Hello, I would to take a moment to introduce you all to the Hot Labs. These are monthly challenges in which we will attempt to push you to be creative via music, art, or any other creative medium that allows for easy digital collaboration.

So how does that work? Example: we post up source material for making a 1:30 audio composition with only the source materials, must not contain any other sounds (you are free to morph and tweak them however you like) and must be within a certain musical key.

New labs will open up at the beginning of the month and close on the final Friday of that month. Winners of the lab will be awarded with a Limited Edition grindin' Hot Labs t-shirt.

The first Hot Lab will open the first Friday of December with source material and challenge details. Interested to see what you all come up with.

Ten years ago, Grindin' developed as a community of passionate fans that have flourished into a collective of creative minds. Grindin' has an above average amount of talented people who already succeed in their goals with a lot of talented contributors and readers who have risen to become world famous. We are proud to announce that we are celebrating our tenth anniversary this month, and in honor of this anniversary we’ve decided to release some exclusive merchandise from Grindin’.

From this time on, we’re gonna frequently release a Grindin' Talk with a Mixtape gathered together from Grindin’ and the submissions. Grindin' is more than a community, it's a collective of creative minds who intend to inspire the world through their music and creative works. we’re trying to create a platform that curates, connects and nurtures those that are doing cool stuff, as in alt-culture working professionals, aka Grindin’.

From everyone on the grindin' team (Jean-Luc, you too buddy), we'd like to give our sincere appreciation. Thank you.

I applaud you for voicing this, but I think they're about to run you off of these forums. Godspeed son.

The new v5 grindin has a special section dedicated to content creators. Curations from the best of grindin' producers, weekly/monthly challenges, file hosting, and a knowledge base. Hopefully it'll serve you all well. Peese

@YB said:

He's in the studio with Timbaland too. Justified all over again.

Less tim and more neps pls :-)

Grindin’ x Daniel Biltmore

Grindin’ sat down with Baltimore based producer, DJ and one half of Chad Hugo’s MSS CMMND Mr. Daniel Biltmore to talk about his newest projects and how it’s like to work with the legend one half of The Neptunes and multiple Grammy Award Winner Chad Hugo.

Where did you grow up?

Silver Spring, MD – right outside of Washington, DC.

Let’s talk about the Name, what’s the meaning behind it?

As far as my DJ name goes, in college I had an indie hip-hop-focused radio show called “Independent Thought” at The University of Maryland. My show was on Friday nights, right after Peter Rosenberg’s (Hot97) show. A bunch of people started calling me “Hip-Hop Dan” because of my show, so it stuck. A few years later, as I began branching out towards other genres, the name became a bit confusing to a lot of people. At the urging of Kenna and Chad, I decided to go with a new name, and Chad came up with the “Biltmore”…he said it “sounded rich” Laughs.

For our group name, MSSL CMMND…there wasn’t a ton of meaning behind it, but I am a big video gamer, and we were taking too long to come up with a name, so we just ran with something that payed homage to our time spent in arcades back in the day. Chad is really big on making sure there is appropriate meaning behind a name, so we spent some time coming up with an acronym. So as a sort of subtext, we began saying “My Soul Shall Live ‘Cause My Mind Never Dies.”

MSSL CMMND

How did you meet Chad Hugo?

Chad and I met through a mutual friend, Jason Rodman. Jason and I knew each other through the "streetwear" industry, but I had no idea he knew Chad. He called me up on a random Thursday and asked if I could be the opening DJ for an event Chad was doing in Baltimore for T-Mobile. I immediately canceled everything else I had going on that day and went home to prepare. I essentially treated the gig as an audition, and probably pushed myself to perform harder than ever before at that moment. It was an amazing night. As I was leaving at the end of the night, I happened to run in to Chad outside of the venue as he was heading to his hotel. We spoke a bit, and kept in touch frequently after. Eventually I started making regular trips to Virginia Beach to work with Chad, and just went from there. It was all a very unexpected series of events.

How is it working with Chad?

Interesting and inspiring. You hear Pharrell say it all the time, but Chad is absolutely a creative genius. He can play so many instruments it's like being next to an entire band, and the things he hears sonically are light years beyond most humans comprehension. The nuances he picks up on are truly eye opening. One of Chad's best qualities is not only that he knows when to add things, but he also knows when to take things out. His curation of sounds on any given piece are sometimes the crucial difference between their success and failure in my opinion.

Recently, the author Malcolm Gladwell aired an episode of his Revisionist History podcast titled "Hallelujah." It was essentially a meditation on the nature of artistic genius, which attempted to classify creativity as "conceptual" (immediate) and "evolutionary" (building over time). I couldn't help think of Chad as I listened -- I think his success is primarily "evolutionary" in that he will tirelessly revise his work, but he also has a bit of conceptual genius inside of him as well, which helps with the more urgent execution of an idea.

Daniel Biltmore II

What did you want to be?

I always thought I would grow up to be an illustrator when I was younger.

What genres really influenced your music?

I don’t mean to be vague, but virtually all genres have. I’ve gone through periods in my life where I have intensely listened to classic rock, lovers rock-era reggae, deep house, jazz, hip-hop, trip-hop, and just about anything else that’s I’ve been able to absorb. If I had to mention a few specific artists, I’d list Portishead, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The xx, Roberta Flack, and De La Soul as some of the big influencers in my life.

How does a initial writing process starts for you?

I’d say it really varies. Sometimes I’ll get a melody stuck in my head and I’ll make a quick voice memo on my phone of it, and then explore it and flesh things out more at a later time. Quite often I’ll hear a sample I am really into and use that as an inspiration or jumping off point to create new sounds. When I am working with Chad, we will do a lot of bouncing back and forth with pieces of music that have piqued our interest or popped out of out brains, until we get to the point where we can sit down and take these components and create something cohesive. I probably spend 95% of my time creating on my couch using my laptop as opposed to spending the majority of my time in the studio. We’ve literally made complete songs working out of a bedroom closet…and I’m not even talking about a walk-in closet. A closet closet.

So you all are completely indie?

For all intents and purposes, yes, although “for hire” would be appropriate as well.

What have you learned so far that you would tell others in a similar situation?

I’m sure that a lot of people would give similar answers, but they are repeated because they are true I suppose. Firstly, the path to success is rarely a straight one…it has many twists and turns. Many times when I’ve thought to myself, “I’ve made it,” I’ve learned extremely quickly that I still have a long, long way to go.

Secondly, define yourself. Make sure there is meaning behind what you do.
If you are trying to make a simple pop song, allow that to be your meaning. If you are trying to make something more complicated, the same goes for that as well. I personally feel as though the strongest art will usually have a concept of some sort behind it. That helps it last. If you look at any great writer, he or she has excelled because they have found their voice. I’m still finding mine, and I may never stop.
Simply put – you are NEVER done. Whatever you are doing…you aren’t done.

What do you use for producing?

I primarily use Ableton 9, a Macbook Pro, and whatever controller I have access to. I also use Komplete by Native Instruments. Nothing fancy at all.

What advice could you give to a person that tries to get into Hip Hop/R&B and where do I start?

I don’t know if I have any advice that would specifically apply to those genres, but I do suppose hip-hop and r&b do “work” a little differently than other types of music. As far as production goes, the “producer” might have a whole set of tracks or beats that they’ve worked on that have no relation to a specific artist, and then they shop them around. This system has the potential to either work out extremely well or be too impersonal to a fault. I’m not sure if anything can beat working face to face with someone from the ground up.

I’ve also learned that a lot of people in the industry really do have extremely tight-knit circles, and it’s not necessarily easy in any way to gain access. For me personally, I had to have a lot of patience and be willing to put in my time in order to earn a spot, which I think I am still earning. Also, you can’t discount the importance of using social media, etc., to make connections that would have never occurred otherwise. I know plenty of people firsthand who have made some very real and important connections through Twitter, Instagram, and so forth. Personally, I’m not great at working angles that way, but you can’t overlook them.

Do you have inspirations for certain pieces or writing in general?

Inspiration can happen anywhere at anytime, when you are least suspecting it. Two places that it seems to happen for me often (and I think this goes for a lot of people in general) are the shower and in the car. Places where you’re sort of in a little isolated bubble and no one’s listening.
I also like to consume a lot of different media. Video games, film, books, whatever. While doing so, I find myself digging into meanings, history, and other contextual cues for what I am audience to, which then leads to stumbling onto other things. While I don’t want to sit and copy anyone else’s work, it’s always interesting to ingest something and see how it is reflected in what I do.

What is your process to do a collaboration with another artist?

It depends, really, although I think everyone would prefer for it to be organic. Sometimes I feel as though throwing people in a studio together can feel a bit forced, or over-pressured. It’s great when you can develop comradery with other artists and allow that to reveal itself through the creative process.

Do you play any instruments?

Unfortunately I don’t. I had a guitar once that I never learned how to play, and then picked up the turntables when I was a teenager.

What is the smartest way to go about getting into and participating in various collectives (If there are any)?

Whether you are or are not part of an actual “collective,” it can be really helpful to be part of a community of like-minded artists, especially as a DJ. It’s a great way to trade ideas, develop your craft, and also find work. If you are on your grind hopefully you will find your way into a collective without necessarily have that as your initial goal. If you just sit inside your house and just make music for yourself and don’t let anyone hear it, you definitely aren’t going to be able to create a network for yourself. Work begets work.

Favorite food.

Hands down, pizza. I prefer Chicago-style over New York-style. I like a thicker crust and a generous portion of sauce.

You can find Daniel at:
Official Site http://danielbiltmore.com/
MSSL CMMND http://msslcmmnd.com/
Twitter https://twitter.com/danielbiltmore
Instagram https://instagram.com/danielbiltmore
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/danielbiltmore

What up guys, Mika aka DJ Freakiii @djfreakiii and me welcome you to the first Installment of the Grindin’ Movement. This is the first mixtape that we gathered together from our Grindin’ site and the submissions from [email protected]. I would like to thank everyone who contributed on the Mixtape, and to the guys who didn’t make it, we will release frequently a Grindin Mixtape, so you guys will still have a chance to be on it, and don’t stop what you’re doing, keep making muzika and send your best tunes to [email protected].

Since Mika has been running theneptunes.org with Jean-Luc back in 2002, they also started a The Neptunes Forum with me simply called Grindin’, which is online since 2006. Grindin’ has one of the most talented Forums that has an above average amount of talented people who will blow up and already suceed in their goals with a lot of talented contributors & readers who have risen to become world famous. Without further ado, this is our first Grindin’ Mixtape Vol. 1. Check out the tracklist below and make sure to check out and follow the contributors. Artwork By Me @marigosa, Intro Girl By Hattie @Hatti81.

The Grindin Mixtape Vol. 1
01 - Explore - Baileee (DJ Freakiii Refix) @djfreakiii @beatsbyexplore
02 - Ferri Jubair - Pleasure Delayer/Miscellaneous Feelings @ferri-jubair-music
03 - Freddie Joachim - Shoulder Kiss @freddiejoachim
04 - Jekyll - JKL2-15 Bassline @jekyll_beatmaker
05 - Brooke Taylor x AlSween – Infidelity @BrookeTaylorMusic @alsween
06 - Rahk – Alkebulan @rvhk-Revelle
07 - Inimicvs - Losco Called @inimicvs
08 - Patchrickk - G2G @forgetpat1
09 - Ray – Steps @yungsenzubean
10 - Shinobi Ninja - Post No Bulls @shinobininja
11 - Su Na – Hudson @sunabeats
12 - Pharrell Williams - Happy (Elkco Remix) @elkco
13 - Andrei - Killer Beat @a-n-d-r-e-w
14 - Eash - Sun, Where You At @eash_music
15 - Lil' G-Tunner - Cosmic Girl @lilg2ner
16 - TiME Moves x Cueue Ayun - Smack Booty @timemoves @cueueayun
17 - BeatBusta - Gimme That @beatbusta
18 - Clipse – Wamp Wamp (What It Do) feat. Slim Thug (Reggie Volume Remix) @reggievolume
19 - Speekats - Seeing Sounds
20 - The Gueek Squad – Tetris @thegeeksquad
21 - Paris Harding – Relay
22 - Mr. Watson - Set It Off @bringouthebangers
23 - Blastar – Boombadeing @blastarmusic
24 - Big Chocolate - Blue Milk (Apollo Dixon Flip) @apollo-dixon
25 - DJ Puuu - Red Snack @puuuthebeatsmuggler
26 - Halpe – HELL @beatsbyhalpe
27 - The Radicals - What's Happenin' @moonlandmusic
28 - Michael Jackson - Remember The Time (T-Aaron's Groovemix)
29 - MKL - Nothing Has Changed @mklbeatmaker
30 - Aska – Ghost @aska
31 - Durand Bernarr x Electro Dan G - Back Pocket @durandbernarr @helgimusic
32 - Patrick Pryor - No One Ever Really Dies @patrickpryor

I miss how many neptunes tracks had a bit of a learning curve, it'd be so different that your ears hadn't warmed up to what was going on yet, but once it did man were you in for a treat.

Grindin' x Red Rose Panic

Grindin sat down with Akron, Ohio based two man band ‘Red Rose Panic’ to discuss their new EP titled ‘One Night Standard’. Forum member Matic Touch also known as ‘Luminari Eleven’ (Lead Vocals / Frontman) teamed up with musician Devin Gilbert known as Styxx (Producer, Additional Vocals, Band MD) to create Red Rose Panic. Together, the two have blended the lost elements of organic beats with live instrumentation in order to create powerful compositions. The team incorporates various genres from hip-hop, funk, rock, jazz, new-wave and experimental.

Mari: For starters, how are you?

Matic Touch: I’m fine, thank you for asking.

Mari: No problem. I’ll admit, I really didn’t prepare any questions before hand, so hopefully this will just be us having a conversation, sort of an organic flow. First I want to talk about the name Red Rose Panic, it has a lot of character. Does it have any particular meaning or was it a “Whoa, hey that sounds cool! Lets go with that.” type deal?

Matic Touch: Well to be honest, I have things that just come to me, at times. I tend to throw things out there, and make sense of them as I go along. Red Rose Panic, was actually an upcoming album title for a new solo project I was working on. But the name itself kind of became a symbolic meaning for life, as in to say a Rose, which everyone sees a rose, knows that it has thorns, so if you put it in a life scenario, basically that’s like taking the good with the bad, sometimes things aren’t always as awesome as they seem — and that’s the “Panic” aspect. Basically the RRP is the trials and tribulations of everyday life, and knowing we have to live with that day to day is the Panic of it all. Hopefully that makes sense.

Mari: Makes perfect sense, I’m sure a lot of our readers will agree. And just for our readers out there, who does Red Rose Panic consist of?

Matic Touch: RRP consists of myself, of course, who now goes by the artist name of Luminari Eleven - Frontman/ lead vocals, writer, creative director and co-producer, and then my best friend Styxx, who is the band musical director, producer & co-writer of the group. He has all the real musical talent as far as playing instruments are concerned. But we also have a ‘stage-band’ who can consist of a lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, lead keys/special keys. So basically a 5 piece when fully fledged, but as far as the face of the band goes, it’s myself & styxx.

Mari: Luminari Eleven sounds dope, like of a badass Gundam that only one rare individual can pilot. You and Styxx have great musical chemistry, it’s clearly present in your music. How did you two meet?

Matic Touch: Lol, thanks - yeah shoutout to Gundam Wing tho, that was my shit. Heero Yuy, Milardo Peacecraft, but yeah anyways, lol. We again like I said are best friends. We’ve been friends for about 15 years, and have been doing music together off and on. We met through our parents, basically forcing us together because they had kids that were around the same age. We always think it was fate, since it was completely random, and we didn’t even like each other at the start. Pause, cause this sounds like a love story. But anyway, he always produced, and played drums at church, growing up (he now plays keys, drums & guitar), — but he’s always produced songs for me. He was someone I could always sit down with and construct and idea for a beat, or something to sample, and he’d always deliver. But besides that, we were really awesome friends. We have just tried to stay as consistent as possible and always continue to work, which ended up turning out to be the band formation, mid last year 2013. I discovered I had a talent for poetry, and he actually boosted my confidence to perform out loud and then on stage.

Mari: That’s amazing, basically a true bro. It's hard to collaborate with people you don’t find any common ground with, obviously you two don’t have that problem.

Matic Touch: Yeah, I agree.. We are really lucky.

Mari: You mentioned you all began the band formation just last year. What genres really influenced your music? Because I’m hearing quite a myriad of genres here.

Matic Touch: Well hip-hop is really at the base of what we do, but we appreciate the actual aspect of music so much. The genre’s really range from Rock, to synth-pop, definitely some Jazz undertones and you’ll hear a funky bassline from time to time. We always want to have a surprise attack aspect, where we can’t really be labeled. Like, you have no clue what lane the music it self will be in, but you’ll know it’s going to be something good.

Red Rose Panic – Run! (Official Video) (2014)

Written & directed by @Wilatoma and Luminari Eleven (@matictouch).

Mari: That’s exciting to hear. I think now more than ever sticking to one genre is become the way of the dodo. Hip-Hop and Rock have had quite the history together, which leads me into my next topic “Run” I really dig this tune. What was the creative process for “Run”? “Run” is also the first single, correct?

Matic Touch: Yes, Run is the first single. Run is really special. It was actually the first creative piece we’ve done under the name “Red Rose Panic.” It actually started off as a beat our former 3rd member had made. It had more of a breakbeat sound, and I was inspired, right away. Well we sat on it for a while, and finally decided to take it to another level. There are probably 3 or 4 different versions of Run! that we had to go through. We basically called what we did to it, the “Rockstar” treatment, as an ode to our favorite band NERD - It then evolved into a live composition. We then had each individual instrument you hear in the song, recorded by top musicians in our city after the musical score was written. I had to curate my lyrical flow a bit more, due to needing to mesh with the powerful instruments the song is comprised of. We had a really good time making it, and watching it evolve. It was like our Tamagachi or Nano was growing up, lol. Or I could have just pokemon, whatever.*

Mari: Haha I’m actually a huge pokemon fan. As a musician myself, I’m all too familiar with that process. I definitely get that rush from your lyrical flow when I hear “Run”. Let’s go in-depth about your writing, lyrical flow, and overall approach.

Matic Touch: Sure.

Mari: What’s the initial writing process like for you? Do you start with an emotion or message you want to convey?

Matic Touch: Well I would say it all starts with the music, for sure. I am not the type of guy that has songs written in advance, looking for something to match. Typically it all starts from a melody in my head, and the notes & voice record utilities on my phone. I usually have ideas jotted down, some dope lines I randomly think throughout the day. But also, just whatever feeling I get from music we construct, since I am part of the production process. Just really evolving as we go along until we create a dope composition of work. The song.

Mari: The results are more organic, I think. To feel the lyrics come out of you because of the music’s influence.

Matic Touch: Exactly. 100%

In The Studio With Red Rose Panic
http://youtu.be/86mjFOuPBF8?list=UUY34jsrn9-my50EZVhtQkNw

Mari: Switching lanes a bit. So you all are completely indie, correct? What are some of the frustrations you get from being indie? Of course self promotion, and securing venue spots is likely on the list, but what else?

Matic Touch: Yeah, completely indie for now. I really like the journey of it all, but yeah the ups and downs of really, not having anything guaranteed. Scratching the through the bullshit you have to live with everyday. Like having a real job, and working trying to fit your dreams in, and while reality and father time continues to move. So really it’s that inner-battle you have mentally. “How long will it take to be noticed?” Like knowing you’ve put your entire everything into something, and it’s great, it’s quality, but maybe not having the extra to be as known as we’d like.

Mari: Its a bit bittersweet isn’t it? Full creative control in exchange for the anxiety and uncertainty. But I think indie artists produce better music, IMO of course. It feels alive, the bullshit that you put up with seems to translate right into the music. “Run” sounds like you guys are fucking hungry. Don’t lose that edge.

Matic Touch: Forsure. It definitely pays off in the long run, that’s why I love the journey so much. You can see the trials and tribulations you had to go through to get to the next point.

Mari: Agreed, the journey is usually what the story is about.

Matic Touch: And thanks, yeah I’ve always had a laid back approach to my solo music. I guess I have a lot of things I’ve always wanted to do creatively. Now I have real proper outlet.

Mari: With that being said, what have you learned so far that you would tell others in a similar situation?

Matic Touch: Well, I would tell them to persevere, and keep thinking of ideas. Stay creative. People will always say “You’ve got 1 shot and when you get it take it.” I don’t necesarilly believe that to be true. You want to have things working for you in multiple avenues.

Mari: With the age of the internet that myth has been utterly shitted on. Thank you for having this short chat with me, it’s been a pleasure. Godspeed to you and the rest of Red Rose Panic, I think you guys will make waves.

Matic Touch: Thank you guys for having us! Shout out to grindin, this is my home away from home. Looking forward to the newness to come, and you’ve guys have always done an awesome job. Thank you again for having us, truly an honor.

Red Rose Panic’s One Night Standard (EP) is now on iTunes, For all booking & other inquiries contact [email protected].

| redrosepanic.com |
| #supporttheroses |

Hello. Just would like to inform everyone that the forum's stability will become slightly volatile the next coming weeks. This is due to server upgrades and preparation for the transition to v4. Your username, comments, favs, etc will all be safe and remain unchanged. However you will need to confirm your email only once after the rollout. As always, I'm only a few clicks away if you have any questions or concerns.

Peace & hair grease.

Hello everyone, we are excited to announce that we've secured and excellent partnership with a company called Printful, they'll be doing some limited t-shirts, hoodies, and hat embroidery for us. So we put up a shop for you all to grab these while they're making them. We don't tolerate ads or any other silly datamining attempts to monetize grindin'. So we figure its much more respectable to try to secure some goods to sell instead. That way you get some cool stuff, and we can keep the server running(its pretty expensive).

Right now we've got some shirts released in fall themed colors, and a few of the grindin team members asked to have a classic(black/white) t-shirt/hoodie and the original OG orange, so those are there too for a limited time. As always thanks for the continued support and stay grindin'.

Also, yes we ship to all corners of the globe. We planetary baby, LLAP.

http://market.grindin.org

1956 Wurlitzer 112 E.P

So my current pride and joy added to my setup is an old 1956 Wurlitzer 112 Electric Piano. When I found her she was in pretty decent condition cosmetically but mechanically and electronically she was a mess. So I made it my business to restore her, I mean I had been looking for one of these for at least 7 years now.

Man they were on some weird shit in the 50's that paint job is hideous.

The insides were absolutely clean, I was extremely shocked here, usually these old instrument have everything from dead rats, bugs to old half smoked joints (jazz cats man).

Baby cakes is all tube, ANALOG motherfucker. She growls!

I had to gut her, to get her where she needed to be.

Her new paint. Looks extremely good IMO.

I didn't take any pics but I completely rebuilt her amp with newer tubes and recapped.

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Yamaha DX7IIFD

This synth is honestly a beast that is misunderstood. It uses FM (Frequency Modulation) based synthesis, which can sound sterile and cold but if tuned right it can produce basses that will shatter windows, no kidding.

So this is her with her back on the wall. She was broken and didn't power on.

Its ok love, I'll fix you right up.

On the operating bench (coffee table in my office)

Brought back from the grave. Relatively simple fix.

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Elektron

I'm a huge Elektron fanboy. I have been since 2006 when I first discovered them. They make awesome kickass quirky instruments. Something about Swedes man, they doing it right.

Analog Four & Octatrack

Ultra stupid rare Anniversary Edition Machinedrum.

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Sennheiser HD600

I freaking love these, they're harshly neutral. Legendary mixing headphones.
They're open back so you can literally wear them for hours without getting ear fatigued, however you will not be using these for tracking.