Now, I’ve never been a HUGE Rick Ross fan. Of course I’d bump Maybach Music now and then, but once Jay-Z hops on something, you need to listen. Jay certainly doesn’t disappoint and the addition of John Legend is just simply beautiful.

A simple, but effectively exciting beat lay a beautiful foundation from the start. This is a must-have for the iPod! Just one of those hype you up in the middle of the day tracks.

Not much else to say, just listen.

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It’s been a long time coming, but it appears Pharoah’s next release WILL actually happen. Currently the project titled WAR (We are Renegades) is scheduled for a fall release through a collaboration with Duck Down.

Any true hiphop fan is salivating right now just thinking about a new Pharoah Monch album and this initial cut doesn’t disappoint. It’s classic Pharoah with a very boom-bap-esque beat laced by the legendary Diamond D and featuring Mela Machinko.

If you’re into classic hiphop, you’ll love this one.

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Recently, BeatStatus resident Engineer/Producer extraordinaire, Matt Griffin, was able to sit down for quite a few questions with one of the busiest and most well known engineers around, Steve Sola, The Mix King. If you don’t know the name, you know his work. Nas, Mobb Deep, and just about anyone you can think of in hiphop are all on his record.

So sit back and enjoy a rare opportunity to get inside the head of a master:

MG: How long have you been in the music business?  Tell me your story.
SS: I consider myself being in the music business for 17 years because that’s how long I’ve been doing music full time.

MG: Why Hip Hop and R&B?
SS: I started my musical journey playing guitar, 30 Years ago..(wow long uhh  ..lol…) Back then I was into Rock and progressive rock and anything to do with the guitar. If a band had a great guitarist I would listen. Jimi Hendrix and Ritchie Blackmore were my heroes.

In the mid 80′ s rock was getting boring so I got into dance music. In the 90’s I got into hip hop because of the rebel mentality and the I don’t give a f*** attitude which I had liked in Rock and roll. R & B is the older sister of Hip Hop. I love them both.

MG: Tell me about your label, Plain Truth Ent.
SS: Im the Ceo of Plain Truth Ent. It started as a personal Publishing company for me. Then I started using it for my engineering and productions. Ex: Steve Sola for Plain Truth Ent. Now Plain Truth Ent. is a Recording,Mixing,Mastering and Production studio in Downtown NYC. Its a small Independent Record label and a digital distribution company. Some of the artists under and /or with joint ventures with PTE are: Imam Thug, Enjoli, Dirtmell,Genesis, and Black Ice.  PTE also has  Producers with hot music: Creon, Gregory B.,Pavel,Hitz and myself. Some of the artists that PTE is  looking to sign are Fashion Da Don, DJ Zodiac Killa and Infinite.

MG: What projects are you currently working on?
SS: These are the albums that I’m fully Executive Producing and Mixing:
I’m also producing and recording most of these albums.

** Plain Truth Ent.Compilation (with various artists) “The Plain Truth”
featuring:Havoc,Prodigy,Cormega,Nyce,Hot Rod, Imam Thug,Nore ,Ron Artest,Ruc,Foul Monday,40 Glocc,C Terrell,Enjoli,Dirtmell,Village Zoo,Im3, Big Noyd,Chinky,Fashion the Don,Black Ice, Genesis and more  (All Produced by Steve Sola)

* Imam THUG  “Rap Prison” Album

* Plain Truth Ent Compilation fully produced by HAVOC (with various artists)  “Wrecking Havoc”

* Dirtmell “TBA” mixtape and album

* Sam Scarfo “TBA” album

* Enjoli “TBA”

* Cormega “TBA” remix album ( all Plain Truth Ent./Producers )

* Genesis “TBA”

* Black Ice  “TBA”
Recording,Mixing,Mastering and Producing:

O’Neal McKnight ft. Yoli Cotray – Give Me A Hand [Exclusive] Haiti Relief Effort (Prod. Steve Sola)

O’Neal McKnight ft. Doemain  exclusive song for Verizon (Prod. Steve Sola)

O’Neal McKnight ft. Aubrey O’Day front singer of Danity Kane tba  (Prod. Steve Sola)

Songs with Tru Wariers,Carl Gershon, Danielle,Mooka Jerz, BMX, Ajay, Script, Salut etc (Prod. SteveSola)

Recording and Mixing:

Im3, Filthy records,Liana, J Dub, P Diamond, So Fresh, Joe A, Malik,Rad, Young A, Tricosta,Daygo boys,Shake hem Down,Fire Beats,Smoove L etc

MG: Who’s your favorite artist to work with?
SS: Right now its O’Neal Mcknight.
MG: Is there an artist that you always wanted to work with?
SS: Jay Z and Eminem. I worked with Biggie and Big Pun after they passed away.  I worked with Eminem on the “Re Up ” but not with him directly.

MG: What was the biggest challenge you ever had to overcome with an artist?
SS: Trying to get them to forget about the crappy ruff mix they liked that was way too loud and distorted. And two other artists….Trying to get them to forget about the crappy ruff mix they liked that was way too loud and distorted.

MG: Lol, I understand that one. Tell me a good studio story.
SS: Here’s a story when I was working with Nas on the song “Street Dreams” from the “It Was Written ” album. One night me,Nas and Trackmasters recorded the whole song “Street Dreams”. The next day Nas came in and wanted to re record the 2nd verse. I thought to myself that the original  was fine. The third day he wanted to re record the 1st verse. On another day he re recorded the 3rd verses. The hook stayed the same. I thought to myself ” wow perfection” or at least getting close to perfection.  If its good but you think you could make it better, try it.

MG: Given the state of the industry, what are some essential survival tips for a producer or engineer just getting out there?
SS: Give up now while you can.There are so many engineers and producers already..  lol. ..

If those sentences would make you give up then this industry is not for you.

But also know that its a 24/7 commitment . Don’t be complaining that your not making it and your still playing video games. Never give up. Try and be the best but know that you will never be the best. There’s no such thing as “the best” in music.

Respect and genuinely like the people you work with and your peers.

MG: Definitely some great words of wisdom there, if you had to pick, what do you enjoy more, producing or engineering?
SS: They are both very satisfying in different ways . I do like the money in producing, but I do like fixing a record that does not sound great and make it great. Producers get a lot more money and fame but sometimes the engineer is really the underdog and does a great amount towards the overall sound of the record.

MG: So how do you avoid “over producing” a song?
SS: Make sure that you could play the song with just a guitar or piano and a voice and its still a good song. Then produce the song a little and listen to what its sounds like. If it really needs more production then add it but don’t add production techniques just for the sake of “producing”. Listen to a song that I co-wrote “Struggle No More” from Daddy’s Little Girls movie.

MG: Name some of your favorite production gear? MPC or the SP, which do you prefer?
SS: I have 2 mpc 3000 and one mpc 2000, 13 guitars, one bass, one lute,one harmonica,one mandolin,egg shaker, about six keyboards lots of outboard etc. and some Virtual instruments . If you can’t make good music with all of that then…I should give up….never…lol

MG: Lol, definitely. Any programming tips?
SS: Just make sure you know the equipment that you are using like the back of your hand. You don’t want to be making a beat/song and can’t figure something technical out. It can break all the momentum and inspiration.

MG: Did you ever thinking about crossing over to different genres?
SS: Yes and Im doing that right now. Mixing and Producing dance music, club music, Pop music. I’m doing that with O’Neal Mcknight. But those are kind of related to Hip Hop and R&B anyway right now.

MG: Now let’s talk about money for a moment…
SS: You want me to mix your record?  lol    www.themixking.com

MG: Lol…I’m sure plenty of us do, (nice plug too!), but do you think royalties should be paid out when people listen or view songs on free share sites like YouTube?
If somebody is making money from the the web site then YES. Whether its from advertising, subscription or any other ways to bring in revenue. If anybody is using your song  they should pay royalties.

Lets say a barber shop, store, car repair shop, hotel lobby,or bar plays your song they should pay royalties. The music makes people feel better,relax or whatever?  they should pay royalties. Even if its the small amount. Ascap or other companies should track that.

MG: Will people ever buy albums like they used to?
SS: No. There are so many ways to buy and listen to music nowadays. But people will always want something tangible. Look at books, people still buy them and electronic text media came out a while ago.

MG: True…we’ll see how that shakes out, now let’s move on to engineering:

MG: What do you look for in a “Great” mix?
SS: It should sound good…..really really good. But most importantly it’s that it makes people want to listen to the song over and over. Make the song,artist and producer sound great. The “mix” is secondary.

MG: If something is recorded poorly, can it be saved in the mix down process?
SS: Somethings could be saved like lower levels,certain pops and clicks etc.
I mean, drums could be replaced if we needed better drum sounds, but things like distortion and low resolution cannot be fixed.

Please record at 24 bit, 44.1k. A 16 bit file has 50% less resolution then a 24 bit file.

MG: I hope everyone takes note of that, it’s all about 24 bit now! How important is A/D and D/A conversion?
SS: The recording and final mix will suffer from any weak links. A/D and D/A  conversion is not one of the most important but its probably in the top five important things you  have to achieve or have to get a good product.

Good mic and pre,good source (singer,musician etc), good speakers, good a/d and d/a,good wires and a good engineer of course.

MG: What’s the most important thing when tracking and mixing vocals?
SS: Clarity in the vocal. Also don’t over compress while tracking and don’t use any EQ.

MG: Digital vs Analog?  Where do you stand in the sonic battle?
SS: I was using digital in the final stages of recording and some mixing in 1994 on the Jodeci album ”The Show,The After Party, The Hotel”. Back then it was a battle. My engineer friends would say how can you stand digital and I would reply “I like it”. Now the war has been won, and  digital is the winner.  Now I say ” I Love Analog”, and I  will always love analog even if I dont use it now. Our ears are analog.

MG: Some associates of mine believe that mastering is not essential in today’s music. What do you think about that?
SS: If the mix engineer would do his job correctly then mastering is very important. But if he or she smashes the compressor and makes the mix so hot (loud) then there is less that a good mastering engineer could do. Some EQ would most likely be applied.

MG: If you don’t mind, what are some of your “Go-To” pieces:  Meaning Preamps, EQ’s, Compressors, Etc?
SS: U87 mic, Foucusrite producer pack 430 mic pre, 1073, any good working pultec, Neve vr60 (lol), Lexicon 480

MG: And again, how can people contact you for your production or engineering services?
SS: www.Stevesola.com www.themixking.com www.myspace.com/themixking

This concludes our interview.  Unless you have anything to add or any last thoughts?
I would like to thank the people that have been listening to the records that I’ve been involved in. (Especially the people that buy records). Without you there would be no music business. All the people that assisted in the process, interns,assistant engineers, anybody that worked in the studio, record companies etc. It takes a lot of people to make a great record/song.
My PTE team: Alonzo, Alberto, Black, Creon, Les, Don Leo, Smirk, Damon, Randy, Goldhands, Raquel, Enjoli, Imam Thug, Genesis, Fashion Da Don, Dirtmel, Drew, Rebel, Taji, Leroy, Joe A, Infinite, Nikki Blue, Arie, Tiffany and Leo.

A special Thank you to Matt Griffin and BeatStatus for this opportunity to be  interviewed by you and your blog. Its been a great pleasure. I hope that with this information we will help somebody  achieve  a better recording and musical experience. Thanx  for the great questions, the musical ones, personal ones and the specific engineering ones.

BeatStatus Team: A big THANK YOU to Steve for his participation. It’s also great to get a peek into the mind/studio with someone who’s worked on so many projects we’ve grown up listening to and new music we still discover today! Feel free to repost, just drop a linkback and be sure to keep Steve Sola’s links intact.

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Kicking off our interviews here on BeatStatus.com we have the talented newcomer to the game who managed to ink a deal with JD’s So So Def just off the strength of his beatmaking videos. Bigg Vic is a name a lot of people may not know…YET. BeatStatus’ own M. Griffin of HottHouse Sound lent his time to sit down with Bigg Vic and find out a little bit about how he got in the game, what he’s working on now and what kind of insight he can provide to those trying to get into the game.

MG: Tell me about yourself.  Your story in the music game.

Bigg Vic: I started out back in 92 after I graduated high school managing and producing  a local hip hop artist in 1993 by the name of Crime. I landed a  small production deal with 3 Gems Records and Carolina Record Distributors. We moved a few units and really didn’t go too far with that deal. 97 I decided to pick up the microphone and release an album myself on my own indie label Phatt Pocket Entertainment. I wrote and produced the entire album, through that album I was able to get another production deal with Big East Entertainment/B Boy Records towards 4th quarter of 97. Another deal that had distribution problems with EMI during the year I signed with them. During this time I signed another local act and released their single and had a video produced to stay active in the game. That single I produced for the group hit number one on the local radio stations rotation list with A class artist. Funds evaporated with investors and I shortly shut the label down and sold my studio. Came back  6yrs later when the production bug bit me again…in 2006..lol

MG: How was it that you got affiliated with So So Def?

Bigg Vic: I got affiliated with So So Def Nov. 2008 about 2 years after I decided to create my Youtube account and make videos of myself producing tracks from scratch. I had made a decision that I would have the most beatmaking videos on youtube if I did nothing else in the music industry..lol  Well I happen to come across JD’s youtube channel and watched a video of him and Q Da Kid in the studio speaking of a mixtape that Q was working on and that they were looking for production for the project. At the end of the video they left an email address for people to submit beats, but I wanted to have one up on everyone else so instead of emailing the tracks to them I decided to leave JD a video response on his youtube channel and selected one of my beatmaking videos and hit the submit button.

I hit the button and went on about my business, 2 weeks after that a couple of my youtube subscribers told me congratulations on the JD deal, I had no clue what they were talking about so I actually ignored the first email but after the next few people hit me I went to JD’s channel to see what they were talking about, JD had made a video announcing who he selected. He chose 2 producers myself and another producer from NY he offered us both a publishing and production deal.. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing..lol It was totally unexpected.

MG: Are you working on any projects at this time?

Bigg Vic: Yes currently working on Dondria’s project as well as Johnta Austin’s project. Both are artists signed to So So Def.

MG: What was the biggest placement you ever had?

Bigg Vic: So far the biggest paying placement I had was a track I did for Muggsy Malone called “Guardian Angel” featuring the famous Ms. Mary Brown – Warpath/Fontana/Universal. I secured that placement a couple months before signing with So So Def through the PMP Worldwide website.

MG: If you could work with any artist, who would it be?

Bigg Vic: It would definitely have to be an artist with serious lyrical skills, I would have to say Jay Z or Nas either one.

MG: Tell me a good studio story.

Bigg Vic: I remember one time when things first started going digital I was recording my album on a Roland VS880 hard disk recorder. Actually I was done recording my second album and for the first time I let a new producer I was working with at the time work on some tracks with some of the artist we had on the label. I can vividly remember getting that dreadful call that my hard disk recorder wasn’t working. I tried to walk them through some steps to get the recorder working… nothing worked. That night I lost an entire album plus several other artists projects I was working on, I was so sick to my stomach…lol  Nevertheless I bought a back up floppy drive and started backing all songs… we live and we learn I guess!!

MG: What production gear do you use?

Bigg Vic: I have been using Reason 3.0, now Reason 4.0 for the past 5 maybe 6 yrs now. I also have Pro Tools 8 MBox2 Pro, I also have Cubase 5, and Cakewalk Sonar for recording reference tracks when I write songs for projects. Monitors I have M-Audio BX8a which I saw 9th Wonder using and I decided to grab a pair and the Yamaha hs 50’s. I use to own a pair of Yamaha NS 10m’s back in the day.. boy do I miss those monitors. And I also have an Akai MPK49 Midi Performance Keyboard

MG: Where do you stand in the battle of software VS hardware?

Bigg Vic: To be quite honest when I decided to get back in the game and give it another swing it was because of the demo I saw of Reason 3.0 at the time. I couldn’t believe that software could sound so great. I would not be back in the game if I had to go out there and purchase all of my old hardware all over again. Your always going to have people that use hardware that love it but hardware gets expensive. Software has really made the production game affordable for alot of up and coming producers. I love it by all means whatever you can do in a MPC I can do in Reason of course with the Akai MPK49 Midi controller that I use!!!

MG: What makes your tracks stand out from the rest of the producers out there?

Bigg Vic: I would have to say my style and sound is alot different from alot of other producers out here. For one I don’t listen to alot of radio but i will listen to the top charters to see what direction the industry is moving toward. There is a certain method to my madness, and I believe every track you hear from me is going to have a mean bassline somewhere in that track just about everytime.

MG: Are there any tips you can give to producers just getting into the music biz?

Bigg Vic: To new producers just getting into the biz I would say keep creating and keep coming up with as much original material as possible because the music game is always changing. Stay consistent and persistant you have to stay humble and hungry, it will come if you keep swinging that bat.

MG: How should they go about getting their music heard?

Big Vicc: I started off using PMP wordwide to submit my music for possible placement on up coming projects, and hear of alot of producers having success using Dynamic Producer as a way to get their music into the hands of top A&r reps. If you have what it takes both of those sites cost between $35 to $50 per month but it’s worth it if you have fire.

MG: Is it necessary to have a lawyer or agent?

Bigg Vic: I don’t think it’s necessary to have a lawyer or agent in the beginning starting out but you will definitely need a good attorney once you start getting placements to make sure get every nickel owed to you for your work.

MG: How can an artist or label get in touch with you if they are interested in a beat?

Bigg Vic: If  you want to get in touch with me for production you can reach me directly at biggvicmusic@gmail.com

MG: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Bigg Vic: I’m currently putting a site together for upcoming producers called Reason Beat Club that should be fully up and running next month Feb 2010.  I also  just launched  my first set of Custom Drum Kits at http://www.the-resource-guide.com/Drumkits.htm

And I launched a book titled “Street Smart Guerilla Marketing Tactics” for aspiring Producers, Artists, and Managers. The complete guide to marketing your music empire online. http://www.the-resource-guide.com

That concludes our chat with So So Def’s Bigg Vic. Definitely keep an eye out for what he’s working on in the future, and stay tuned for A LOT more interviews with some up and coming artists and producers as well as a few more well-known surprises.

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Today we’ve got a special treat for all the producers out there from our friends at StickTrickProductions.com. They provide custom drum breaks at great prices. You can get a custom 16 bar drum loop for about $50. We’re talking REAL DRUMS, REAL DRUMMER, on a vintage kit…shit is beautiful.

What they’ve done is provided us with a nice big zip kit of long drum breaks, all in high-res WAV’s just ready for you to chop up, loop, or just enjoy. In total there is about 200mb’s of drum breaks. All original high quality recorded drum breaks. For real…and it’s free!! Grab this one. There are a few samples below. But make sure you go to http://www.sticktrickproductions.com and check out everything they have to offer. Don’t sleep on this offer, I’m sure the prices won’t be this low forever. Come on, custom drums??? How much better does it get than that?!?! For $50 you can not have to worry about clearing those drum breaks you always wanted to use.

Yeah FREE DRUM BREAKS!

Download Free Drum Breaks via MediaFire (link coming soon!)

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Today we’ve got the always entertaining and often underestimated Royce da 5′9″ with a new rendition of the “Too Hard for Rihanna” track So Hard.

This beat sounds like it was custom made for Royce so it’s no surprise he jumped at the opportunity to drop his own version.  The track features Kid Vishis, who if you think sounds a little bit like Royce, you’re right, it’s his brother. Not “brother” but official Blood Brother. Hopefully they’ll be a lot more new music coming from this tandem soon. For now, just enjoy this one.

Royce da 5′9″ f/ Kid Vishis

Got a new track you want featured in the audio proof section? Recommend it to us on twitter via @beatstatus

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It looks like 9th Wonder is going to be taking his sampling show to a new audience – Duke University. According to XXL’s article on 9th Wonder, 9th will be working alongside a Duke Professor teaching an African-American studies class. 9th’s part will be teaching the kids about ‘Sampling Soul’.

The course will focus on the socio-economic meanings and situations related to soul music of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. Influences and all that good stuff. Best of luck to 9th and if anyone is at Duke, good luck getting a seat in that class now. I’d love to teach a class like that, makes me want to throw some Syl Johnson on…think I will…and I’ll share it with you.

Enjoy, and good luck to 9th.

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Definitely a classic track, just gets an upgrade from Black Thought and the roots crew. Definitely check this one out! Pulled from HipHopDX.com. Black Thought needs to put out that rumored Solo album already. Enjoy.

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Hip-Hop had it’s ups and downs in 2009. Definitely some good stuff, most notably the Blueprint 3 and Only Built for Cuban Linx 2 dropping, but also a lot of bad stuff that just pushes us further and further away from the hiphop we all know and love.

These are just a few key trends that hip-hop music needs in in 2010. If you’ve got some to add, drop them in the comments.

1. Bring back the samples – We saw a slight resurgance in the sample game in 09, but we always saw the shift towards electronic music. Not even the whole “I played this” type of stuff, but straight up Electronic the Genre – you know, DANCE music. Hip-hop in 09 kept moving towards electronic dance music. It’s cool for dance, but let’s not merge everything into one big POP genre. The solution – BRING BACK THE VINYL. It’s still the epitome of hiphop, so keep it coming.

2. Let them RAP – As has been the trend since the passing of the “BIG’s” (Big Pun, Big L, and Notorious of course) rapping has faded and replaced by half-singing r&b hip-hop vocalists. Obviously if that’s your thing, go for it, but when I’m listening to someone like Young Jeezy trying to sing, I’m hitting the skip button. If you’re a hip-hop artist, prove it. That’s what’s been lost, saying something. I’m not talking about the no-one-hears mixtapes, get that stuff out in the open. It’s been started in 09, let’s continue in 2010.

3. Bring back the grime – I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking that everything is too “soft” these days. Not even talking about content, but voice and sound. It’s a shame when Lil Wayne has the grittiest voice on the radio and that’s just because he’s so f**ked up when recording. Remember the emotion you’d hear from someone like Sticky Fingaz or even Jadakiss. His songs got zero radio play here.

What does hiphop need in your opinion? We need you to chime in.

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Empire State Of Mind from Brock Mills on Vimeo.

You’ve got to check this one out! Definitely a great montage. A photographer set Jay-Z’s Empire State to photos he took throughout all of New York City. Definitely a great thing to see if you’re an NYC fan, lover, or just urban enthusiast.

Definitely worth checking out!

This guy Brock Mills who created it has some AMAZING photography too. You should definitely check him out and take a look at his prints, I think they are for sale.

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