you’ll develop? How about a slew of guest rappers? Kenny: Oh a Justice League album? That’s in the future, but right now we’re on our grind and we’re working with so many people it’s not just possible. We would like to. At Kenny, are you even in a bind between replaying a sample and creating original instrumentation? We never like replaying a sample. If there’s a particular idea we like form a particular song that was created before, we like to keep that sample just the way it is and add our own instruments and flair in.
The League’s Logic For producers collaborating on a singular DAW, why was Logic chosen over something like Pro Tools? Rook: The way Logic comes as a package it may be a little complicated at first, but it’s such an in-depth program that caters to a faster workflow- It’s a bit easier to use for a producer than Pro Tools, That’s a heavy statement my friend. Colione: We have a whole career to back that statement up. Pro Tools is okay; we’re not hating on Pro Tools. We still use it to track vocals. It’s just not the center of our production. What hardware exists in the studio? With us it’s mostly digital but we still use live instruments. We use horns, Saxophones, guitars and bass to keep the real vibe in our music. Your music begins with big sweeping and huge and heavy epic sound. Is that intro style branded and thrown in every track or it is added as an after effect? Colione: A lot of our intros come pre-packaged and that’s how they fall in love with the beat. But sometime the artist has an idea for how they want their intro. We give the artists what they want, but we don’t want to disappoint and it’s about making the best music possible. Let’s talk about the pricing of tracks and how much flexibility there is between the artists, the producers and the label. How would an early producer figure out his worth and his worth after he’s had a few hits in direct relation to the current market? Colione: I think…negotiating tracks….our prices remain solid. We’ve earned our respect in this music industry. When you get in the studio with the Justice League we’re not going to Overnight the Production. We know what we’re doing and we’ve established a brand name. Our prices are usually not negotiable unless you’re going to buy multiple tracks. Then you might get a package deal. With what’s happening in the
music business today with the record sales declining, I think we would be making more money now. It’s now and we have to roll with the punches. Before the Internet downloads…we would be making more. Help me out. I’ve got a bunch of profile sites. I think I’m nice with beats and people are asking about how much I sell beats for. How do I figure out my numerical worth as a new producer and how should I begin to run my business? Colione: It’s hard to say because when we came in the economy and the music business was in a different place. The average for newcomers is about 4 or 5 Gs. That was back in 04’. The average now is like $1,500 to 2,500. To put it bluntly it’s around that price range for new cats. Get what you can get. Get that new equipment and go with the independents. You can always make more beats. As a new producer, what about my drum sounds? What’s a good starting source for the foundation of my Drum Works? Is it still advantageous to build these massive libraries by downloading all the loose drums from the Internet? Is it about buying a software package with drums, a hardware drum machine…where a great place to start today? And I mean usable sounds, not just bulk for the sake of a huge drum folder. Colione: For Drums? Get it how you live. It doesn’t matter how or where you get them as long as they sound good. You could steal Dr. Dre’s disk straight out of his MPC and if you’re wack, it’s still not going to sell. It’s HOW you use the sounds. It’s not where they came from. You have Kicks, Snares and Claps. It not based of the drum sounds alone; again, it’s how you use them. What about the programming? Colione: Logic. Logic and a MIDI controller and that’s all you need? Colione: Yessir. Rook: It does both the audio and MIDI. So I can drop in live violins or guitar right along the MIDI so it’s flexible for all programming [tasks]. Who do you think is nice and who do you respect, production-wise? Rook: Premiere. Trackmasters. OutKast’s production shines. Colione: We’re all over the place when it comes to top producers. Kenny: I like Dr. Dre, Timbaland, Premiere, Pete Rock and Organized Noize. Who would you like to work with as far as artists are concerned? Kenny: Jay-Z of course, we’ve been trying to get him on some tracks since the beginning. Artists like Kenny
71 Producer’s Edge May-June 2009