Memorial Day Pics

As promised in my last post, here are some pics from my adventures in New York City on Memorial Day Weekend. Enjoy!

-Ken

Empire State Building - Midtown

NYC Downtown - Something Is Missing

Our Lady Peace
Manhattan Bridge with NYC in background
Brooklyn Bridge with Brooklyn in background
the USS Intrepid Aircraft Carrier, now a Museum, once fought in WWII and the Korean War
Times Square at dusk
Midtown Manhattan from across the Hudson River

Me enjoying Central Park, NYC

Memorial Day Weekend

Its Memorial Day here in the USA, which i guess is supposed to be a time to reflect on the sacrifices our armed forces, as well as our forefathers, have made so that we Americans can have such prosperous lives. I do not take it for Granted. My family was in town this weekend, and we spent alot of time in and around New York City. That is one special city, i gotta tell you. For those who have never been, you really need to see it before you die, hopefully LONG before you die. (I also say that about many other places I've been, Paris, Rome, Prague top the list, definitely all MUST SEE places.) and if you are American, you MUST visit Normandy, France in your lifetime. Actually, if you are American, French, German, British, or Canadian you owe it to yourself as well as to the men who laid down their lives on the beaches and countrysides of Normandy to visit there and pay homage. Normandy is a serene and emotionally powerful place. To look across those beautiful peaceful beaches, you cannot possibly imagine what took place there, but you know that it really happened, and if it didnt, the world would be a much different place today. I think thats worth a visit.

Back to New York City. I took my family on the Circle Line Cruise, which is a large boat that takes tourists on a sightseeing journey around the island of Manhattan. Most notable on the voyage is passing lower Manhattan and seeing the diminished skyline, knowing what used to stand so tall above it, then passing the Statue of Liberty and taking in all it stands for. Powerful stuff. My mothers side of my family immigrated here 3 generations ago from Finland. We're not sure if they went thru Ellis Island (also a feature of the tour), but did you know at one time 10,000 immigrants a day came thru Ellis Island every day? On a lighter note, seeing New York City from the water is just a spectacular view all around. Did you know the Brooklyn Bridge was constructed BEFORE automobiles were invented!!! And it now has over 40,000 cars a day travel across it. Arent i just a bundle of information today? I got lots of great pics, I might post a bunch, but they are on my other computer and i'm too lazy right now. Maybe tomorrow.

For those of you know who i LOVE art, i also went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. WOW. What a place! Its so big that you easily get lost half the time, and you could never hope to see the whole museum in a day, not even close. So, i saw the Egyptian exhibit, and the Arms and Armor (very cool), and some European sculpture, but mostly my favorites the painters. I've seen them all before many years ago at the Met, but i could never get tired of them. Van Gogh, Renoir, Monet, Pissarro, Cezzanne, Rembrandt, Rubens, Rodin, Degas. I really am a sucker for the old masters. Of course they achieved the moniker of "Masters" for a very good reason. Their works will be studied and adored 1,000 years from now as much as they are today. I've seen plenty of their other works at other museums, but the Met's collection is really first rate. Where else (other than Paris) can you see 13 Van Gogh's and at least as many Monet's? By the way, Monet's paintings make so much more sense when viewed from about 25 feet away instead of up close. try it some time. Anyway, if you ever visit NYC, and you like Museums at all, visit the Met, but take some advice. Because the museum is so massive, learn to quickly pass by the stuff that doesnt interest you, and find the stuff that captivates you. I dont personally get into the deep meanings of paintings, I just know what i like to look at and what moves me. i dont really care if it was painted yesterday or 1,000 years ago, my eyes tell my soul how to feel when i see it.

Happy reflections on this Memorial Day wherever you are in the world.

-Ken Lewis

R&B Artist Showcase

Tonight, much like last Wednesday, I was asked to be a judge at a developing artist showcase, and once again the showcase did not dissapoint at all. I have to say that i went there with low expectations of the level of talent that I would see, but i was very pleasantly surprised by every artist on stage tonight. Truly. I couldnt believe it. Now, not everyone was a star, but i thought everybody on that stage tonight had earned the right to be there and all represented themselves very well. I also thought the judging panel, myself included, did a very good job of advising each artist on what they needed to do to take themselves to the next level, which i think was my personal biggest reason for being there (ok, i wont lie, the free drinks for judges helped drag me out of the studio for the evening, but the talent was impressive).

an artist named "Chanj" pronounced "Change" won it. WOW. Natural star and a half. I had two small criticisms on him and i feel if he corrects them, which should be easy, nothing is going to hold him back from being a household name (anyone who knows me knows how INFREQUENTLY i ever say that about anyone) This cat had "it". whatever "it" is. He has it. I really think alot of the other performers were amazing, and I'm actually hoping to do some co-writing with a couple of them and maybe use a couple of them as demo singers when i need them. Recently i was kinda searching for demo singers and well, anyone who reads the blog knows how that turned out. Anyway..... I've found some people tonight. Tonight reaffirmed my faith in true talent.

Big shout outs to the organizers of the event. It was their first go at putting together an event and promoting it, and they did a super stellar job. The website is.....

http://www.breakthroughcollective.com/

they did a fantastic job of putting together the whole event and running it smoothly.

-Ken Lewis

Sullee Single - Mix description

I'm printing the final mix of the next Sullee single. My speakers sound like they're exploding right now (in a really good way). The walls are shaking, my teeth are rattling, and my assistant's face just melted off. I think its a good mix. Any time you can get a club track to melt peoples faces off, its a good mix..... til you go to jail.

This SPL Mix Dream is really a great sounding piece of gear. Of course the 16 Apogee outputs really help too, but just the ability this Mix Dream gives me to use all my favorite analog gear really makes a big difference in the mix. For this mix I'm using a bunch of analog stuff in addition to the Apogee outs and the Mix Dream and my obnoxiously powerful Digidesign HD Accel 4 rig running Logic 7 and about every plugin in the known universe.
Analog gear i'm using for this mix includes.........
- GML 2032 EQ across the Lead Vocal
- The main sound is this kind of loop/Bass sound, like a big diving repeating line. Massive. I have a Lang PEQ2 Program Equalizer across it. (kinda like a Pultec, only better in my opinion)
- Roland Dimm D on the main Loop/Bass. The Dimm D is an effect send/return coming back on a different input to the Mix Dream so i have separate control over dry and effect. The Dimm D is great for enhancing bass elements, as well as giving things some stereo width without sounding like chorusing. It just makes things bigger and i use it on most of my mixes.
- Theres a big driving mono analog Rez synth sound that i have a Neumann PEV Mastering EQ across
- Also on the Rez Synth i am sending/returning to a Yamaha SPX 90 set to "Pitch Change C", my favorite SPX setting of all time. The SPX 90 really spreads out the sound and makes it this wide sounding agressive mix element, but the frequency range of the sound is narrow enough that it doesnt swallow up the rest of the mix.
- The big Hook vocals are all grouped and going thru a stereo pair of Neumann PEV Mastering EQ's. I'm adding some 10K and a touch of 5.6 K to these vocals
- the Stereo Buss. First thing of note.... The Mix Dream has this "Stereo Enhance" feature which is REALLY cool (sometimes). With this mix I'm using it on setting 2, which i find is about the widest setting you can use without really destroying the phase coherancy of the mix. I got away with setting 3 once, but it was a dog fight the whole mix to keep it together. On the Mix Dream insert, I have the Manley Variable MU followed by the my Sontec Mastering Equalizer. Usually i find the Manley compressor isnt usable on hip hop mixes, (great for rock mixing though!) but this mix doesnt really have a bottom heavy kick drum pumping the mix real hard, so the Manley is holding this one together nicely, and the Sontec, well, it sounds amazing. I'm printing everything to a Masterlink running at 96K/24bit for mastering.

I'd go into what plugins i'm using on the mix but that would be an epic novel. Plus, i gotta keep some secrets! OK, done printing passes. Time to start the next mix.

-Ken Lewis


indieTunes.com

My New Favorite Band

FLYLEAF

www.FlyLeafMusic.com

"I'm So Sick" is the single, which i really like, but its definitely not my favorite song on the album. Probably "Sorrow" is my favorite song, but i love the entire album start to finish. This girl sings with more passion and emotion than anyone i've heard in a while. And really great lyrical imagery, I love when you can tell that a lyricist clearly sees the world in a very unique way, but also finds a way to convey their thoughts so you completely relate, but would have never thought of it yourself. Does that make sense? it does to me. She's got a great sense of melody as well, weaving really pop meoldies and hooks over pretty heavy music. Its a perfect blend to my ears. Anyway, check out the website if you like modern rock. this is good stuff. I'd kill to mix for this band. Actually I'd kill to record that girl.

-Ken

Ken On Earth - Part IV

Recorded bass and some guitars today. this record is coming together so nicely. I edited drums this weekend (yes thats how i spend my weekends). Next is more guitars, a bit of editing, some rough mixing, and once its beginning to feel like a finished record, I'll cut keeper vocals and mix. Yep. Also got another song in from Sullee to mix today, which i am currently taking a break from the mix to post this blog. Sullee's album is going to be a forece to be reckoned with, actually so is the Man On Earth album. And in the batters circle is Small Town Sleeper. That is going to be a super crazy amazing juggernaut of an album. Mark my words.

-Ken Lewis

Ken On Earth - Part III

In the studio today again with NYC rockers Man On Earth cutting drum tracks. We worked really hard and spent alot of time to get some really great drum sounds, and now we're spending some quality time making sure we get some really great drum takes.

For those that care, Here's a rundown of the mics and signal chain

MOE%20-%20Drum%20Setup.png

I built some isolation around the kick so that the outside kick mic didnt pick up much of the cymbals and toms. I'm using several layers of carpet padding for this. The outside kick mic is about 3 inches from the front head, and the inside kick mic is about 6 inches inside. The Oktava ML152 (Ribbon Mic) is about 3 feet from the kick drum, in direct line with it. I'm using this mostly to reinforce the kick but it picks up enough of the rest of the kit to fill it out and give some overall depth. Cymbal mics (Royer R122 Ribbon mics) are about 20 inches above the cymbals except for the spot mic on the ride cymbal which is maybe 4 or 5 inches away.

My EV 635 mic with the blown element makes everything that goes thru it just sound really nasty and gritty, kinda makes everything sound like a drum loop, and sometimes i'll use it by itself and cut all of the other drum mics in the mix. Its a nice effect if used sparsely and properly. And the cheap mic i have set up is going into a little battery powered mini Vox Guitar amp which is in another room for isolation, then i mic the speaker on the Vox amp. Its a little distorted and really grungy, and if you mix it in right with the rest of the drum mics, it adds this solidity and presence to the sound and un-polishes the sound a bit. This is indie rock, i dont want it to be pretty.

The drum kit I'm using is the top of the line Pearl Masters Session Recording kit. I love this kit. The snare is an incredibly heavy copper DW 6X14 i think. Cymbals and hats are all Sabian AA and AAX. I typically like darker fast decaying cymbals and these fit the bill. I find that bright cymbals tend to sound harsh and glassy, even thru the Royer ribbon mics, and I like cymbals for rock to hit and decay and not ring forever. These Sabians sound really good on this record and match the sound of the kit well. I think the toms are 12 and 16 inches, i dont know how deep, and I've got them tuned so they ben down in pitch when you hit them. we spent alot of time tuning the drums before putting up the mics. If you dont get a great sound in the room, you'll never capture a great drum sound no matter what gear your using. Anyway, break time is over, time for another round of takes.

rock.

-Ken Lewis

And Tha Next.....

So i was asked to be a judge at a producer showcase tonight. I had alot of fun, there were alot of really talented producers tonight, and ..... welll...... i'm still kinda drunk and its 4am. HEY. if i'm gonna make it a night on the town, i'm gonna have a few drinks. i did. Anyway. Many hot producers tonight.

GI JOE.

he won it all, out of ten hot producers. He should have. he had the best overall balance between having hot tracks and understanding the game. Ya'll better keep one eye open for this dude.

I would really like to type a whole lot more about this, but i cant really see straight right now, and i am constantly hitting the delete key to correct my spelling. SO. more when i wake up. maybe.

Tomorrow is a big MAN ON EARTH tracking day. I'll probably blog about that. time for sleep.

-Ken

Where The Streets Have No Name

So, I drove down to Atlantic City last night. Its only about an hour and a half away and I have a fast car and a great stereo, so it was a really good opportunity to catch up on some listening.

Has anyone ever played Monopoly? Did you know that all the properties are based of of streets in Atlantic City? Yup. So, i drove around Atlantic City for a while (late at night under the casino lights) and found alot of the Monopoly streets. So as i'm driving around reading all of the famous monopolized street names, the radio starts playing the U2 song "Where the Streets Have No Name". I figured it was worth a blog. One of those very memorable moments. Only the second time i've ever been to Atlantic City. It has its charm. I am not much of a gambler, but i felt like trying my hand, so sunk a few rolls of quarters into the slots then hit the Blackjack table. Started with a $100 in chips, stacked em up to about $350 before i lost it all. Oh well, it was fun, i should have cashed out when i was up, but then i never gamble more than i'm willing to lose, and I'm not much of a gambler. Fortunately, i really dont have an addictive personality. Pretty sure i'll never find myself addicted to gambling, smoking, drugs, alcohol. Maybe i'm slightly addicted to making records, ok, really addicted to making records, but it still gets me very high, so i dont mind this addiction so much.

-Ken

Ken On Earth - Part II

Sittin in the studio cutting scratch vocals for the new Man On Earth EP. Earlier in the evening we cut scratch guitars and bass. We'll be cutting keeper drum tracks on Thursday and i really want to be able focus on listening to the drums but i need a point of reference around them musically so, hence the scratch tracks. I could cut the scratch tracks as the drums are going down, but its alot extra to worry about and i dont feel like worrying about them this time. Once the drums are recorded, edited and sounding amazing, I'll recut all the music to gel really well with the drums. I'm not trying to make things feel like a drum machine or a metronome. definitely not. When i record live bands, i really try to keep as much of the essence of the performance as i can, only fixing what i have to so the performance sounds really solid, but i do record many takes of each song and I'll search for the sections of each instrument that are performed best, or better yet, that feel best with the song, and compile those pieces of each take into a finished performance. It can be a long process sometimes, often it goes quickly, but it works. well. Sometimes I've had the painful task of piecing together crappy band performances into something listenable, but fortunately i'm really good at editing and have the patience and capability to do it. I will not have to do that with Man On Earth, they are all good players, and these songs are great. All of the songs we're cutting have really transformed over the course their development, its been really interesting and rewarding to hear this come together. Cant wait til full tracking Day 1 on Thursday.

rock.

-Ken Lewis

Workin For the Weekend

Wow, a busy weekend is coming to a close. I mixed a Sullee song on Friday that i produced with my production partner Brent Kolatalo. The song is a bangin Hip Hop club track with kind of a 70's vibe influencing the music. Hot Hot Hot. Saturday was an "Event"ful trip into New York City. I endorse Event Speakers, and they just sent me a couple pairs of their top of the line Studio Precision 8 monitors, and all i can say is WOW, i finally found a speaker that will allow me to give up my beloved Event 20/20 Bas nearfields. Actually, I'll just move my 20/20's to one of my production rooms, I've mixed too many songs thru those things to let them go, they are family. Anyway, i did a quick photo shoot in the city on Saturday at Event's request so they can use my mug shot in advertisements if they want. I'll keep you posted if they do.

Saturday afternoon continued with a trip to the rehearsal room for Man On Earth. We worked up some more material, changed up some other songs, and added one more to the recording list. Tracking is scheduled to start this week. They have some tightening up to do before we hit the studio, and hopefully by late in the week they'll be ready to rock out the new songs on tape. Saturday night i stayed in the studio mixing another Sullee song featuring Claudette from City High. Claudette has one of the most beautiful voices on Earth. I finished that mix Sunday early evening, and started another mix for NYC rockers Skidmore Fountain. I mixed a song for them last week, and all the basic tracks were recorded here too. So, right now i'm printing passes on a song called "Up In The Air", slated for release on June 9, check them out. Tomorrow I'll be mixing some really cool indian music, and who knows what else the upcoming week will hold. I'm supposed to be getting in a song to mix from UK starlet Charlie Rose, and MTV Canada VJ "X-Quisite" is mixing her project here right now as well. I have mixed two songs so far, and I think I'm mixing 4 more for them. I'll have to see if my 500 channels of cable gets the MTV Canada channel. I think i'm supposed to get a bunch more Sullee mixes in this week too. Damn, I'm really glad i worked all weekend, otherwise i'd be WAY behind schedule. Next pass is ready to print on this mix, i'd better get to it.

- Ken Lewis

Other really good things are in the works, but more on that later.

Ken On Earth - Part I

I've been hired by New York City indie rockers "Man On Earth" to produce their next EP (5 songs). I mixed an album for Man On Earth a couple years ago, which received critical acclaim, and three songs from Man On Earth's last two releases were included in a widely distributed indie film and soundtrack. The soundtrack album was downloaded 30,000 times, that'll get you some exposure and help build a fan base.

Anyway. I'll back up briefly. My involvement in this new project started with a trip to see the band play several of their new songs live in a club in New York City. After seeing the show, I felt we needed some pre-production time to really hammer out arrangements and try different approaches to some of the songs (i am a HUGE believer in pre-production especially for bands). I asked the band to have one full rehearsal without me to try an implement some of my suggested changes before i sat in on a rehearsal. Their following rehearsal i attended and they began playing me some of the reworked material which we all dug into even deeper and came up with 5 really strong songs over 2 pre-production sessions.

We're trying to schedule the first recording days for next week. I'll be blogging about it as the project evolves. On a side note, I've worked with a ton of bands in my career. I have found from experience that the bands most open to trying new ideas and arrangements have gone on to be the most successful. As i offered my insights to Man On Earth saying "you guys write and perform as a rock band. Your home is the rehearsal room and the stage. My home is the studio. Its my job every day to pick apart songs and find the best way to represent that song to the public, whether i am mixing, producing, recording, writing, or performing as a session musician, this is what i do 7 days a week. Bands might spend 7 days a year in the studio, i spend well over 300 days a year in the studio. There's no comparison." That doesnt mean at all that bands arent capable of coming up with amazing ideas and amazing arrangement, they often do so completely on their own. Its when as a band or artist, you shut yourself off from the "possibility" that your way may not be the best way, that i personally think ALOT of careers have suffered. And often the most challenging job of a producer is to know when to leave well enough alone, and / or when to stop tweeking. I also think one of the hardest jobs of a producer is to always make sure that when you make changes to a song, that those changes are still representative of the overall vision of the band. An overexagerrated example of this would be "Make sure you arent making a pop rock band sound like the Backstreet Boys, or making a street rapper sound like a popstar".

My own personal approach to production is not to stamp my "sound" onto a project, but help the artist find their sound, help the artist be the best representation of themselves. If you listen to some of my productions you'll understand what i'm talking about. Small Town Sleeper does not sound like Noah Levi (both on my main page under "LISTEN" if you want to hear what i mean, i produced both), Man On Earth does not sound like anything else i've produced. I also don't produce a rapper like E-dro to sound like a rapper like Sullee, and vice versa. I try to give each a production approach that works best for them.

In hip hop for example, sometimes i can pick out a Kanye production, but i would have NEVER guessed that Ludacris "Stand Up" was a Kanye production, or Alicia Keys "You Dont Know My Name", but they ere both him. Just Blaze never ceases to amaze me at his ability to change up production. Listen to Fabolous "Breathe", then Freeway's "Flipside", then Usher's "Throwback", then Lenny Kravitz "Storm", then Jay Z's "PSA" etc......... Its all Just Blaze, and all very different production approach. Hell, I thought Just Blaze made Lenny Kravitz sound more like Lenny Kravitz than Lenny made himself sound when we did "Storm".

Anyway, some guys have their "Sound", and are sought out because of it. Some of these guys are my favorite producers, such as John Shanks. I prefer for myself to take each artist and each project and try to deliver the best possible representation of that artist. and on that note, I'm mixing a Sullee song right now featuring Claudette from City High, and I'd better get back to it. This song could be a hit.
-Ken

Jealousy and Envy

Nope, not the kinda post your expecting. I hope. I just wanted to give a shout out to my cousin who's the most gifted nature photographer in the world (my opinion might be slightly bias, but i stand by it)

his photography website is

BoPhoto

He spends ALOT of time working in Antarctica, and most of those pics were taken there. All of his shots are on film, no retouching, no Photoshop. The jealousy and envy part comes in because i would LOVE to see the places in those pictures, and i'm sure most of them I never will. Of course I've got to balance that by saying the thought of living in Antarctica doesn't much appeal to me personally, but he seems to love it down there. It takes a special person for that, but i guess the same can be said of people who live to make records (me). The pictures I create float out of speakers i suppose.

I'm also jealous of my friend Jen who works for the Gov't (not jealous of that part), but she gets to travel all over the world to places I'm sure I'll never go. She just emailed me from Syria! She's also been all over Russia, and I hope to go there this summer myself. I'll be picking her brain for suggestions if i go. I know she's been all over Africa and Europe as well. I'm jealous. I want to go to Africa. Maybe next year.

Then there's my friend Ponch who has lived in so many foreign countries I've long since lost track. I cant imagine how many languages he speaks. Last time i saw him was in Paris, he was just visiting his sister who lived there (also a friend), and I got to see both of them only a half a world away. She was there going to school. How cool is that.

So hey, if your reading this and you live in some cool exotic place, if you wanna fly me there to mix your record, I'll do it on the cheap as long as i can get a good vacation out of it as well :-) I'm all about the barter system.

For now, I'll have to get back to mixing in America, though currently I'm mixing and / or producing projects from Japan, Canada, Sweden, England, Cayman Islands, and I'm sure i'm forgetting someone.

-Ken Lewis

Zoe Bentley Video

I just had to give a super big shout out to an extraordinary Canadian artist named Zoe Bentley. I just mixed a song for her upcoming album, but thats beside the point of this post. Zoe has a song called "Stride" that i wish i had mixed (though the song was mixed well without me :-) "Stride" won the indieTunes.com Song Contest in the "Singer/Songwriter" category, and came one or two judges votes shy of winning the Grand Prize of the whole contest. Zoe recently shot a video for "Stride" and the highly influential Canadian video channel Much More Music has added it into medium rotation!!! Did i mention Zoe is independent? No label. Other artists added into rotation round the same time Zoe was include Mary J Blige, Daniel Powter, and Jamie Foxx. Geez!!! This is going to be tremendous exposure for Zoe, and rightfully so, she's earned it and worked hard for it. Hey labels, pay attention.

Zoe does have a supremely talented producer named Trey Mills working the studio side of things, and Trey has done a great job of helping to bring out the very best in Zoe. I'm mixing another project for Trey right now thats REALLY good, another Canadian artist named X-Quisite. So far i've done 2 mixes and I think another 2 to 4 more songs are coming my way. Cant wait to hear em. Anyway, ya'll should check out Zoe's website and listen to some of her music and watch her video, AND buy the album when it comes out. Her website is www.ZoeMusicOnline.com.

Now i have to get back to a mix for KC (of Jodeci fame). This song should be second single on his upcoming album, and it definitely sounds like a single to my ears.

-Ken

Sullee Day 2

4:45am and I just finished vocal production on another Sullee song. Right now Sullee and I are just listening to some of our favorite songs (Killers - "Mr Brightside" is crankin right now), we're just trying to shake off the last song. Really serious song called "Movin On" that Claudette from City High also sings (Beautifully) on. Claudette has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard, this song could definitely be a single, and Sullee wrote three great verses and Claudette takes the hooks and bridge.

4:51 and we're vibin to a few new beats that my production partner and I have in the lab. Sullee finished vocals at 4:30am, walks out of the vocal booth and says "you got any beats to write to? I dont wanna finish the session yet". Artists with this kind of drive and work ethic are a producer's dream to work with. So, i put several beats on a CD for him to pick from and he's writing rhymes as I'm blogging about it. Sounding hot so far. Dont know if we'll put anything down tonight, but one thing is for sure, neither of us are even tired right now. Usually by 5am I'm getting pretty burned out, and I'm running on very little sleep right now, but i'm pretty certain i'll be watching the sun rise this morning. Thats fine with me.
Good morning
-Ken Lewis


indieTunes.com

Sullee Project

I've been grinding lately on a project for an artist named Sullee, a rapper from Boston signed to an indie label distributed by Atlantic Records. I've been hearing Sullee for over a year now and his level of improvement over that last year is amazing. Well, i guess i would think it was amazing if i didnt know how hard he works and how dedicated he is. The kid has talent, alot of it. So much so that he caught the ear of Joe Budden who is vocal producing the album.

Side bar. Those of you who love hip hop, if you don't like Joe Budden then you just havent heard all three sides of Joe Budden. Many only know Joe for "Pump, Pump, Pump it Up". And while that song should be enough, some might think thats the only side of Joe, the "up in the club" rapper. WRONG. Joe is one of the deepest rappers lyrically that i know. The man can tell a story that will make you think for days. Go listen to "Ten Minutes", or "Three Sides to a Story" and judge for yourself. plus his flow is just rediculous. Anyway, back to Sullee.

So, Sullee's album is being vocal produced by Joe Budden, whom I've worked with many times. So, you know that Sullee's vocals and songwriting are going to be pushed to the limit by Joe, and the level that Sullee is reaching as a rapper in his own right is impressive. I am mixing the whole album, and so far have produced two cuts for it, and its looking like that might become three or four cuts. Fingers crossed. As a producer, Its always a great experience to hear someone really flow well over your music. Sullee's also got some big big guest appearances on his album. Joe Budden collaborated vocally with him on Sullee's first single, and other artists on the album will include Claudette from City High (what a voice!!!!), Trey Songs and Green Lantern, and a few other notables who's names are currently escaping me. Its gonna be a hot record. Speaking of which, I'd better get back to making it, break time is over.

-Ken