SketchMan3 wrote:don't some rappers release their A Capella tracks specifically for people to do this kind of stuff with?
They're usually released for hip hop DJs for actualy live remixing / turntablism, and they are usually found on the flipside of vinyls. You will very very rarely seen any acapellas released digitally. You'll notice that most of them that you can find around the web aren't being distributed by the actual artist himself. Remixes are a valid form of music, but in the business they are usually commissioned, very rarely does a signed artist give stems and acapellas away for the general public to hack at it. Artists and labels usually want to remain in control of what is getting put out there with their names on it.
Downstate wrote:Noobstar - i totally disagree. If you want to make rap beats, it doesn't mean you have to rap over them does it ?
What he's done isnt really any different from what any other rap producer does.
They make a beat - they get someone else to rap on it. Albeit some rappers make their own beats and then rap on them - but not most of them. Most rappers have a few producers they work with. But of course a guy in his bedroom makes rap beats and whacks an accappela on them - for the sole reason that he doesn't know any rappers id imagine / I'd rather listen to a beat with a studio accappela on it than some dork trying to rap and being terrible (there are plently of people doing this already).
Technically they are remixes i guess, but i think your comment is a bit pedantic. Its hardly like he is trying to pass of these raps as his own. I could see your point if he'd used small underground rappers and not mentioned it, but come on he's put dre and eminem over it. I think its quite obvious that he's making mash-ups.
There is a world of difference between producing beats for rappers, and constructing a beat around an accapella, I'm sorry you can't see that. The very large majority of producers for hire do not have any vocals on the beats they produce for the express purpose of allowing wanna be rappers to freely rap over the beats and see if they can come up with something good, and if so, buy the rights to the piece of music. In a more profesional arrangement with an established producer and rapper, it works almost the same way where the producer will make a bunch of cool little sketches, empty of vocals so the rapper can pick which he fancies more. Nobody makes a beat, puts a prefab rap track from an established rapper over it to showcase their music to potential partners.
When you do remixes, you never put your name first and you don't rename the song. If you remix Let's Get Dirty by Redman and your own artist name is GasEyes, then the proper respectful way to name your remix is "Redman - Let's Get Dirty (GasEyes Remix)".
For mashups, it is customary to name both sources in the title of the songs used. You also tend to avoid putting your name on those since they are not considered original material from an artist rather than "user made content" . Something along the lines of "Metal Gear / Dangerous Mashup by GasEyes".
If you put your name first, and give a different name to the song, it is assumed you are making a cover version, in which case most of the material in your piece should be original.
You seem to believe I'm being pedantic, but I beg to differ. In a digital world where people have almost free access to professional grade tools and are able to distribute their material on the same channels as professional artists just about any piece of media can be dissected and reused. It is actually a great creative tool that we're being given. In such a situation, I believe that proper etiquette is the only thing keeping people from suing the ever loving shit out of each other for IP/Copyright infringement. If you like two things so much that you want to create a piece of media with it that goes well beyond "fair use" then you should respect these artists in the proper established way.
That's all there is to it. Etiquette.
But there are a lot of ways to using things like Traktor and Ableton, or whatever it is the cool cats use these days, in a "live" way without having to worry about beatmatching it oldschool with a pick axe and motor oil. The style of music you seem to want to develop lends itself very well to Ableton and something like a Novation Launchpad (