thanks for that. nice interview. he’s truly one of the greats.
regarding ipads though… i doubt he’s mixing the tracks or anything… he’s making beats and likely just sending off stems to the artist in the studio where there’s an engineer who puts it in a DAW and then they go from there. i’m sure sometimes he’ll send off a stereo track but i’d be really surprised if he wasn’t sending off stems. the vocal has to fit in the mix somewhere and it can be tricky to do that w/a stereo file. besides the artist and maybe another producer are going to want to make arrangement changes… mutes etc.
i’m curious what his set up looks like… what controllers and apps he uses.
re: in the box vs not… just use what inspires. it’s nice to have it all in the laptop or whatever but also nice to take a break and patch something or turn knobs and not have a screen etc… or do both. go all crazy w/CC automation of hardware.
Not sure what apps he’s using to make it. I never really liked making music on the iPad, but it must be so convenient as you can go anywhere and do it and don’t look crazy, even as a grown man.
It looks like Bandana was mixed by none other than Mario C (“Mario C you can’t front on that”). Madlib never did his mixing/mastering though. I still find it interesting that he’s gone to an iPad.
Bandana (2019)
Mixed by Mario Caldato, Jr. at MCJ Sound. Mastered by Dave Cooley for Elysian Masters.
I found using the iPad for beat making tedious at best. What app would allow you to chop up samples straight from your iTunes libraries? I remember having to use audio share to get samples into beatmaker 2. Now using the iPad as a portable turntable, that’s a different story. There’s plenty of dj apps that access your iTunes no problem. I love Traktor.
I felt the same way. Maybe an iPhone/iPad combo? If you sample from an audio input you could sample from vinyl or connect your iPhone and sample from YouTube.
That’s why I love working in a DAW these days. It eliminates a lot of the tedious stuff like moving files around, and is dead easy to get stuff in time and key (particularly if you have to work with certain materials as part of a project). Plus, there’s so much you can do that I never dreamed of when working on hardware, like groove quantizing or extraction. I also am in love with multisampled instruments. To me that stuff is like a slice of heaven.
At home, I still play a 1970s Fender amp through a big tube-driven spring reverb tank, and my favorite fuzz pedal was handmade for me by Analog Man. I love the way it looks and sounds, but I almost always record through VST amps. It also sounds great and it’s much more convenient.
You can screen record anything on the ipad these days. Even a 4 bucks app like koala sampler kan extract the audio from a video file and chop it up, and you can even bring your own midi pad controller.
of course an ipad is a little more $
mine is old (Air2) but still perfect for this stuff on the go.
That’s amazing. I no longer have an iPad but I will really consider getting another one if they continue to deepen the integration with Logic Pro. Touch screens are great for certain things!
That’s why I was asking, that’s good info but it’s still not seamless. I don’t know of an app where I access iTunes directly and chop samples onto a grid and make beats. That should be a no brainer for app developers. Maybe there’s restrictions involved?
That’s why I’m super intrigued by the new Digitakt os update. With class compliant audio and midi the iPad or iPhone become a huge resource for the DT.
I think beatmaker 3 is perfect for sample based hip hop. It‘s like a mpc.
I see no drawbacks to ableton for that task.
Ipad apps became really powerful.
It‘s cool that madlib uses an ipad, but that doesn‘t emphasize that it‘s artist not the tool more, as if he made it on a laptop or any mpc.
You don‘t need much stuff for sample based beats, most of the famous producer also used just a mpc or sp
I used beatmaker years ago so I’m sure things have changed. I just had this sour taste of how everything was convoluted and buggy. I made some dope beats with it though and the portability was second to none.
It‘s still a bit buggy to be honest, but it‘s a great powerful app. I‘m stunned by many things I have on this little tablet.
Lot‘s of hardware is buggy too for quite a while after release, including our beloved elektrons
Very true! I recently got an iPad Pro and loaded it with Korg Gadget and was blown away with it. I haven’t been able to get into it very much since my nephew got a hold of the device. If I could only pry it from him for five minutes
Yes, I am interested too in a DT, more than ever but also the MPC one looks like a beatmachine to try out. I never had an MPC before, they were too expensive for me in the golden years.
DAW integration is great on both, if I ever feel like getting a sound to another level or finish a track.
I highly recommend watching all the Kenny Beats videos you can find on YouTube. It’s quite illuminating. He went to Berklee and plays guitar and bass and stuff, but most of the stuff he makes for artists is loops and sample packs. That’s what a LOT of stuff is these days. Sample clearance is too costly and time consuming. That’s not to say anyone could make the stuff he makes. He has a great ear.
I love watching his stuff. He seems like a really great guy and is very talented. He changed my view of loops and sample packs, although I still prefer VSTs over loops.
Definitely! The majority of my music is not loop based. I went away from that some time ago but I still love creating classic hip hop styles with illegal bits and pieces.
Thanks for sharing the link.
Overbridge is awesome. I have the Digitone and love the integration!!! So clean and simple, I even use it like a sound card and plug n external synths into the Digitone inputs. Sounds great and the timing is tight! I absolutely love it with Ableton Live 10.
I hear you. I still really enjoy sample beat battles for fun. I came up on all of that kind of music. I’m hoping to put out an EP at some point and that will be all sample free though.
I highly recommend watching all the Kenny Beats stuff. There is an account on YouTube called “fliko” that puts up a lot of his live beatmaking and beat breakdowns. I binge watched it during the lockdown. He live streams on Twitch and thousands of kids are on their watching him at any given time. It’s interesting to see what the new generation of rap is like. Lots of big name people coming through Timbaland, Alchemist, Freddie Gibbs. He’s big at the moment.
