Location: I’m from Columbus, Ohio, for now: my Emerald City. I run a recording studio here called Blue Moon (www.2bluemoon.com) and work with the city’s finest lyricists (shout-outs to Niq and Nstinx) as well as bands (The Forties) and artists of just about every other genre.

Musical Strengths: My skills are the strongest in the rock and hip-hop genres, though I really try to go outside the box and add elements of electro, glitch, industrial, even a bit of jazz to spice it up. I play guitar, keys, bass, and sing on my own tracks, rarely use samples because if I cannot play or sing it, I can find someone who can. I also make my own sample sets from old video games, electronic toys, various other things laying around the studio and home and use Ableton live and Kontakt to morph them into viable sounds. Sound design is definitely one of my strong points and is quite addicting.

Influences: My main influences would be Prince, Bowie, Led Zeppelin, MSTRKRFT, Le Castle Vania, LMFAO, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, old Stax and Motown recordings, Radiohead, Quincy Jones, Hendrix, M.J.and some 80’s Nashville stuff to name some of the things I have soaked up over the years. I had the pleasure of doing some studio work down in Memphis and learned just about everything I know concerning engineering between sitting in on sessions with Ralph Sutton and John Hampton, not to mention the wealth of knowledge from all the historic studios of that town (Sun, Stax). I also learn a lot from the people I work with out of my own studio, good ideas come from just about everywhere.

Video Talent: I have also gotten into video quite heavily, and I am currently compiling and editing footage for more live shows with DJs and artists, mixing visuals on the fly that compliment the music, show images that magnify the meaning and vibe of the songs being performed. That and doing music videos, party montages, various other things.

Hit Talk recommends checking out the video and music that VJ Oz put together for Empireal’s awesome joint “American Xpress”. Check out the video below.

Empireal - American Xpress music video from VJ Oz on Vimeo.

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Mixing with a Spectrum Analyzer

If you have a rudimentary system, or even if you’re still learning to trust how your ear perceives the mix from monitors, you can augment your aural monitoring system with two simple visual aides. The first is a frequency analyzer. Many EQ plugins come with built-in analyzers. One free VST analyzer is Fre(a)koscope by Smartelectronix.

Pictured above is a mix created without proper monitoring. To have a look at how well-balanced the highs, lows and mids are, we’ve installed Fre(a)koscope as a VST plugin on the master channel. The gray line shows the average peak level of all frequencies on a specific track. the decibel level drops off toward the treble range. The producer probably used PC speakers, compensating for a perceived lack of bass by pumping it up, swamping the treble frequencies. On a well-balanced monitoring system or hi-fi system, the bass will be too much, the mix will lack detail, and any A&R official or producer who listens to it will kick it to the curb.

Above is a fully-mastered Billboard hit. The spectrum is even, and the bass frequencies are only slightly louder than the mids and treble. The gray peak indicator line shows a balanced spectrum. While there’s no replacement for quality monitoring, and a good ear, a spectrum analyzer like this provides a fantastic visual check on your mix’s frequency balance.

Using a Phase Scope to Track Stereo Image

A second diagnostic tool you can use for your mixes is the phase scope. Some DAWs incorporate a phase scope, and you can download a free phase scope called Stereotool at www.fluxhome.com. Here, we’re using the phase scope from T-Racks 3. Essentially, a phase scope shows the similarity between the left and the right channels. If your mix is built from unprocessed mono samples, it will look something like the diagram at left. A complex stereo image should yield something like the diagram at right, and this is best accomplished using techniques we’ve explained in our other free online production tips.

The phase correlation, measured at the bottom of the scope should float between +1 and 0, if it drifts too far toward -1, you have too many frequency conflicts. By keeping your eye on the scope, and the phase correlation meter, you can judge the overall quality of your stereo image.
 

Pictured at left in the second phase scope diagram is a beat with a healthy stereo image. The phase correlation is still well above 0, and you can see that the stereo image is nice and wide. You can get a wide stereo image like this by panning, but using haas-style delay effects (delaying the left channel by a 20-30 (or more) milliseconds.

Always pay close attention to your mix, and make sure all of your samples occupy a position in a three-dimensional field of hearing. Pan and widen with diligence. One invaluable tool for efficient stereo imaging is the AAY Stereolizer, which uses a phase trick to create a stereo image. In every mix, give your listener a diverse landscape. Create space between the song elements by using positioning. Below, we’ll show you a little more on analyzing the frequency spectrum of your tracks. The phase scope pictured above is extremely precise and comes with T-RackS 3.

Mixing with a Multi-Track Spectrum Analyzer

Below is a shot of Bluecat Audio’s Freqanalyst Multi, an amazingly useful mixing tool. A producer can run multiple instances of the Freqanalyst Multi to track the frequency response of selected tracks in your mixing session. To identify which tracks are in conflict, you can compare them like we have in the image below.

Take a song like “Nuthin But a G Thang,” on which we wrote our latest Hit Report. Since the song uses such a resonant kick sample, the bassline and kick drum both stand to conflict. When you’re thinking about how to EQ each channel, it’s important to consider which frequencies to duck and which to emphasize. Above in the Freqanalyst illustration, we’re analyzing the bass, kick, and the main mix. It is clear that the bass and kick share much of the bass frequency spectrum. There is a chance of frequency conflict. In particular, you can see where the frequencies peak between 50Hz and 250Hz. Lower the gain of either the bass or of the kick at that frequency by using a bandpass (bell curve) filter in your parametric EQ.

Pre and Post Compression Peak Visualizer

At left is probably one of the best all-in-one visualizer plugins you can find: SchOPE by Stillwell Audio. You can use this to analyze your signal both pre- and post- compression so that you can gage the effect your compressor is having. Is it limiting enough, or too much? is it mashing the peaks? In addition, SchOPE contains a spectrum display, and a phase scope.

Again, while these tools are handy references, there is no substitute for good ears. These techniques will allow you to judge your mixes on at least a few criteria without having to resort to extremely expensive monitors. If you’re still not sure about mixing, give these tests a try, see how your mixes stack up.

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Hip-hop’s G-Funk: the musical brainchild of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. Its roots have spread far and wide throughout rap and hip-hop, changing the landscape of modern music permanently. Dre’s most legendary release, The Chronic, is the quintessential G-Funk album. Because of this benchmark contribution to modern music, and because of relentless chart domination since The Chronic, Dre will forever be an icon. What most distinguishes Dre is not his compositional wizardry or studio ingenuity, but rather his status as a fastidious maestro, paying painstaking care in his musical direction. Dre is an overseer: he unites talented artists and, with uncompromising perfectionism, he transforms their collective potential into music that makes history. Along with song’s like “Let Me Ride,” “Nuthin But a G Thang” is one of the finest examples of G-Funk there is. Enjoy this free online preview. Hit Talk’s full downloadable G Thang Hit Report reveals the production details of Dre’s famous hit song, plus teaches you the essence of one of Rap’s most influential sub-genres.

Nuthin But a G Thang - Melody Map Preview

Dre backs every song with an inventive rock-solid bassline. Part of the essence of Funk, and hence G-Funk as well, is the presence of a funky bassline. This is a good reason for Dr Dre to choose “I wanta do Something Freaky to You,” by Leon Haywood as the sample on which G Thang is based. If you’re not a bass player, playing this bassline on the keys is quite easy. Above, in red, are the keyboard finger positions for the bassline melody played on the left hand. It’s a straightforward pattern: when playing the four 16th notes that rise from Eb to F#, try sliding off the Eb key onto E with the 4th finger. What makes this bassline so perfect is its staccato nature. By using short runs of 16th notes, Leon Haywood was able to get away with using less notes. Many amateur producers, and even some noteworthy pros sync the bassline up with the kick, or used sustained bass notes. The G Thang bassline is more original and articulate, leaving quarter note spaces between each run of 16th notes for an extremely dynamic and uncluttered bass performance. In our full Hit Report, below, we analyze some of the song’s synth melodies in addition to the bassline, and show how all the melodies fit together during the transitions between the song’s verses and hooks.

Nuthin But a G Thang - Filters and Wah Techniques

In our full report, we’ve commented on several of the original tracks in Haywood’s song, as well as many of the production elements added by Dre. Another part of what makes the Leon Haywood sample well-suited to the G-Funk genre is its laid-back groove. For this purpose, the guitar tracks in Leon Haywood’s original track are perfect, setting the mood just right with a soft attack and wah pedal sweeps. A wah pedal is basically a foot-controlled modulated highpass filter. Hence it’s quite easy to reproduce that effect using any DAW that incorporates a parametric equalizer or resonant filters. Here we’ll show you in 3 steps.

Step 1 – Arm to Record

Using FL Studio’s parametric EQ as our example, start by arming the sequencer to record. FL Studio has a recording filter which lets you choose whether you’re going to record audio or midi. Since you’ll be manually dragging the highpass filter, select the “automation and score option.

Step 2 – Q and Frequency Settings

To the right is FL Studio’s Parametric EQ. We’ve set the 5th filter to highpass, with a medium Q and gain. starting with the highpass between 1 and 2 kHz, the same kind of wah effect you hear in the Leon Haywood break can be achieved by manually sweeping the filter up to the 5 kHz range, and back down. This is one way to achieve a wah effect, but don’t be afraid to experiment with other filters.

Step 3 – Copy and Paste your Automation

You might want to perform each sweep of the highpass filter manually, or for the sake of consistency you can do what we’ve done in at right: copy and paste the best sweep. One thing to keep in mind if you edit any automation is smooth transitions. We’ve sliced a sweep that ends on the same frequency it begins on. Thus, there are no instantaneous jumps in filter frequency.

Nuthin But a G Thang In-Depth - The Full Downloadable Report

So much can be learned from modern Hip Hop classics. Nuthin but a G Thang is hailed as one of Hip Hop’s most significant landmarks. In our full downloadable Hit Report, we explain some of the mixing details Dre would have had to take into consideration while creating the song. In addition, we explain the unique production tricks that have made this song into the classic masterpiece that it has become.

Order the “Nuthin But a G Thang” Hit Report & Get it all…
	Nuthin But a G Thang Song Format Map! (View All) Nuthin But a G Thang Frequency Separation Map! (View All) Nuthin But a G Thang Song Arrangement Map! (View All) Nuthin But a G Thang Melody Map! (View All) Nuthin But a G Thang Track Detail Map! (View All) x2! Nuthin But a G Thang - 11 Tracks of Music Production Analysis! Nuthin But a G Thang Song Arrangement Step-by-Step Report! Nuthin But a G Thang Lyrical Flow Report! Nuthin But a G Thang Wah Effect Step-by-Step Report! Nuthin But a G Thang Sample Equalization Step-by-Step Report! Nuthin But a G Thang Creative Sample Phrasing Report! Nuthin But a G Thang Music Production with FL Studio! Nuthin But a G Thang Keyboard Technique Reports! Nuthin But a G Thang Autopan Report! Super Bonus: VIPKIT#23, 105 Samples, $30 value! Instant Download $14.95
Enhance Your Music Production Skills Today!

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Graduating from Full Sail University in 2002 with top honors in Recording Arts, it took only a few months before Araica was mixing sessions with Timbaland, Nate ‘Danja’ Hills, and Missy Elliott. Missy Elliott coined the nickname ‘Ms. Lago’ after the Lamborghini Murcielago because of Araica’s speed at the Pro Tools console. Though, undoubtedly, it was her hard work and shrewd opportunism that brought Araica to where she is today, an internship at Hit Factory Criteria in Miami was the catalyst. At the Hit Factory - under the tutelage of adept mix engineer, Demacio “Demo” Castellon - Araica learned to adapt her knowledge to the real world. Her days are saturated with projects, yet she maintains an effusive positive outlook that is both charming and infectious. It was our good fortune to speak to Marcella Araica about how an education and an opportunity transformed into a career among the music industry elite.

Hit Talk: Immediately after Full Sail, you started at The Hit Factory. That’s a prestigious internship. Did it take hard work to get there, or was it a lucky break?

Marcella Araica: I inquired about the internship about 4 months into school. I started to do a little research of where exactly I wanted to be when I did graduate. The program was a 12-month program, so I just wanted to be ahead of the game… It was important to me that I stay in my hometown, Miami, so when I did the research that’s when I came across Hit Factory Criteria. [There were] a few other studios, but nothing really grabbed me like the Hit Factory. What I did, I reached out to the studio manager [Trevor Fletcher]… not that he was really interested at that moment.

  Hit Talk: But, at least you made the connection.

Marcella Araica: Right, I made the connection, and he was like “well if you’re interested, when you have time, just come down and take a tour of the facility.” I had a little small break on the weekend, and that’s what I did. I drove down to Miami from Orlando. I took a tour, introduced myself, and let him know that when I finished the program in 6 months I would be back for an interview. And he was like “Yeah okay, whatever.” About a month before I graduated I reached out to him again, and said “I will be graduating in a month, do you have any openings? He said at the moment he didn’t, but of course, when I did graduate I reached out again, and he did say that there was an opening, and that’s when I got the interview… which I thought I failed actually.

HT: You thought you failed the interview?

MA: Yeah, because I was really nervous and sweating more than usual. I thought he was like “If she can’t handle the interview, she can’t handle the industry.” I walked away from it and I thought “I failed, I failed the interview.” He didn’t call me for… it was almost a week, I had to wait. But he called and said “definitely you were the best out of all the candidates. When can you start?” It was a Thursday, and I said “I can start tomorrow!” and he was like “well aren’t you like 3 hours away?” and I said “yeah, but I’ll pack my stuff right now and go!” then he said “well, how about I give you ’til the weekend to move down?” And… that’s how I began the journey.

HT: So, you graduated with honors from a recording arts degree, right?

MA: Yeah, it was recording engineering; I graduated with honors. I got the Advanced Recording/Engineering award, it’s only one student that gets it.

HT: Did that award do anything to help your case with the Hit Factory?

MA: I believe so … Trevor was definitely impressed… because the school is so vigorous and I did graduate with perfect attendance. I did not miss one day of school… if you’re tardy by more than 10 or 15 minutes, then they consider it an absence. So I was never late, and I was never absent. And that’s really hard because you’re going to school for 8 to 12 hours a day, with sometimes only four hours for sleep, but even in those 4 hours you still have to study for a test because the program was so intense that you had tests almost every day.

HT: Damn, that’s a challenge.

MA: Yeah. So … they give that perfect attendance award to honor those students that make it through without missing a day.

HT: Demacio “Demo” Castellon quickly became your mentor. Was it at the Hit Factory where you first met Demo?

MA: Yes, I met him at the Hit Factory, he was a ‘GA’ (General Assistant) 6 months into his internship when I got hired. He was what the Hit Factory called the ‘head GA’ which is when they make the transition to assistant…

HT: What are some of the crucial lessons you learned from Demo?

MA: When I first met him he wasn’t very nice to me. He felt like I was there for a quick break. I definitely had to show him “listen, I definitely don’t want no one to be nice with me just because I’m the only girl here,” and he gave me a hard time for a little bit… actually, for quite a while. [Eventually] I guess he saw that I wasn’t budging or I wasn’t breaking under his … mean ways with me.

He was really brilliant at operating Pro Tools. He basically said to me: “You know, if you want to excel in this fashion, you need to be really good at Pro Tools, because at any given moment it could be your chance. You have to be able to just be in [the studio], and work, and work quickly. So basically, we started doing these mock sessions in the studio, where we would bring in artists, neighborhood local acts. He’d be the producer and I would be the engineer and he would just drill me like: “Do this! Do it like that! No, you’re not doing it quickly! Let me show you the quicker way!” So he took it on himself to show me how to be more efficient in the studio, especially with Pro Tools. He was still a young engineer coming up but he was really brilliant in his way because he wasn’t, you know, textbook… He had his own ways… I looked up to him for that.

It was Missy Elliott that nicknamed you “Ms. Lago” because you were so fast. Did you derive some of that speed from the lessons Demo gave you?

MA: Absolutely, yep.

You mentioned Demo gave you a hard time at first. What trials and tribulations did he put you through?

MA: *Laughs* … He was the head GA, but I was on the lower end of the totem pole. He’d literally - I know he’s gonna laugh when he reads this - he was basically telling me to do all his work, and would just sit back and have the receptionist file his nails [and say] “yeah you know, you need to do this, you need to do that…” and I’m just like “OK” and I did it all.

So you took care of business while keeping your composure?

MA: I didn’t even fight with him, I was like you know what? If you think I’m here for a fast break, then I’ll just show you… I came from a family of two brothers and I’m the only girl. I had a very strict upbringing… I was used to it.

HT: For five years now, you’ve been working with Timbaland and Danja. Based on your experience, what sets them apart from other production teams?

MA: To me what’s so amazing about them is that they don’t have to say a word to each other, but they’re on the same exact playing field… and it’s really surreal to experience. I was just in the studio with them. That [Timbaland’s new album] was the last session I did before I flew out to Japan, I was in the studio with Tim and Danja. It’s been a few months since we’ve been in the studio together… It’s almost like it’s always the same thing. They don’t say nothing to each other but they know exactly what they want, where they’re going, and the result is just amazing.

HT: Do you see that as a product of working together for a long time or is there a natural chemistry there?

MA: Completely natural chemistry. It’s been like that since Danja walked through the door - completely natural. You know, Tim definitely developed him along the way but even through that development process they just had that understanding with one another.

If you were starting out in music production, do you think there’s anything you’d do differently, considering the way the industry is has evolved?

MA: Well, the way has evolved *chuckles*… I would definitely be reading the trade magazines as much as I could, but more importantly the internet is such a big thing right now.. especially with Twitter, and Facebook and Myspace, you definitely have more [ways] to try to reach out to people. I think that’s [important]. It’s really hard unless you really make those connections… I always try to reach out to as many people as I can.

For someone starting out in production, would you recommend Full Sail as a good starting point?

MA: To be honest with you … I walked away from it knowing a great foundation of how to understand certain terminology, and certain basic methods of how to work in the studio. But what I learned in Full Sail, and when I got into the real world, it wasn’t the same at all. It was terrifying actually. If I were to go back, I probably would have tried to have gotten that internship before i went to school… but if I couldn’t have got the internship without going to school, then I would have definitely gone to school. But a lot of times, for these studios you don’t need a degree… I didn’t know that. I was always brought up [with the idea that] everything was based off schooling, that’s the way my parents brought me up.

HT: Lastly, you seem a happy, optimistic person. Some might say “Well, she’s mixing with Timbaland and Danja, poppin’ bottles on the plane - Of course she’s happy!” But is that happiness more intrinsic to who you really are?

MA: Well… I’m human, everybody goes through their ups and downs, but for me it’s always about positive energy. If you put out positive energy then that’s what gets returned to you, if you put out negative energy then bad things happen. You know, at the start and end of every day, I always give thanks for everything: for my family, for my friends, for being able to do what I love. It’s a big thing to wake up every day and do what you love: that’s a huge part of happiness… I’ve definitely gone through some struggles, but through those struggles you have to know that there’s going to be a better outcome.

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Before that, it was television theme production and remixes for for NYC Prep, Miami Social, Beyoncé Revealed, Stager Invasion and Colossal Construction. Jack D. Elliot is busy, successful and happy. He has produced dozens of hit remixes including Britney Spears’s “Baby One More Time,” and Nick Lachey’s “What’s Left of me,” the latter reaching #1 on Billboard. In addition, he has worked with Taylor Dayne, Kylie Minogue, N’Sync, Christian Milian and many others. Elliot’s story is one of steady ascent into music industry success thanks to persistence, resourcefulness, and tireless hustle. After several years of barely scratching out a subsistence income in pursuit of his musical aspirations, Jack D. Elliot caught a genuine break, established a reputation, and - finally - started making serious money. Elliot’s story of success lights a clear path to those looking for any music industry career: be prepared to work hard for a long time, and no matter what - keep your chin up.

Hit Talk: You started your own Label in NY, Progressive High, producing mainly dance music. What kind of investment of resources did it take to get started?

Jack D. Elliot: Well, on a financial level, I was lucky… I was working for Northcott productions. Silvio, the owner of the company… realized he liked some of the music I was doing. We were kinda pitching the idea of doing a dance label together. He funded me at the time, because in my early 20s I had no money. So, he would fund the pressing of the vinyl and the CDs, and then I would run the whole thing. And then he would recoup his money, and we would do our profits from that point. So I was fortunate to have a backer to work with me. It was like a subidiary of Northcott productions. That’s how that started….

Hit Talk: He must have recouped his money. You and Reina went to #2 with “If I Close My Eyes.” How long was it before that dropped?

Jack D. Elliot: “If I Close My Eyes” was not with Northcott; I did that after my remixes did well. It was a while, because I was doing it underground, and I put out like 40 records from Progressive High. Some I did myself, and there were a lot of DJs that I signed. And then after I did all my remixes, that’s when I really broke into the business - when I did the Britney Spears [Baby One More Time] remix. That gave me recognition and credibility, and then a couple of years after doing the remixes - it was actually after September 11th - I wrote [If I Close my Eyes] 2 weeks later, with Janice Robinson, who’s a famous dance artist. When Reina cut it, when it finally came out, it was number 2… I forget what happened on Billboard, it was like the highest-climbing dance record when it came out for the first week. It was pretty cool.

But it took a while, you know - I had to pound the pavement. honestly, I made no money for like 7 or 8 years… I had some good underground credibility and records for nightclubs and DJs, but I was still struggling at that time. It wasn’t until I got my break with the Britney Spears remix that I really slingshotted into the business…

HT: So you split your time between television, and collaborating with major artists… which of those two types of projects is more lucrative for you?

JDE: It’s funny because I started getting more popular in the business in the past, say, 4 years. The music business is changing so dramatically. So, right now TV is very lucrative. It was weird… I started doing all these tracks for a couple of different companies, for library houses … it took time for [those songs] to get solicited and into shows, but all of a sudden the royalties started coming in… Now, because I’ve been doing the TV stuff for about 8 or 9 years, I’m getting some nice checks consistently every month from ASCAP. It’s a nice safety net which, with all the economy stuff, gives me some peace of mind.

And you know, record sales have really diminished amazingly. You can make good money on [record sales,] but you really need to have a record to sell a million or two, or more. And there’s not a lot of records selling that much any more. Unless you’re the single radio player, it’s hard to start banking a lot of money.

HT: It’s more fun to produce records, but not as lucrative…

JDE: I love doing it, I always have my foot in the door. Especially working for Dianne Warren, … I’m constantly meeting all the artists. I get to produce her demos, then when the artist first cuts it, usually I get the production. I just did a bunch of stuff for Nina Sky, and now there’s the new Kylie Minogue thing, so the opportunity is cool, I get paid, … and then have the opportunity to get the production, so it’s definitely a good deal.

HT: Is TV music production something that developed independently, or did you get your foot in the door with the remixes?

JDE: Yeah, the remixes gave me the leverage. When I did a lot of remixes for Jive records, Eric Beall introduced me to this company Firstcom, they’re a library house, and they give a lot of music to all the reality shows like Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight. So I started doing that, and through the years I met some music supervisors, and now I’m actually writing music with a music supervisor, Matt Keirst, really awesome guy. He’s the supervisor for America’s Next top Model, and Beauty and the Geek, and new shows like Miami Social on Bravo… He’ll give me a lot of direction, and I’ll be writing a lot of stuff for specific scenes. It’s fun.

HT: Sometimes dance/trance can be pretty swamped with chorus & reverb, your style is pretty clean, what influenced you to go that way?

JDE: It’s my style. I’m a perfectionist, I’m always trying to learn as much as possible about engineering and trying to get the sounds as tight as possible. I always kinda compare a little differently than a lot of other DJs. They might listen to… say they listen to Tiësto or something. I’m more listening to the top engineers in the business. Say one of Rihanna’s more danceable tracks: those are like the best engineers in the business. I’m really studying how they’re sculpting those mixes. I’m noticing kicks, and some of those elements are sparser. And some of the trance guys might put a ton of reverb on it; that washes it out, and then by the time it gets to the nightclubs it kind of gets mushed out…

HT: Yeah… and there seem to be excessive highs on a lot of those DJ mixes.

JDE: That’s ’cause they’re deaf, because they’re DJs (laughs)

HT: So you can dissect the stuff you model yourself after by ear?

JDE: Yeah, i mean it took a long time. I never had any lessons in engineering, I taught myself over the years. It took me years to get the hang of it. Especially compression and EQ: it seems easy when someone says it, but it’s not as easy as you think.

HT: So let’s back up a bit. You said earlier Northcott gave you the boost you needed to start your label. How did you get started with Northcott?

JDE: I needed a job… I swept the floors and washed the windows just to get my foot in the door. I was doing that crap at the beginning, and then I just kept telling Silvio “I can do this” and showing him my tracks, and my music. Then he wanted me to do marketing and sales because he knew I knew computers… I was constantly bringing my music in until I convinced him; he heard stuff he liked. It’s like anything: you build a relationship, and then eventually he trusted me and said “well let’s try this project.”

HT: You deal with music managers, and with a lot of big artists. Do you have advice to producers who are looking to do the same thing?

JDE: I think one of the things I see a lot of producers fail on is - it sucks - but when you want to get to the bigger level in the game, part of it … is that you have to sound like other acts for a while, until you build your name. I mean you can get lucky and have an original thing going, but if you’re too original - especially now - A&R guys are so scared of signing stuff and hiring producers because everybody is losing money. So when you walk into a meeting if it sounds similar to, say, the Black Eyed Peas, they have that comfortability factor. It took a while for me to swallow that, because it’s anti-musician.

I think the biggest thing is: it’s called the music business. This is what someone told me a long time ago when I was working at Northcott. If you want to make music and you want to make money at it, you have to be a businessman. If you want to do music for the craft and the art, and you don’t like the business side, then just do it… as an artist, not a businessman. But, you can’t say “oh I want to make millions of dollars and just do my own thing,” it doesn’t work that way. So you have to … listen to what’s on the radio and try to get the right sound, but you can still put your two cents in. I think the trick is take 70 percent of the sound and try to make it sound similar to these groups, but then throw your 30 percent in, and try to make it unique. [Take an artist like] Lady Gaga: shes got the breakbeats, she’s got the 80’s feel, she’s got this and that. It’s original in her way because she’s got an artistic thing goin’ on, but what you’ve really got to accept is it’s 70 percent generic.

The last thing I would say, too, because I always like to help people to start up: You’ve gotta hustle. That’s the biggest mistake I see. I’m not gonna say names, but people I work with….they have these great things they do - these tracks, and they’re so excited, but they take a month to do a revision. When I’m doing my projects, they’ll tell me they want 10 TV tracks by tomorrow morning! I work from 6am till 2 in the morning with breaks for lunch and for a show, or something. But if you wanna do this you’ve gotta hustle. There are so many people … that are doing the same thing as me. But if you don’t hustle, forget it. It’s just really difficult to survive.

HT: So you’re still hustling, then. Do you think of slowing down? You seem to be in a reasonably comfortable place.

JDE: You know what’s funny? I work with Diane, and I work with David Foster. To me they’re the most successful people in the business. And I always thought that when you get to a certain level, the hustle would end.. and it doesn’t. They hustle the same way I hustle. It blew me away. Diane will play stuff for all these A&R guys, and they don’t like it or they have their politics invovled. The only advantage she has is she’s one of the most famous songwriters - she can get the meetings by snapping her fingers. People jump through hoops to hear her stuff. She still … writes for 7 days a week and 12 hours a day, she’s a workaholic. It seems like it just never ends, there’s always some new hot thing, so you’re always competing.

HT: Well… It’s good to be busy, anyway.

JDE: Yeah, it’s fun. I’d hate to sit around. I’d go nuts.

HT: Is there anything else you’d lke to add?

JDE: Um… my biggest thing is to tell people to keep positive, and don’t let the business get you down. There’s … a lot of vicious, negative people out there. People get paralyzed. It’s happened to me before, but you can’t let that [negativity] paralyze you. Just let it roll off your shoulders, and just move forward, because one person’s gonna love your track, and the other person’s gonna hate it. I’ve given some of my music to the same … people 3 or 4 times and the 4th time, they’ve paid me 20 grand for it. They don’t remember 2 days from now what they heard. So, just don’t take the criticism so hard… but learn from it. If it’s something they say that you can grow on and improve, then… cool.

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Good mixing and good mastering require good monitoring, preferably with a properly-positioned 2.1 system. Maybe you’re skeptical, but you can tell when someone has mixed without a sub. Either they’ve overcompensated in the bass range, or they have no idea how flat their mixes are. So, be forewarned that this tip (and good production in general) requires quality monitoring. It’s also wise to familiarize yourself with Hit Talk’s online and email tips, as well as Hit Theory, to get a better sense for some of the processes that come before this final stage. With those qualifiers out of the way, here’s a tutorial illustrating what we consider a sound approach to mastering your final mix. You can follow these steps with any comprehensive software or hardware mastering set-up, but for this tip, we’re using IK Multimedia’s most praiseworthy T-RackS 3 deluxe mixing and mastering suite.

T-RackS Linear Phase EQ Settings

No matter what gear you’re using to master your final mix, always start with the EQ. The first link in our signal chain is the new, and exceptionally transparent T-RackS Linear Phase EQ. Since we’re using a compressor and clipper later in the signal path, we’re going to bypass them for now, and slightly reduce the EQ’s output. Now we’re ready to audition the changes we’re about to make to the final mix’s frequency response.

Now, you may wonder “Why start with an EQ instead of a compressor?” It’s not an arbitrary decision. You start with the EQ because you’re going to be processing the signal with a low cut filter. You thereby drastically reduce the compressor load, giving it far more leeway to process the mids and highs. Above, you can see that the low cut filter starts to roll off at 38Hz. Now, while you might think twice about shaving off those precious bass frequencies, there’s a balance to be struck between bangin’ bass and hot, punchy compression. Ask yourself, how hot do I want the overall mix, and how heavy do I want the bass? You can’t have both. Typically 37-38 Hz is a good compromise between cutoff frequency and compressor output. Heavier production styles, like what you hear from Timbaland or Lil Jon, often have plenty of heavy bass elements, like 808-style kicks and deep analog bass timbres. In those cases 38Hz might be too much, so you have to be careful. Again, tri-monitoring is a must. Listen carefully with your subwoofer to strike that perfect balance.

Another factor to pay attention to while you’re tweaking your low cut filter is the slope of roll-off. The roll-off slope is illustrated above at the left side of the EQ’s display (see above.) If you’re using T-RackS 3, try using a range of 35Hz up to 41Hz, as we’ve done in the above illustration. However, if you’re using a different EQ, think of that range as a guideline, mainly because your roll-off slope could be steeper. A steeper roll-off means a more abrupt decibel drop below the cutoff frequency, so a 38Hz low cut filter on another EQ could make a much more drastic difference than in the T-RackS Linear Phase EQ.

Outside of using the EQ’s low cut, and as long as you have a good mix, the EQ should need little if any tweaking. At ModernBeats, when we master our product demos, we rely on our mixing skills to create a balanced frequency spectrum. If one demo needs it, we boost the treble range by small increments (between .5dB and 4dB - see above graphic). If you absolutely have to boost low or mid frequencies, make sure the linear phase EQ is set to “Linear Phase,” to keep EQ coloration to a minimum. As with any mastering process, you want this one to be completely transparent.

Transparent Master Compression

Whenever mastering a final mix, the object is transparency and punch. Start with a modest compression ratio, about 3:1. If you’re trying to compress, not limit, a 3:1 ratio keeps the compression clean. Attack time should also be carefully managed for transparency. A fast attack will give you an artificially snappy sound. If you’ve mixed carefully, you’ll want to bring out the original snap and dynamics - all the good stuff you accomplished while mixing. If you go too slow on the attack (say, above 56ms) then the compressor just won’t react. The T-RackS Opto Compressor’s longest attack setting is 50ms, and usually we don’t pull it below 45ms, because the dynamics of the mix start to gain that artificial snap. Sometimes you have to use a fast attack while mastering to manage distortion and overdrive. If you’re hearing a lot of out-of-control peaks, often shortening the attack time can clean them up. Again, listen carefully and trust your ears.

Use a release time range of 84-105 ms. A longer release than that usually means that you’ll hear the compressor working. If you’re a dance or trance/goa producer, and you’re not averse to cliché, then by all means use a long release and savor the “boom-woaah, boom-woaah”. But if you’re producing urban and hip hop, keep your compression release respectably smooth. If your release is too short, you’ll hear distortion in the bass range; It’ll start to crackle. If your release is too long, the compressor will not recover and you’ll hear that pumping and breathing.

Next up is “input level,” (”input drive” in the T-RackS Classic Compressor.) You have to make sure your compression isn’t squashing your signal, and, in T-RackS, the best way to monitor the level of your compressor is by using the VU meter. While you’re playing back your song, look to see if the black VU meter averages around -5 dB. Generally, it shouldn’t dip down to -10. Watch it for a few seconds and get a visual idea of the signal’s average (RMS) level.

You may decide to swap the T RackS Opto Compressor with the Classic Compressor, which gives you a stereo enhancement option. Your best bet though is to set both compressor modules to equivalent settings and get an idea of which one suits your mix better. Regardless of the module you’re using, try following our guidelines above. If your mix is good, these techniques will make it shine all the brighter.

T-RackS Clipper Settings

Our approach to the clipper is simple, and follows the logic of setting gain and volume on a mixer board channel strip. First, turn the slope and gain knob hard left. While keeping the slope knob all the way to the left, bring the gain knob up as high as you can without triggering any saturation.

Once you find the optimum gain, which should be fairly low because the compression gain will already be quite high, now turn the slope knob up until you find a timbre you prefer. Putting the slope knob right in the middle, at about a -6 setting should yield a nice, smooth saturation. You can’t really mess with the clipper until you’ve finished compressing and EQing. If you decide you need to tweak your compressor or EQ, turn the clipper off, and repeat the steps we just explained.

Some Final Bass Mastering Tips

Now that you have tweaked, pruned and polished the relevant parts of your mastering chain, take another look at the EQ. In the picture at left, we’ve taken the hi cut (or low pass) filter and swept it all the way down to 250Hz. Now don’t panic, we’re not suggesting you wipe out all of the mid/treble frequencies in your mix. You’re sweeping to 250Hz so that you can hear the bass frequencies in isolation. Hearing those bass frequencies on their own allows you to monitor for crackle.

If the bass is crackling, then the output of the EQ is too high. You can’t hear those rumbles and crackles if you’ve got guitars vocals and synths blaring over the top of them. You can afford a little bit of crackle, but too much of it can sap your mix’s tone. Once you’ve set the right output level, simply bypass the hi cut filter.

Experiment with Mixing and Mastering

With these guidelines, you can take your mixes from a dull shine to a glittering shimmer. Again, you still need all the elements of a catchy, well-mixed beat: properly managed frequencies, expansive stereo image, good composition, good arrangement, etc… No amount of mastering will ever replace mixing skill and musical creativity.

Our final mastering advice is, simply, experiment. Like any of our advice, use this tip as a guideline, then take it in your own unique direction. For example, now that T-RackS 3 can be downloaded as a suite of independent VST plugins, you can create your own hybrid mastering process using any other set of mastering plugins. If you really want a distinguished sound, you might decide to route your final master through a hardware graphic EQ to shave off your bass frequencies, then back into your DAW for the final mastering stages. It’s up to you.

T-RackS 3 provides a convenient all-in-one suite incorporating the very best digital models of classic vintage mastering tools: one of the many reasons we used it for this tip. But, regardless of what plugins or hardware you’re using, if you’ve been looking for a fatter, fuller sound, a proper mastering regimen like the one we’ve outlined above is essential. Have it ready for action.

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Jeremy Harding has become an icon in the Kingston music scene, having worked with several of Jamaica’s biggest names on projects like the Dancehall 101 CD series. Despite heavy involvement with those projects, plus managing Sean Paul, he’s ready to take on new responsibilities, and to expand his own label, 2 Hard. Harding’s own life has been a story of constant evolution and learning. He started his career as a guitarist, moved on to DJing, then to mixing and producing, then to major-league management. His versatility and musical focus are, according to him, a part of the Jamaican DNA. He overflows with

enthusiasm for Jamaica’s vast, and multi-talented musical collective, and offers his hard-gained wisdom to any producer, emcee, or musician willing to listen. Hit Talk caught up with Jeremy Harding via phone to talk about the Jamaican music scene, about finding new talent, and about the kind of drive and attitude it takes to succeed in the music industry.

Hit Talk: First of all, why are there so many international stars from Jamaica?

Jeremy Harding: The thing with Jamaica is that we have a very high output of music for such a small country. I think there was actually a statistic done a while ago - we have more recording studios per capita than any other country in the world… They’re not big like [the] Hit Factory… they’re places where kids set up to record… Artists around here are typically recording every week, sometimes 2, 3 times a week, 4 times, even more.

And because we have large sections of Jamaicans and West Indians living in certain areas like New York, London, Miami and these kind of places, our music travels very easily because we are supported by our own Jamaican and West Indian communities. If you live in New York, or you live in Florida, and you grow up there … you always heard reggae music playing, even as an American, because there’s so many damn Jamaicans in New York City.

[It’s] like playing baseball, and swinging at every pitch to get a home-run… a lot of them don’t really get anywhere, but that’s part of the way that they work… I have producers record songs… They’ll build a beat, maybe at like 2 in the afternoon, and their artist comes in and hears it at 4, 5, 6 o’clock, writes something and records it, and by midnight they’re finished, and he’s already uploading it online, [then] you’ve got promo distribution all over the web. We make records that quickly. When you have so many records being made so fast, you’re going to have it spread very easily…

Hit Talk: Are you seeking new talent for your own label, 2 Hard?

Jeremy Harding: I’m about to start looking around for some new talent to work on. I think I’ve been very obsessed with managing Sean Paul for the last 6 to 8 years. The good thing about management is that you learn everything about the music business, because there’s not an area you’re not involved with. From publishing to recording all the way back to touring, to music videos to record promotion – you have your hand in all of it…But yeah, I’ve been looking at some other artists… Some of them might not be straight reggae as people know it… but Jamaica is a developing nation just like anywhere else…

HT: So you’re not seeking strictly reggae & dancehall?

JH: Definitely not. People’s backgrounds are very varied, man. I grew up playing a guitar and that’s how I got into music. I [wanted] to be the next Vernon Reid from Living Color, when I was like 13 years old… It’s not that much of a stretch for me to want to do other types of music…

HT: What would you tell producers interested in working with 2 Hard?

JH: First thing that nobody should do: if you want to work with a big hip hop empire, you can’t come to them trying to do what they already do. They can already do what they do. They don’t need a clone of themselves. I don’t need people trying to find me because they do reggae as well, and they’re trying to do something which I already can do. Same thing for artists – I already have tons of these guys in Jamaica. I don’t need a kid from the States that can make a dancehall beat. I got kids here. You’ve got to be bringing something different. You’ve gotta be like “Yo, I hear what you do, and I understand what you do, but I have an extension to it… could it be done in this way or formatted that way?” That I think is more interesting for us, here; we want to expand and we want to grow, too.

The music world, as everybody’s aware, is a much smaller place now in terms of access. So, People can reach out and collaborate; everybody’s online. The fusion of music is incredible, and it crosses boundaries and borders. You no longer have to be from some place in New York or the West Coast or whatever to make a Hip Hop record, to make a difference. You’ve got guys from Norway, Stargate, … and they’re doing all this American rap and RnB music. There’s a lot possible right now. So, as long as people have that kind of thinking where they want to approach people, or work with people, that kind of thing, they’ve got to be out of the box. I think that’s the most important thing.

HT: “Out of the box” - that seems to be a theme we’re hearing from A&R

JH: Yeah, I mean sometimes it runs contrary because people say “yeah, but when I go to the major labels and I try to get stuff signed, they’re saying “it doesn’t sound like this or it doesn’t sound like that” It always seems to be a conflict, but at the same time it’s a line that you have to walk. You’re trying to be very cognizant of what’s happening in the industry and what you’re trying to be.

If you’re just trying to make music for yourself and your friends or to put on your Myspace, that’s one thing; but if you’re trying to compete in a marketplace of music, then you definitely have to decide [on a] certain direction. It can’t be too all-over-the-place. You’ve got to walk in and be like “This sounds close to this – it’s in this vein. I can hear this playing on that radio station, with these other types of artists. So you have to have some amount of familiarity [with regard to genre], but cloning stuff is definitely going to get you nowhere. That’s the hard thing, how do you sound familiar enough? Whatever genre you’re choosing, you’ve gotta sound close enough to what everybody else is doing, so you can get in the race with the other people, but at the same time you’re always trying to present something with a little bit of a twist on it to make you be noticed… ’cause otherwise they’re going to say “Well you’re just a clone, what’s the big deal, we already have that act. You’re a producer, you’re trying to shop beats, I got tons of beats, you sound just like that guy, why would I need you?” You’ve gotta find that relationship. That’s a tricky place to try and find.

HT: So home in on a specific genre, then add your own edge?

JH: Yeah, unfortunately, for better or for worse, if a kid walks into a store, or if he goes on line, and he’s going to buy a hip hop album, he just wants a hip hop album. He doesn’t want a hip hop album that has a little bit of rock, and a little bit of reggae… you know people make records and say “yeah I can do it all, there’s a little bit of something for everybody,” and that’s one of your first, biggest mistakes, because we don’t trust it like that.

So, people out there making music, I know you’re trying to be versatile, and trying to show people that you can do all these different things but you’ve got to pick a lane. Pick a lane, and pick a genre, and be specific. Show people that you’re specific, otherwise you look like jack of all trades, master of none: “I can know a little bit of everything.” [Managers] want somebody who’s a genius at one thing. That’s what we love. “He’s so damn good at that one thing,” whatever genre of music it is. You’re not looking for a guy that can do it all, nobody really wants that at the end of the day, unfortunately.

HT: In addition to Sean Paul, you’ve worked with Beenie Man, Elephant Man, Bounty Killer. What about those artists makes them successful in the game?

JH: Two things: [first, their] work ethic is astounding. People think that because you’re in music now, it’s an alternative to having a 9 to 5 job. “I’m gonna take the easy road, I’m gonna be a musician. I’m going to studios all day, and I don’t have to get up at 9 in the morning and go to a job.” It’s way worse. Your schedule has no limits on it, there’s no cutoff time. Nobody pushes you, you’ve got to have the energy to do it… So work ethic is what sets these people apart. It’s an incredible amount of time people spend. If you’re a producer, the amount of time you have to spend on the net looking for samples for example, at places like ModernBeats for example, people don’t know the backbone that goes into it. They don’t know that I’ve got to sit down there and sort through like one thousand kick drums just to build good music…

A lot of the work, a lot of the research… you gotta read manuals, you gotta go online, and look on tutorials about how to use hardware, software. None of it has anything to do with making hit records. That’s just the work, doing the study, operating your equipment.

[Second thing, versatility:] kids here in Jamaica usually run their own studios, too, because we don’t have the resources to rent studio time ’cause we don’t sell that much records. So kids out here, not only are they operating MPCs, they also know how to run Pro Tools, they also know how to use outboard gear. They know a little bit about pre-mastering their stuff for CDs as well, they’ve got to to know all this stuff.

…You never know in this industry when you’re going to need one skill or another. You might think you’re a really great beat maker, but maybe you’re a better mixing engineer. You might think your a great engineer and maybe you’re a better producer… you never really know, and all these talents come into play.

But, it’s getting further than that now… you’ve got to do all that, plus you’ve got to know how to put your music up on a blog, for example… I think these are the challenges that people should accept and go into… it’s not an easy-way-out business… I’ve had lots of kids come to me and say “I want to be a producer and I’ve built this beat, and I’ve downloaded this software…” When you start to explain to them what they’re going to have to go through to actually make it into a full record, you’d be surprised how many just say “ah, forget it, I can’t.”

HT: It takes more than throwing together a 4-bar beat.

JH: But, you know what? it’s easier now, nobody has any complaints. It was much harder back in the 80s, early 90s. You didn’t have access to all this stuff. You had to go to a real big studio with a massive mixing board, and a tape machine, and people there who knew how to operate tape machines… but now you have no excuse, you’re in a different era, you have all the tools now…

I never had Youtube when I was 9 years old. You can go online right now and learn everything. There is really no excuse now on not knowing how to record, a vocal or which mic I should use, or how do I do something in Pro Tools, or which interface I should get… how can I upgrade my computer? All of it’s there…

HT: Do you think dancehall and reggae are having an influence on American Hip Hop?

JH: I think we borrow back and forth from each other. I wouldn’t say that reggae is definitely driving that industry… It’s very interconnected – it’s because of the way that the culture interacts. If Hip Hop kids are in Brooklyn making records, there are a lot of Jamaicans in Brooklyn, so they’re going to hear the reggae music.

Miami is a cultural melting pot. In Miami you’ve got Latin music, they’ve got reggae, and they have all this other stuff, so of course Miami rappers are going to be influenced by that as well. It’s a cultural exchange. Hip Hop looks huge… like a mountain in front of us, and maybe we just look like an anthill, but I think they borrow from the anthill at times, just as we borrow from the mountain.

HT: Do you have any final advice for aspiring emcees and producers?

JH: The best advice I could give… learn an actual instrument; it’s going to help you. Even if you think …. you only need to use samples and loops, learning an instrument helps you musically, whether it’s a guitar or a keyboard. You teach yourself about melody. It gets your ear trained. It’s very, very important. You don’t have to be proficient in it, but learn some amount of playing an actual instrument, it’s gonna help you… that’s number one.

Number two is the same thing we were talking about before: be versatile. Don’t be scared to learn how to use software, or to try and mix pop records, or to try and learn how to edit, or do stuff which you think somebody else should do… “I’m just a musician,” don’t think that way. You never know where this business is going to take you. You start out doing one thing and you end up doing something else, but the sum of all those musical experiences makes you a better manager, makes you a better producer, makes you a better DJ. Each part helps the other part.

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exactly the kind of industry insider who needs to notice you, whether you’re a producer, singer, or songwriter. With years of experience looking after recruiting established recording artists, Wilkes understands the industry’s competitive nature well as anyone. So, producers who want to get noticed by companies like E1 Entertainment, listen up.

Hip Hop Game = Intense Competition

The first thing Wilkes will tell you about E1’s hip hop A&R team is that they’re overworked:
“because we’re an independent company, each one of the employees probably works as hard as 2 or 3 employees [compared to] the way these businesses used to be run.” Part of that workload comes from the plethora of rap and hip hop artists that approach E1 to get their beats and rhymes noticed. “In the hip hop area, people seek us out like crazy… that’s a gigantic revenue centre for us,” Wilkes Said. Since hip hop is such a bustling sector of E1’s business, they don’t have time to consider producers who haven’t poured their souls into the work they do.

How Do You Get Noticed By A&R? According to Wilkes, to put it simply: be original. While many producers try to impress by emulating the style of their idols, like Timbaland, Blaze, Madlib, etc., the producers that get noticed are the ones that bring something new and interesting to the established musical themes and techniques. “You have to develop a unique, idiosyncratic sound or repertoire. It has to be something different for you to stand out among the hundreds that we hear every week… Be unique: stand out in quality and texture and repertoire.” In other words, copying your favorite music producer misses the point of music production. While you can learn production techniques, hints, and tricks from established producers, you must grow your own style by conducting your own experiments, and by willing yourself to break the mold. Surprise your listeners.

Build Your Own Music Scene

It might be tempting to sit and build beats at home, and send them with high hopes to record label A&R reps, but according to Wilkes that’s a dubious strategy. He suggests starting your career simply by getting involved: by getting to the club and finding a DJ who will play your beats, or an emcee interested in rapping over them.

“Try to establish something on a regional or a local level that will allow a record company to discover you, rather than you trying to spend all your time calling record companies. So many people call us, but the ones who are putting that energy into establishing something in their region, you know, there’s people in every record company that do nothing but scour local clubs or internet sales. [We can find you] if you have … your own music on the internet, and you’re actually doing something to drive people to your website so that they can buy it.”

Wilkes’s Own Example

Wilkes’s career began, humbly, as the doorman at The Bitter End, the notorious NY nightclub that birthed many of America’s biggest comedians, actors and Singer/Songwriters. “The Bitter End was the center of the music business and the comedy business in the United States, it was the hottest club in America.”

When asked about how it’s possible to get from doorman all the way to manager, Wilkes draws a perfect rough sketch of a career that grows naturally on its own momentum: “You start talking to people, and you find out who is good and who is new, and you start to talk to them, and then you end up managing them, and then all of a sudden you’ve got a management company, and then you become the manager of the club, and then you become a publishing guy, and then some big company hears about you and hires you, and … you kind of just grow … like a recording artist would grow.”

Look Beyond Your Music Genre

The upshot of Wilkes’s advice should be obvious: stand out. Stand out by making a local name for yourself. Stand out by carving out a fresh niche all your own. Finding a fresh niche doesn’t always mean whipping up a new style from scratch. Wilkes encourages rap and hip hop artists to take their cues from other genres.

“Everybody has to realize that there’s a big musical world beyond and around hip hop, and before hip hop, too, and that’s still very viable music … [Listening to music outside rap and hip hop] opens up a whole new world; you start getting into Jazz, getting into blues, and you’re learning about people like Mississippi John Hurt, and I can’t imagine there’d be hip hop artists who wouldn’t love to know about these guys, and they probably do by the way.”

Wilkes’s Veteran Music Industry Advice

When you have beats or songs that you’re enthusiastic about, get them out into the world. Look hard, and you’ll find ways of networking yourself with the musical community around you. Maybe you’ll find yourself a job as a bouncer or bartender, and you can network directly with performers. Maybe you’ll volunteer as a sound man. Most Rap and hip hop artists had humble beginnings; take Yung Joc, who wrote a jingle for Revlon, or Just Blaze who got his start as a recording studio intern. If you’re passionate about producing, take whatever roads are there in front of you. Be unique, be yourself, show the world.

Wilkes concludes that “music is music. All music is either great music, or it’s not great. It could be hip hop, it could be classical, it could be singer/songwriter, it could be jazz. If an artist is great, [they’re] unique and idiosyncratic, so they’re recognizable and they have something to unique to say. You can go back to any of the hip hop artists that are very successful [and see that] they all have something to say that people want to hear… or they said something that people want to hear, and have heard, but they say it in a more unique way, and they have to have some artistic quality to them…” Whatever you do, says Wilkes: “make it your own, and have something to say.”

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Right Round Chords - Chord Map Preview

The chord progression in Right Round is, of course, the same progression used by Dead or Alive in “You Spin Me Right Round.” The chord progression is A minor, C major, G major, A minor, D major, G major (or in scale degrees: i, III, VII, i, IV, VII). This progression begins like many typical rock progressions: first starting with a minor chord, and ascending to the relative major, eventually landing on the major sub-dominant (IV; in this case D). Above in the chord map preview, we’ve shown a small section of the full chord map. It shows the correct left-hand finger positions for the triad versions of the chords that occur in the hooks and verses: A minor, C major, G major, D major. The full Chord Progression Map illustrates 12 chord patterns for both left and right hands, including the crafty key change and diminished 7th chord resolution at the end of the bridge. Studying chord progressions, and how those progressions change during the course of a song, is an invaluable exercise if you want to compose and arrange: and if you’re a producer, you’d better know how to compose and arrange.

Right Round Synths - Resonant Synth Production

In our full report, we supply detailed instructions on many of Right Round’s synth sounds. This particular effect, what we’ve termed the “resonant zap”, is a distinctive 80’s-style analog synth effect created by filter resonance. In Right Round, this effect occurs in the middle of the verses and during the bridge: a quick syncopated effect that alternates between the left and right channels. Here’s how that sound is accomplished:

1. Filter Resonance and Filter Envelope

At left is the initial filter frequency and envelope sections of the Way Out Ware TimewARP 2600. Programming synth patches using the Arp 2600 is one of the best ways to learn synth sound design. The GUI at left shows a virtual recreation of the original control surface. By dragging virtual cables from input to output, you can route the synth’s modules just like you would route hardware components. Fortunately, the technique we’re explaining is much simpler. Here we’ll look at how the filter resonance and envelope can create a the zap effect we refer to.

Most synths begin with oscillators which in turn route through filter and modulation sections. Setting your oscillator to produce noise (or something close to noise) is how to begin recreating the type of zap heard in Right Round. But the oscillator isn’t as important as the filter. That’s because the tonal character of a resonant zap like this one depends mainly on the filter and ADSR settings. If you have a choice of filter type, select bandpass or lowpass. Setting the filter frequency within the range of 300Hz to 1kHz is ideal. The filter resonance should be set reasonably high: above, it’s at maximum. Finally, setting all of your synth’s ASDR sliders to minimum values while leaving a short decay like in the above illustration will yield a tight filter and amp envelope, modulating the filter and creating the characteristic “tchip.”

2. Reason Rex Filter Resonance

If your workstation of choice is Reason, many of Reason’s instruments contain filter resonance settings. Reason’s Dr. Rex player, pictured at left, has a particularly colorful filter resonance. The Dr.Rex player plays “rx” files: wave files cut into sections for the purpose of slice-by-slice processing. If you’re using a Rex file like the one at left, with many percussive transients, making a zap is dead easy. In the filter section at left, we’ve set the filter to a high-resonance lowpass setting. We’ve softened the attack, and the decay is still short. The result should sound whip-like. This, combined with the ability to swap rhythms, and pan individual slices, makes the Dr. Rex another perfect tool for this job.

Right Round In-Depth - The Full Downloadable Report

Right Round’s strengths are its ability to pack the dance floor, and its modernized recreation of 80’s-style synth production. The bounce of the beat is fueled by a carefully-arranged, triplet-based dance rhythm that we’ve explained in careful detail in our full report. In addition to an in-depth focus on synth production, our dissection of Right Round has many a lesson to teach for aspiring music producers. Though critics have coughed up mixed reviews, the dance floor has spoken. Dr. Luke’s tantalizing assemblage of diabolical synth sounds and pounding urban rhythm has become an unstoppable juggernaut heard in nightclubs around the world. Below, our full hit report shows exactly how Right Round dominates the dance floor.

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	Right Round Song Format Map! (View All) Right Round Frequency Separation Map! (View All) Right Round Song Arrangement Map! (View All) Right Round Melody Map! (View All) Right Round Chord Progression Map! (View All) Right Round Track Detail Map! (View All) Right Round Song Arrangement Step-by-Step Report! Right Round Vocal Production Step-by-Step Report! Right Round Transient Synth Step-by-Step Report! Right Round Bass Production Report! Right Round Claps Production Step-by-Step Report! Right Round Music Production with Propellerhead Reason! Right Round Music Production with Sony Acid! Right Round Keyboard Technique Reports! Right Round Production with Rob Papen Subboombass! Super Bonus: VIPKIT#22, 105 Samples, $30 value!  Instant Download $14.95
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Duplicate Your Sample

In many of Timbaland’s tracks you will hear samples that Timbaland recorded, then tweaked to a perfect stereo image in his ASR-10 or in a sequencer. Take, for example, some of the background tracks in “Bounce”. This is a very easy technique to perform in an ASR-10, but it’s even easier in a DAW like Ableton Live. At left, In Ableton Live, is a mono recording we made of a few unrehearsed notes on the guitar. In Ableton Live, you can copy a sample clip easily by using “CTRL+left click” and then dragging the file to the next track. If your DAW doesn’t allow this action, most likely it allows you to copy and paste. So, copy and paste your mono sample clip into a new track, and synchronize it with the original clip.

Pan Your Tracks

Once you have two identical mono tracks, the next step is to pan your two tracks to opposite sides of the stereo field. At left, in Live’s mixer view, you can see that we’ve panned track 1 all the way to the left, and track 2 all the way to the right. To get to Live’s mixer view, all you need to do his hit the “tab” key, which toggles between mixer and sequencer views. By creating two identical mono tracks - one panned hard-left, and one panned hard-right - essentially we’ve created a stereo track out of two mono tracks. But, in contrast with recording a single stereo track, the action of panning two mono tracks has the massive advantage of being able to change one side of the stereo image independently of the other side.

Create Your Stereo Image

Now, you’re ready for the final step. At left, we’ve zoomed to an extreme close-up of the very beginning of the sample clips, which start at beat 1:3 on the timeline, or the third quarter note of the first bar. From here, the process is easy. Simply click on either clip and offset the sample’s timing by dragging it forward (to the right, graphically) by a range of 15 to 60 milliseconds in time. As you shift the clip from smaller millisecond values to larger, listen closely how the stereo image changes. The greater distance apart the start of each clip becomes, the wider your stereo image. It’s as simple as that.

Create Your Own Sound

This method of creating a stereo image out of 2 mono samples is a particularly strong, yet flexible method. Not only is it fast and easy, but it can be done with any mixing software; Cubase, Audacity, Logic, you name it. Another advantage to this widening method is the independence you create by turning 1 sample signal into

2 independent samples, left and right. It’s this independence, between left and right, that makes this technique such fertile ground for experimentation. Here’s why: routing a mono sample through a stereo delay or chorus restricts you to using the same effects for both left and right. The pre-mix, sample-copying method we explain above gives you the control to treat each channel with its own set of effects processing, dynamics processing, or synthesis as desired. 

If you enjoy Timbaland’s production style, and you want to push new frontiers just like he does, this technique is a sure bet. By processing each channel - i.e., each side of the stereo field - with unique effects, you can treat the listener’s brain to a new sonic goodies it has never tasted before. For example, what happens when you process one side of the stereo image with an overdrive, and the other with a subtle phase effect? The same sample is playing in either ear, but it has a different timbre in the right ear than it does in the left, lending not only depth, but also shape to the stereo field. Overdrive/phase was our arbitrary suggestion, but by now, your imagination should be generating plenty of its own possibilities. For now, we’ll leave you to experiment. Keep the beats rollin’ and the sequencer scrollin’.*

*When experimenting with the stereo image like this, don’t forget to check for frequency conflicts, interference, or canceling by summing your song to mono. This is a prudent step in every production, but it becomes especially important with experimental stereo production because the risk of conflicts/cancellation is greater.

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