J Dilla siren sound: a tribute to Dilla or just plan biting?

J Dilla siren sound: a tribute to Dilla or just plain biting?


Let me clarify something right off the bat- I'm not the biggest Dilla fan out here but I definitely can say appreciate a lot of his work. That being said, those of you who know who J Dilla is have heard the infamous siren sound that he would sprinkle in his production (a lot on the Donuts album) . I've always associated this siren with J Dilla and when I would hear cats throwing it in their tracks it would strike me as "wack" or "biting his style"....unit now. Today I was listening to a track by a random producer on Soundcloud and low and behold he throws a "Dilla siren" in his track and for some reason this time it didn't offend me. It's almost as if it was a "secret code" or "secret handshake" between me the listener and the producer. I took it as a tribute to Dilla and for the first time I actually found myself enjoying a track with this "Shout out to Dilla siren" (so to speak). Again, not the biggest Dilla fan in the box but just wanted to share that little story. How do you guys feel about the "Dilla Siren".


Oh..and I have no idea if Dilla was the first to use this sound but his work is the first place I heard it.

 

that siren sound has been around since the early days of the rave seen in the early 90's, I can remember that on tracks as far back as 93' or even earlier, I've always thought of J Dilla as a biting artist to begin with, he's sampled others samples as far as I can tell, that siren specifically has been on thousands, literally thousands of records.

 

Welcome to 1988.

Mantronix "King of the Beats".

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzgODI4osy4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzgODI4osy4[/ame]

 

i think we re talking bout the same track , i commented on it , and solarr said its not the mantronix sirene
that might be the reason it didnt offend u

when i hear it on a track , i treat as a dilla tribute ... u dont want that , leave that leave that sirene out

 

Wow...goes back to 88 huh? Ah I see. Well now I know..I kinda of figured that may be the case that's why I closed out my post with that little disclosure. Thanks for the info Michael.

Thanks guys for the responses

 

@Pawcut hahahaha it sure was Solarr lol

 

"he s sampled others samples as far as i can tell u"
how far can u tell me , i dont get that .....

sure hes a" biting artist" , like rza , pete rock , madlib , doom .... everybody i really adore in our culture .... i mean its not called sampler for nothing

u wanna question the whole method ?
u r 20 years to late ....
1988 , hu .... oups sry ... couldnt resist

im quite a big dilla fan in the box btw :|

 

As a huge Dilla fan, I agree with others here that he wasn't the first person to use a dub siren or something similar. I wasn't aware of that Mantronix track, thanks for bringing it up, involver.

In terms of "the scene," Flying Lotus, Ras G and others have all kinds of sirens peppered all throughout their tracks, and that's not even close to being the most overt Dilla homage/"biting" going on (I feel like half the guys in LA have a song called "One for Somebody" at this point).

If I were going to sample "Only One Can Win" or an Eddie Kendricks song, I might throw in the specific Dilla siren as a sort of nod to the keen listener and to say "yeah, I know Dilla already did that, that's part of why I like it so much." Otherwise I think I'd leave it out.

 

goes back to 88... hmm, what about 1939?

that sound is from the london air raid sirens which were used during the second world war....

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erMO3m0oLvs"]Air Raid Sirens followed by the All Clear (Very good quality recording) - YouTube[/ame]

check it out

 

I thought the use of sirens in music was introduced by dub and reggae producers, and pioneered by the sound system scene of london by the west indian immigrants that are to blame for me being born in this cold and rainy country....?
---
That particular siren is a very recognisable dub sound system siren, but I am not providing a link for proof... So no need to believe me!

 

yes yes...well, you could go further back if you look for examples of sirens in musical context. musique concreté pioneers like pierres schaffer and henry et al used sirens, luigi russolo created his intonarumori, instrument including sirens in 1913

But, that mantronix-dilla-public enemy-whoever siren is THE london air raid siren, played back faster.

Or so have I read.

 

Not just sirens.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ri-N8JmPt8"]Dub Echoes - King Tubby - YouTube[/ame]

 

good looking ... every day something new to learn

 

Apologies, I have a tendency to take some liberties in determining what's "on topic" and what isn't.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4u7WmA5n4Q"]Airhorn Sound Effect - YouTube[/ame]

 

sorry for being a pedant, but that is an air horn, not a siren and most definitely not the mantronix-siren-sound.

 

yes yes, and it's also one of the most often used sirens in dub and reggae since the 70'sor possibly late 60's... I cant place that siren to any musique concrete pieces, because I dont listen to much of it, but my point stands that in a modern musical context thats where you can trace that siren back to.
So no when I hear it, no I dont think of artists biting Dilla, I think of the huge influence of West Indian and specifically Jamaican music has had over dance music.....

---
and i include hip hop music in the term dance music...

 

i would love to hear that particular siren in some dub or reggae.

sirens and airhorns, test tones and plenty of other sound effects were of course used by errol ET thompson, king tubby and lee perry (the holy trinity of dub innovation in my opinion) among others.

nobody here is disputing the influence reggae and especially dub has had on "western" music.

but that particular siren in dub, never have i heard any 60-70 records using it in the 18 years of listening to dub, and i really would love to!

 

bout 30 seconds in [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpnvqtfZOKM"]here[/ame]
I wouldn't bet my life on it but i'm pretty sure!

 

dope track by the way, got that on three different vinyls

yeah, it´s similar, it´s a siren

anyway, sorry for being an ass about this