Location

Currently, Shakhov produces Hip-Hop, R&B, and pop music in Los Angeles, CA. He produces several promising artists with his own production company, Eugene Shakhov Productions, (www.eugeneshakhov.com). Collaborations Shakhov is most proud of include Genius, The Trade, Smooth Walking Androids, Chill EB, Taylor Faust, and many others.

An Early Start

Originally from Russia, Shakhov became a musician at the age of six when he learned how to play the button-accordion “it’s more hardcore than you think,” says Shahkov.

He entered music school at age seven, and music college at just 16 where he discovered his passion for orchestration & scoring. Then it was on to Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (the Russian equivalent of Julliard) at age 19, where he immersed himself in nothing but scoring for numerous ensembles and orchestras for four straight years. Though Shakhov won numerous awards for his scoring, and was praised as one of the brightest musicians/orchestrators at the school, he still felt like something was missing.

Influences

Lured by the prospect of becoming a successful music producer, and having accumulated a sizable raft of musical credentials, Shakhov moved to LA to produce the kind of music he enjoyed most. His first and most important influence is Michael Jackson. Jackson’s music impressed him even during childhood. “Michael was making this world a better place simply by projecting his inspiring and uplifting messages and by having the top, top, top quality productions.” That greatly affected Shakhov’s opinion of how music should be presented to listeners. The energy and quality of Jackson’s music remains one of Shakhov’s guideposts.

Another prominent influence that came later was Earth, Wind, and Fire. “Their brass, strings and song arrangements as well as their performance quality particularly struck me and made him aware of many other aspects of proper song productions.” Shakhov said.

Naturally, Shakhov is influenced by classical music “Peter Tchaikovsky is one of mygreatest classical influences, along with Benjamin Britten and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov.”

Dr. Dre’s 2001 album was a great inspiration to Shakhov; the singular reason he fell in love with hip-hop. “To this day, I still refer to that album and its quality of production as a turning point in my career.”

Finally, Shakhov is grateful to be influenced by each and every artist he meets along his journey. “Their visions inspire me in many ways, always teach me something new and urging me to continue on my mission of producing music.”

Musical Strengths:

According to Shakhov, his strength as a producer comes from striving to understand an artist’s concept for a particular track. A producer’s job is understand the artist’s intention and deliver production that reinforces that intention. “It is also extremely important to me that I never make an artist feel that their music or ideas are “wrong.” It’s all about how to create a song that is “right!” I’m absolutely certain that ‘artists are the ones who create future’ with their work, and I’m here to help them succeed.”

He also places a high emphasis on vocal production. A song “… can be delivered in many ways, but there is usually just the right way for a particular song to work perfectly.” Like all conscientious professional producers, Shakhov might put in several days of work on vocals alone to get the best take.

He is proudly versatile. His focus is hip hop, R&B and pop music, but he has produced punk, country, & jive, he has written music for documentaries, audio books, commercials, and he can even score a symphony for a 100-piece orchestra.

Video:

One of Eugene Shakhov’s latest music production projects is The Trade’s “Alien Love.”

To find out more about Eugene Shakhov you can visit: www.EugeneShakhov.com

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Musical experiences

I’ve taken part in the biggest Polish music festivals like Top Trendy, Vena Festival and the Sopot festival, I’ve released album with my band Deamland and some singles for Polish artists, and I’ve performed hundreds of concerts as a keyboard player.

Inspiration

I’m inspired by good music and good art: Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Michael Jackson, Herbie Hancock, Michel Petrucciani, Sting, Phil Collins, Modigliani, Picasso, Charles Bukowski, Andy Warhol, Al Pacino, Libertango, people, cities, everything.

Current Projects

In 2009, we opened Jack&John Entertainment (jjent.org) which is a music project, foundation, and recording/production studio.

On Being a Keyboardist in Poland

There’s RnB music in Polish TV and Radio, but this kind of music
is not natural for Poland. In this country, it’s hard to find a black singer
to work with. But musicians love to play this kind of music
and we do some good RnB production here. Anyway, when a Polish
RnB band goes out into the media, it’s a big success.

On Recording in English

You know, the music market is very open now. Its easy to send music everywhere.
English is the most international language now, so I decided to record my
songs this way. I’m working also on my song repertoire and English is the
best for that.

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Upload Your Beats to FM! Play Drop »		(Upload Your Beats)

Hit Talk: It really looks like you’re near the point of full-fledged stardom and success. You guys have toured with Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Pitbull, Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga; the list goes on and on. So… how does all that feel?

Kev Nish: To hear you say that, it feels pretty crazy to us. It feels still like we’ve just started, which we have, and we’ve been doing this for a few years now. But ever since we joined up with Cherry Tree/Interscope it feels like starting from day one of our careers. And it’s exciting for us, it’s exciting times!

Hit Talk: You’ve been together what about seven years total, right? How much of that has involved the big whirlwind of collaborations and tours?

Kev Nish: You know, it’s been the majority of the years… When we first learned how to record, we always had help from our community. Our first big break, we consider, was a song that we got placed in 2006 for a movie called “Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift” and then, through that, we met the director who connected us to some great TV publishing companies, and they helped get us songs on shows like CSI. Every year there was one thing that opened the door to the next. To this point, we always like to say, the whole reason we got signed was thanks to the great people around us. So everyone must shine, and if we’re shining, it’s really the hard work of a great team and a great community.

HT: So all those first opportunities, all those TV placements, you got those by networking with people who supported you.

KN: Totally, we were going to industry events in Hollywood, having meetings with different placement people.

HT: How did you go about networking with all these people?

KN: We would go to any industry event, function, mixer, that we heard of around Los Angeles. Any type of Hip Hop club, we would go to all the clubs in hollywood and meet all the DJs. And through that collecting numbers, just like anyone else in the game does, and following through. One of our members Prohgress – we like to consider him our in-home management – he’ll go out and meet with people. We meet as many people as we can, and we embrace that. That’s kind of the beauty of living in LA: the access to people is one phone call away or one club away.

Even before that, when we interned, we would literally call the number in the phone book – that’s when the yellow pages was actually a viable source – we called Interscope and met with the human resources and got ourselves an internship. Through that, we were able to meet Greg Miller, and we actually interned for Greg which is kinda crazy, [because] now he’s our publicist. So, we met people just by interning there. Every day someone new would come through the Interscope office.

HT: And that was just through the yellow pages. So, two of you were Interscope interns, then suddenly you’ve signed a record deal and you get picked by Lady Gaga for the Monster’s Ball tour - how did that all transpire?

KN: We met producers at the internship who were working in the A&R department. [We met a producer named] Jon Yip from a crew called The Stereo Types, and we kept friends with them. They were doing big things, and we never wanna bug someone for beats, so we kinda just kept doing our thing.

Then, we brought DJ Virman into the group around 2007, who we met through random mutual friends. And when DJ Virman got in the group he helped give us a perspective on what we needed to do to get our first song on radio. So when we finally got our first song on radio is when The Stereo Types, who we’d known for a while, we finally started getting their attention. They’re like “Wow. These kids got a song on the radio with no label, no nothin’. Let’s work with them.”

That really spawned into the creation of “Girls on the Dance Floor” which we would like to say is our first break out song; it hit top five in LA, it got us to open for Jay-Z and a bunch of other people

HT: And that’s a solid joint too man, I like that song.

KN: Thank you, man. Thanks for knowing the music, man, I appreciate that. It’s refreshing… So what happened was a lot of labels started calling us “we wanna meet, we wanna meet” Interscope really took the time to sit down and meet and go over all the music, and they said “We like the sound, we like what’s goin’ on here.” We ended up getting an invitation through Martin Kierszenbaum, who is the head of Cherry Tree Records, to Jimmy Iveen’s house, and from there they asked us with the Stereo Types together as a team, they said “we like what you guys are doing, let’s do this.” And we said “we would love to.” So it turned into getting signed to Cherry Tree as an artist.

HT: So that helped out Stereo Types as well as you guys, that partnership?

KN: Definitely, I mean, we work with a bunch of other producers as well, but they have a majority of the production on our album.

HT: And then quite quickly you were touring with Lady Gaga. You toured with her on Monster’s Ball, and then you toured with the Neptunes. So what are some of the highlights of those tours? Did you guys get to hang out with Lady Gaga or the Neptunes?

KN: We did. We actually did, and that was weird because we had heard that, as openers, you never really get to meet the artist; they don’t even see your show. But luckily, the head of Cherry Tree is amazing, and he’s really personal with all of his artists so he made sure to put in a few good words to Gaga. So, she actually invited us to come hang out with her in her recording studio and you know just talked, you know, talked about music. And that was so cool because we’re so new in the game - to actually meet her and vibe out was a big deal.

The whole tour itself was really inspiring because she puts so much into her show. She sings “out” which means she sings full force for two hours straight, she doesn’t even budge. The theatrics, the set, the whole show, it was just next-level, so that really inspired us [and showed us] – being serious in the music industry, and being with Interscope/Cherry Tree – how far we have to really go and push to get to that level one day, hopefully.

HT: It looks like probably you’re on your way there. “Like a G6″ that’s perhaps your biggest song now. Could you tell us a bit about what went into that song, working with Cataracs?

KN: Definitely. We heard about The Cataracs through DJ J Espinoza; he’s big on a station [in San Francisco] called Wild. He told us “You’ve gotta check out these guys, the Cataracs, they’re shooting a video.” Well, we missed the video shoot, but I ended up searching up their music and we thought “Yo these guys are kinda cool, let’s meet up with them and connect.” So we met up and went to their house, it’s like the back of this pool house. They had a few tracks, they showed us a few tracks, and we’re like “Nah we’re not feelin’ that, that’s not our direction.” But… we got a little bit of time, we’re at a pool house, we’re gettin’ slizzard. Let’s make a song from scratch. And they’re down with that, you know, they’re real musicians. They’re true to this Nu Skool stuff, and talented. We got in, they started playin’ us some sounds.

We produce as well, so we gave them a bit of feedback on what we wanted. All of a sudden, Niles who’s the producer for the group came up with this amazing bass progression, it was just off the hook, so it stuck with it. We linked up with Dev who sung the hook, it just kinda spawned into this really wild party song. People ask us “what’s you’re inspiration?” and it’s just partying in a pool house, and in the club of course, DJs are a huge inspiration to us.

HT: It’s a great video, too, man, that’s a good look. Is it the Pontiac G6 you’re talking about, or what exactly is the G6?

KN: It’s actually not. People say that “yo is that a G6 Pontiac?” I’m glad that people are asking and wondering about it. It’s actually a private jet, but at the time we made the song, there was a G4 out and there was a G5, so we all thought “yo, what’s the next level of fly? If you’re that fly, then you’re a G6; you’re a private jet that ain’t even released yet.” And now we hear that Gulfstream put out a Gulfstream 650, which would be a G6.

HT: This question for J-Splif: You had a nine to five job when you guys were starting out, with a two hour commute, and you were doing production and recording until three in the morning. How did you manage?

J-Splif: Oh man. Lots of coffee, lots of caffeine and Red Bull… It was all worth it though you know … and now we get to talk about it.

HT: So now that your music is getting a bit more traction, are you still on an insane schedule, or have you been able to relax a little bit?

J-Splif: Our schedule is still pretty crazy. We get to relax on long flights, but we’re constantly on the move. I speak for the rest of the guys when [I say] sleep is not our friend. We might as well do it while we’re able to.

HT: One of your biggest hits was Girls on the Dancefloor, which has some pretty stellar production. And you recorded that in a bedroom?

JS: Yeah, we wrote it, and in about a couple of hours, laced it. And then it was on the radio in a couple of days. As soon as we heard the beat and everything, everyone in the room was just vibin’, and out came the song. You can’t go wrong with girls.

HT: [Laughs] Definitely not. So how did you guys put together such a successful song so quickly. Was it just that the stars were aligned?

JS: It was one of those, yeah, where the stars were aligned. The vibe was right, the beat was dope, and .. we were all on the same page. So with a little help, with a little juice, we just kinda got through it, and the next thing you know we had a hit on our hands.

HT: You guys are from California. You’re southeast Asian descent, Korean descent right?

JS: A couple of us are Korean, Kev’s actually half Chinese, half Japanese, and Virman is Philipino. We’re coverin’ all bases.

HT: So, being from Cali, and given your origins, are you inspired at all by the rapper Lyrics Born?

JS: Lyrics Born, yes. He’s a good mentor to us. We’re actually fans of his.

HT: Lyrics is a great emcee, and he’s got an accessible style, he’s been around for a while, and you four are new, yet well into the mainstream. Why do you suppose Lyrics hasn’t caught on as much?

JS: Let me ask the guys and see if we can come up with the best answer for that.

KN: From our perspective, we’re such fans of his, we really feel like he has caught on … We would pay good money to go see him at festivals playing in front of a 25,000 person crowd. That’s something that, with all due respect, tells us he has made it.

HT: He has. But, at the same time, he doesn’t have quite the pop appeal, he’s a bit more underground.

KN: No, you’re definitely right about that. I guess he’s very successful in the lane that he wants to be. I mean, he’s tried switching up his style, but after talking to him and knowing him as an artist.. his sound… that’s just the sound that he loves to do… I’d love to hear him on the radio, don’t get me wrong. I would love to turn on the radio station and hear a Lyrics Born record.

HT: So you have had a chance to talk to him. When was that?

KN: Yeah, we met around two years ago through the assistant producer that was on “The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift”. He brought us to a show. We were already fans of his, and then we went out to eat dinner with him, and then every time he came to L.A., he would hit us up, and we would just grab dinner or party at a friends house. He invited us backstage. We actually got backstage with him when he performed at Jimmy Kimmel. That was crazy … we were literally in the front row when he was performing… For him to invite us out, and get backstage and then be in the front row… it was just ridiculous.

HT: So yo, is DJ Virman in the back with you?

KN: Actually DJ Virman is at the power 106 station. He couldn’t make it, but here’s Prohgress if you want to talk to Pro.

HT: How’s it goin’ Prohgress?

Prohgress: Man. Sorry about that, I was driving the whole time…

HT: No Problem. So, when you started out, before you were joined by DJ Virman, your first show was a charity for a local rehab center. Are you guys taking some of that positive vibe along with you?

Prohgress: Oh absolutely man. That first show… my dad’s actually been working with that particular charity for quite a while. We have a lot of friends actually who have gotten a lot of help from there. That was something we wanted to help, because it’s part of an ethnic enclave which doesn’t get a lot of government funding. So we wanted do what we could to help support that.

We continue to try to do that. Right now we actually support a non-profit organization called 4C the power. And it’s an educational project where a lot of artists will go into schools and do little after-school sessions where we teach them that learning can be fun. And the way we do that is that we break down music, whether some of them will be visual artists, some will be poets some will be DJs. We teach them how to write a song, but do it in a curriculum-based way, where [we show] how to pick the beat, how to come up with a hook that’s kind of decent, and then share it at the end, the last 30 minutes where everyone’s performing in front of each other.

HT: Awesome.

P: We’ve done 15 workshops now throughout the last year and a half. During that time, kids will write back to us how they’re enjoying school a lot more. School superintendents will send over grade progress reports, and a lot of the kids do a lot better. It’s a very rewarding experience. When we were younger we didn’t get as much of that kind of support when it comes to music and art, so that’s something we want to provide… And like Kevin said in the very beginning of the interview, we’re a product of our community, a product of the people that helped us get here, and all we can do is nurture the community and give back whatever we’ve got. I mean we don’t got much, but we give back what we can.

HT: So yo, your upcoming album is your major label debut. You’ve got a lot of major artists on that new album. You’ve actually been in the studio with these guys?

P: Yeah, we’ve got lil’ Jon, Snoop Dog, who’s a huge inspiration for us being from the West Coast especially. And they’ve just been so gracious to jump on our album, perform with us, jump on our videos and things of that sort. So a lot of cool music and we can’t wait to release it … and start getting some feedback.

HT: So Lil’ Jon and Snoop obviously have a lot of faith in what you’re doing. These songs on your upcoming album, do you think these are going to be your biggest songs yet?

P: I should hope so. We’ve spent a lot of time working on these songs. We’ve learned a lot throughout the years about different tricks of the trade. We’re really trying to apply [all those lessons] all at once, and the fact that we’re3 blessed to be working with all these great producers also ensure that we have a lot of great production on it. So you know, hopefully this turns out to be the best one, but you know we’ll see. Everyone’s got a different take.

HT: So is there anything else you or the rest of the band want to let everyone know?

KN: Ah, no no, we’re good man. Just, appreciate you, man. Thank you all, thank you ModernBeats.

HT: It’s our pleasure. We’re excited to see where you guys will end up.

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Madonna may have passed the torch of divahood to Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, but it seems Lady Gaga has stolen it for herself. Of all the Pop Divas who approach Madonna’s goddess-like stature, it’s the omnipresent Lady Gaga who now holds the whole world in her thrall. GaGa has established her fame quickly and efficiently. Songs like “Just Dance,” “Love Game,” “Poker Face,” “Bad Romance,” – all produced by Nadir Khayat, a.k.a. Red One – are known around the world. Lady Gaga’s talent, and her racy avant-garde style, combine with Red One’s incendiary instrumentals to create the volatile fuel that propels her rocket-like ascent to fame. In this downloadable Hit Report, we provide insight on Red One’s iconic synth/drum production (synth/drum audio tutorial included in full report), industrial melodies, song arrangement, chord progressions, and many subtler lessons you won’t find anywhere else but at Hit Talk.

Bad Romance – Drum Production and Audio

In each Bad Romance verse, the drum production contributes notably to the overall song’s groove and marching feel. Mainly the kick and snare pattern with slapback reflection, which we emulated in our audio tutorial using layered kick and snare samples, and more. In the image at right, you can see the whole drum arrangement during the song’s verse. (Click image to enlarge.) The kick occurs every count of the beat layering against the snare on the backbeat. The snare is processed with a 1/8th note delay, plus a bit of sample trickery, to create a slapback motion. Those two techniques – explained in particular detail inside the full hit report offered below – enhance the song’s groove and rhythm by adding a more syncopated snare reflection to each 8th note after the back-beat.

Here’s is our full mix re-creation of Bad Romance’s verse drum production: Bad Romance - Drum Production Audio Example. By downloading the full report and studying our complete lesson in drum production, you’ll learn how that beat can be built with included MIDI and WAV drum loop files. Plus, in the full report, we explain both Bad Romance’s drum arrangement and big verse synth sounds with step-by-step audio examples. Examine the drum arrangement as it’s shown above in the screen capture from the final mix down to get an idea of how each layer of percussion is tracked separately.

Bad Romance – Vocals and Overall Song Mix

In the Bad Romance mix, and in any mix, the vocals are center-stage and they’re supported by numerous backup vocal tracks. There’s as much creative leeway to mixing vocals as there is to composing a melody, hence every mix is unique. However, there are a few rough and ready guidelines for producers who are still just learning. Since many of Hit Talk’s readers still ask about mixing and creating good solid vocal takes, here is a bit of simple mixing advice that we expand upon in the full hit report (and also in the “What You Know” hit report)

1 – Highpass Unneeded Bass Frequencies. In the above diagram, there are four vocal channels and two synth channels. Vocals 01 represents the lead vocal. In the FL Studio mixer, you have an equalizer section on the right-hand side of the mixer display for every channel. There, you can see how we’ve highpassed the vocals at 80Hz, taking away any rumble from the recording. Most good condenser mics have a switch that does the same thing. You’ll want to do this to every vocal channel.

2 – Apply Reverb and Delay Sparingly. Above, we’ve used FL Studios Reeverb 2. In the top left corner of the reverb section, the dry signal is full, and the wet signal is nominal. The Reeverb 2 models acoustic spaces, so there’s a size and a diffusion knob. For softer reverbs of the sort that sound good over vocals, it’s good to use a higher diffusion, resulting in a smoother sound with less conspicuous reflections. For this particular reverb, we’ve used a larger room size. The decay (dec) and dampening (damp) are both set to smaller values which will ensure that the reverb tail doesn’t drag on and on swamping the vocals. It’s a bad habit among beginning producers and independent musicians who produce their own music to drench the vocals in reverb. But too much reverb is like too much perfume. Conservative settings like the ones we’ve used above, will provide you with a spacious, yet controlled reverb effect that doesn’t distract from the original vocal performance.

3 – Make Room in the Mix. This lesson applies to all mixing. Carve out the frequencies of your other instruments to make room for each other, but in particular (unless your singer is terrible) make sure the voice has lots of room to breathe. That means take the instruments that compete with the vocal track and move them to the sides, carve out the frequencies that compete with the vocals using equalization and filtration. We’ve already explained this in the frequency map commentary. The biggest reason we insist on providing a frequency map with every report is to underline the need for producers to filter. If you study the distribution of the yellow curves in the frequency map above, you’ll see that the lead vocals have lots of room to shine between 200Hz and 4kHz, putting the spotlight right where it should be, on Lady Gaga.

Bad Romance – Mix and Frequency Separation

We’ve changed the Frequency Separation Map since our last report, to make it more in-depth and informative. The gray bars represent the range of frequencies taken up by an instrument, the red sections are the range of notes fundamental notes played that instrument in the song, and – most importantly – the yellow curves show the location of the strongest frequencies per instrument.

The entire Bad Romance arrangement is synthesizer-based. Whether or not Red One consciously chose a synth-only arrangement, it works. The thick bed of saw synth pads and leads gives the song a sense of over-indulgence that jives with Gaga’s lyrics and vocals, and allows creative video producers plenty of latitude to establish controversial themes that match the mood of the song.

Bad Romance - Production Style

One of the best lessons to take from Red One’s style in Bad Romance is that of strength and simplicity. As eloquently illustrated in Bad Romance, opt for the strongest melodies you can muster and set them against an uncomplicated, yet well-thought-out bed of production. That’s how true hits with international appeal are made. Bad Romance, which exploded to the very tops of nearly every chart around the world (except for Japan and Brazil, where it still managed to reach the top 10), is plenty of evidence that this strategy works brilliantly. In our full downloadable hit report, using examples drawn from Reason 4 and FL Studio, we reveal several more techniques that can help you toward a hard driving dance-pop production style like Red One’s.

Order the “Bad Romance” Hit Report & Get it all…
	Bad Romance Drum Production Audio Tutorial! (Play MP3) Bad Romance Song Format Map! (View All) Bad Romance Chord Progression Map! (View All) Bad Romance Frequency Separation Map! (View All) Bad Romance Song Arrangement Map! (View All) Bad Romance Melody Map! (View All) Bad Romance - Detailed Audio Examples & Screenshots Bad Romance - Step-by-Step Drum Production Report! Bad Romance - Song Arrangement Step-by-Step Report! Bad Romance - Synth Sound Design Report! Bad Romance - Music Production with Fruity Loops! Bad Romance - Production Instruction with Reason 4! Bad Romance - Mastering and Equalization Report! Bad Romance - Chord Progression report! Bonus 1: Free VIPKIT#25, 105 Samples, $30 value! Bonus 2: Bad Romance MIDI & WAV Drum Loops, $25 value! Bonus 3: Bad Romance Reason 4 Synthesizer Presets, $20 value! Instant Download $14.95
Enhance Your Music Production Skills Today!

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Upload Your Music to Wayne Wilkins! Play Drop »		(Upload Songs)

Hit Talk: Your production on Battlefield and Sweet Dreams is great. It must be extremely rewarding to see songs that you’ve both written and produced taking off and becoming huge hits.

Wayne Wilkins: Oh yeah, that’s one of the best feelings when you’re driving in your car and your song comes on the radio. Along my journey into work, I’m lucky enough to have my convertible, so when I’ve got the roof down in the car, and my song comes on, and I’m driving along the beach… that’s like being in a movie, basically. I have to kind of check myself a bit when that happens. That’s one of the most amazing feelings.

Hit Talk: Having both written and produced so many songs, you have a lot of your own creativity invested in them, does part of you want to be the one performing them?

Wayne Wilkins: Oh for me, I’m more than happy to be the guy making the song and the music behind the scenes. It’s never been an ambition of mine to be on stage performing stuff. What I absolutely love about what I do is that when you’re involved in both the writing and the producing, you can actually make sure the song gets all the way there. And obviously being able to produce the records as well as write them means that you can ensure the song is a hit. And that’s one of the most rewarding things… when you hit on a great concept and you hear it sung for the first time and you know there’s a great idea there, then to take it further and make it into a hit, there’s a lot of work between the start and the end, you know you’ve just gotta keep on going and improving the song and improving the production until it gets all the way there. There’s a lot of work involved, but it’s amazing to be able to do that process and make sure the song ends up exactly how you [want] it. And that’s one of the most important things to me, you know, I don’t really produce other people’s songs … because of that thought process. When you get the initial vibe, and you’ve got a vision for what the song’s going to be, you can make sure you see it all the way there.

HT: And you’re still getting well-paid.

WW: Yea Yea, and you know what? the thing with producing… the way the music industry is now, it’s a real advantage to be able to get paid for your work, but the most important thing is getting the copyright out there because any amount of money that any of us get paid to make a record kind of pales in significance to when a song’s a big hit. So I’ve always got my mind set on the bigger picture. As opposed to “what am I getting paid now to write this record?” it’s more like “let’s get the best song we can possibly get,” and if you do a great song, you get rewarded for it after the fact.

HT: And how many hours would you put into taking the song all the way there, as you say?

WW: Oh my goodness, a long long time. Here’s what it is, this is just my personal experience: in a month I might do anything between 8 and 10 songs… and there might be one or two of those songs that I think are great, and worth taking to a point where you can send those records out. Because what I find, for me, it’s much better to do one amazing record than to try and output ten records that are all of an average quality, or a good quality. You need to find the records that are the magic ones, the ones that have that something extra special in there.

HT: And then pouring your energy into those ones.

WW: Exactly, So on one song, I will never spend less than five days on it, but sometimes it might turn into two weeks because I’ll want to make sure the vocal is exactly the right way and then I’ll get great demos of the records I really believe in. I’ll make sure that the demos are, you know, amazing. So I’ll work really hard on the vocal production as well as how the harmonies go together, as well as the track and beat.

So everything has to work together, and then once you’ve done that, there’s probably about another two or three days if you’ve got a great singer that ends up doing it, like an artist… someone like Natasha Bedingfield that I work with. She’s such an amazing singer that the actual recording process is really enjoyable and is faster than most artists … because she’s so incredible. But there’s still the work that goes in after you’ve done the demo to make sure that the artist has given the right performance. You work through all that stuff with them. It’s a very big job to get a world class sounding record out… in my experience.

HT: Speaking of your experience, you’ve been a pop music fan pretty much all your life.

WW: Well I actually started out doing classical music, funnily enough.

HT: That’s right, you were a classically trained… and then when you were a bit older you got interested in pop music.

WW: Yeah, you know I always listened to the radio, and I was learning about how music was put together. [I was copying] how people did pop and RnB production. I’d be listening to the radio and copying that stuff, but I started off in the classical world, and doing more film score kind of vibe. Then I kind of fell into songwriting in my 20s.

HT: On that topic… that’s kind of what we do at Hit Talk, we teach how hit songs are put together. You’ve had that classical background, do you think that was necessary for you to be able to copy those pop songs?

WW: Here’s what it is, in my experience. There’s two skills that you can have as a musician. You can be a classically trained musician where you’re playing your interpretation of someone else’s work. So you’ll be looking at music and you’ll be looking at the notes, and you’ll be saying “This is how this piece of music sounds”; you do your interpretation. That’s one skill set, the other skill set is to be able to listen to stuff and actually be able to play by ear, and in terms of doing pop music and songwriting, it’s more that side of your brain you need to be using.

HT: And not everyone has that.

WW: Yeah, it’s actually amazing; there’s proficient classical musicians that you might hear playing, but if you took the music away from them and said “right, now just make something up, or improvise something,” a lot of those musicians would then find themselves very unsure of what’s going to come next. Whereas you might take someone who’s never had any training in their life, and they can just listen to stuff and say “oh yeah, that sounds like this, and you do this, and that’s this chord progression here” That’s a whole different skill set and obviously in terms of writing hit songs and being creative and writing your own music, that’s more the skillset that you need.

So to answer your question, it really helps me to have that kind of formal training, but I’m one of the lucky ones that can actually switch that off … but it’s definitely not an essential skill to be a classical musician, or to have that training. It’s just nice to have that. If I need to I can always fall back on that. If I go and record a string session, I can converse with those musicians in that way if I need to.

HT: So, after your education, you started working with Mark “Spike” Stent at EMI on projects for Madonna and U2. Was there a moment working with Spike when you thought “holy hell, look at the people I’m working with!”?

WW: Oh yeah, that was an amazing experience for me, because … what would happen there is Spike - who’s a really close friend of mine now, we work on a lot of things together - he would be getting multi-tracks of bands and you’d see how all the records of all the top artists in the world were put together. I’d be seeing multi-tracks from Prince to Timbaland to Oasis to No Doubt. That’s really when I learned about music production. Obviously being able to work with someone who’s an amazing mix engineer, as well as a producer, taught me a lot of stuff. That’s probably one of the most valuable experiences I’ve had I think.

HT: What do you think was the most important lesson you learned from that experience working with Spike at EMI?

WW: Here’s what it is:

When you do a record, the vibe of the record and the vibe of the music - in terms of mixing and getting the sound of the record - the actual vibe of what’s going on is far more important than it being technically perfect. The most important thing is how the music affects you, as opposed to thinking “where do I want that piano sound to come in?” So it’s more the feeling of the music and actually the way the sound impacts you. That’s in terms of the mixing front.

In terms of actually putting a record together, you want to use not too many sounds. You want to get exactly the right sounds for the job that you want to achieve. So rather than trying to build up a sound from loads and loads of different soruces, you try to source a drum or source a sample, and you try to find exactly the right sound. So what it means is every sound is focussed, and every sound is there for a reason. For certain types of records, you could get away with using five or six sounds. That actually makes the record much more powerful than cluttering it up with lots of things.

In terms of the songwriting front, it’s a similar thing. You want to be very clear with what your song is saying, rather than trying to get lots of clever things in there, you know it’s nice to have a few artistic words, but you really want to be clear with what you’re saying and you want the listener to grasp. If you listen to any hit song, generally the biggest hit songs have a very simple thought that runs through them that people can understand and can connect to.

And also in terms of writing songs, you want to try and find concepts that stand out and that make people want to listen. So even from the title of the song, if you can come up with a title that inspires a certain thought or a certain feeling, it makes people engage in that song. Or even, they’ll look down and see the CD cover, and think “I wonder what that song’s about” It’s good to have those kinds of things where everything’s very focussed and clear, as opposed to lots of crazy words and lots of images and all that.

From the last few years that’s what I’ve picked up.

HT: So on all fronts of songwriting, mixing, producing, keep it simple, clear and focussed.

WW: Right … there’s a common thread that goes through there. Here’s a more clear example of that. As a trained musician, when I was younger, I’d know all the inversions of chords, and I’d know how to add notes into chords and make the chords sound beautiful. But … that would steal from what I did on the melody. If you play a chord a certain way, and it’s got lots of notes in it and lots of tensions in it, it doesn’t allow you to go places with the melody.

HT: You’re dividing the listener’s attention…

WW: Yeah, you’re actually getting some of the excitement out of what the chord is, so in terms of songwriting, what you need to be doing is making the melody an amazing thing. So if you played a straight C Major chord, what it allows you to do is actually make the melody amazing over that. So that’s another example. You want to try and keep things … simple. Obviously if you’re doing movie scores, it’s the opposite, you want to try and get some amazing tensions from the music, you know?But … for hit songs, you need to basically play the simple chords that actually allow you to write great melodies, as opposed to playing the complicated chords that tie you down to certain melodies and restrict a singer in a big way.

HT: While we’re on the topic of production skills and principles, you’ve talked in the past about playing the mixer like an instrument. We’re just wondering what specific skills are you referring to?

WW: Out of the interview … what I’d love for people to pick up is that less is more and the simple stuff is the best stuff, and with mixing it’s the same thing. It’s the most important crucial thing, and again this is my opinion, … the best results come from getting great balances.

The first thing is having great sounds on the multitrack. A lot of inexperienced producers, new songwriters, will be going “oh yeah, but it’s going to be fixed in the mix; the mix is going to make it sound amazing.” The truth is this: you’ve gotta have great sounds on the tape. You’re only going to get a world-class sounding record if the sounds on the multitrack are the right sounds and sound amazing already. If you listen to urban records, there’s gotta be sub frequencies in there that actually fill the bottom end. If you’ve just got kick drums and bass that stop above 200Hz, there are little tricks mixers can do to add sub frequencies in there, but it’s never going to be as good.

The second thing is getting the balance. Before you put all the EQs and all the reverbs and delays, you’ve just gotta put the faders up in a certain way where everything is gelling. To me, [the first priority] is the balance and the compression, before you start adding all the reverbs and delays, you know all the tricky stuff. You’ve got to get the simple stuff working properly. Once you’ve built that, you can add all the other stuff in there.

I’m learning every day still from all the brilliant people that I work with. Less is always more. You end up not needing to put all the crazy effects on, you know unless you’re going for a record where it needs to be like that. You end up doing less of all that stuff, and [asking] “right, have I got a great melody, have I got great lyrics, and are the sounds the right sounds?” It makes the mixer’s job really easy. Everything’s in place, and then you just need someone really brilliant to take you that ten percent.

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HT: So, after several years you finally have a firm release date for Statlanta. After all this time, how does it feel to release your debut album?

Stat Quo: Oh you know, it just feels like completing a goal that I set forth years ago, and finally letting the world hear a complete project that I can say is a full album, not just a mix tape. I’m ready to go there and put it out and get the whole Statlanta chapter behind me.

Hit Talk: So all this time what maneuvers were you making, while Statlanta was still in the works? Why did you wait this long?

Stat Quo: Just different situations, you know I switched labels… that was one of the main things, and just learning more about the business.

HT: So you started out on Aftermath, and now you’re with Dream Big Ventures with Sha Money…

SQ: Yeah, me and Sha Money are doin’ a thing together. I have more control over my situation ’cause I’m one of the partners in the company. To be one of the decision-makers is a very important thing to me.

HT: What do you think it was about your style or performance that impressed Aftermath enough to want to sign you?

SQ: I just think I got a very unique and distinct sound, you know, I don’t sound like anybody else. And then at the same time, the wordplay, and the hip hop in it is crazy. So it was just like having somebody from the South that they can actually relate to, and that can kinda relate to the music that they create, and that’s why I think it was such a good marriage, musically.

HT: So they originally heard your music through your Underground Atlanta mixtapes. What kind work goes into making those?

SQ: It’s like a baby album, you know. Kinda like promoting a baby album, except in these cases, I was givin’ them out for free, you know ’cause my theory is when you’re introducing a new product to the marketplace, you can’t try to sell it all the time, you have to make people fans of what you’re doin’ before you sell it.

HT: It must take a lot of effort, were you juggling that with your degree?

SD: I did that actually once I graduated.

HT: Once you graduated, OK… Does part of you regret leaving the world of international business and law behind?

SQ: Nah, ’cause I completed it. I actually graduated, and finished the task. Had I not finished school, it might’ve been different. I was gonna actually go to law school, but I didn’t really get started, I just took my LSAT. I’m the kind of person that likes to complete tasks once I’ve started them. I’ve gotta finish my work.

HT: A lot of people know Kanye for abandoning his degree for rap. Do you think you might be a little further ahead, if you had put down the degree and gotten into the rap game sooner?

HT: What are you working on currently? Statlanta must be all recorded.

SQ: Yeah, Statlanta’s pretty much done. Still working with Dre on The Detox, workin’ with Polo.

HT: And recently you were working with Dre and HP on Dre’s new laptop?

SQ: They let me be a part of the commercial. That was definitely a beautiful thing, to make make my commercial acting debut, I thank Dre for that, that was a good look. HT: Is that something you think you might do more of? SQ: Definitely. I’m gonna switch my name, I think, to Russell Quo. Take the Stat out and put Russell in the front. I wanna be like the Russell Crowe of commercials. If there’s such a thing as winning an Oscar for being in the most commercials, I want to try to do that.

HT: [Laughs] Are you going to have the same attitude as Russell Crowe?

SQ: Yea, it’s a little bit different. It’s gonna be like “Gladiator” meets “Mickey D’s” - commercial star.

HT: Okay, so it having been this long since you started Statlanta, are you worried some of the buzz has dissipated?

SQ: Keep it real wit’ you; I don’t care if it sells two copies. As long as the people who go out and purchase it are satisfied, I don’t really care. I’m not trying to break the sales mark; that’s not what I’m doin’ here, I just wanna make good music for people that I know are going to check for it.

HT: It must have been frustrating, though having to wait for that long - especially since, as you say, you’re someone who has to finish what you start.

SQ: Well, you know it’s like anything you do in life. You’re going to experience some bumps and bruises along the way. But what do you do? do you quit or do you keep on goin’ and pushin’ forward? Because in my situation I have a unique opportunity to go and do things that I love to create income for myself and for my family. That in itself is a beautiful thing, when I wake up in the morning, I get to do something that I love. I get to write music, I get to record music, I get to spend time in the studio, and that’s my job, you know. There’s some people that get up at 5 and 6 in the morning and they’re going to work on some conveyor belt, you know, making sure the “S” is on the Skittles or … the “M” is on the M&Ms, and they’re not happy about it. So I’m gonna go and do my job for them, and take it as seriously as I can ’cause I am satisfied and happy that I get to do something that I love.

HT: Stat, thanks for speaking with Hit Talk. By the way, we got a chance to check out your rant defending Tiger Woods…

SQ: … In America, we go too far, not just America, but we put these entertainers on such a pedestal, like they don’t do normal things and that they don’t make mistakes.

We’re trying to crucify somebody … where they have to go and apologize to the public. Fuck the public, you know what I’m sayin? Fuck ‘em. And yeah, OK, infidelity is wrong if that’s the agreement you all have when you’re married, but we don’t know what their situation is. We don’t know if she’s cool with that, but even if she isn’t, that’s their business. We got him on the fuckin’ press conference talking about he apologize. Well for what? He doesn’t need to apologize to my son, because ain’t my son’s role-model, I’m his role model, and that’s how it needs to be with all these families. We’re letting entertaners and fuckin people raise our kids and that’s what’s wrong with the world. You know, we need to raise our children, we need to be the examples. He needs to apologize to his kids, and that’s none of our business.

HT: Okay, well let’s say you become the Tiger Woods of rap… you are going to be a role model; it’s possible that you’ll find yourself in a similar situation with the media, how would you handle that?

 
SQ: I would tell ‘em all to suck my dick. And I wouldn’t give a fuck what nobody said, you got a problem with it then fuck y’all, I don’t care. I wouldn’t even buy into that shit. The only reason he didn’t do that is because he’s concerned about all his sponors, but … he was thinkin’ it; he wanted to say “Suck my dick.” Cause at the end of the day, guess what: he swings the golf club ridiculously. He is Golf. He’s the only reason people watch it. I haven’t watched golf since he fuckin’ left. Nobody watches that shit unless he’s in it. Even the people that play golf don’t watch golf unless he in it.

It’s the artists that make this shit entertaining. I don’t care what he does, and his personal life, who he’s fuckin’. Hell, grab that club and swing that shit, man, hit that white ball in the hole. Let me worry about my kid, you don’t have to worry about that, Tiger.

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Representing Western Europe

I’m Greek and I live in Lille in northern France since I was a child, at the moment I work at the music production studio of Haris Berberian(www.harisberberian.com), and I often go to Paris in order to follow my studies. We frequently collaborate with singers, guitarists and other musicians. Personally, I work a lot. Sometimes online, with Greek and French artists like Afthentia, Kas, Blessed To, Sheylley, Pockman, Da Prince and some other great artists from France, UK, and Greece.

On Meshing Traditional Music, Modern Style, and Experimentation

I can listen to traditional music, but enjoy US Underground Rap. I have a soft spot for score music, classic music and choirs, especially when all instruments and sounds respond musically to each other. Thanks to my job, I work on a large range of musical styles. At the Berberian’s studio, we mostly focus on cinema and TV music, but sometimes we are lead to collaborate and do things with electro and Pop artists. Furthermore, our studio has also a Sound Design section, where I often find myself working, especially for TV projects. Personnaly, I’m a Rap/RnB producer. Sometimes, I just follow “Charts”, and sometimes I look for something different.

I let my creativity lead the way, with no restraint whatsoever. I piece together various sounds to seduce my ears, and to make me feel a new musical dimension. I just do what I feel in the moment; it opens windows to new ideas. Generally, I do not use samples, I’m not excluing it, but most of the time I compose with Logic Pro.

…Since my childhood, I had the fortune of being surrounded by all different sorts of music. I think that the listening to piano, to bouzouki and even byzantin chants, influenced me to do what I do now. However, my main influences, on the styles in which I work on, are producers like Sulee B Wax, Tefa & Masta, Eric K-Roz, Stoupe, Dj Premier, The Alchemist, Just Blaze, Timbaland, Scott Storch, Dr.Dre, classical composers like Chopin and Listz, film score composers like Enio Moricone, John Williams, Vangelis, Hans Zimmer, Klaus Badelt, Brian Tyler, Joe Hisaishi, Don Davis…

Then there’s my daily environment. I have the chance to meet people with impressive musical experience almost every day thanks to my job. Watching, listening, and reproducing those musicians has helped - and continues to help - me to improve my skills.

Deriving Inspiration abroad

Generally I consider myself a person who like’s to travel a lot and It’s open to all different sort of music genres. This helps me to look beyond what I know, and search for all kinds of inspiration.
At this moment, I’m following Sound Engineering studies in Paris. I’m always willing to learn and acquire more experience. I like to enlarge my musical culture through listening to concertos, watching theatre, travelling, meeting new people, and every single thing that can lead my projects. I really like to create sounds from scratch and sometimes to invent scenarios for my productions.

Presently, I’m preparing some uncommon music projects, with Greek and French artists, which will be out very soon, and I invite everyone to visit my myspace page, so you can listen and give me your impressions. Myspace: www.myspace.com/elemenbeats

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HT: Congratulations on your new release with Fat Joe.

Scoop Deville: Thank you, I appreciate that.

Hit Talk: That’s just ten days old right?

Scoop Deville: Yeah it’s not old, man, it’s been gettin’ a lot of spins. New York is going nuts over it. LA is slowly but surely catching onto it. I heard it on the radio yesterday. Selly played it; I was pretty happy about that.

HT: Are you satisfied with the response?

SD: I’m happy with what it’s doin. A lot of people are happy that some real hip hop feel is back on the radio, you know it’s a good thing for joe. Cool ‘n’ Dre and Fat Joe, we were in the studio for four days straight makin’ records… It was cool to work with them. Cool also is a real dope dude as far as the keys and programming. They’re monsters in the studio. It was all love when we were up there. Everyone was just feelin’ each other’s music.

HT: So how did you end up going from Snoop to producing for Fat Joe, does word just spread?

HT: Even though it’s got a hip hop feel, like you said, “Ha Ha” is definitely fresh and unique. Is it your more creative, more unorthodox beats that get you the most recognition?

SD: I do I feel a lot of the people [recognize that.] You know like when people change music… like when Busta drops a record like “Pass The Courvoisier,” or “Light Ya Ass on Fire,” those are different style records that change time and change someone else’s ear to do things differently. I feel like those artists are gravitating toward what I do.

…I was in the studio with Bone Thugs [when] they were working on a record. It never came out, but just being in the studio with them and with Game, and he’s rappin over the weirdest beats I have, and they’re coming out great, like how I would want them to come out…

HT: Your Father is Kid Frost, hence you grew up around Hip Hop. Is that how you established your connection to the game?

SD: Definitely. it was cool. He always had music equipment available for me. Each year my keyboards would get bigger and bigger. I got to just work on whatever, in the studio with my dad and produce for him and his albums. When I was 16, I did a whole record for him. He pretty much introduced me to the production game, including people. As far as the people too, I got to meet a lot of people. He would tell everyone, My son is the next biggest prroducer out here, you’ve gotta watch out for him.” And I’m like 16 years old, and they said “Oh really? Let’s put his shit on, and see what you got.” I’ve played records for so many people.

When I was 15, I had my first record out with one of my father’s friends, Baby Bash, it was called “Mamacita” It was a huge record. It had an Isely brothers sample… That was the first record I did that was on a big level.

HT: So do you think production will be your main job in the game?

SD: I think a lot of people are noticing that I’m not just a producer now, but they’re seeing that I’m also an artist. When you’re a producer you’re not just making beats, you’re producing the artist; you’re making them sound good. If you’re a real producer that’s what you do… So it’s cool. I’m still learning my craft; I’m still trying to advance. Somebody told me “it’s not the wand it’s the magician.” So it’s not about having crazy equipment. I’ve seen people with 100,000 dollar studios and they can’t do half of what I can do on a little computer and a couple of keyboards. That’s a good way to live if you’re in the business you’ve got to gun for the best, and if you feel you’re the best you’ve got to keep on pushing.

HT: So with your group Get Busy Committee, you’re rapping. Could you see yourself emphasizing that more than production?

SD: I am working on a record, I also have a group record out with Get Busy Committee, which I’m really happy about because I get to showcase something else besides hip hop beats. I do all kinds of records, not just that. I’m excited just to see what happens. There’s no telling what can happen from here or a month from now.

HT: You’re just putting it all out there and seeing what happens.

SD: Definitely, and also it’s a statement for people who are doin’ their own stuff. ‘Cause when I talk to people like Xzibit and Busta Rhymes they embrace that. They say “Man keep on rappin’, I didn’t know you rapped.” They’re fans; they’re also good guidance.

HT: Kid Frost is pretty much synonymous with Chicano Rap, do you see yourself representing that genre, representing La Raza, as it were?

SD: Yeah. I feel, though, my work is a little different, because growing up around Hip Hop, [I notice] there’s a movement of Latino kids … who are rockin’ Nikes, and they’ve got the cool dress shirts, and … they’re not lookin’ more so like gangstas. Nobody really wants to hear gangsta stuff anymore; everything is more friendly. We’re trying to have fun and send a positive message. I think “I Wanna Rock” was a great way to show that we have something different to offer than … what everybody thinks West Coast records are [normally] about.

I wanna talk more on that. There’s a lot of young kids that don’t wanna gang bang, that don’t have bald heads, that don’t have any of that in their systems, you know. It’s more universal, I don’t get love from just Latin kids, I get love from Black kids and Asian kids and White kids. It’s cool to actually just be young and a role model for these people.

HT: Do you think you’ll manage to avoid that Chicano gangtsa vibe altogether?

SD: Definitely. I think I’ve already showed out enough to where there’s a big gap between me and that realm. [The only people to] do Chicano Rap ever that big were … my father and Cypress Hill, and these people I still work with. I still have love for that market, that’s not gonna change, it’s a huge market, but Latinos buy everything, support everybody.

Let’s say I become like I don’t know like a big rapper or whatever. And everything’s’ positive. everything’s showin nice, nothing’s gang-related and it’s top quality. As long as the image is right, it’s gonna look good and people are gonna respect it. And when I was talkin’ to Joe, he told me the next rapper is going to be a Mexican rapper. It’s the fastest growing race… Definitely I can avoid the gangsta vibe. There’s more to it than just promoting bad things and people gettin’ killed. No one’s doing that no more that’s like - 90’s.

HT: When your father came out with his hit, and you said everything changed, is that all it takes is one hit?

SD: That’s what everyone says. Everyone says it just takes one. That’s a gift and a curse too because you know I feel if you’ve got one you can’t let it just be one, you’ve got to turn that one into two, that two into four, that four into six, and then keep going and risin’ and makin’ records. That’s how I do it.  I just gotta keep on workin’, stay in the studio and at the end of the day  I can just chill, and I can say I got ten records on the radio right now.  I got to see people do that growing up. Look at Pharrell. Pharrell at one time had ten songs on the Billboard top 100 at one time. That’s amazing.

 
And now it’s different. Everything’s viral now, and internet is changing the game… If you’re really serious about what you’re doing, just keep it keep persisting keep making records… I’m tryin’ to figure out how I can make money in my sleep. Why not?

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One of the most creative music producers of all time is, without question, Tim “Timbaland” Mosely. Timbaland quickly garnered a devoted following by constructing masterpiece beats so stylistically unique, he revolutionized urban music production. Timbaland became a pioneer by integrating organic samples into hard-hitting hip hop rhythms. In our latest Hit Report, we wanted to cover fresh techniques. Timbaland’s Morning After Dark was the obvious choice. The song is thick with valuable lessons. The drum beat alone sparkles with classic Mosely mischief. In the full report, we illuminate every aspect of the drum beat’s production from mix to rhythm, complete with step-by-step audio and illustrations. Plus, we cover the song’s mix and arrangement, and also reveal handy synth programming and arpeggiator tricks. Study this one closely, and you’ll walk out a better producer.

Morning After Dark - Drum Production Audio Tutorial

The rhythmic foundation of a song, the beat, is often thought of in the simplest of terms: lay down a pattern for the kick, the snare, and a ride cymbal or a tambourine, and you’re done; you can move on to the rest of the song. But carefully examining Timbaland’s drum beat shows the difference between making a beat and producing a beat. At left, is a quick glance at all the tracks it took our top producers to re-create Timbaland’s drum beat accurately. The image shows clearly what any producer with ears can hear: that there is more than just a drum recording here.

Let’s explain what’s going on. The blue samples at the top represent the kick drum. Above, we’ve recreated the kick drum sound by stacking the same kick three times, separating each layer with an equalizer in Sonar. As we explain in the full report, stacking the kick allows us to separate it in the frequency spectrum and treat the bass, mid, and high frequencies with different mastering processes, piecing them all together to form a very finely-tuned kick drum sound. On the backbeat are snare samples which have also been layered to match the original beat. Below that is the tambourine line (purple), sidesticking samples that have been separated using a Haas method (gray), and finally vocal samples.

You can click on the image to get a more detailed look at the sequencer, but if you want to see exactly how this beat was made, the answer lies in the full Hit Report. In what’s probably our best Hit Report yet, Hit Talk shows you the Morning After Dark drum beat in every detail complete with screenshots of mastering techniques and equalizer settings, plus audio examples. The fine result can be heard in our re-creation: Morning After Dark - Drum Production Audio Example. By downloading the full report and studying our complete lesson in drum production, you’ll learn how that beat can be built with very specific production techniques that you can apply to any song.

Melody Map Preview - Bass Synth

At the top of the report, you can see the Melody Map preview, showing the first 2 bars of the Morning After Dark bassline. Since many of our readers are new producers, some who don’t yet routinely compose by hand, we strongly encourage you to try to play this bassline as we’ve illustrated it in the Melody Map preview above. It’s a two-bar pattern. Although we’ve shown only one bar, you can simply substitute the B 8th note at the end of the first bar for another A flat, like what’s played in the rest of the melody.

This exercise is not to show you the melody, so much as it is about learning about dynamics. Carefully listening to another producer’s performance, whether or not it was originally played by hand, will train you to play with some sense of dynamics. To this end, you can pick a saw synth patch that’s roughly equivalent to the one that Timbaland uses, but really any synth with a short release time will do the trick. Below, you can see the oscillator section of Reason’s Thor synthesizer. We’ve modified Thor’s “chime bass” patch, which is already close in timbre to the bass synth used by Timbaland.

Above, we’ve modified the balance between oscillators one and two, plus switched up the filter routing. It’s close to Timbaland’s bass sound. The timbre isn’t really the point. Above, the amp envelope is shown just to the left of “Global Env” bottom right. Once you’ve set that envelope, give the melody a try on your own keyboard. You’ll quickly find that each 16th note has to be short and snappy, or else the feel and flow of this integral component to the song simply evaporate. It’s the dynamic contrast between these short staccato 16th notes, and the long drawn out 8th notes that give this bassline the feel and power to drive the song. Learning to re-produce these dynamic subtleties on the fly will make you a better composer, because while you’re playing a riff that you invented, you’ll know how to embellish it and bring it up to its full potential. The Melody Map acts as an aide to this process, and of course any report that contains a melody map will be useful for the same purpose.

Morning After Dark - Closing Thoughts

Morning After Dark is a classic example of the depth, detail and creativity Timbaland is capable of as a producer. And though the vampire-themed song has fared better on charts overseas than it has at home, Morning After Dark is still an irrefutably sizzling track, well-worth studying.

Order the “Morning After Dark” Hit Report & Get it all…
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On musical experience: … Part of my training happened when I was younger. My father was a country singer, and I would spend hours by the piano listening to him play and sing. He was a wonderful influence on me musically. I also will throw a shout out to Whitney Houston! When I was younger, I stole one of her cassettes from my mom and would listen to it over and over. I drove my siblings crazy, trying to imitate her voice. But I think it was a learning experience… although now whenever I hear ‘I will always love you’ i get a bit nauseous.

I studied music theory in my secondary education, and have been a vocal coach for the last 6 years.
 

On her new CD’s title track, “On Display”: There is, in fact a story to that song. As with a majority of songs, this was inspired by a former relationship. … I wrote the song before I had decided what to do in this disaster of a relationship, and the song inspired me to woman up and take a stand for myself instead of being controlled and manipulated.

On being a musician in Toronto: Toronto is a wonderful place to be a musician, though the ’starving artist’ title is duly earned here, very much the same as in any other city. The problem, of course, is that one can rake in the money by playing in a cover band or learning a repertoire of songs from the 80’s to perform at corporate events. Playing original music and carving a spot for yourself in this concrete jungle is struggle - but well worth the effort. There is a plethora of talent here, and there are many venues and companies that are a fantastic support for indie artists.

I believe the potential is there for [a musician in Toronto] to be self-sustaining, if one has the guts and the balls to make the effort. I believe I have guts and balls… and you can take that anyway you like ;).

On musical influences: James Maynard Keenan is my musical god - someday I may build him a shrine. NIN, Gordon Lightfoot and Tori Amos would be up there as well.

On the band: I met our amazing drummer Adam Doige in my hometown. We had actually dabbled together musically for a while, when the previous band I was in was searching for a drummer. We played one show together at our local gay bar (oh the good old days), but he ended up moving to Toronto before anything could come of it. However, I’d say that worked out rather well. Our current bass player, Corey Melanson (Mr. Busy Bass himself), became Adam’s room mate here in Toronto and was invited to join our musical efforts when I relocated.

We are in the midst of getting our new album recorded, have a pretty spectacular music video in the works and we are planning our tour for this spring! 2010 is going to be a busy year, and we are pretty pumped about it.

On with the show: Subscribe to our blog, check Facebook and Myspace to get our updates!Also for any of those in the TO area, we are playing every Tuesday evening at Graffiti’s - located in the ever-awesome Kensington market area!

www.tonellamusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/tonellamusic
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tonella/60333103635

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