New Years Fun 2011-2012
A few years ago we had a New Years party at my house. Most of our friends showed up shortly after the ball dropped and drinks were flowing. While all of the women in the group decided to play card games, the men made there way to the studio. What came out of that studio session was more of a confessional than anything. It started as a freestyle session, but quickly became one of the more hilarious nights in my house.
***WARNING*** these do contain explicit content:
Sorry guys I had to post this somewhere. Too funny to let it sit on the hard drive.
#Juicebeats
Top 5 Rappers of All Time
Who are the Top 5 Best Rappers of All Time?
Who do you consider to be the best rappers of all time? Can you even narrow it down to 5? I have been thinking about which rappers I would try to fit into a top 5 category and the same names keep coming up. BUT what criteria are we talking??? Are we talking about lyrics, popularity, sound? When I think of who are the best rappers, my thoughts immediately go to lyrics. Who can create that imagery to make you feel what the artist was talking about in the song? Keep you engaged and make you want to listen over and over studying every line of every bar?
With the exception of Juicebeats ;), my thoughts go immediately to:
#5 50 Cent. Even before his first album came out and everyone was
playing "In Da Club" spring of 2003, 50 Cent was killing the rap game
with his under ground mixtapes. Go back and look up "How to Rob" and listen to how he flipped his lyrics on many of the rappers in the game. Genius!
#4 Eminem. I was pretty skeptical when he first came onto the scene with his "My Name Is" song, but when I heard the rest of the album, he could definitely flow with the best of them. I soon realized that he used those poppy catchy songs to gain popularity with all audiences, and also create controversy to get people to talk more about him.
#3 Outkast. Need I say more about this rap group? incredible style, flair, and creativity. Lyrics always on point.
#2 Jay-Z. Not 2013 Jay-Z, but before he announced his retirement from rap. Most of the kids today don't know this Jay-Z. Reasonable Doubt, Hard Knock Life, Blueprints, go back and take a listen.
2Pac as the #1 spot. If you have ever listened to his music in your life, then you know exactly how poetic his lyrics were, and how he could create a whole scene in your head of the images he was portraying. If you compare his lyrics to today's rap, wait do rappers today even have lyrics? Seems as though the songs I hear nowadays sound exactly alike and have no real lyrical content. Not always a bad thing, because sometimes you don't want to think and just listen to a good beat or good sound, but we are talking about lyrics, and 2Pac had that on lock. Probably why there are so many documentaries, books, and write-ups about him.
A lot of people argue, where is BIG, Lil Wayne, Ludacris, Rakim, Run DMC, Kendrik Lamar, Mos Def, Common, Nas, Kanye? It would be hard for me to argue against them, but you tell me why they should be put in the Top 5. I would like to hear your top 5's and why you would put them there. Leave comments below.
#Juicebeats
Video Production
Recently I have been producing some short films about travel and special events. I was finally able to get some of the equipment needed to produce these kind of films, and many of you have reached out to me to tell me how much you enjoyed them. I really appreciate the support for my passion. I wanted you all to know that I am offering this service to anyone who is interested in a short film such as these:
My email is juicebeats1@gmail.com
Video Production Techniques:
I am using the Sony NEX 5 system to film these events. These compact cameras pack a punch with their APS-C CMOS sensors. They are able to shoot in full 1080 HD. Here are the format specs below:
Sony NEX-5N Video Options
AVCHD Format (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 High Profile, .MTS files)
Resolution
Frame Rate
Average Bit Rate
1,920 x 1,080
(16:9 aspect ratio)
NTSC: 60 fps (progressive)
PAL: 50 fps (progressive)
28 Mbps
NTSC: 60 fps (interlaced)
PAL: 50 fps (interlaced)
24 Mbps
17 Mbps
NTSC: 24 fps (progressive)
PAL: 25 fps (progressive)
24 Mbps
17 Mbps
MPEG-4 Format (MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 Main Profile, .MP4 files)
1,440 x 1,080
(16:9 aspect ratio)
NTSC: 30 fps (progressive)
PAL: 25 fps (progressive)
12 Mbps
640 x 480
(4:3 aspect ratio)
30 fps (progressive)
3 Mbps
I use several different techniques to get the video to look more like film when editing. I am currently using Premiere Pro for editing because the I think the workflow is much faster and it can be used with After Effects and Photoshop easier than other programs. After cutting the clips, color correcting, and putting them together on the timeline, I will render out the video to its full length so I can work with the full file when color grading and adding my film effects. Using a new sequence, i will use neat video to de-noise the video and get a cleaner look, then add gorilla grain to get that film grain look. Also will do some color grading to set the overall mood for the film. Once I have all my film grading done, I will check for anything that may need to be changed or see if anything will need to be added. This is just an example of my workflow. It could vary from project to project, but its a basic sample of what I do before I render out the finished product.
Leave questions or comments. Let me know your workflow on your video projects.
Weekend Trip To UNA
I decided to shoot my weekend trip to the University of North Alabama my Alma Mater. I have been interested in making documentary films and short films, so I took my Sony NEX 5 and started filming early in the morning before we even left Knoxville. It was my first trip back to the University of North Alabama in 5 years, so I wanted to remember some of the things that were still there. I was able to see a few of my old teammates, friends, and the people that took care of me when I was living there. I also captured some of the silliness of my family. My family and I went back to UNA for the Homecoming game vs. West Georgia.
For those into the technical aspect of making films... I will tell you a little bit about my setup for the NEX 5.
Sony NEX 5 18-55mm lens kit. Sunset profile, cloudy WB, manuel focus. Originally shot in 1080 60p because I thought I may use true slow motion at some point. I only used slow motion for 1 clip.
Used Premiere Pro for editing, and Mojo for very subtle color correction.
Interested in more information on how to make a documentary film? Check out the link here How to Make a Documentary
Music: Imagine Dragons - On Top of The World
LEAVE QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW
JUICEBEATS
Say What's On Your Mind
New Track for you produced by Juicebeats Productions...
Say What's On Your Mind - Jake Brown
Jake and I have been working together on music since he was 15 and I was 16 years old. He is one of the reasons why I started my own production company and have been working on music among other things for almost 14 years. My first album was a collaboration with Jake "Chapter 1" in which we released our first single "Whatz Up" on the radio in Knoxville, Tennessee. We recently collaborated on the track "Brother In The Brooks" which earn over 31,000 views before it was taken down by YouTube for becoming too popular too fast. It has been re-posted and you can find the links in my other blog posts. Listen and comment on the New single.
Upcoming events:
Holocaust Documentary: TBD
Video Shoot Day
The many challenges of shooting a music video:
The new video “Brother in the Brooks” has been a long time in the making. The song was made last year before I had a camera and at a time when I was mostly just working on music. We knew we wanted to make a video for the song, but it has taken this long to get something together. Little did we know that it would be so tough.
Planning for the video has been tough mostly because we needed a place to shoot and a time where everyone involved could make it. For 2 weeks I sent emails with possible scripts and ideas and always had in my mind that we would try to shoot at the actual Brooks Brothers store. Saturday came, the day of the video shoot. I had a couple friends that lined up some girls to shoot in the video, and everyone else was going to be ready by 2pm. There were a few problems though. BT, the original creator for the concept of the song, and he has been unavailable. Jake, who is also part of the chorus of the song, said he could write a verse and put it together before the shoot started. So at 8 in the morning on Saturday, I text Jake to come over and get in the studio. We knocked Jake's verse out in about an hour. I put together a soft mix of the song so we would have it while shooting the video. I got all my equipment together and clothes for the shoot and headed for the mall to scout places to shoot. The first place I looked for was, of course, Brooks Brothers because that is what the song is loosely based on. Little did I know that Brooks Brothers is no longer in the mall and has been gone since February. Shows how much I go to the mall. So plan A didn’t work. The next spot I checked out was Dillard’s. The place where we would have shot was a little too small for all the people we needed to be in there at once. I walked around the mall a bit and asked a few stores about shooting, but all of them couldn’t let us without corporate approval. I thought about just setting up somewhere and starting until someone said something, but I was afraid we would get stopped right in the middle of something good and never get that shot again. I walked into JCP second floor and saw one of my old preschool teachers working the counter. We talked a bit to catch up, and then I told her why I was walking around the mall with a backpack on. She said, "I don’t think that would be a problem; let me check with our manager." I thought this may be it right here. We finally have a good spot to shoot this video. When the manager came out though, he said he wasn’t the right person to talk to about it. They need higher approval. They took my name and number and said they would call me and let me know if I could. I was hoping that this would be it, and we would be able to shoot. I went to lunch with Evan and my wife. Evan had met up with me early to go over video shoot plans and scouting a few places. I told him about JCP maybe letting us in, and I was just waiting on the call. After lunch, we went back to JCP to see what the verdict was. They said there was no way we could do it. Back to the drawing board. Evan suggested we check out Belk. We walked into the men’s Belk to the suit section where they had the prefect area to shoot the video. I talked to one of the attendants, and he said sure you guys can shoot no problem. At this point I was ecstatic. Finally, a place to shoot. Now, we just need everyone to show up. By this time it was around 2 or 2:30pm. Jake had metsuup with us, and Marc was on the way. Evan was working on times for the girls to show up eearlier in the day. The 2 girls he had for the shoot decided to back out at the last minute, so he was working on 2 more that would show up for us. I told him to just get whoever was willing to help us out. Evan and I went out to the car to get the other pieces of equipment and brought it back into the store. When we got to the dressing room, there was a new attendant there. He said the “management” called down and asked why there were so many people there. It was only 4 of us at that point, hardly that many people. Then he said that there was absolutely no way they could do it now. So plan A, B, and C for the shoot were out of the question. Scratching our heads, we headed quickly to the car. Not only did we still have to find a place, but we had to get everyone out there too. Evan secured a couple girls that would come and be in the video, and I remembered I had a friend at a suit store. We quickly went to the suit store. I talked to my friend who was the manager. He said, "No problem!" We’re back in business!! I quickly got the word out to everyone that we would be shooting there. Around 4pm, we finally got to start shooting some footage. It only tooks us about 2 and half hours to get what we needed to shoot done. By the end of the shoot, I was exhausted from everything we had to go through for the day. I think we got a good chunk of the footage we need for the video though. Wednesday is set for the next shoot. We shouldn’t run into the same problems again this time.
More to come...
Juicebeats