Get to know YTC
May is AAPI Heritage Month, and we’ve asked New Jersey-based producer YTC to take over Serato’s Kitchen to mark the occasion. While YTC didn’t grow up in a musical household in the traditional sense, growing up in a Filipinx-American household was the next best thing: “Filipinxs love to sing and play instruments,” YTC shares of his upbringing, “and if you’ve been to a Filipinx party you know we’re breaking out the karaoke real quick!”
Being so close to New York City during such a pivotal time in Hip-Hop history was also hugely influential on him. His favorite music growing up reads like a who’s who of East Coast legends: Wu-Tang, Tribe, Nas, Jay, Gangstarr. In the late 90s and early 2000s he also got heavily into The Roots, Little Brother and the Soulquarians collective.
“Participating in beat challenges and remix competitions really helps you see where your skills stack up.”
YTC is actually an acronym for “Yours To Create,” and he takes his moniker seriously if his creative output is any indication. In addition to releasing his own music, he’s also a very active member of the beat battle community both in his region with events like Today’s Future Sound Beat Cypher, and online competitions such as the recent Cookin Soul stems remix competition (which he won). He views the remix and sample flip competitions as a unique opportunity to push oneself creatively “because you know everybody else has the same source material and yet you have to find a way to create something not only dope but also unique.”
Reading through YTC’s list of artists who inspired him, it should come as no surprise that his sound as a producer is heavily inspired by boom bap and late 20th century Hip-Hop. He’s an avid user of hardware like the Maschine MK3 and SP404 to help achieve an evolved version of that gritty, organic sound he fell in love with as a teen growing up in Jersey.
“The chopping ability of Serato Studio is unmatched in my eyes.”
One of YTC’s personal philosophies when it comes to making music is “Don’t Overthink It,” and he credits Serato Studio and Serato Sample with empowering him to stick to that. Serato Studio helps him to flesh out ideas quickly and create variations on the fly with the copying of scenes. And when he wants to use his Maschine or Logic, Serato Sample is a constant in his workflow as well thanks to the time stretching and pitch and tempo controls. During YTC’s Serato’s Kitchen Residency we’ll be able to see his musical ethos in action as he takes everyone on a deep dive into Serato Studio—from what he looks for when chopping a sample to more technical explorations like EQ and sound design.
YTC counts Mndsgn, Steve Lacy, illMind, and H.E.R. among the AAPI artists who he thinks are currently killing the game. While music is a career path that wasn’t always nurtured in many traditional households, he couldn’t be happier that there’s such a great representation from the community at music’s highest levels: “I feel like this new generation of Filipinxs, including myself, are starting to really dive into things we’re passionate about,” he says. “I think it’s great because I feel like we have so much to offer in the creative space.”
YTC Serato’s Kitchen dates
Episode one: May 10th 3pm ET / 12pm PT / 8pm UK
Episode two: May 17th 3pm ET / 12pm PT / 8pm UK
Episode three: May 24th 3pm ET / 12pm PT / 8pm UK
Episode four: May 31st 3pm ET / 12pm PT / 8pm UK
Watch YTC’s Serato’s Kitchen episodes live on the Serato Twitch channel and download the samples from the Serato Discord before each episode.