36 Mafia sound

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Seattle 49

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First off, before I get to my question, I'd like to say what's up to everyone. I've been reading this website for a long time and I guess I decided that it was time for me to post.

To make things short and sweet, 36 Mafia is one of my favorite groups in rap from terms of production. I think their beats are some of the most soulful beats out there and they are kililng the game.

I remember watching an MTV special on Memphis last summer and DJ Paul was showing Sway how to make a down south/ 36 Mafia beat. I was wondering what type of keyboard or what type of equipment he was using to get that sound. (I hope its cheap?)

Secondly, I was wondering if any of you guys here were influenced by them or similar southern artists and could help me with getting that sort of sound, especially with the drums. I been playing piano since I was 5 so I'm pretty handy on the keyboards, but in terms of drums, I am lost. All I know is that they load every song with hi hats, but if anyone could give me other tips, that'd be greatly appreciated.


Thanks to everyone who read this post or will reply to it. Now that I got this account, I can go buck wild replyin to other people's threads.
 
Yo, wattup kid? I don't remember what keyboard that was....but as far as the drums, he used an MPC. there pretty cheap now days....thats only b/c they keep making better versions.

I was influinced by them and mannie frsh adn liljon
 
808 samples all the way for 36 mafia. As far as what keyboards they use I don't know but it probably isnt cheap.
 
You should focus less on what gear they use and more on the sounds they use. Just about any gear can get you something sequenced. So be realistic here.

Triple Six relies a lot on strings and horns, either deep or growling bass, and chirpy synths along with many looped samples of them chanting, grunting, hollering, etc... in the background...then add 808 kits or other drum synth samples. Rarely do they ever use acoustic samples...except for snares and hats...but most of their kicks are from drum synths. Most of the bmps or either between 75-85 or they use half time at 120-140.

In all honesty, you could get a midi keyboard controller, Project5 (included synths are great with strings and has great Roland sounds and drums...Roland makes the 808 in case you didn't know), a good mic, and mic preamp...or soundcard that had a preamp, some nice monitors and you'd be set. The only other software I could suggest is Intakt for your loop samples, and also Novation Bass Station VST for the bass sounds...that VST has got tons of bass patches for that Memphis sound.

Later down the line I would suggest getting ProteusX (which can be bought with an Emu midi keyboard controller) and add the Virtuoso soundset as it has tons of great strings and horns as well. The included synths in Project5 will hold you down (along with the bass sation) for all your synth needs.

The other option is a mpc 2000XL, a Roland JP-8080, and an older XP-60 with some orchestra expansion cards. Though the hardware route is gonna cost more and do less as you will most definately need outboard effects (which software comes with) because Triple Six processes a lot of their sounds with various effects (filters, bit reducers, vinyl static, chorus, phasers, flangers etc...)

As for sound quality, I see no difference between the hardware set-up and the software set-up..so that'll be up to you which way you want to go. But the software you get way more for a lot less and the quality will be the same.
 
Thanks for everyone for responding.

Trusty, you're right about the fact that it doesn't matter what equipment I'm using. I guess I should have cleared that question up. I guess I just want to know how to get their drums/bass sound so I can build beats off of that. The question I should have asked is what type of hardware /drum machines can help me get that sound? People were talking bout the Roland 808 but that's too expensive for my range. I was up on ebay last night checking prices for 303s or 505s, they were more in my range (200-300 used), but I was wondering if those could help me get that sound that I want. But everyone here knows the number 1 rule is it dont matter what equipment you use, its what you do with it. But at the same time, I dont want to buy some equipment where I can't get that sound, you know?

I used to be in two indie rock bands as their keyboard player, so my setup so far is four keyboards. I want my set up to be all hardware, I can just see the music better that way, and just record through a mic into acid. So the way I'm imagining it is I would have my four keyboards, whatever drum machine I'd find, a mic, and acid, and then that'd be good enough for me.

My question now is what drum machines/synths can anyone recommend within $200-$300 where I can get this sound?

Also Trusty, thanks for breaking down their beats for me. I'll probably have more questions in the future after I get all my hardware down and get to makin beats.
 
Well, you don't have to have an actual 808. Just something that has 808 samples/kits.

What keyboards do you have?
 
gear list as they reported to Scratch Magazine (in the latest Swizz Beatz/JD cover issue):

Akai MPC2000
Akai MPC3000
Akai MPC4000
Pro Tools
Roland XP-50
Roland XP-60

the thing about the Roland's, Roland always has pretty realistic sounding acoustic instruments, like pianos, organs, strings, ... and this is important for a soulful sound, they do some sampling, but they also use the keyboards and that's why they go with Roland

the guy that recommended the Proteus X, that is a good choice, and less expensive, I have Proteus X, and the ProteusX Composer soundset has lots of great pianos, basses, strings, organs, good natural sounds like with the Yamaha Motif, and you can also get other E-Mu soundsets like the Mo'PhattX (which I also have) and that's good for hip-hop drums and synths, basses, etc.
 
Yep. As I said, Roland XP-60, and a MPC...but I'd add the JP for the basses. I don't get Scratch magazine...but I know ROland when I hear it. ;)
 
I just re-read and saw that you wanted hardware, the ProteusX is a software emulation of the old hardware so you can get the same thing in a keyboard, rack, or module version

the keyboard is the E-Mu PK6 Proteus Keys
its a small keyboard, but you said you already have a keyboard

if the one you have is MIDI-compatible, then you can connect the Proteus rack or Mo'Phatt rack module to it

if not, you can get the E-Mu MP-7 Phatt Command Station, which is built like a drum machine, and it has pads, but they are arranged like one octave on a keyboard instead of the 16 pads like an MPC, this makes it a little easier if you tried to play melodies with it, but I think the MP-7 would be perfect for you with what you want, the Mo'Phatt soundset has good natural instruments to, its just more geared towards hip-hop, so you can still do soulful stuff, but there's more drums and stuff then other sounds, but if you already have a keyboard, that can fill any void you might have
 
Timbo 85 said:
gear list as they reported to Scratch Magazine (in the latest Swizz Beatz/JD cover issue):

Akai MPC2000
Akai MPC3000
Akai MPC4000
Pro Tools
Roland XP-50
Roland XP-60

the thing about the Roland's, Roland always has pretty realistic sounding acoustic instruments, like pianos, organs, strings, ... and this is important for a soulful sound, they do some sampling, but they also use the keyboards and that's why they go with Roland

the guy that recommended the Proteus X, that is a good choice, and less expensive, I have Proteus X, and the ProteusX Composer soundset has lots of great pianos, basses, strings, organs, good natural sounds like with the Yamaha Motif, and you can also get other E-Mu soundsets like the Mo'PhattX (which I also have) and that's good for hip-hop drums and synths, basses, etc.
Click to expand...

Can you hip hop heads tell me why its necessary to have 3 different MPCs in your studio?
 
I_watch_stars said:


Can you hip hop heads tell me why its necessary to have 3 different MPCs in your studio?
Click to expand...
they do different things yea in the end n mpc is an mpc but all 3 do different things imo theres no difference between having a motif and a triton vs having 2 mpcs or an asr10 and an mpc
 
i think i heard somewhere that 36 uses an asr-10 sometimes for that older gritty sound
 
Thanks for all the stuff in this thread. Timbo, thanks for the recommendation on the E-mu MP7. I did a little research on it and I think that's the machine right there. People are selling it on craigslist for around 300 so I think I'm going to roll with that.

P.S. Do you, or does anyone that has posted in this thread have one? I just need that to be my rhythm section so I can record that into acid and just layer with my keyboards.
 
The MP7 will NOT give you the trhee six sound...it is a good box, no doubt, but you need to find a different pallate of sounds than the ones that come with it in order to do the three six sound. You never awnsered the question of which keyboards you have now.
 
My bad for not respondin to this post in a minute, I had to study for miterms and write some essays, this week sucked.

Anyways, yeah about this MP7, I'm looking to buy one later this week. But before I pull the trigger, I just need to know that I can just hook that machine up to a speaker and record the drum pattern into a mic onto ACID and it'll be gravy right? That's probably a dumb question but I've never messed with a machine like that before. I just need to use it for a drum machine to provide my songs some sort of foundation to go off of, but this will be another post at another time.

And Trusty, my main two keyboards I have are the Casio WK 3500 which is a beast, I love it, and the Microkorg, which I also love. I can get alot of different sounds on those keyboards, although they might not be like "36" sounds, I think I can put my own style in there. My other two keyboards are old machines. One is this old Roland I bought at a garage sale like two years ago, and this other keyboard is this Casio my friend gave me last year. He had it since like 2nd grade. They are mad old, but I love the sounds they have on them. Really gritty and grimey.

Anyways, I think I'm just going to go for it and pull the trigger and buy this MP7. Any last thoughts or attempts to convince me otherwise???
 
I hate to say it, but other than the microKorg, you do not really own any real gear. The MP-7 won't help unless you can find expansions...and you do not need to mic the MP-7...just connect its 1/4 outputs to 1/4 inputs on your soundcard.

Anyway, have fun with whatever you get...but I doubt you will get where you want to go with your music using that set-up.

Then again, you may be easy to please, but you are the first person to praise so highly that casio keyboard. But really, there are things out there that sound ten times better and aren't that expensive.
 
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