For Vol.15 of the "Hypedog's underdogs" series we have Chicago producer Sev Seveer. Sev has been making beats for about 6 years now, but only in the last 3 years has he really come into creative independence. Sev had this interesting tidbit to say about his earlier years of beatmaking that I'd like to include in his post: "I took a year off to hone my craft in terms of my mixdowns, understanding audio, learning the language of music production and studying my influences. When I first started, I was kind of in the same boat that, unfortunately, I find many beatsmiths in today-- the habit of making beats without listening to music. Hearing a record for 1 minute and then going straight for the jugular without appreciating the composition. As I've progressed I've learned that hip hop music, in its most basic nature --the sample-- is often a reinterpretation of a previous creation. There's a lot of bad press surrounding sampling; so as beatsmiths who love the culture, we should hear/respect the music first. doing so usually translates to a better, more creative sound overall."
Sev Seveer uses a simple, straightforward setup consisting of Steinberg Cubase5 with an Akai MPK-25 and turntable. Sev notes that "Obviously this is always tentative.. for beat maker nerds who are always trying to find new ways to make music!"
It took Sev Seveer a while to recognize he actually had his own unique sound but now that he's realized it he says "I tend to like my beats to sound like a fat, wheezing, asthmatic obese 7th grader in a gym class...i.e punchy, bouncy basslines, phat snares and varied hats and ticks when I'm on that 1996 steez...and then crazy messy drums and thick fuzzy synths and mixdown trickery when I'm making outer space instrumentals. One thing all of my beats have in common is the Craig Mack snippet from "Flavor in Your Ear"....i chopped "you wont be around next year my rap's too severe kickin mad flavor in ya ear".... to say 'Seveer kickin mad flavor in your ear'......basically like a quality assurance stamp! and one that is not annoying like 100% of DJ drops, robot pitched voices or women moaning sexually."
Seveer is influenced by the likes of :Pete Rock, Madlib, Lord Finesse, Just Blaze, Count Bass D, Jniero Jarel, Fly Lo...local influences like DJ Limbs, Rice the Sound Transmitter, Rashid Hadee, Raj Mahal, Tall Black Guy....and then non hip hop influences... Bob James, Chic Corea, Ornette Coleman, Roy Haynes and countless others
Sev Seveer is currently working on reaching out to other beatsmiths in order to put a remix compilation together. My goal is to present the finished product as my first DJ mix (I'm the odd dude who started making beats before I started DJ'ing). Also working on a collaboration effort with scratch DJ extraordinaire Rice The Sound Transmitter. And many more random collabos, all of which will be fresh!
For now I'll leave you with three dope instrumentals, the "Timeless" instrumental will be featured on the upcoming Roy Ayers Project documentary! For more hit his Soundcloud.
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