Beauty and the Beats | Keri Hilson
Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Anthony Roberts
BEHIND-THE-SCENES SONGWRITER KERI HILSON AND UP-AND-COMING PRODUCER POLOW DA DON STEP INTO THE BRIGHT LIGHTS FOR HILSON'S SOLO DEBUT, IN A PERFECT WORLD...
PLAYING WELL WITH OTHERS
Although they can be headstrong with each other, both Hilson and Polow are chameleons in adapting their creative energies to mesh well with others'. Never ones to be boxed in by expectations or stifling rules, the two find equal enjoyment in throwing convention and caution to the wind and going against the grain.
“Working with Justin [Timberlake] was great; he's very quick. He's kind of an off-the-cuff kind of guy, sort of like the Jay-Z of lyric and melody writing,” Hilson says of her collaboration with the former boy-band frontman on the track “Slow Dance.” “He doesn't write anything down, he just kind of goes off. So I didn't either, I just kind of sung. Some days I'll come in with just a melody; other days I'll ad-lib it down; other times it'll take me a few hours just to come up with the concept. There's no blueprint for my creativity, and that's the fun of it.”
A prime example of that off-the-cuff attitude reveals itself in the music writing as well, such as in the making of “Ready to Fall,” where Polow takes off the traditional urban digs for a rock guitar-laden track that may catch some of the Polow faithful off-guard.
“Originally, when I made the track, I was messing around with some samples, and I had to replay some of the samples,” Polow says. “I was with Mike [Hartnett] from the rock group Rehab; he's been working with me since before I even knew how to produce. We speak the same language musically. I got him to play guitar on there. I wanted to come from more of a rock background, and he just makes what I do a little bit different. It gave it that odd but special sound. I try to use musicians that don't do what I do, and that's the reason that I get the sound that I get.”
But fear not fans of the heavy thump; you will still find plenty of Polow's deep bass lines and hard drums on the project. “I came up on the MPC, so that's gonna stay,” he says. “I learned on the MPC2000, but I just love the sound of the 4000. For the past couple of years, I've really been using Cubase 4, and the NeKo TSE is the keyboard that I really can't live without. When I first started to use the NeKo, it's like I transformed into a new producer. There are so many options at your finger-tips. That's where I feel like music [production] has come to, and that's also where I feel it's going.”
PERFECTLY IMPERFECT
Like any great relationship, both of these budding superstars recognize that they have room for improvement. Hilson believes in this notion so much that she based her album on the concept, weaving what she calls a collection of “deliberately imperfect” songs together to form her debut offering. While no rookie to the industry and not naïve to the world, she maturely recognizes that she still has a lot to realize about herself both as an artist and as a woman.
“The picture I wanted to paint was imperfect because we as human beings are,” she admits. “It could be your financial status, your body image, your love life or whatever it is you'd go back and fix. I'm vulnerable on this album. I'm not dealing with untruths as an artist. No matter who it is, I don't know anybody who's not dealing with real-life issues. They can look like they've got it all together, but nobody's exempt from dealing with realities.”
Polow also acknowledges that there is definitely opportunity for improvement within himself and his craft. “I just picked up a beat machine six years ago, so as time goes on I'm learning more about the music, how to make it a little more perfect,” he says. “I'm still gonna go with the hard drums, but I'm figuring out low ends…not the 808, but the real bass lines. I'm still learning because I have people like Dr. Dre to catch up to. As far as instruments, I'm always changing up. I just did a track with an accordion on it, but it's dope. I only feel like I'm competing with greatness. Even though I have millions of dollars, I say I'm broke because Jimmy Iovine got a billion. I got six No. 1 songs, but that's nothing because Babyface got 30.”
Hilson and Polow are building together. With each session, each song, the pair take one step closer to that sacred artist/producer space that generates classic material and further pushes the envelope of the music as a whole. And as with every legendary duo (even the forgotten ones like Gorrell and Carmichael) that has carved out its own place in music history, the two definitely complement each other, playing yin to the other's yang. Now if they can just work out the kinks.
“[Hilson's] a female, so I have to deal with her differently,” Polow admits. “You have to treat them differently to get them to do what you want and get out of them what you're trying to get. You can't do it like how you'd do guys. Will.i.am told me the same thing about Fergie, and Tim said the exact same thing about Missy [Elliott].” Lucky for us, this power struggle/battle of the sexes plays out as some of the best music that we've heard in a long time. And with both of their first loves being music, it's only right that a couple — musically, that is — have a lovers' quarrel every now and then.
“I don't think they've quite mastered their own sound yet, but it is developing,” says Araica of the duo's less-than-patented sonic signature. “If Timbaland and Aaliyah were like the perfect marriage, this is like a marriage in counseling.”
DA DON'S DEN
Computer, DAW, recording hardware
Apple Mac Pro quad-core computer running a Digidesign Pro Tools|HD 3 Accel system with Magma expansion chassis and Apogee converters
Steinberg Cubase 4
Console
SSL 4000G+ with Ultimation
Sampling workstations
Akai MPC2000XL, MPC4000
Synths, workstations
Access Virus
Dave Smith Prophet '08
Open Labs NeKo Timbaland Special Edition running Steinberg Nuendo and 200-plus plug-ins and soft synths
Roland Fantom-X6, V-Synth
Instruments, amps
1951 Gibson small-body acoustic
1991 Fender Stratocaster Ultra guitar, Twin Reverb amp
Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier amp, 4×12 cabinets
Mics, mic preamps, compressor/limiters
Mercury Grand Pre mic preamp and M66 limiting amplifier
Neve 1064, 1073 preamps
Neumann U 47, U 67, U 87 mics
Sennheiser MD421 mic
SPL Transient Designer
Monitors, headphones
Augspurgers
Ultrasone headphones
Yamaha NS10s
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