JUST BLAZE Stops Using The MPC for BATTERY

2010-09-04T02:49:00Z

It’s 11:30 p.m. at Baseline Studios in New York City, and while most of the
Big Apple is either settling down or already asleep, the day has just begun
for hip-hop producer Just Blaze. He fires up his Pro Tools|HD Accel
system, loads a session that he began on his Mbox 2 Mini, and gets to
work on what he’s done best for years—producing hip-hop hits.
“I’ve been doing music as long as I can remember,” says Just Blaze. “I was
always into the concept of being able to take different records, mix them
together, and turn them into something else. I didn’t really take production
too seriously at first. But midway through college I got a chance to
do an internship at a studio called the Cutting Room in Manhattan. I got
to watch so many records being made by some of the biggest producers
at the time. Eventually, through all the relationships I made there, I was
able to branch out and do what I’m doing now.”
Just Blaze went on to become the in-house producer for Roc-a-Fella
Records and founded Fort Knocks Entertainment. Though he got his
start in analog recording, he quickly discovered the advantages of digital
audio. “I actually got to witness a turning point right around the mid- to
late-’90s, when people started to go from analog to digital recording,” he
says. “I jumped on the Pro Tools bandwagon right away, as soon as I had
the chance.”

Born Justin Smith, Just Blaze has produced songs for some of hip-hop’s
biggest artists, including Jay-Z, Kanye West, the Beastie Boys, the Game,
and T.I. With Pro Tools as his all-in-one solution for composing, editing,
and mixing music, he’s able to work both creatively and efficiently. “With
so many of the records that I work on now, I go from start to finish without
leaving Pro Tools,” he notes. “For example, ninety percent of Jay-Z’s
‘Show Me What You Got’ was done in Pro
Tools—from the band’s live overdubs to composing
the drums and other instruments.”
While most hip-hop producers and beatmakers
rely on hardware samplers to compose
music, Just Blaze prefers to do everything
“in the box.” For years, he used the genredefining
Akai MPC sampler to compose his
beats—but now, he says, he creates music
entirely within Pro Tools.

“We still have the MPC in the studio, but we
don’t use it much anymore!” he admits. “What
we do now is record the sample into Pro Tools,
chop up the parts of the sample that we
definitely want to use, then import them into
Native Instruments’ Battery. We basically use
Battery and an M-Audio Trigger Finger to trigger
the samples the same way an MPC would.
Then we use Pro Tools as the sequencer.”
Just Blaze also relies on virtual instruments
within Pro Tools, including Xpand!, a free
sample-playback/synthesis instrument developed
by the Digidesign Advanced Instrument
Research (A.I.R.) group. On “Show Me What
You Got,” he chose Xpand! for the track’s
Hammond organ sound.
Ryan West (Jay-Z, Usher, the Game), who
engineers for Just Blaze, is another fan of A.I.R.
instruments such as Xpand!, Hybrid, Velvet, and
Strike. “I think Digidesign is changing the game
once again,” he says. “With Xpand! we can dial
up beautiful preset patches or create our own
in a snap. The fact that these virtual instruments
are tuned to work perfectly within Pro Tools
means no fussing with tech support or digging
through online forums to diagnose and troubleshoot.
It simply works, and works well.”
It’s not just the music creation aspects of
Pro Tools that Just Blaze finds invaluable—
it’s the platform’s portability and
flexibility as well. In addition to the
Pro Tools|HD systems housed in
Baseline Studios, Just Blaze travels with
a Digidesign Mbox 2 Mini Pro Tools LE system
and a Pro Tools M-Powered system. He recalls
how Pro Tools simplified his and West’s workflow
during the mix phase of Jay-Z’s single:
“Ryan got most of the mixing done using the
Pro Tools|HD rig in the B Room at Baseline
Studios. Then I took that session with me to
Hong Kong, and literally finished mixing the
record on the plane using Pro Tools M-Powered
with a set of headphones. And a week later it
was on MTV!”

Ultimately, any technology is only as good as
the talent behind it. But with Pro Tools, the
technology makes it easier to express creative
ideas, says Just Blaze: “It’s not about the
machine, it’s about the man behind it. At the
end of the day, all that these machines do is
translate the ideas in our heads into something
for the rest of the world to listen to. And
Pro Tools streamlines that translation process.”
Just Blaze is currently in the studio completing
the debut album of Fort Knocks Entertainment
artist Saigon. He’s also working with artists
from other labels, including Busta Rhymes,
Memphis Bleek, Faith Evans, and Talib Kweli.
For more about Just Blaze and his recent
work, visit www.myspace.com/justblazeradio.

New Dr. Dre computer by Hp

2009-10-13T20:55:00Z

Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine have unveiled plans to release an exclusive line of HP laptop computers.

The HP ENVY 15 Beats limited edition notebook PC is the latest inHP's ENVY line. Iovine and the good Doc (who calls the laptop "the newstereo") is apparently trying to give Steve Jobs aheart attack with its features: Mixing software from NativeInstruments' Traktor LE, black high-gloss finish, and Dr. Dre'sheadphones thrown in as well. It retails for $2,299.

"We started this journey with the headphones to improve thetransmission of sound between record makers and consumers," Iovine saidat a press conference Monday. "What's out there is not representativeof what you hear in the recording studio. As we went on this journey,we found that computers were in the way. Artists and producers wanttheir sound repaired in digital audio. Computer companies charge $1,000for computers but only spend 50 cents for speakers. With HP, we found apartner willing to take the step to improve the overall sound in thePC. This is for anyone who plays music." here's a link to a talk with Jimmy Iovine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khxp2njQ3Ss

Dr. Dre studio setup

2009-08-01T17:21:00Z

Here's Dre with one of my favorite samplers the mpc3000 whats yours? Looks like an old mac display an mac keyboard, it looks like pro tools, don't know which keyboard that is but it's got 88 keys. As you can see he has 2 MPC3000 this is an old pic but I like the view.

Just got Battery 3

2009-08-01T13:03:00Z

Just got battery, it's like an mpc software anybody get it yet? I will do a video on it this weekend for the school skrecordingschool.com

Welcome

2009-07-31T07:47:54Z

Welcome, I'm Doc from samplekings.com checkout my blog on studio toys. Please check back soon for new entries.

HIPHOPSTUDIO

JUST BLAZE Stops Using The MPC for BATTERY

New Dr. Dre computer by Hp

Dr. Dre studio setup

Just got Battery 3

Welcome