Interviews Now When You Think of the Ukraine, Think of Shuka4Beats

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When people think of Ukraine, they don't normally picture Hip Hop producers and beats, but that's exactly what Shuka4Beats is all about. With his recent win of the May 14, 2015 Beat This! Competition, he took the time to explain how he pieced together the winning beat.

What is truly great about this interview is that it shows how much Hip Hop is evolved and that it's even being produced in Ukraine, of all places. This is Shuka4Beats...

Sup? Tell everyone about Shuka4Beats.

Hello! First at all, I wanna say big thanks to the IllMuzik team for organizing such a cool competition like "Beat This!". It is a really good opportunity to show and improve skills to everyone who likes Hip Hop music! Thank you

My name is Victor. I am from Ukraine. Shuka4Beats is my nickname which means that I am always looking for something new ("Shuka4", that pronounce like "Shukach" on Ukrainian means "Searcher" in English and also the first part of it ("Shu") it is beginning of "Shure" - my first micro). Something like that

You're from the Ukraine, how is the Hip Hop scene there?

Yes, I am. Hmm, my country doesn't have a lot of rappers but a small amount of them does our Hip Hop culture really special and individual. Our artists are really talented. They use unusual topics in their songs and create different rhythms combining them with interesting lyrics. We actually don't have Trap or Dirty South music, but we combine Hip Hop with Rock, Jazz, Classical and with many more styles... Also a lot of us don't have at least some money from that, so this is all about passion only. For me it is true art!

When did you first get into making beats, and why?

I have been doing that seriously (I mean beatmaking) for 3-5 years now. And I can't imagine myself without my MIDI keyboard, speakers, headphones and Logic Pro. Firstly I started it for making beats for my lyrics because I was involved in Rap music from 2009. At that time I was writing my lyrics only. I like games with words, rhymes. But then I started thinking about recording... and I needed beats. So I began with FL Studio in late 2009 and just used ready samples and drum parts in a way to mix it together and rapping under that. It was fun and gave me inspiration to continue my searches for good sounding. I used samples from Big Fish Audio, Motion Loops, Mosh Loops, Auditory, Black Hand Loops, Zero-G and more (hard to remember all). Nevertheless, I spent more time creating nice lyrics but also I thought about good melodies with drums. Everything must be great but at that time I thought mostly about my rapping, not about beats...

It continued to 2012. I finished work on my album and in one day I though: "Man, you should stop doing that! Stop using ready instrumental tracks, drums, even beats! Let's imagine how it will be cool if you can create your own beats with your own lyrics! You will be an independent person!". So my first desire was to be independent! And that's why I deleted my FL Studio and installed Cubase in which I created my first beats. I read some music theory books, watched some mastering and mixing tutorials and I started live in the DAW. Really. I spent all my free time there. I just fell in love with this process. It helps you to relax, to feel yourself better and also brings you new inspiration for lyrics...

Sadly, but a lot of projects from 2012 I didn't finish. Maybe, because at the beginning you want to try all styles, all beatmaking techniques. So you should concentrate on one the most important things and only after it will be done can you do something else. Maybe, that's why I forgot about my lyrics and all my forces directed into beatmaking! What should I say? It is my passion! I love it so much, so I didn't regret about this decision. Plus I knew that I will be back some day and take the micro again but enough with my music making experience...

In 2013 I bought iMac and understood all the power of Logic! It was something unbelievable! It was a new experience which brought me speed, flexibility and more pleasure! It gave new life to my creativity!! And now I can't stop thinking about new projects and beats ideas! It motivates me. I feel inspired when I'm starting something new. And I'm feeling happy when something is done and I satisfied with the result... I continue to study beatmaking with reading and watching new tutorials because there are many things which I should know. It makes me excited about future possibilities and opportunities. Practice makes perfect... Remember that!

What kind of setup do you have in your studio?

Now I have KRK Rokit 5 speakers, Komplete Audio 6 audio device, Novation Impulse MIDI keyboard, Monster Beats Pro headphones and Logic Pro X as my DAW. Also my Shure SM58 is still waiting for me in a corner. Hope to start record my EP soon... I have spent more than 5 years to collect enough money for that stuff. But my first serious buying was exactly Shure micro which I bought with my fourth scholarship when I was 17. Pleasant memories.

You recently won the Beat This! Competition. Tell us how you put together the winning beat.

At the beginning, I want to say thanks to everyone who supported me in "Beat This!" Competition; it means a lot to me! And I'm so glad about this win) So happy! It's a really good opportunity to show your skills and to learn something new listening to another beatmaker who shows his own individual skills. The idea of this beat was born 2 months ago. Last year I started also listening to Epic/Cinematic/Soundtracks music, mostly BXM, KPM Music, West One Music. So this kind of music influenced me and I often was thinking about combining this styles all together and create some Epic Hip-Hop beat with dynamic and some story, emotions and associations.

So it was my try and I see that was a successful one! Thank you for your support... I used about 11 instrumental tracks there (from Omnisphere, Massive, some Kontakt libraries) and also drums and percussion with rises and hits after some loops. Hardest part about it was mixing it all together with correct equalization and compression on each instrument. I used default Logic plugins and also some Waves plugins. It took me about two days to mix it all - I needed to give a rest to my ears to have some new feeling and new view on the next day to see some problems which I didn't notice earlier. A fresh look is very important for me to avoid some bad experiences with mixing and mastering. I am also thinking about a beats album in epic Hip Hop style and a full version of "Strong As Ever" beat will be on it! You can check it out on my YouTube page. The album will be called "Against The Universe".

If I'm not mistaken, I hear a lot of synths in your beats. What do you normally do when making beats - sample or use synths?

Yes, you are right! I was. Normally I use synths. It gives me freedom to create a beautiful mix where all instruments suit each other because you can change their sounds and that's cool! I think, my last successful example was the "Asylum" beat. There are a lot of synth instruments with my own settings. It helped me to create dark and shady atmosphere.

What are the advantages of using synths?

In my opinion, the main advantage is that they are really flexible, so you can simulate pluck, strings and other sounds. Also they normally don't need a lot of CPU, so you don't think about hardware while you create a beat and think only about your project using different instrumental tracks without fear to see error an window.

I saw that you recently put up your "Urban Waves" album on YouTube.

Tell us more about the album. Yes, I did. This album I have been doing for the last 4 months and I'm really happy to show it out now. Finally You can hear in it different dynamic beats. Also I wanted to show a variety of mood as well. So you may find some beats funny, optimistic, some from them easy and light, another inspiring and motivating, and also you can hear even dark and aggressive ones. I am very interested in what you think about this album. Your thoughts will help me create better projects in future. So I am waiting on you on my channel



Who is your biggest influence in Rap music?

For me it's Eminem. I started listening to him when I was 10. It was the "Eminem show" album on cassette which was one of the best from him! Also I am listening to Tupac and other big rappers from the 90s. I like Hilltop Hoods, Bone Thugs, OutKast... I almost don't listen to modern Hip-Hop. Maybe only the Shady Records team, but during the last year I started listening to different styles of music in a way to create interesting Hip Hop sounds without listening to Rap/Hip Hop music actually. Kind of absurd, but it's true.

If you had one producer that you could work with, who would it be?

I'm not sure. There are a lot of great producers whose I saw work. I learned a lot from them. But such kind of work, in my opinion, is very individual. Only you know what you want to see as a result, and only you can make your ideas breathe, but if I had an opportunity to learn some new techniques I would work with Eli Krantzberg from Groove3 tutorials. I saw many his video tutorials about software, music theory etc. And I think he is a really good one. Not just like a teacher, but like a person.

Do you have any projects coming up soon?

Yes, I do. I have several plans on this year. First at all, as I previously mentioned, I want to finish my beat album "Against The Universe" with epic beats in it. I think it is the hardest project for me now, but I'm seriously prepared. And I think you will hear it in July. Also I'm working on another two albums with beats. First one is "Still Love" with lyrical and emotional beats and the second is "Broken Mind" with some psychedelic sounds.

Thanks for doing the interview, do you have any shoutouts?

Thank you too! It was nice Yeah, I want to make one shoutout to my good friend D'Manic who is also a nice rapper! We did many projects together and you can hear many of my beats on his new album "Behind Bars". Thank you, man, it is really nice to work with you! And thank you to everyone who reads this. Hope I wrote something interesting and useful for you

Peace...

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