Common
Jan 1, 2009 12:00 PM, By Ken Micallef
ACTIVIST, PEACEMAKER, RAPPER AND ACTOR COMMON AND PRODUCER MR. DJ TAKE A POSITIVE POSITION IN THE MIDST OF AN ECONOMIC DOWNTURN, CREATING MUSICAL THERAPY WITH UNIVERSAL MIND CONTROL
GO AHEAD, MAKE MY DAY
“Make My Day” is one of UMC's most eclectic tracks, with an overall sonic sheen that recalls a reverberant bomb shelter. An overarching sound like that of a Roland Space Echo running amok dominates the track.
“That phased sound is a regular flange from Pro Tools,” Mr. DJ says. “I added the flange to hide a sampled drum loop taken from two separate vinyl records. Those weird sounds and bells that follow came from the [Roland] Juno and a Korg Triton. The piano is live. The drums are four different kick drums, three snares and two different claps. Lots of analog sounds from the [Yamaha] Motif keyboard. And drums are from the MPC, sampled and live drums added again.”
Although some producers look for the samples with clean hits, Mr. DJ aims to pick up all the dirt and background noise. “It sounds like there is a lot of reverb because of the kinds of drums I sample,” he explains. “I sample reverb-heavy drums, dirty drums, drums that might have something else playing in the back. I can manipulate so much with the MPC3000.”
CHANGE IS GONNA COME
“That weird tape swirl in the intro?” Mr. DJ asks by way of explaining the psychedelic sheen of “Changes.” “It's software that sounds like tape. When I used to DJ, I would hit the Stop button on the Technics 1200 and make the music go errrghhhh, and it would drop the next beat. And you hear rain and thunder, birds singing in the breakdown. The birds came from a sound effects disc, the thunder too. I was just trying to make the song sound different, so I sampled the sound effects disc, put it into the MPC, then hit the button where I wanted it to go.”
The breakdown on “Changes” segues into bubbling textures, gurgling sounds, an unnamed female vocalist and a humorously childlike vibe. It's like watching a '50s-era Walt Disney cartoon.
“Common and I just sat down and just started hitting pads on the MPC until we found something that caught his ear,” Mr. DJ says. “And I added more sounds after Common laid down his vocal; that is when the live drums came in.”
At this point, Mr. DJ runs out to his car to retrieve his LaCie hard drive and then unearths the “Changes” Pro Tools session. “I see Motif, Juno, ‘field percussion,’ ‘space sound,’ ‘banjo plug-in,’ ‘lead horn,’ a ‘grunge kick.’ I got three other kicks in ‘Changes,’ all sampled from records. The acoustic guitar at the end was the actual motivation for the song. I just sampled it from a country record, chopped and looped it in Pro Tools. And it's the Juno making those bubbling sounds in the breakdown, and those melting sounds must be the Motif.”
KEEP YOUR HEAD UP
A double Grammy Award winner who has DJ'd extensively and produced sides for Outkast, Goodie Mob, Nappy Roots and Killer Mike, among others, Mr. DJ remains decidedly individualistic. He does it his way, whether or not the masses and the stars send the love. Would he ever change his tune(s) for greater mainstream success?
“I probably could but it wouldn't change my music,” Mr. DJ insists. “My thing is to be original. We need more different music. My not going for the money all the time has contributed to my longevity. I could make beats like everyone else and get the check. But I choose to have fun and whatever comes of it comes of it. Don't limit yourself to what you hear on the radio and how you can make a couple dollars right now. Dare to be different.”
Similarly, Common continues to stretch his stylistic boundaries but with an eye toward pleasing the people. Forever the optimist, he may title an album Universal Mind Control, but Common's true sentiments are those of hope and brighter days.
“Things are getting better,” Common confides. “I feel positive it's going to be incredible with [Barack] Obama as president. A friend of mine knows a 95-year-old white woman who was voting early, and she saw a black lady behind her. She told her, ‘My father was very prejudiced. This is to repair all the wrongs that both of our forefathers have been through.’ Obama understands the perspective of black and white people. It will definitely be brighter with Obama in office. We have more hope in our psyches and in our minds with him as president. He was sent to do this. It's a healing thing.”
Andrew Coleman: Tracking Common
Top engineer Andrew Coleman is well known as the tracking guru behind The Neptunes' million-sellers; most recently, he lent his services to Shakira and Diddy. But The Neptunes' net is a wide one. “If it's on The Neptunes' resume, it's on mine,” Coleman jokes.
“Common is pretty intense in the vocal booth,” Coleman says from Virginia Beach. “He does probably 15 to 20 takes per verse until he feels it is absolutely right on. He'd be happy with a verse in one state; then we'd go to a studio in another state and he would want to redo it. I didn't really hear a difference, but Common is so committed to what he is doing.
“We used the Sony C800G into the Avalon Vt-737sp. No EQ, just a little bit of compression, usually under 3 dB, fast attack, slow release. People complain about the Avalon because it doesn't have a fast enough attack, but I like it for Common's voice for that particular reason. It's fast but not too fast. The Sony is a great mic; I use that or the AKG C12 VR or the Telefunken Ela-M 251E, but they are very expensive to rent. I used the Telefunken on John Legend's Evolver.
“With Common, I would run the Sony into the Avalon into Pro Tools flat, then depending on the material I would EQ it within Pro Tools to make it sit in the track a little better. He's pretty loud in the studio and he has a great mic technique. Common knows when to back off and when to get close to the mic. A lot of singers don't understand mic technique and will just blast into the mic the whole time. Common understands to back off on loud parts and get closer on softer parts; he's acting as his own compressor, basically.”
Mr. DJ's Skill Set
Computer, DAW/software, recording hardware
Apple Logic Pro 8, Power Mac G5
Digidesign Pro Tools HD
Propellerhead Reason
Console
SSL XL 9000 K
Synths
Korg Triton
Roland Juno-106, Fantom-X6
Yamaha Motif 6
Instruments
Fender Rhodes electric piano, Squier guitar
30-inch marching bass drum
Mixed-brand four-piece drum set
Mics, preamps, compressors
Focusrite ISA 220 Session Pack preamp
Neve 33609 compressor
Sony C800G mic
Tube-Tech MP 1A preamp
Sampler, turntable, DJ mixer
Akai MPC3000, MPC5000 samplers
Numark DXMPro 2-channel Scratch DJ mixer
Technics SL-1200 MK2 turntable
Monitors
George Augspurger custom monitors
Yamaha NS10
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