56 Producer’s Edge Magazine Fall Winter 08

P

roducer and PE writer Sean

Maru gave us a list of producers

he wanted connected with the SP-

1200 VS article. Easy Moe Bee

was at the top so we got at him.

Simple as that. We begin with the

placement that lands the gear...

instead of the other way around!

Easy Moe Bee: We gained another

victory in “Calling Mr. Welfare”, but

I actually did it on somebody else’s

equipment. And the money that I

earned from that, back then, that wasn’t

a whole of money, but it was the fi rst

money that I ever received. He gave

me $1500 a track, so that is $3000.

And that went straight to buying the

SP.

Straight to the SP. I bought that

fi rst SP1200 when we were recording

with him on the

It’s A Big Daddy Thing

album, we did that at a studio called

Libra Digital. I do not even know if it

still exists in Astoria, Queens.They

were done on a Synclavia.

Going back that far. Was it just

sitting there in the studio or you

actually know it was going to be the

tool.

I bought all my records and all of my

sounds to the studio. I had my little

pad laid out with all of the sounds that I

wanted to sample, whether it was kick

and snare, or loops, little pieces, or

whatever, and we did it that way. As

a matter of fact, I was right there. I

watched them do “Smooth Operator.”

“Smooth Operator” was done on the

Synclavia too. Then I am sitting there

and I am watching the whole process of

keyboard sampling. I already had it in

my mind this is the machine I wanted.

I was just saying to myself “

Wow; this

is the process of keyboard sampling.

What is it going to be like sampling on

the SP1200.”

So how did that process hold up in

the age of the MPC and the ASR-10.

How did that still remain a tool.

I bought the SP1200 a couple of

months into ’89. The SP1200 was still

a really popular machine. I understand

what you are saying with the MPC that

came along and everything, and a lot

of other people gravitated, but I don’t

know, there is something about the

1200 that I was stuck on. Probably still

to this day, it is the sound that I keep

implementing. That sound would be a

comparison between analog and the

fi rst digital.

Was it also in the sequencing, the

timing structure or just the raw

sound you couldn’t get away from.

It was a nice clear sound but just

not as crystally clear as the digital

MP series that they were coming out

with and everything. Like I said, the

difference in the sound is probably

between dropping the needle on an old

45 versus playing a CD. And if I had

a choice of what my sound should be,

I would rather it be the nice, full body

sound of dropping the needle to an old

45. I like my stuff to sound round and

warm like that.

Let’s talk about your record digging

process. What kind of samples are

you attracted to and why is that.

I love guitars. I love keyboards,

sounds- like pad sounds from just

about anything or anywhere. Of

course drums, I am really into the

acoustic drum sound. But I will sample

electronic drum sounds too. But I am

really big

on guitars. I still use a little bit

of horns even though that might not be

really popular but I still deal with them.

And I love any kind of futuristic sounds.

People got the best of that in “Flava in

Your Ear” with Craig Mack.

When you are actually doing your

digging process, do you have the

catalogue in your head of what

bands, what kind of instruments

and what kind of sounds, or are you

a record cover-type digger where if

the cover looks interesting, you are

going to scoop it.

Well, fi rst of all I got a basement.

Just picture my basement. It is full

of records. I have been collecting

records since I was 8 years old, and

some of the things that I loved as a kid

in records are some of the same things

that I love as an adult now. And when

I buy a record, a lot of times, it can be

an artist that I never even heard of. A

lot of times, I buy albums by just the

personnel alone.

Who played drums. Who played

bass.

When I see

Harvey Mason is

playing drums

,

Bob James is playing

keyboards

,

Idris Muhammad is another

alternate drummer

on the album, and

Leo van Doeselaar is playing organ

,

I think I need to have that album, you

know what I mean. I will look just at

the personnel alone.

A lot people buy records for

different reasons. A lot of people are

drawn into an album by the album

cover. That gives me a lot but I have to

read who the producer is and who the

Vintage

Series

Artist Connection

E-MU SP-1200

Producer

Easy Moe Bee

57 Producer’s Edge Magazine Fall Winter 08

personnel are. That usually gets me to

pick an album out whether I know of it

or not.

The personnel can almost tell me

whether I need that album or not. And

sure enough, like the kind of lineup that

I just gave you, I will bring that kind

of album home and I will play it, and

sure enough, I will love it. And at that

point, it becomes of use to me. There

is something in there that I can do

something with.

What shaped your producer’s ear.

What do you use when you are going

with your sound design. What gave

you your musical ear.

What shapes my sound. A lot

of everything that I do is based

around the drums, but I do not

always have to start with the

drums. Sometimes, it could be

a keyboard line. Sometimes, it

could be a stab or something. I

will start to build from there and

build drums around it, then I start

to decorate the beat, the same

way you would a Christmas tree,

you drape the bells and other

stuff around it and then you

come with the tinsel. I am the same

way with the tracks, but I have to get

that first main groove going, you know

what I mean.

Have you been impressed with

keyboards at all.

Oh yes. It is kind

of old now, it is like 10 years old, but I

have got a Kurzweil K2500. I still use

a lot of sounds from there. There are

sounds that I love that I have no idea

where it came from, and I just sample

them and do it all for records.

And built your own library.

From the unit itself. A lot of times, you

get a different effect if you hook your

keyboard to your 1200 as opposed to

sampling that padded voice. And then

once you get it into the machine, into

your SP1200, or if you use an MPC

and then you transpose it, then you

start copying, and key grouping it, and

creating harmonies.

I have done things with the

SP1200 that a lot of people have never

ever done. Some people tell me I

make that machine sing. I have played

keyboards on it. I have arranged horn

sections on the SP with full harmonies

and everything.

Let us talk about the actual

recording industry itself and your

involvement there. You have been

around quite some time and have

been very prolific. What are your

keys to survival.

Just keeping the love for the music. It

all comes home for me and what I use

musically, like you asked me before…

what shapes my ear or what gets me

going, what would start me off and get

me to actually making a track, and I

find myself instead of moving forward,

I keep going back to everything that I

loved the most in the beginning.

In other words, all the things and all

of the records, all of the sounds, and

everything about music that originally

influenced me to do this and come up

with the tracks that I did, that is the stuff

that I will make sure that I will continue

to listen to in my leisure time.

The way I used to sample

drums, I still do it that way. The way

I used to buy records and the types

of records that I used to buy, I just

maintained that whole part about

it. Everybody has their own specific

qualities. I have mine. I have what

works for me and what I love. That is

what makes me tick.

Who is it that you are looking to work

with now. Who are you looking at

right now as worthy of your music.

I would love to work with Common.

Believe it or not, that never happened.

Out of all the people that I have worked

with, I have never worked with him. It

is kind of hard to say because a lot

of the people that I could work with, I

might not be compatible with because

my sound is not necessarily, how would

you call it, a dirty, dirty sound.

It is the 808 sound. I have never really

been big on that. In any type of tune, I

like to hear acoustic kicks, the snares,

drum sounds, and band samples. I like

to hear real keyboards, pianos, horns,

you know what I mean.

You are into real instrumentation.

Yes. So anybody out there right now in

’08 that is still cool with that, Easy Mo

Bee can get with you.

Nice. Aside from the

808, what else have you

noticed as far as modern

music is concerned. I

am not going to even

ask you about the

poppy stuff that is on

the radio. I am going

to say: the change in

the underground or

what the most talented

spitters are using for their backing

tracks now.

Okay, one thing that I noticed about

today’s current underground is that a

lot of the underground artists are doing

what a lot of the mainstream artists

are doing. So it makes me wonder

how much of the underground we still

actually do have.

And do not get me wrong,

there are still some classic genuine

hip hop out there and what we will call

the underground. But there are so

many people that are just trying to be

mainstream. There is a lot of following

right now. There is not enough

originality like it used to be. They are

like

De La Soul versus the Big Daddy

Kane versus the Poor Righteous

Teachers versus the KRS-1

album or

record. Each of the records that I just

said, each of the artists, and each of

the producers for those albums, they

all had their own individual quality.

Right now, everybody mostly sound

the same, and I work hard not to try to

“...what pisses me off in this day

and age, you have younger people

who come into the business and they

expect to be renowned as a hip hop

producer but yet, they have not done

any research.”

58 Producer’s Edge Magazine Fall Winter 08

get caught up in to that.

Take us back to the history of “Flava

in Your Ear.” Take us back to the

day that song was created.

Okay. I was still living in Brooklyn

maybe about two years. I moved out

from my mom’s house and out of the

projects and got my own apartment. I

woke up one day, and this is the honest

truth, I remember it like the back of my

hand, I woke up, walked over to the

machine, clicked it on, and started

playing some records. And I was not

even dressed yet and did not even take

a shower. I made “Flava in Your Ear.” I

made that beat in my drawers.

Did you know. At what point did

you know it was special.

While I was making it. A lot of producers

talk about how long it takes them to

make a track. I do not put a specific

time on it. I have taken six hours and I

have taken three days to do a beat.

Sometimes it is easy, sometimes it

flows.

I even close it off, come back,

and do little more. I have taken three

days to make a track until I finally get

it where I want it to, and then there are

some other things that happen in just

15 or 20 minutes. “Flava in Your Ear”

happened in 15 or 20 minutes.

That was a pretty chaotic time, I am

sure, working with Craig Mack, and

you had the Biggie work that you

were putting in. Was that probably

the busiest and most hectic work

schedule you have ever had.

Yes, it was man, I definitely would have

to say that. Especially because of the

work that I had done with Craig Mack

and with Biggie. Yes, that was the

start of what we would call the heyday.

Yes, it was real, real busy for me back

then.

And how were you able to maintain

focus.

It was real busy, and I do not

care how busy it gets still to this day.

The accountants can call me on the

phone. The lawyer can call me and

need me to come down and sign this or

do this or do that, and I would have to

run around to meetings and play beats

for people, but sanity for me is being

able to play my records.

That is your relaxing time.

Yes, because you got to think, you

only get to sample after you have the

chance to listen. That is a big part

of my recreational leisure time. It is

listening to my records.

Let us go over to some actual audio

processing. What kind of outboard

are you using.

I know this is going to trip you out,

but at home, in the studio, we had a

bit more of a set-up. Of course, over

there, we are using Pro Tools and

stuff. But at home, you are not going

to believe this.

Okay…

I have my SP1200 to my Akai S950.

Right.

My SP1200 goes into the line

one of my DJ mixer....that’s it.

What.

My DJ mixer. My 950 goes

into the line two of my DJ mixer, and I

basically sample sequence and just do

a whole lot of programming. At home,

I view home as the programming

station. After that, after we drop it and

track it, then I get all fancy and get into

the whole engineering process.

But while I am making a track,

I do not want to deal with anything but

the actual sequencing, sampling, and

programming part of it. I do not want

anything else interrupting me. So you

could say at home, what I am doing is

a lot of dry sampling. But a lot of the

dry sampling beats that I have done,

people think they are better than some

of the engineered stuff out there.

You think it lost something in

translation on the mix board.

That is exactly what I am trying to tell

you, it is what happens a lot of times.

You have a lot of these dudes who got

a lot of the best of the latest equipment

and then they are making beats, and

while they are making beats, they

keep chewing while they are making

the track and all. I do not need any

of that.

You give me my records or my

sampler sources and what I am going

to be sampling. I have my machines

in front of me. I sample. I truncate. I

loop or whatever. If necessary, I add

keyboards to it. Everything is done

dry. And then after that, then the

engineering process starts. To me, if

you cannot get it going on a dry level, it

is not even going to be worth anything

once you start engineering it.

So there is no computer in your

setup at home.

“No computer. No mixing boards.

I know your magazine. This is good

for your magazine. I know most of

the people who ever knew Easy Mo

Bee and my love for this music, they

are gonna bug out for all of what

they have. And that is right. No

multi-mixing boards. No outboard

gear of any kind. Straight, dry

sampling.”

Let us talk about the S950 since

that is a pretty popular combination.

Have you been using the filter

section on the S950. Is that its

primary role.

Oh yes. I used them much less than

I used to, but I still do use them.

Filtering used to be a really big thing

back in the early to the mid-90’s. A big

shout to my man Lord Finesse, Large

Professor, Pete Rock, and so many

more, but those dudes, and Diamond

D, These and the other producers are

friends of mine, I respect their work. All

of us together kind of popularized that

whole filter thing.

What about Miles Davis in 1991.

Miles Davis’ album called

Doo-Bop

.

Actually Miles Davis came to Russell

Simmons and told him “I want to

do some hip hop.” Russell referred

Miles to Francesca Spero who was

the manager for Rush Producers

Management at that time. Russell had

Rush Artist Management and in the

end, Rush Producers Management.

59 Producer’s Edge Magazine Fall Winter 08

He had a girl named Francesca Spero

who was my manager at the time,

and she took the call for Miles. She

put together a reel of several different

producers under the management over

there and somehow, Miles gravitated

towards me. We started recording on

the album and just from the beginning,

he declared that he wanted me to finish

it and do the whole thing.

Miles Davis and Easy Moe Bee

What did that do to you mentally

to have that happen. Was that the

end. Did you say “Okay, this is all

I need to have done. My place in

history is confirmed.” Did you feel

there was still something beyond

that. Is that a blessing.

There was so much more that I

still could do. That is an interesting

question that you asked because it

happens like in the beginning of my

career. You got to think in 1989, I just

finished producing Big Daddy Kane.

The second biggest project after

that was, me and my brother LG, we

produced the entire pre-Wu Tang…The

Genius album,

Words from the Genius

on Cold Chillin’. I did 10 songs and my

brother did four.

I was with Big Daddy Kane and then

two years later, I am producing Miles

Davis. I might have felt like I was doing

it all, but in my mind, I still knew there

was so much more to be done, and

I am happy that I was not a victim at

that time of what they used to call the

Grammy jinx.

Because Miles Davis’ album, it

won a Grammy for a Best R&B Jazz

Instrumental album. So after that

happened, I was worried. Man, I

hope I would not catch the Grammy

jinx because most people who got a

Grammy back then, they were finished

and done.

Think Young MC, think Will

Smith, you know what I mean.

Let us go back to the keyboard

thing. Did you have formal music

instruction.

No. Everything I have ever done has

always been by ear. There is a special

process to the way I produce. With

the SP1200, I do something which,

for years, I have called play samples.

What I mean is harmonically in the

end, everything is in tune and it can

be a brand new creation. It does not

have to be a loop or original. What I

mean is it is original but it is all in tune

harmonically. I form horn sections

and form chords. If you listen back to

the things that I have done, I will give

you an example, like Busta Rhymes’

“Everything Remains Raw”. Also,

the other record on that album, “It’s A

Party” featuring Zhané, if you listen to

the things that I was doing with vibes

on that record, like creating harmonies

and all of that and everything, nobody

has ever done that. Nobody. And I

have heard a couple of copycats out

there who try to do it but nobody does it

like me. Do you know how that came

about. That came about from working

with what you have. That came from

wanting and wishing that I had more

but just working with what I got. In

other words, I wanted people to always

think that I had all these keyboards in

my crib but I did

not.

And when

you get to the

studio and you see

how I do it, people

are like

“What.

Wait a minute.

That beat that you

have been playing

all this time in the

car… that is how

you have made

it. Everything is in tune at once.”

And

they would look to me like

“Dude, you

are crazy, man. How do you do that.”

Pretty amazing. Can we talk about

The Lost Boyz for a second.

Oh, okay. Let us talk about

Jeeps,

Lex Coups, Bimaz & Benz

. That was

supposed to be for Craig Mack but

he…

You are lying.

Yes, he turned

it down.

No...no.

.It is crazy. About a

month ago, me and him talked about

that too.

He heard it over the phone and

turned it down, or are you saying he

was there live and turned it down.

No, live in person. I remember I played

the track for him, me and Aaron Ross.

He was at Uptown at that time, “Butt

Naked” Tim Dawg, me and him, we

were seriously trying to push that track

on Craig and he did not want it.

Maybe he just did not feel like he

had something for it.

The same thing with “Warning” on

Notorious BIG, where I sampled Isaac

Hayes’ “Walk on by.” That was made

for Big Daddy Kane. I had made that

I sample. I truncate. I loop or whatever. If

necessary, I add keyboards to it. Everything

is done dry. And then after that, then the

engineering process starts. To me, if you cannot

get it going on a dry level, it is not even going to

be worth anything once you start engineering.

60 Producer’s Edge Magazine Fall Winter 08

for him not because he asked me to. I

was like “Okay, this is for you.” He said

“Play the next beat.” I said “Are you

sure.” He said “Play the next beat.” I

asked him one more time. I said “Yo,

are you sure.”

He said “Yo man, just play the next

beat” and I said “Alright, man”, and the

next time he heard that beat, it was on

Notorious BIG’s album.

I remember hearing a lot about the

production team behind Bad Boy

and everything else, but I actually

was not aware of how key your

actual sound was when added into

their mix.

Well actually, my sound was not added

into their mixes. As far as the timing

of releases on Bad Boy, you can call

me one of the fi rsts. There were no

Hit Men yet. The Hit Men concept

came a little later towards the

Life after

Death

Album. That was something

they formulated. But in the beginning,

something else a lot of people do not

know is that I am the fi rst producer that

Biggie worked with in a real studio.

A lot of people also do not know

that I did what was considered almost

like half of that

Ready To Die

Album.

That is 6 songs. Hey, that is half of

somebody’s album.

So let me ask, how do you walk

away from that. Why not make that

your signature, why not just stay in

that groove, and just fl ow with that

movement.

Because at that time, I kind of liked

being independent and being able

to move around the way I did. Puffy

approached me too. He had offered

to manage me and I was managed by

Francesca Spero at that time and I was

like “Yo, what are you doing, man. I

am already managed by her.” I told

him and I said “Listen. Let me get back

to you on that.” I think the problem was

I never got back to him on that.

So to this day, I always wonder if he

liked that or if he did not like that. But

if you noticed, I did not have too many

producer spots over there in Bad Boy

after that.

Yes, I can see that would be a

problem.

Or it might have been a

problem for him. There was something

that he wanted that he did not get, and

that was me. Nobody can deny that

the Easy Mo Bee sound was like the

foundation…the foundational structure

of a sound at Bad Boy. My sound kind

of defi ned the beginning, and I even

watched how a lot of the work that

The Hit Men were doing after, the stuff

that was done in the beginning, was

designed, and based around the work

that I did. Yes. Do you notice when it

comes to Bad Boy, I do not really get

talked about a lot, right.

No, that is why I did not know. I

thought maybe…

That is because I

was not a Hit Man. So that did not sit

well with them.

So what is it that you want then.

What do you want from this

industry.

What I want is to be remembered,

after it is all said and done…that I was

a dude who cared so much about the

music and everything that I did. Think

about Curtis Mayfi eld. Curtis Mayfi eld

was an artist, but he also was a

producer. Now when you listen to the

body of Curtis Mayfi eld’s work, it was

uncompromised.

He stood for a certain

something in his music, and every

time, he embodied that. He put that

across and that is what I am trying to

do. I am happy that a lot of the stuff

that I have done has sold gold or

platinum or whatever, but at the end

of the day, I want my body of work to

be remembered as something that has

some integrity to it. That is how I want

to be remembered.

What do I want out of this

industry. I would love to be remembered

and recognized even currently right

now as one of the greatest producers

to ever sample and make beats for hip

hop and for rappers, because I know

for a fact that I have not gotten all of my

props like I should have.

What does make me proud

though is there are a lot of technical

parts in the process of how I made

tracks. When I look to date, there are

a lot of people that do what I did, and it

only could happen because I did it fi rst,

you know.

Alright, can you give us a gem for

that up-and-coming producer, the

guy who is still working it out, trying

to fi nd his sound, and trying to fi nd

his way.

I would tell any producer that is up-

and-coming and that is trying to fi nd

his sound…fi rst I would ask him, if I

had a one-on-one with him, I would

ask him what kind of music does he

love, because maybe he does not want

to be a hip hop producer. Or for the

“

I would love to be

remembered and recognized

... right now as one of the

greatest producers to ever

sample and make beats for

hip hop and for rappers,

because I know for a fact

that I have not gotten all

of my props like I should

have.”

music that you love, do the research

on it. Study it. If it is rock, you know

what I am saying. Study it.

If it is hip hop, first of all, this is

what pisses me off in this day and age,

you have younger people who come

into the business and they expect to

be renowned as a hip hop producer but

yet, they have not done any research.

When it comes to hip hop, it is almost

like a class that you take up in college.

I have taken the personal time to

experience and even still now, to go

back and study the origins of not only

the artist but producers. If you want to

be a producer, study the origin of the

producer.

If you are in hip hop and if you

consider yourself a hip hop producer

today, even regardless of your age,

there is no reason why you do not know

who Herbie “Luv Bug”, Howie Tee,

Marley Marl are. Jazzy Jay, one of the

premier early hip hop producers, was

more like a teacher. If you call yourself

a producer, it does not make sense

that you do not know who Norman

Whitfield, Bob James, Curtis Mayfield,

and people like that are. Want to be

a producer. Study the origin of the

producer, especially in the genre that

you are doing.

Marley Marl is my mentor. I

eventually got the chance to meet him,

but before I got the chance to meet

him, I knew everything about this man,

to where he lived, the type of records

that he loved and that he sampled,

everybody that he had worked with,

and the equipment that he used.

You got to do your home work

and you got to study. A lot of people

look at DJ Jazzy Jay as just DJ Jazzy

Jay. No. If you did your homework, you

would find out that Jazzy Jay was one

of the earlier premier hip hop producers

of our time. [pauses and gets lost in

this thoughts...] I wonder how many

producers out there, besides myself,

are still using the SP1200.

Let Easy Mo Bee know by checking

him out at www.easymobee.com