Hip-Hop Producer, Engineer

Q: Tell us about a project you worked on you are especially proud of and why. What was your role?

A: Phonetix "Fenway Lights" beatmaker, Bugsy H. 5 mixtape series, chief audio engineer, various beats I've made that I think are dope and a production credits for Fatlip of The Pharcyde and Young Hump of Digital Underground.

Q: What are you working on at the moment?

A: Building my independent hip-hop record label, Alien Nation Entertainment and working with several outside artists as a beatmaker and producer, as well as several artists, background singers, musicians and beatmakers/producers on my own rap career.

Q: Is there anyone on SoundBetter you know and would recommend to your clients?

A: New here, hope to connect with some mix engineers, producers and others.

Q: Analog or digital and why?

A: Both. A mix of analog recording and use of the latest plug-ins is usually best to me. I would like to layer tracks from cassette tape as part of making beats and record to 2" analog tape one day and use a large-scale analog mixing console such as an SSL.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: Being creative and creating new worlds to either escape the misery of life or imagine a better world and help build it

Q: What questions do customers most commonly ask you? What's your answer?

A: Can I get a free beat? NO

Q: What's the biggest misconception about what you do?

A: That music producers just push buttons. In fact, hip-hop producers are the most hands-on in music and we often DJ, produce music from scratch, sample records, play keyboards and synths, program drum machines, play drum kits and other instruments, and understand computers and music software, as well as push buttons!

Q: What questions do you ask prospective clients?

A: How experienced are you in music? What are your short-term and long-term goals? How do you feel about the state of rap music, hip-hop culture, or music today? Do you believe music should be apolitical or political, if the latter, what are your political, social stances and how do you plan to use your music to promote them or certain causes?

Q: What advice do you have for a customer looking to hire a provider like you?

A: Don't expect anything for free

Q: If you were on a desert island and could take just 5 pieces of gear, what would they be?

A: E-Mu SP 1200, Akai S950, Akai MPC 2500, Moog Minimoog Voyager, Roland Fender Rhodes Suitcase Electric Piano

Q: What was your career path? How long have you been doing this?

A: I started taking rap music seriously about 10 years ago. I started as a DJ, as most rap music producers.

Q: How would you describe your style?

A: Raised in Salvador, Brazil, Los Angeles during the g-funk era, and Boston, the undisputed city of Hip-Hop underdogs, my production styles range from g-funk, to dusty, sample-based boom bap to highly modern compositions featuring live instrumentation, analog & digital synthesizers & the latest plug-ins.

Q: Which artist would you like to work with and why?

A: DJ Quik, because he's a musician who understands funk, soul and jazz, not just a beatmaker

Q: Can you share one music production tip?

A: Make several mix versions of every song or beat and choose the best one

Q: What type of music do you usually work on?

A: Rap/Hip-Hop (especially boom bap, "underground hip-hop," east coast hardcore, horrorcore, jazzy hip-hop, some trap, some dancehall, some R&B esp hip-hop influenced and afrobeats)

Q: What's your strongest skill?

A: Versatility, wearing many hats in the studio or in the project process, impeccable, historian-level knowledge of hip-hop history, culture and rap music production, many years experience working with rap artists, making beats, and rapping, writing rap songs, freestyling, as well as work in other genres, such as dancehall, R&B and afrobeats. Considerable music industry knowledge that is always increasing.

Q: What do you bring to a song?

A: I can write, play (keyboards, drum programming), record, produce and mix all the music from beginning to end or contribute parts. I have hundreds of pre-made beats for license and can deliver a custom beat in 3-5 days turnaround time. Typically pre-made beats are $50 - $200, almost always require that I am credited as producer and my songwriting royalty percentage, from 0% to 50% of any songwriting royalties earned by the song, depends on various factors such as your budget, level in the music industry (for example, are you a total newbie or platinum-selling major label artist) and sales record as an artist, number of Spotify and YouTube listeners, etc. Producer agreement (contract) provided in either case, terms are negotiable. I can also provide a feature rap verse for your song or write your lyrics, credited or uncredited, this affects price. I can also work closely with an artist to help develop their song, mixtape or album, or produce an entire album for an artist. This also requires a producer agreement however as a producer still building his career my upfront fee and terms are competitive.

Q: Tell us about your studio setup.

A: I run a Mackie analog mixing console with various audio interfaces, Cubase 5 and 11 software, Akai MPC 3000, E-Mu SP 1200, SE-1X analog synth, Yamaha DX100, Roland TR-08 (boutique version of Roland TR-808), turntables and DJ mixer for sampling, vinyl record collection, tons of soundpacks and plug-ins by Waves (SSL), Lennar Digital, Arturia, Korg and others. Talkbox and various exotic percussion instruments. I have experience with Pro Tools, Auto-tune, FL Studio, Logic, modern Yamaha Motif workstations, rare vintage analog synths such as Sequential Circuits Split-8, Yamaha FM keyboards, various modern Korg and Roland analog modeling synths.

Q: What other musicians or music production professionals inspire you?

A: J Dilla, DJ Quik, Dr. Dre, J.Robb, 2Pac, Nelly Protoolz, Roger Troutman, Wadz the Funkfather, Prince, Patrice Rushen, Idazle, Easy Mo Bee, DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Battlecat, Natasha Walker, Eboni Foster, Rick Rock

Q: Describe the most common type of work you do for your clients.

A: Custom beats, pre-made beats (beat tapes and Soundcloud beats), (engineering) recording and or mixing, chief audio engineer for album or project, rap verse, credited rap songwriting, uncredited rap songwriting aka ghostwriting, album producer, mixtape DJ, album executive producer, scratches (DJ)