urban music incorporates real musical instruments and samples, so the highly capable Kontakt engine provides the proper structure for those instruments. Best of both worlds I think.

All in all, it’s a very useful library, one I think every urban producer and even non urban producer should own.  At a price competitive with single drum libraries and construction kits, you get a full workstation ready with sounds that you’ll actually use.

Go watch the videos or peep the demo sounds at Native-Instruments.com

leave me a comment below, let me know what you think

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I know it’s late! But it’s still Friday where I’m at while writing this! How long the video will take to upload is a different story!

I had some crazy stuff going on today (Friday)…but I couldn’t leave ya hangin!

Technical difficulties…but I still got it done…the video took forever to export/render for some reason. The review and video was done on Friday, but everything with the video export and upload didn’t finish until after 12 midnight lol. I still had to post it!

Anyway…today we aren’t looking at a sample library, per se…. it’s a sample based workstation instrument that big fish sent me!

What is VI One?

Well just think of your fantom, motif, triton, kurzweil, etc.. and all around work horse of an instrument with sounds covering every different instrument type from pianos and orchestra to drums and synths.

This collection comes in the popular kontakt player format…so you don’t need the full version of Kontakt to play it.

The Kontakt player can be loaded as a plugin in your favorite host.  Of course if you have the full version of Kontakt then this library will show up.

according to the site:

Far more than just a sound library; consider this a major studio upgrade.

Vir2 Instruments’ VI.ONE is a massive multi-disc sample library encompassing over two thousand instruments, kits, and other sound effects, and is designed to be of maximum usability to musicians across a wide span of genres.

What’s in VI One?

Everything! lol..like I said this is basically your all in one rack module.

If you’re just getting into virtual instruments this is a great place to start because you get tons of sounds.  If you have a lot of specialty instruments but need a general bread and butter workhorse this is your instrument as well.

It’s great

How does it sound?

Vir2 is a division of Big Fish Audio, so you know the quality is where it needs to be. I am really a fan of the Vir2 instruments, they are easy to use and a very high quality.

Multiple velocity layers and nice fx are a good touch.  The recordings are done right so everything sounds tight with no weird artifacts.

How about the value?

I think it’s a great value… this instrument drops in at 199, pretty normal for a virtual instrument.   Folks like me that come from the school of $1000+ instruments welcome a plugin like this with arms wide open.

The amount of sounds you get for the price is incredible..and it’s not like a collection of loops and riffs…these are sounds that will remain useful forever, synths, pianos, bass, horns, strings…that stuff doesn’t get old, or you can’t “overuse” it.

What’s the bottom line?

I don’t really give a sub rating on virtual instruments…I just tell weather or not I like it.

If I put it on the site and take the time to give you information on it, then you can pretty much bet that I highly suggest the plugin.

This is a must have, 5 star plugin… if I had to rate it with subs it would definitely be a 5 out of 5 and would be on my “must have” plugin list.

If you need a good collection of quality instruments that can last you a long time, and give you a great alternative to all those thousand dollar rack modules you keep buying…look no further.

Vir2 Instruments’ VI One is that workstation… cuz I said so!

Every once in a while you can catch it on sale at places like musiciansfriend for 99 bucks… either what it goes, it’s a great workstation to have.

let me know what you think about it. Leave me a comment below

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So here we are!

The reasons I love kontakt 4 even more than the previous version…

kore like browsing interface is now standard in pretty much every native instrument program…maybe with the exception of battery 3

yes, this categorizes all the tons of sounds in kontakt 4, making it easy to find what you want in their library.

you can also bring in and tag your own sounds for use in their database if you’re feel adventurous.

I like it, it’s simple, it’s easy, and you really don’t have to use the library browser for their internal sounds.

Good move.

It gives you a familiar interface for sound browsing across their entire range of instruments, they are not stupid, they know what they are doing….I smell a take over….hmmm….wonder if there are any subliminal messages hidden in the navigation and interface of their programs!

They also gave each “collection” of instruments a new interface, as well as adding a brand new choir collection, all the sounds from their Elektrik Piano instrument, some solo strings from Vienna, a collection of mellotron sounds in the vintage collection, and other gooodies.

Each one is a nice visual representation of the collections contents.

But it is also functional, allowing you to access all your desired parameters

directly from the front panel.

This is a vast improvement from previous versions, and the controls seem “simpler” if that makes any sense.

Everything you need, nothing you don’t, however you can go as deep as you want if you feel the need to.

They also updated the scripting and added some humanization/dynamic functions that allow for more realistic playing.  But I will tell you the truth, I didn’t mess with that much, I’d much rather just let it do it’s job.

My absolute favorite update…and this is the truth…is the new quick load browser!

Basically, you can setup your own “virtual” file system, no matter where instruments and samples are on your hard drive or external drives or even across the network!

You can put them in your own folder structure…and the files are not copied anywhere…it’s basically just links to your stuff.  This is very helpful, as the last quick load version just organized things based on how they were on your hard drive.

Now you can set things up exactly how you work…want a folder of sounds for a specific project? Go for it…you can have the same sound duplicated and triplicated lol..if that’s even a word!

I love it…this is my favorite feature and I use it all the time. I have tons of Kontakt instruments and libraries, and I always wanted to organize them MY way…now I can, this is the feature I’m most excited about and thing is the best addition…well, that and the ability to drag the kontakt window to adjust the size

Is it worth the upgrade? heck yeah… is it worth a try if you’re new to it? Heck yeah! But again…I would NOT buy it alone, at the price it cost just for Kontakt, the better deal is getting Komplete 6… real talk.

4 payments of 124.75 at zzounds is always a good deal for budget musicians lol.

If you just plan to get it all in one swoop, head on over to native-instruments.com

lemme know what ya think about it, any questions, or if you’re using it, let me know your favorite features.

leave me a comment below

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Today we are checking out the first pack I’ve used from novaloops.com

The co owner Don used to be the ceo/pres at p5audio and also brought out a lot of that library while there.

That don’t really matter though, what matters is if these sounds are dope or not.

They sent this one over for review…Let’s check em out.

NYC Hood Anthems chopped loop set…

Making beats that are street certified for NYC? Then you need Hood Anthems NYC Chopped Set Edition. Packed with 414 sample sounds, chops, licks, and riffs in the style of 50 Cent, Jay Z, and other NYC Supastars! The package includes 40 blazin kits that have been spread across the keyboard for ease of use. Mix and match chops to create thousands of new melody combinations.  Hood Anthems NYC Chpped Set Edition is one of those must-have products. Download it today!.  All Chopped Sets products come ready to auto-load into NNXT, BATTERY, HALION, KONTAKT, EXS-24, MACH FIVE, and any hardware or software sampler that accepts WAV files!

What the heck is a chopped loop set?

The first kit I wanted to review was something they do called “chopped loop sets”

Basically, this is a new take on a traditional construction pack.

The various sounds are already chopped up into pieces so you can load them in your favorite sampler.

They even come in popular software sampler formats like kontakt, battery, exs, and reason.

Since I’m always chopping stuff, I figured this would be a great one to checkout.

What is in it though?

It’s got everything you would expect in a construction pack….

You get guitars, strings, synths, bass, keys, etc…it really depends on the pack.

This one is geared towards NY style hip hop so you get a nice collection of funky deep basses, some slick guitars, dope strings, keys, and rough synths.

Some bells, organs and stuff too, all chopped up. They aren’t multisamples chopped up, you get the individual instruments chopped up, tons of riffs and licks in various tempos, very quick to work with and easy to put together.

But how do they sound?

Sound quality is on point, well produced, no junk here. Everything has proper levels, it’s not too loud, too much fx, or anything.

These are definitely very usable sounds, they don’t clash, don’t click, don’t pop, and the riffs are short enough that you can easily come up with your own sounds and patterns.

So what’s the verdict? Are they worth it?

I like this company, the sounds are dope, and so far the customer services is ill. They are doing some great things and I am looking forward to checking out more from them.

I gave this chopped set a 4 out of 5 subs. It’s really good, but I definitely want to see them grow and continue to prove themselves in the sound game, even though the individuals running it have been in the music game for years.

go on over and check em out, they got some dope stuff going on over there, including a vip members club which I plan to cover more in depth in another article.

You can click on the button below and it will take you directly to the purchase page for this product.

NYC Hood Anthems chopped loops set  

let me know what you think about the samples, the video, or the company.

leave me a comment below.

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This time, I’m checking out a company that I’ve been a customer of for a while. I was a customer when they first started selling samples on eBay and now they’ve turned into one of the premiere sample providers online today.

Motion Samples provides high quality drums, loops, riffs, and loops for urban, hip hop, pop, trance, electro and even tv/film.

I have stuff in my collection I constantly go to from them, stuff you can’t even get anymore lol…the classics.

But today, we are checking out one of their top selling libraries…. they sent over Big Boss Sounds for me to checkout.

You wanna sound like a Boss…

Big Boss sounds is a collection of various different instruments and riffs layered, full production style, and sliced up ready to be put together.

“Make way for Big Boss Sounds comin’ at you with over 250 colossal multi-samples of stab chords, horns, orchestra hits, retro synth hooks, piano licks, dirty organs and tons more. Just arrange these sounds in your favorite sampler then trigger away to make massive dirty south melodies on the fly!”

What’s in there? I’m not a dirty south producer…

I’m not a big dirty south style of producer, but I’ve been known to throw something together that could be classified in that genre.  I was a little worried that these samples would force me to make music that isn’t really my style.

To my surprise it wasn’t full of lil john melodies and solja boy blips….this is MUSIC man.

This is definitely NOT only for dirty south, there are strings, brass, synths, organs, pianos, electric pianos, and more…and the styles that are played are ready to be chopped, sliced, and re-purposed into everything from dirty south, to club bangers, and even your next sexy rnb joint.

They are versatile…I was pleasantly surprised.

What about the sound quality?

One thing I’ve always loved about motion samples is their sound quality, bottom line, I have NEVER heard anything from them that isn’t production ready.

I’ve purchased everything from drums, to keys, to guitars, and they all sound superb.

The sound quality is where you want it to be, you KNOW I don’t play when it comes to quality

So what is the bottom line on Big Boss Sounds?

Bottom line for me is, I was expecting to have to deduct a few points for being forced to sound like lil john or solja boy…

Instead, these sounds can be used for any type of style or music, and I love not being boxed in.

I have to give this collection a 4.5 out of 5 subs…it’s that good, that versatile, and that BANGIN.

I am definitely looking forward to sharing a bit more about motion and their library with you, I’m always one that looks for

diversity, so having choices in samples, and being able to KNOW you’ll get quality for the money you spend is crazy.

Speaking of money you’ll spend

Another thing I like about motion samples is the price. This super ill collection of Big Boss Sounds is only like 20 bucks…

I don’t care who you are, 20 bucks is 20 bucks and being able to improve your sound collection for such a small amount is lovely.

Go ahead….click the banner below to go on over and get some motion samples in ya life yo

Make sure you tell me what you think, these companies read the reviews so keep the opinions coming.

If you buy something from them, let me know what you get….I can definitely recommend Big Boss Sounds… great way to spend a 20.

What you think?

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This time I’m on some Arab music….I love ethnic samples.

Problem is, I don’t like clearing samples from records, and I don’t feel right not clearing them.

So I stay on the lookout for royalty free sample food.

Arabian Breaks, inspiration all day and all night

When I looked on the platinumloops website, I saw TONS of content.

But the new arabian breaks product looked very interesting.

The demo on the site proved they sounded pretty good, so I had to review them on the site. They kindly sent it over for review.

So what’s in the collection?

You get some loops, fully produced loops too. Not just single sitar loops, or single arabian drumloops.

These loops are full and authentic sounding, just like all those middle eastern records in your crates…only they don’t have the dust.

We can fix that with fx though

They also put various one shot samples in here.

Hits, stabs, short riffs, and single notes…so you can get your own creation even more unique.

How do they sound?

They are very good.

I really like how well produced they are, even down to the smallest detail, it’s like they came straight from the source.

The strings, the drums, the voices, all mix together perfectly to give you an authentic middle eastern flavor.

They are not distorted in any way, not overly effected, they are just right.

What’s the bottom line?

The bottom line is this is one of my favorite sample packs this year!

The variety of the various produced loops gives you tons of music to samples.

The fact they are fully produced and not just single instruments also gives you a more authentic sound.

I’m giving this collection 5/5 subs because it’s just a must have for anyone that likes to have some world sounds in their music.

Go over to platinumloops.com and checkout arabian breaks….

tell em Joe sent ya, maybe they’ll gimme some samples or something

So what do you think about these arabian sounds?

Let me know below by leaving me a comment, I want to hear your opinion.

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