Behind the Beat: Hip Hop Home Studios [Hardcover]

Raph (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 2005

The revealing photographs found within the pages of Behind the Beat expose the creative spaces of top DJ's and music producers from the UK and US. This book is an open invitation to step into the private world of the hip hop home studio and discover its inner workings. Featured are the studios and equipment of some of the most influential music creators working today including: DJ Premier, Madlib, J Dilla, DJ Spinna, Skitz, Nextmen, Taskforce, Dj Swamp, E- Swift, Beyond There, Kut masta kurt, Fat jack, Jehst, Beatminerz, DJ Shadow, DJ design, Dan the Automator, Chief Xcel, Young Einstein, Numark, Cut Chemist, Thes One, J Zone and Mario Caldato Jnr. INCLUDES AN AUDIO CD WITH TRACKS FROM FEATURED DJS AND LABELS - MIXED BY DJ RANSOM!

Product Details

• Hardcover: 168 pages
• Publisher: Gingko Press (November 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584231971
• ISBN-13: 978-1584231974
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 9.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,156,842 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful in its simplicity, May 8, 2006

By 

Nitin N. Ramlall "Dj and Producer" (Washington DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Behind the Beat: Hip Hop Home Studios (Hardcover)

The point of this book was NOT to provide wanna-be producers with a grocery list of production gear to buy...it was not to reduce people's studio setups to a common checklist of items for others to buy.

The point of this book was to capture these producers' LIVES through pictuers. It does this by photographing their studios beautifully. The mess of vinyl records, the stacks of equipment on top of each other, and the general chaos of alot of these pictures shows you what producing is like. While you may not see the gear listed out for you (that would take a long time for each studio), you get a great insight into what these producers use to make their music. You see a selected discography (about 5 cuts) and a small description of each producer and their studio. The photos, again, are incredible to look at. Some in color, some in black and white, all of them very "real," and vintage-looking (just like the equipment).

Don't buy this book as a study or how-to of producing. Buy it because you LOVE making music and can appreciate the beauty of the equipment used to do so.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars RIP J-Dilla, March 31, 2006

By 

Matt (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Behind the Beat: Hip Hop Home Studios (Hardcover)

This is a great "coffee table" book for fans of hip hop production and hip hop in general. Producers, especially, will appreciate a project like this, as we are granted access to the home studios of producers whose names we see lining the notes of CDs and vinyl releases. Most of the producers featured in the book are what you could call "underground" producers. There are also a handful of bigger names, like DJ Premier, J-Dilla and DJ Shadow, who also open their home studios to the camera.

The pictures of these studio setups are very "artsy". The book is nicely laid out - with a few pictures of each studio. There is very little text - basically a brief introduction to each producer and a shoirt list of their selected works.

This was a great idea and I'm happy I found the book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for anyone remotely interested in the process of making music!, August 26, 2006

By 

Zeb91 "Hip Hop Head 4 Life" (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Behind the Beat: Hip Hop Home Studios (Hardcover)

If your like me and love vinyl, read liner notes front to back, spend hours in dusty un-nameable places looking for that perfect record (preferably in the dollar bin) and produce your own music then this book is a worthy addition to your stuido. Even if you don't have a studio it's still worth pickin up if you are a fan of "underground" hip hop. Raph takes you to many of the most prestigous producers "bedroom" studio's (not all of them are bedrooms) showing you their working enviroment and their gear. I can sit and flip through this book for hours on end disecting each picture finding the key elements to the studio's (and trying to pick up some new titles to go diggin for). If you are at all interested in how the sonic landscapes were crafted for some of the greatest albums in the last 10-20 years pick this up! Not to mention the fact that the DJ Ransom's Mix CD is worth the price alone as it includes rare and classic tracks!