Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
Having won the recent Beat This! Competition, Stradivarius takes the time to tell us about his win, as well as his work with Wordsmith and his New Revolution camp.
Sup Stradivarius, tell us a bit about yourself.
Thanks for this interview Fade. Actually my name is Strada, I signed up as Stradivarius back in 2003 I believe. Since then I changed my name to Strada, much easier when networking with people LOL. Basically, I am a Montreal, Canada producer and I grew up with my dad playing and in the guitar and you know just loving music. I played drums, guitar, bass, a little keyboard and now I am trying to learn the harmonica.
When did you first start making beats, and why?
I started DJ'ing for a bit back in 2000 but it wasn't my calling. My friend had bought a Roland MC-307 around the same time and I used it to get my first try at it and loved it. I couldn't afford hardware so I started to look at software like Cakewalk and they had this dope little software called HammerHead. I was a fiend just looking for anything I could get that made sounds and went on from there. Then in 2005, I got my first major release with a French R&B singer named Gage Pierre and it went gold in France, so that's definitely a main motivation for me, to keep going you know!
How did you hook up with Wordsmith?
Back in 2006 I think, I was looking to collab with an up and coming MC that had talent and drive. I emailed my man DJ 730 from hiphopgame.com and he had just received Wordsmith's demo and thought it was dope so he gave me his contact and we hooked up from there. We went through a lot of events man. Word is crazy talented and driven.
What have you guys released so far?
We released 2 mixtapes with hiphopdx.com, we had a mixtape with hiphopgame.com, countless songs that were released in the major hip-hop sites, like the 2 named above. We had a song on the soundtrack of an independent movie name 7eventy 5ive which Wyclef was doing the soundtrack for. We had a nice hit song called Mami Chula with universal records Rob G, that song got us mad plays in the south and in Japan. Radio one down there love us LOL. We are on the verge of releasing a Wordsmith & Chubb Rock collabo album which is crazzzyyyyyyyy... we got like 2 albums worth of material ready to roll. You can hear most of our new stuff as it comes out on www.myspace.com/strada514 or www.myspace.com/classicwordmsithmusic
What is the Nu Revolution about?
The New Revolution is a camp that consists of MC's, Producers, DJ's, business men and hip-hop minded people that are aiming at the same goal. Make Time-Less music. Music that will stand the test of time and that 20 years from now we will still be proud to stand behind!
Do you find it difficult to keep your creativity consistent when working with an artist?
Actually I find it hard to just keep being creative all the time. Like I work 50 hours a week and I put in at least 30 hours in music. I love this shit but sometimes it's just physically hard, I have to take breaks, like 3 days with no music type thing. Then it only takes a little spark and then I get right back to it. Creativity is something you can't force but there are some things that spark it, you got to learn them.
What's your favorite part when making a beat?
That little moment, when I go like yeahhh, and from there I get excited by the beat and keep going at it 'till it's finished, polished and ready to be sent out. That usually happens when I chopped a sample and start playing with the chops and trying to fit them to a tempo or make a melody out of it. After that, the beat kind of lays out by itself. It's just to finish it up, get the hook in, and sometimes get a singer to do the vocal melody I hear in my head. Sometimes I send it out to my horn player to add some flavor. Anything can happen.
Any funny moments from the studio to tell us about?
Hummmm, maybe not funny moments but my favorite moment in the studio was when I was working on Gage's album. We finally found his sound and vibe for his whole album, after many hours of studio laid out on a couple weeks. We all got this buzz, like a high from finally achieving it. We closed the lights turn the computer screens off and just vibed to the song for like 45 minutes straight. It definitely gave him the confidence and the tone for his whole album. That buzz we have is what I chase every time I get in the studio with an artist, which is pretty hard these days.
How did you put together your winning beat for the Beat This! Competition?
The sample I used was sent to me by my man the legendary Chubb Rock. I work with him a lot; we go back and forth all day with it. So I chopped it up and gave it the main melody, and I vibed with it. What I like to do is just have the beat bumping loud and do something away from it for like 15-30 minutes. It gives me mad ideas, like since I don't hear everything my ears kind of play tricks on me and that kind of turns into ideas. That's weird but it's how I did it. Then I added the intro and the polishing.
What's your process of making a beat? What do you start with?
Pretty much what I answered before LOL. I usually start with the melody but actually that depends. Like if it is a club or like go-go beat, I often start with the drums but mostly I start with the melody whether it's samples, synths or my guitar... anything goes and then I add the drums. One thing for sure is that all my beats have me playing on top of the samples.
Do you sample a lot?
Yeah I do, I usually go in phases, like I'll do a bunch of composed beats, then couple sample beats and so on. I try to vary because it opens up my mind to different arrangements, melodies and sounds. It challenges me and I think that that's why I can progress you know, like if you stay in your safe zone, you just going to bang out the same joint. You got to step out what you do to come back be better more open. Well it works for me you know. Listening to a whole bunch of stuff helps me out a lot, for sampling of course but also for chords progressions and what not.
What equipment are you currently using?
Akai MPD24, M-Audio Keystation 61ES, FL studio, Adobe Audition, plug-ins like, Trilogy, Colossus, Poly-Ana, Wave bundles... way too many to list them all! I use a Shure SM-57 and a audio Technica AT-3035. Norman B-20 and a Gretsch G6120 guitar (replica unfortunately). Percussions like shakers, claves, and cow bells.... MORE COW BELLS! LOL.
What's the Hip-Hop scene like in Montreal, Canada?
It's kind of dead, there is some people really trying though. We got some good talented DJ's like DJ A-Trak doing it big. My man Don Smooth over at K103 keeping it real. Good producers also, Esteban, Parafino, Sonny Black... Artists too but to me there is just a few. Shogun, Mag 357, Bless... I don't really feel close to the scene here but I guess that's my fault, I'm always looking to link up with US rappers.
Do you have any tips for other producers reading this?
Ah man, I don't think I'm in no position to give any advice. Since your forcing me LOL, I would say just try out different things, try to do different from what's out there. And don't listen to everything people have to say. You got to take some and leave some, especially in this internet world where everybody has something to say and an opinion about everything!!!
Any shoutouts you'd like to give?
Of course, Fade for putting this together, Wordsmith, the whole Nu Revo camp, my man Chubb Rock, Don Smooth the voice of the city, Esteban, the whole SCF click.... oh yeah shout out to me for finally taking vacation next week, I'm gone fishing... yeaahhh.