I recently made 3 sampled instrumentals as well as a lyrical cover for all 3.  These include Billy Joel's Uptown Girl located here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vw089Y8lZfY, Colbie Caillat's Realize located here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBzUwkHuPoU, and P!nk and Nate Ruess's Just Give me a Reason located here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKYfzfcNz_c.  I got the main melody from Billy Joel's tune and it was a little tough to work with at first.  The high end was pushing through the mix to hard, so I used a high pass filter to turn the sample into something more workable.  I also included sub bass from FL Studio and the plugin called 3XOSC.  The drum fill has a couple samples at the end of the final bar, and it definitely has a hyped feel.  I was always inspired by Realize by Colbie Caillat, and I loved the line, "Didn't I, Didn't I tell you?" when the guitar plucks along.  I got that sample along with chopping the end of the outro into 4 pieces.  The P!nk and Nate Ruess song came out pretty cool because of the clear piano sound mixed with sub bass from Reason.  The drum kit is part of GlobalHeatWave.com and was an MPC kit.  There is a interesting hi hat pattern, snare hit, and open hi hat included in the drum pattern.  In addition to these remixed instrumentals, I put lyrics to every one of them.  I used the lyrics "uptown girl" a lot in the Billy Joel Lyrical version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1z8VAA8Rmk.  The Colbie Caillat lyrical version is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWersZemt3o, and the P!nk and Nate Ruess lyrical version is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJzYai2PvBI.  The P!nk song was particularly fun to write lyrics to and the hook was fun to work with as well.

I recently recorded a 57 minute screenshot tutorial covering the many aspects of music production.  In this particular YouTube video, I go deep "behind the scenes" of my Alanis "Hand in my Pocket" remix and demonstrate how to use Edison, which is the main editor I use during sampling.  This entails getting a seamless loop, finding the tempo, embedding the tempo information in the sample, and saving it on your computer or dragging it into your project.  I also review many aspects of mixing, mostly demonstrating the importance of cutting low frequencies and boosting your high frequencies on vocals, hi hats, and other instruments.  I review how to set up a reverb send as well as work with delay.  I show how to manipulate a sample on the piano roll and how to set up the sample to be "useable" in music production.  I also review what automation means and how to use it.  The video concludes showing the master track effect chain consisting of the TLS Maximizer and the BBE D82 Sonic Maximizer.  In short, the video reviews tips and tricks in the FL Studio music production environment.  The video would be handy for any type of music genre, but certainly focuses on electronic and hip hop production.  

 The song, "Hand in my Pocket," by Alanis Morissette is definitely a classic written by one of the most talented songwriters to grace god's green earth.  I started off by taking the intro sample in addition to the outro harmonica samples.  I wrote my entire verse and recorded it, along with sequencing and sampling the entire instrumental mix.  After listening in the car, I knew I had to deliver a better product.  I spent an additional 2 or 3 hours at the coffee shop, sampling vocals from Alanis and more harmonica sections.  I came home and re-did the vocals.  I don't actually have an interface right now- this song was recorded with a Rode Condenser NT1A into a behringer mixer XENYX802.  The main outs of the mixer go into the stereo mini input jack of my dell laptop computer, and I use ASIO4all as the audio "soundcard" if you will.  The vocals sound pretty crisp and there was definitely some latency while recording, but that could have helped the vocals to "sit" more in the "groove" of the mix.  I worked pretty hard on the overall final product and hope listeners enjoy.

 If the beginning guitar in the song "Stay" by Lisa Loeb doesn't give you chills, then you just aren't human.  Well, maybe not so extreme, but the beginning of the song and the whole song in general is definitely a classic.  Her lyrics also fit amazingly into the structure of the song.  To make a long story short - this song is fantastic.  I wanted to sample some of the guitar here, and try one of my lyrical interpretations.  This is when I draw on the main theme or message of the song, and then put my own spin on it.  This case was a little different.  I took the position as her boyfriend that wanted her back.  There are many interpretations of her original lyrics, mostly that she is somewhat scared or unsure and wants to leave her boyfriend.  She discovers she made the wrong choice because as she says, "I missed you."   She thought she could leave but she missed him.  My job here is to tell her that I still want her, while using her original lyrics in my own point of view.

 I recently got inspired by the piano at the beginning of Skyfall as well as the lyrics.  I sampled the piano, did some time stretching, set up the drum beat, added a bassline, arranged the song, mixed each track, and had my dad add a piano solo.  I also did what I call a "lyrical interpretation," where I go off what the artist and songwriters already mentioned in their lyrics.  In this one I used alot of what Adele said and only changed things up a little.  I was in the studio for a good 4 hours or more, which went through the night until 1 or 2 in the morning.  That tends to happen when you get inspired!  The free track is available here: Skyfall Mp3 - Adele Hip Hop Remix or just look below the video to get the Mp3 or Podcast to your iTunes library!