On Current TV | August 13, 2008 | Comment on this video (28)

Two Hand Band

Gabe
An MPC, or Music Production Center, was THE tool for hip hop artists in the studio in the 1980s. It fell out of fashion for a while, but now, it's back. The MPC has moved from the studio to the stage and all kinds of performers, from rockers to rappers to classicly trained musicians, are utilizing its beat making abilities. One MC will take us through the MPC transformation, as we see, hear and talk to different kind of musicians, and even non-musicians, who are making this technology the oldest newest trend in music making.
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28 comments // Two Hand Band // Video

  • Dacia
    • 0
      Dacia  

    • Fantasic. I want a MPC so bad.... Damu & K-Murdock if you don't know them, check them out cause they are great artists.

    • 2 years ago
  • Entrancing
  • abteen
    • 0
      abteen  

    • It's awesome to take a step back from computer programs and timelines and actually have a physical interface in front of you for manipulating music.

    • 3 years ago
  • Gabe
  • linndrum
    • 0
      linndrum  

    • Hi Gage-
      Great piece. You hit the nail on the head in seeing the MPC as a musical instrument as opposed to a recording/editing product. I think the MPC and other contemporary hardware and software music products are emerging species in the evolution of new musical instruments. And some might say that the 4x4 pad matrix is an example of a new human interface for music. Again, great story.
      - Roger Linn

    • 3 years ago
  • TravG73
  • frankd
    • 0
      frankd  

    • Its not necessarily "stealing". You could put it that way, but the beauty of hip hop is taking something, reprocessing it and rearranging it. Its just as creative a task as writing a melody, plus the hip hop tracks (like Damus for instance) are usually more interesting pieces of music than the tracks from which they are sampled from.

    • 3 years ago
  • rex7222
    • 0
      rex7222  

    • I've got another word for sampling: stealing. Plagiarism at best. If you can't learn to play an instrument, sit in the audience.

    • 3 years ago
  • 4thEye
  • 4thEye
    • 0
      4thEye  

    • The MPC is huge in sample based hip hop, I'm glad to see something i really enjoy in my everyday life on current. With this pod, i think alot more people can understand how we produce hip hop

    • 3 years ago
  • frankd
  • Gabe
  • Gabe
    • 0
      Gabe  

    • I have it straight. Damu says "machines like these," and he meant samplers, not specifically MPCs. In an early cut, which was longer, I had the bite about the touch sensitive pads -- I would have loved to dive deeper, but you know which way attention spans are going,

    • 3 years ago
  • cheakywillie
    • 0
      cheakywillie  

    • the first real sampler that people used in hip hop was
      the sp1200 then the popular piece was the ensoniq asr 10 then came the akai mpc
      get it straight

      the reason why the akai became more popular was that the touch pads were touch sensitive and it had a lot more sample time

    • 3 years ago
  • Gabe
    • 0
      Gabe  
    • cheakywillie:

      I have it straight. Damu says "machines like these," and he meant samplers, not specifically MPCs. In an early cut, which was longer, I had the bite about the touch sensitive pads -- I would have loved to dive deeper, but you know which way attention spans are going,

    • 3 years ago
  • m_flo
    • 0
      m_flo  

    • Nice mini-documentary about the MPC. I never had one 'cause I couldn't afford it -- I had the lowly rack-mounted S01 sampler, and just a couple years ago I got an S2000 with SCSI for next to nothing. Sweet machines.

      AKAI should buy the rights to this video to promote their sweet hardware in these days of software MPCs running on Macs and PCs.

      Are the days of dedicated hardware like this numbered when a $20 iPhone app can do most of the same stuff?

    • 3 years ago
  • djgeekdout
    • 0
      djgeekdout  

    • this was a great pod.... i like how it showed a good diversity of musicians that use this. hip-hop made the MPC huge but all types of people use it now.

      however, i was somewhat amazed there wasn't even the smallest mention of DJ Shadow!? the only person to have an album in the guiness book of records for most samples... guess how he made those samples? yup the MPC. obviously, mention of premier & dilla is a must, but i feel like Shadow is right up there with them.... especially the way he gets down with it live!

    • 3 years ago
  • frankd
  • matt_fisher
    • 0
      matt_fisher  

    • DAMU!!!

      nice pod man, really feeling it, nice to get a history of akai. the mpc is a staple in hip hop and its importance will never die

      tora1, buy one asap, its the best hobby I have found so far

    • 3 years ago
  • silent_line
  • Blackfoot777
  • controlledvoltage
    • 0
      controlledvoltage  
    • Blackfoot777:

      Shame on you, How dare you attempt to represent Producers with this inexperienced rubbish and accusations of theft, My suggestion to you young Man - do your homework and pay your dues - Using prefabricated loops on Computers dose not make you a Producer - go get yourself familiar with an MPC - incorporate your computers skills - take it to the next level-- ignorance begat ignorance - you'll be surprised once you figure out how to use it - it's actually allot less capable then a computer but it gets your takes right in the pocket the fist time...... no computerized mistakes - it has a perfect clock so you can relax and focus on the feeling in your beats - I use mine with Kore - so do a little reading kido peace and beats

    • 3 years ago
  • controlledvoltage
    • 0
      controlledvoltage  
    • Blackfoot777:

      Come on now, I never mentioned anything about what machine was first in use - and I am completely aware of the SP1200 and ASR10 - great quite a bit more complicated to operate but yes very magical - Regardless this has nothing to do with your original statement.

    • 3 years ago
  • phylum_sinter
    • 0
      phylum_sinter  

    • Showcases the machine and much of its' versatility -- though i would like to have seen someone representing breakcore/drum and bass invovled too, as it is an indispensable tool for anything involving breaks, whether the name of the genre exists yet or not.

    • 3 years ago
  • roboho
  • tora1
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