Thread: THIS IS HOW THE L.A. CONFERENCE WENT DOWN

<p>shit I gotta run in a min but I gotta put this out there</p>
<p>Aight - I go to about 5-7 conferences/major networking events per year</p>
<p>for me - HANDS DOWN - this is the single best conference I've EVER been to, maybe it's where I'm at with my grind - idk - but this is to the point where it's 09 LA DP conference vs. every other event I've ever been to - and I think this past conference is taking the cake - for SEVERAL reasons (but idk if that woulda been possible if I hadn't been out on the circuit as much as I have &amp; had the chance)</p>
<p>first off - BIG UP FELISHA BOOKER! and the rest of the staff - Mayday &amp; the 3 honeys - MAXIMUM respect - shit was perfect</p>
<p>damn I gotta run - will continue this asap - please post your thoughts</p>

I'll make to New York later this year. I heard from Nonseq that it was Awsome too!!

Sup SG. Was nice meeting you at the conference. I learned alot at the conference as well as having a chance to connect with folks outside of it. And that wouldn't have been possible without DP. I've come back so motivated. I've been studying and tracking 'songs' and not just beats (as was so heavily preached in LA). Hell I been layering drums (cause of Keith Clark and the rest of the producer panel) and learning about Elastic Time in pro tools (hell of a tool btw if you got some live shit or loops). I plan on being in NY and my advice to any of you that are on the fence about going...GET OFF OF IT! If you are trying to be where your favorite producer is or want to do this for a living you have to be at these type of functions. And another thing BE PREPARED. I was more of an observer a week ago but MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR SONGS (NOT JUST BEATS) SOUNDING GREAT AND ON POINT (these pros dont want to hear excuses). You just never know when your music is gonna be played (and it will be) for people that can ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING WITH IT. Anyway that is it for now. SG im gonna hit you with more production talk soon!

Good Luck Everyone

I agree with Michael. I didn't really know what to expect and wasn't prepared at all. This experience definitely gained me a better perspective. I'm saving to go to the NY Conference.

Infinite what part of the country did u come from to be in LA? What parts of the conference did you get the most out of? Interested to hear peoples feedback because I learned alot about the biz as well as learning about myself ( I know I know kinda corny lol).

Dang man...wish I could have caught some of it...even if online...weekends are mad busy with a family...BUT if my lotto tix hits right, i will hit NY or whenever, they head back south...yo' Michael Marietta, elab on the drum stacking if you don't mind...What's up SG!

Good talk. Nice to see some cats got some insight/inspiration from it. That's what's up.

The easiest way I can describe it to you is there is alot more to layering then throwing one sound on top of another. You are cutting the top end of sounds and layering it with the middle or tail of other sounds (multiple times). For example: ONE OF THE PRODUCERS ON THE PANEL SAID HE USED 5 DIFFERENT KICKS TO MAKE 1 KICK! That is straight from the panel in LA. Im gonna give you a book that goes into more detail and its a good read....

http://www.mpc-samples.com/product.php/98/the-production-suite/

Good Luck

OK, I'M BACK

I'm just gonna break the whole experience down as I encountered it. Just to give a small perspective (of why you may wanna take a few words of advice, that's up to you though), I get around. I go to as many producer & hip-hop conferences as possible. There is a huge value if you are truly trying to NETWORK with people who are established professionals in the industry you are looking to break into, all being in the same building you are in, at the same time. That alone does NOT provide opportunity, but it does greatly increase the effectiveness of your hustle that you should have in play. If your hustle is not strong, we at DP (speaking as a member that's been around for a minute) are here to give you our experiences that we have been through - the positive, the negative, the expensive, and the cost-effective.



I don't have the major label placements yet, like Versatile, Jim Bond,etc. But I am signed to 15 licensing companies, and have a publishing deal in the works. Sure I got so many "pending" shits, but we gotta learn to k.i.m. and not ever pat yourself on the back when there is more work to be done, more money to be made, and more art to craft. I have gained so many brothers and a couple sisters through DP, and truly, I never view them as competition. I want them to succeed. They want me to succeed. We collab. If there is a project where one of my brothers has hotter, more fitting tracks for, I call them. Aside from all that, THE CONFERENCE. If within a week, I get emails (after several correspondences between me and this person that I met at the conference) like this - I am onto something:


*****
"Hi SG,
Enc. is the agreement and the template. Please take care to get the metadata into the excel like the template asks for (be consistent with caps and spaces etc.)...the more accurate and compliant the
faster you get submitted.

PS- your the first to get to this point from the DP conf. Nice going.****



Ok, just to let people know what you can directly get from a conference, I am reviewing 3 licensing contracts - 2 non-exclusive (for my catalog material) and one exclusive publishing deal. I made this happen because of a few small factors.




-FBI making this all possible & MayDay really scrutinizing what panelists would potentially benefit us the most, and asking the most relevant questions to extract the wisdom that can directly TELL US how to be a success in a certain area of the business. I've been to other conferences this year where panelists were rockin stunna shadez, texting, twittering, and walking off at the end like they are celebrities. as a producer on the verge of having this be my full-time income - that's a waste of my time & money & I'm gonna just walk out & go str8 2 the bar, and probably catch a down to earth artist or fellow producer there.


So - BIG UP MayDay & FBI on panel selection. The game has changed drastically. Sure, the major label placement chasing is essential & may work for a few of us. But for the other 98% of us, we need to change our approach. What is the best way to eat off our work? Licensing. What are the most common medium to license our music to? Film, TV, video games, web campaigns, and non-exclusive/royalty free sales.


So - LOOK HOW MANY MUSIC SUPERVISORS, MUSIC LIBRARY OWNERS, MUSIC PUBLISHERS, and MANAGERS were in the building. DAMN - that was amazing


Ok - what it the biggest method to get major placements on huge albums with hit songs? Other than the top 10 rap artists - POP R&B is where the money is. So, the method is linking up with SONGWRITERS. DAMN, do you know who was on that panel???? Do you know how cool each & every one of those cats were? I mean, they were writers for Rihanna, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Chris Brown, to name a few. DP got all them at one table. And the small conference size was such a blessing, cuz it led to the possibiltiy of making a close conversation happen. Now, I have thought about doing this several times, but thanks to the homie Nu from musicplacements.com and his newsletter he sent out the day before the conference, I was well equipped due to his advice - I bought 5 thumb drives - made seperate folders (for me - HIP-HOP, POP/R&B, & Reggae) and a word doc with my photo & all my contact info - and on the outside it had my name, number, and email address. Everyone was impressed with the professionalism of presentation, and they did listen - the homie Rob A who wrote Disturbia, & Forever hit me back today saying my tracks were dope. Does that mean we got something poppin? Nah, but the door is open & the lines of communication have been established.



Back to the panelists. Chris Cabott. This is my 3rd DP event that I've seen him at & we keep in touch via email. Since we have a relationship - thanks only to DP - he invited me to a party (which is why I skipped out on the Common/Mya contests - sorry folks, had 2 grind it out). Nonseq (who I stayed with, who I have know since highschool, who is one of my best friends, and who is an ILL producer) rolled there with me. Dude - every songwriter was there. Almost every producer that was on the panel the 3rd day was there (when I saw them the 3rd day we were like DAMN whatup?! cuz we were chillin last nite) Anyway, the Lady's crib the party was at was Rachel from Baby G Music - the blonde lady in the back on the first day that Cabott mentioned as an example of perseverence. She manages the Jackie Boyz. Need I say more? Every single person in that house was a major player in the industry. Carlos Hudgins was there, Big King, Touch, Tiwa, Rob A... Man it was unreal. The main thing that made it unreal is how down-to-earth and friendly each and every person I met that weekend was. Why? Cuz if you truly want to be in business, you have have an open mind, a friendly personality, and talk to everyone around you, because you never know who they might be. AND it's always great vibin with like-minded people, who love music as much as you do. I was chillin with a girl I met for a while at the party, my homegirl Camille. Turns out she is Rachel's assistant, so when I email Rachel after i get home, she tells me to send tracks to Camille. We had already been emailing back & forth - she thought it was cool to talk shit about the magic!



Man, I'm gonna have to hit you with part two, give updates, and for real, my followup game seems to be working, so I will go thru every detail of what I've done. A huge variable for the success I had at the conference may be the fact that I am ready, i am at the point in my career to truly excel. But, there were too many other factors falling into place, and only fell there because DP had a brilliant strategy.



Part 2 coming soon, gotta hit this "leather" green stuffed inside a grape dutch & sip my redbull skyy as I play with the IK Multimedia Workstation 2 that I finally installed since beats on the beach...

Thanks for the updates guys, SG good looking out. It's good to hear about how these things are going, esp cause right now i'm out the game for a minute... look forward to seeing the newer cats at the next conferences i can make... glad that FBI and DP are DOIN IT!

YO. The conference definitely open my eyes to a few things.

1.) Its not about the beats anymore. Its about producing good songs. Ive been trying to write and I'm not a songwriter but Ima make it do what it do.

2.) Networking is vital in this business. Its not what you know all the time. Sometimes its who you know. There were some talented Dynamic Producers at the conference who Im sure have the skills to produce and write hit records.

3.) "Everyone gets F***** at least once in this business." lol. Make sure your business is right. I need to educate myself on this.

I will have to agree with you. I have been to five conferences in the past 16 months and this was by far the best ever. The panels were touchable and real as can be. THe whole vibe was set to only what we came for. There were no after parties after the panels were done and there were different competitions for the producers and artists. My money was well invested and I will always be part of this. My life has changed.I will invest for future conferences and events and I have been telling my producer friends about it. They're excited too.

I'm headed back to LA (a week from today). Gonna mix a record out there and catch a show. It happend as a result of the conference. As I make plans to go back out there, it's hard to fork over MORE money and miss work, but it has and will lead to bigger rewards (and im talking about happiness and all that comes with it). I'm ready for another SG write up!

GL