Man, this beat = TROUBLE. It sounds great, don't get me wrong. I used to shop it around back when I was trying to sell beats. It helped me make all sorts of awkward connections. Eventually, it led me to one local Pittsburgh singer that asked if she could record over it. And then, suddenly, drums were missing. Gone from existence exactly one day before I'm supposed to take it into the studio. So I rebuilt it!!! I REBUILT IT AND MADE IT STRONGER!!!

Colossal by Nik Furious [ 2:42 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Colossal's not on my album Brilliant Shower because it's not 100% original. But a bunch of other good songs are on there! Check it out.

Linkage: You can download the full Superior Tech mixtape here on the blog and check out my Superior Tech playlist on YouTube.

I am SO proud of Century. It happens to sample one of my all-time favorite themes, but does so by transforming the sample rather than simply building upon it. The sample has been slowed and chopped to create something completely different, and... in my humble opinion, completely awesome.

Century by Nik Furious [ 2:51 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Okay, now go buy my album Brilliant Shower. It's awesome, too.

Linkage: You can download the full Superior Tech mixtape here on the blog and check out my Superior Tech playlist on YouTube.

Armor has gone by many names over the years. But whatever it's been called, it's important to me because it's the first sampled beat I ever made.

Armor by Nik Furious [ 2:50 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It's basically an instrumental remix of James Taylor's "If I Keep My Heart Out Of Sight", made from the acoustic intro and beginning of the guitar solo.

Here's the guy who played beard bass on the original song, Leland Sklar.

To create a totally different (and far less sentimental) banger out of Taylor's vulnerable ballad, I used an mp3 of the original, my Zoom MRT-3 drum machine, and ProTools in Carnegie Mellon University's computer lab.

I don't remember exactly when, but it had to be sometime during the 2003-2004 school year, my final year at CMU. Though I started sound recording classes late in my college career, the audio skills I gained have by far been the most useful part of my undergrad degree.