Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
It can be quite the challenge to compete in the Beat This! Competition when there's a theme involved, but Chef M!KE DB aka Doughboy the Producer pulled it off. With his humble beginnings rocking Fruity Loops and Cool Edit Pro (one of my favorites of all time), this NYC beatmaker breaks it down for us.
Your winning beat in the Beat This piano theme was spot on. How did you put it together?
"Requiem for a Dream" has always been one of my favorite pieces of music. I like its original version from the movie, but I really love piano versions of it even more. I started going through my stockpile of samples for one that would spark some inspiration, and went back to an old favorite of mine that I've been wanting to make a beat with for a while now.
It sounds like you used a breakbeat for the drums. If so, is that something you do often?
You are correct! I actually used 2 break beats in this beat in particular! In my beginning days of beat making, I'd say 100% of my beats had break beat loops on them. I grew up in NYC and my favorite producer was and has always been The Alchemist so my goal at first was to make Boom Bap style beats that sounded just like his beats. I find myself using drum loops a lot less than I used to nowadays, it really depends on what sound I'm trying to achieve in my beats.
You really can't go wrong when you sample certain songs, like your case with the Requiem sample. What do you normally sample?
I agree with that statement. I sample anything and everything so I don't really have a preference although I really do love sampling theme songs to movies, TV shows and video games.
How would you describe your style?
My style consists of a lot of experimentation and practicing different methods to achieve industry standard.
You also go by the name of doughBoy the ProduceR. What's with Chef M!KE DB?
At first it was the name I was going by but I got tired of people thinking I wanted to be a chef.... Really it's just a username at this point. Doughboy the Producer I feel flows off the tongue a little better.
Most of your beats hit really hard. What's your thought process when you're getting ready to make a beat?
When getting ready to make a beat, I always start out with piano keys and play around with notes on my MIDI keyboard. Once I come up with a few chords and I know what I want the main melody to be, I'll continue to add more keys to complement everything in octaves either lower or higher than the melody. For example, if the beat is suppose to be a "SAD" sounding beat then I'll use specific instruments I feel complement a sound that is "SAD". I use instruments differently in every beat. I use certain sounds and plugins depending on the situation and according to what direction I decide to take the beat in.
This is what allows me to indulge in making all types of music, not just one specific genre. My personal preference is to do all this before getting to the drums because it takes me longer to compose music than it does to create drums, plus it's one of my favorite parts in beat making and I like to save it for last.
After choosing all my drum sounds individually and creating patterns into my sequencer, I load every single sound I am using into my mixer and work early on some preliminary EQ'ing and wave shaping. Sometimes I make bass lines before the drums, sometimes I make them after, neither really presents any advantage over the other I just go with the flow. The rest of what I do lies all in my mixing which I love to do the most.
Is there a certain style of beat that you're trying to make?
I want all my beats to knock hard. I also want them to sound really clear. But most importantly I want them to capture specific vibes. All my beats have to include those three characteristics.
Why did you get into beatmaking in the first place?
I started having an interest in making beats after a childhood friend gave me a copy of Fruity Loops. It all started as a hobby, my beats in the beginning were god awful. I just thought it was fun to make drum sounds, it was like playing real drums but with my computer. No setup, just Fruity Loops, sequencing beats on the screen with my mouse using stock sounds that came with FL. I think the newest version calls them the "LEGACY PACK".
What's in your studio setup?
I use Fruity Loops Studio and an old version of Cool Edit Pro. I have a M-Audio Oxygen 25 key MIDI controller. Skull candy headphones and that's it. I play my audio out through 2 standing stereo speakers and 2 bookshelf stereo speakers that are connected to a Stereo Receiver.
Cool Edit!!! Great program. What's the one part of making a beat that you find the most difficult?
The hardest part of making beats in my opinion is getting a mix to sound just right! What might sound good on one setup might sound completely different in another, I work really hard and test my beats out in many different ways and at many volumes to get a mix down just the way I want it.
What can we expect from you in the near future?
Expect more YouTube videos of me making beats from scratch, studio sessions with local artists, any and every moment of me creating, listening and promoting music. In time I plan on buying studio monitors and a larger keyboard maybe 40+key controller. I also want to get into more beat battles whether online or around the country to help promote myself. Also January 5th-8th 2017, I will be performing @ MAG FEST at the Gay-lord Convention Center in National Harbor MD.
Thanks for doing the interview. Any shoutouts you'd like to give?
Yea shout out to all my family and friends in VA, NY, and PR! I'd like to shoutout Game from BusyWorksBeats as well and shout out to Fade @ IllMuzik.com for taking time out to interview little old me.
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