New Louis Den Homework - "LINN DRUM HARDWARE BATTLE"

New homework, LDBB back in the buildin!!, this week we want you to use sounds from the 80's game changing drum machine the "LINN DRUM", sounds are provided and we also want you to freak tracks from notable artists who used the machine!, all links are in the myspace blog below!...Check it out!.

Homework 47 - "Linn Drum Hardware Battle"

Louis Den Beat Cypher 04 Spotlight - Ranx Diggla

The final installment of the Beat Cypher spotlights is on Birmingham's own RANX DIGGLA, producer and emcee for Birmingham supergroup MSI & Asylum; very legendary respected mic heavyweights, Ranx and his group are one of the cornerstones of Birmingham hiphop so it was an honor having him bless the beat cypher and his group take the stage..all this and Ranx has been supporting the night from the jump..respect due indeed!..

Peep game!.



Louis Den Beat Cypher 04 Spotlight - Ranx Diggla
Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
The name is Ranx aka Diggla. I am the producer and one of the MC's from the MSI/ASYLUM clique. I started messing with the beats when my mom got me a Yamaha DD10 for christmas way back in 1988 lol.

Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
I have been beatboxing from as far back as i can remember. My brother and i used to clash on regular basis when we were kids. So it was a natural progression from creatin beats with my mouth to banging them out on my dd10. After i began rhyming in my mid teens the production was put on the back burner. That was until i met The Brooklyn Ripper (producer of the first MSI/ASYLUM album). He spotted my interest in production and borrowed me his Roland R-8. I programmed a few beats brought them back to his, we threw a some samples other them and the rest is history.


What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
Although i had my dd10 it was very limited. The quantize on it was mad stiff and the sound that it produced wasn't that good. It wasn't until i got my hands on a Casio SK-1 which had a built in sampler but could only take four separate 1 second samples. I'd speed up anything i wished to sample to fit it in within the second and slow it down afterwards. It had a real gritty like sound to it and I came out with some really dark sounding beats. I borrowed that off an old friend named Olton and he never got it back. Sorry and Thanks Olton.

Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Try to be different... bring something new to the table. There are a lot of good producers out there but their music sounds the same as everthing else at the mo. A lot of producers beats either sound like Dilla or Premier.

What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
Serious bass and beats that make you feel compelled to spit on em even if you aren't a MC. Plus i might be pissed by the end of night so expect loads of jokes and laughter! Peace, love and prosperity to you all... see you on thursday Bitches!!!

FREE MUSIC
MSI & Asylum - Marvelous (produced by Ranx)

Louis Den Beat Cypher 04 Spotlight - Myke Forte

Ouch, got so caught up in the runnings to the beat cypher I didnt finish these features before the night itself, no worries tho lets get it crackin with the last two installments and more free music!.

We got introduced to Myke back in beat cypher 01 in october, its crazy connecting with a next head whose basically doing exactly the same thing as you and your peeps; into the same stuff but just never crossed paths and this is exactly what happened. Myke came along to the first beat cypher and even brought his MPC2500 with him just in case an opportunity came to play some blaps or jam (dope hahaha)...since then he's been all up on the homeworks, a regular lab fixture; lined up work on Sonnyjim's upcoming Austrailian LP and started a collab project with Raul Supreme!!, lets get a little more from him!.

Louis Den Beat Cypher 04 Spotlight - Myke Forte
Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
Whats up peoples, The names Myke Forte, im a 29 year old father of one very special girl, so yeah im a family man just like Winchester, but dont get it twisted, i still know how to gets down nah mean!! lol Been making beats for about 5 years now, 3 of which was taken seriously.
I love making music its meditation for me when i feel like i wanna blow up the whole world! I also rap (But most peeps dont know) under the alter-ego Mike Leforde. Grew up in Winson Green, Birmingham

Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?
Well...I fell in love with hip hop after hearing a tape of Ultramagnetic Mc's (Critical Beatdown) that my uncle had stashed away, which got me on to all kinds of other artists like, Grand Puba, Rakim, Masta Ace, TCQ, Gangstarr, Pharcyde, you know that real shit! Many years on studied BA HONS in Visual Communication as i loved designing and drawing and being creative etc. Half way through the course my daughter was born, I left and took up making beats with remaining money from my student loan. After hearing the Love Album by TCQ and Slum do their thing i wanted to make music that sounded like that!! I loved jazz music by that point so i thought time to start making beats, a close friend of mine (Shawn) was into D Jaying , from like the age of 13-14, He was the first person I knew with an MPC.

What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
My first bit of software was music on the playstation with the sample box...remember that!!...so yeah started out with that making drum and bass and hip hop. I then started using reason 2.0 which i got as a demo with some other software on the mac, during this time, i started listening for sounds within music that i liked and tried to emulate it, with no luck whatsoever.

Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Dont be afraid to experiment, i wish i did a bit more. Have fun with it and enjoy what you do.

What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
Im quite laidback as a person so my beats have a tendency to follow that nature. Soulful, love basslines with a bit of swing.
Just hope you enjoy. Peace

FREE DOWNLOADS!
This was the first beat tape i put together after getting the mpc (J Dilla Tribute by myself and Smith The Mister)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VQQU83LG

Another one shortly after that Discovering Myke Forte
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=99SMW66P

Louis Den Beat Cypher 04 Spotlight - Sivey

Whooo, 1 more day to go to the Beat Cypher 04!! still lots of prep to take care of but it should be a good one one!! maad lookin forward to it, also remember! if you do reach tomorrow you'll be among the first to know about the very very very special BEAT CYPHER 05 line up taking place in June which WILL be nuts!!.

Ok now for Siveys spotlight!, old Sivz is a monster on the boards and has been consistently killin LDBB from the jump; it's gonna be extra dope being able to hear his exclusive new bangers tomorrow so heres a little from the man himself!.

Louis Den Beat Cypher 04 Spotlight - Sivey

Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
Wassup people, my name is Sivey/D. Sivey/Dave... I'm a beatmaker and remixer from St Albans, Hertfordshire (just north of London). Been making beats since about 2003 after messing around with various genres. Still dip into other stuff but it's all about the beats at the moment. Have done a load of tracks for Lowkey & Stylah and a few other UK mcs as well as a few joints with US MCs such as Nino Bless & Diabolic.


Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
Hmm... not really. The stuff I was making when first trying out making 'music' was all sample based but generally not hip hop. I was looping up disco tracks on some house shit or making fatboy slim type stuff with James Brown samples... It was cool but i got bored of trying to make whole tracks with progressions & stuff & didn't really have the capability. So the natural progression was to hip hop beats because I was comfortable with samples and I could bang out ideas without having to make complete, self-contained tracks.



What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
Shamefully my *first* encounter with making music was with Hip Hop eJay with the terrible pretend scratching simulator that you did with a mouse... I rinsed all the sounds on it over and over and ended up buying a few others just to get different sounds. Then Hip Hop eJay 2 came and it had a real simple step sequencer for drums and you could import your own samples, so I tried using that to make my "own" beats but it was obviously really limited. Then I heard about Fruity Loops so I copped the demo version online and I understood it enough to get started making different types of tunes and learning new stuff every time. Which still happens now when I make new beats.


Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Be true to yourself and never give up on your dreams, you can achieve anything if you believe in it... Pfff PSYCHE! I guess try and do something new and different as often as possible, whether something small like the way you EQ your sample or something more obvious like a whole different style of beat. Also, if you're wack and have been for ages, just give up. Unless you're just doing it for your own pleasure obviously... no harm in that.

What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
I'm gonna try and play a mixture of sample-based and synthy/composed beats in a couple of different styles. I'll definitely be watching people's reactions to see where I should take things next...


FREE DOWNLOAD
Sivey Starter Kit (exclusive tracks, remixes and a beat to boot!!)

Oddisee presents Diamond District In The Ruff

Sorry to break up the producer spotlight posts (it's LDBC 4 tomorrow if you didn't know, have a quick look to the right of the page) but when one of your favourite producers and rappers drops a new project and it's free, it's only right, right?

Diamond District consist of Oddisee, X.O. and YU, all hailing from DC and keeping that boom bap sound alive. Anyways get your download on, soak up the dope music and be sure to check out Oddisee's other music projects which get the Louis Den seal of approval.

CLICK ON THE COVER TO DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM

Now back to the producer spotlights...

Louis Den Beat Cypher 04 Spotlight - DJ IQ

These worked well last time so we're bringing you another installment of the producers spotlight!, running from now till the beat cypher itself which is THIS THURSDAY!!, I'll be dropping you an exclusive Q&A with each of the beat cypher producers so you can get a better idea of what they're about and get your hands on some exclusive music from them (in case you're unfamiliar with their sound)

We kick this one off with Man behind Mancan music...DJ IQ!!!

Louis Den BeatCypher 04 Spotlight "DJ IQ"



Hey!!, please introduce yourself to everybody; let us know who you are what you do and how long you've been doing it!.
Hello, I'm DJ IQ. I DJ, So by this i mean mixing & selecting records, scratching, beat juggling, getting the party started!
I also produce, by this i mean making beats, recording songs, mixtapes and generally bringing projects to reality! i've been doing this for far too long, ha ha nah on the real i'm just getting started....


Was there a defining moment (event / hearing a record etc) that led you into making beats / becoming a producer?.
I can't say there was one defining moment, around the time when i started djing for jehst in the early 00's is when i started to wanna make beats. Before that i didn't even know it was possible, i'd just mix records and cut em up all the time. Now its fully fledged art to me, expression and all that!


What was your first peice of equipment and what were those beats like?, any interesting stories about things were doing to begin with / finding your feet?
I started on an mpc 1000, now using a 2500 and to be honest they pretty similar! i'm a scatty worker man...most people can't understand me LOL I'm like throw the rule book out the window NO RULES and lets make some hip hop that BANGS. Some beats i don't even got the parts to anymore but its just RAW you know what i mean?


Whats the one bit of advice youd give to anyone starting out today?
Do it for the love man, if you want the P's u got to study the game. Hip Hop doesn't owe you a living so you got to go hard!!!!


What can heads expect from you at LOUIS DEN BEAT CYPHER?
Merkage.....

FREE DOWNLOADS (DJ IQ PRODUCED TRACKS)
"Gully" Asaviour & Apatight taken from the A-Loop Theory Mixtape
The Aim'"taken from Asaviour's Play 2 Win 2 Mixtape

DJ IQ & Asaviour's "A Loop Theory" album is out now on Saving Grace music!!.

New Louis Den Homework - "DETOX SUBMISSIONS"

A bit of roleplay here where we ask ldbb producers to play the part of Aftermath in house producers lol its a bit of fun in an effort to encourage some EPIC BEATS!, check the blog out for more details.




Louis Den Homework 46 - "Detox Submissions"

The GET YOURS challenge!!

Last week Prolifik aka AB0181 dropped this little promo for our Behind Closed Doors project..

GET YOURS?


and yesterday Polish beat head skeet007 dropped a response on youtube.

GOT MINE!


haha truly excellent!!, so with skeet007 leading, we encourage all other BCD heads to rep with their copy of Behind Closed Doors backed with one of their beats!! see how many responses we can get!!.

you can see who else has bagged a copy of the project by checking the BCD Tracking Google map...take a look!.

Behind Closed Doors Copy Tracking Google Map

Ed Strong am Legend

Check out ldbb resident and producer for his badman crew THE IRS in the stronghold lab building a beat!, good to see a beatmaking video from him finally!! keep it up menng!.



Oh and guess what, Ed features on our BEHIND CLOSED DOORS HIPHOP PRODUCTION DVD/CD VOL 1, he's in the Q&A section and has x2 blaps on the exclusive Beat CD...check it oooot.

Jaisu the man the myth..

BAAAAANG...a sick beatmaking video from courtesy of our man Jaisu, check him out as he re-flips a Dilla sample making use of alternative parts of the track, also look out for 5:30 in where he's gettin the kick drum placed just right super spidey hads rockin the stop/play/undo at MP crashin speed!!.



pff REDONKULOID...

best to ever do it AB0181 on the CAM/editing.

PLUG PLUG..to hear x2 exclusive Jaisu bliddaps check out the BEHIND CLOSED DOORS project...copies ARE going!! get one or miss out!.

Louis Den Beat Cypher 04 - April 16th 2009, NEW VENUE!

Normally the beat cypher announcement should have gone up a good couple weeks ago but we've been secretly having a venue beef story thats longer than the star wars saga.. :-[

Basically our old spot Rootys @ the Custard Factory has closed and is waiting to be sold, after almost calling it off and finding another place (which looked promising) we kinda left us hangin; and had one more chance to either flop or find another place, luckily we made it happen!.

All this and the BEHIND CLOSED DOORS DVD/CD that had to be ready for launch meant its been hectic to say the least SO THERES 3 WEEKS to the beat cypher... ;) LETS GET EM

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS LAUNCH PARTY!
This beat cypher is the official launch party for PROLIFIK (aka AB0181) and KOSYNE's DVD project BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, its a hiphop production magazine DVD/CD and features exclusive interviews, Q&A slots, beats from the lab and a diggin feature from producers The Last Skeptik, S-Type, Eyebs, Kelakovski, Darren Paul, Figaro, Ed Strong & Budgie and also comes bundled with an album length beat CD showcasing raw beats out the lab from our featured producers...at BEAT CYPHER 04 you'll be able to (hopefully) see some of the DVD and have the opportunity to bag yourself one of the limited edition of 300 first pressing!.

ON THE BOARDS
Under 18's DMC champ and Jehsts former tour dj, DJ IQ having just dropped his A-LOOP THEORY album he'll have plenty of fresh blaps to play us, he came by on beat cypher 01 with Jehst and was keen to hit us up to showcase his production. RANX DIGGLA from the mighty MSI & ASYLUM is also in the building...one of the resident beatmakers for the legendary Brum crew he's hungry to show us his beats; an important member of brums hiphop scene he's been up on the beat cypher from last oct (and was one of the cats I first hollered at when sketching the BCD project)...he's told me Beat Cypher movement got him his fulltime beat making mojo back so lets see.

Also joining the producers are LDBB residents SIVEY, producer for Lowkey, Stylah, Doc Brown, Nino Bless and more! and MYKE FORTE...down with us from the first beat cypher he's been up on the homeworks and many a lab session and has patiently waited for spot since then!!..the wait is over.

On the Mic backed by the talened producers we have ASAVIOUR!, OG YNR head now spearheadding his own label Saving Grace and promting his current release THE A-LOOP THEORY produced by DJ IQ (see what we did there??). Birmingham legends MSI & ASYLUM, coming thru to show support for the Beat Cypher and their producer RANX are bound to tear the mic apart!, and finally Londons RAMSON BADBONEZ promting his new Mix CD mixed by Harry Love and London's SALVO promoting his new 7 inch single "The Info" which features KASHMERE and CHESTER P..out on the KING KONG HOLDING COMPANY label.

We also got the usual OPEN BEATS round to play your beats out to the crowd..be sure to sign up early..places are even more limited than ever before now as we have to wrap up a little earlier (we have to kickstart proceedings a lot earlier so dont sleep..arrive late and you may miss out.

ANDDDDD following on from last time the totally pimped out extravagant BUCKS FIZZ BEAT BATTLE which was won by SHEARS, we've got the got head to head with the other battle entrants for EAT GOOD / LOUIS DEN / SAVING GRACE / BEHIND CLOSED DOORS goodies, sign up at http://www.louisden.com/beatcypher.

Of course all handled by our trusty resident DJ, DJ CRO!, spinning beats/instrumentals and hiphop treats before we kick the night off!.


PLEASE SUPPORT THE NIGHT!....ITS TAKES A LOT OF TIME AND PLANNING TO PUT THESE NIGHTS TOGETHER; ESPECIALLY NEGOTIATING WITH THE PERFORMERS AS THERES SO MANY HEADS ON THE BILL...BUT IF YOU SUPPORT WE WILL CONTINUE TO PUT THESE NIGHTS ON..

bang..

im spent..just CAAAME OUTTTT!!



COPY & PASTE LINKS TO SUPPORT

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myspace comment / wall comment / facebook profile pic
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Behind Closed Doors +Feedback!

What up, its been a very hectic couple of weeks and I still havent written a little peice on the "Behind Closed Doors" project; I'll probably post a little bit on my myspace its just one thing after another at the moment tho!! as im on the beat cypher grizzle too!

But yeahhh! THANK YOU SO MUCH everyone who ordered a copy, we appreciate ANY sort of feedback so if you got a minute do join in on the Behind Closed Doors Vol 1 thread over at the louisden forum and let us know your thoughts, Myself and Pro already have ideas swirling in our heads re: Volume 2 but really we gotta push our product fall back and take all the feedback onboard before we get rolling with it!.

SO!! if you havent already ordered a copy I suggest you do!! head over to http://www.louisden.com/bcd and click BUY!.

Ok...back on it!!, BEAT CYPHER 04 blog coming...NEW HOMEWORK..MONDAY!.

.kos

BEHIND CLOSED DOORS - NOW AVAILABLE!

Yes, we've told you a hundred times over the last little while, but it is now official. BEHIND CLOSED DOORS IS AVAILABLE TO BUY!
good times! After a year of filming between Glasgow, Birmingham and London the final product is signed, sealed and can be delivered! Head over to http://www.louisden.com/bcd to get your copy now! Especially since we have only pressed up a limited first run of 300 (all hand-numbered).

So...Volume One is done and dusted (complete with exclusive beat CD) and we are already looking forward to Volume Two. Support the movement people, 2009 is shaping up to be a big year already! in the words of diddy LETS GO!!!!

A!.

New Louis Den Homework - "QUEENSBRIDGE WEEK"

New blog over at the LDBB myspace!, this week we're after dark moody dungeon beats similar to Mobb Deeps early material; in "Queensbridge" week!.





Check the myspace blog for more details.

S-Type & Jaisu are The Tartan Bullieeeeees

BULLY!
BULLIES!.

Check it out, a new video blog series from S-Type & Jaisu under the name Tartan Bullies; rather than a straight beat making vid the guys are filming these themselves bringing you beats and BS....banter, jokes and plenty more; feels like some spin off steez think of it as the CSI:Miami or Frasier to the Making Beats / Beat Tape series...BULLLIEEEEEEEEEEES.

TBTV Episode 1


.kos

Jaisu Beat Tape VOL.5

Straight from the source...

Homework 44 - "Beats from Beatmakers Makin Beats" ???!

sounds weird and it is!!!, following on from our new found motto "you can sample anything" we've got a bit of a challlenging homework for you this week, check the myspace blog for more details.





Homework 44 Blog.

Behind Closed Doors is Close!.

So close infact that I have a little info-teaser to show for it. The drop date is around the corner people and I hope everyone is as amped as me and kos are!. (replace amped for worried!). Nah fo real, it has been a long time coming and its time to deliver. Anyways, on MARCH 23RD 2009, you can own the Behind Closed Doors DVD with an exclusive beat CD featuring beats from everyone on the DVD. We will be shipping worldwide and prices will follow shortly. If you have been following Louis Den, AB0181, or the length of Jaisu's hair then this is the DVD for you. LETS DO THIS!.

p.s to keep an eye on the timer clock...visit...www.louisden.com/bcd.
A.

Beat Cypher 03 - Round One

Ok theres plenty more to come but I thought id get the ball rolling with the first installment!! the intro took me the longest time to put together hahaha but I was mad inspired of Andys ILL work on DVD 02 so I felt i needed to up it a gear.




more coming soon!


.kos

HOMEWORK 43 - "Boy Bands"

New homework up at the Myspace blog, this week we're gonna get you to work even harder using music from Boy Bands as the source material!..no going the easy route and samplin Jackson 5 now (although thats valid haha).




Peep game here..