Dillafier

Evan Gitterman \\ Music 220C \\ Spring 2014

Initial Idea

The inspiration for the Dillafier came from what I refer to as "Dilla beats", which are hip-hop/R&B/funk grooves in which different rhythmic elements are deliberately placed just ahead or just behind the beat. In electronic music, this is done by choosing not to quantize the rhythm and dragging notes back and forth in time. In live music, this is substantially more difficult, since drummers and other rhythm section instruments must have a very strong sense of rhythmic precision.

The Dillafier (and "Dilla beats") are named after the renowned producer J Dilla (also known as Jay Dee), who was one of the most influential hip-hop producers ever. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he preferred to compose beats with quantization turned off. Here is an example of his signature lazy-time drum sound:

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