Beatmaking, Pants on the Ground & More (well, more stuff, not more clothes on the ground)

So it's 12:26 am, so I guess you can say that I started the day making beats. I was joking with my friend Brandon about sampling Pants on the Ground and turning it into a hit, so out of boredom I got "Pants on the Ground", found the part I wanted to sample ("Gold in your mouth, hat turned sideways"), opened up FL Studio and just started playing around with the sample and stock sounds (I have a hard drive with all my beats, soundsets and vst plugins and didn't feel like going to get it at the time). I came up with an awful, corny, generic beat which made me get my scrap the idea and just see if I could make a beat. I got my external hard drive and picked out a random sound (it's a real alien sounding synth) and came up with a little something.... After about 10 minutes I laid down some nice drums and a bass and now I'm off to bed to see how it sounds in the morning, when I will add some more instruments, sound effects, composite it to my liking and the do some "mixing" (I put it in parenthesis because I really have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to mastering). Hopefully I will be able to post a final track by midweek.

In other news.... Yestertoday (it's not really a real word, well maybe it is, but it's to describe the fact that it was technically yesterday, but I haven't gone to sleep yet so it feels like the same day) I received my first, and hopefully not last, check for filming and editing a short commercial type video for Peer2Peer Tutors, a tutoring company located in the DMV area. Now it's not like I'm "rolling in money" but it's still a nice feeling to be paid for your services. I would like to continue making videos for others in the future, so if you need a commercial for a product/service, a music video, or somebody to film a special event, e-mail me at slbam09@yahoo.com and I will see what I can do. If you haven't noticed I have a coming soon section under Services, because I'm still coming up with prices for my services. So keep a look out for those or e-mail me if you need anything in the lines of video production/animation/graphic design done.

The Beat Giveaway Pt. 2 (The Delay)

Unfortunately, the other 50 beats I was planning to give away are all stuck on my old Toshiba laptop which at the time does not have a power cord. Basically, I don't know when exactly they will go up, but they WILL go up. In the meantime, grab one, two, or all of the other collections and start recording (if you do choose to record over any of them).

The Beat Giveaway (Download Links Included)

As promised, here is the first half of the Beat Giveaway. Like I previously stated, if you use any of the beats I would appreciate some credit or notification of the fact. You can contact me at slbam09@yahoo.com or leave a comment on the post.

Rap- SLX

1. Always On The Grind
2. Untouchable
3. Blindsided
4. Can't Nobody
5. Clouded
6. Dilligence
7. Finished 22508
8. Invinsible
9. Just Simple
10. Keep Talking
11. Lonely Days

Rap pt. 2- SLX

1. Crunk Revamped2
2. Lovin' You
3. Murder It
4. NCB
5. No Worries Mastered
6. Out the Door
7. Pedigree
8. Primetime
9. Say Yes
10. Simply Complex

Rap pt. 3- SLX

1. Effortless
2. Smooth
3. Soul Supreme
4. Technique
5. The Equation
6. The Funeral
7. The Works
8. TSS
9. Undisputed
10. When You Got It

R&B and Pop- SLX

1. Fairytale
2. Hey Queen Final
3. La Vuelva
4. Move It
5. New Banger
6. Only 1
7. Shining Star

Sampled- SLX (note: Artists responsibility to clear samples, if needed)

1. Baby
2. Come Along
3. I Hope You're Happy
4. Lost Soldier
5. OK
6. Sample 2
7. Wonder
8. ZDLB

Starting Fresh (For Rap and R&B Artists)

     I have been making beats on and off for about three years now using FL Studio, and now that it is a new decade I want to start off (relatively) fresh. That's why I'm giving away (almost) every single beat that has been exported as an mp3 file that I have created from 2008 - 2010 (the 2007 beats are pretty much non-existent). I feel that I have grown as a "producer", those beats from way back no longer represent me and as I grow and my equipment/software changes, my music should do the same. My production discography is a little over 100 at this point, and right now I only have about 50 on my hard drive right now, but not to worry! I will get the other 50 ASAP. So you'll getting it all: the good, the OK, the bad, and the god awful. If you like the beats and/or want to use any of them I ask that you notify me, slbam09@yahoo.com or comment on the posts, and let me know. They'll be out in installments, starting with "Rap 1", "Rap 2", "Rap 3", and "R&B and Pop"..... So look out for them sometime tomorrow (or later today if you want to call it that).

Notice: Some of the beats ARE very bad, but look forward to nothing less than extraordinary in 2010 and beyond (that may be an overstatement, but I'm sticking to it).

Slan 2 the "n-th"

     My name is Shaheer Lanier and I would like to welcome you to my blog, "Slan 2 The n-th," where I will be posting new projects, upcoming projects, random sketches, thoughts, and possibly personal film reviews, along with other stuff. Now time for the background information: I am an aspiring filmmaker, animator, and music producer. Aside from those three core elements of my life, I have been developing two separate t-shirt lines which, as of right now, are top secret (but I'm sure you will hear more about it as time goes by), I'm in the early stages of developing a comic book with Brandon Griggs (also top secret right now), and I am producing (and sometimes co-hosting) a podcast called "When We Were Kids" hosted by Aaron Brown and Brandon Griggs. I am also studying Game Development in college right now so you might see some games uploaded in the future. I will update the statuses of all these projects, and more, on this very blog.

     Now for those of you who are asking "Why is the blog called Slan 2 The n-th?" The answer is:  My name is Shaheer Lanier, which is where I get the "Slan" from, and as previously stated, I do a lot of things from making films to producing music, so the "n-th" degree is the variable that signifies the amount of hats I wear at any point of time. Some days I focus on just one thing and some days I multitask my ass off. That and it literally took me days to figure out a title for this blog... and this was sort of a last minute "eureka" moment.

So look out for future post...... MC's, if you're looking for beats, you should check out the next one.