Shigeto - So So Loney

Artist: Shigeto 
Album: Full Circle (2010)
Track: So So Lonely (2:43)

Structure: 
The track opens with a collection of organised sounds. There are metallic sounds (like a spoon in a glass of water) as well what could be a wind-up music box. After a few seconds of this soundscape, they are arranged into a rhythmic and melodic loop. It is a two bar loop at the tempo of 100 beats per minute. After a faint yet noticeable upward sweep, enter is the drums and bass.

Rhythm section: 
The bass is very much a sub bass sound. It's pattern is quite simple lining up for the most part with the first kick of each bar. In this way it's almost like an extension of the kick drum. The snare sound is layered with a clap on every second hit. The hi hat is extremely sporadic, playing an extremely odd pattern. The final layer that is added to the percussion on this track is some tuned percussion instrument (possibly a marimba). The pattern this plays is fairly similar to the hi hat, the problem that this poses is that in the sections where the marimba is absent the hi hat sounds quite 'alone' and awkward.

Climax and sound layering: 
About halfway through this track a lot more layers start being mixed in. First is a light pad that follows the bass on beat one. It's decay is slightly longer than the bass so we know that it's a new instrument. I don't have a full understanding of the music theory behind it, but it's chord has some dissonance in it. In addition to this is a thicker '8-bit' style bass and a lead synth.

Release details: 
The album was released on the label, Ghostly International.

Northlane - I Shook Hands With Death

Artist: Northlane 
Album: Discoveries (2011)
Track: I Shook Hands With Death (4:56)

A note to begin with:
In the last entry of this diary I said I would find an example of breakdown. Skip to 3:49 of this song if you want to get right to it. There are lot of songs out there that sound like they've just been built around the breakdown. I wanted to show you this one because it's arranged better than that I think.

Breakdown theory: 
So what is a breakdown? It's really just a rhythmically centred section of a song hammered out with brutality. It is nearly always a different guiding rhythm to the rest of the song. The two most common systems for breakdowns is, slow and simple or fast and hugely subdivided. The thing that they all have in common is guitar tunings and played notes right down low (in the basement of guitar tunings). Another characteristic is the absence of all melodic elements, vocals may be included (growls aren't melodic).

Breakdown format: 
I've chosen this song also because I dislike drawn out breakdowns. A breakdown after all is shift into a different musical direction for the song. It's like a witty statement when used in this shorter format, it adds a pleasant surprise to the song.

The build before the break: 
Notice the build up for this breakdown is intense with that washy high register guitar. This is just one of the elements that makes the breakdown drop as hard as it does. The drumming pattern breaks into nothing but hi hats accenting with the kick on a syncopated line. The rhythm of the breakdown is quite a 'straight' rhythm in comparison to the grooves before it. Focus on the dramatic difference between it and the sounds that lead to it. Also notice the huge sub-hit or 'bass drop' that slams home on beat one of the breakdown. These are extremely common in this context.

Parkway Drive - Home Is For The Heartless

Artist: Parkway Drive 
Album: Deep Blue (2010)
Track: Home Is For The Heartless 

Introduction: 
The song begins with distant chants from a group of men. A washy clean guitar fades in above it. In a sudden volume snap up the full band hits its first note. This has a pretty strong effect in shocking the listener as it's hard to pick which beat the drop is (even if you know the song pretty well).

Time and rhythm: 
This song is recorded at 140 beats per minute but makes extensive use of changing time feel. By that I mean, there are frequent switches from 'double time' feels to 'half time'. This kind of feel variation is extremely common in this genre. It's an excellent tool for building tension and releasing it. This song makes use of dropping into the half-time feel for each chorus. In a lot of other metalcore and hardcore genre music, this paradigm is also used to create 'breakdown' sections. I'll find a great example of a breakdown soon.

Backing vocals: 
Backing vocals are extremely important in this song also. Each chorus is complimented with an extremely sing-along friendly "wooah, wooah". Crowd participation for metalcore music is phenomenal, there is a small break before the final chorus containing only this chant. The purpose is clearly to intensify the crowd participation in the final chorus.

Panning perspective for drums: 
A note on the panning of cymbals: Being a drummer, I often like to listen to music from the perspective of the drummer. I've noticed a lot of music has cymbals panned from that perspective to create tonal separation for each type of cymbal. In this case, I can hear hi hats on my left, ride cymbal and crash/ride on the right. In this song there are many instances where the drummer plays cymbals from the right and left side of the drum kit simultaneously or in quick succession. The use of panning in this recording helps greatly with the definition of each stroke.

Producer and labels: 
Deep Blue was produced by Joe Barresi and released on Resist Records, Epitaph and Burning Heart.

Fatboy Slim - Right Here, Right Now

Artist: Fatboy Slim
Album: You've Come A Long Way, Baby (1998)
Track: Right Here, Right Now (6:28)

Extended buildup: 
The track builds from the beginning with with a bass line and then expands slowly. Layers of melody are applied on top of a bass line. This melody is supplied from a string sample - details on this sample are at the bottom of this entry. There is also a guitar strumming away (interesting combination of electric and acoustic sounds). This makes for an interesting texture. Another factor to think about in the opening section is the high pass filter that is slowly removed to open up the sound. The definition and 'sparkle' in the sound becomes louder until a climax which brings about the first vocals. Soon after, the main beat drops.

That kick drum: 
The kick drum sound in this track is unmistakable and unique. There are also some interesting elements to it that I would not expect in much of the music I listen to. I think of it as a kick drum melody (there is tonal variation) - to my knowledge this is pretty unusual. The last kick in the sequence is pitched lower than the others. So among all the simultaneous melody lines in this piece, even the kick drum has its contribution.

Panning out the breakdown: 
The panorama of this piece reveals itself more clearly at some times than others. All through you can hear some auxiliary percussion sounds panned to the left speaker. The most important moment for panning however, is at the breakdown (about halfway through the song). We have drums panned hard to the left with a vocal glitch loop in the centre. A second collection of glitchy bleeps can be heard entering from the right. Finally, the full drum sound comes into the centre also. This panning makes the entrance of each new sonic element more noticeable or dramatic if you like.

The drums are up: 
A few final notes on the mix of this track: The drums are definitely the loudest element in this mix. A lot of the synths that I mentioned in the beginning become somewhat a 'soup'. For this reason it's most important for the dance friendly elements to cut whilst letting the other drones create a trance state of sound.

Time and rhythm: 
It's at 125 beats per minute in a 4/4 time signature. The groove is heavily driven by the kick drum. It plays on 8th note subdivisions and is extremely active. In this way there's very little space in the groove - it's saturated by kick power.

Tonality: 
The melody is driven by strings but overall the track is extremely multi-layered. Beneath the strings is a collection of synthesized sounds. They are pretty coarse and have quite a bit of modulation applied to them through a flanging effect. Upward and download sweeps are used to transition most sections of the track. There's use of some pure white noise splashes around 2:53 on the back beat. This is panned hard left and also helps the next transition.

Dynamics:
The track is full of long buildups (crescendo). However, when dropping in intensity the transitions are comparatively very sudden.

Space: 
The space of the track overall is extremely full and thick. This is due to the heavy layering of samples and a compression that keeps a lot of similar dynamics stuck together in the background. That's okay because the focus is the beat (this is the 'big beat' genre). Because this track is very sample heavy, transitions can feel too sudden. The addition of synthesized sounds has been pretty helpful in this track to ease transitions.

Additional details: 
Right Here, Right Now was written by Fatboy Slim, Dale Peters and Joe Walsh. There are some samples credited also: "Ashes, the Rain and I" by James Gang. Dialogue by Angela Bassett from the film Strange Days. And of course, here's the WhoSampled link for this song. Brilliant! The album was released on Skint in the United Kingdom and Astralwerks in the United States. The producer was of course is Norman Cook (Fatboy Slim) and Simon Thornton was involved as engineer, mixer and photographer.

Pete Rock - For The People

Artist: Pete Rock  
Album: Petestrumentals (2001)
Track: For The People (4:33)

Cutting in: 
The beginning of this track is unusual although common with Pete's productions. You hear two seconds of a totally different beat or sample before getting into song. From what I've read on this, it's Pete's way of communicating the enormity of his record collection and beat repertoire.

The elements of the beat: 
The main beat drops in with a snare layered on top of kick and a few uneasy sounding syncopations. Grooving begins in the next bar. We have punchy drums beneath layers of modulated guitar and swirling piano. After a few vocal stabs, we drop back down to just guitar and drums.

Where'd that sample come from? 
That odd vocal "woa woa woa" is from a track by Albino Gorilla called "Psychedelic Shack". Once again, WhoSampled.com has helped me find the origin of particular sounds in music.

Structure and space: 
The track is instrumental but still follows a verse and chorus structure. The simple guitar and drums for verses and the heavily layered sections for choruses. It's a rather long track and so these variations are quite helpful in keeping it interesting. Another element of variation in this is when the bass line drops (it's at the start of each verse). I didn't "feel" that is was missing but then when it comes back in to build the verse it's very effective. I believe the reason I don't realise it's presence is gone is because we already feel a lot of layers drop out after the chorus. You expect a thinner sound at the beginning of the verse and so removing one extra element makes the build up more effective.

Time and rhythm: 
The groove of this beat is at a steady 89 beats per minute. It makes lots of use of 16th note triplets rounding out the end of each bar and dropping into the next. That's the little ("da-boom") you hear with the kick drum.

Release: 
Petestrumentals was released on BBE (Barely Breaking Even) Records.
Also find on this label:
2001: J Dilla - Welcome 2 Detroit
2003: Pete Rock - Lost & Found: Hip Hop Underground Soul Classics

2002: DJ Jazzy Jeff - The Magnificent 

2006: J Dilla - The Shining

Pat Metheny - Song For The Boys

Artist: Pat Metheny 
Album: One Quiet Night (2003)
Track: Song For The Boys (4:30)

Time and introduction: 
This is a solo acoustic guitar piece. It's played in the time signature of 6/8 with rhythmic accent on beat one of each bar. A fade in is used to introduce the song. Gradually, more picking definition can be heard as the sound thickens.

Hearing double? 
When I first listened to this I had the feeling that is was played by two simultaneous guitars. However, I've found a video of Pat performing this piece.

Dynamics: 
The dynamic range in this music is quite large, after building up to some intensity, the guitar drops back to a very gentle position. These dynamic shifts are often accompanied with a change from either picking to strumming. So dynamics are not just caused by playing intensity buy by technique also.

Tonality: 
The tone and texture of the guitar is (to my ear) quite coarse and quite warm, The best way for me to describe this is by pointing out the loudness of string noise as well as the large swells bass produced under the guiding rhythm. The guitar is a full range sound (as we should expect on a solo track).

Two sided guitar: 
I can hear a slight difference in texture between the left and right speakers. On the right side of the panorama contains more the sound of strumming. Where the left carries more of the guitar's resonance. I would expect that the guitar has been recorded with two microphones; one at the body, the other up the neck. It's hard to judge this one, but the sound is so thick that perhaps there is a room mic also, playing a big part in filling space.

How it came to be: 
I have no source on this other than Wikipedia but "The album was recorded in one night and provides a raw sample of Metheny's skill on acoustic and baritone guitars". It was released on the Warner Bros. label and produced by both Pat Metheny and Steve Rodby.

Gang Starr - Moment of Truth

Artist: Gang Starr 
Album: Moment of Truth (1998)
Track: Moment of Truth (4:07)

Setting up and cutting up: 
The track is set up by a vocal sample (possibly from a film) telling us that we'll all find our "moment of truth". Fading in from this is cut up sample containing strings and bells. It sounds cohesive enough to be a straight sample. However you can hear the cut just before the last two notes. The previous sound doesn't blend into the next. In this genre this poses no problem. Guru's vocals come in one rotation before the bass and drums.

Vocals: 
The vocals on the track are quite dry. However, there is a short and soft delay I can hear. Because it's most prevalent on "S" syllables it occasionally clashes with the hi hat sound. At the end of each verse, an extended delay tail is added to help transition into the short instrumental sections. The focus is on Guru's voice as if you were just in a room with him. You can hear quite a bit of his breath and hear that he's quite close to the microphone.

Structure and instrumentation: 
The string sample DJ Premier used in this beat doesn't change throughout this track. It follows the same two bar loop from beginning to finish. This is okay, there is enough variation in the vocals big verses. The drums are fairly straight forward other than some layering on the snare. I can hear a clap with each snare stroke. The groove itself has quite a bit of space to let the string sample shine. The bass follows the drums, again creating space. There's a good sense of tension and release with each two bar loop on the drums and bass. The first bar contains the gap between beats two and four. The second bar fills this gap with an extra kick stroke and a higher bass variation.

Origin of samples: 
These are the sample credits for this track are as follows:
"Let's Fall in Love All Over" by Billy Paul
"Who's Gonna Take the Weight" by Gang Starr
Head over to WhoSampled and have a listen to how the sample was chopped and looped.

The team: 

The album was produced by DJ Premier and co-produced by Guru. It was recorded at D&D Studios in New York.

TesseracT - April

Artist: TesseracT
Album: One (2011)
Track: April 

Enter the TesseracT: 
The track begins with clean electric guitar saturated with a washy delay. The drums and bass guitar enter together sitting a great deal louder in the mix. The effect of this is a fairly dramatic entry both volume wise and rhythm wise. Only drums and bass are heard for eight bars before the lead vocal enters with the return of the guitar.

Engine room: 
The rhythmic base is broken into two layers. The first is the china crash playing quarter notes. This is mixed relatively loud - it stands out against all other sounds. Under this straight rhythm is a syncopated groove powered by the kick drum and bass guitar. In between these layers is the back beat provided by the snare.

Slappin' da bass, mon: 
The performance technique applied to the bass guitar in the opening section is called slap. It creates short stabs of bass with quieter reflex sounds in between. This is similar to and compliments the ghost notes (soft strokes) played between the snare accents. The roll of the bass in this track is linked tightly to the kick drum. The short, sharp and odd rhythms are driven take priority over melodic purpose for the most part.

Space: 
This song is quite thick in sound - it has the 'wall of sound' created by many saturated simultaneous sounds. All the vocals are fitted out with long tailed delays and 'ghostly' reverb. At times I have a strong feeling that they are double tracked also.

Two guitars: 
There are two guitar parts to be heard in most sections. One plays a long and high melody over each four bars whilst the other plays a short and lower pattern. The second has a close relationship with the bass in some parts of the arrangement.

Pounding low, washing high: 
The way I think best describes the sound structure of this track is rhythmic lows and washy highs. In the higher register there is a wash of cymbals, guitars and vocals. Each of these sounds have long tails and mix into each other quite a bit. Beneath is the rhythm provided by the kick, snare and bass guitar. Due to the rhythmic complexity of their parts the snappiness of sound is highly important. We are faced with a wall of sound through which the low end rhythm punches through to our chest.

Production and release: 
The producers of One were Acle Kahney and Amos Williams. It was released on Century Media.

Feed Me - One Click Headshot

Artist: Feed Me
Album: Feed Me's Escape From Electric Mountain (2012)
Track: One Click Headshot 

Headshot time: 
This multi-faceted electronic track keeps a steady 110 beats per minute with a simple groove which is filled in by building bass synths. It makes use of a video by FPS Doug as a 'pre-drop' cue... "I can dance all day... Boom! Headshot".

Drums:
To begin with, the drums that drive this track have a mix of elements to analyse. The opening kick drum sounds quite hollow like a wood knock but is soon opened up into a very 'meaty' punch. In that opening section we can hear a 'off beat' clap which fits between the kick and the snare. As we reach the chorus however, the hi hat sounds like it's synthesized from purely white noise. It's quite open sounding and the decay fills between each new stroke. As for the snare drum, I can hear that it covers a fair wide frequency range and is the loudest element in the mix. It is quite short and snappy and never leaves it's place on beats 2 and 4 other than in building up sections where it rolls 16ths.

Bass power: 
The other instrumental instrument of this track is led by powerful bass lines. The opening is played by a particularly lo-fi bass. It's quite coarse in its texture - slightly similar to a distorted guitar through some bit crunching filters. After the drop into the chorus the heaviest sounds are introduced. There is an alternation between massive bass swells and a higher register, more rhythmically sharp sound.

The drop: 
Let's talk about the all important drop. In this style of music, the drop is paramount. Building into a fever pitch and then releasing a brutal sounding bass line is central to this. FPS Doug's increasingly intense shouting is extremely effective in its placement within this track. Also note the snare building into a crescendo with the kick drum layered underneath. Also note the 'siren' that repeats itself in the background to add to the thickness. Finally there is a high pitch sweep that 'flys' up into the edge of our hearing range. All of this intensity is cut off for the length of one 8th note before that chorus drops in. This moment of almost silence is very effective in 'the drop'. I like to think of it as a ladder which the listener climbs - each beat being a foot hole. When you reach the top you loose your footing and that little fall makes the next sound so much more powerful.

Label: 
This album was released on Mau5trap Records (as seen on the artwork). Mau5trap is run by the hugely successful producer, Deadmau5.

Beastie Boys - Triple Trouble

Artist: Beastie Boys
Album: To The 5 Boroughs (2004)
Track: Triple Trouble

Kicking intros: 
The track opens with a short "kicking lyrics right to your brain..." and is followed by the percussion groove sample made famous by the Sugarhill Gang. Enter, Mix Master Mike's rhythmic scratching on the turntables to provide the rhythmic accents for the rest of the song.

Three emcees and one deejay: 
The emcees, Mike D, Ad Rock and MCA (RIP) rap simultaneously in the first section. The general system that is followed in Beastie Boys raps is that choruses contain all three voices. Verses are then traded with the final word or accents of each line accented by the others. A great example of the Beastie Boys performing (a different song) in the studio can be seen in this video: Notice the group dynamics with the verse trading and simultaneous accented sections.

The challenge of three vocals:
Rather than pan each vocal to create a separation between the voices they all positioned centrally. The challenges that I can imagine the producer having to deal with on Beastie Boys records is making each voice stand out. In any multi vocal track, avoiding masking and clashing must be challenging. The three emcees in Beastie Boys have unique textures to their voices which is a beneficial factor. Mixing these vocals would require dealing effectively with the frequently changing focus. That is, ensuring that any one time there is one leading vocal supported by two backings.

The beat: 
The beat for this track is particularly unusual in that there is no strong kick drum. Instead, Mike's scratches fill that roll along with a snare on beats two and four. I've also noticed after examining the WhoSampled link that the Beastie Boys have added an extra set of hi hats on top of the sample.

Release and success: 
To The 5 Boroughs was released in 2004 on the Capitol Records label. It was recorded between 2002 and 2004 produced by the Beastie Boys themselves. In fact, this album was their first separate from a co-producer. The album was extremely successful.

Year	Chart	Position
2004	The Billboard 200	#1
2004	European Album Chart	#1
2004	Top Internet Albums	#1
2004	Top Canadian Albums	#1
2004	Top Hip-Hop/R&B Albums	#1
2004	UK Albums Chart	#2

Hans Zimmer - Gotham's Reckoning

Artist: Hans Zimmer
Album: The Dark Knight Rises Soundtrack
Track: Gotham's Reckoning

Odd time: 
The first thing of note for this piece is that its time signature is in 5/4. It has one extra quarter note than your common 4/4 measure. The rhythmic structure is best described as two short and two long notes for each bar. This rhythm remains constant throughout the piece and so tension is built by dynamics rather than rhythmic shifts.

Dynamics and instrumentation: 
The piece builds up with staccato sounds from percussion and high strings playing the dominant 'two short, two long' rhythm. Underpinning this is a very low register bass changing notes with the start of each bar. Gradually more elements of the orchestra are added to the mix. Low frequency sounds from instruments like trombones and various baritone instruments begin to add a more coarse edge to the bass line.

A complex mix: 
There are too many sounds to name individually but the panning in this mix has created a wide stereo image. Generally there is a higher and lower version of a sound where one is panned to the right or left while the other is centre. The best example of this is the foot stamping and chanting. The thumping feet can be heard both on the left and the right. However, there is a higher pitch stomping sound panned hard to the right. The difference might be like stomping on stone versus stomping on leaves. Earlier there is a sharp and high pitched 'drum like' sound panned hard to the left adding another texture the the rhythm that underpins the whole piece.

5/4 used to great effect: 
A final note on rhythm: Throughout the film the use of this 5/4 meter has shown to be very effective building and releasing tension. The 5/4 meter seems to 'push' itself across the bar line due to its 'extra' beat. Furthermore, it is sped up and slowed down for different scenes in the film creating the dynamics I have been writing on,

Incubus - Anna Molly

Artist: Incubus
Album: Light Grenades (2006)
Track: Anna Molly (3:46)

Panning in: 
The track opens with a lightly distorted guitar panned hard to the left speaker. The hi hat that accompanies it is centre if not panned slightly to the right.

Hi hat dynamics: 
There's a large dynamic variation in the hi hat playing. The accents (on beats two and four) are noticeably louder. I compared the MP3 version to the FLAC at this point as it was a good point of reference. This dynamic distinction is slightly more evident to me on the FLAC version.

Enter bass: 
When the bass slides in with the second half of the introduction some bells fill the right side of the stereo image. When we reach the next section of the song the mixer opts for a narrower panorama. Although the guitar is panned to the right it is by a smaller degree.

Washing the drum kit: 
Something to note about the drums sound on this track is the huge wash produced by the cymbals. In the sections where the crash cymbal is 'ridden' I find its volume dwarfs the kick and the snare. This kind of drum kit sound is favoured in other Incubus songs too. The overhead microphones are given priority in the mix. There are a few instances of hard panning with the percussion in this song. Auxiliary percussion such as the tambourine is only on the left.

Vocals: 
Some factors that I have noticed with the vocals on this track are as follows: There are some sections where it sounds double tracked. The sound is thickened quite a deal in the chorus, I can hear the second voice whenever the diction varies or the length of the word varies. It would appear that for the most part the second voice (mixed behind the first) gets to each word slightly later. You can hear a second trail on most words. I don't think it is a short delay mainly because the delivery sounds different on each word. I believe it's possible that the producer nudged the second vocal track forward/later a bit.

Great: 
This track has been a great example for listening to depth as I was able to compare it to the MP3 version. The stereo panning techniques used were also quite evident throughout. I've been fully objective about this listening but I just want to add that I love the overhead heavy drum kit mix. There are so many variables in a single crash cymbal stroke that are lost when mixed low. The extra swell and 'radiance' you get with this system is a great addition I think. This is probably one of my favourite records for drum kit at the moment.

Producer and label: 
Light Grenades was produced by Brendan O'Brien (very impressive list of work) and released on Epic Records.

Extra notes (Presentation Notes): 

Time:

• Tempo about 150bpm
• 4/4 time signature
• Strong beat 2 and 4 emphasis 
• Snare in big sections, kick in lighter sections 
• Maintains the feel but lowers the intensity 
• Pairing of sub-divisions between the guitar strumming and hi hats. 
• Time slows slightly in the drum break 3/4 through the track. 

Tonality:

• Overdriven guitar
• Mid to high register tone. 
• Very open and washy
• Makes for a washy high and punchy low approach. 
• More reliance on the kick and snare to punch through and keep groove.
• Overall bright sounding track with lots of 'sparkle' 
• Cymbals are primary in this aspect.
• Tambourine also quite powerful in parts.
• Hard to listen to this song in the car (hearing mostly cymbal wash). 
• Bass has distinct picking sound in some parts and sometimes no pick noise at all. There is definitely a pick to finger swap at some point I feel. 
• Snare has a strong metallic ping that cuts the mix well I think. 
• Does a good job breaking through all the sound. 
• Hats are bright, crisp with a very short attack. 
• Lots of open hat used though... Lots of open sounds in this track.
• Double tracked vocals

Dynamics: 

• LOUDNESS: Barely a moment under -3db to be found. 
• Drums are right up all through the track.
• Dynamics are created through adding and removing sounds like the guitars rather than increasing and reducing volume. 

Space: 

• Opening with guitar left and hats right.
• Break/buildup has backing vocals on right.
• Backing vocals continue to be hard right, 
• Tambourine is hard left 
• and so on...

Ta-Ku - Day 7

Artist: Ta-Ku
Album: 50 Days For Dilla Vol.1 (2012)
Track: Day 7

Would you like a sample? 
The track opens with what sounds like the raw sample on which the rest of the track is based. Something that I don't like though is the small gaps in the audio. It might have been chopped up to fit in time with the tempo of the track. Although the vocal chops don't cut away at the same times as the strings beneath them. Either way, I'm relieved when the main beat drops in.

Tonality: 
The orchestral sounds are warm and swell very nicely. The little bit of grit that can be heard in the texture from the trombones adds a slight bit of aggression. A second string part comes in panned to the right speaker after the first rotation of the verse section. Just before it drops in, the drums are muted and we can faintly hear the original drums on the sample. If they are not the original drums then it's a faint hi hat pushed slightly out of time. Coming in with this secondary strings part is a backing vocal (female "oooh") which is panned to the left speaker. This panning arrangement is also evident in the original sample.

Shaking the groove: 
The hi hat/shaker shuffle adds a lot to the groove - it somehow makes the downbeat of the kick drum more effective. The kick drum is set very loud to punch through the mix while the snare is set back. The snare is softened by a large sounding reverb.

Vocals: 
The male vocal sample is very interesting in this context I think. It's a very low register and spoken / sung with little intensity for the most part. So when it's up at the top of the mix it plays with my perceptions a bit. With a later section of the track the vocals are cut up more sharply precisely into briefer pieces.  

How it came to be: 
This is an interesting read about how 50 Days For Dilla came to be. The 50 Days were released on HUH WHAT & WHERE.