When I stop to think of Chicago House music, there’s simply no way I can’t think of DJ Ron Carroll. Not only has Ron lit up dance floors the world over from behind the decks, he’s provided other DJ’s with a bounty of soulful house classics from Barbara Tucker’s “I Get Lifted” to his comedy rap “Walking Down The Street (With My Nikes On)”. The first time I met Ron was about ten years ago in Cannes, France at the Midem festivaI. In the years since, I can fondly remember promoting nights with Ron on the decks – some of the most enjoyable at the club AND on the dancefloor!
For holiday time, Ron whipped up “Can’t Wait For Tonight” on a whim one morning. A few hours later he dropped me a line to mix the track up in Studio A. The track kicks out with a BIG hard kick and splashy techno synths. For the kick and drums I went to my trusty ELI Fatso compressors with a touch of Focusrite Red compression to pull out some snap. The rest of the track went to the Manley Vari-Mu for a nice smooth, thick fill. Ambient processing came via the Lexicon 300, Sony M7, and Sony R7. The track took quite a bit of equalization across the board – a task for which the Oram-Trident is famous. There was also quite a bit of work in Protools, but hey – who care’s about that?! We wound it up with some mastering touch-ups, making use of the Focusrite Blue 315 equalizer, Manley Vari-Mu, and Waves L3 limiter. Overall, I feel the processing highlights the hard driving feel of the rhythm married with the smooth classic R&B feel on Ron’s vocals. There’s very few artists who can captivate such a cross-genre vibe successfully.
Enjoy The New Year!- Alex Gross
Be sure and check out Ron Carroll anytime he’s on decks around the world! You’re sure to have a top-notch night!
Saturday we got a visit from south siders Big Bizness.
The BB crew had a big year in 2010, with Butta putting out a great mixtape and releasing a Chicago radio hit called “Whutz Poppin Ride.” Both the actual song and the remix are still being played pretty heavy around town…not surprising considering the names who stepped up to the plate to feature with Butta, such as:
Arrogant, Bo Deal, Benny Franks, Boss Kane, and DatBoyHot.
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Here we see that its not always Butta that blows up the booth when Big Bizness sessions are booked. This weekend we got to work with some of the other guys in the camp for the record “That Thang.” The song features Swat and Da Beast of Big Bizness. Swat has really come into his own lately as the resident singer for the group, and Da Beast always has hot 16s on deck!
We took a classic Pop/R&B approach on the mix. Swat’s vocals have a touch of Antares Autotune, an analog sounding delay through the Waves Supertap, and some corrective eq, compression, and reverb. Da Beast’s verses are wet up a bit with the Waves Enigma, using Steve’s secret variation to the “flangeverb” preset.
Find out more about Big Bizness HERE, or just tune in to WGCI!
Flyy City Entertainment’s resident R&B artist C-Rich came through for a really productive session. In 3 hours, he was able to knock out 2 full songs, and make some edits on 3 others. We get to hear C-Rich talk briefly about his upcoming project, “Back Seat Music,” and watch him record parts of his new song “Alone.”
Mr. Rich is really organized in the studio, so sessions with him are always relaxed and a lot of fun. The song featured in this video blog is a heart felt, somber piece. Some notable techniques were used on the mix side of this record. The hook clearly took a back seat (no pun intended) to the lead parts… so we went for that “dreamy” and “airy” background vocal sound… The main vocals are speckled with delays and a nice Sony Oxford plate reverb emulation.
C-Rich and the whole Flyy City team seem to be gearing up for a big year….I for one cant wait!
What’s New In Chicago Rap Music? Keep Checking The Studio 11 Video Blog To Find Out! VB#0001
Every Friday night Studio 11 gets a visit from YG of Sharp Shooters Entertainment. This week he was definitely on point with his new record “Laugh Now Cry Later.”
Upon first loading up the track, questions started to fly about how YG would attack it. The track has a downbeat that was hard to feel at first, and constant drum fills made it rhythmically even more interesting. As you can hear, YG took a dead on, hard flowing approach that matched the energy of the beat really well.
On the mix side, we decided to stack the chorus pretty heavy, and delay some key words to make it more “hooky.” YG is pretty strong in the upper midrange, so some EQ on the beat was necessary to make sure the horns did not fight with the vocal. Once all the frequencies were cleared, we were able to focus on some creative elements with the ad-libs and beat drops.
All things considered, it was a fun session with a high energy track. Be on the lookout for more from YG, he is a longtime client of Studio 11 and comes in weekly!
Alright friends and family of Studio 11, it’s that time of year again!! Time for reflection of the past, and forecasting of the future! We here cannot thank you all enough for yet another fantastic year at Studio 11, we’ve had some amazing projects come through this year! So many in fact, that I’m nearly at a loss for words! Looking over the massive amounts of session files from the A room and the B room is just astounding. From producers, to artists, and us the engineers, everyone put our all into these projects making your concepts realities. We couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve all accomplished together. From artists getting signed, to mixtape downloads reaching over 9,000 in just four days, to just hotness being laid down in the studio on the daily, everybody deserves a glass raised! We would like to recognize a few of the artists that took off in 2010:
Rockie Fresh
YP
Boss Kane
Lungz
Aon
Butta Da Prince
Big Homie Doe
A-List
Reno Chinati
JDP and C Rich of Flyy City Entertainment
Prophet and Sasso
Demi Lobo
Streets on Fire
James Curd
There are so many more of you too mention it’s just amazing!! Everybody was on the hard grind this year, putting out amazing music covering from backpacker hip hop, gangster, r&b, rock n’ roll, edm, experiemental, and beyond. Chicago as per usual, is consistently producing some of the best examples of established, and new genres alike. Everybody that came through Studio 11 in 2010 (or just ever!) were a part of showcasing just how rich and diverse of an artists city Chi really is.
I myself, couldn’t be more grateful to have been welcomed into the fold here at Studio 11 so graciously… it’s truly been an honor and a privilege to be among your ranks. I look back and cannot believe the insurmountable amount of talent that we’ve got in Chicago coming through here, it’s just astounding!! I know I’m incredibly proud to be a part of it, as is our man Steve. (not too forget Dan and Alex! I got you!) We hope you all have had/ are having a wonderful holiday season, and we all four greatly look forward to 2011! It’s the year of 11 people!! Let’s get some big and bigger things accomplished this year!!
