Zachary Cappadocia’s Annotated Bibliography, Senior Project 2022
Billboard. “DJ Khaled Talks About How He Started His Career & His Come Up Story on Growing Up: Miami.” YouTube Video, 6:11. 7 May 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd2yneCsPgQ
In this interview, Khaled discusses his journey into becoming one the most famous and popular producers today. Growing up, Khaled was no stranger to a life of hard work, struggle, and discrimination. Both of his parents came to America very poor and came from nothing and then went on to owning a store and business. Dj Khaled’s parents had to start over; they lost everything. This experience taught Khaled the value of work and perseverance. Dj Khaled loved music from a young age; started experimenting with DJing at 13. At 17 he worked at a record store and started DJing there. Then he started DJing on the radio. Soon after that he met Fat Joe at a music seminar, a rapper about to drop his first album. Fat Joe heard Khaled DJing on the radio and got him his first record deal at Hoch Records. Khaled created his first album that takes off in Miami. Instead of making beats for other artists, he began to make beats for himself. “We Takin’ Over” record with Lil Wayne takes off for Khaled and changes his life.
Khaled had to remember to continue to be persistent and not stray from the path he had set himself on. Khaled had to remind himself (along with his parents) that it wouldn’t “happen overnight” but still did not mean it wasn’t possible. Khaled describes himself as self made and I identify with that a lot. Beat making can often be discouraging comparing yourself to people with more experience so I can really relate to him saying that it “doesn’t happen overnight.” I set my own goals for myself and I’m happy if I see improvement. I know that focusing on this in my senior project will only help me to grow further.
U.S. Office, “What Musicians Should Know About Copyright | U.S. Copyright Office”. Copyright.Gov, 2022, https://www.copyright.gov/engage/musicians/.
This article discusses the importance of copyright and ownership policies in the music world. When recording a song, two things are most likely to be copyrighted; the soundtrack and the vocals/sound recording. The soundtrack can also be referred to as the “backing track,” or “the beat.” The vocals/sound recording is what is recorded on top of the beat in the studio with a mic. After both parts are created, they then are connected together in the process known as “mixing;” a strategy in which the audio is meshed together in balanced and calibrated levels. Any musical works, vocal or backing, can be registered with the U.S. copyright office as a means of maximum protection and safety. All major artists, (producers and recording) have teams that deal with copyright issues and protection. Copyright is especially important for large producers and beat makers in the industry because they work with other people (rappers) who will use their work as their own. For this reason, copyright is extremely important in this specific profession.
Because I want to pursue a career in beat making, I need to know how to protect myself and my work in the industry. I also need to know about what types of work I can use for my own beats in sampling; a process in which the producer takes another track or song, and switches the beats and/or melody. When I sample, they are songs of public domain, aka music that is available for the public to use and redistribute. When things are not public domain, permission from the copyright holder is required to continue. However, although many are “sampled”, the beats that I produce are not public domain, therefore, people I sell them to need to ask permission before purchase or use. Now having learned a little bit more about copyright, I know that I need to be more careful and create contracts when leasing my beats. Keeping my work credited and controlled is essential in this industry. This senior project, I will work on creating contract templates that will protect my work in the distribution process.
Lenard Audio, “Mixing: Mixing Principles.” Education.Lenardaudio.Com, 2022, http://education.lenardaudio.com/en/09_mix.html.
This article talks about all the different mixing and mastering technology as it has evolved over time.
It’s really interesting for me to look at old mixing and mastering recording systems because I am just starting to learn how to mix and master now. It’s crazy to me that all this tech is in one computer program now.
Stokel-Walker, Chris. “The Hidden Beat Makers Behind Music’S Big Hits.” Bbc.Com, 26 November 2019, https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20191126-the-hidden-beat-makers-behind-musics-big-hits
This article discusses the life and success of Wasim Khalimlichi. Khalimilichi is a British music producer, more famously known as the creator of Airbit, an online beat selling platform with half a million users. Growing up, Khalimlichi loved to code and make beats but he was 33 and he wasn’t getting his beats placed with any artists. Scared that he would never be able to find success in just beat making alone, Khalimilichi combined his love of music and of coding into a website. He created a platform called airbit which would pave a future of online best selling and change the producer culture. Being able to purchase beats online changed the music industry and gave a chance for small artists to get their names and work out into the industry.
Before reading this article, I never knew that there was a time where beats couldn’t be bought online. To me as well as many of my friends also interested in the industry, beat making and leasing has always been completely virtual and technological. Now learning about this Airbit and other platforms like it, I will explore using them in my senior project this year, and hopefully find success amongst it just as so many others have. Instead of selling my beats to others in person, (such as my friends and friends of friends as I have done multiple times in the past,) I will branch out and experiment with selling my beats online. This senior project, I will explore the power of social media networking and reselling. I will need to be careful of my copyright rights, create contracts, post content, connect and communicate with others, and more. I know that this experience will set me into a different and hopefully more productive path in the music industry and world of production.
Kochhar, Nazuk. “Life of Pierre bourne.” thefader.com, 12 February, 2018,
https://www.thefader.com/2018/12/04/pierre-bourne-the-life-of-pierre-magnolia-interview
This article talks about Pieirre’s bournes influence on the rap music industry over the years. It references many popular artists and producers that he connected with each-other.
Pierre Bourne changed the music industry by doing something new. Nobody was using the sounds that he used when he first started using them. He set a lot of trends in the beat making community in terms of sound selection but also in the way he used the sounds. The sounds that he uses have almost become iconic in the producer community. My goal is to do something similar. Throughout my time making beats at Harry S. Truman highschool and at home I want to sample my own iconic sounds inspired by him.