Behind the Beat - “Damage Mode”
“The first single from Holodeck Beats: Program 3 is a no-nonsense neck-snapper, made to incite ciphers.”
The goal of the “Behind the Beat” blog series is to give some insight into my process and share some lessons I’ve learned along the way. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact me. I am always looking to connect with other musicians. - @dixonhillbeats on IG
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The Source
The Source:
I currently make beats using samples taken from vinyl or I “self-sample” something that I play on guitar or keyboard, often doing both to complete a beat.
For “Damage Mode” I used only vinyl samples from 7 or 8 different records. To protect the innocent, I am going to keep my sample sources out of this post, but I will gladly share them with you if you contact me on social media (@dixonhillbeats) or through our contact form. I don’t believe in being secretive with other musicians, but I also don’t want to invite any litigious acquaintances into my life.
I can’t remember every record unfortunately, especially for the drums. I tend to start my day with a stack of records and once I’ve found enough pieces to program a drum pattern, I start arranging. Sometimes I get lucky and find everything I need on one record, but it is more common that I construct my drums from a chance hi-hat on one record, a snare on another, and so on and so on. The bass-line, piano accent, saxophone, opera voice, and “kalimba-like” sound all come from different records. There’s an “ooh” somewhere in there as well.
Disclaimer: Someone asked me recently if the vinyl crackle on this track came from the SP-404’s vinyl-sim setting…it doesn’t.
Captain! The vinyl-sim’s filter is taking all the brightness out of the track! I can’t stop it!
The Process:
The day I made “Damage Mode”, I had a good breakfast at a local spot. I bring this up only to stress the fact that I’m capable of murder if I haven’t had a good breakfast, and this attitude has a negative impact on my ability to create. My good friend behind the counter gave me a free cup of coffee, the impact of that small gesture sharpened my senses and uplifted my overall disposition. I was ready to get to work. This was about 2 weeks before total lockdown.
The Drums:
99% of my beats start with drums. I wish I had a magic formula to share but getting interesting drums is a matter of trial and error. At this point, most beatmakers understand that having everything on the grid sounds unnatural, but finding a sweet spot really depends on feel. I arrange my drums until it feels right, then when the musical sample, or “main sample”, comes into play, I might add or take away hits to help when chopping it. This drum pattern is focused on aggression with the harder open hi-hats, kept in place with a closed hi-hat hit on the off beat.
I found my groove pocket and stuck with it, I’m pretty sure Dibia$e calls his groove the “Hollywatts Bop”, some people use terms like wonk, slack, or swing to describe drum patterns with a free sense of rhythm. I aim to program my drums with a certain amount of “lean”. Whatever you call it, it’s simply a groove pocket that works for the song or beat.
For drums sampled from vinyl there can be a lot of tape saturation. I typically sample from records recorded in the 60’s and 70’s, when tape recording was at its peak. This can lead to some extra “air” on the end of snares or hi-hats, and a certain low end grumble that needs to be contained through EQ and some volume automation. Other than that, I’m looking for the right touch of compression to get a bit more attack out of the drums.
To avoid making the drums sound too “chopped”, I like to fill in blank spaces with silent parts of the record, to emulate the noise-floor of the recording environment on the original record. This can sometimes make a drum pattern taken from multiple sources sound like it’s a drum break I lifted wholesale from one record.
Once the drums are more or less done, I can start experimenting with musical samples.
The Holodeck. In one of its many incarnations. I started making beats when I was living in my van, so this is luxury by comparison.
The Main Sample:
The main sample that drives this beat forward is the upright bass-line. It was taken from a jazz record I found in Hiroshima, Japan at Stereo Records. It was easily one of the best record stores I’ve ever explored, and Japan has unparalleled vinyl culture.
The section of the song was a bass solo with minimal piano accompaniment. The pianist was essentially playing chords to offer consonance or dissonance when necessary, using very light touch to create harmonic pads beneath the bass. If you listen close to the track you can hear it, it offers a bit of harmonic depth to the track.
The bass-line provides “joy in repetition”. The solo itself has many repeated passages, but played with slight differences in velocity, and articulation, so rather than loop one part, I tried to splice repeated notes to preserve the natural feel of the original solo. The notes are arranged to play a confident and sinister scale, possibly Phrygian, although I rarely attempt theory when chopping samples, it can be helpful when layering accents from other sources. The bass notes hit “a little bit behind the beat, I mean just enough to turn you on.”
Fun Fact: I went to Paisley Park, you couldn’t take photos but I got to see where Prince beat Charlie Murphy at Basketball and the diner in his house where he later served Charlie pancakes. I echo my sentiments on having a good breakfast.
Accent Samples:
There are a handful of accent samples on this track. They serve to add some flavor to the beat and can help emcee’s count bars. Here’s the list:
Middle of 3rd bar - “Ooh” voice, with some echo slightly behind beat. Pilfered from a record I bought in Missoula, Montana. A nice place to be, Ear Candy Music.
Beginning of 5th bar - Kalimba-like sound that continues until bar 7, transitioning into the next accent and eventual “turnaround”. Can’t remember where I found the record. Just a general percussion orchestra record, typical Space-Age Pop record. Those records are usually great for little finishing samples. The music is not always interesting enough for me to make a whole beat from it. This genre has been used by many a boom-bap enthusiast so it tends to impart a very recognizable sound to beats. Nevertheless, there is good stuff everywhere on Space-Age Pop records and the vinyl is cheap.
Beginning of 7th bar - Piano from a record I bought at Dead Wax Records in St. Louis. Very cool store with knowledgeable staff and a killer selection. To get the accents in tune I use the speed control on the record player and my ear. I do not use a DAW for time-shaping or pitch-shifting.
8 bar turnaround - Some synth pad with a horn-like quality, chimes, and an operatic voice taken from an experimental electronic record. “Morton Subotnick-esque” stuff that I “found” at Found Sound Vinyl in Ferndale, MI. It’s hard to find anything to carry a beat musically on those kinds of records, but they are filled with fun little accent sounds. I like to call these and the aforementioned Space-Age Pop records my “finishing records”. I go to them regularly to add elements to my beats. You might notice guys like Pete Rock using the same horn sample on several beats or the same turnaround sample, this is a common thing among beatmakers and producers. It helps you create a trademark sound.
Breaking down the accents by bar gives you an idea of how I approach some beats. If I am making a beat with the idea that a rapper will eventually perform on it, I want to increase the “rap-ability” of the beat by adding accents at certain bar counts that don’t busy up the sonic space. I want to leave room for a rapper to do their thing, while filling the beat with little cues that can help a writer build flows and ride the beat. Song structure is key for the listener and collaborator. Once the lyricist hears those. operatic turnaround voices twice, they know they hit the 16 bar mark.
The Result:
The first single from Holodeck Beats: Program 3 is a no-nonsense neck-snapper, made to incite ciphers. I wanted it to be the first single because I believe it sets the tone for the record. When making beats I rarely have an idea in mind, especially when I’m sampling. Most of the time I let the sample guide my hand, my goal is to make it fit my drum programming and vice versa. It is like a puzzle, except I can shape the pieces to create the final picture. I’ll spend hours “wrestling” with a sample to get it to work; sampling, chopping, filtering, re-chopping, blending, re-sampling until it’s dope. It’s in these moments where the real creativity happens, when the sample just doesn’t want to cooperate and you beat it into submission.
This beat was incredibly fun to make and the result is dope. I hope others feel the same.
How I look after “wrestling” a sample.
You can stream “Damage Mode” on all digital platforms. Holodeck Beats: Program 3 comes out on Jan. 21 through Fatbeats records.
