As a fan of Jake One, you are one of the lucky many who have been blessed to hear his neck-snapping drums and soulful sample-based sound penetrate your ear drum. Many emerging and aspiring artists use the music of the Seattle-based super producer for inspiration whether it is Jake One instrumentals or drum kits. In making your choice on how to use Jake's sound of beats as inspiration for your own music, remember the originality and attention to final quality which made him a notable producer in the first place.

Jake One has established his own sound from years of hard work, study of the Hip Hop art form and unique personality which trademarks his music. To try to replicate Jake's exact sound you are already shooting yourself in the foot as an artist so using objectivity when in the studio is essential to make sure you establish your own sound. Here are some of the best tips on how to make sure you use the inspiration of Jake One's music to find yourself as an artist and not come off as an imitator.


Study Of Jake One's Work

Extensive study into the music of your favorite producer is a great way to learn a variety of production techniques which you can use to make your music better so feel free to use Jake One instrumentals and drum kits for this purpose. Jake One has made a number of his beats and samples available for you commercially in the instrumental version release of his album "White Van Music", "15 Piece" with G Koop and his drum kit series "Snare Jordan". As you pick apart and study the various sounds, realize the effort which he put into layering and arranging each to create music which is original and distinctive to the ear upon the first few seconds of hearing it. Production of Hip Hop beats is more than just purchasing a sampler and throwing a few sounds together quickly, it takes imagination and effort to stand out among the rest.


Once you have studied the techniques of how Jake's instrumentals are created, move on to making your own either with samples you have found or samples from the kits mentioned above. Jake has mentioned in one of his beat making tutorial videos before that one of the ways he finds musical inspiration is to use a sample one of his favorite producers have used but challenge himself to flip it in a totally different way. This technique is a good way to give yourself confidence to approach your craft if you happened to have "beat block" , a state of musical creativity common in producers who reach a point where they are stuck for new ideas. In addition, using a sample your favorite producer has used in your own way is a good way to be objective about your own music. Once you have finished creating, take a break and compare to what you made next to Jake's work using your ear and honestly say to yourself "is this original enough?" and "have I met or exceeded it in quality?".


Choose Your Weapons

When choosing equipment to create your own sound of high-powered Hip Hop instrumentals with Jake One's beat making influence as your guide, feel free to study the gear he uses but don't feel the need to replicate his studio space piece for piece. The main tools you will find in his arsenal are an Ensoniq ASR-10 sampling keyboard and Avid Pro Tools along with an impressive collection of vinyl records. When Jake teams up with multi-instrumentalist G Koop to add live music flavor to sample-based productions or create totally original compositions from scratch, the studio gear list expands from the ASR and vinyl into a number of vintage keyboards, effects and outboard gear. This includes basses and guitars commonly used in the 1970's and rare discontinued synth keyboards such as the Prophet 5, Memory Moog and Sequential Circuits Pro One. You can research a lot of the studio gear Jake One uses here at The Drum Broker and try purchasing each piece on eBay or craigslist. Another option is to find plug-ins which emulate the vintage gear for your digital audio workstation of your choice.

Once you have created your own sound and chosen your preferred studio gear, it is time to formulate a serious plan of how to plan to use your final music creations. If you plan to use the instrumentals you have made solely for personal enjoyment that is fine. One thing you should keep in mind is to to remain original as an artist and contribute a degree of creativity to the ecosystem of Hip Hop which inspires the art to grow. If you are serious about distributing your music commercially in the new millennium, realize that the opportunities and tools at your disposal to do so on your own are tremendous. By creating an online buzz on your own through submitting your instrumentals to competitions and collaborating with respected artists, you are eventually bound to be discovered by powerful industry people who can provide you with greater opportunity. Jake One is known for landing esteemed placements to produce for artists such as 50 Cent and Dr. Dre after being discovered by Money Management Group.

Final Thoughts

In your path to establishing your own sound, be sure to place yourself in a place which allows for criticism of your music by others and objectivity of your music against the work of more experienced producers than yourself. This good habit is a great way to keep you on your toes and maintain a sharp sword as a weapon of music producing. Many aspiring producers create social accounts and upload their work just to see and hear themselves without gaining the proper inspiration they need to polish their skills. Unfortunately the instant access of the world wide web allows anyone to upload "beats" and call themselves a "producer", however only a few actually become as renowned and successful as Jake One.

Stick to your craft, work hard and keep studying the work of your favorite producers. Fortunately, the access you have to information becomes more advantageous by the year as internet technology evolves. With online communities dedicated to the craft of music production, you can share your work, get critiqued and progress at a faster rate than before.