TeV95 - “Crime Loops”
Posted by Justin Boland on Sep 14, 2010 | 0 Comments
TeV95 is a Brooklyn-based producer who contacted me out of nowhere to check out his beat tape. I’m really glad he did, because since then I’ve listened to that tape, titled Loop Language, probably two dozen times, mostly at work. It’s lush, tasty and very evolved product. His latest jam is something called Crime Loops and there’s an important concept behind the dope:
“Many of today’s artistic masterpieces are nearly impossible to release for sale because of outdated intellectual property laws.”
While you enjoy the music, I wanted to dig a little deeper with the creator. Big thanks to TeV95 for taking the time to answer a couple questions…
JB: Who do you look up to, in terms of sheer technique? Who are the Grand Masters that young sample molesters should study up on?
TeV95: Man there’s so many great producers in all genres of music but the first that come to mind are Rick Rubin, Timbaland, Dr. Dre, Outkast, and Rza. Rick Rubin because he produces so many types of music from the Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay-Z etc. Timbaland becuase his sound bank is a treasure chest. Dr. Dre and Outkast because of there use of live intrumentation along with samples and the mixes of thier records. I often use Aquemini and Chronic 2001 as a reference when mixing in a new room or using new monitors. Finally the Rza for his gritty approach to making records.
As for Grand Masters that young cats using samples should study up on defintely DJ Premier, Lord Finesse and the whole D.I.T.C crew, Pete Rock, Marley Marl, Bomb Squad and Public Enemy, Eric B, and A Tribe Called Quest to name a few.
JB: What kind of setup did you make this album with? Do you have any hardware samplers in your signal chain these days?
TeV95: Crime Loops was produced with an MPC 2000XL, Roland Fantom, Roland JV1080, and Pro Tools. Samples were chopped both on the MPC and on Pro Tools. Editing and mixing was done on Pro Tools using Waves Diamond plug-ins and KRK Rockit 8 monitors.
No hardware samplers other than the MPC were used.
JB: Do you think Intellectual Property laws are bad for art and culture? What kind of changes would you make, given the God Mode cheat codes for the entire US legal system?
TeV95: Intellectual property laws probably benefit business more than art. But of course art and business have a symbiotic releationship. Therein lies the paradox. Whats upsetting is when the authorities target the little guy instead of the bigger business who distrubute and host content that infringes on copyright.
Perhaps there should be a threshold with respect to Intellectual Propery. For instance, if you plan on selling less than say 10,000 copies of a record then no sample clearance is required -OR- only a small one time fee is required. I really dont have the answers. What I do know is the that laws currently in place create too many barriers to entry for artists such as myself.
There’s a really dope documetary called “Good Copy Bad Copy” which was a major influence on the Crime Loops concept and I encourage everyone interested in this topic to check it out.