Producer Engineer

France

Genre: Hip-Hop, Rap, Trap, Cloud, Soul

Early Career:

Al Bandito has been going through every declination of a rapper's life : he began as a DJ, bringing his turntables in concerts, band rehearsals, musical springboards, before starting making his own beats. He formed a crew with his long time friends, bringing the best rappers in town together.

Recording sessions in his home studio, making albums and mix-tapes from scratches in auto-production, performing in concerts, showcases, producing tracks for various french artists, approaching labels… he knows everything about the path of a rapper trying to make it out in the music industry. But in France, the audience is too limited and it's difficult to have a real career, the music industry is going through a crisis and there's no label to sign with,..

Time passed and they all gave up with their dream of a bankable career in rap music, but they have still been living their passion since. Al Bandito kept on making beats, learning mixing and mastering techniques. In 2001, he started an enriching and meaningful, still ongoing, collaboration with Bibo, a french artist oscillating between soul and hip-hop.

Evolution:

At the very beginning, Al Bandito's beats were 90% sample 10 % composition, he was continuously riffling through his huge vinyl collection and every record he could get his hands on to find the perfect musical instruments / drums / percussion's loops inspiring him for a new beat. He was sampling every kind of music from classical music to French popular music including movie soundtracks, pop music, etc... His MPC2000 became his best friend... Now he's composing his own music.

Al Bandito knows the classics and has a solid musical culture. He has always been more attracted and influenced by US hip-hop, but he's also impregnated with his own french culture, that's one of the things that makes his music unique... Al Bandito is open-minded, his music is evolutionary, influenced by his inspiration of the moment, never locked up in a particular genre.

Voice-tag explanation:

There's a voice whispering on every beat that says“Alfama, Alfama, Alfama,...” (aɫˈfɐmɐ). This beat tag is a wink to his Portuguese origins (Alfama is a district of Lisbon, in Portugal) and it can also be understood as “Al's fame”

Skills:

Self taught, Al Bandito knows how to deal with turnables, piano/keyboards (Korg Triton), sampling devices (Akai MPC2000), virtual music programs (Cubase)

Al Bandito is not only a beatmaker, he also has music engineering skills, he knows how to mix and master his beats: once it's recorded, he has an undeniable talent for setting voices, adding the right effect at the right place, organizing sequences, cuts, breaks, … He understands the vibe the artist wants to give and he makes it happen! He feels the track and makes it more lively.

Al's beats inspire the artists who write and record on it. The raw recording inspires him for the mix. This is how his music sublimates the artist, and the artist sublimates his music. It's always a win-win collaboration.

After many years making music for free, Al Bandito is now experienced and professional, so he would like to turn this passion into a living.

Production credits:

Young Memphis, Lkellz, Sean Stacks, A1-Al, A.B, S3, Jus, Money Skeens, A.Pinks, Dominique Young, The Sinister Boyz, Wayne Hevy, Yung Eagle, Bibo (long time collab), Radero, Whity, Billy Bats, Dashime (KDD), Falgas, Sultan Omar, Ritzo, Sekt Insekts, 187 Rekord.