Session Transcript:
Carl Craig
Red Bull Music Academy, Sao Paulo 2002

The video stream for this lecture can be watched here.

Carl Craig is arguably one of the best producers in dance music today releasing house, techno and electronic jazz since 1989. He is considered the spearhead of Detroit's second wave. Carl's label, Planet E, has established itself as a widely respected home for electronic music of all genres. The Red Bull Music Academy was lucky enough to have Carl Craig give a demonstration of how he typically goes about constructing a track, delivering nuggets of invaluable information for all aspiring producers on the way.

RBMA: »In this demonstration, Carl is going to quickly construct a track for us, using Logic. During this, I'm going to ask Carl about his methods of making tracks. Before we start, I'll just go over what we have set up here: three EXS24s, which is Logic's sampler. Some software-based synths, also based in Logic and some old analog synths. Carl has brought a couple of samples with him, which we're going to import into Logic. We'll edit those samples and then try to put a track together very quickly. So Carl, can you tell us a bit about your approach to writing songs?«

Carl Craig: »The way that I approach making music is that I walk into the studio with an empty mind. If I have an idea, it's going to get scrapped because most of the time it doesn't sound the same as it does in my head.



I might walk in with some records and maybe try to sample this or that, but mostly it's a random thing. If something starts to work then I'll go in that direction. Also, my technique of making music isn't necessarily based on Logic, its based on whatever piece of equipment that I have around at the time. My recommendation to any of you here is to find your instrument and stick with it. When you listen to people who make hip hop records, like Swizz Beatz or Jay Dee, they always use an MPC3000 and an SP1200. DJ Premier's been using an SP1200 on all his records since the time he started. If your instrument is Logic, then I say as a sequencer, stick with that. Don't switch to Performer or Cubase because what ends up happening is that you end up wasting time on your learning curve. I myself use Logic but I used to use Performer. Back then, I kind of didn't like the timing of it, so I bought an MPC3000 and used that for several years. When the time came to using a computer sequencer again, I bought Logic and had no clue of how to use it. I think I sat there for a year saying: "I don't want to do this!" If I use Logic then I might start off with how we're doing it right now - putting something into the EXS24 - whether that's something I've sampled into an SP1200 or some sounds that I've made on an Andromeda keyboard or a 101. So what we're going to do here is work in a similar way to how I work with any piece of gear. We have four samples: two are based around drum rhythms and two are what I call 'pad sounds'. That means something like strings that I will chop up and use for chords and chord progressions. I don't use ReCycle because I think that's the easy way out. I prefer using an S1000 or an S3000 or any other hard samplers where you can't just push a button and it cuts it up on the beat. I want to be able to see how I take samples that aren't in strict time and make them fit.«

RBMA: »OK, I'm just going to drag some of the samples that Carl brought with him into Logic's arrangement page in order for us to edit them. We'll start off with one of the string sounds here.«

Carl Craig: »We're just editing the samples now. We have the waveform visible here on the display. The points where we can see each note hitting, we'll separate into individual sounds. When it comes to using effects, I never use software. I own a bunch of really nice outboard gear: keyboards, compressors, modules, etc. I think you can do a lot more real-time shaping with, for instance, an SSL compressor. The SSL will do something different than a DBX160, which in turn does something different than an E6400. Each one has a different character. If you want to use an aggressive sound or a kick drum, then you may want to use a DBX. If you need to fatten up the low-end with a compressor, then you use a tube compression sound like the Tube Tech. If you need to roughen up a whole stereo mix or a sub-mix of drums in stereo, then it's good to use a SSL. I use the stereo units instead of dual-mono because of the fact that it will have correct phasing. I don't know how many of you will go back and buy an S1000 or an MPC3000 or E6400, but there are reasons why people use these machines - not because of how you program them, but because of how they sound. So you may go back and say: "You know what? I don't like the way the computer sounds. It sounds too clinical. I want to use an Emax II." OK, we've separated those notes into individual files. Now we're going to have them chromatically spread on the keyboard, so they can be played in different keys. I think it's easier to edit the notes this way. So here we can go from the true note that the sample is in, and go an octave down or an octave up. Now, there's a lot of attack on these sounds. I think it's better to remove that attack because we can create it later on. We're doing this, because if we're going to play back the notes in a different order, then we don't want the beginning or end of each note bleeding into the next. Cutting the attack will make it a lot cleaner. OK, I'm cutting out the bits of these sounds that we don't need.«

RBMA: »So now we need to save this. We'll give it a name and make an instrument of it. And in true computer style, we have just crashed. This is why we saved earlier. I'm going to have to restart the computer now.«

Carl Craig: »This is one of the reasons why I don't use Pro Tools and Logic to record everything. The software can get overwhelmed and you end up losing everything. There are many times, even with dedicated hardware, that if you don't save correctly it'll be gone forever, so I try to use as much hardware as possible. If you start off using a computer, then you're going to know a lot better than me because I started off using an Alesis MMT-8 and other pieces of hardware. I feel more comfortable using hardware, because if the MMT-8 dies, it dies alone. But, if a computer crashes, you can't use Battery or Pro Tools, or Logic. All your game is gone; it's just done, you know? Don't put all your eggs in one basket. I use a Radar 24 for recording. It's an amazing piece of gear but it costs a lot of money.«

RBMA: »What's a Radar 24?«

Carl Craig: »A Radar 24 is an independent hard-disc recorder. The Radar just records music and it records it very well. It doesn't use any compression or gates. It doesn't do anything but record music.«

RBMA: »Does it sound like analogue?«

Carl Craig: »It's supposed to sound like analogue but the cool thing about the Radar 24 is that, if you want different A/D converters, then you can change them.«

RBMA: »What is an A/D?«

Carl Craig: »An A/D is an analogue to digital and digital to analogue interface. Basically, you can take information from your instruments and record them into the computer through the A/D. You can also use the A/D to send that information to your mixing console or your digital recorder, DAT or external CD burner. If you're using something external to record onto, then that's for me. As I mentioned earlier, I prefer to keep everything separate. I get more functionality out of it this way. If you're using a computer, then you have to be careful about the RAM, which is what it depends on to keep everything going. If you've got one or two big pieces of software open - like Logic or Pro Tools, along with several plug-in's that you might be using - then you're already using quite a bit of RAM. Then when you start dealing with large samples, the computer may crash and you could lose everything you've been working on. The more RAM you have installed on your computer, the more you can do.«

RBMA: »What was the first piece of gear that you used to make music?«

Carl Craig: »The first piece that I bought was a Sequential Circuits Prophet 600, an analogue synthesizer. Because I decided not to go to college, my parents gave me some money that they had put by. I went and bought the Prophet and an Alesis MMT-8 sequencer. It's good to be limited to a couple of pieces of gear when you start out because then you're forced to really learn about them. I could virtually take that MMT-8 apart and put it back together again and I really feel that is necessary with any piece of equipment. You have to really get inside of it. You'll know by turning the resonance by this amount and the amplifier by that amount, you'll get the sound you're after. One of the first songs I made was called Neurotic Behaviour - released under the name of Psyche - was made with just those two pieces of gear.«

RBMA: »So now we have the computer running again. This time we're going to take a few precautions by turning off some of the plug-in's we were using before. We're also going to lose some of the drum kits, but we may bring them back up later, if we need them. Basically, we want to reduce the demand imposed on the computer in the hope that it won't crash again. What do you usually do when this sort of thing happens to you in the studio?«

Carl Craig: »It really depends on the situation. One of the things that you always should do, is stay productive, but when you have this kind of problem, being productive is very difficult.«

RBMA: »What is your preferred method for building a track?«

Carl Craig: »For me it goes in different ways. Sometimes I start off with the drums or drum breaks, other times I start off with sounds or samples or loops or whatever the situation is. So with this we're trying to think in a way that won't crash the computer. When you're in the studio, you're trying to solve the problem instead of working around the problem. But unless you have money, you're going to work around the problem.«

RBMA: »So to recap on what we now have set up here: We have two EXS-24s set up here on Logic, one of which is a drum kit, the others are samples. We also have - plugged into instrument 1 - a keyboard with the vocal samples spread across it.«

Carl Craig: »Instead of using the four bars that we have, I want to use just two bars. So what I usually do to do that is get rid of all these notes here. If it's out of tune a little bit, we can just put it all together later.«

RBMA: »I find the quantization in Logic a lot better than Cubase. It's got better swings and you can get things to a much funkier place quicker and the actual internal sound of Logic has a nicer feel.«

Carl Craig: »I only use quantizing when I need to use it. You can adjust it to however you like to work. You can make it click, by using the metronome, on quarter notes for a strict pattern but if you don't want it too tight, then you can set it to 8ths to help get more of a natural feeling. In this situation, we'll set it to 16ths, just to correct what I was playing into the seqeuncer there. When you're using something like an MPC, you can shift the timing ahead or behind as well. So if you want to give it more swing, you can make the beat drop in a little ahead of time. This helps with the flow. It makes the track sound less rigid.«

RBMA: »Can you tell us how you go about making a remix and what you do when you commission someone to remix one of your tracks or one from your label?«

Carl Craig: »If we ask someone to do a remix, we usually send them everything. But sometimes, like I remember when MK was doing a lot of remixes, he would say: "I don't even want to hear that track, I just want the vocals." And he'll do whatever he does with it. It depends on how somebody works. For instance, if I asked Bill Laswell to do something for me then he might say: "OK, don't give me any drums, just give me so and so." They can pick and choose. The way that I usually approach a remix is that I like to hear everything. By having a stereo mix of the song as well as having individual elements. This gives me the opportunity to hear a loop in the original stereo master or I might end up making the whole remix based around the arrangement, as opposed to the actual sounds or the vocal. It can help when building the remix. Doing a lot of remixes can be risky. For instance, I did a remix of Tori Amos and the producer said the vocals were bad, so I had to go back and fix them. At this time there wasn't all this software around today that we could use. The reason why the vocals sounded so bad was because the time signature that Tori sang in jarred with my time signature. That and the fact that she was playing piano at the same time, which leaked through the vocal mic, confusing the harmonizer completely. Now this producer had made loads of great records and totally knew his stuff, so I had to really fix it because this wasn't just some A&R guy who knew next to nothing.«

RBMA: »Have you actually ever been signed to a major label?«

Carl Craig: »Yeah, I've done releases on two. On Warners for the Landcruising album and Talkin' Loud for the Innerzone Orchestra project. It's cool to take money from a major and put it into your own label, kind of like a guerrilla warfare thing, and they have good distribution, too. We don't have tens of thousands of dollars to put behind marketing a product. Sometimes a major can do that, but the risk you take, dealing with a major, is the agony of defeat if they drop you. And if you don't have any options when that happens, it could be the end of your career. I've always tried to remain independent. My involvement with the majors was just to help with what I did on an independent level, finding ways to reach out to wider audiences. It's the same with the Tori Amos remix. Even, if I didn't like her music, doing a remix of her track would enable me to open up potential new markets. There's going to be X amount of Tori Amos fans who open to, or into, electronic music. They might see my name and check more of my stuff.«

RBMA: »It almost doesn't matter which label is going to pick it up, right?«

Carl Craig: »Sometimes it doesn't matter, but I think that you have to be instinctive about who you are dealing with. When I did Landcruising for Warner, I had mad respect for that label just because Parliament and Funkadelic were on them. I saw that WB shield logo and I thought this is quality, you know? But when you start dealing with them, then you realise what their real objectives are. Today they're not concerned with developing artists, their objective is to just make as much money as they can as fast as they can. That's done by charting. For instance, I was at the London office of Warners writing the liner notes for Landcruising, when the general manager came in and told everyone that so-and-so's record is taking priority. Within an hour there's like 20 people running in and out of that office. The reason why this record had top priority was that Warners were trying to get this track banned and so they wanted to chart it as fast as they could. They were playing off the press, creating all this hype bullshit. That's how they sell records. They don't know how to sell through Honest Jon's or Mr Bongo, or any other small independent stores. They only know how to sell mass quantities of records by household names to the kiddies.«

RBMA: »Now we're ready to get some kind of groove together. What we're using here is a piece of software called Battery; a plug-in made by Native Instruments. Battery is a sample playback module that is great for drums. It works in a similar way to a MPC in that a bank of pads or cells are displayed. A sound can be assigned to any of these cells and from there, you can adjust various parameters - attack, delay, pitch and pans etc - to get the sound you're after. OK, we have the drums in place. Now we're going to add a bassline.«

Carl Craig: »We want to find something that's going to work with it, that's not too heavy. With basslines, I find that it's really hard to come up with the right thing. It's just trial and error, constantly trying to find something that works. It can be very difficult to get that funk, you know, because it just doesn't happen instantly. So now I'm just quickly playing with some bass notes on the keyboard until I find something interesting.«

RBMA: »When you're ready, I'll press record and drop you in. That's sounding all right. OK, now we have the bassline.«

Carl Craig: »Now let's take what we've done and maybe try to put an effect on it, just for rhythm's sake.«

RBMA: »Basically, what we've just done here is add some delay to the bass.«

Carl Craig: »By doing this, it changes the rhythm of the bass, it kind of funks it up a little, you know? Also, I've been reading about a lot of commercial music and how they use a lot of quick delay to fatten up sounds like vocals. So we could take this sound here and make it sound bigger by making some quick delay.«

RBMA: »Cool.«

Carl Craig: »Basically, I try to work very fast. For me, it's about catching a groove, about finding something in there that captures the spirit of what you're trying to achieve musically. OK, we're done. This is just a sketch of a track, but it was a lot of fun doing it. So thank you.«

RBMA: »And thanks to you, Carl Craig.«