Hip Hop Production Tricks

[BananaHead]

Greetings engineer buds,

Let us fire up a thread on maverick engineering stunts for underground
hip hop production. I need to get my head in order.

I believe I posted a similar topic around a hear ago when I was doing
my first hop project, a little EP. Well, it turned out solid and the
man is back for the production of a 21 song LP.

Let's get it rolling with some beat butchering:

* Sansamp on the drum buss, always a fav

* Four compressors in series on the drum buss

* Toss the bass in on said buss, don't want it getting jealous

* Amp the drum machine, loud, room mic it, hit it over the head with
three or four 20:1 compressors, at least one of which being a low
quality stomp box.

* Press to analog tape… hard

* Record real drum kit, loop, re-amp into a 1" Fender toy amp inside a
cardboard box, mic with a small D, compress the living **** out of it…
of course.

* Route drum mix through a Moogerfooger driven hard for saturation
characteristics (mix knob on zero). Via the filter add a little low
filter sub-boom around 40-60hz triggered by the kick. My new fav.


Give me something mean, I'm wanna hose these mixes up bad.

Bordering on wrong isn't bad enough.

-BananHead

[EganMedia]

>Give me something mean, I'm wanna hose these mixes up bad.

Print the whole mix to microcassette. Play back though the internal speaker
and rerecord on a "My First Sony" cassette deck. Pull the cassette tape out of
the shell and run around the neighborhood naked trailing the tape behind you
screaming the lyrics to "Afternoon Delight". Wind the cassette tape back onto
a custom made 1/8" open flange. Play the tape at 3 3/4" on a 1968 Wollensak
1/4" quartertrack with a police bullhorn held up to the internal speaker. Mic
the bullhorn with a Stephen Paul modified U67 and print simultaneously to an
ATR 1/2" two track and all the tracks of a Studer A827 (even tracks get the
right channel, odd tracks get the left channel) at 30 IPS with SR. Make sure to
compress the signal with a Fairchild 670 followed by an MXR dynacomp. Let the
mastering engineer choose the best sounding version.

NB: the tapes should be clearly marked so the mastering engineer knows to play
them back at 15 IPS to offset the speed variance induced by the Wollensak.


Joe Egan
EMP
Colchester, VT
www.eganmedia.com

[Dave Martin]

"EganMedia" > wrote in message
...
.. Pull the cassette tape out of
> the shell and run around the neighborhood naked trailing the tape behind
you
> screaming the lyrics to "Afternoon Delight".

I usually scream the lyrics to the Partridge Family's "Hair" or "The Last
Train To Clarksville" when I do that. That may be why I haven't had a hip
hop hit...

But all in all a lovely description, Joe.

--
Dave Martin
Java Jive Studio
Nashville, TN
www.javajivestudio.com

[Brian Standefer]

> Print the whole mix to microcassette. Play back though the internal
speaker
> and rerecord on a "My First Sony" cassette deck. Pull the cassette tape
out of
> the shell and run around the neighborhood naked trailing the tape behind
you
> screaming the lyrics to "Afternoon Delight". Wind the cassette tape back
onto
> a custom made 1/8" open flange. Play the tape at 3 3/4" on a 1968
Wollensak
> 1/4" quartertrack with a police bullhorn held up to the internal speaker.
Mic
> the bullhorn with a Stephen Paul modified U67 and print simultaneously to
an
> ATR 1/2" two track and all the tracks of a Studer A827 (even tracks get
the
> right channel, odd tracks get the left channel) at 30 IPS with SR. Make
sure to
> compress the signal with a Fairchild 670 followed by an MXR dynacomp. Let
the
> mastering engineer choose the best sounding version.

I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, thanks.
B

[Bob Ross]

BWAH!!! I swear I passed beer through my nose reading this post!

BTW, Nagra made 1/8" flanges as stock parts.

/Bob Ross



EganMedia wrote:

> >Give me something mean, I'm wanna hose these mixes up bad.
>
> Print the whole mix to microcassette. Play back though the internal speaker
> and rerecord on a "My First Sony" cassette deck. Pull the cassette tape out of
> the shell and run around the neighborhood naked trailing the tape behind you
> screaming the lyrics to "Afternoon Delight". Wind the cassette tape back onto
> a custom made 1/8" open flange. Play the tape at 3 3/4" on a 1968 Wollensak
> 1/4" quartertrack with a police bullhorn held up to the internal speaker. Mic
> the bullhorn with a Stephen Paul modified U67 and print simultaneously to an
> ATR 1/2" two track and all the tracks of a Studer A827 (even tracks get the
> right channel, odd tracks get the left channel) at 30 IPS with SR. Make sure to
> compress the signal with a Fairchild 670 followed by an MXR dynacomp. Let the
> mastering engineer choose the best sounding version.
>
> NB: the tapes should be clearly marked so the mastering engineer knows to play
> them back at 15 IPS to offset the speed variance induced by the Wollensak.
>
> Joe Egan
> EMP
> Colchester, VT
> www.eganmedia.com

[transducr]

(BananaHead) wrote in message >...
> Greetings engineer buds,
>
> Let us fire up a thread on maverick engineering stunts for underground
> hip hop production. I need to get my head in order.
>
> I believe I posted a similar topic around a hear ago when I was doing
> my first hop project, a little EP. Well, it turned out solid and the
> man is back for the production of a 21 song LP.
>
> Let's get it rolling with some beat butchering:
>
> * Sansamp on the drum buss, always a fav
>
> * Four compressors in series on the drum buss
>
> * Toss the bass in on said buss, don't want it getting jealous
>
> * Amp the drum machine, loud, room mic it, hit it over the head with
> three or four 20:1 compressors, at least one of which being a low
> quality stomp box.
-snip-

wow. you're a lucky guy to be able to do all of this during hip-hop
sessions. i've worked on a lot of independent hip-hop and i can't
count the number of times i've been asked if the session is still "on
the clock" when i get up to go take leak.

beyond that, most guys (especially the more underground "boom-bap"
style guys) get nervous if i start putting reverb or delay on
*anything*...even if can't really be heard in the mix (i sometimes put
a slight amount of a small room reverb on a vocal to help it sit in
the mix)...i learned to just never label the reverb return and
everyone is happy...

more power to you, though. keep on fighting the good fight...

[philicorda]

"BananaHead" > wrote in message
om...
> Greetings engineer buds,
>
> Let us fire up a thread on maverick engineering stunts for underground
> hip hop production. I need to get my head in order.
>
> I believe I posted a similar topic around a hear ago when I was doing
> my first hop project, a little EP. Well, it turned out solid and the
> man is back for the production of a 21 song LP.
>
> Let's get it rolling with some beat butchering:
>
> * Sansamp on the drum buss, always a fav
>
> * Four compressors in series on the drum buss
>
> * Toss the bass in on said buss, don't want it getting jealous
>
> * Amp the drum machine, loud, room mic it, hit it over the head with
> three or four 20:1 compressors, at least one of which being a low
> quality stomp box.
>
> * Press to analog tape. hard
>
> * Record real drum kit, loop, re-amp into a 1" Fender toy amp inside a
> cardboard box, mic with a small D, compress the living **** out of it.
> of course.
>
> * Route drum mix through a Moogerfooger driven hard for saturation
> characteristics (mix knob on zero). Via the filter add a little low
> filter sub-boom around 40-60hz triggered by the kick. My new fav.
>
>
> Give me something mean, I'm wanna hose these mixes up bad.
>
> Bordering on wrong isn't bad enough.

Get yourself the free MDA Re-Psycho vst plugin. It's possibly the worst and
the best pitch shifter ever made. Grainy, glitchy, stuttery and clangy. It
does some truely ill things to drums. http://www.mda-vst.com/ It only shifts
down....

Don't bother with compression, just overdrive the a/ds for some *really*
hard limiting. If the a/ds wrap round, all the better, it'l give it more
punch.

Also, try convincing the client to not use any samples at all and get in a
traditional irish bodran player. Record it absolutely clean, with a GML pre
and a stereo pair of r121s. Close mic the sound of your head being
repeatedly smashed against the mixing desk afterwards.

[Bob Ross]

transducr wrote:

>
> ...i learned to just never label the reverb return and
> everyone is happy...

Or label them "flava".

/Bob Ross

[Bob Ross]

Dave Martin wrote:

> I usually scream the lyrics to the Partridge Family's "Hair" or "The Last
> Train To Clarksville" when I do that. That may be why I haven't had a hip
> hop hit...

Wasn't it The Cowsills who did "Hair"?

/Bob Ross

[BananaHead]

Bob Ross > wrote in message >...
> BWAH!!! I swear I passed beer through my nose reading this post!


The really sad thing is that I actually already had my MXR Dynacomp
and microcassette standing by. Now if I could just fit my boombox
with built in mic inside the kick drum.

-B to the Hth Power

[Dave Martin]

"Bob Ross" > wrote in message
...
> Dave Martin wrote:
>
> > I usually scream the lyrics to the Partridge Family's "Hair" or "The
Last
> > Train To Clarksville" when I do that. That may be why I haven't had a
hip
> > hop hit...
>
> Wasn't it The Cowsills who did "Hair"?
>
See? If I'd remembered that, I might have at least gotten some regional
airplay....

--
Dave Martin
Java Jive Studio
Nashville, TN
www.javajivestudio.com

[Mike Tulley]

On 13 Nov 2003 14:03:55 -0800, (BananaHead)
wrote:

>Greetings engineer buds,
>
>Let us fire up a thread on maverick engineering stunts for underground
>hip hop production. I need to get my head in order.
>
>I believe I posted a similar topic around a hear ago when I was doing
>my first hop project, a little EP. Well, it turned out solid and the
>man is back for the production of a 21 song LP.
>
>Let's get it rolling with some beat butchering:
>
>* Sansamp on the drum buss, always a fav
>
>* Four compressors in series on the drum buss
>
>* Toss the bass in on said buss, don't want it getting jealous
>
>* Amp the drum machine, loud, room mic it, hit it over the head with
>three or four 20:1 compressors, at least one of which being a low
>quality stomp box.
>
>* Press to analog tape… hard
>
>* Record real drum kit, loop, re-amp into a 1" Fender toy amp inside a
>cardboard box, mic with a small D, compress the living **** out of it…
>of course.
>
>* Route drum mix through a Moogerfooger driven hard for saturation
>characteristics (mix knob on zero). Via the filter add a little low
>filter sub-boom around 40-60hz triggered by the kick. My new fav.
>
>
>Give me something mean, I'm wanna hose these mixes up bad.
>
>Bordering on wrong isn't bad enough.
>
>-BananHead

A BRILLIANT guide to lo-fi hip-hop recording, equalled only by Joe
Egan's incredibly funny satire of high-budget attempts to achieve
lo-fi wierdness.

Mike T.

[R Krizman]

Now that's funny.

-R

[Bryson]

So THAT'S where I messed up.........I wasn't naked!

EganMedia wrote:

>>Give me something mean, I'm wanna hose these mixes up bad.
>
>
> Print the whole mix to microcassette. Play back though the internal speaker
> and rerecord on a "My First Sony" cassette deck. Pull the cassette tape out of
> the shell and run around the neighborhood naked trailing the tape behind you
> screaming the lyrics to "Afternoon Delight". Wind the cassette tape back onto
> a custom made 1/8" open flange. Play the tape at 3 3/4" on a 1968 Wollensak
> 1/4" quartertrack with a police bullhorn held up to the internal speaker. Mic
> the bullhorn with a Stephen Paul modified U67 and print simultaneously to an
> ATR 1/2" two track and all the tracks of a Studer A827 (even tracks get the
> right channel, odd tracks get the left channel) at 30 IPS with SR. Make sure to
> compress the signal with a Fairchild 670 followed by an MXR dynacomp. Let the
> mastering engineer choose the best sounding version.
>
> NB: the tapes should be clearly marked so the mastering engineer knows to play
> them back at 15 IPS to offset the speed variance induced by the Wollensak.
>
>
> Joe Egan
> EMP
> Colchester, VT
> www.eganmedia.com

[Bryson]

Yeah, but the Cowsills were originally supposed to be the Partridge
family. Then they backed out when they found out Shirley Jones was to
play their mom (and not their real mom, who was in the band).

Bob Ross wrote:

> Dave Martin wrote:
>
>
>>I usually scream the lyrics to the Partridge Family's "Hair" or "The Last
>>Train To Clarksville" when I do that. That may be why I haven't had a hip
>>hop hit...
>
>
> Wasn't it The Cowsills who did "Hair"?
>
> /Bob Ross
>
>