I’ll rewind it… John Small x badpostuR

posted by Daniel on November 13, 2015

Thanks to the booming popularity of the internet, artists with the desire to collaborate with others, no longer have to be in the same room, state, or country for that matter. Songs can be exported into stems and sent via email across the globe. While some may argue that this new age method of collaboration lacks the fundamental “vibe” that is created when musicians are at work, this method has proved efficient to many bedroom artists who lack the resources necessary to travel long distances in order to work on music with their peers.

badpostur
johnsmall

With great help from the internet, we were able to bring together two music producers who reside in completely different countries and have never met before. Both John Small from Tokyo, Japan and badpostuR from Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A, present I’ll rewind it…, a track they collaborated on that shows clear strains of Asian themed percussion blended with Teebs inspired melodies and transitions. The song itself is an emotional ride, proving that emotion can still breathe in songs birthed through online collaboration.

Daniel

As a producer myself, I like to get to know the person before I even mention collaborating on music. Was it difficult for you guys to push out a track despite not actually knowing the other artists likes/dislikes? If so, what were some of the challenges?

badpostuR

Nah not really, it was simple as I could possibly imagine, the guy has a great ear.

John Small

The only challenge for me was making things easy enough to collaborate with. At first, I sent a composed guitar part that was really difficult to chop. I ended up sending over some loops and samples from a Casio in my parents basement that I recorded on the SP-404SX, and they were all simple ideas that had a lot of room for experimentation.

D It’s pretty obvious that you guys worked well with each other. In my opinion you both have a similar sound. This one’s aimed at Robert (badpostuR), what exactly did you like about John’s ear?

BP I like his melodies, they remind me of the end credits in anime shows.

JS It’s interesting you say that. I grew up in Japan, but I never really dug into any anime. Except for the Samurai Champloo soundtrack.

D Now that you mention it, the song really does bring up some eerie anime imagery. “i’ll rewind it…” definitely has a Japanese influence to it, do you feel that growing up in Japan and being surrounded by that culture influences the music you make?

JS Oh man totally! I grew up on a steady diet of Japanese beatmakers and ambient music. Some of my favorites are Daisuke Tanabe, Susumu Yokota and Sauce81. Tokyo is a very musical city in itself. It’s impossible not to write music when I’m there!

D That’s awesome. So from a technical aspect, who did what on the track? John I know you did a lot of the base work so just elaborate on the specifics of it all.

JS Rob basically did the chords (except the guitar), and I did a lot of the percussion work. I chopped samples from jazz LP’s and some Aretha Franklin tapes.

BP On the track, I played the part of mostly executive producing. He sent a few things but I chose certain samples and mixed them and altered them to a pattern I could rock with. Japanese sounds aren’t really my base but I do appreciate them a lot more than most cultural sounds.

D Are you guys new to the world of online collaboration? Or are you both used to collaborating in person with other artists/producers?

JS I mean I’ve made a couple of beats for some rappers overseas, but this is my first time collaborating with another producer.

BP I’ve worked with producers before but the product isn’t always what I like or what I expect it to be, so I’m not really used to it but I’m always willing to try.

D Well I’m really glad this worked out. The two of you should definitely do more together in the future. I think it’s funny how we randomly pulled you guys together and somehow you both have an ear for the same things.

BP Yeah this most definitely worked out really well. I could most definitely see us working again soon, I’d like to say thank you and shout out to Benny and the Jetsons.

JS Well SoundCloud’s definitely the place to do it. It really is a global community. I’m really thankful for the opportunity. Definitely learned something here!