Time Stretch is for Pussies!

Consistent with my belief in all things Boom Bap, I feel that I must say, "Time stretch is for pussies!!" Why would I say such a thing in this era of Mash-ups and dance remixes? Well potnuh, I'm gonna TELL you why!

Going way back to the dawn of Hip-Hop, we see that the original music for this shit was A DJ juggling records to extend the breaks. Everyone knows that, right? RIGHT? Now there is an inherent relationship between tempo and pitch when we are talking about vinyl. The faster a record is played, the higher the pitch, and vice-versa.

Now: I feel that even in this age of samplers, a producer ought to respect that relationship. It is no show of skill to take two loops and digitally change the tempo or pitch of one of them to match the other. My dead grandmother could do that! My girlfriend's idiot little yap dog could do that!

If you're going to work with samples, have a little respect for yourself! Learn to chop those breaks up and play the chops! Shit, isn't it enough that you don't have to actually work the vinyl itself? I think that if you have to use time-stretch to get your samples to fuck then they just weren't meant to be! Either spend some time learning the art or just get FL Studio and make some crunk beats!

Plus, aliasing sucks donkey dick!

Here is a beat I did with many different sample sources and (of course) no time-stretch. I can do it, you can too! By the way, this is about 5 years old, so don't get all excited talkin' bout,"Ace is wack, he talks all this shit but listen to how bootsy this cut is.." I ain't havin' it. Let's battle!

Boom BAP, bitches!

You are now about to witness..

How we goin'? This is my new blog! I'm Ace Ha, a hip-hop producer out of Los Angeles (Indiana originally). The REAL kind. The crate-diggin', sample-choppin', Golden-age-lovin' kind. Lately, I've been waking up to the fact that America at large doesn't even realize how that kind of programming works and so I've been sort of getting around to writing a book about it for the lay person. Sorta somewhere in between a manual for an MPC and that busted-ass retroactive spiritual mumbo-jumbo that RZA put out. This blog is meant to kinda get my writing chops up for that endeavor!

I mean to talk about some of the finer points of classical hip-hop production, give props to the illest beatboys, feature some albums that have fire beats and just generally celebrate this largely ignored art. If you're a synthy-ass crunk dealer, welcome! If you're a grimey-fingered vinyl hound, welcome! If you're my girlfriend sniffing around to see if I'm doing something foul, welcome! My only aim is to open some eyes (and hopefully hearts!) to the richness of this music that I love almost as much as life itself.. my life sure wouldn't be nearly as hype without it!

Another thang before we begin: I have a li'l Soundclick Widget to the right. This is going to have my own beats bumpin'. I'll rotate the songs pretty frequently so pay attention! If you're feeling the tracks and maybe want to get down on some projects, holla! I'm always down for an ill collabo. Out!