RIP Michael Jackson

Dang, 2 years since the King Of Pop passed, Rest In Peace Michael and thank you for the great music!

Figure I'd post a Louis Den throwback and something from our extended fam to mark the event.

First off is the audio reel from Louis Den Homework #24 which was our Michael Jackson challenge, this was one of the toughest homeworks to date as it required producers to dig through Michaels solo catlog and raid it for every single sound available to flip into a beat (thats EVERY sound...drums/basses/synths you name it).

Some ill beats got turned in but a bit of a sleepy studio session meant that there was the traditional lab video to back it up with (that we used to put out weekly back then)..

Anyway, short of a month its great to look back at a 3 year old homework!

Louis Den Homework 24 Audio


Remember, this is a retrospective look back! most if not all the producers here have improved incredibly in 3 years and some may have floated into Louis Den obscurity!!

A requirement of the homework was to break down the process; although some didn't; read below for the process of those that did (I filled in the gaps where I could), this is copied and pasted from the original blog entry on the louisden myspace.

12 ORIGINAL PLAYERS (http://myspace.com/twelveoriginalplayers) I only used "Off The Wall" and "Thriller" as I refuse to own anything with "Dirty Diana" on it! When I started, all I had was a 7" of "Rock With You" so chopped some of the drums and some vocal stabs from there, and eventually layered them into the obvious kick and snare from everyone's fav, "Billie Jean". Once I had the drums rocking, I chopped up some bass notes from "Baby Be Mine" before adding a touch of guitar from "The Girl Is Mine". There's some additional vocal flavour sliced and diced from "It's The Falling In Love". BUDGIE (http://www.myspace.com/budgiefirebeats) sample = lady in my life (thriller) bass = billie jean kick drum looped synth = billie jean kick drum looped kick = billie jean kick processed/ eqed to shit percussion = workin day and night (off the wall) snare = workin day and night or something else on off the wall random hiccups/ breaths = throughout off the wall and thriller CHEMO aka DJ BUM HANDS (lol) (http://www.myspace.com/chemoproductions) Sounds like Liberian Girl from Bad formed the main part of the beat up im guessin the drum hits must have been from Thriller or Bad as they seem to be an 808 kit. (kos) KING JAY (http://www.myspace.com/11i01011) Sounds like "I Cant Help It" formed the main part of this beat. (kos) JIMMY GREEN (http://www.myspace.com/stupidfreshmain) Drums - from Beat It Samples - from The Lady In My Life JOE DAVIS (http://www.myspace.com/emceejoed) I got the hi-hat from billie jean..layered kicks from rock with you..a snare from rock with you layered with a snare from billie jean..bass is from leave me alone..and main melodic sample is from rock with you. JON PHONICS (http://www.myspace.com/jonphonics) Sounds like "I Cant Help It" forming the main chop/loop. (kos) KOSYNE (http://www.myspace.com/kosyne) The kick drums are layered they came from "Get On The Floor" and "Billie Jean"; I stuck a low pass filter on the "Billie Jean" kick to bring it out a little and used another one normally; the hihat came from "Billie Jean" as did the snare which I also layered with a rim from "Liberian Girl". Theres a hipass filter on some pitched down vocals I took from "Lady In My Life" and I took the synth keys from the start of "Just Good Friends" and finally I made my bassline by taking a snip of the "Billie Jean" kick setting loop points (so it repeats) and adding a filter/bass boost. LIKE MIKE (http://www.myspace.com/likemke) Chopped "Human Nature". NIK (http://www.myspace.com/nikmusiq) Kickdrum 1: Billie Jean (Thriller) Kickdrum 2: P.Y.T. (Thriller) Snare: Billie Jean (Thriller) HiHat 1: Billie Jean (Thriller) HiHat 2: Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (Thriller) HiHat 3: Don't Stop Till You Get Enough (Off The Wall) Main Sample: Off The Wall (Off The Wall) Hits, short parts etc.: All hits and little parts and something else like thats cames from mj's "Off The Wall"! So you really got all I did with the beat...of course there is a lot of equalizing and compression work for drums, the main sample and its hits and little parts! PHOCUS (http://www.myspace.com/phocusbeats) Seemed to take a lot of bits from various tracks, I reckon I can hear the "Billy Jean" drums, elements of "Rock With You" and "Smooth Criminal" but theres much more in there! (kos). PURPOSE (http://www.myspace.com/tragicpurpose) Sounds like "Human Nature" forming the main chop (kos) RAW SOUNDZ (http://www.myspace.com/teklab07) Used the drums from "Billie Jean" and chopped up part of "Lady In My Life"

Finally, P.L.O from Associated Minds (Den heads my recognise him from Wrapped Up 2009 and Wrapped Up 2010) decided to remake "Beat It" from scratch; right down to the very intricate Eddie Van Halen guitar solo....incredible!! check it out and shouts to the AM camp!.

P.L.O of Associated Minds - Beat It Instrumental Remake

Louis Den Winter Beat Battle 16th December Birmingham, UK

Louis Den Beat Cypher is back for the last event of 2010, our last beat cypher had producers Pete Cannon, Gifted Music, Mazzie and Ed Strong; we were joined with PA's from Sonnyjim & Kelakovski, Stig Of The Dump and The IRS. Our usual round by round / PA Beat Cyphers are done for 2010 and this time we're closing the year out with a very special Winter Beat Battle!

Louis Den Winter Beat Battle will pit 16 producers up against each other to show and prove who has the best bangers in the vaults and determine who will walk away with the £100 and £50 respective first and second place cash prizes we're putting up alongside dope threads courtesy of iller clothing (www.iller.cc)

To make sure only the heatmakers get through we've assembled an all star judging panel to take care of scrutinising the nights beats, deciding who go through on each round are..

Mr Thing (Extended Players/GMB)
A vet in the game Mr Thing is a DMC Team Champion, part of the Extended Players outfit (along side DJ MK, Shortie Blitz and Harry Love) as well as an interntional DJ in his own right and producer. He dropped the classic Grown Man Business album with Yungun a few years back and has lent scratches/production duties to whole host of artists as well a string of dope mixes. Thing knows what sort of records will go off with a bang!

Sarah Love (BBC/MTV)
Sarah knows her music, having headed up the 4 hour 1xtra M1x Show for her term in office at the BBC and her preseting duties at MTV topped with her various international DJ spots, she knows what will move a crowd and what could essensially become a dope song!.

Disorda (Suspect Packages)
The hardest working man in UK Hiphop, Disorda heads up the online store Suspect Packages (in operation for almost 15 years!) and hosts the popular Suspect Radio as well as his monthly live events in London. He hasn't kept his online record store going by luck; having an intricate ear for music and knowing what will shift tied in with his DJ duties; Disorda can spot a banger from a dud easy!

Cipher Jewelz (MD7/Seven Entertainment)
Cipher is a cornerstone of the Birmingham hiphop scene and has paved the way for a lot of artists doing their thing today. MC and producer for the brum outfit Moorish Delta 7, they've dropped 2 classic albums (The Power & The Glory, Life In The City); they've supported the likes of DJ Whoo Kid - G Unit, Wu Tang, Dilated Peoples, Mobb Deep, Foxy Brown, Big Daddy Kane, Beatnuts, Erick Sermon and DMX and many more as well as heading up their own label Seven Entertainment handling everything from art, music production, distriubtion and marketing. Cipher is a head in the know when it comes to music and will spot heat from a distance!

Soweto Kinch (Soweto Kinch Productions)
World renouned Jazz musician, composer, emcee and producer Soweto kicked off the beat cypher over 2 years ago back in October 2008 (along side Kelakovski, Mr Dick and Jehst). More recently he's not long launched his 3rd full length album "New Emancipation" on his own imprint and would have just come off tour to join the judging panel, with bangers in stock Soweto could himself enter this!! but he's been gracious enough to join the judging lineup to help decide the winners!.

As if this wasn't enough we're also letting guest DJ's SARAH LOVE (BBC 1Xtra, MTV) and MR THING (Extended Playes, DMC Champ) bless the decks with exclusive sets, Sarah will be hitting us off with the latest hiphop bangers whilst Mr Thing will drop an exclusive breaks mix filled with plenty of secret treats!

The EATGOOD team will also be showing off some of their Q4 2010 / 2011 material so expect a few new tracks from Sonnyjim, Redbeard and RTKal.

I WANT IN!! - HOW TO REGISTER FOR THE BEAT BATTLE
Head over to http://louisden.com/battle to register for the battle; if there are more than 16 sign ups this DOES NOT guarantee you a place in the event as if there are more than 16 producers we will have to names out of a hat on the night to determine who will be in place for the battle.

Battle Format
Producers will need to come to the event with their beat CD's ready; have at least 10 tracks covering a range of styles (within the hiphop genre) which you'll play x2 of per opponent (in a knockout format), winning beats will be decided by our allstar judging panel consisting of MR THING, SARAH LOVE, DISORDA, CIPHER JEWELS and SOWETO KINCH.

RULES
* Beats must come on CDR (no phones/usb/ipods)
* Beats CANNOT be played on your behalf; If you register you must turn up on the night to be in with a chance * Producers will be drawn at around 10PM on the night of the event, if you fail to acknowledge your presence we will move on and draw another name!

The nights action will be hosted by Kosyne, Redbeard & Sonnyjim with DJ CRO as the resident DJ providing music other than our guest DJ's

We look forward to seeing you there and close this years louis den action with a BANG!.

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Louis Den Winter Beat Battle w/ Guest DJ's Mr Thing & Sarah Love
Thursday 16th December 2010
Downstairs @unPlug Digbeth
79 Digbeth High St
Birmingham
B5 6DY
9PM - LATE
£4.00 ENTRY BEFORE 10PM £5.00 AFTER
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