Cole Cash
They took a hammer and sickle to my back
http://www.samplecloud.net/interviews/cole-james-cash-interview/
Cole James Cash has been making some waves on the US hip hop scene with his instrumental album The price of glory – you can get a free download here. We caught up with the prolific beatmaker to talk about hip hop and sampling.
We’re really enjoying your album, and found it interesting you used some familiar samples used in some quite big Hip Hop tunes. What’s your take on using samples that have already been made famous by other producers?
Thank you for having me, you knew me way back when, back when I was C.I.A, had to change my name because nobody wants to be affiliated with a name that sounds like you are from the federal government.
Sometimes I am just trying to pay homage. For instance, if you listen to the song “The Border”, there is a sample that place in the middle of the song by Don Carlos, the same reggae sample that prodigy used for the song “Wind it Up”. A lot of times its having the vinyl of the original song and just trying to make use of records I have always wanted to sample. In some cases its important to remind people that the songs exists, if Dr Dre originally sampled “Diamonds Are Forever” by Frank Pourcel its important to remind people of that by sampling myself and paying homage. In some instances I had no idea someone sampled it before me, in the case of “Final Round” apparently Don Cannon had flipped that for Big Sean for a song called “Final Hour”. It happens like that sometimes. The important thing is to remind these youngsters that these songs exists, with the lack of sampling going on these days it is becoming a lost art, we are losing out to hi speed hi hats and boring soundscapes and wack ass synths.
The whole album has a very vinyl sound to it, is that intentional and are most of the samples from vinyl or do you use other sources also?
Every sample I use is vinyl, very rarely will I pull something from youtube or an mp3, I use very simple methods for sampling and do most of my work on the mpc or in some instances something like soundforge. Most of my sample flips are very simple. However for some songs, like “dressing room” I sampled from the Tekken 4 soundtrack, I will not hesitate to use something different or unique.
The albums got quite a low fi feel to it, but in the best possible way – what kit are you using to make your music on? You using the traditional kit like an MPC or is it all software? You think it makes a difference?
This is an easy question, a lot of the work that goes into the samples is done on the turntable sometimes you can get a cool unique sound by playing with it on there first, after that I might use the mpc editor software on the machine itself, soundforge or depending if I feel like it or not, I will use fl studio and use a few very basic plug ins. I don’t do a lot of complicated things. I have seen and glanced at fl studio tutorials where someone has got about 200 windows and plugins going at once to do something I consider to be very basic. I try to keep things as simple as possible so my point is easily digested by the listener.
Do you still get excited about new music technology coming out?
Not really because things are becoming more and more automated. Djing is not the art it used to be, for one, learning to beatmatch etc is not even something to be proud of anymore because the software does it for you, what I used to enjoy was reading scratch magazine, but they discontinued that in late 2007 which was a big blow to credible music and production journalism, since frankly, that type of journalism doesn’t really exist. Most producer profiles are based on “who is hot” and “what hits they have made” scratch went in depth. This is why I was happy to be noticed by www.unkut.com because Robbie is one of the last real hip hop journalists left, in a genre that’s loaded with payola and garbage like that. Remember when if you couldn’t dj a club or whatever or couldn’t beat match you were torn a new one? These days its so automated no need to even worry about being skilled. I do like looking at new and old hardware, its fun to read what it can do or watch someone who knows their way around a machine.
What other hip hop producers are you enjoying at the moment?
Most of the time in hip hop I am revisiting older material and trying to catch things I missed. I am over 30 so I have spend majority of my time listening to old school guys. DJ 45 King, Mario C, Large Professor, Marley Marl, Ski, The Beatminers, Domingo, Pete Rock, DJ Quik, Battlecat, Crazy Toones, Dj Premier etc. However my biggest influences are easily Alchemist, Dj Krush and DJ Cam. If you listen to my material, you can hear them without a doubt. While I am a classically trained jazz saxophonist and pianist, I love those guys and very much emulate them. Like RZA, I see them as grandmasters at what they do and I just try to be a worthy student of their techniques. A lot of people don’t know but q-tip is one of the greatest producers of all time along with large professor.
What’s your take on the way hip hop has got more diverse with people like Clams Casino pushing that dreamy washed out sound and Harry Fraud using more diverse sounds?
Well, Those guys are doing great, they have carved out a niche sound that works for them, guys like them two, Dj Khalil, illmind, araab muzik have really brought out some great sounds to the genre. The problem is finding rappers who are worth a damn to get on their tracks. Most of these rappers aren’t worth the bars they spit in my opinion.
Do you have any techniques you frequently rely on when working samples? Any secret tricks? I just discovered the trick of doubling a sampled loop and low passing it to bring out the bass of it, must be so old but works really well!
Haha, that low pass trick is old school, I first saw it back in 1997 when a friend of mine was using some deck to perform that. It might have been a sp1200, anyhow, in all honesty I prefer basic things to alter the mood of a sample, reverb, choruses, pitch control, a lot of what I do is so basic you can hear it in the music, any little tricks I do, I may do it for one or two songs but then I may want to switch it up, I try not to do too much of the same thing.
What rappers are you feeling at the moment?
Believe it or not I listen to a lot of Kool G Rap, old stuff and new. Willie The Kid’s new material is excellent. Sean Price, Roc Marciano, Guilty Simpson, Madlib, AG Tha Coroner, Boldy James, Nas, pre 1997 Jay Z. I also bought Pusha T’s latest album.
Where do you source your samples?
I generally make my own samples but sample packs from companies are useful because you can get a sort of starter set to your production. While most of us who have been at this for 10 plus years have our set of sounds, theres honestly no need to wait that damn long to get good sounds, sounds and samples are meant to be shared. For instance, that Downtempo and hip hop sample pack by Frenic I saw on samplecloud, basically that guy used his hard work from all the years of digging to help out beginners if you were a nerd and ever played magic or pokemon or whatever its called, you have your first set, you can expand on it, redo it and whatever and try to carve out your niche. I have purchased a couple of drum packs because I wanted some good quality snares and the default mpc sounds have been worn to death, it helps to reengineer your sounds, the tools are there for endless methods of getting your work done.
Any advice about the music business for people who are unsigned and trying to get their music out there?
Haha, let me put it to you like this, I have been in negotiations with a couple different companies for months and its been difficult. The music business is the worst in the world. All of the dudes who are hot, don’t want deals, the companies are chasing them, so if you are chasing the record companies they could care less. Now I’m not the biggest artist in the world, my youtube views will tell you that Link but I know a few people in the business who were nice enough to get my stuff heard (and rejected) by some big names within the industry. Regardless if you want to get your stuff noticed, try to get to know a blogger, or journalist, and upload your stuff everywhere you can. Also try to be different, I took a movie and re-scored the soundtrack, I just tried to be different and unique with what I was doing. You can do the same if you apply yourself. Again, I am over 30, I do this because I love it, if you don’t love it, don’t do it, making music isn’t the glamorous thing it used to be. Everyone does it these days, don’t go chasing a deal.
Dope interview but whats up with the mask?