Head Snack is a music producer and remixer

Tom Ray: Hey, nice to see you today. How are you doing?

Headsnack: I’m doing well. How you doing?

Tom Ray: Great. Why don’t you, tell the people first of all who you are and what you do.

Headsnack: I’m, Head Snack. I’m a music producer, lyricist, dj, musicologist of sorts, and, you know, remixed one of your tracks.

Tom Ray: Yeah, you did.

Headsnack: Yeah, did.

Tom Ray: That is what we’re here today to talk about.

Lorenzo did a remix of Friction Called Quest for Net Label Day

We’re here today to talk about the remix you did for our recent Net Label Day release, the Lorenzo’remixes Volume 2. And you did the song Friction Called Quest. Now, first, I want to say when you had reached, out, after doing it and it was put on the album, you had sent me a message and you’re like. And I think I used different sounds from different songs on there. And I was like, did you? And so much so that I didn’t notice in the sense where I thought it was a different song you remixed, because you did use different sounds. And I paid attention to the music that was in the background, but not the lyrics. So I didn’t realize that you had actually remixed Friction Called Quest. I thought you remixed if I Was Alone, which is what you use the background music for.

Speaker A: Da dun dun da dun dun dun dun I went back just the same but feel it get further run way I went back just the same Feel it again Ah hu her way first.

You used two different songs for this remix, which makes no sense

Tom Ray: Of all, let me ask you about that. What was your thought process going into this and the fact that you ended up using two different songs?

Headsnack: Well, so I was really late to the game. I kind of found out about it the last minute, and I had a lot of other stuff on my plate. So I did this remix like a day or two before the due date. And I just.

Tom Ray: Which makes even less sense to me that you did two different tracks.

Headsnack: I downloaded all the stems and I just listened to them as like, stems and be like, what’s a cool sound? Or whatever. So, for example, like, that. I don’t know if you hear that that’s from the alone track. But I was like, that’s a really cool, like, stab sound. So, like, I want to build the track around that. But then, the Friction one, I don’t know, like, the other elements of that, like the piano, obviously, and whatnot. and the lyrics all that time and all that. I just went that route and just said, let’s see what comes up. You know, I don’t know if you noticed actually time the piano differently than. Yes, I did like an offbeat on it. Ca Becausee that was what I was feeling at the time.

Tom Ray: No, there’s a lot of offbeat. There’s a lot of time differently elements in it. Much like the marimba that you were talking about. It even changes tones. So you must have had a sample and then you sequenced it so you could do the key that you wanted to do.

Headsnack: Yeah, exactly, exactly. I have this thing, I don’know. It’s a chai force.

Tom Ray: Okay. That’s what I was gonna ask you,

Headsnack: Yeah, so. So it’s like an MPC but with Ableton built in’s built into it.

Tom Ray: Okay.

Headsnack: Sort of like it’the workflow is like Ableton. And so I loaded all the samples in there and I started it. I kind of sketched it out on there and then I dumped it into my daw was Ableton. And from there I added like the sub base and a few other things and whatnot.

Tom Ray: Yeah, and I kind of saw the thing that you held up and first of all, it just looks like glowing lights to me. So how many. It looks like it has a lot of stuff in it. And I’ve seen an NPC which has just the big gray buttons, but you got one that’s got like, it’s like Las Vegas on the screen there. Tell me about that thing.

Headsnack: Yeah, I mean the new mc. I love it because you could work inside the box. I don’t even have to turn on my computer. It’s got like a built in. I put an SD drive in it. So it’s got plugins like m. not third party plugins, but anything that you could get through a kai, which, they work with this company called AIR that has all these cool sen and whatnot. so this actually has been discontinued, but I love it. I think it’s really fun for workflow and whatnot.

Every remix on the album is awesome. To the other remixes, they’re great too

Tom Ray: Okay, now when you were so you’ve got, you went through, you found the samples and did all that stuff, or chose what you wanted to use and set them up. But the beat that you did is actually kind of like a sporadic.

Speaker A: I came up all too fast. Just one more.

Tom Ray: How would you describe the beat that you programmed? Tell me about how you made that.

Headsnack: Oh, well, I just used a couple of kits that I had in Ableton. I think I was just whatever I was feeling. I don’t know if I have any deep thoughts on how it came about because like I think I, like I said, I basically just kind of screwed off from work for a day and just Knocked it out in, like, five or six hours. And I was kind of like, I hope this is good enough. And then when I saw you had, like, three of the same remakes, I’m like, shit. I, like, figure I picked the wrong track, right? I wanted to do something somebody else didn’t do. But I could understand why, because it’s a very catchy song. And I. To the other remixes, they’re great too. like, every remix on the album is awesome.

Tom Ray: Well, and that goes back to, like, okay, you said you were late to game. Like, when I was sending the tracks to, Block Sonic to have them put on there, he was like, oh, we got one more. And he sent that. And I listened to it. And so much so that I was like, oh, put it after this song. Because the song that he’s doing is the one right before. That was the confusion. That’s also why on yours or your track is like, right after another remix of the same song. Because I thought it was an if I Was Alone mix. So that’s why they’re right next. And I didn’t realize T until it came out. I’m like, why the hell did I put those two songs right next to each other? They’re the same song. And that’s when it occurred to me. Oh, right. I thought it was the different one.

Headsnack: I was like, I’m like the fragile ego guy. I was like, oh, it’s the afterthought. I got the 11th track. That’s, like, the worst one you put at the end. Like, O. It’s the filler, right?

Tom Ray: No, no, no, no, no, it wasn’t. And then the one that was at the end, is one that I even, Just to tell the story. I haven’t reached out to the person yet, but Timezone lafontaine actually did that remix for us because it’s a song that we don’t even do anymore. And it was a remix that we got right before our guitarist left and I had sent a call out for remixes. He did one. And then our guitarist left, and we were like, oh, well, we’ve got a new album of songs we’re working on. And we started focusing on that to the point where it’s like, I forgot we did a call out for remixes. Then when I was setting up this album, I was going through and looking for the tracks that I had on my hard drive, and I found this one. And I’m like, what the hell is this?

Tom Ray: And I played it.

Tom Ray: I’m like, what the hell is this? So so the years came before that and it was kind of like, I’m going to put the blocksonic people next to each other as well. So that was kind of.

Headsnack: That’s cool setup. I love Timezone Levante. And I’m actually on three. I did just three collaborations with him that’s coming out on his next album.

Tom Ray: Oh, nice. And I was wondering if. I know that he hasn’t put anything out in a few years, so I was curious if he had something coming up. Yeah. so back.

Okay, back to the remix. I had a bunch of questions I still wanted to ask you about

Okay, back to the remix. I had a bunch of questions I still wanted to talk to you about. So you had the key change. I already asked about that one. Oh, here’s a question that I know a lot of people do this and I noticed you did it too. And I realized I can take the opportunity to ask you about it. There’s not really a basseline in here. It’s more of a bass beat used as bas. Like the bass drum changes beats to, basically go along with a bassine of the song. So this is a technique I’ve seen a lot and I’m so used to going. When I program something, I have to program in a bass. So what’s your process in doing that as a bassine and putting it in so it even fits the beat.

Headsnack: I think because of the way I made the beat, I was kind of staccato and offbeat. I didn’t. I wanted something to kind of just fit in the spaces. So, I mean, it’s still like a be synth, but it’s more of like an 8,08 sound. Becausee it’s P, obviously to, you know, the bassine follows the, What is it? A marimba, whatever from the olo track. Right. and so that’s all. I think it’s, actually called Sublab. It’s a synth of VST that’s really good at like low end, sounds. And, I found one that was like kind of tight and truncated. And I was like, all right, this is great. It fits right in, in between. Because I don’t like it when the kick drum and the bass kind of can fight sometimes. So try to kind separate them a little bit.

Tom Ray: Yeah, it’s a technique I hear a lot and I never think of it until after I’ve heard it. And I’m like, oh, I want to try that next time. And then when I go in to do a remix, I just full on go, all right, here’s the bassine, here’s the Dr. Line. I Never occurs to me to do it that way. So I really liked how that happened and I liked knowing what you use to create it as well. And another thing that stood out to me that I loved, I love it when it comes to the sax part. And you kind of just used a repeating sex thing that kind of just sounds likeow. Like, like, like basically a bunch of saxes just walk in and you happen to catch them tuning.

Headsnack: Yeah, I wanted to have another element like a bridge and I thought that all the horns were dope. But again, I didn’t have a lot of time and I don’t know, I think it just fit in there. It kind of just. It’s almost like a wind up thing. And then exact. Yeah, yeah.

Tom Ray: No, I enjoyed that a lot. To the fact where like when it comes in it’s just like. All right, all right, that makes sense. It’and it really is just kind of like you said, a windup. Like you’re like, what’s that? grinder, whatever the hell that thing that the person in the old cartoons used to do that played music on the street corner.

Headsnack: Like a gramophone or something or whatever.

Tom Ray: Yeah, something like that. I don’t know. In my head I can picture it, but I can’t describe it verbally. And then, I guess what I’d like to know, you used that thing. I already forgot the name of it. The sampler thing. MPC TYP thing. Did you. So did you set that up all by hand and then play it by hand or did you set it up in the daw? Like how did you. With that? It sounds like something where you’re going back and forth at turntables because it’s repeating stuff and it’ll switch back and forth. But did you arrange it all in the daw or were you doing it live by hand?

Headsnack: Well, originally, do it live by hand, recorded in. And then, like for example for the piano part, I can’t remember how I got it offbeat. I know it wasn’t as easy. Like I think I just maybe had to add some space before it or something. And then playing it in, and then recording that and then setting it up as a loop. And you know that’s pretty much the process. Like just creating different loops and different scenes like of what I want the song, like different, like an arrangement but without arranging it. And then recording it all into Ableton. And then from there I was like, all right, let me like I can move stuff around, like take a chunk of like, you know, if there was s. A specific, drum fill or whatever, if I wanted to repeat that, I could copy it and paste it somewhere else. That kind of. Ok, so I’m not.

Tom Ray: That’s what I’m used to doing.

Headsnack: What’s that?

Tom Ray: That’s what I’m used to doing. I’m used to setting everything up in the daw. But the problem is, is that also becomes something where I get really sick of trying to figure out how to put something in its place. And then you got to move all these files over. And I’m always looking for a better way to do that. And even programming drums in the daw is a pain in the, ass for me, you know?

Headsnack: Yeah, I mean, that’s why I really like Ableton, because the way it works, there’s two different. There’s a traditional DOS screen where you have all your tracks linear, but then there’s this. Also there’s a working screen that has. Basically each track is in a line. It almost looks like an Excel spreadsheet. And so you could like, copy and make variations. And then you could play around with. You know, you saw the box that had all the different lights on it. Well, I could have like, the drums from track one and play with the, you know, melody of track two. And then just try to experiment and finding cool combinations. And then I’ll record that into ableableton. And from there, if I want to spice it up, I can add a fill or reverse something or whatever it is. Add an effect, something to kind of make it interesting.

Tom Ray: Yeah.

I’m really bad at creating fills, especially transitional fills

And how are you adding fills? Is there a preset for adding fills? Do you have fills that you use on hand? That’s also another thing that is really. I’ll have a beat and it’s a great beat and there’s going to be a change. And I’m like, well, it just kind of changes and I need to figure out a fill. I’m just really bad at creating fills, especially transitional fills. So do you have any advice for being able to do that is basically what I’m asking.

Headsnack: Yeah. I mean, the magic of midi, like, allows you to do anything. So especially if you have all of your different drums as separate MIDI elements. So if I’ve got my kick and my snare and I could see it in a piano roll, then I’ll just, you know, okay, let me add an extra snare there and, like, let me take out the hi hat and erase that. And you just kind of build them from scratch and see what sounds good, right? Occasionally I’ll bring something else in, like some other sample or whatever, change it up, but depends on the song.

Tom Ray: All right, so it’s basically sounding like you’re saying, no, you just do it the way that you’ve been doing it. I’m just not good at it yet. It’s basically what you’re telling me. I was hoping there was some sort of fix or magic workaround.

Headsnack: Yeah, no, there’s not. Like press the fill button or anything like that. I mean, I’m sure they be. I’m sure they have everything now, so I’m sure you could buy it, you know, if you’re using a specific sample pack, Loops, like, then you. I’m sure they have fills for that. I try to stay away from loops if I can, just because it’s, Especially drum loops. I mean, because it just kind of gets tired for me. so sometimes a beautiful thing with the NPCs or even the doaws now is like, it’ll auto chop the samples for you based on like the thresholds or. I want 16 samples out of this four bar loop and then it brings them down onto pads and then you could kind of replay them however you want, which is a.

Tom Ray: And I do want to mention I didn’t notice until just recently because it moved its head. You have your dog right behind you.

Tom Ray: It’s s. Blending right into the back of the couch.

Headsnack: Yeah, he’s waiting to get walked. He’s hanging out.

Tom Ray: All right.

What do you have coming up? What are some things you’re doing

And then, I think those are all the questions I had that I wanted to ask you about the remix you did. And, I guess. What do you have coming up? What are some things you’re doing that you want to tell people about?

Headsnack: Well, I just released an album on blocSonic and it’s also on, Apple Music and Spotify and all the streaming services called Cancel the Remix, which isct. my own collection of remixes, many done by me and a few done by some other artists from a previous album that I put out in 2023 called, too Small to Cancel. okay, because it was a. I.

Tom Ray: Thought the title was clever to begin with, but I didn’t make the connection to the previous album. That’s funny.

Headsnack: Yeah, yeah. Cause I had some songs about like, the way Covid was handled and stuff and like, things that people were getting canceled for that I kind of. I kind of have like a pseudo, Like, I guess, my buddy calls it sardonic wit. You know, just sort of like. Like, cynical, like make fun of Things like, you know, make fun of humanity style. Like a lot of my. That’s a lot of topic that comes up in a lot of my songs. and then in addition to the remixing a bunch of songs from that album, it also has some remixes from a former group or group that I’m still in but that we haven’t put out. Musical regenerated headpiece that that’s how we got involved with Block. Because, originally we were on Chuck D’s Slam Jams label from Public Enemy and so we’re all kind of adjacent to Public Enemy in some way. Like they sort of birthed a lot of the acts that are on Block Sonic or just ##e influenced. so I’ve got that out which you can check out now. And in addition, I m working. I’m in a group called Eli and the Mannings, which is a eight piece improvisational group of

Tom Ray: I didn’t know that. Okay.

Headsnack: it’s a bunch of I guess like half musicians. Collectively we probably make like two musicians out of eight. But we’re all really creative. We get to hang out, and record for about three days straight, just whatever comes out. And then we go back and edit into songs. So for example, our last album called Meet Edom, which came out last year is on Block Sonic and all the streaming services. So I’m working on a new album for them. I’m also working on a new Headstack album and I’m also. I have a EP with my buddy Illis that I produced. So I’ve got to l my hand and a lot of different, Basketseah. It’s fun, know it’s what keeps me going.

Tom Ray: Yeah, no, I’ll have to have you back on the show and we can talk about the releases that you have.

Headsnack: That would be awesome.

Tom Ray: So we’ll schedule something.

Tom Ray: All right.