KillSpray
Don't be mad
Respect to @LauderdaleBoss and @doublenegative for making this all possible, first and foremost 
By now RZA's place as a legendary producer and a legendary figure in hip hop period is already cemented. So no need to rehash his accomplishments, just google him if necessary.
When you talk about the RZA you could talk about a lot of things: his use of karate flick clips, strong sense of groove in his drums, his sample choices and chopping style w/ the soulful vocal bursts and the sudden, abrupt looping style in the middle of phrases; his use of complete "switch ups" in beats, introducing a completely new loop idea or sample. He was great at a few things. He's the RZA. But What I want to take a look at now, from a production perspective is RZA's arrangement techniques on some of his classics, because even though some of it is now more than 20 yrs old, and production techniques and technology have evolved to crazy levels, the production still stands up to the test of time. Id say RZA's arrangement techniques are probably the most overlooked and under rated elements of his style.
Coincidentally, the arrangement is to me maybe the most challenging part of making a beat, and listening to some of the other guys on here, I can see I'm not the only one who struggles here. A lot of us can make a dope 2 or 4 bar loop, but can you make it interesting for 3 minutes straight though? That right there is what separates beat makers from producers, and many discarded MPCs and cracked copies of FL Studio litter the path on the way from from dope loops to complete full dope beats.
So to study the RZA and this album specifically should hold some gems for us all.
After many listens and various studies on the art of arranging music I've noticed one thing about many of his classic productions that keeps it fresh until this day. Listen closely and you'll notice, very rarely will he let a track go 4 bars without introducing some new element, sound or other event into the track. I can't lay everything out for you, but listen and see what you notice. Every 4 bars or so he's doing something, whether it's dropping something out or bringing something in, there's a feeling like the beat is alive. No I mean literally, It actually feels at certain points like he's just freaking the beat live, almost like he's DJing the beat, with the different elements. Here, he's got a couple of variation on the main idea, and he just weaves them in and out.
Here's one of the famous RZA "switch ups." Now, here's a track where he has a few distinct and dope loops to create variation, with the horn loop, the bare bassline, and then the switch up to the piano loop. In terms of different looped sections, this is one of RZA's more varied beats, yet notice he doesn't just rely on the fact that he has these different sections. He uses record scratches, and also little sound effects to keep the basic stripped down verse section interesting, then that mighty switch up. That feeling that the track is alive still is present throughout.
Now here's a super simple example to show how RZA works when he doesn't have as many spare parts. Here he's basically looping a 2 bar sample, straight up as the driving element of the whole track. As minimal as it is, don't sleep on the arrangement, as basic as it is, it does just enough to keep it feeling alive... but I'll be honest the MC's being as great as they are helps. Think about the little things he's doing to keep the track feeling alive. What could you learn from that? Think about that for a second, he made a hit record off of a 2 bar sample. He doesn't always have to hit you with a huge switch in the beat to make it feel alive.
I've heard many beat makers cop pleas like "it only sounds repetitive because there's no rapper on it." I remember the days when I'd make one or two loops, just lay them across the arrangement timeline and call it a day. In the end, if that's all you're doing, it's not doing enough.
@DBR
@TEKBEATZ
@Todd McPiff
@BlackDroog
@KushSkywalker
@head shots101
@Zeu$
@Tom Foolery
@Sincere Noble
@William Bassington
@Chubbs
@PUT IN WORK
@Uzi713
@Erebus
@zoneoutmusik
@Kese Soprano
@Trev86
@Kemet_Rocky
@D1renegade
@LauderdaleBoss
@truck jewelry
@Myrical Lyfe
@producingfire
@clanarchy
@Aje
@Quinn
@bigrodthe1
By now RZA's place as a legendary producer and a legendary figure in hip hop period is already cemented. So no need to rehash his accomplishments, just google him if necessary.
When you talk about the RZA you could talk about a lot of things: his use of karate flick clips, strong sense of groove in his drums, his sample choices and chopping style w/ the soulful vocal bursts and the sudden, abrupt looping style in the middle of phrases; his use of complete "switch ups" in beats, introducing a completely new loop idea or sample. He was great at a few things. He's the RZA. But What I want to take a look at now, from a production perspective is RZA's arrangement techniques on some of his classics, because even though some of it is now more than 20 yrs old, and production techniques and technology have evolved to crazy levels, the production still stands up to the test of time. Id say RZA's arrangement techniques are probably the most overlooked and under rated elements of his style.
Coincidentally, the arrangement is to me maybe the most challenging part of making a beat, and listening to some of the other guys on here, I can see I'm not the only one who struggles here. A lot of us can make a dope 2 or 4 bar loop, but can you make it interesting for 3 minutes straight though? That right there is what separates beat makers from producers, and many discarded MPCs and cracked copies of FL Studio litter the path on the way from from dope loops to complete full dope beats.
So to study the RZA and this album specifically should hold some gems for us all.
After many listens and various studies on the art of arranging music I've noticed one thing about many of his classic productions that keeps it fresh until this day. Listen closely and you'll notice, very rarely will he let a track go 4 bars without introducing some new element, sound or other event into the track. I can't lay everything out for you, but listen and see what you notice. Every 4 bars or so he's doing something, whether it's dropping something out or bringing something in, there's a feeling like the beat is alive. No I mean literally, It actually feels at certain points like he's just freaking the beat live, almost like he's DJing the beat, with the different elements. Here, he's got a couple of variation on the main idea, and he just weaves them in and out.
Here's one of the famous RZA "switch ups." Now, here's a track where he has a few distinct and dope loops to create variation, with the horn loop, the bare bassline, and then the switch up to the piano loop. In terms of different looped sections, this is one of RZA's more varied beats, yet notice he doesn't just rely on the fact that he has these different sections. He uses record scratches, and also little sound effects to keep the basic stripped down verse section interesting, then that mighty switch up. That feeling that the track is alive still is present throughout.
Now here's a super simple example to show how RZA works when he doesn't have as many spare parts. Here he's basically looping a 2 bar sample, straight up as the driving element of the whole track. As minimal as it is, don't sleep on the arrangement, as basic as it is, it does just enough to keep it feeling alive... but I'll be honest the MC's being as great as they are helps. Think about the little things he's doing to keep the track feeling alive. What could you learn from that? Think about that for a second, he made a hit record off of a 2 bar sample. He doesn't always have to hit you with a huge switch in the beat to make it feel alive.
I've heard many beat makers cop pleas like "it only sounds repetitive because there's no rapper on it." I remember the days when I'd make one or two loops, just lay them across the arrangement timeline and call it a day. In the end, if that's all you're doing, it's not doing enough.
@DBR
@TEKBEATZ
@Todd McPiff
@BlackDroog
@KushSkywalker
@head shots101
@Zeu$
@Tom Foolery
@Sincere Noble
@William Bassington
@Chubbs
@PUT IN WORK
@Uzi713
@Erebus
@zoneoutmusik
@Kese Soprano
@Trev86
@Kemet_Rocky
@D1renegade
@LauderdaleBoss
@truck jewelry
@Myrical Lyfe
@producingfire
@clanarchy
@Aje
@Quinn
@bigrodthe1
rza pushes me
