Your career is an intertwined mix of the coolest hip-hop and jazz that I’ve seen, going back to when you were really young, right?
Yeah, for sure.
Your dad being a keyboard player, you must have been immersed in music as a kid?
Definitely. I’ve been around music since I can remember anything. That inspired me to cross these genres and do what I do. I listened to a lot of classical music. I was introduced to [Ludwig van] Beethoven and Maurice Ravel, jazz, funk, and so much music. He was definitely a music enthusiast.
What did your dad think of hip-hop when that started coming around?
He loved it. I played him the first 45 that I bought that was a hip-hop record: The Fat Boys “Stick 'Em.” It was all beatboxing on that, and they used effects with the beatboxing. It blew his mind. He was like, "This is innovative. This is the next sound right here." It was funky; the syncopation and the rhymes. It was special. You can hear the forward motion of where hip-hop will go, and it’s still evolving.
What sent you toward drums as your primary instrument?
That was just the instrument I gravitated to when I was seeing my dad rehearse with bands. Even seeing the wood chips fly from the stick playing hard, I was just like, "This is it, man." That's what made people dance. I DJ as well. Being the sole controller of people grooving is a special gift. That puts people in a beautiful place. It’s therapy for so many. Drums can live by themselves and start a party. That’s what I always loved about them.
True. What were your earliest recordings? I know you've mentioned making loops as a young kid. What were you using?
Oh, Casio keyboards, tape players, pause and record, and however I could get it done at the time. I moved to New York in 1995, and ‘96 is when I bought my first drum machine, the Akai MPC3000. That was special.
Had that been on your list for a while?
It hadn’t been. I asked my friend, "What’s everyone using? What’s the easiest way to make beats where it’s flawless and effortless? I need a workflow that is easy, as I deal with the ideas that are coming." He mentioned that. I feel like Native Instruments' [Play Series] is that now. The workflow is seamless. You can get ideas out and have a song done in a small amount of time.
The way you can assign the rhythm loops to keys, or a controller, is like playing an MPC.
Exactly, yeah. You can use a controller, a keyboard, or you can use the Native Instruments' Maschine [controller]. The Maschine is more driven by the MPC world, where it’s easy to use. All of their gear is easy to use.
Did Native Instruments approach you to make this?
They approached me. Justin Adams [at Soundwide, NI's parent company] – who’s one of my great friends now – reached out to me through DJ Dummy [The Genius], who’s also a Native Instruments user. They pitched the idea for me to do this, and I was super open to it. I definitely have always been reluctant to do it previously, because I have such big ideas for what I want and how I would want to use it. Once I told them the things I wanted to implement in it, it was pretty easy for them to do that. It has surpassed what I thought it would be.
It’s a long way from Casios and a cassette recorder.
Oh, big time, yeah!
You tracked for this in Studio III at Sunset Sound, right?
The engineer I normally work with, Kyle Hoffman, we’d done a lot of work around L.A. The studio he works at is NRG [Recording Studios]. I was looking for another sound, just trying to enhance and go dirtier, but also with a more present quality. He recommended Sunset Sound. I think the first studio [there] we recorded at was Studio II. I was wanting to dig deeper. The people at...
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