you don't know until you know
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- 90's hip hop beats processing, indie artists, the dreaded AI, Lou Reed and a variety of other topics on a sunday in the studio with me.
tip bucket:
buymeacoffee.c...
venmo @tonyblacknyc
TONY BLACK is a Grammy-winning music producer, mixer/engineer & songwriter/musician. He has contributed to recordings totaling more than 80 million units sold or downloaded.
He won a GRAMMY AWARD for his contribution to the album “THE DIARY OF ALICIA KEYS” for BEST R&B ALBUM.
He also mixed and recorded “RIDE OR DIE” on the Grammy-winning album JAY-Z “HARD KNOCK LIFE VOL.2”
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Tony this is THEE best hip hop channel on TH-cam we all know it & now u know it!! 😂 Couple questions/requests for ya. Curious about ur thoughts on gain staging in the box. It’s highly contentious on TH-cam 😂 Do u follow the analog ways of using a vu meter (esp to gain accordingly into analog plugins) or are u of the “as long as it’s not clipping” ilk? And also we were mentored by/ good friends w Darrell “Digga” Branch who produced a majority of Cam’ron’s Confessions of Fire so rly looking forward to story time about the whole experience making that album. It was a fav of ours the minute it dropped. Curious if u worked on the highly coveted & unreleased song “Pull It” from that album that featured DMX that didn’t make the cut due to sample clearance issues we believe. Sry for the essay. Much love! rly enjoying the content! DO NOT STOP! 🔥🔥
had to reply...Pull It was an epic session, yes I did the entire thing and the mix...a lot to that story. Digga is a great guy, they were all kids at that time.
@@TonyBlackNYC wow it just gets better & better. Amazing to know. Yeah Diggz is the best! Hope u know ur apart of one of the biggest mysteries & searches ever in regard to a song. “Pull It” from what we recall was maybe released or leaked to college radio & mixtape DJs but when it didn’t appear on the album everyone was going insane trying to find it. Unreal to know u mixed it. Ur a legend!
@@TheDoppelgangaz It went to Funkmaster Flex the night it all went down. It was an electric night ...I recorded Cam and DMX in the booth/room at the same time...they wanted to vibe that way. CHAOS...they couldn't clear the Magnum PI sample
@@TonyBlackNYC would’ve killed to be a fly on the wall! 😂 unbelievable man. Thx so much for the replies & looking forward to hearing more about ur studio experiences/recording/mixing techniques.
One thing that I have been seriously thinking about lately, is that "youtube tutorials" have really messed me up. Before say 2007/2008, I was way more creative. Now, I think a lot of us are sooooo overly concerned with "right vs. wrong" in an almost 100% subjective field. This is what separated a lot of those 90s hip hop producers we all love -- they were just messing around with stuff! Dilla is so revered, but I really believe he just retained his childlike creativity with more advanced tools. He got his MPC, but he used it like he would have as a kid. Learned the basics real quick, and then started making stuff up. Recording a 60-cycle hum from a bad connection, and turning that into a bass sample is just something we all might have come up with if we were 12 years old; he just managed to keep that mindset while some of us moved on to trying to find a famous mix engineer to tell us what to do. I'm tryna go back to that as much as possible. What would happen if I stopped dreaming about Neves and SSLs all the time, and just copped something weird from Marketplace to put on my "all drums" channel? Stuff like that is why we got into this, and now I can say I have gotten lost in the weeds for the past 10 years at least, if not way more. We love 90s hip hop because the makers were not watching tutorials :). Think of all the traditional engineers that (at least anecdotally) got angry and possibly pushed out of the business, because they were so mad at all these new rappers "doing it wrong"
I have gotten more out of just jamming, by making a simple kick n clap and setting up a few sounds I like and just jamming.
No right or wrong way, just all about the feeling for me. ✌️
@@Andrew-rz7qt yesssssss :) noice
@@soulchorea
I would say that’s all on you. There’s advice, there’s good advice, and advice you should follow. You got follow what works for you, right or wrong.
You have to decide what you’re after, what will get you what you want, and get about it. You learn and take your scars along the way. Nothing wrong with learning from the masters but don’t let it confound you.
In sum, Beato's main points - which, of course, he has no special claim on, as they are Obvious and have long been a matter of popular public discourse - were that A) the absolute ease with which "music" can now be made, even by non-musicians, has resulted, predictably, in a glut of mediocrity, and B) the fact that music is now instantly, widely and easily available for consumption at zero cost has rendered it disposable (again, predictably).
There is no doubt that these things are true - the latter issue (disposability) being driven/reinforced also by the effects of the first in a kind vicious feedback loop: the more disposable we deem music generally, the more we tend to Expect it to be so, which further normalizes (and likely Encourages) more and more mediocrity.
This state of affairs now holds for all Media, in fact, more or less - a sharp paradigm shift from a time like the '90s, when (sticking with Music) A) only the cream of the crop (theoretically) ever even got to Make a record, and then only the very best THAT small group would rise to prominence; and B) the public was far less promiscuous in its listening habits as, for one - due to limited choices and availability - this wasn't even an option (at least not on anything like today's scale) and, secondly, records cost money.
Paying for something - almost by definition - causes it to hold higher Value than something obtained for free, and getting folks to part with their hard-earned dollars couldn't be taken for granted, which meant (theoretically) that everyone involved in every production - the artists, writers, producers, engineers, et al. - were creme de la creme, as record companies couldn't risk striking out due to cutting corners (after they'd skimmed, scammed, stolen and siphoned all they could for themselves, of course).
No complex algorithm is needed to predict that what emerges from such a situation will, very often, be of better quality, all around, than the vast majority of today's fare.
None of this should be surprising, or controversial, and most would say it has all been borne out empirically.
I use the same Bic four-colored pens. I suspected you were a genius. This proves it. Thanks for all the deep thoughts, Tony. Cheers.
I would submit that music HAS gotten "too easy" to consume, and my reason why is in the difference between "appreciation" and "enjoyment". An analogy: You can certainly "enjoy" an expensive Scotch by slamming a whole red solo cup full, in 30 seconds. But can you "appreciate" that scotch, and how it's unique? Not really! Same with music -- I think the ability to enjoy music is of course still there, but for a person who is now 100% streaming, they've lost the ability to *really appreciate music on an individual song by song level, because it's being fed to them through the fastest means possible and in many cases pre-curated through algorithm-based playlists (IMO the audio equivalent of doing shots in the club at 2am lol). Enjoyment has its place, but we need to keep both
too easy to consume or or we guilty of wanting/having too much? I think I probably owned 12 albums in my teens...and I was thrilled.
@@TonyBlackNYC perhaps, yes -- I used to drive around with a giant folder full of CDs, and I always wanted more and more, and dreamed of having an entire collection on one device. It's super convenient, but a "cheap" experience in comparison. Pandora's box, I guess :)
The wait for your new favourite song to start playing from your favourite radio channel, with your finger on the rec button. And you'd actually have to go to work in order to buy the full record. Back then you had to put in some effort to be able to listen to your favourites. And I think you are correct, these things create appreciation which creates the value of the music.
I Can't remember which video you was talking about having an end goal with making a song, spending 17 hours coming back and mixing etc. Honestly, I haven't seen anybody on youtube document this process with OLD GEAR. I'm talking when you said 0 visuals and the assistant just waiting on hand no phones.. Man, I don't know about everyone else but I'd LOVE to see the process of OG guys making music the old way from scratch. Deffo a niche there for you and your expertise and network.
I have a solution to the A.I being a soundalike to say, Kendrick Lamar. MAKE CLEARING SAMPLES EASY! have everyones details on 1 database, make it fair and easy. No chasing up record labels who actually cleared the sample from someone else who happens to be dead but their estate owns the rights blah blah....
Samples of a certain length should be fair game, whole segments should have option to buy outright usage or have a %.
Things should be EASY. I've got so many songs I love, that I will never release purely because I was cooking with tens of artists and I can't even rememeber what half the songs were i sampled.
EDIT: and back to the making a video with Kendrick Lamars music, it should be a matter of on the website someone saying yes/no to using the whole song, or again if you are monetized make a % or outright payment.
I think the process of getting new music has cheapened it. I remember tracking a new album release date and driving to the record store after school to pick up the cassette. The UPS guy showed up at certain time usually so I knew if I should take my time or hustle over there. Now, you don’t have to do a thing. It’s pushed out to you.
For me, anything you have to do something to get is more dear than something that just is pushed out to you and you don’t own it. I would say yes, the delivery method has reduced to value of having a new music experience.
Damn I forgot about the song "Pull It," That's a late 90s classic! #Harlem
Definitely. Its great to know how things were done in the past for many reasons. It expands you're knowledge and gives you new tricks to use and expand on...and sometimes you're just looking to get "that sound" from back in the day, and knowing how it was done is always usefull. I for one really appreciate learning from and listening to advice and techniques from a person who has extensive real life experience and is coming to you from the pinnacle of the professional recording industry.
The laws and regulations need to start catching up to this AI generated stuff.
I personally think that we need disclosure laws when its used in a creative/generative aspect of things. Disclosure when its used and disclosure and credits when another persons art/creation was used in the generation of it (especially when copywrite protected lyrics or audio is used in the "prompt" as a reference to generate it.
Music from the 60's-90's had spiritual messages and topic explorations. It very much provided a social commentary, I think that is what is lacking in modern day music. Modern day music is very superficial in topic. In my albums, I try to approach deep relevant topics. Topics most musicians don't even go near.
Yea, that is what labels are trying to kill, spirituality a.k.a. awareness.
re: soundalike -- the platform is still "using" the music. I guess that humans doing soundalike comparison is still "using" it, but it feels different. Also "Gatekeeping" used to be called "Curating" and was considered valuable
Quit the coffee mate, trust me you will start feeling better after a few weeks away from it. You just don't realise how much is in the post with coffee. Green tea with honey for me but just as a treat.
We all try and use something just for the desired affect instead of just accepting that we have to just deal with it.
Or don't it's entirely up to you ✌️
I LOL'd! I did.
Jay Graydon's guitar solo in "Peg" was worth the several guys Don and Walter tried before they were happy but that is the exception that proves the rule I guess.
agreed...I guess I forgot to add that the artists end result was something that sounded exactly like an artist from 2021.
In an earlier video you noted that the golden era of hip hop is dead because the era of sampling is dead due to publishing rights assertion. Maybe to flip the audioo bullshit, we could start using it to sample, "royalty free." I hate it now that I've written it, but... *hits comment*
I get what you're saying, but I'm mostly referring to the sampling of well-known music(James Brown, Jeff Lorber, David Bowie) to name a few...I think those days are over unless you have $ or your label is connected to the companies that have purchased catalogs.
@@TonyBlackNYC Agree. I was mostly being glib. Common was saying recently that Bobby Caldwell has 100% publishing for The Light.
Man, I always enjoy your vids. Nothing to add from me. Just heaps of praise on you.
Diggin' your channel. You're the Tom Bukovac of N.Y. Hip Hop cool. :) I like how you focus on the philosphy of making music more than the technology. Plenty of how to videos out there. Keep sharing your life lessons. They are appreciated.
No matter what you title the video, what you write in the description, or what you say in it, a percentage of your audience will not get it. Often belligerently so.
Sometimes it helps to copy the description as the first comment & pin it to the top. Anybody that miss both, ain't worth pay attention to since they ain't paying attention to you. Oh, well.
its no way that someone spending that much time on one song after 3 years or even one year and is at the end like "alright im finally happy with it". by that time the human brain will learn how to hate the song and the beat. and at that point its much better to move onto diff things. thats literally insane.
Tony, great to see that our late night cigar smoking didn’t stop you from “feeding the beast!”
never!
can also gate each mult off a different key freq. key the snare mult off the snare, key the kick gate off the kick. etc
anytime you're multing and eqing you're messing with phase to some degree. pick mud freqs for your crossover points. pick the freq "you dont want to hear"
flipping phase on a distorted mult can be interesting too
Tony - mix my tracks 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
always possible
wild side bass I believe is an electric and upright layered together
yes, really great story...its on youtube somewhere.
what you have to explain to kids these days is that back in the day you could ONLY automate mutes and VCA faders. everything else had to be done by switching to different channels on the desk, mults, parallels, on and on
ppl are used to modern daws where every single parameter can be easily automated to the nth degree. that simply wasnt possible in the 90s
and could be part of the "hidden knowledge"
thank u so much for debugging so many blurred areas. Would love some thoughts on release (and attack? ) of drum samples depending the bpm of each song.(for example 90 vs 120 bpm) Not looking for right and wrong. just thoughts. gold channel.
Great video
Love Lou Reed, Walk on the Wildside, also for hip hop heads, the Bass loop sample was used by Tribe Called Quests Song CAN I KICK IT>>
Can you show how to do the reverb from In the air tonight by Phil Collin’s? I don’t know if it’s possible without an actual SSL board
8:00 Steely Dan: “Hold our beers.”
Kid Charlemagne is in the 1% of 1%...I didn't mention that the 2 year journey ended in a song that was uneventful, to be kind.
Still waiting on that ULF SUB BASS answer
Thanks Tony. Great stories and infos! I used the sidechannel gated sine method back in the early 2000s too. I often liked it more than using a 808 kick. Might sound a bit 'esoteric' but it felt more ....🤔..'natural' 😄.
I can imagine that it is because a layered kick and 808 kick sample always starts at the same time and the phase is therefore always the same and might sound kind of 'boring' while with the sidechannel gated sine wave method, the sine wave always has a different phase relative to the kick drum.
lots of factors...the sine wave from a tone generator is probably more "pure" as its not coming out of a little drum machine and its output stage...but it all works
This might as well be a master class series at this point
you told that rza recorded his third world part from dj muggs soul assassins with an sm57 ...what other mics were often used in that time for that kind of production? i spent way too much time finding my holy grail mic and never came across a lcd mic that i really liked
Neumann U87 was everywhere in the 90's
@@TonyBlackNYC thank you! ....never tested an og u87 but i was never a fan of the u87 ai
🏆🏆🏆
btw UDIO and other AI platforms just got in big lawsuits
First
Great video. Cheers