Hit Factory
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Will Johnson
HIP-HOP SUPERPRODUCERS POKE AND TONE, AKA TRACK MASTERS, COME BACK WITH A VENGEANCE, SETTING UP PRODUCTION ASSEMBLY LINE AND CREATING 230 SONGS IN THREE MONTHS
The Assembly Line
When it came down to getting hands dirty in the studio, each day began with Poke reading a laundry list of artists who were looking for beats. Based on their knowledge of those artists, the team would then return to their stations and begin working. Despite the factory-like work setting, none of the producers felt stifled. “If anything,” The ARE says, “I think we fed off each other's energy.” On average, each producer created between two and 10 tracks a day, some of which would be scrapped and others that would enter phase two in the big mixing room. “At a certain point, Poke would come in the room and just be like — referring to the infectious music — ‘Where's the drugs? I need the drugs,’” Frequency jokes. “Though we always wanted to give him the ‘drugs,’ it was pretty unpredictable what joints were going to get picked.”
“There were some days I thought I had hits, and they would pick the beats I least expected,” The ARE adds. “It definitely improved my ear for what works on a commercial level.”
In the mixing room, Tone and Poke worked out the finishing touches while advising engineers and rearranging song structures. Simultaneously, in an adjacent room, songwriters and ghostwriters — including rappers Iron Solomon and Punchline and R&B crooners Quo, Range and the Wonder Twins — wrote ferociously on a variety of artist-specific topics. “We always have someone in mind for the songs that we make,” Poke says. “If I'm making a song for Snoop, it's going to sound like some West Coast funk shit. We're gonna do more than just put a Moog on there; we're gonna get the feel of those records — Parliament, Funkadelic, etc. The same can be said for the hooks, choruses and verses. They're artist-specific.”
The last leg of Track Masters' assembly line ends with in-house studio musician and producer, Spanador. An adept musician who once taught Vernon Reid guitar and bass during his days in Living Colour, Spanador re-creates samples and grooves with live instruments, adding a thickness and swing that recorded samples and MIDI simply can't replicate. “He does more than just replay samples; he's adding a feel,” Poke says. “He's a producer more than a studio musician.”
“I have a pretty good ear for pinpointing the key elements of a song and replaying it in a new context,” Spanador adds. “Having been playing in so many different scenes, I'm prepared for any genre or style.” Additionally, Spanador shares writing credits for his keen ability to come up with bridges that break from hip-hop's typical verse-chorus monotony.
Executive Board
Lots of producers and artists take months and even years to create an album's worth of material, but it's all in a day's work for Track Masters. “By 5 a.m., we'd have anywhere from six to 10 new songs in the catalog — complete,” Tone says. “Then it's time to go home, get some sleep and start back up again the next day.”
Track Masters realize that hip-hop purists among them will probably find fault with their method. “What we do is not for everyone,” Poke says. “People who criticize us usually do so because they've forgotten the definition of a producer — better yet, a superproducer. Think about Quincy Jones. You're not going to criticize him for not playing all the instruments on Thriller. As a producer, his job is to oversee the record — to bring together the best musicians, arrangers and writers — to make the best possible album. Maybe he ends up writing some of it, too, but it's not like he was playing the guitar on every track. It's not like [film producer] Jerry Bruckheimer is behind the cameras or doing the lighting on his movies. Producers are top-level managers. They oversee. At this level, when you're in such high-demand, you can't do all the work yourself, so you build yourself a staff and have them carry out the labor. Look at Puffy: He's never touched an MPC or ASR-10 in his life…and he's the richest producer of us all. There's a reason for that.”
With an $80,000-per-track asking price, Track Masters aren't too far behind their one-time disciple, and despite slumping sales in hip-hop, the two believe there is still much money to be made in the business of making hit records. “When you're producing high-quality music, people value it. They want to buy it,” Poke says. “The problem with the music industry is that they're allowing disposable music to enter the market. That's just bad management. Track Masters are famous for making wide-selling music that stands the test of time. We know what it takes to be No. 1 because we've been No. 1 for damn near 20 years.” For them, if that means employing a 10-person staff and spending three endless months at a high-end studio, so be it. In the end, it's worth it to Tone and Poke because, “There is no No. 2 or 3 in this business,” Poke says. “If you're not taking your tracks to the No. 1 spot every time, then you're nothing at all.” That's the job of a superproducer.
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