Fade
The Beat Strangler
Administrator
illest o.g.
With the recent Beat This! Competition win, I wanted to find out from Disa Beltz how the winning beat was put together. As it turns out, the mixing was done well thanks to his knowledge about frequencies and also taking time to mix properly. Let's find out more...
Congratulations on the win! How did you put together that beat?
Thank you. The beat's name, “91152” means it was originally made on September 9th of last year, so I'm not really sure about its origin. However I've been going through all the beats on my laptop and updating them, so this was one of the first ones I did. The music was solid but I redid the drums, also a lot of EQ work.
What I noticed right away was how the mix was solid. Is mixing something you work hard at?
I'd say I've worked hard at making it easier for me, just because mixing is probably my least favorite part of making music. I ignored it for a long time, but I usually have a prominent bass or 808, so mixing became essential. What made it easier was learning about frequency and knowing what to look for so I can run through the mix quickly, while at the same time not rushing. I know now that until it's been mixed it's not finished, so approaching things with that mindset also makes it easier to knock out.
I know mixing is not popular amongst beatmakers but it's important. What are other parts of making music do you consider very important?
Definitely knowledge of music theory. You don't necessarily need to know how to play an instrument, but knowing what key your beat is in and how to put chord progressions together to me should be mandatory if you consider yourself a music producer. To produce it you need to know how it works.
What kind of setup do you have?
I have a MPC Studio, a M-Audio Keystation 49, two Rokit 5's, and a laptop I bought from a pawn shop. I make and mix everything in the MPC software. As far as plug-ins I only use Absynth, Massive, and Nexus, plus the Fab Filter mixing series.
What's that one piece in your setup that you can't live without?
Easily the MPC. Everything runs through that and it controls the software. Plus for a while I didn't have a keyboard, but I was still able to play notes and chords using the pads. Great investment by the way for anybody looking to buy their first MIDI controller.
There are always trends in music production, so how do you manage to make beats with your own flavor?
I don't listen to the radio or go to the club, so I don't really know what the hot songs are or what they even sound like. From time to time if I hear about a particular song frequently I'll check it out, but for the most part I listen to artists I've already been a fan of. I listen to all genre's of music, so my influences come from all over the place.... I even have music in my Itunes that isn't in English, because good music is good music so it transcends all that. And that's what I strive for, good music. So I basically make what sounds good to me, not what I think will sound good to somebody else or what I think they want to hear.
Why did you get into beatmaking in the first place?
Well I was leaving college with no degree and a baby on the way, and had to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I had a cracked version of Fruity Loops on an old desktop computer, and my playing around on that convinced me that it was something I could eventually do full time. I'm an extremely long term thinker, so I knew this wasn't an immediate future thing, but I knew with 100% certainty that I could do it. Since then I've actually fallen in love with it and it's become my passion... I get up at 6 AM every morning to make sure I have time to do music regardless of whatever else I have going on in my day, and my improvement has surprised even me. I never wanted to be considered a “struggle producer”, so I didn't really talk about it too much. This is actually the first time anybody outside of a select few has even heard any of my work. I have about 425 beats sitting on my laptop right now, and at the moment I'm just working on improvement. I expect to be where I want to be in the next year.
You've battled a few times. How do you prepare for a beat battle?
Honestly there isn't too much preparation, I really just use it as an opportunity to see what the response or reaction is to stuff I've been working on recently. Obviously I'll try to pick some of my better work, but if possible I use something that is out of my norm or comfort zone, just because I believe uniqueness is the key to longevity in any type of creative space.
Who are your musical influences?
My number one musical influence is the Beatles, they probably experimented in the studio more than any other musical artist in history, and some of the techniques people use even today were first done by them. If you listen to any of their music after they started doing drugs, it's crazy how the music doesn't sound like it was recorded 50 years ago. Other influences include the Neptunes, Prince, Pink Floyd, Kid Cudi, Kanye West, Led Zeppelin, and Metro Boomin.
If you could make a beat with a top name producer - who would it be and why?
Definitely the Neptunes... As creative as they are, the music is still extremely musical, as in if you take the drums off and replace them, you could flip their music into almost any genre. I really wouldn't even have to make the beat with them, I would just love to watch their creative process up close.
Do you have any words of wisdom for other beatmakers?
Keep going even when you suck. Repetition is the mother of skill, and I know everybody goes through periods where things aren't sounding the way they want them to or there just isn't a spark to make any music in the first place. It doesn't matter, just keep going, because eventually you'll break out of it and realize you learned things while you were in that funk that help you now that you're out.
What can we expect from Disa Beltz in the near future?
Outside of more beats I can't make any promises. I definitely plan to start a beat tape series some time in the first quarter of 2017, but at the moment I'm still concentrating on getting better. I'm close, very close actually, to where I want to be, but there's still a few more things I need to learn.
Thanks for doing the interview. Any shoutouts you'd like to give?
No problem. Shoutout to 8 Shotz Musik. If you're in Chicago he is an engineer who does mobile recording, he brings the studio right to you, look him up. Also shoutout to you all for having a forum and site like this, very dope.
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