Ghostface Killa and unrelated Mary J Blige stories
I think i just completed a marathon amount of work. I think i'm going to collapse and sleep for two days. If it were only that simple, I'll be up bright and early on little sleep, right back at the record making. Def Jam hired me to do a BUNCH of work on Ghostface Killa's new album, which i think will be titled "Fishscale", though i dont know why. Anyway, I actually composed music for 4 Skits on the album. They wanted me to do music that was reminiscent of 1950's TV crime drama music, like Dragnet or something like that. It was really fun and quite a challenge coming up with full orchestral arrangements in that style, then sonically making them sound like they are coming out of a TV speaker 50 years ago. When the album comes out, I'll post a couple clips here in case you dont wanna buy the album (which you should).
I also did some sample interpolation for a couple songs, which basically again means i composed all new music that kinda has the same sound and feel as the stuff they sampled but couldn't clear. Side note...... i hear stuff like that on TV commericals all the time, its so obvious, there's a car commerical now that is dead on Coldplay. Anyway, thats kind of the idea, they sample old records, cant get em cleared, then hire the guy who knows how to make brand new music sound and feel like old records, a.k.a. me. So, I ended up working on six things for Ghostface, and at the last minute they hired me to mix a song called "Charlie Brown"
Its really funny because i have so many distinctly different client bases. My sample recreation people rarely use me to mix, and my mix people rarely use me to recreate samples, though they do often cross, which is actually very cool and gets me on alot of different projects and working with alot of different people and music. I dont really love having only one big client, though in the past it has served me very well working at different times fairly exclusively with Malik Pendleton, (we did Mary J, SWV, Diana Ross, Simply Red, 702, Aaron Hall, Jody Watley, Changing Faces, and a ton more great records.), and producer Mike Mangini, (we did Imani Coppola, David Byrne, Don Dilego, Anastacia, Baha Men, Boyzone, and a ton more together).
Anyway, I really had a blast working on Ghostface. I've worked with so many of the members of Wu Tang Clan over the years, but never as "The Wu Tang Clan". I've worked with O.D.B., Inspecta Deck, Method Man, Raekwon, Masta Killa, and now Ghostface. 6 of the 9 members aint bad i suppose. Raekwon even threatened me once because he thought I erased his vocal on a Pete Rock record. He calmed down quick when i told him it was a tech at Battery studios who erased his vocal and that i was there to help Pete Rock fix things. the session went well. I've been threatened by the best of em...... Puffy, Grand Puba, Raekwon, Special Ed, i'm sure there are others. Mary J Blige screamed like crazy at me once because she was mad at her producer. I wish she would have just yelled at him. But it was all good, i went on to make many more records with her, and actually about a year later she apologized to me. She said "the devil got in her". It sure sounded like it from my vantage point. I really do love Mary J to death, once you get to know her she can be an absolute sweetheart, she just doesnt let many people into that inner circle. Its been a while since i've worked with her, and she's an artist that i really miss being in the same room with. She is one of the greatest, most soulful singers alive.
-Ken Lewis
check out indieTunes.com
I also did some sample interpolation for a couple songs, which basically again means i composed all new music that kinda has the same sound and feel as the stuff they sampled but couldn't clear. Side note...... i hear stuff like that on TV commericals all the time, its so obvious, there's a car commerical now that is dead on Coldplay. Anyway, thats kind of the idea, they sample old records, cant get em cleared, then hire the guy who knows how to make brand new music sound and feel like old records, a.k.a. me. So, I ended up working on six things for Ghostface, and at the last minute they hired me to mix a song called "Charlie Brown"
Its really funny because i have so many distinctly different client bases. My sample recreation people rarely use me to mix, and my mix people rarely use me to recreate samples, though they do often cross, which is actually very cool and gets me on alot of different projects and working with alot of different people and music. I dont really love having only one big client, though in the past it has served me very well working at different times fairly exclusively with Malik Pendleton, (we did Mary J, SWV, Diana Ross, Simply Red, 702, Aaron Hall, Jody Watley, Changing Faces, and a ton more great records.), and producer Mike Mangini, (we did Imani Coppola, David Byrne, Don Dilego, Anastacia, Baha Men, Boyzone, and a ton more together).
Anyway, I really had a blast working on Ghostface. I've worked with so many of the members of Wu Tang Clan over the years, but never as "The Wu Tang Clan". I've worked with O.D.B., Inspecta Deck, Method Man, Raekwon, Masta Killa, and now Ghostface. 6 of the 9 members aint bad i suppose. Raekwon even threatened me once because he thought I erased his vocal on a Pete Rock record. He calmed down quick when i told him it was a tech at Battery studios who erased his vocal and that i was there to help Pete Rock fix things. the session went well. I've been threatened by the best of em...... Puffy, Grand Puba, Raekwon, Special Ed, i'm sure there are others. Mary J Blige screamed like crazy at me once because she was mad at her producer. I wish she would have just yelled at him. But it was all good, i went on to make many more records with her, and actually about a year later she apologized to me. She said "the devil got in her". It sure sounded like it from my vantage point. I really do love Mary J to death, once you get to know her she can be an absolute sweetheart, she just doesnt let many people into that inner circle. Its been a while since i've worked with her, and she's an artist that i really miss being in the same room with. She is one of the greatest, most soulful singers alive.
-Ken Lewis
check out indieTunes.com
posted by Protools Mixing at 3:10 AM
3 Comments:
So replaying the sample with your own sounds is not as good as simply finding matching sounds and loosely basing it on the sample you can not clear?
Hey Boodah,
Usually when i am called upon to recreate samples, the label already loves the song, the producer and artist already love the song, but they cant clear the masters use of the original recording, or in some cases, the original masters owner simply wants a rediculous amount of money for it. Thats when i am called. If you get the permission of the owner of the publishing, you can do an exact recreation of the original recording, and swap that for the sample, and (hopefully), it'll sound and feel the same or close enough to be acceptable.
As you put it "simply" finding matching sounds is usually not simple at all. Envision recreating an old 60's soul record that had all the best live performers of the day, with all what is now vintage recording gear. Now envision having to recreate the entire soundscape of what they created. Its incredibly difficult. Its not just like "Oh, thats a piano, let me fire up my MIDI piano patch and replay the part".
I recreated a sample for Rhymefest's "Brand New" (its a single picking up steam now). The guitar part alone, i messed with guitar tones for about 8 hours until i found just the right combination of guitar, amp, and feel of playing. sounds easy. its not.
I personally would MUCH rather see R&B and hip hop use more live players and instruments, al la The Roots and D'Angelo kind of stuff. Just Blaze will quite often put a string section, or live guitar, bass, flute, etc... on a track. Makes a big difference in my opinion than the sounds coming out of a box.
Sample recreation is far and away the most difficult, tedious, time consuming, frustrating work that i do. But when your dealing with a guy like Kanye, who will lose his entire producer fee if they cant clear the sample, I'm quite often saving these records from the discard pile. Its also given me the nice bonus of being called in as a producer to create music from scratch for many artists to give it that old sample feel. Check out Ruff Ryders artist Jin, i co-produced a song called "Cold World", which i created all the music for from scratch, but it sounds like an old soul record.
-Ken
Great. Thanks for the information. However, please don't take it that in utilizing "simply" was to any way belittle the work that goes into it. I can attest to it. The searching for sounds, getting the right sweep/filters delays, etc....to producing sounds is where all the fun begins and real work in my opinion. I also agree with the use of real musicians to have a more organic flavor to your overall product. Chuck D said it best. And I paraphrase, where if you have a loop is mindless. But to have a musician and you know he messes up in that one spot, but it is so dope, it just adds personality to your track. We utilize musicians in our tracks. Guitar players, bass players, cello etc....
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