Producer RJD2 talks about the process of putting a record together and building a beat into a song.  He also addresses the transition of moving from being a studio musician to working with a live band with release of The Third Hand.

Reason manufacturer Propellerhead gears up for another city with their ongoing Producer’s conference series as they hit up Chicago on May 24th, 2008.  Some of the schedule guests include Tommy Coster Jr., Donovan Knowles, James Bernard, Peff, and Chris Petti who, among other things, will covering inside tips and tricks for Reason, mixing techniques, and sound design.  You can bet that the Crate Kings crew will be in attendance and we promise to deliver a full report on the event.

The 6 hour conference costs only $35 and are available for purchase online.

Chicago Recording Company
232 E. Ohio St.
Chicago 

Other cities scheduled for upcoming Producers Conference events include:

• Tokyo - May 31st, 2008
• Montreal - July 5th, 2008
• Melbourne - August 9th, 2008
• Toronto - August 23rd, 2008

Check out the Producers Conference website for more details.

Producer Ryan Leslie steadily provides entertaining and enlightening studio footage.  This time he takes us through the making of "Addiction" including laying down the drums, piano, and synths to create yet another high powered track.

Timbaland production conspirator Danja was the champ at SESAC’s 12th annual New York Music Awards that took place on May 8th, 2008.  In addition to being awarded Song of the Year for Nelly Furtado’s "Say It Right", he also shared the award for Songwriter of the Year along with Brian-Michael Cox.  Big congrats to Danja, Cox, and the others!

See more awards winners over at the SESAC website.

Producer T Finguz takes us inside his studio to talk equipment, digging for CD’s, and gives a walkthrough on how to make beats using the Roland MV-8800, live bass, Korg Triton, and drum set.

So we’ve finally completed the move from Microsoft to all Apple (the upcoming 3G iPhone brings an instant smile) and to celebrate migration to the iPod it seemed like a perfect time for an audio roundup.

Reggae heads will no doubt wonder where DJ Trends has been hiding.  His One Drop Radio podcasts and Welcome to the Dancehall mix cd series have been steady heating up the net.  His latest mix Strictly Fi Di Women Dem, which honors women through reggae music is sure to please and is available as a free download.

Chicken George has been killing it for a while with his Jazztronica mixes… quality mixing,  jazzy soul, and hip-hop will keep you nodding all day long.

tREBLEFREE drops a monthly oldschool R&B podcast.  The big plus with his mixes are the depth commentary/custom liner notes.

DJ Jamad’s Afromentals Mixtape Series - You could actually go broke snatching up all the quality mixes that Jamad has released.

Best of Andre 3000: Alter Ego The Mixtape - This mix had me quickly digging in the archives to resurface my copy of ATLiens.

Joints I’m Feeling Right Now:

• The Roots - Rising Down
• Prodigy - H.N.I.C. 2
• Kool & The Gang - Live At PJ’s
• Redman - Dare Iz A Darkside
• David Matthews - Dune

Alchemist sits down for another interview to discuss his philosophy of collaborations, making of Chemical Warfare, the status of Eminem, and Prodigy’s incarceration.  Not a whole lot of production talk contained in the interview, but who can pass up an interview with Al?

Disko Dave of Better Beat Bureau presents us with another top notch MPC 2000XL beat making video.  From start to finish Dave begins with a nice soul sample, programs the bassline, then brings us through drums, and sequencing to produce a rock solid track.  Much respect for taking the time to zoom in on the MPC and show what is technically being done during the process.  Make sure to visit Disko Dave’s Myspace and the BBB crew website.

Ohio native RJD2 talks about creative experimentation, digging for samples, and the occasional use of live instrumentation.  He has a very interesting standpoint on the sonic ideal that he’s looking to create by drawing his inspiration from Hip-Hop records from ‘88 to 93 era.  Was also refreshing to see him list MF Doom as one of his favorite producers… another artist that doesn’t receive enough credit.

Read The Full Interview

This week’s Friday giveaway features our man Su-Preme from Sunz of Man.  For those who’ve enjoyed his production tutuorials, Su-Preme The Beatmaker Vol. 1 has finally been completed and released.  Two (2) lucky readers will receive a copy of both Su-Preme The Beatmaker Vol. 1 and his full length film Git Rite featuring Fredro Starr, J. Hatch, and the Bogus Boys, which tells the story of a struggling producer with a plans to rob a drug king pin to finance his own record label.

From the cover of Su-Preme The Beatmaker Vol. 1:
"Inside you’ll find 2 hours of exclusive, in-depth footage detailing the exact same techniques used by today’s leading professional Hip-Hop producers.  Covered topics incude: Sampling, sound editing, drum chopping & looping, program editing, beat composition, sequencing, song creation, and sample manipulation."

To win you must submit a comment to this post with answers to the following question:

• What song, moment, or other reason made you want to start producing/making beats?

We’ll choose the best response as our winner.   Comments must be submitted before 12a.m Friday, May 16th to be entered.  You may comment multiple times with no penalty.  You must provide name and email address in your comment to be considered.

Both DVD’s are available for purchase from Syklopz.com.

Also, if you haven’t already, head on over and check out the Crate Kings/Smirnoff giveaway for your chance to snatch up a copy of KRS One, Q-Tip, and Common vinyl!