1. How Long have you been doing Music Production?“
I’ve been doing music production for about 7 years since the late 90’s.”
2. What are your weapons of choice as far as equipment that you use?
“Definitely the MPC 4000 and I still work with MPC 2000 cause I can do a lot of tricks with it still. The Triton, the Motif and sounds I get from a place called Soundcrafting.com.”
3. Who have you worked with and are their any up and coming people you’re working with that are hot?
“I’ve worked with Lloyd from Murder Inc., I’ve worked with Jazze Pha,I worked with Puffy’s group Boyz in Da Hood, Buck Power, I did some work with a few groups from Slip N Slide Records, Lost Boys and Rick Ross. A group I’m spear heading right now that I think is hot is the Jump Off Boys, that is real hot and that got a nice little following that is growing.”
4. Do you use Pro Tools and why do you think it’s the industry standard?
“ I use everything Cakewalk, Sonar, Nuendo, I use all of them, But Pro Tools is it! It’s the last stop. I love the editing ability of Pro Tools. I can’t do on the other programs what I can do with Pro tools. I love Flying hooks with Pro Tools and all the editing features.
5. Who do you compare your sound to as far as top producers in the game right now?
“Maybe Jazze, (laughs), But I don’t really compare myself to anybody. That why my company is called Lost Souls, we try to bring something different to the game, we can mimic anybody, but we don’t wanna be like anyone else’s style. We try to give our own flava to it and so far its working.”
6. How do you go about producing a track or a beat?
“ First you got get into the right frame of mind, I might sit back and get a little sip of yak, everybody gotta different way off doing it. I might lay the beat, Lunna lay the guitar, another partner of mine lay the keys, it usually a team effort. Then I’ll come back and tweak it.”
Sometimes, I do the whole track by myself.
7. Do you have your own studio and what’s the name of it and what type of acts do you normally record on a daily basis?
“ We do a lot of rap. The Studio is called Big Face Studio and it’s located in Atlanta. Mostly rap and R&B, about 80% Rap.”
8. Who is a major influence on your sound?
I’m gonna have to say Old School players like Ohio Players, Jimi Hendrix, I like people Like Wyclfe who have a different sound, not just the run of the mill stuff that’s out now. I like Jazze Pha also. But I’m influenced by the Old School Flava.
9. What mistakes do see a lot of young producers making when they come into a studio environment?
“Arrogance! They don’t want to listen to somebody who has been through it and it kind of throws you off. As an engineer I can make their songs hotta but they don’t want sit down and listen sometimes.
10. What approach do you take to mixing R&B Vocals compared to mixing Rap vocals?
“Rap is pretty much easy, a little compression a little reverb on the hooks. But R&B is a whole different world, it may take me 2 days to mix R&B vocals and you gotta have the right plug ins. Another definite for R&B Vocals is the Avalon, you gotta have the Avalon.
11. Do you like to use samples, why or why not?
“ I like to use samples, I love to use samples, but the down fall is you can’t get paid as much for a beat with a sample. Using somebody else’s music will eat up your royalties.” If I could paid the same I would use a lot samples.
12. Have you incorporated live sounds into your production and do you think that’s a trend for the future of hip hop?
“Definitely, especially with stuff Like Jay Z, you hear a lot of samples but he’ll have live Guitar with the sample. I think Live instrumentation is definitely coming back. I suggest a lot hip hop producers with a triton and Motif go out and find you a live guitar player to play over your beats and add another dimension to it.”
13. What do you want people to know about you and your music production?
“ I want everybody to know that our production team is the hottest in Atlanta, My team ranges from 17 to 22 years old to give us a more youthful sound and we got a top notch guitar player and some Haitians cats that are off the chain. If you come by, come by and listen to our tracks , go pick up Buck Powers CD, Pick up Boyz in tha Hood CD you’ll see the Credits, don’t buy bootleg!!! (laughs).
