Interview with Sabama

Sabama is actually two people, me and another guy back home in Scotland (I live in England now) - it's just me who has been entering the battles though. We cover a fair bit of ground musically, from electronica to hip hop to the occasional alternative rock track. Living 300 miles apart isn't ideal but we just send ideas back and forward via mail and get together whenever we can to have a recording session.

For beats, I use an MPC1000 for all the chopping, arranging and so on, then track it out into Cubase to add any FX, compression or whatever I think is needed. I could probably work faster in Cubase because I've used it for years but I find that I can come up with parts on the MPC that I wouldn't have using the PC. For any other music, I pretty much use Cubase - I don't tend to use too many samples these days so I rely on VST's for a lot of my sounds. I've got a few bits of outboard gear but mostly I work 'in the box'.

"Sample based" beats vs. "played from scratch" beats ... where do you stand ?

They've both got their place and there should be no rules around which is better. Chopped up breaks sound great. They sound more natural - your drum sounds are already matched up because they were part of the same kit and recorded in the same room etc. Played from scratch beats tend to sound tighter and cleaner and there's definitely times when a more synthetic sound is right - it all depends on what's going on in the rest of the track in terms of which one is going to work best. I'll usually combine the two, so I get the character of sampled drums layered with the punch of electronic sounds.

Why do you think yours was the 2nd winning beat of BB004?

I guess I took a slightly different approach to most of the other guys so my beat stood out. I wanted to add a little dub influence in there so went for some fairly up front echo on the horns. Overall though, I just make music with the things I like to hear - I like to have dynamics in the drums, so there's a lot of ghost snares and hats, flams and rolls in the beat and based on the comments I got, I guess that's what the judges liked too!

Whose beat of BB004 would you see win the contest? What were your top 3 picks?

Well, I don't think there's any argument that FS Green deserved to win - that beat was flawless, he absolutely nailed it. From the others, I really liked Es-K (very talented guy!), Par Yen (has his own distinct sound), f1zz (laid back and musical), Flix (really tight and with a phenomenal change in the drums) and Emanowiec (minimal and atmospheric). Lots of other good stuff in there as well.

How much time do you spend on your music, how many beats per week/day do you make ?

That's hard to say - I'm really bad at finishing anything! I tend to have a lot of different things on the go at once - I'll get tracks up to a certain level, leave them for a while and come back to them later to see what's worth finishing. It's good to step back from music - if you listen to something too much, you can start to accept little mistakes that would be obvious if you heard it with fresh ears. It's just the way I work - it's probably wrong but the temptation to start out on a new idea is always stronger than the drive to finish the previous one so rather than beat myself up about never finishing things off, I just go with it. I also tend to work in bursts rather than all the time. That said, I'm nearly always doing something with music, whether it's writing, playing or listening - whatever it is, I'm always learning.

When did your production start to happen ?

I've been making music of different styles for years - from recording some really ropey metal tracks using two tape recorders to get overdubs when I was 14, to doing the beat based/electronic music I do now at 31 (I didn't get into hip hop until my 20's). I've always been interested in the whole creative process though - including the technical side of things. I've been putting in a more concentrated effort to produce more music in the past 18 months or so after quite a few years of not really achieving anything - it would be a shame to have spent so much time (and money I suppose...) on making music to not try to do something worthwhile with it.

What are you working on presently ?

A few different things as usual - I've got a few laid back, jazzy, beat based tracks on the go just now that I'd like to get finished soon (this year maybe - heh heh!). Then the other half of Sabama is visiting next week and we'll be working on some electronic stuff and a stoner rock track as a bit of fun - we're both guitarists so it's good to get that side of things out of our system every now and again... We're also looking at finally getting a website set up soon - probably just a MySpace page initially 'cos that should be quick and easy then we can take it from there.

What is more important : diggin skills or the chopping skills?

Out of the two I'd say chopping. It's important to be able to get out and find new sounds but it's what you do with them that really counts I reckon. Anyone with an MPC can find a great loop off a record and stick a beat on the top of it but the chopping side of it is where you can get most creative. The beat battles are the perfect example - every time there's around 40 completely different beats all from the same source, it's inspirational stuff and anyone who says there's no skill in making music from other peoples records is just plain wrong.


	First of all " Who is Sabama" ? Sabama is actually two people, me and another guy back home in Scotland (I live in England now) - it's just me who has been entering the battles though. We cover a fair bit of ground musically, from electronica to hip hop to the occasional alternative rock track. Living 300 miles apart isn't ideal but we just send ideas back and forward via mail and get together whenever we can to have a recording session. What is the main piece of gear you use and why ? For beats, I use an MPC1000 for all the chopping, arranging and so on, then track it out into Cubase to add any FX, compression or whatever I think is needed. I could probably work faster in Cubase because I've used it for years but I find that I can come up with parts on the MPC that I wouldn't have using the PC. For any other music, I pretty much use Cubase - I don't tend to use too many samples these days so I rely on VST's for a lot of my sounds. I've got a few bits of outboard gear but mostly I work 'in the box'. "Sample based" beats vs. "played from scratch" beats ... where do you stand ? They've both got their place and there should be no rules around which is better. Chopped up breaks sound great. They sound more natural - your drum sounds are already matched up because they were part of the same kit and recorded in the same room etc. Played from scratch beats tend to sound tighter and cleaner and there's definitely times when a more synthetic sound is right - it all depends on what's going on in the rest of the track in terms of which one is going to work best. I'll usually combine the two, so I get the character of sampled drums layered with the punch of electronic sounds. Why do you think yours was the 2nd winning beat of BB004? I guess I took a slightly different approach to most of the other guys so my beat stood out. I wanted to add a little dub influence in there so went for some fairly up front echo on the horns. Overall though, I just make music with the things I like to hear - I like to have dynamics in the drums, so there's a lot of ghost snares and hats, flams and rolls in the beat and based on the comments I got, I guess that's what the judges liked too! Whose beat of BB004 would you see win the contest? What were your top 3 picks? Well, I don't think there's any argument that FS Green deserved to win - that beat was flawless, he absolutely nailed it. From the others, I really liked Es-K (very talented guy!), Par Yen (has his own distinct sound), f1zz (laid back and musical), Flix (really tight and with a phenomenal change in the drums) and Emanowiec (minimal and atmospheric). Lots of other good stuff in there as well. How much time do you spend on your music, how many beats per week/day do you make ? That's hard to say - I'm really bad at finishing anything! I tend to have a lot of different things on the go at once - I'll get tracks up to a certain level, leave them for a while and come back to them later to see what's worth finishing. It's good to step back from music - if you listen to something too much, you can start to accept little mistakes that would be obvious if you heard it with fresh ears. It's just the way I work - it's probably wrong but the temptation to start out on a new idea is always stronger than the drive to finish the previous one so rather than beat myself up about never finishing things off, I just go with it. I also tend to work in bursts rather than all the time. That said, I'm nearly always doing something with music, whether it's writing, playing or listening - whatever it is, I'm always learning. When did your production start to happen ? I've been making music of different styles for years - from recording some really ropey metal tracks using two tape recorders to get overdubs when I was 14, to doing the beat based/electronic music I do now at 31 (I didn't get into hip hop until my 20's). I've always been interested in the whole creative process though - including the technical side of things. I've been putting in a more concentrated effort to produce more music in the past 18 months or so after quite a few years of not really achieving anything - it would be a shame to have spent so much time (and money I suppose...) on making music to not try to do something worthwhile with it. What are you working on presently ? A few different things as usual - I've got a few laid back, jazzy, beat based tracks on the go just now that I'd like to get finished soon (this year maybe - heh heh!). Then the other half of Sabama is visiting next week and we'll be working on some electronic stuff and a stoner rock track as a bit of fun - we're both guitarists so it's good to get that side of things out of our system every now and again... We're also looking at finally getting a website set up soon - probably just a MySpace page initially 'cos that should be quick and easy then we can take it from there. What is more important : diggin skills or the chopping skills? Out of the two I'd say chopping. It's important to be able to get out and find new sounds but it's what you do with them that really counts I reckon. Anyone with an MPC can find a great loop off a record and stick a beat on the top of it but the chopping side of it is where you can get most creative. The beat battles are the perfect example - every time there's around 40 completely different beats all from the same source, it's inspirational stuff and anyone who says there's no skill in making music from other peoples records is just plain wrong.
	Check out Sabama : coming soon.
	Sixteen Pads talk with Sabama . June 10, 2007