This is some 90's hip hop time machine

In this fast and loose video, I go over the basics of the mult, the sample, and some of the ways to make a beat out of thin air...or a bad sample.
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TONY BLACK is a Grammy-winning music producer, mixer/engineer & songwriter/musician. He has contributed to recordings totaling more than 80 million units sold or downloaded.
He won a GRAMMY AWARD for his contribution to the album “THE DIARY OF ALICIA KEYS” for BEST R&B ALBUM.
He also mixed and recorded “RIDE OR DIE” on the Grammy-winning album JAY-Z “HARD KNOCK LIFE VOL.2”

[@TonyBlackNYC]

Hi ...just to add a couple of things to this as I browsed at it I thought of a couple of things...1- you could add the original loop with very little eq OR you you could use the original and just add some of the mults as flavor...what it comes down to is, there are no rules. 2-keep in mind that when these beats were put together, the drops were a bit of a performance...we would experiment with drops LIVE and if we came upon something, then we'd write it into automation...3-this demo barely scratches the surface, but I can't fathom a 7 hr mix session video...not that it would take that long with today's toys. glad you're enjoying it....BTW there's always 1 downvote! its gotta be the same MF everytime,lol.

[@JamBurglar]

You know you're on to something when the haters show up! 😂

[@madblessings]

The fact that you're sharing so much insight into the process behind production in, subjectively, the greatest era of hip hop music is priceless. I had no idea about multing. The more videos you put out, the more I love this channel! Appreciate you Tony

[@SamUrtonDesign]

Very interesting! I was recording/producing (some hip-hop big names at the time) on the west coast in the early 90's, and we never did this "dupes" thing - and TBH I always wondered how all of the east coast records sounded that way ("that way" being what I wanted my records to sound like). Yes, we of course did the 808 kick trick (recording the kick on two tracks with the top on one and the bass tail on another - we'd mix it to suit similar to how you did with the "dupes"). We would also "dupe" a loop/sample onto two tracks to get the sub and highs separated, then mix as needed. But I never "duped" more than two tracks - DOH! A nice trick for that time. Also, very strange for me (in a way) to see how much interest there is re these old school "workarounds" that were used "back in the day" - any DAW today can do so much more, so fast and easy & with better results, than the super expensive studio equipment that was used in the 80's and early 90's. Believe me, ALL OF US waiting around while laying down the SMPTE time code track (and trying to get it to sync to a drum machine) were DREAMING of the day we'd have something like Ableton Live to play with.

[@kultan2000]

Yep. I remember SMPTE. Even when I first moved into REASON I used to put enough space at the top of the track for SMPTE to catch it.😂😂😂 Was a habit.

[@TonyBlackNYC]

waiting around was huge...being able to hang was an art form in itself

[@philippe4297]

I am very interested, with who did you record? Would love to hear some stories

[@SamUrtonDesign]

@@philippe4297 I worked with a first engineer, Steve Counter, who was recording with Digital Underground, Tupac, EnVogue, Tony! Toni! Toné! (Raphael Saadiq), Foster & McElroy, etc (this was in the SF/Bay Area, early 90's), also very briefly with Felton Pilate (of Confunkshun, and who also recorded all of the MC Hammer records...yikes), and I had my own project signed to Priority Records, then the home of NWA, among others. One funny story is that when I was recording for my own project, my rapper/vocalist would always hope the session would occur right after Tupac had been in the studio - because Tupac would usually leave about 5 or 6 half smoked joints in ashtrays around the studio. My compatriot, like a vulture, would partake in all of the joint butts (I never did, as I was more of a malt liquor imbiber than a toker). Another - for that same project, we got Humpy-Hump (Shock G aka Greg Jacobs) to guest on a track. It ended up being pretty sleazy, lyric wise, so the label didn't release it because they thought it would hurt Humpty's image! LOL - as if that character had a squeaky clean reputation. So it was shelved. (Our engineer played the DAT to the producers Foster & McElroy who recorded En Vogue, and they instantly said "HIT" when they heard it - ah what might have been).

[@itchyvinyl]

That’s what was cool about hiphop in the early days. Equipment was being (mis)used in a way it wasn’t designed for. From the way DJ’s used turntables, to early samplers. It was experimental almost to the point of being avant garde.

[@JUANS3F]

Remember Yall....this is not a HipHop channel.... God Bless

[@TonyBlackNYC]

I was gonna point that out

[@geebee44]

this is a serious time saver... instead copying the program/group you can stay working with 1 but just isolate the frequencies... makes it more congruent. dope. Thanks

[@PJ....]

❤️ the ‘Really Rough Demo’ ... BUT I think (when you have the time) we would all like to see the full ‘Long Process’ ... Super interested to watch/learn ... Thanks for the continued consistent posts..

[@Think1stAct2nd]

We used to call this the ghost filter and use it to separate the lows in the sample and isolate them as baselines. I still do it to this day and sweep off like 100-200Hz on one track as the main sample and duplicate that with the lows isolated. From there, I'll add some distortion, clean up unwanted frequencies, throw on a compressor...and then sidechain the kick. The end product is always super clean and my drums fit in their respective pockets, perfectly.

[@Drrolfski]

This is very insightful stuff that actually dissects what was going on in a studio in an era that is deemed mythical by so many.

[@TuchNGoh]

I accidentally recorded “bled through” audio thru a mic (of the beat) and it sounded so nice layered with the original with just a little eq’ing.

[@larrytan73]

You are doing gods works.. Now I see why the 90's sounded amd felt so good! This is a gem! Thanks

[@TeddyRockSteady]

Been doing the same as a few others, usually only use 2 copies of a sample on 2 seperate tracks and low pass the second. What you have done seems like it offers much more control for the overall sound. Thanks for sharing the demo. Salute!

[@trevor_mounts_music]

I do something kind similar with serato sampler or multiband processing. Never seen anybody do it this way and this is definitely a giant rabbit hole to go down...

[@xkaliberkane]

one of best videos I ever saw!!!Glad I found you!

[@witte2702]

loved the old content. loving the new content. carry on blowing up Tony.

[@whyired]

Much love & gratitude Tony.

[@omegajackson]

Tone putting in that work. Thank you

[@joelowery999]

Very cool. I guess you didn’t worry about phase issues using this technique?

[@uniquebeatsboutique]

What an amazing tutorial! I haven't been able to find this many answers too so many of my questions in one place... again super informative. Everything here applies to my set up even if it isn't a daw. such an inspiration.. with some coffee ☕️

[@piggycity]

I love these type of videos. I appreciate the time you took to make this type of Drum loop/break production. This is the type of knowledge that can be applied today. Thank you again!

[@philtyrich1]

Much Respect Tony keep dropping them Jewels

[@bartboguski635]

Once again much appriciated Tony...Just jumped into this time maschine madness❤

[@mrmorpheus9707]

Yup...thats how we did it alright!

[@Kickdrum00]

Thank you for the alpha💎. Great channel

[@gilliatt57]

Tony: other instructive vid. Keep up the good work!

[@daveyleeriot]

Bro that was amazing. Keep doing these hip hop videos

[@elliotash2154]

Incredibly helpful, thank you so much for sharing

[@VinylBliss]

Thank you for this. It makes sense now hearing those filtered drops in tracks. For some reason at the time I thought the engineer was just tweaking a filter on the main sample just for the drop. Very much looking forward to your videos, you are showing some excellent techniques.

[@mfbeatz]

Gonna get this addictive trigger real quick

[@chrisdavis9135]

🔥🏆I hope you know we loving these.

[@vendetta2159]

thank you for sharing knowledge!

[@HarryLoveTV]

Here in UK in the 80s + 90s the more common midi sequencer was generally the Atari ST - MPCs and SPs were here but not anywhere near as common as the states. Did you or anyone you worked with use the Atari running C-Lab or Cubase at all?

[@madblessings]

Man like Harry Love 🙌🏾

[@maximustheproducer]

Thank You! Salute 🫡

[@DSGLABEL]

Turned a loop into a stem!

[@nrgskillmedia]

I always try to process as little as possible the sub, worrying for phase cancellation. You have the sub, the original kick and the additional kick sample tracks that overlap each other's on the low end., they are both EQ'd at different frequencies and therefore their phase is different. By summing them you will likely end up with an irregular/unpredictable sub. What is your approach/view on it? Thank you for sharing!

[@morlockrecords853]

Can you make a video detailing how you record with an SP1200 & akai S950? What techniques would you use to get the PHATTEST sounds out of the samples and what analog equipment would you recommend?!!🧐🤔

[@HarryLoveTV]

The technique Tony showed here is a massive secret sauce not to be overlooked as it works both on music AND drums. I would say it’s all in the sounds you use and not going too crazy with eq + compression - ideally try not to use any of that and instead get the levels right because each sound in the track/mix has a relationship to one-another - which determines how you percieve the fatness/thinness/warmness/brightness of that sound. Another one to play with is stacking / layering as this often gives the impression sounds are individually “phatter” than they are (eg laying a sub kik or 808 under your main , or perhaps tucking another snare behind a drum loop to have more control over how much it pops. Eq and/or compression can make things get unnatural and messy quite fast, whereas just playing with your levels can yield extremely different results you may only expect to get from using eq. I’d say getting your sample into the machine as approximately close to what you imagine then trying to get a decent “mix” all inside the SP+950 is a great way to start getting much cleaner results than relying on outboard afterwards. I made that mistake for years until I got a dj mixer with a really nice sweepable filter and my samples just got a zillion times sharper. Looking forward to hear Tony’s take on this.

[@BuddahHead]

You’re awesome man thank you

[@jakubowskij]

Just fantastic stuff sounds great

[@nutrino5205]

Awesome presentation. I use a similar method with Additive Trigger to mult and beef up Drummer tracks that clients send me from Logic..

[@SONWU]

Great stuff, love the channel!

[@markussaarinen5043]

Thanks for this one as well!! Great stuff

[@LdotSdot210]

hey Tony I've seen people like dj premier speak on how they'd use the mpc 60 in combination with an S950 to make beats with. I'm wondering if you had any experience working with people that had that type of setup and if so were they using the mpc mostly as a midi trigger or were they syncing it with the S950 for more sounds and such?

[@Darie2006]

They did both … thats my setup of the last 5 years…. Both sample but the 60 the only one that can sequence

[@Harlem-Instrumental]

Thanks for this info!

[@user82938]

Looking forward to the tutorial on how to churn your own butter.

[@user82938]

epic

[@gregserenade6653]

excellent!!

[@michaelgreene9837]

The OG way ! Salute!

[@hairynames9704]

I used to have a 60 with that plush arm rest. To be honest, the operator matters more than the machine. It colors the sound slightly, but its not be all end all. I actually preferred my 3000.

[@Reggi_Sample]

“Mult” I think the full terminology is a multi band crossover. They are widely available in hardware and often combined with a phono preamp (almost all dub preamps are made this way)

[@TonyBlackNYC]

not the same, but whatever works..I like the improv

[@aslanyo]

Let’s go! Reason to the rescue! As a plugin. 😎😎😎

[@TonyBlackNYC]

snuck that in there.

[@Darie2006]

This is alot … lol if thats how yall did it… i just phase straight into the machine and eq at the dj mixer……

[@fanusamurai]

You rock dude! Content and the stories about olden days is priceless. I often watch your stuff before hitting the hay as your storytelling vibe is very soothing. PS: Screw the downvoting MFs…there will ALWAYS be those people. I remember this one time I made a video that was great and one person left a comment “Your mouse click ruins the video”. I wanted to go and slap the MF! Haha. Phuk ‘em and do your thing!

[@dj-sandstorm]

Very nice! Cool techniques, so with just a few bars of a stereo mix and then manipulating it, you can make something much bigger. Do you perhaps also have some insights on impact of the low end and compression/limiting on the master mix? No hiphopchannel 😉🎶

[@marceloribeirosimoes8959]

As far as I could see, this beat needs a huge "pumping" upgrade... ...but, we know that taste is something absolutely subjective... I'm missing those vibes from Run DMC live "...Dum-diddy-Dum Diddy-Diddy Dum-Dum!!!"

[@absyntho73]

I know that splitting bass and tops was a thing in 90s Hip Hop, however splitting a loop in more sections is very interesting. However, how you dealt with phase issues then? Was that a problem often? Big like by the way 🙂

[@Darie2006]

Definitely have to pan samples that just him isolating the layers to boost or cut

[@absyntho73]

@@Darie2006 Ah okay, thx.

[@JamBurglar]

One of the things i always wanted to know is how kick drum scratches were handled in the mix. Lots of tracks in the 80's and 90's utilized kick drum scratches. You get a vibe almost like there is a live DJ cutting up two copies of the same record for the drum loop. The thing is, MPCs and SP 1200s don't really allow you to sync in live scratches! So how did they lay those types of kick drum scratches in the mix? Were you overdubbing after the track was already laid down? If so were you matching up the same kick drum sample that was used for the programed drums? I could never quite figure out how that was done back in the day.

[@TonyBlackNYC]

great question...I'll try to put that in a future vid

[@JamBurglar]

@@TonyBlackNYC That would be great!

[@philippe4297]

I was wondering, in the final mix of this teqnique. Isnt it the same as using an eq and one track and then subtracking or adding eq instead of 4 different tracks?

[@TonyBlackNYC]

the short answer is no, but I understand your question.

[@soupforare]

how to tell someone is an og- reason not that anyone needs to for you lol I remember when Rewire dropped it was nuts. Waiting forever to dump samples over MIDI to an EPS or SCSI to a kurz if there was money :^

[@TonyBlackNYC]

I tried to slip that past everyone...reason still has value, especially the rack plugin

[@soupforare]

@@TonyBlackNYC oh 100% still in the bag of tricks, just hell of slept on these days

[@rikkshow]

So much hip hop on this "not a hip hop channel" 😂 Tony, when did you guys start to use Rex/Recycle?

[@PaulFisherMedia]

Damn is this a vertical video in a widescreen or is my phone broken, I’m interested in this one

[@TonyBlackNYC]

I wasn't thinking...but the rest of the video is widescreen...hope you made it.

[@PaulFisherMedia]

@@TonyBlackNYC oh yes I watched it interesting stuff