From the comfort of his New Jersey bedroom, 23-year-old producer Clams Casino turns out beats for a dizzying array of rappers like Lil B, Soulja Boy, A$AP Rocky, Mac Miller, and Havoc of Mobb Deep. His reverb-heavy, ethereal productions have earned him a cult following amongst the music blog community, and his recent instrumental release on the Tri Angle label has only solidified his status as one to watch in this omnipresent Internet age. In this sessions he talks beats, business, and his take on sound quality in the digital age, with Noz of Cocaine Blunts.

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For those of you unfamiliar 808 Blake produced The 808 Experiment: Vol 2. If you don’t know who blake is, watch the video below for a little more insight. If you don’t care who blake is, then don’t watch the video below.

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BIO
Robert Earl McDaniel ll was born and raised in Augusta Georgia. Robert was a fairly introverted kid who was very inspired by his surroundings. He fell in love with video games at a young age and spent most of his time either playing sports, video games or drawing. However, it wasn’t until the 6th grade that music began to take a firm grasp of his life. He began to develop his own interpretation of music, and his ears became dull to the lyrics of a song focusing solely on the instrumentation and composition of the music.

Robert grew up listening to a collective of Michael Jackson, Will Smith, Timberland, Aaliyah, Genuine, Skee-Lo, Fred Hammond, and BeBe & CeCe Winans. He found inspiration from all forms of music. “I really just want to help people have hope for something better.” It wasn’t until the 11th grade, at A. R. Johnson High School, that he began experimenting with the creation of music. He would create music to capture the elements needed to make his self feel various emotions. His biggest influences at the time were Outkast, Kanye West, and a lot of alternative, rock and pop music.

In the summer of 2005 Robert enrolled in SCAD, the Savannah College of Art and Design, aspiring to nourish and develop his creative mind. He began SCAD with a Major in Visual Effects, but after his first year he decided to focus more into his minor, Sound Design, which would quickly become his major. While learning about Sound Desgin he learned how to record and mix anything and everything. He was exposed to many different studies that help cultivate his artistic personality. “I can’t imagine myself anywhere else… I literally would’ve been unmotivated at any other school,” says Robert. “The Sound Design Departments main focus was sound for Film & Television, but that helped me to understand how to build visuals with sound.”

During his years at SCAD he continued looking for ways to create feelings in his music. Because of his training and exposure to the many different aspects of audio design, he was introduced to the more expressive and conceptual music. Robert said, “I listen to a lot of The Go! Team, Andre 3000, The Beatles, Mad lib, and Jay Dilla. I honestly have to say if it wasn’t for The Go! Team I wouldn’t feel so free with my music.”

After graduating from SCAD, Robert linked up with SMKA Productions, by chance, through a job post from SCAD. He has been working with SMKA since June of 2009 as a studio engineer and producer. Robert was instrumental in the recording, mixing and mastering SMKA’s two latest projects, TRIMM meets SMKA and The 808 Experiment: Vol 2. His education, and unique production style, was a big asset to SMKA, who quickly decided to bring Robert in full-time as a member of the production team.

Robert’s production style is difficult to categorize. He has a solid understanding of film scoring and video game soundtracks, which allows him to easily evoke memories and emotions. His music occasionally hits with southern bass & drums though he often conjures the timeless presence of instrumentation in live recordings. He is slowly getting closer to his goal of being able to build music that not only produces raw emotions, but also helps create ideas that will help people through life.

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BIO
SMKA Productions is fueled by the creative mastermind of producer, Blake “808 Blake” German. 808 Blake grew up during the birth of southern rap, but spent a lot of time listening to his father’s Mo-Town record collection and quickly began admiring the likes of – Quincy Jones and Donald Bird. “Whenever I would listen to music growing up I would only pay attention to the songs composition,” he says. In high school he began playing around with the Fruity Loops music program, but it wasn’t until his freshman year in college when he decided to fully dedicating himself to creating music. He spent most of his freshman year locked in his room working on beats, sampling and trying to teach himself everything he could about music composition.

After graduating from The University of Georgia, 808 Blake co-founded SMKA and became a full-time producer. Since the birth of SMKA, 808 Blake has produced music for tons of artists, The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and feature length films. He has been the main producer behind SMKA’s (Dope Artists) meets SMKA and The 808 Experiment series. And although he enjoys working with such a variety of talented artists, he says, “I like the ability to work with an individual artist so that I can find their comfort zone – or artistic direction – and we can connect and grow together.”

It is hard to define 808 Blake’s production style when he produces what he feels on any given day and is influenced by everything he experiences. However, if forced to put into words 808 Blake says his production is a cross between “alternative, funk, soulful & southern.”

One of 808 Blake’s other passions is theater. He performed on stage, as the lead role, throughout high school and hopes to one day produce a musical. However, 808 Blake has modest goals for music, “I just enjoy being a student of music. There are always new things to learn and room for growth,” he says. “The most important thing is to have fun. I love working with a variety of artists – when you work with talented people you can always create something special. It is all a learning process and the more I work with different people the more I can learn and give back to music.”

808 Blake has produced for over 100 artists, here are a few:
Aleon Craft
Bone Crusher
El Da Sensei
Fashawn
Fat Tony
FKi
Freddie Gibbs
Fresh Daily
Grip Plyaz
Jarren Benton
Joe Scudda
Juicy J (of 36 Mafia)
Jus Nice
Kyle Lucas
Nappy Roots
Outasight
Playboy Tre
Pill
REi
Sean Falyon
Stanza
STS
Tanya Morgan
Tony Williams
Tom P
Yelawolf
Ying Yang Twins
Young Scolla

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