B-Rackz
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B-Rackz Multi-platinum-selling American producer B-Rackz has a lineup of credits that speak for themselves. From Drake to 2 Chainz to Tyler the Creator, he’s seemingly worked with nearly every major artist in Hip Hop. We recently took the opportunity to learn more about his background and dedication to using FL Studio in his work — read on to learn more!
B-Rackz in the Studio Tell us about yourself and how you got into music. I’m an African American producer born and raised in West Memphis, Arkansas. I grew up attached to the different sonics I heard in music — even as a child my family said I would pick up my toy guitar and attempt to play along with any music playing in my surroundings. These habits evolved into me learning to actually play music starting at age 7. My first real instrument was a Casio keyboard my dad gave me — I’d play it and mess with its functions when I was grounded in my bedroom. As I progressed in my journey, I found that I had a particular interest in the sound of music production. This led to me researching the words “background music” which is how I learned the term “music production”. I took this knowledge and studied further into the producers responsible for my favorite records. Shortly after lightly getting into making beats around age 9, my mother fixed up the old family computer that I then downloaded a copy of FL Studio 10 to. I made beats on it until it stopped working, then my sister let me have her laptop and from there, I continued my journey as a music producer using FL Studio. How did you start using FL Studio & what does it mean to your productions? I started using FL Studio simply because I couldn’t afford the expensive gear that I saw producers Like Dr. Dre, Zaytoven, and Shawty Redd using, but I found that FL Studio was a very powerful DAW/tool for music production the deeper I got into it. FL Studio is essentially the core to my education and knowledge about music production and navigating a DAW. Using the DAW as my foundation has led me to acquire a plethora of different skills and capabilities in music. The piano roll and its tools alone helped me understand the theory of piano until I was able to transfer that knowledge over into actually playing piano. |
Lil Baby & Drake – Yes Indeed (co-prod. by B-Rackz) Tell us about your work and some of the artists you have worked with. I’ve produced many major and independent artists over the years. Guys like Drake, Lil Baby, E-40, Peewee Longway, T.I., Lil Duke, Lil Yachty, Gunna, Kevin Gates, Lul Bob, Wiz Khalifa, Young Thug, Lil Uzi, Lil Tecca, 2 Chainz, ScHoolboy Q, Eearz, Bow Wow, Soulja Boy, Yung Bans, SahBabii, Tyler The Creator, UnoTheActivist, London Jae, ShadDaGod, Jose Guapo, Quando Rondo, KashDoll, Yakki, Plies, Johnny Cinco and the list Goes On. A lot of these songs came about from me making 10-20 beats a day sending them out via email, connecting with producers and artists in person, and putting my productions in other peoples’ hands for them to shop it. Tell us about your production environment and the gear you use. My usual place to make music is at home. It’s convenient and everything I need is around when I need it. My DAW of choice is FL Studio mainly and I implement hardware like Yamaha HS8 monitors, a Focusrite i8i20, Neumann TLM 102, Arturia KeyLab MK2, Yamaha Montage, Kurzweil K2700 & K2500, Juno Ds, MacBook M1, and a Razer gaming mouse.
B-Rackz What is your top FL Studio tip for up-and-coming producers? My top FL Studio tip is put the soft clipper on your 808 and your master channel, and always arrange and render your tracks. Is there anything else you would like to tell us? |
