Today I watched a second interview with Young Guru on Pensado’s Place, once again Young Guru talked about some interesting production techniques and some important professional practices he does.

When asked about the fear of work getting leaked,at 21:42 Young Guru said he “never transfers files over the internet” followed by “I take the main computer offline” at 21:56. These basic acts ensure the security of the work Young Guru is producing with these famous artists such as Jay-Z. Although I am not working with famous artists I still believe I can learn from Young Guru. I believe the concept of security/privacy for an artists work is very important and are an essential professional practice for any producer. Therefore I will make sure I back up all my studio sessions on my USB just in case my files ever get corrupted.  I also will refrain from posting these tracks on my social media, to respect the artist’s approach to release their own music in any way they see fit.

At 33;54 when asked about whether he cuts the low end of a record for commercial levels Young Guru replied said “I present the song the way I want it”, he went to say if the record needed any changes he let someone else do it. I think it’s very important to have faith in the record you produce, because mixing is a very personal thing and even though you compromise with the artist in the creative process. If you are both happy with the result then I think it is important to just believe in it even if others don’t straight away. I will be applying this mentality to my work and hopefully it will allow me to grow in confidence as an artist.

This post relates to learning outcome 5

Today I watched an interview with Young Guru on Pensado’s place. Throughout the interview Young Guru explained his production techniques when working on The Blueprint 3.

At 19:58 he says “I’m trying to make the artist the best artist they can be, not who I think they should be”. he goes on to explain how important it is to understand that as a producer you are working for a client and you should be willing to to make the client happy with the work produced even if you personally don’t agree with some of the choices made. For me personally I need to understand that every artist I work with may have a different vision for their music then I do and although I will have my input, ultimately it is the artist’s music.

At 21:25 he describes the track empire state of mind as a”pop record constructed in a hip-hop way”, he goes on to explain how the track uses a drum loop and sampling. My track inspired by Young Guru’s production techniques mimics a pop record constructed in a hip-hop way, there is a programmed drum pattern on a loop and although I have not used any samples all the instruments have been programmed in using sounds on the DAW Fruity Loops.

Empire state of mind is a song driven by piano and at  24:45 Young Guru called the piano a  “mid-range eater” he the explained why it is necessary to boost between 2000khz-3000khz for female vocals he called it  “magic range”. My track inspired by Young Gurus production techniques is also driven by the piano. So from today’s research I have learnt how to better blend my female vocalist with the piano.

This post relates to learning outcome 5

The track I have produced inspired by the production techniques of Young Guru is called “Day after day”. I referenced the song “Empire state of Mind Ft Alicia Keys” present on The Blueprint 3 when creating “Day after day”. Similar to Young Guru’s approach when producing “Empire state of mind” I produced “Day after Day” as a pop record that has been constructed in a Hip-Hop way. The song consist’s of a programmed drum loop and midi instruments. Both songs are also piano driven and I thought it was important I learnt how Alicia Key’s vocals sat against the tone of the piano. Finding the balance between my female artist and the piano was probably the hardest thing about this song’s production.

This post relates to learning outcome 5

The track I have produced inspired by the production techniques of Jeff Ellis is called “Oceans”. I referenced the song “Pink Matter Ft Andre 3000”. I attempted to imitate the overall “vibe” of this song and integrate my own production style. The song is quite simplistic in the way it is arranged it consists of an simple drum beat, a repeating melody with some chords. The interesting thing about this song is it is in a 3/4 time signature, I believe this adds to overall vibe of the song and keeps the listener interested.

One of the most noticeable things in this song is the sample that loops throughout the whole song, I have attached a before and after audio clip to show some of the processes(Reverb,EQ etc) I applied on the sample to make it unique.

This post relates to learning outcome 4