Instrumental
Domino is a key member of the Hieroglyphics crew, serving as their manager and business operator, but he is equally essential as a producer.
In 1999, Hieroglyphics Dot Com contributor Jacob Rosenberg spent an afternoon with Domino at his home studio and recorded video of him working on beats for Pep Love’s upcoming album, Ascension. The footage was published on Hieroglyphics.com as Beats 101 with Domino.
Now over 25 years old, the feature has largely been lost to time, and the original QuickTime videos no longer work in modern web browsers. That’s exactly why I wanted to update and republish it for the first time in more than two decades.
Foreword
Words & video by Jacob Rosenberg
Originally published on Hieroglyphics.com, October 25, 1999
Adapted for Hieroglyphics.org, December 2025
After watching the San Francisco Giants destroy the Atlanta Braves at Candlestick Park—“The Stick”—on my final visit before the team moved to Pacific Bell Park, I trekked over to Casa de Domino to watch the Pittsburgh Steelers destroy the Cleveland Browns in Cleveland’s 1999 NFL home opener. Domino had couched it for a whole day of football and was satisfied with the Steelers’ win.
After the game was over, I went down into the dungeon to check out some of Domino’s new beats he was making for Pep Love’s solo album (currently titled Ascension). Since I had my video camera with me, I asked him to briefly walk me through the development of the beats.
I was surprised by how obscure the samples were, but wasn’t surprised at how tight the beats came off.
A week later, during a photo shoot with Pep Love, I heard the vocals he had laid down for one of the beats (Course 2) and got a bit more excited. The album should be quite nice to the ears.
– Jacob Rosenberg
Videos
Course 1: Creating a Beat from Scratch
Domino introduces the MPC-2000 drum machine.
Jacob: “So, is this your MPC, Domino?”
Domino: “Yea. I haven’t had it that long. The majority of the old Hiero records that I made were on this, underneath, this Casio FZ-10M. Pretty much everything on all the early records and all of 3rd Eye Vision I made on the FZ-10.
The only thing I made on the MPC-2000 thus far is the “You Never Knew” remix and the “Phoeny Phranchise” remix, as far as what has gotten on a record. Everything else was made on this FZ-10.”
Laying down the drum samples.
Domino: “Usually the first thing I start off with is find a sound, and then I’ll do some simple drums. And depending on what I put over the drums—usually I start and finish with the drums.
So I got a kick, another kick, a more 808 kick, snare, hi-hat. So I’ll get a drum track going and, you know…That’s all it is at this point.”
Adding the fills.
Domino: “Put in something like…
That’s just a sound I put in there to accent the main stuff.
But basically, what consists of that is, obviously, like I said before: the drums, snare, a couple of drum kicks I’ll layer, and a little fill…”
Jacob: “Where’d you get that from?”
Domino: “I got it from some weird strings record, or easy listening record. And then I’ll play with it so it’ll extend to a loop.”
Adding the primary sample.
Domino: “It’s a simple track. That’s the extent of the sample, so I might just cut it up. I got it from this record—a Sesame Street record, ‘Square Song.’
So all you people who say, ‘I know where you got that,’ just don’t come up to me after saying, ‘I know where you got that—from a Sesame Street record,’ because I’m gonna know you got it off this Internet feature.”
The sample in full.
Domino: “Peep: There’s always cool sounds.”
[Domino plays the original source of the sample as the Sesame Street record begins playing.]
[Domino repeats the sampled sound on his MPC for comparison]
Adding the bass tone.
Domino: “Underneath it, there’s a bass tone.”
Jacob: “You did that yourself?”
Domino: “It’s the same sound, but it’s muffled, to make it fuller.
Then I can break the sequence down and play it with just the bassline [and drums] by itself. It helps the arrangement so the song doesn’t become monotonous.”
The last word.
Domino: “Pep Love wrote something to this. He came over, listened, and wrote something to it. Hopefully it’ll come out tight.”
Jacob: “What’s the name of the song?”
Domino: “I don’t know. He had a name for it, but I don’t remember. And I tracked it, but it isn’t done yet, so this is kind of the beginning stage of it.
[Editor’s note: The song was later released as “Act. Phenom”]
I’m gonna add some more stuff, but this is the basic beat again. That’s it.”
Course 2: Working with a Beat in Progress from Pep Love’s Album
Starting the beat.
Domino: “All these variations come from that single bass tone. I put it on all the keys, [with different pitches].”
The sample in full.
Domino: “Here it goes…”
[Sample plays from the record]
Domino: “That’s it.”
[Domino rewinds the record.]
Domino: “Right there: ‘dun-dun-dun-dun.'”
[Domino repeats the sampled sound in the MPC for comparison]
Domino: “It’s from this record. So from that little piece, I made this melody.”
Reworking the sample.
Domino: “That’s how I did it. Then I got this sound…took it real short…”
[Plays back sounds at different pitches before combining the sound with the rest of the track]
Domino: “They’re still the same sound, just slowed down.”
The final word.
Domino: “It shows you can make something out of nothing: bass and drums, basically. And a sound that’s just that short. Bassline: that short.”
[Plays another sample]
Domino: “That is the extent of that sound. Everything else is just drum sounds. I didn’t even use these snares.”
Domino: “That’s it.”
Check out more about Domino on the Dregs One “History of the Bay” podcast.