Music Producers Roundtable With Ari Levine, RedOne And Alex Da Kid

Above photo courtesy of the L.A Times

This past Saturday (January 15th), I had the privilege attending a music producers roundtable presented by the L.A.Times - The Envelope at the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live downtown. Ari Levine of the Smeezingtons, RedOne and Alex Da Kid were on hand with L.A. Times' Ann Powers as moderator, brought together in honor of the upcoming Grammy Awards in February.

All of the producers on hand presented their latest works to the sold out audience. Ann Powers was especially smitten with the Bruno Mars hook in the Smeezingtons' written song B.o.B's "Nothing On You" ("They might say hi and I might say hey").

The overall encompassing phrase of what it means to be a music producer in the 21st century is "Global Music". Moroccan born and schooled in Sweden RedOne echoed that phase often during the panel, as did his other music producer counterparts.

Ari Levine described the Smeezingtons' creative writing process as a jam session that eventually turns into a song. With drums, keyboards and other equipment around where everybody can jump in and add musical parts.

Alex Da Kid wrote Nicki Minaj's “Massive Attack” on a London subway on his laptop, while drawing inspiration from the electronica group by the same name. He also mentioned that Eminem / Rihanna's "Love The Way You Lie" was written with a $100 acoustic guitar.

Equipment each producer could not live without:
Alex Da Kid - Logic and Waves plug-ins.
Ari Levine - Akai MPC
RedOne - Guitar

None did reveal their secrets, but each producer did say something about upcoming projects they're working on.

Alex Da Kid is working with his new artist Skyler Grey (who is currently heard on the Diddy: Dirty Money's song "Coming Home" and soon to be heard Lupe Fiasco's 2nd single)

RedOne is working with new artist Porcelain who has an upcoming song with a Lil Wayne feature. Zander Black a self described cross between Jim Morrison and Bono and new artist Mohambi, all coming through his new label 2101 Records via Universal Music.

and Ari Levine kept his lips sealed.

Advice to artists out there who want to make it in the music business:

Alex Da Kid:
If you are meeting with someone (industry person) research them. The internet is a great tool, use it.
Judge the competition and do better, out do them.

RedOne:
Learn to write and play an instrument.

All the producers:
They like to work with an artist with their own true musical vision.
Have faith in what you do.
Make yourself stand out.

Although no technical aspects of producing music were bought up, we got a true sense of what it means to be in the music producer drivers' seat, driving pop culture. This being the first music producers panel sponsored by the L.A. Times, judging by the response and turnout, I think there will be more planned in the very new future.

Read the Los Angeles Times account from the event HERE

Kanye West's Sound Engineer Andrew Dawson Interview With L.A. Times

L.A. Times: Describe how you started working with Kanye West. And what do think it’s taken for you to be successful working with him prior to his latest album?

Andrew Dawson: When Kanye was halfway through "The College Dropout," he’d fired about six to eight engineers in about a month because they weren’t up to snuff, and it was eventually my turn to be next on the chopping block. I haven’t been fired since, seven or eight years later.

L.A. Times: How did you get involved with the "Fantasy" album, and what were some things you talked with Kanye about in terms of engineering and mixing it?

AD: "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" pretty much started New Year’s Eve 2009. He flew everyone out to Hawaii the day before New Year's Eve ... and I remember on New Year’s Eve I was in the studio getting everything ready to go for the next day. And on Jan. 1, we were getting into the recording sessions and worked pretty much 24-7 for six months straight out of Hawaii. I literally would leave to go shower, change clothes and come back to the studio. There weren’t many beach days. But Kanye went through his process and worked on it solid for a good six to seven months.

But as far as engineering, there are certain sounds and certain production aspects that he really likes. If there’s a sound or an idea he wants, he’ll take it to, like, an extreme, to where you start to wonder, "Why is this so far out there?" Then he’ll pull it back to a perfect amount. He’s the master of knowing how to push things almost too far. ... I did some co-production on “Power.” I was the one who found that “21st Century Schizoid Man” sample and chopped it up.

L.A. Times: Where did that idea come from?

AD: Some random day I saw a T-shirt that reminded me of an album cover by King Crimson, and I went back and listened to that record. And Kanye and I were checking it out, and he ended up taking the sample and putting it in “Power.”

L.A. Times: What background or skill set do you bring to these kind of notable hip-hop artists that allows you to stand out in the production world?

AD: I’m a piano player, a guitar player and a songwriter, and I’m aware of all those aspects. So I can be different from other engineers where it’s purely a technical thing where they’re just trying to get the best sound. And I can sit back and say, "Yeah this sound is cool, but it doesn’t work with the arrangement. Maybe we should try it this way." I can anticipate a lot of times where an artist is wanting to go with a song and have arrangements and other things laid out before they even have to ask. It helps making their creativity flow as easy as possible.

L.A. Times: What aspects of the album really challenged your skills?

AD: Kanye wanted to do a complete departure from the standard format of hip-hop albums. The cool thing for me was that I got to throw out all of those pop conventions where we had to have a four-minute song and have a hook come in the first minute. It was very free-form working on the album. So the key thing was trying to capture it without getting in the way and trying to let [West] express his ideas as easy as possible.

L.A. Times: What’s it like seeing some of the projects you’ve done this year -- like Kanye’s “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” and Drake’s “Thank Me Later” -- do as well as they have been given that you were behind the scenes helping to create them?

AD: It’s kind of cool for me to see people get excited about because it’s something I lived every day. So while the process is going on, I can feel the energy of how exciting and interesting it is, but it doesn’t really hit me until the album comes out. While I’m making the album I’m super critical and analytical and when it comes out, I’m like, "Now I can enjoy it" and be a bit detached from it.

L.A. Times: Where do you see yourself going next in terms of upcoming projects?

AD: I’ll be producing an album for P.O.S. He’s a friend of mine going all the way back to high school, and he just reached out to me earlier this year and said he wanted me to produce his entire album. So he and I are set to start working early in 2011 in L.A. to his follow-up album to “Never Better.” A lot of the mixes and the engineering I do are heavily production involved. I’ll do a lot of sound replacing or changing arrangements. I’ve worked on quite a few tracks as a producer, but sadly all of the artists on the label I worked with, nearly every one of them, were dropped or shelved. So I’m really excited to work with him on his album.

L.A. Times: Where does the "Fantasy" album fit in terms of career milestones for you as a sound engineer?

AD: This album puts the bar so high, working on such a creative album, it’s very interesting to see in my career what could top it. I’m not gonna say it couldn’t happen ... but it gives me a goal to work toward. (source)

Chris Brown Announces Tour Dates: Too Soon?

Todd Martens of the Los Angeles Times begs the question about the pending Chris Brown “Fan Appreciation” Tour - is it "Too Soon?"

October 20, 2009 2:07 P.M. Wasting no time to return to the public eye, controversial R&B singer Chris Brown has confirmed a date at the Avalon in Hollywood, promising an "intimate performance" on Nov. 18. The official announcement, oddly enough, comes on the same day that Rihanna released her new single, the stark "Russian Roulette."

In late August, Brown was sentenced to five years' probation and 180 days' community labor -- to be personally supervised by the chief of police in Richmond, Va. -- in connection with his attack on former girlfriend Rihanna.

Brown will soon see how forgiving pop audiences are of him. Tickets for his Nov. 18 performance, produced by Live Nation, will go on sale Friday via the promoter's website.The concert will promote his forthcoming release "Graffiti."

UPDATED 4:17 P.M. A statement from Jive says that the trek will be called the "Fan Appreciation" tour, and that a "portion of proceeds" will be donated to the charity Best Buddies International. The non-profit is "devoted solely to providing friendships, jobs and leadership opportunities for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities," according to the release.

In a release announcing the tour date, Brown is quoted as saying, "I wanted to change it up and really be different. Like my style nowadays, I don't try to be typical urban. I want to be like how Prince and Michael [Jackson] and Stevie Wonder were. They can cross over to any genre of music."

There's plenty of examples in pop music of artists surviving controversial pasts, including Brown's idol Jackson. R. Kelly continued to release music and dominate the charts while undergoing a prolonged trial, in which he was ultimately acquitted, on child pornography charges.

Brown will have to hope the public has a similarly short memory when it comes to his tour. His comeback single, "I Can Transform Ya," was released Sept. 29 and has hovered around No. 30 on iTunes' top-selling digital singles for much of the last week, according to data from Big Champagne.

Full article link here:
L.A. Times - Chris Brown announces L.A. date: Too soon?

Chris Brown “Fan Appreciation” Tour Dates

Sat 11/14/09 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
Sun 11/15/09 – Dallas, TX – Palladium
Wed 11/18/09 – Los Angeles, CA – Avalon
Thu 11/19/09 – San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
Sun 11/22/09 – Richmond, VA – Landmark
Wed 11/25/09 – Detroit, MI – Royal Oak
Thu 11/26/09 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
Sun 11/29/09 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
Tue 12/01/09 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues
Wed 12/02/09 – Atlanta, GA – CenterStage
Fri 12/04/09 – Washington, D.C. – Warner Theater
Sat 12/05/09 – Providence, RI – Lupo’s
Sun 12/06/09 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
Fri 12/11/09 – Baltimore, MD – Sonar
Sat 12/12/09 – Wallingford, CT – Chevrolet Theater
Sun 12/13/09 – Philadelphia, PA – Electric Factory

main photo courtesy of Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times