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I'm Andrew "Moon" Bain, this is Laurent "Tippy" Alfred, this is Jah David. We are
the Zion I Kings, we are a production collective. We're here at Tuff Gong Studios International
in Jamaica, Kingston - and we're here to track some new riddims today.
All three of us are producers so we all come with different ideas for arrangements and
production....and we come with different chord progressions, sometimes. Sometimes we don't.
We come empty to a session and create on the spot, but - the idea is to build riddims,
build musical arrangements that we are gonna use to voice different artists on. Personally,
I'm gonna be playing keys on this session...organs and pianos, mostly.
I play the guitar...ya mon.
I play the bass...I'm a bass player.
We're bringing Squidly Cole today whose a wicked drummer, played for the Marleys and
many other artists.
Before we became like a collective, we each kinda had our own little independent label.
Big...what do you mean little...
Yeah...Big, independent label.
Yeah...ok
This is "Zion High Productions", it's released different projects. Mine was "Lustre Kings"....still
exists. I Grade Records from the *** Islands, from St. Crouix
Oh, St. Crouix, ya know...yes I.
And then we all...collegues, we started kinda sharing, collaborating, and then we kinda
come together and have creative writing sessions together, ya know.
Well what happens is, right - we build these riddims, we're gonna end up with 20 to 30
riddims before this week is done. Then we have a draft day.
We have a draft day that can be some tension, ya know, because we decide who gets which riddim exclusively
Yea...
And then which riddims we share.
Yeah.
Cause some riddims we share.
"Nah, my riddim that mon!"
But some will be exclusive, like, hey on this album I want it to have, you know, have a certain
character. So I don't want anyone else to use this riddim. But, in the past, it would
be like "Yo I, be like, Tippy man, I heard that track on such and such album, could I
use it for Lutan Fyah's album. He'd be like alright cool. That might actually develop
into a segment...in a true yard style, where they have one riddim and you feautre like
10 to 15 different artists on the one riddim....Anytime I need a bassline I holler at Jah D, if they
want some guitar work they might holler at me.
That too.
I say, Tippy, I'm working on an album can you put some keys on it. Riddims we started
alone at home or with a different session then kind of become a collective Zion I Kings production
because we've all contributed.
We'll even mix it. Collaboratively, we'll mix them as well
I'd be like, man I got 8 songs to mix. Can you mix 3 for me please.
You know what I'm saying....
Enough e-mail, ya know what I mean - Yo, turn up that bass in this one. Take down the voice
in that one...
Yeah....right.
And you know, thats how we do...we share, by e-mail too. I'll email them the track.
Yeah...a lot of feedback.
Yeah.
Like a wave file. The actually .wav files of.... if Moon tracks a guitar or whatever, he'll send it over
the e-mail and I'll import it into my ProTools session and mix it.
We're going through this analog desk...as Tippy was saying, it's modified with API's.
Tracking that all into ProTools. We can edit, rearrange, track our overdubs at home onto
the basic foundation of what we cut here today. We take, going through the analog board into
the digital DAW.
We usually cut to a click too, to keep it on a tempo grid.
Yep!
Make editing a lot easier, keep the tempo locked in, you know what I mean. But different
drummers can feel it out so...
These two will be here, in the control room, and I'll be out there and the amp is put into
a seclusion room, so me and the drummer will be in that large room, with the guitar, because
we want to track the guitar through the amp....get the, the authentic sound. Yeah, mic up the
amp....Yeah so something of interest, like, we got everything in ProTools - I did a mix
earlier, we were looking for a drum roll. Tippy sent me over a bunch of drum roll snips
from various session, so the track I was mixing earlier was a programmed beat that I sequenced
in Logic, flew out to ProTools, tracked a live bass...Jah D actually cut the bass for
me in Florida, sent it up, flew it into the ProTools session. So at the final, here I
am with the last day of the mix and I said man I want to give this a little bit more
of a Reggae feel, Tippy give me some drum roll sounds. So he, from a previous session
of like a 24 track of what we're doing today, found the right drum roll. So then I flew
that into the programmed drum mix to give it a little...feeling.
It's always a joy, and a treat really, when we can all be together. But we all individually,
because we are so busy...we have our independent projects and labels. We all stay working.
Then we all like draw from each other if, if we need that a service that each one has
kind of specialized in. Tippy does do programming, I do do sequencing and programming. I've gotten
the pleasure and the priviledge of hanging out with Matt Shadetek, showing me things
on Logic. I've definitely dived a lot deeper into it. I came up sequencing on an MPC2000.
Now I'm using, basically just using a little Akai MPK Mini and my laptop. Doing basic demo writing,
ideas....in Logic - and sometimes, now, those ideas - take into the live studio. Like today,
we might try out some of these ideas, and be like Yo, this is gonna be the best with
a live band.
I was on YouTube, cause I've been meditating on Dub. And I'm dubbing out a lot of my back
catalogue. I saw this DubSpot video of DJ Kiva doing a song called guided dub and he
was using the APC in a way that just blew my mind - cause I've always been thinking
how to do this thing without bringing a big board and a heap of outboard gear. This method
that Kiva revolutionized uses the APC in a unique way. Using the clip launch buttons
as sends, as effect sends, and the faders as ways to control the different stems and
the riddims. So I linked up with Kiva through the e-mail, and I was in New York so he gave
me a couple lessons on how he does it and since then I've just been moving with it...I-Grade
Dub is what we're pushing, and I-Grade Dub is a chance to present the music, this sound,
in a unique format, because what we do in St. Crouix is we have differnt artists who
come on and I'll live dub mix as the vocalist sing, which gives the artist the great experience
to drop out, you know what I mean. Like when the artist wants to sing a verse, I'll drop
it to bass alone, or just riddim, just keys, drop out the drums, bring in this effect,
bring in that effect. So it's a way more dynamic show than just a "track" show. Cause, you
know, in the Reggae world you have a lot of track shows that personally as a fan I don't
like to see. It's so disappointing when I see an artist who is singing roots riddims,
singing to a DJ track, but I know the realiity - it's a financial reality, because we all
know right now whats happening with the music industry. Me, as a label owner and a producer
I'm trying to find a different model, a different way to push the sound still. One thing that
the APC setup is allowing me to do is to get my laptop, my APC, a couple effect units in
a couple bags and go on the road.
Study the foundation. Listen. Listen to the music. Listen to all genres, you know. I don't
just listen to Roots Reggae - all genres. But every genre has the foundation, the teachers,
the legends...you know - study that... As an engineer, study your science as much as
your art. I learn so much from different magazines and websites and just having a thirst for
the knowledge of how to engineer, ya know.
I would advise all upcoming producers to solo your tracks. Just listen to the kick drum
and the hat, together for 3 hours.
If that feels good, then add in the bass. Take your time with it. Take your time with
it. You get hyped and you're inspiried but take your time with it. Solo your tracks,
make sure everything's sitting right in your mix and in the way of the feeling, and the
pocket of the music.
I would say make sure that this is what you wanna do because it's not an easy road. This
ain't a easy road. It's like you gotta make sure you love this...you love music, love
what you do because don't think you can just come up in this thing and be rich cause it's
not gonna happen like that. It may happen but it's gonna take perserverance, and dedication
and all these different qualities that you need to be a successful producer and person.
Big up to the DubSpot for having us. Big up to the whole DubSpot family. Big up all the young producers,
all the old producers.
I and I
Big up Kiva, DJ Kiva - big up yourself...and Shadetek