Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Winning the Warzone on January 16, 2016 gave DJ Feed Me the complete battle portfolio. Also a winner of the Beat This! Competition, Battle That! Competition, and the Attack of the Beats! show, he's now come full circle. What makes his beats so good and so unique? Let's find out.
Congratulations on the win! Looking at your forum profile, you have all 4 titles listed underneath. How does it feel?
It feels great! I'm not gonna lie and say that I didn't know the Warzone was the only one I was missing... There is a lot of quality beat makers on this website and to be able to compete against all of them is inspiring and humbling. Every time I enter a new challenge it is fun to see who else is competing and what type of heat they came with and all of that. I like how there is a ton of variety in the styles of beats that the forum members put out. Lots of different genres and styles represented and that is what makes Hip Hop great.
Is there a certain formula that you use in order to make beats strictly for battles? Or are you just entering whatever beats you have?
I almost always make something new for any competition that I will enter that beat in to. Usually you can tell by the quality and complexity of the beats I enter, how much time I had to sit down and work on the beat before the competition. As far as utilizing a certain formula for battle beats, I usually start by browsing through random music to find a sample I like as my starting point. I almost always start there; once in a while I start with something else but rarely. I have watched a lot of videos where producers mention starting with their drums, but I usually start with a sample. I decide what role the sample will play and then try to tailor the rest of the beat to whatever part of the frequency spectrum is left. I try to use the whole frequency spectrum range to make the beat sound "full".
I know you're big on using vocal samples, like from movies, where did that idea come from?
Well I think it began as a way to convey what emotions I am trying to stir with the beat. I attempt to make complete beats, beats that change dynamically and evolve over the listen. I guess utilizing vocal samples is one of the ways that I can attempt to convey an emotion or theme. I usually have the beat pretty much finished before finding and adding the vocal samples at the end. I try to let the music roll out of me when producing and then add a sample at the end to help amplify whatever vibe I'm getting.
You also DJ. Tell us about that.
I bought my first set of turntables when I was 17 in high school (the year 2001). My buddies and I loved Hip Hop and I wanted to get into the DJing and producing aspect. I bought some cheap belt drive Stanton tables, got some random records from my high school radio station, and my boys and I freestyled and I did some awful scratching and all that in my bedroom. We threw some parties and did the high school variety show. After a year or so I finally met another DJ (my boy DJ Soultwist – R.I.P.) who showed me the basics of blending tracks together and some basics of scratching. Him and I spent a lot of time together and I greatly appreciate all of the time he spent helping teach me about DJ culture.
Over the past 7 years or so I have been able to find some solid gigs at a few different bars. Shout out to The Highbury and The Stone in Milwaukee and Brass Monkey in Racine, WI. If I had to describe my DJ style I would say I am hybrid party rocker/turntablist. I have a ton of different live mixes recorded and if anyone wants to check some stuff out let me know. Any other working DJs here on IllMuzik?
What's in your studio right now?
All of my beats that I have made the past few years are solely made within Ableton. I have a 2010 iMac with Ableton live, Native Instruments Komplete, and some other one off plug-ins. I use Yamaha HS-8 monitors with the Native Instruments Audio Kontrol 1 sound card. I have Maschine, Maschine Mikro, Akai APC40 and some other random MIDI controllers but they literally have not ever been used to make a single beat (they're collecting dust unfortunately). I also have an Ensoniq ASR-10 that I purchased about two years ago and have messed around with but do not use it currently. I would love to learn the workflow though and utilize it in the future. I also have a bunch of turntables (like 12) and mixers and probably somewhere around 10,000 records. I am in a pretty small place at the moment but the next time I move, I will hopefully be able to setup my studio real proper.
What is the one piece in your setup that you must have at all times?
Ableton Live. It's the centerpiece of everything I do. I could get away with only using the internal plug-ins and I think I would be fine still. I learned how to sample on it and I think I can make it do whatever I want/need now. Some of the instruments aren't the greatest but with the flexibility of the sampling and the ability to utilize drum racks/simpler/sampler to play sample sets I can have whatever sounds I want at my beck and call. The internal effects are solid as well. I would love to play around with the Ableton Push controller to see if that is something that could inject some life into my setup and get me out of the box a little bit.
I think your beats would be great for a rapper. Are you working with anyone?
Thanks, Fade. I wish I could find some like-minded people that would write to my tracks. I have a feeling that it would inspire me greatly. The closest thing I have is throwing some acapellas over my stuff at the moment. I would love to work more with some rappers out there. Please hit me up if you want to collaborate.
If you had the chance to work with a famous producer, who would it be, and why?
This is a really tough question. There's like 50 that I could come up with. Pete Rock and Thes One would probably be the final two. If I could only choose one, I would choose Thes One. He conveys such love when he is talking about music. He also seems like he truly enjoys the learning aspect of music production. When I watch videos of him talking about building his studio, or digging for old records, he shows that he does this because he needs to. He doesn't do it for fame or money; he physically needs to make music.
As far as production techniques, his filtering techniques are off the charts, his sample selection is on point, and his and Double K's fun attitude regarding music is what has drawn me to them as a group. I also commend them greatly for how they have evolved as independent artists over the past 18 years. The music industry has changed so much in that time and they have continued to make it all about their fans. That is truly inspiring.
Do you think it's important to make your own style of beats? Or go with what's popular?
I think it's important to get out what's inside of you. I think it's great to experiment and dabble into different sounds to progress, but if you are ONLY doing it because it's popular, I believe you are destined to fail. If your love for the music isn't there, it may be difficult to maintain the proper work ethic needed to develop the skills necessary to produce quality music. I do however feel that delving into things outside your comfort zone is essential to becoming well rounded producers. So if experimenting with current music trends can open up new doors, teach some new skills, or helps to network with people; these are all of course very welcome changes.
Above all, I believe a love and passion for music is necessary. This may come easiest while making your own style of beats, but diversity, experimentation and an open mind can take producers to another level that may be otherwise unobtainable.
Do you have any advice for beatmakers that are just starting out?
Be realistic in your approach to making music. Put your time in learning your craft. Whatever equipment or software you have, learn it and use it. Too often I think it's easy to blame results on not having the best gear. Nowadays, great music can be made with a minimal amount of equipment. I think the best practice is to just keep making music and put your time into researching the topics that you want to see results in. If you want your 808s to sound like a professional made it, watch some YouTube videos on mixing 808s. Then go practice. If you want your Boom Bap beats to slap hard, learn about transient design and how to treat drum samples to make them pop in the way you want.
There are no excuses anymore about not having enough learning opportunities. With the internet and all of the available online resources, those excuses are out the window. There's an adage that states it takes 10,000 hours of practicing to become master a craft... get started.
Thanks for doing the interview. Any shoutouts you'd like to give?
Shout out to @Fade for continually putting the effort in running the forums. Shout out to all the members that inspire me and motivate me by putting some serious quality music out all the time. Shout out to my boy @KDVS whom I met through the forums (building a friendship from the US all the way over to Norway). Shout out to my lovely wife that lets me take the time I need to attempt to put some of the art that lives inside me out into the world.
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