After yesterday, I was still in quite a dubious state. Today, though? Today I was somewhat reborn. I decided I was overthinking it and just to go with my gut and have fun. My instinctual beats tend to be the most popular and they're the easiest to make so I figured I'd side with them. Tossing out more beats today as well. Basically, I'm getting rid of everything except the first three.
Reasoning? There's a little. Basically, the other beats were me experimenting without focus. I said at the start of this that the experimental shit will come later. I didn't stick to that. As such, I'm starting again aside from the first three and just going with my instincts. I programmed two today that are more in that vein. What I'm realising is that I have a very specific preference with my beats - a very specific voice. I like percussion, I like bass and I like handclaps. Weird electronic shit is fun too.
There's a part of that discovery that alarms me. I feel somewhat formulaic. At the same time, though, I've realised that these beats are just sketches. I'm quite sure they'll change in the context of a fully developed song (particularly given the various parts that comprise each beat). I do wonder how much variation is expected of beat producers, though. Is the fact that most of the beats produced by Timbaland (or, for that matter, The Neptunes or even Massive Attack) sound identifiably of a piece a good or a bad thing? Do they have a style or are they just limited?
At the moment, I'm thinking back to a conversation I once had with veteran experimental guitarist Oren Ambarchi. He pretty much told me he'd been making the same album over and over again for years. It was all about refining a central idea and concept, as opposed to darting all over the place. In a way, I feel like I've been refining a vision of music for years. You could draw a line from these beats, through The Holy Cow, through back to the first song my old band Citizen Loud ever made. It's the same vision. Just slightly less incompetent.
ANYWAYS - the beats!
1. Top Heavy
Top Heavy MP3 by M. O'Neill
I make no apologies for the rip-off of Florence and the Machine's Drumming Song - but I will say it was accidental. I'm just really fascinated by the placement of kick drums in beats. I wanted to know what a beat with only two heavy kick drums would sound like from a groove standpoint. I tried to add more after the fact but it didn't seem to have the same effect. The random electronic sounds were just put there for the fuck of it, really. They added a cool kind of swishing dynamic to the beat. Nice accents.
2. Back to the Roots
Back to the Roots MP3 by M. O'Neill
This seems to be kind of 'generic' M. O'Neill - from the toms, to the handclaps, to the sub-bass and weird electronic squiggles. Still, I think it's sufficiently different to stand on its own. If you take the toms out, it actually becomes a whole other beast. I think this is kind of the style I like and plan to refine. Then again, I've now thrown out five out of ten beats. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
Really dig "Back to the Roots." The kind of swaggering, tribal, abstractly grooving beat I like.
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