1. what is on your ipod/iphone? or, who you been listening to lately?

2. what irritates you the most in the music you hear today?

bigup for doing this. ^ 5

Well it would really depend on that song at that point. You could double the length of the sections of the song. Also, you could have the same notes played by a different sound. Maybe add some cool percussion sounds or delayed out vox.
Or, load it into Live as a full song and play it at 20bpm. Then it will be long enough for a whole album.

K

To avoid the multi quotes I deleted the last section, but I'm happy my advice is helpful in some way.

I wouldn't say I created Glitch Hop but thanks for the props.

Here's some advice about getting started. Write lots of songs, even if they suck, keep writing. Then keep writing and keep writing. Find a setup that works for you and run with it - theres no magic piece of gear or setup thats going to make you that much better. Promote yourself shamelessly. I hate this part so I try and hire people to do it for me but it definitely works. Get a website that looks good. Put your stuff on Soundcloud and YouTube. Put it out there confidently, you'll be surprised how many people want to hear it. Be willing to play free shows for a while. Give away lots of free music at shows and online. I always gave away CDs at my shows, still do, and I found that people keep and play those CDs for a long time.

As for the live show, especially if you have a computer/controller setup like I do these days, you need to make more of an effort to connect with the audience. Whether its on the mic, or by dancing or just by catching peoples' eyes and smiling. No one knows what the f*ck youre doing up there so at least look like youre having fun.

K

Sometimes its said imitation is the best form of flattery -- but it seems like once a kid figures out a dubstep wobble that sounds like every other song out there they just run with it and there seems to be just a overload of similiar songs out there -- when android porn dropped it was so powerful because it was so fresh and new. How do you deal with your sound being essentially copied by legions of fans -- does it make it harder for you to still have that KRaddy sound? If so what do you do to combat that? I know your here telling us how to essentially make us sound like you, but the music industry is a hard game to play and one that is even harder to play for more than a few years ( lots of flash in the pan artists ) and if ever one sounds the same doesn't that take your market ability down?

So all in all how does Kraddy stay fresh enuf to be in the game for over 10 years while still giving out his trademark secrets to success?

Thanks for the insite and time spent -- duly noted and appreciated by all

~ Abb
http://www.lividinstruments.com -- p.s. trigger finger baahhh try an OHM64 !!!!!!

Bombardment is what this is all about so bring it on!

I love touring. It does get tiring and the airlines are litterally the worst run business I've ever been a customer of, but despite all that I still love meeting new people and getting to travel to cool places. Also, I'm a hermit at home and I work all the time so when I travel its kind of like my time off. Sometimes I am in a bad mood but I've always been a believer that a true professional gets on stage and does the show and sells it, no matter what your mood or circumstances. Smile now, you can yell at the soundman after the show.

One thing I do is, no matter what the show, even if its 5 people in some shit bar in a place you never want to come back to, I look out into the crowd and I see 50,000 people, like Love Parade or Coachella Main Stage. I imagine that I'm playing in front of thousands of people who all love what Im doing and I run with it.


These days my sets are pretty planned out. I find that when i know what I'm going to play I deliver a better show. I still switch it up sometimes but the basic structure is there. I do feel pressure to kill it everytime - I would think everyone does.

K

Tempeh. I'm vegan

1st: You're an incredible producer. Thank you for all the great music, and for the personal inspiration to write better music and more of it

2nd: How did you get, (for lack of a better term), discovered? Any marketing tips for a budding producer who dreams of touring?

Ok. New album is gonna be released in the fall. I thought it would be the summer but its just dragged on. I really want this music to be f*cking bad ass, so I'm taking my time to make sure its at the level it should be. If you;ve seem me live recently you've heard some of the tracks. People are wondering what I'm going to do, now that I'm solo. And I want to let them know that I'm back heavier, dirtier and nastier than ever.

Usually I add an acapella to a track in progress but sometimes I have an idea when I hear the track. Adding an acapella to a track is always a good way to make a simple track sound dope.

With a remix I go thru and listen to the parts and try and find one part that sparks my imagination. I try and find the inspiration in the parts of the original song. For my own tracks I'm free to find that inspiration anywhere. Tho sometimes my remixes turn out to be pretty much all original becuase the part I started with just gets mixed out.

Right now I pretty much do everything on my own. I have someone doing booking, a designer, and a web designer but everything else is me. I'm trying to change that. I think the success of AP has helped get my name out there to people who would have never heard of me otherwise. The new album will be out through Alpha Pup. Daddy Kev is the man over there and he's heard my past work and is confident that the new release will be dope - which I take as a huge compliment since he hasn't even heard the new stuff yet.

K

1. Recently I've been listening to The XX, Phoenix, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix, Amon Amarth, Janes Addiction, Bad Brains, Ludacris, Alex B, Fever Ray, Mos Def, White Zombie, Rapper Big Pooh, Mux Mool, Rusko, Daft Punk, Big Eagle, Bell Gardens, The Cure, The Isley Brothers, Joker, Metallica, Jay-Z, The Crooked Vultures, Kings Of Leon, Band Of Skulls, Willie Nelson, El-P, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, Prince, Foo Fighters, Neil Young, Dinah Washington, Duke Ellington, R/D, Brightblack Morning Light, Camp Lo, Ray Charles...and on and on and on and on and on....

2. Sometimes it bothers me that crappy and tacky has become cool. But then I realize that it just gives me the license to be more crappy and tacky, if I want to.

K

I saw a documentary about the Invisibl Skratch Piklz where they talked about how when they were coming up DJs would hide their records and were very secretive about their tricks. But the Piklz were always about being open about the records they used and their tricks. That was inspiring to me and since then I've always been 100% open about what I do and how to do it.

My style is so much a part of who I am and how I feel that I don't think anyone could really copy it. People may make music that sound like me, but it aint me. I do think of it as flattery. I'm confident that as long as I stay true to myself and continue to make music that I want to hear I will always be fresh and next level.

K

I went to a show, and after I was laying in my bed wondering "HOW DO THEY MAKE THE MUSIC?!" and it came to me, you can tap it! How relevant are new tools like the APC 40 to live and recorded production?

See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TfI0eEV ... re=related

I dream of being a DJ and I am in the middle of becoming one. I realized that since I don't have the proper know how, it would be wise of me not to play my own tracks that I have made, and instead play other peoples tracks. How do I go about getting the best tracks? I can get the shows, I just need the music you hear on the big stages. the sickest dubstep, the fattest and grooviest basslines, etc. It's hard to find, even if you're willing to pay. Should I just send everyone and their dog an email asking for some gratitude?

Thanks to all of you for listening and asking questions. This is fun!

I think "getting discovered" is a myth. It does happen, but rarely. And I think its a pretty passive way to go about a music career - just waiting to be discovered. My first break was given to me by Dov at Muti music putting out my first breakbeat single - Wiggiddi. I knew him from mutual friends and I sent him my track. That was huge for me. My second break was when Tipper played my Shimmy Shimmy Ya [Faux Show] on Annie Nightingale's show on BBC Radio 1. I met him through Dov and I sent him all my tracks.

I made these recommendations earlier and I'll say them again - put yourself out there. On Soundcloud, YouTube, your own website, facebook - everywhere you can. Email your new tracks to artists and labels you admire. The worst that happens is that they dont listen to it.
Try and meet music industry people - promoters, artists, labels... Those connections are huge and really, they're all that any career is based on. Leonardo DiCaprio can call up Martin Scorsese and say, "I have an idea for a movie". Thats a career making connection.

Give away lots of free music. And don't judge yourself too hard - you may do all those things and nothing happens. Just keep at it. Persistence wins.

K

The APC 40 looks cool. I havent used it but people tell me they love it.

To get good tracks I think you just need to scour the internet. Most everything is up there it just takes time to find it. I wouldn't recommend sending everyone a message asking for tracks. I always ignore those. Hit up specific people you have a connection with. I had two or three friends who always know whats up with new track and know what I like, so I always go to them. Occasionally I'll hit up producers I know and trade tracks. I have people who hit me up all the time, just to say hi and talk about a show or something. After a while I see that these people are true fans and I'm more willing to give them unreleased stuff.

K

that was the wronnnng answer

Hey Kraddy,

Thanks for doing this. First let me say 'big ups' to your music; it's always moved me ever since I caught those Memekast, Futurebreaks, Kraddy_livemix mixtapes, etc. Love the new tunes. Glad you're continuing to crush it.


How do you pay the bills as a pro musician? Is it all through your shows and tunes, or do you also have alternative ways to generate income?

When are we getting some Sepultura/Messugah/Slayer remixes?

Hey, I just had another idea. If you have a cool minimal loop, a way to keep it interesting it to lay some kind of vocal over the top.

Thanks so much. I'm flattered you've been listening for so long.

I make money from shows and I also make money writing music from TV commercials. My commercial reel is up at http://www.refinerstudios.com if you want to check it out. I've been fortunate enough to get to the point that I can pay the bills with music these days, but it was a long road to get there.

The metal remixes are a great idea - I just need to figure out the best way to do it.

K

drama queen

@kraddy

talkin bout genres; will u stick straight to glitchhop/dubstep (production wise) or are you also interested in explorin other genres..if so; which ones would they be?

talkin bout glitchhop which direction will it go in your opinion, what is the future of glitchhop, how will it evolve...

thanks again 4 doin this!

dorian

I knew you had good taste. I just discovered the XX last week and have been all over it myself. I like how you have classic rock, hip hop, metal, modern alternative, and so many others as influences. I have broad interests in music myself and sometimes I feel maybe I've spread myself too thin, but really, its everything out there that's inspiring.

I have a couple questions for you myself:

1. One thing I've been trying to figure out is a good way to organize my samples. Slowly the collection is getting larger and larger and I wonder how to organize them so I can find what I want quickly. How do you organize/manage your samples to keep your inspiration and sanity while digging through so many?

2. When working on new ideas, do you bounce them off anyone midstream or do you just keep working until you are completely finished with the track?

3. Do you have a muse?

Mad respect, your tunes are amazing. Thanks much for taking time to disseminate.

bless up! any tips on how i can make music a lucrative career for myself? Besides making music that rox socks off- are there any steps I can take to ensure financial success in this game ? <3

much love!!
chells

www.soundcloud.com/chellyshell

where do your feel your music is coming from? even after all of your success, do you still get self doubt? is pimping easy?

I don't think about genres when I write music. Genres names are handy when discussing music but I find them severely limiting when writing music. I dont even think my new stuff is that glitchy. There are elements that are glitchy but the songs aren't what I would call glitch hop tunes.
My new genre name is Crunkadelic - thats what I'm feelin.

K

Thanks so much. I apprecite your questions.

I love all kinds of music and I'm always hungry for more. I could have listed bands all day. Some bands I like and never listen to, like Sunn O))).

To answer your questions:
1. Organizing samples is very important. What I try to do is keep folders of my favorite kicks, snares, hats, cymbals, etc. Sometimes I like sorting thru samples because it gives me ideas. But when I want a specific sounds I know I can always go to my favs folder.
That said, my samples are super unorganized too. I try to keep up with it but I'm so far behind that I just try and not fall farther behind. Its a constant process.

2. When I'm working on tunes one thing I like to do is play my songs for friends and not tell them its mine. I do that because once I tell them its my track they always say they like it. I just throw it on and then after its over I casually ask them what they think, still not letting on that its mine. That gets me some good feedback. There are a few friends I have who are honest with me no matter what and I love them for that. Sometimes I ask people what they like least about a tune. That eliminates the out of saying "I like it" - which is a non-comment in my opinion. I take in all the feedback and use some but I always try to keep true to the spirit of the song no matter what.

3. I did, but she won't answer my emails.

K

Yo Kraddy, you kick ass for doing this! You're one of my favorite producers next to Eskmo, Amon Tobin, and Trent Reznor (ya, odd name drop but he has my respect)... there's just something about your music that reminds of old school acid breaks back when the stuff was realllly underground.... and again thanks for answering so many questions, it's much appreciated...

onto my question...

Two things I'm curious about your music (besides the epic basslines) is what your approach is on the circuit bent sounds you use, and vocal processing... on the "illegal album" I heard a lot of this... lots of high pitch circuit bent sounds, and some funky vocal effects on some of the tracks like that "gold digger remix".... Do you do any circuit bending youself or do process circuit bent samples? and if I were to ask something as simple as "tell me about your vocal glitching/processing", what would be your first piece of advice??

Thanks again man for doing this, big help to those who take influence from you!