tonyrEy
HUNGER FOR MORE
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nly a year and a half in, he’s already claimed a spot that most engineers would give up their apartment for, just to sleep in the studio. And imagine he started out as an intern at Atlanta’s famed Patchwerk Studios. But Tony Rey wasn’t your ordinary intern. He was as qualified or more than the people that he was suppose to be learning from. So he taught his peers. Since moving on to work with the likes Mase, UGK and Yung Joc, Rey has found himself at home as the resident engineer for CTE and one Young Jeezy. What were you doing before you moved to Atlanta? I was a teacher at Full Sail Recording Art School. I taught there for about four years then I taught local engineering within Orlando. Most of my influence comes from teaching. Actually I taught a lot of cats out here in Atlanta. Who all did you teach? Jamie Newman, Cory Andrews… I had a lot of students so it’s hard to remember all the names, but most of the cats you talk to out here came from Full Sail. It’s a pretty big school. So you basically taught them how to be producers through the various programs that were available there at Full Sail. Nah, it was more of the technical side, how to use Pro Tools, how to record and things like that. It’s really more of a technical school. Creativity is something you come into on your own. Where did you learn? I learned on my own pretty much. I bought a system and I just kept going at it, trial by error and after I was doing it for a couple of years I decided to go to school. There I learned a little bit more, but most of my learning I would say was from teaching really. When you teach you kinda have to look at it from another angle. It’s trying to explain to somebody who’s never seen something. People have different learning abilities, learning curves, so you have to put yourself in a whole different mindstate. So at what point did you decide to stop teaching and pursue this route professionally? It got to a point where I was seeing a lot of students that I was teaching, I was seeing their credits on albums. I mean, I had a couple of credits, but it wasn’t nuthin’ real official, real major. So really, the school that I was working at, I really wasn’t happy the way things were going. So I started opening my eyes up to different things and started realizing that if I stayed there I’d be teaching for the rest of my life. I felt like I was too good to just sit there and teach other people. But I love teaching. I still teach now. People call me all the time. I give all my students my number to hit me up and I go to studios. But I really just decided that I wanted to be a full time engineer and a part time teacher. Orlando was kinda limited, mostly local artists, penny pinchin’. I can’t tell you how many people owe me money in Orlando. I figured it had to 32 // OZONE MAG
be better than that in the big leagues, so I made the move. What’s the difference between what you do and what a producer does? Well, really, what I do is play the producer role. I’ve been doing it for awhile so I can tell when an artist can have a better take. An engineer, if you look at it, is only supposed to be recording and making you sound right. It has nothing to do with your delivery. It has nothing to do with charisma, your swag, this or that. But I’m a producer first before I’m an engineer, so I work with my artists. I don’t come into a session and tell someone how to do something, but you know, you feel it out. What was the first project you landed once you got to Atlanta? I interned at Patchwerk first, but I taught all the other interns there. One day I was there making beats and this guy named Shawn Erics opened the door and asked me whose beats they were. I was like, “Those are my beats.” He thought Jazze Pha or somebody was in there. So he had a group at the time and he put me on. He hired me as an engineer. After that, my first real project was Mase. Somehow, somebody got my number and he got it and called me. Shortly after that the whole Jeezy thing came up. One of my boys was recording with him, but he didn’t have time to do him cause Jeezy was starting the new album. He was also working with Jazze, so he asked me to come with him to see what we could do. It took a little bit, but after a couple of weeks I started doing some stuff with Jeezy. It’s been downhill from then. So are you exclusive with Jeezy and CTE? Not exclusive. I’m doing more mixing now. More mixing than producing. I’ll make an exception for Jeezy with tracks because I know he’s particular. I know his sound and he knows what he wants to do. He has a great ear. So pretty much I do a lot of stuff. CTE is my family. They made me a lot of money. That’s definitely it, but I wouldn’t say exclusively. I just mixed a couple of records for UGK, mixed some stuff for Joc, so it’s not really exclusive, but that’s where most of my time is consumed. So what types of projects lure you outside of CTE? I presume it would have to be a pretty eye-popping venture for you to stray. Really man, I love this. I love music. Even when I was in Orlando and I was gettin’ frustrated with the local cats, I just took it for what it was, because I love it and I don’t wanna get burned out. In this industry you can really get burned out from being selective. “I don’t wanna work with this dude cause he really can’t rap,” “I don’t like this beat,” or whatever. I respect everything that comes my way. I look at it with a fresh mind. I look at it as if I just started. I really like projects that people put their heart into. You may not be the best artist or the greatest lyricist, but if you’re putting your heart into it, I’m cool with that. That makes me put my heart into it and I’m still hungry. I can’t stop. My mind is open and I’m still learning. // - N. Ali Early (Photo: Julia Beverly)