mabapma

Saw you guys at Brixton Academy (UK) around 2001, on the Skull & Bones tour. 17 year old Mabapma managed to score a 20 bag from a sketchy looking, bug-eyed Yardie lurking near the back of the venue. Dilated Peoples were on stage, and I rolled & blazed one with some other dudes who were hanging near the front.

Almost immediately after one of our new pals - a tattooed wide-boy with a Sarf Lahndan accent - takes a massive hit - his eyes roll back and he collapses like a sack of shit on the floor. Seconds later, he is being stretchered away. Don't know what happened to him - but I couldn't enjoy the rest of the show due to paranoid fear of being involved in the first ever marijuana-related death.

Black Sunday was the unequivocal soundtrack to my misspent youth. I can probably still recite every single lyric you threw down on that album, and I haven't listened to it in years.

It is 21 years old this July. How do you feel looking back at it? A massive sense of pride? Or are there some bits you cringe at, wishing you'd changed verses, or done things differently?

Not from USA, but...

Record a showreel - and make the final product the best 60-90 seconds of audio you've ever recorded in your life. There is no room for even a second of mediocrity. Get that out to every agency and radio group you can find. If you're good, the work will come to you. If you don't hear anything back within a month, give up the dream. The "lots of people" are being nice.

Also, get an ISDN line if you want regular radio work.

[deleted]

Never heard of you, although never followed the DnB scene closely, so no surprise. Cambridge is an expensive place to live, so do you make enough money through music to survive meagrely / comfortably, or do you supplement your income somehow? I'll be sure to check out your beats soon. Good luck man.

Money has absolutely no bearing. Having a completely clear, flat recording is far more important. My guess is that your setup is perfectly adequate for commercial work. Let the producer do the rest. This will give them freedom to achieve whatever it is they want to achieve, and they'll do a far better job than you in achieving the desired results.

If you can produce a crystal clear wav/mp3, then you're golden - spending the extra thousands trying to recreate a world class studio is unnecessary. Instead, invest the money you would've spent on the studio, and turn it into time spent on your craft. Spend a week perfecting your showreel, until it is good enough to make Don Draper weep.

PS - don't judge the quality of the audio output of your studio yourself. Get a commercial studio to critique the audio quality - pay them if you have to - and ask them if they'd be happy to use your audio files.