Thread by @micro_chop

1) A reading list retracing the @Roland_US sound in rap, Miami bass, bounce, electro, and instrumental hip-hop.

2) Retracing the Roland Sound in Hip-Hop

Article by @ginosorcinelli via @Roland_US

articles.roland.com/retracing-the-…

3) Drum Machine Classics: 10 808 Tracks You May Not Know

The Roland TR-808 can create everything from a love song to a raging anthem. No wonder genres from industrial to rock to rap welcome the drum machine.

Article by @jakeuitti via @Roland_US

articles.roland.com/ten-808-tracks…

4) "He sort of bumped up against the breadboard and spilled some tea...he turned it on and got this pssh sound — it took them months to figure out how to reproduce it, but that ended up being the crash cymbal in the 808."

By Trent Wolbe via @verge

theverge.com/2013/1/30/3932…

5) The Essential… Yellow Magic Orchestra

Article by Mikey IQ Jones via @FACTmag

factmag.com/2015/01/22/the…

6) "It was basically him and I in the studio. Columbia Records gave him some new toys to play with. They gave him two drum machines, a synthesizer called a Roland TR-808 and a Jupiter 8."- Gordon Banks

Article by @iamchriswms via @TheAtlantic

theatlantic.com/entertainment/…

7) "I looked in the Village Voice and saw an ad stating, 'Man with drum machine, $30 a session.' His name was Joe and he had an 808, so we paid him to come in and do the beats."- Arthur Baker on making "Planet Rock"

By @RichBuskin via @soundonsoundmag

soundonsound.com/people/afrika-…

8) "Just the 808, one keyboard and a [Roland] SH-101, a vocoder and a mic – in a real recording studio...We didn’t know what to do and this is what we came up with."- Egyptian Lover on making "Dial-A-Freak"

Article/interview by @noz via @RBMA

redbullmusicacademy.com/lectures/egypt…

9) "‘Fresh Is the Word’ is really the sound of the TR-808. I liked its crispness, the fatness of the kick, and because it was slower it had more of a guttural feeling."- Kurtis Mantronik

Article by @KenMicallef via @EM_Magazine

web.archive.org/web/2013102116…

10) "I wanted to hear so much bass I just kept saying, ‘More bass!’ and the engineer was looking at me like I was crazy. Like, ‘How much bass do you want?!’"- T La Rock on making "It's Yours"

Article by Robbie Ettelson via @unkut

unkut.com/2008/06/t-la-r…

11) "It was humming like bass from hell, so I looked around the store...and the strangest thing happened. Everybody looked up asking, 'Who the fuck is that?' and 'What's the name of that record?'"- Amos Larkins II

By Jacob Katel via @MiamiNewTimes

miaminewtimes.com/music/amos-lar…

12) “That was the very first time we heard that 808 rocking like that, but we were smart enough to know, ‘Shit, that sounds incredible.’”- Orville Hall of The Showboys on making “Drag Rap" AKA Triggerman

Article by @NotoriousBMI via @RBMA

daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2018/06/loop-h…

13) "I bought the 'Triggerman' record, I would’ve thrown it away too, but when I heard that 808 come in at the middle part I was like, 'Oh shit, where the fuck that come from?'"- DJ Spanish Fly

Article by @noz via @RBMA

daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2012/07/noz-pi…

14) "It was important not to have a baseline but in its place we used the 808...With the decay on it. And did it with clever pitch changes in it."- Hank Shocklee on making 'It Takes A Nation...'

Article by @JohnTatlock via @theQuietus

thequietus.com/articles/17101…

15) "The whole "Bridge" — my song I made with MC Shan — all that was trigger music, triggering samples from a 808 ...The pulse from the 808 would go into my sampler and make it react."- Marley Marl

Article/interview by @FrannieandAli via @nprmusic

npr.org/sections/micro…

16) "I took a 303 and put it into the SP-1200 and played it from there. That was a new thing, because the 303 was usually only heard in techno music."- Afrika Islam on producing Ice-T's "Drama"

Via @GoodRoadBC's book 'Check the Technique'

amazon.com/dp/B001V7U6W8/…

17) Interview with late British rapper and producer Derek B where he talks about his studio setup and touches on the Roland gear he used to make his 1988 debut 'Bullet From A Gun.'

Article by @viemarshall via Micro Music/@mu_zines

muzines.co.uk/articles/derek…

18) "The whole thing was sequenced on a Roland 909 ...We just used one of those and an Akai S900. It was the most simple sampling and sequencing system in the world - but it proved really effective."- Three Wize Men

By Tim Ponting via @mu_zines

muzines.co.uk/articles/three…

19) "We had to record that song three different times...one time the tape was left in the car and got messed up. Another time it got accidentally erased...Dre added an 808 to the kick to make it thump harder."- Colin Wolfe

By Tony Best via @waxpoetics

waxpoetics.com/blog/features/…

20) "I use an Akai 1100 sampler, a Roland MC-50 sequencer that only has 8 tracks, a midi keyboard and some other effects. There are a lot of computers and a lot of software but I like what I have."- DJ Krush

Article by Justin Hardison via Hybrid Magazine

hybridmagazine.com/level/intervie…

21) "It was the onboard effects unit, with its 26 choices and ability to resample, that would cement the SP as one of the defining machines of the past decade."

Article by @laurent_fintoni via @FACTmag

factmag.com/2016/09/15/15-…

22) "Using...an eight-track cassette multitracker, a...SP-202...and a few cheap microphones, Nosdam looped and phased pop and electronic samples...moving furniture, telephone conversations, film clips and...a domestic blender."

By @a_merat via @FACTmag

factmag.com/2014/11/07/clo…

23) "Cuts like 'Raid' I did in my hotel room in Brazil on a portable turntable, my (Boss SP) 303, and a little tape deck. I recorded it on tape, came back here, put it on CD, and DOOM made a song out of it."- Madlib

Article by @monkuno via Scratch

stonesthrow.com/news/mad-skill…

24) “They brought him a little Boss [SP] 303 sampler and little 45 record player. That’s what brought him through to make a lot of music that we hear on Donuts.”- Karriem Riggins

Article by @timmhotep via @TheSource

stonesthrow.com/news/fantastic…

25) "Swingology101 was done with Reason 5. I’ll make a beat on Reason and then run it through the 303 or 404 for its compression to dirty it up. A lot of times I combine stuff."- Dibiase

Article by @ginosorcinelli via Micro-Chop

microchop.substack.com/p/dibiase-disc…

26) "An SP 505 and a microphone...it’s what I use as my production base so I'm very comfortable with it. The buttons are perfect for my live playing...and I like that no one else is using it!"- Pursuit Grooves

By Sam Collenette via @fabriclondon

fabriclondon.com/blog/view/intr…

27) “Them beats I make on those machines are just fun. It’s like my Game Boy. I just get into that little box and it ain’t like the MPC, it’s it’s own little monster. This machine, it’s my ace.”- Ras G on the 404

Article by @ginosorcinelli via Micro-Chop

medium.com/micro-chop/im-…

28) "Utilizing...production staples like the Boss SP-404 and classic tools like the Akai MPC2000XL, the Beats and Friends crew bridge sample-based instrumental beats and grimy East Coast-influenced hip-hop."

Article by @John_Liberator via @Bandcamp

daily.bandcamp.com/scene-report/t…

29) This Sound Is All Over Hip-Hop Today—And It Comes From an Unexpected Place

Article by @KianaFitz

complex.com/music/2018/08/…