I recently made 3 sampled instrumentals as well as a lyrical cover for all 3.  These include Billy Joel's Uptown Girl located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw089Y8lZfY, Colbie Caillat's Realize located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBzUwkHuPoU, and P!nk and Nate Ruess's Just Give me a Reason located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKYfzfcNz_c.  I got the main melody from Billy Joel's tune and it was a little tough to work with at first.  The high end was pushing through the mix to hard, so I used a high pass filter to turn the sample into something more workable.  I also included sub bass from FL Studio and the plugin called 3XOSC.  The drum fill has a couple samples at the end of the final bar, and it definitely has a hyped feel.  I was always inspired by Realize by Colbie Caillat, and I loved the line, "Didn't I, Didn't I tell you?" when the guitar plucks along.  I got that sample along with chopping the end of the outro into 4 pieces.  The P!nk and Nate Ruess song came out pretty cool because of the clear piano sound mixed with sub bass from Reason.  The drum kit is part of GlobalHeatWave.com and was an MPC kit.  There is a interesting hi hat pattern, snare hit, and open hi hat included in the drum pattern.  In addition to these remixed instrumentals, I put lyrics to every one of them.  I used the lyrics "uptown girl" a lot in the Billy Joel Lyrical version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1z8VAA8Rmk.  The Colbie Caillat lyrical version is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWersZemt3o, and the P!nk and Nate Ruess lyrical version is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJzYai2PvBI.  The P!nk song was particularly fun to write lyrics to and the hook was fun to work with as well.

I recently recorded a 57 minute screenshot tutorial covering the many aspects of music production.  In this particular YouTube video, I go deep "behind the scenes" of my Alanis "Hand in my Pocket" remix and demonstrate how to use Edison, which is the main editor I use during sampling.  This entails getting a seamless loop, finding the tempo, embedding the tempo information in the sample, and saving it on your computer or dragging it into your project.  I also review many aspects of mixing, mostly demonstrating the importance of cutting low frequencies and boosting your high frequencies on vocals, hi hats, and other instruments.  I review how to set up a reverb send as well as work with delay.  I show how to manipulate a sample on the piano roll and how to set up the sample to be "useable" in music production.  I also review what automation means and how to use it.  The video concludes showing the master track effect chain consisting of the TLS Maximizer and the BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer.  In short, the video reviews tips and tricks in the FL Studio music production environment.  The video would be handy for any type of music genre, but certainly focuses on electronic and hip hop production.  

 The song, "Hand in my Pocket," by Alanis Morissette is definitely a classic written by one of the most talented songwriters to grace god's green earth.  I started off by taking the intro sample in addition to the outro harmonica samples.  I wrote my entire verse and recorded it, along with sequencing and sampling the entire instrumental mix.  After listening in the car, I knew I had to deliver a better product.  I spent an additional 2 or 3 hours at the coffee shop, sampling vocals from Alanis and more harmonica sections.  I came home and re-did the vocals.  I don't actually have an interface right now- this song was recorded with a Rode Condenser NT1A into a behringer mixer XENYX802.  The main outs of the mixer go into the stereo mini input jack of my dell laptop computer, and I use ASIO4all as the audio "soundcard" if you will.  The vocals sound pretty crisp and there was definitely some latency while recording, but that could have helped the vocals to "sit" more in the "groove" of the mix.  I worked pretty hard on the overall final product and hope listeners enjoy.

There is a huge ongoing battle concerning the methods of learning to produce music.  I've seen it in the forums and it's very prevalent on YouTube. The argument is about the benefits of learning music on a guitar, piano, flute, drum set, etc (anything in the physical world where you are reading music and playing an actual instrument) vs. the new method of learning music mostly with a computer. The computer has virtual instruments inside of it, as well as a piano, so you are able to make electronic music easily while including the aforementioned Virtual flutes, pianos, drums, strings, and as many synths as you want. I think as long as you are able to blend notes, sounds, rhythms, and harmonics, the method of producing doesn't benefit one or the other, and there are many ways to get to a final good mix. It seems like the older generation or people that actually learned a "real" instrument have beef with the teenagers and D.J.'s on YouTube that are merely "pushing buttons" on an MPC, drum machine, ableton controller, or using any DAW without "learning music" the proper way. And within that statement lies my beef. There is no "proper" way to learn music. Every journey will be different and the way in which you learn will be different. I did learn the piano by ear as well as the drums, and now I mostly use FL Studio and Reason on my computer to produce music. I don't read music all too well. I just use my ears and blend the notes and textures as I see fit. While it's nice to strum or play a real instrument, the sound is still heard and the inspiration is still there. As far as live playing, yes, there is a certain magic that happens as a band comes together or while jamming on open mic night. I do see the purity of music in that regard. That is the human aspect coming into play. I have made hundreds of hip hop beats while sitting alone with a computer and headphones. It simply isn't in the same ballpark as jamming with other musicians. As far as sequencing, I can play a live drum set and I have also programmed hundreds of beats in FL Studio by using the step sequencer and clicking with my mouse. With FL Studio, I can actually do more complex patterns and pick from thousands of .WAV samples to fill in my kicks, hi hats, snares, and all percussion. In the electronic world, I add my own baselines, pick out my own instruments, and mix the entire song on the computer. As long as you can ignore some of the digital and robotic aspects of using a computer to program and sequence drum sounds, the inspiration is still there. This is why when I actually burn a song onto a C.D. and play the finished song in my car, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world. That's why I believe it is not important how you "learn" music. As long as you understand the underlying principles, a new age digital producer learning on an MPC or pads and triggers of some sort isn't any less worthy than a guitar player. It doesn't really matter if you can read music, and this fact has been proven for a while now. What matters is the final result and how it makes you feel. The computer is the vessel to get to the final moment of a finished song. Music is an art of expression. I think anyone on YouTube is a musician no matter how they learned. Now, if they never ever pick up an instrument, yes that is bad! But there is no side that is "evil." Perhaps it's best to have a nice balance of both worlds. Learn the real instruments and learn the digital computers as well. Then you can mix both of them regardless. Every single computer program has the ability to record outside audio. This means you can record your guitar, drums, vocals, or any instrument you want, and have other sounds be electronic if you desire.

I was looking for a moment of goosebumps before the superbowl and Alicia Keys delivered.  She played a beautiful white Yamaha piano and sang the national anthem before the Ravens and 49ers kicked off.  Towards the end of the song, she went into a nice little 3/4 time on the piano which really added some originality to the piece.  I took it step further and made a hip hop remix out of it.  I used the korg 05r/w for a flute sound and added a bunch of percussion and fx in FL Studio.  I also added a couple pianos to excentuate the pattern she came up with.  I recorded Alicia from the audio output of my Samsung T.V. 

 I recently received a nice gift from my dad - the Korg 05R/W.  I used this sound module as a teenager in my dad's analog studio.  I'm really excited to explore the 236 sounds and use this little puppy as my "secret weapon."  The sounds are very good and consist of ambient patches, organs, drums, and ethnic variations.  I looked up the PDF on google and found a quick start and user manual here.  I'll probably use this module when writing songs for film and tv licensing because I want to be original as possible and this will help the creative pallete.

 This beat has a sampled loop from a vinyl record that is sped up and hard to hear.   I was dealing with pre-done wave chords and other effects, so it was almost a miracle that they came out in key.  I added my favorite piano from Reason - the NNXT piano that loads as soon as you load up NNXT.  The hyphy trumpets and violins give it another crazy feel...but I love anything with piano.

 My good friend Danny came into town recently and we hit up the lab.  He is one of those rare people that has a love of video, audio, and the arts, so we got to crackin' on making some beats.  While most people just talk about collaborating on a beat, I knew Danny was serious.  He lives in Hawaii and we attempted a remix on the chant titled "E Ho Mai."  The beat was drafted pretty quickly and it was mostly a creative session.  If any words came out wrong in the song, we meant no disrespect to Hawaii.   I think Danny knew the words corrrectly but I may have had a little trouble - I am the last verse.

 If the beginning guitar in the song "Stay" by Lisa Loeb doesn't give you chills, then you just aren't human.  Well, maybe not so extreme, but the beginning of the song and the whole song in general is definitely a classic.  Her lyrics also fit amazingly into the structure of the song.  To make a long story short - this song is fantastic.  I wanted to sample some of the guitar here, and try one of my lyrical interpretations.  This is when I draw on the main theme or message of the song, and then put my own spin on it.  This case was a little different.  I took the position as her boyfriend that wanted her back.  There are many interpretations of her original lyrics, mostly that she is somewhat scared or unsure and wants to leave her boyfriend.  She discovers she made the wrong choice because as she says, "I missed you."   She thought she could leave but she missed him.  My job here is to tell her that I still want her, while using her original lyrics in my own point of view.

 I recently got inspired by the piano at the beginning of Skyfall as well as the lyrics.  I sampled the piano, did some time stretching, set up the drum beat, added a bassline, arranged the song, mixed each track, and had my dad add a piano solo.  I also did what I call a "lyrical interpretation," where I go off what the artist and songwriters already mentioned in their lyrics.  In this one I used alot of what Adele said and only changed things up a little.  I was in the studio for a good 4 hours or more, which went through the night until 1 or 2 in the morning.  That tends to happen when you get inspired!  The free track is available here: Skyfall Mp3 - Adele Hip Hop Remix or just look below the video to get the Mp3 or Podcast to your iTunes library!