I was raised on the PC, it's in my bloodstream.
Today, the usual route involves at first a PC and then the MPC, but I can't see a future where I'd stray away from the computer. Hence I find the MPD24 a lot more attractive than the big MPCs. So, keeping to my formation, my setup is minimal: a midi keyboard with not many extras, some great Behringer headphones and a lot of VSTs. I love VSTs.
I'm working with FL Studio trying to make the jump to Ableton Live 6, which is incredible. But I'm notoriously lazy so the switch is taking a lot more time than I had planned.
"Sample based" beats vs. "played from scratch" beats ... where do you stand ?
I'm smack in the middle. I'll sample, I'll make everything from scratch or I'll blend the two. The result is that I don't have a consistent style. Which can be a dangerous thing. Or not (see my MySpace and you be the judge). Also, I'm in Romania so there's practically no digging scene at all. We're predominantly online diggers. That means there are limits to what you can find and use. That can be a good thing because usually when you're limited you're forced to be more creative.
Why do you think yours was the 3rd winning beat of BB002?
It might be because I took a different approach. I think of the artist in everything I do. If someone wouldn't want to rap over the beat then it wouldn't leave my basement. So the battle for me was making a song not showing off my technique. I did however feel that I had to respect the samples provided and not use any outside synths.
Whose beat
of BB002 would you see win the contest? What were your top 3 picks?
Aaw, man... There were a lot of great beats sent in from all over the
world. And I'm proud to say that I was pretty close with my predictions. I
put Mr. Frodo on 1st place and Es-K on 3rd. I also seem to be the only one
to pick Lithion's beat as one of the winners. His dancehall interpretation
of the sample was especially original and inspiring. He was on some
Timbaland shit for real, using samples as instruments. I had him pegged as a
2nd place pick. I probably like it because my approach was similar, although
results were totally different.
How much time do you spend on
your music, how many beats per week/day do you make ?
As I've said before, lately I've been extremely lazy. I've been
making probably 1-2 beats a week at best. But I'm also going through a
sampling phase and I've been concentrating my efforts on just listening to
good old soul, motown, jazz and everything in between, picking my samples
and making the beats in my head for when I'm back to active duty. I've got
some shit prepared. Also I have to add that I'm a perfectionist. The way I
work is that at first I like to make a rough sketch of the beat and show it
off to artists. Only after the beat is picked do I start chiseling at it,
adding the nuances and some finishing touches. This stage invariably takes a
whole lot more than the initial rough beat making.
When did your
production start to happen ?
Right now I'm 22, I've
been having fun producing for about 5 years. I was in high school and had a
band. I was rapping and I sucked. We needed instrumentals and fortunately I
was a lot better at that. After 4 years of learning, searching and improving
on my own, I started putting the music out there. Right now I'm beginning to
see the results.
What is more
important : diggin skills or the chopping skills?
Definitely the chopping skills. Digging can happen even without your
knowledge. You just sit there watching a movie with a great soundtrack (or
even a great score) and the beat just reveals itself. The movie suddenly
doesn't matter anymore, all you hear is your next instrumental. Whether it's
hot or not depends on your skills.
What are you
working on presently ?
At the moment I'm in the studio with one of the more prominent rappers from
Romania, with a couple of yet unknown artists and with myself, on my future
mixtape (no, I'm not rapping, thank god). I've got about half of it done.
Hopefully it'll go on 16pads' audio page soon. Meanwhile you can check out
some of my beats at http://www.myspace.com/whatupboyboy and I'm also running
a blog about producing. Lots of times the content is universal (songs,
samples, youtube videos) so you might find it interesting even if you don't
speak Romanian. Over here:
http://boyboy.wordpress.com
Till the next interview
;) , from Romania, Boyboy sends out peace and love.
http://www.myspace.com/whatupboyboy