Behind the Beat..

I  recently wrote an interesting piece for DaMatrixStudios on DJ|Producer Khardier Da God..

"I tend to be at DaMatrixStudios on average two or more days a week. Every time I walk in it’s like being immediately submerged in the world that is music as an art. Though there are many shows broadcasted from the studio in between those times I often find myself hovering over some ones shoulder soaking in all aspects of music 

I remember one night in particular after a day of shows I decided to stick around and hang out with the fellas for a little bit. Whenever there are no shows to be recorded or sessions engineered you can find the guys either on the turntables spinning or rummaging through the crates and crates of records for something to sample, or making beats. On this night I was observing Khardier playing all these different sounds, similar, but slightly different tones and pitches. So I ventured over to peek over his shoulder, he was going through lists and lists and lists of sounds. Just one sound! No longer then the length of snapping your fingers.

It started with one sound, a sort of ticking sound that he chose after listening to at least two handfuls of sounds in the same spectrum. Then he started playing with the keyboard to make a sequence of sounds. Tick tick ticking. Playing and replaying the sounds to form a type of rhythm I zoned out. Listening to this repeat each time with a slight change, be is slowed down, sped up, or more intricate.

My attention was focused again when a new sound dropped in, a guitar of sorts. Then the guitar started changing and yet another folder of lists was pulled up and put away to pull up another several times with varying guitars playing for a quick second before he found the one his ear was apparently searching for. Blending this in with the ticking noise he added a new layer and quickly was onto another. Layer after layer built up till there where ticks, guitars, drums, horns, and clashing of all types forming a melody.

Then the editing came, well I’ll call it editing. He started cutting up the beat and pasting it in different orders. Adding sounds in on certain parts and then adding different ones for other sections. Then dropping the majority of the beat out for a pause.. .. and bringing it all back together with a BOOM of the bass.

Watching this process for literally hours I was stuck in amazement at the talent it takes to hear this beat in your head and find all the components to bring it to life. I had so many questions, where did the inspiration come from? Did he hear the whole beat in his head or did he elaborate from one distinct sound he was hearing? As he builds the beat was he composing a melody, did he already hear a song being formed for the beat in his head?

I can only imagine it takes quite a while to finish a beat in its entirety and before I knew it Khardier was being put to a challenge to make a Pop beat, and then a Reggae beat. So the present one was abandoned for the time being and he was swiftly moving along to new creations. With ease I might add, it seems that any genre you threw at him he had an idea for and would start to go to work.

I’m sure some could careless to know the details and tedious work that goes into the creation of a song but I am utterly enthralled with every aspect of the process. When I hear a really good song I am listening to every piece of it. From the how the beat starts and the words drop in to the breaks in the beat and how the lyrics conform to every high and low you experience. There are times where I have to restart a song or seek out the instrumental to just hear the changes in a beat. To really feel the emotion of the song, sounds can convey feelings just as much as words can.

If you really think about it, this is literally where all the music we love starts, with a beat, without a beat lyrics would simply be poetry."

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And look out for him on DaMatrixStudios.com for one of his LIVE DJ sets