This is Jee Juh’s first edition of our Music Industry Contacts Catalog. We will be constantly updating this catalog and reposting it as we do. Hopefully this information will go hand in hand with our beats in helping you in your music career. To stay updated on this list, join our Jee Juh Forum.

LOS ANGELES RECORD LABEL CONTACTS

143 Records
530 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 101
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Phone: 310-899-0143
Fax: 310-899-0133

A&M Records
1416 North Lebrea Ave.
Hollywood, CA 90028

Aftermath Records
2220 Colorado Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
Phone: 310-865-7642
Fax:310-865-7068

Continue reading »

“Now that I have a Grammy under my belt and Late Registration is finished, I am ready to launch my clothing line next spring.”

The producer/beat maker/rapper/political activist named Kanye Omari West was born on June 8, 1977 in Atlanta, GA. Kanye West then made it to Chicago at age three. Kanye West’s early production and beat making was mostly for small time artists in chicago and his hometown area. After dibble dabbling around for a while, kanye west made his first big collaboration called “Turn It Up” with Jermaine Dupri and Nas, this was a breakthrough for him and it featured on JD’s Life… In 1472 movie soundtrack. The song unlike most of his other beats relied on a sample-free style, basically the opposite of Kanye West’s diced drum-programming and sample-heavy tunes. Kanye honed and perfected his production skills under the training of Derrick “D-Dot” Angeletti. Continue reading »

In comparing mics there’s not always a clear better or worse. For example, when I’m making a hip hop beat and I want to add a piano sound there are many to choose from (a dark piano, bright, distorted), each going better with different beats. The same goes with microphones. Different mics go better with different artists over different instrumentals. However, in modern hip hop music the sound of vocals has become very consistent. Where as the instrumental’s piano, snare, or kick often sound different from song to song, the vocal quality across the board is usually about the same. This makes it possible for top producers to get away with having only one microphone in their mic cabinet. This vocal standard, also makes it easier to compare mics, and it will be this same standard that I judge these following microphones against. Continue reading »

Record labels get hundreds of demo CDs a day. Many are thrown straight into the trash. And the ones listened to usually don’t last for more than 10 seconds before being ejected and then thrown into the trash.

Many A&Rs won’t even listen to demo CDs unless they are given to them from someone already in the music business. And it is very rare that an artist goes from nothing to a big record deal. Artists that get signed to big record labels almost always already have some sort of fan base and a buzz about them. A&Rs are looking for artists that are the easiest road to success. And if you’ve already made it half way their on your own, and shown that you have the stamina, drive, and focus to continue all the way to the top, then the A&Rs will be dying to pick you up and step on the gas.

So if you are not signed to a big record label, and this is one of your goals, then it is time to start getting halfway there on your own. To do this Continue reading »

Some of you may be thinking, “so you can change the pitch, if your voice sucks, but I don’ need that.” But that is not true. Even the best singers in the industry use Auto-Tune to give their voice that edge. Although most use it lightly, you can also max out the knobs to get that T Pain I’m In Love With A Stripper sound. And this is not just for singers. More and more rappers are adding that melody to their choruses, and yes, they are using Auto-Tune. Continue reading »

MBox 2 Pro	vs.	Mbox 2

Digidesign has recently released the MBox 2 Pro ($799), an upgraded version of the MBox 2 ($495). Here’s what an extra $304 can get you: Continue reading »

Interview, May, 2001 by Jonathan Moskowitz

TWO OF MUSIC’S FAVORITE PRODUCERS SLIP INTO THE SPOTLIGHT

“I grew up around all types of music,” says Chad Hugo, who along with his partner, Pharrell Williams, comprises the red-hot hip-hop production team the Neptunes. “I used to listen to Rush, the Who, classic rock. But also hip-hop when it hit the scene. So everything that we do now is influenced by all that music.”

Having produced Mystikal’s “Shake Ya Ass,” and Jay-Z’s “I Just Wanna Love U [Give it 2 Me],” the Neptunes have unassailable hip-hop credibility, and with so much buzz around them as producers, it was a natural progression for them to make the jump from behind the mixing board and into the spotlight. The two recently recorded In Search of … (Virgin) their debut as artists, which they released under the acronym N.E.R.D. (No one Ever Really Dies). “Dying is a doorway,” explains Williams. “And you don’t die in a doorway. You go somewhere else.” Continue reading »

Panning is one of the most important aspects in the makeup of your beats “stereo image”. A stereo image basically has two perspectives, left to right and front to back. Panning knobs control the left and right axis of your sounds. Volume, reverb, delay, filtering and ambiance create the front and back effect.

Imagine yourself sitting in the front row, watching the live performance of your beat. Where is your drummer? Where is your keyboard player? How about your violins? All these things are very important when creating your “stereo image”. Continue reading »

Scott Spencer Storch (born December 16 or December 15, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York), is an American Jewish entertainment mogul, hip-hop record producer, arranger and keyboardist. He plays the piano, clavinet, violin, bagpipes and he is also an avid horse back rider.

After moving to Cherry Hill, New Jersey where he became the keyboard player for the Philadelphia hip-hop band The Roots, he played keyboards for other Philly artists including Schoolly D and G. Love.

Storch began experimenting with his own productions by making beats for The Roots. He then left the band and learned more about the art of making beats from Dr. Dre and Timbaland. Storch is now one of the most in-demand hip-hop producers today, working on beats for a wide variety of artists. Unlike many of his contemporaries (Kanye West, Pharrell), Storch rarely uses samples in his beats, preferring to create his own music. Continue reading »

With the help of Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org) here is closer look at some of my favorite hip hop sub generes.

Bounce Beats:
Bounce music is an energetic style of New Orleans hip hop music, taking off in the early 1990s, but dating back to 1980s. It is characterized by call and response party chants and dance call-outs typically sung over the “Triggaman” (from the song “Drag Rap” by the Showboys) and/or “Brown Beat” samples. Nearly every second of the 1986 single “Drag Rap” has made its way into bounce jams: its opening chromatic tics, the immediately identifiable “Drag Rap” sample, the shouting out of “break” (emulated throughout OutKast’s “Stankonia”), the whistling breakdown, the vocoded “drag rap” vocals, and the minimal drum machine verse. Popular bounce artists include Juvenile and Mannie Fresh.

Hyphy Beats:
Hyphy (pronounced HI-FEE) is a style of music and dance primarily associated with the San Francisco Bay Area hip hop culture. Continue reading »

Constructing a Hip Hop Beat Below

(Cool article which I did not write myself but is worth reading)

Credit: Tweak (http://www.tweakheadz.com/hip_hop_beat_construction.htm) – Thanks Tweak!

Just to start… There are two basic parts to a typical hip hop song: The Beat and the Vocals. Each consists of several tracks. While this article focuses on the construction of beats, lets start off with a description of all the elements of a hip hop song so you can see how the beat fits in.

What are Beats? Continue reading »

I thought that it would be useful to talk about the difference between a hip hop beat maker and a hip hop producer. At first glance they may appear to be very similar but then once you get just underneath the surface you realize they are different.

A hip hop beat maker is obviously a person who makes instrumentals, and hip hop music but a producer takes the job to the next level. A producer makes it his duty to work with the artists and to make sure that they are getting more than just a beat. A hip hop beat makers job stops after he is done making his music. Hip hop producers have the difficult job in communicating with rappers, recording rappers, and dealing with all things that come up when working with rap artists.

I took my thoughts to the hip hop forums on soundclick to see what other hip hop producers and beat makers had to say about this. Continue reading »

Traditionally, or back in the early days of hip hop, hip hop music producers and beat smiths sold Hip hop instrumentals just to make ends meat. But today, you have producers such as The Neptunes, whom sold Rapper Nas a single Hip Hop instrumental for $1,000,000 dollars. How did this happen? How can rappers afford to pay so much for a single instrumental track?

Unfortunately not everybody can sell Hip hop instrumentals for as much as the Neptunes. Selling Hip hop instrumentals at low prices like $100 dollars is the harsh reality for many up and coming hip hop producers. Selling instrumentals online can be even more difficult, it’s not uncommon to see new producers selling decent instrumentals for under $75 dollars. Continue reading »

There is a very fine art to destroying somebody in an online rap battle.
Part 1: Key things to keep im mind when preparing yourself for a battle.

1. Make sure you are not sharing any important personal information.
2. Pull up an extensive list of slang and cuss words from Insult Monger.com.
3. Get up to date on all the latest rap news from http://rap.about.com.
4. Practice on your friends on AIM.
5. Continue reading »

Billboard charts are a good measure of popularity, but when it comes to money, record sales are only the begining. From a name to a brand, an endorsement to dollars, Jay Z says it best, “I’m not a business man, I’m a business, man.” And it’s happening everywhere: clothing lines, colognes, night clubs, TV shows, money on top of money. And here’s who’s stacking it the highest.

1. P. Diddy, $346 Million

2. Jay-Z, $340 Million

3. Russell Simmons, $325 Million

4. Continue reading »