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Behind the Beats: STBB #694 - Samwise Ganja

Fri Jul 31, 2020 1:02 am

Interview with STBB Forever Beat Battle #694 Winner, Samwise Ganja



Can you shortly introduce yourself?
Samwise ganja the wax martian aka saadyah tzvi. I lived in Israel for 10 years but I recently returned to Michigan and I am currently based out of Ann Arbor.

What was your first STBB entry?
STBB 322

Can you tell us about your musical or other inspirations.. acts/ producers etc?
Anything from Dilla to my favorite band Thrice and everything in between
I used to be in a melodic hardcore band in New Orleans. I've always listened to a lot of southern rap as well as emo and metal. Producers like 9th Wonder, Preemo.. Rappers like Eminem, Hieroglyphics.. really all over the place

How did you learn to make beats..and do you play any instruments?
I first taught myself to make beats when I was about 11 years old using Fruity Loops 2 I believe (before it was called FL Studio)
I play guitar and bass and a little drums and keys.
I took a long break from making beats until I started back up again around 2011. At that time I was making beats using GarageBand and Pro Tools. I bought a Maschine in 2012 MKI and I've been rocking with the MKII since around 2014.

What equipment or software (DAW, VST’s etc) and production process did you use on this track?
I used Maschine 2 and a pluck, synth, and keys sound from Massive. I recorded a bunch of foley sounds using the internal mic on my laptop. First I chop the samples then I add drums and other elements.

How did you make use of the sample?
I sampled all 4 tracks. I used some drums from 07 A Funky Kind Of Thing and chopped some pianos from the other samples. I used a loop from 03 Titelnummer 3 in my outro beat.

How did you go about the drumwork?
This week was no hi hat week so I used a number of foley sounds to make percussion. I slapped a belt, scraped a metal piece on my wallet, lit a lighter, opened a can, hit a bottle, jangled keys, beatboxed etc.

Are there any interesting aspects about the track you’d like to share?
The rules pushed me to use original sounds which gave the track a unique feel. I transitioned between 3 beats which is a common theme amongst my STBB entries.

Any recent projects/collabs going on?
Nothing too recent as far as collabs but you can head to my bandcamp where I have many collections of beats both STBB and others. I should be adding to that soon. https://saadyahtzvi.bandcamp.com

Anything else you'd like to say?
I just want to say that this community is dope as fuck. I'm glad we still have a place to battle even though stones throw got rid of their message boards. In the 7 odd years that I've been involved in this community it has brought me a lot of joy as a place to express myself and connect with other creators. I've also made some good friends here along the way. STBB Forever!
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