Hi beatheads! We’re back with our report from the Stones Throw Beat Battles, with battle winner Hydrofonik joining us to answer a few questions about his track.

The STBB is a weekly beat battle, where anywhere from 50 to 100+ participants from all over the world, are provided a sample to flip/chop/edit/screw, and make a beat out of it within just a few days. All the participants then cast out a vote, and the winner picks the samples for the next round. We provide a weekly report and an interview with the battle winner.

Samplepack: (provided by MUMA)
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/h1ej297d9oopsmq/AACoBDjbVN95rel1aE_A0o1fa?dl=0

Rules:
So this week I am gonna switch it up a little bit 😀

I’ll pick three genres, you can only CHOOSE ONE!
With that said, each genre comes with their own rules.

Now let’s get to the genres

We got:
– IDM/EDM.
– Reggae.
– Fusion Jazz (Advanced Level)

IDM/EDM:
– Only use a BPM above 105. (No half time drums)
– Use only one of the provided samples (Yes, you can combine it with the rhodes/zoom folder)
– A maximum of 1 VST or SYNTH is allowed, so try to understand your OSC’s
(Yes, you have to get your bass out of the same VST or SYNTH).
– Outside drums allowed.
– Use at least one vocal stab (No acapella).
– No time limit.

Reggae:
– Outdside drums allowed.
– Outside synth/bass allowed.
– Use at least 1 of the provided samples. (Yes, you can combine it with the rhodes/zoom folder)
– Vocal stabs are permitted.
– YES AIRHORNS!!!!
– No outside samples.
– No Time limit.

Fusion Jazz (Advanced level)
– Record your own drums/sounds (Can be combined with the ZOOM folder)
– No outside drums.
– Make your own bass/synth(s) out of the recordings (micro sampling, see tutorial).
– No outside VST or SYNTHS (Bass must be made out of recordings too).
– Use at least one of the provided samples. (Yes, you can combine it with the rhodes/zoom folder)
– No outside samples.
– No acapella, yes vocal stabs.
– No time limit.

Tutorial on how to my make synths out of field recordings: http://youtu.be/3pn_iTsolMM?t=1m20s

NOTE: This is in Ableton, but works pretty much the same in any DAW, just loop a tiny section.
 

The Winnner

 

Interview with the battle winner, Hydrofonik

Félicitations mon frère! 🙂

Hydrofonik: Merci mon frère! 🙂

Can you shortly introduce yourself?

Hydrofonik: Hi i’m Hydrofonik, i’m a 41 year old french Graphic Artist who like to make beats for fun!
I use to have Hip-hop and Reggae bands, a long long time ago in a galaxy not so far ^^
I’m a music lover and the father of a 2 y old child and I’m living in Paris. I’ve been taking part in the beat battles for about a year.

What kind of equipment/DAW did you use?

Hydrofonik: I’m working with Native Instrument Maschine and Logic Pro.

What was your approach to get started?

Hydrofonik: First of all, i love Reggae ! So it was obvious for me to choose this style over the 2 others ( Edm/Idm – Jazz Fusion )
Listening to all the sample then decide in which way i will go.
First i’ve played the Rhodes who was in the sample pack, match it with Acap, then the other samples.

How did you make use of the samples?

Hydrofonik: I used 2 samples in this track, one be chopped and down pitched to become a percussion element in the first part of the track.
The second one, I used for making the structure of the second part of the track, plus I used 2 or 3 zoom recorded fields

How did you go about the drumwork?

Hydrofonik: I listened to some heavy dub and reggae track that I love and then go play and record some drums in a friend’s studio.
Then used the sounds, the drum rolls and rebuilt a drum track in Maschine

Are there any interesting aspects about this track that you’d like to share?

Hydrofonik: My track was pretty decent, but was missing guitars, so I sent it to a friend overseas (Brazil) and asked him to put some vibes on!
Then mix it, put some effects et voilà!
Thank you Mr J

Thank you very much for this interview Hydro and have a good 404 with Scottie.

 

Check out Hydrofonik’s music on Soundcloud

 

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