I would up the remix but my decks havent been set up for about a year ha
Mark 563: Thanks for the clarification...cant believe its been 4 years since that came out...Wax Poetics been doing it for a long time now...anyway, speaking of a producer not getting the credit he deserves, anyone know about about Ivan "Doc" Rodriguez?...his uncredited producer roles are ridiculous
http://www.imposemagazine.com/mag/index ... rodriguez/
(via http://grandgood.com/2008/04/25/the-sto ... rodriguez/)
[quote]Heגs worked with EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, KRS-1, LL Cool J and Alicia Keysג¦He could be the Godfather of Sampling and inventor of hip hopגs beloved remix. So how come you havenגt heard about him until now?
When it is all said and done, Ivan Doc Rodriguez will go down in the rock גnג roll or hip hop hall of fame-or both-as one of musicג greatest producer-remixer-sound engineers of all time; heגs the tri-fecta. Ivan Doc Rodriguez is the name behind some of the most honored classic pop-rap albums in music history. You know those albums, the kind of albums that are often listed in large publications as the top 100 or 50 albums of contemporary music: Eric B & Rakimגs Paid in Full, KRS-1 and Boogie Down Productionsג Criminal Minded, By Any Means Necessary, LL Cool Jגs Grammy-nominated Mama Said Knock You Out and all five of EPMDגs classic albums. These are albums that are beyond worthy of mention. And Ivanגs list of credits does not stop there. Starting in the late 80גs and into the mid 90גs, Ivan worked with Redman, The Fugees, Biz Markie, MC Lyte, DAS-EFX and ED OG and The Bulldogs.
Itגs time to consider Ivan גDocג Rodriguez in the discussion of hip hopגs greatest producer. Itגs that serious. Top five or bust. His roll call speaks for itself:
[Drawn from Discomusic.com]
All five EPMD LP recordings which includes (5 gold / 1 platinum RIAA awards) Strictly Business, Unfinished Business, Business As Usual, Business Never Personal, and Back In Business.
KRS-1 and Boogie Down Productions (2 gold RIAA awards) legendary LPs Criminal Minded and By All Means Necessary.
Biz Markie (3 gold / 2 double platinum RIAA awards) I Need A Haircut, Just A Friend.
Eric B and Rakimגs (1 gold / 1 platinum RIAA award) classic LP Paid In Full.
Rodriguez produced several recording artists including rapגs number one lady with MC Lyteגs Poor Georgie single (that included portions of the disco classic גPoor Georgieג), which marked the first time a solo female rap act achieved a gold record.
[Rodriguez with EPMD, 1987.]
Ivan also engineered and co-produced the historic single, גSelf Destructionג, marking the first time rival rap artists from the East and West coast collaborated for a project with a cause for peace in the violence and drug infested 1980s. These are just a few of his hallmark accomplishments.
For more detailed information on Ivanגs reign in the music industry check out his credits at allmusic.com, where his exact contributions to some of the biggest records in hip hop during the 80s and 90s are documented.
The fact of the matter is Ivan improvised methods in improvising push-button studio technology and helped to innovate a new sound for hip hop.
This is why heגs Doc.
Live from Hellגs Kitchen
Ivanגs story begins on 48th street between 9th & 10th Avenues in Manhattan; New York City. It was an infamous block of real estate during the fast moving 1970גs. Hellגs Kitchen is forever known as that tough Irish-Italian-Puerto Rican-black neighborhood along with the other tough neighborhoods of Manhattan like the Lower East Side, Washington Heights and Harlem. If the kitchen was tough, it also produced some of the biggest names in music; Alongside Ivan, thereגs Alicia Keyגs-who Ivan remembers seeing while growing up-and Lisa-Lisa from Cult Jamג¦Yo Spanador holler at us!
Ivan grew up listening to Soul, Funk, R&B and Disco. Heגs a sound person by nature, a right brain-dominated technocrat loaded with creativity, but he also developed a solid knowledge of music from being a DJ.
His introduction to the profession might have began when his sister גaccidentallyג snuck him into a nightclub as a teen, where a fascinated Ivan had the opportunity to soak up the sounds of NYC nightlife. It was the NYC club anthem/classic גLove is The Messageג by MFSB that gave him the adrenaline rush which foreshadowed his future career events.
[Doc in his early days]
After numerous negotiations with his father regarding equipment, Ivan managed to pull off two turntables, plus the world famous Clubman mixer. After buying his equipment, the coveted DJ work arrived as demand for the man also known as גDee-Jay Docג began. He started spinning at Manhattan clubs like Inferno and the Starship. Meanwhile, his equipment inventory expanded, which left him with no other option but to go completely mobile. It was the mobile DJ status that led him to becoming a background DJ for artists like Spyder-D, a very early 80s rap pioneer with the hit גSmurfies Danceג. You know, it was that classic:
Head / shoulders / knees and toes / Smurf that body across the floor.
The smash hit of 1983 heard around the world.
Doc met Spyder through a neighborhood friend and aspiring rapper named Speedy. Speedy would often ask Ivan to come by his house to rap, since Doc had the equipment as well as the juice. At first, Ivan shrugged off Speedyגs idea since the whole rap-shouting thing turned him off with its non-stop talk over the mic that hi-jacked the whole DJ show. Regardless, after establishing mutual acquaintance, Speedy asked Ivan to come with him to Power Play studios in Queens. Upon arrival, Ivan was introduced to Spyder and the inevitable happened.
[Doc with Ultramagnetic MC Ced Gee, with whom he co-produced Criminal Minded.]
Finally, after all the suspense of being thrown into the fire alive, the two-week gig was over. He was hired at the world famous Power Play Studios permanently.
From those sessions, he developed a quick reputation within the industry as the person to work with. He had a solid grasp of production and mixing, and a big studio presence, prerequisites for engineering throughout rapגs fertiles beginning, where its sound was evolving daily. Ivan would later join KRS-1 and BDP as the official DJ and uncredited producer following the fatal shooting of BDPגs chief beat king, Scott La Rock. Ivan would have a large hat to wear in the upcoming BDP albums.
Studio Alchemy 101: Sampling-Looping and The Remix
This is the part of Ivanגs story that gathers the most attention in his contribution to hip hop, but you have to rewind back to the years of 1983-84 to understand.
Following the Sugar Hill Gangגs גRappers Delightג, rap exploded in 1983-84 with groups like Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, Syder-D, Divine Sounds, Dr Jekyגll & Mr. Hyde, Treacherous 3, Fearless 4, Fresh 3 MCגs, Fat Boys and Whodini. That time period was great for hip hop. You had several powerful independent acts on independent labels flooding clubs, radio and mix shows with a constant barrage of hits. There was Pumpkin and The All-Stars on Profile Records with the hit of the summer in 1984 גKing of The Beatג; Ultimate 3 MCגs- גWhat are we gonna do about itג on Partytime Records. There was the unforgettable FREEZ with John Rocca -גI want it to be realג and גIOUג on Streetwise Records. The independents had the clout. DJs like Chuck Chill Out, Red Alert, Marley Marl, Mr. Magic and The Latin Rascals filled the air waves with master-mixes playing their rap and club hits. The sound was raw, authentic and real big. Powerful drums, keyboard melodies, and sing-along raps ruled the day with innovating producers: Arthur Bakerגs shakedown sound, Kurtis Blow, Spyder-D, Orange Krush, Davey-DMX Rod Hui and others creating the official stamp for the גNY Soundג of rap music.
[The Roland TR-808.]
In 1985, rap slowed down to a trickle as the groups were riding on the hits and commercial success from their first albums and into their second. The Roland TR-808 arrived to bring in a new crisp and electronic sound. The group Mantronix literally created the new sound with the smash hitגs גFresh is the Wordג, גBasslineג and גWhat is itג featuring MC Tee on Sleeping Bag records. Producer Curtis גMantronicג of Mantronix drastically changed the sound using the 808 and kick drum sound as the industry standard in production. In fact, one can argue that the roots of Dirty South hip hop came from New Yorkגs adoption of the 808 heard in the early records of Luke and The 2 Live crew-Miami bass sound, New Orleans bounce and the slower paced 3-6 Mafia style from Memphis, Tennessee. If you listen to Just Iceגs גBack to the Old Schoolג LP, any Mantronix LP, or T-La Rock, the evidence is there. The 808 played a major significance in the sound shift in NYC and giving birth to the south.
While history was taking place, Ivan was perfecting his skills as a DJ, practicing blends and mixes, listening for quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes, grooming himself to be the ultimate mixologist.
[Doc with Destruction Productions]
Fast forward to 1987, following Ivanגs production work for Criminal Minded and Paid in Full. As the uncredited producer, he experimented until he ultimately innovated new textures and sounds. Technology was limited and apt to get extra freaky. The 808 had already defined the 1985-86 era but Ivan found a way to expand on the range of its capabilities with sheer machine wizardry.
Being a technocrat, he found a way to re-create the kick drum sound by using the mixing console, sampling the sound and tuning the outcome of the sound to bass-lines in songs. This was problem solving by process of deduction and innovating new steps in production. He would also experiment heavily with KRS-1 in what he calls גpanningג (as opposed to the normal studio use of the word), where he would bring excitement to a record by making it sound like a storm. Before Ivanגs panning idea, there werenגt that many sources of sound to create effects like his גdouble bassג sound.
However, the sound barrier was altered when the Criminal Minded LP dropped. Instantly, you could tell the difference in sound from the earlier hip hop records of the 80גs compared to Ivanגs influence in EPMDגs, KRS-1גs and Eric B and Rakimגs material. Clearly, the new era of rap had begun.
[Jive records release party with KRS-1, BDP and the Doc.]
Ivan also developed his own techniques for looping and sampling, a technology that, at the time, was not perfect. Ivan worked around the limitations. He would record a sample of a sound then loop the tape on which the sound was recorded around the tape machine heads, holding the extra slack from the tape of an extended path from the machine with a pencil! Heגd also break the ג10-second sample ruleג which back then, allowed 10 seconds for recordings. Before Ivan figured out how the mixing console automation could improve this set-back, the standard industry ג10 second wayג required a lengthy process for sampling. Ivan eliminated most of the steps, and the results are what you hear on Paid in Full, EPMDגs five LPגs, and BDPגs first three albums. For instance, Ivan would play a part from a record at a lower speed and then sample the part at a higher speed using a lower sounding key on a keyboard. Then heגd play it back at the correct speed, thereby extending the sample from one second to three seconds.
On the KRS-1 Boogie Down Productions single גStop The Violenceג, Ivan used his engineering skills by reversing the DJ scratch. He flipped the recording tape upside down on the tape machine and rewound it 40 seconds, playing the groove on an open track. This was the first time a reverse scratch was used. It worked brilliantly.
[Doc, the original hitman.]
Another regular scenario: MC Lyte and EPMD would bring pre-recorded grooves and tracks to the studio on cassette tape. Ivan would run the hissy originals over six different channels on the mixing board, removing the hiss and filtering the sound to give his artists something clean to work with.
The Remix
The remix is probably the most overstated, overrated, and overused concept in hip hop. Much has been said of the remix while many have claimed to have exclusive rights over it, invented it, bought it back to life; you name the philosophy of the month. The reality is that the remix has been around longer than everyone who lays claim to it. Try 1982 to start. A man by the name of Shep Pettibone, who has done remix work for 80גs icons like Madonna, would add his touch to original versions of a 12ג single by making a special club mix for DJs when they would play at clubs. World famous DJs like the Latin Rascals would edit and chop their mixes every weekend on WRKS-FM NYC. Technically, the Rascals were chopping and screwing their mixes back in 1984 before Houstonגs DJ Screw introduced it to Southern rap and hip hop in general.
At the time, the Rascals style was known as גprocessed and edited mixesג in which they overdubbed instrumentals into their mixes. A Latin Rascal mix on cassette was like gold. Either you had to steal a copy or stay up late and record it live on the radio. You can still hear several גOfficialג Latin Rascal mixes at deephousepage.com today.
[Doc with early 80s DJs Special K and Teddy Ted]
Ivan should be credited as one of the first people to re-introduce the remix to mainstream hip hop in 1988 on the hit single גSeriousג featuring Philadelphia rapper Steady-B and KRS-1. DJ Chuck Chillout played the single live for the first time the day after Christmas on KISS-FM . I was listening in at the time. After playing it, the phone lines lit up with callers requesting the recordגs title. In the following weeks, the single became the most requested song on the east coast, including major play on DJ Red Alerts show, and on Yo-MTV rapגs Top Video 10 countdown:
It was hip hopגs first breakout remix on a wider mainstream scale. The single begins with KRS-1 shouting גDJ Doc [Ivan] break it down like this,ג followed by a sinister horror movie-like synthesized keyboard before the song breaks in with a massive bass drum heavy beat, a funk filled bass groove and cowbells. Maybe because it was such a novelty, KRS-1 breaks into the track repeatedly shouting גthis is a remix,ג and גbecause this is a remix, we will now take the time to remix it.ג It was a 360
Pete Rock: גDonגt Ask Me About CL Smooth No More!!!" [v
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BlingRhames
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B. Ware tha Siniq
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I heard his new joint with Kurupt. Geezus what happened to Kurupt he's one of the worst rappers I've heard in recent memory these days. Yuck. It's a shame too, cuz he was a beast for many years.
https://soundcloud.com/jay-beware/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
What was so confusing bout it?BlingRhames wrote:^ that shit was confusing as fuck
ming
ming@grandgood.com
ming@grandgood.com
Ever since Kurupt resigned with Death Row, it's like Daz Dillinger became the better of the two, which isn't saying much.B. Ware tha Siniq wrote:I heard his new joint with Kurupt. Geezus what happened to Kurupt he's one of the worst rappers I've heard in recent memory these days. Yuck. It's a shame too, cuz he was a beast for many years.
[quote="Ming-Tzu"]I would up the remix but my decks havent been set up for about a year ha
Mark 563: Thanks for the clarification...cant believe its been 4 years since that came out...Wax Poetics been doing it for a long time now...anyway, speaking of a producer not getting the credit he deserves, anyone know about about Ivan "Doc" Rodriguez?...his uncredited producer roles are ridiculous
http://www.imposemagazine.com/mag/index ... rodriguez/
(via http://grandgood.com/2008/04/25/the-sto ... rodriguez/)
[quote]Heגs worked with EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, KRS-1, LL Cool J and Alicia Keysג¦He could be the Godfather of Sampling and inventor of hip hopגs beloved remix. So how come you havenגt heard about him until now?
When it is all said and done, Ivan Doc Rodriguez will go down in the rock גnג roll or hip hop hall of fame-or both-as one of musicג greatest producer-remixer-sound engineers of all time; heגs the tri-fecta. Ivan Doc Rodriguez is the name behind some of the most honored classic pop-rap albums in music history. You know those albums, the kind of albums that are often listed in large publications as the top 100 or 50 albums of contemporary music: Eric B & Rakimגs Paid in Full, KRS-1 and Boogie Down Productionsג Criminal Minded, By Any Means Necessary, LL Cool Jגs Grammy-nominated Mama Said Knock You Out and all five of EPMDגs classic albums. These are albums that are beyond worthy of mention. And Ivanגs list of credits does not stop there. Starting in the late 80גs and into the mid 90גs, Ivan worked with Redman, The Fugees, Biz Markie, MC Lyte, DAS-EFX and ED OG and The Bulldogs.
Itגs time to consider Ivan גDocג Rodriguez in the discussion of hip hopגs greatest producer. Itגs that serious. Top five or bust. His roll call speaks for itself:
[Drawn from Discomusic.com]
All five EPMD LP recordings which includes (5 gold / 1 platinum RIAA awards) Strictly Business, Unfinished Business, Business As Usual, Business Never Personal, and Back In Business.
KRS-1 and Boogie Down Productions (2 gold RIAA awards) legendary LPs Criminal Minded and By All Means Necessary.
Biz Markie (3 gold / 2 double platinum RIAA awards) I Need A Haircut, Just A Friend.
Eric B and Rakimגs (1 gold / 1 platinum RIAA award) classic LP Paid In Full.
Rodriguez produced several recording artists including rapגs number one lady with MC Lyteגs Poor Georgie single (that included portions of the disco classic גPoor Georgieג), which marked the first time a solo female rap act achieved a gold record.
[Rodriguez with EPMD, 1987.]
Ivan also engineered and co-produced the historic single, גSelf Destructionג, marking the first time rival rap artists from the East and West coast collaborated for a project with a cause for peace in the violence and drug infested 1980s. These are just a few of his hallmark accomplishments.
For more detailed information on Ivanגs reign in the music industry check out his credits at allmusic.com, where his exact contributions to some of the biggest records in hip hop during the 80s and 90s are documented.
The fact of the matter is Ivan improvised methods in improvising push-button studio technology and helped to innovate a new sound for hip hop.
This is why heגs Doc.
Live from Hellגs Kitchen
Ivanגs story begins on 48th street between 9th & 10th Avenues in Manhattan; New York City. It was an infamous block of real estate during the fast moving 1970גs. Hellגs Kitchen is forever known as that tough Irish-Italian-Puerto Rican-black neighborhood along with the other tough neighborhoods of Manhattan like the Lower East Side, Washington Heights and Harlem. If the kitchen was tough, it also produced some of the biggest names in music; Alongside Ivan, thereגs Alicia Keyגs-who Ivan remembers seeing while growing up-and Lisa-Lisa from Cult Jamג¦Yo Spanador holler at us!
Ivan grew up listening to Soul, Funk, R&B and Disco. Heגs a sound person by nature, a right brain-dominated technocrat loaded with creativity, but he also developed a solid knowledge of music from being a DJ.
His introduction to the profession might have began when his sister גaccidentallyג snuck him into a nightclub as a teen, where a fascinated Ivan had the opportunity to soak up the sounds of NYC nightlife. It was the NYC club anthem/classic גLove is The Messageג by MFSB that gave him the adrenaline rush which foreshadowed his future career events.
[Doc in his early days]
After numerous negotiations with his father regarding equipment, Ivan managed to pull off two turntables, plus the world famous Clubman mixer. After buying his equipment, the coveted DJ work arrived as demand for the man also known as גDee-Jay Docג began. He started spinning at Manhattan clubs like Inferno and the Starship. Meanwhile, his equipment inventory expanded, which left him with no other option but to go completely mobile. It was the mobile DJ status that led him to becoming a background DJ for artists like Spyder-D, a very early 80s rap pioneer with the hit גSmurfies Danceג. You know, it was that classic:
Head / shoulders / knees and toes / Smurf that body across the floor.
The smash hit of 1983 heard around the world.
Doc met Spyder through a neighborhood friend and aspiring rapper named Speedy. Speedy would often ask Ivan to come by his house to rap, since Doc had the equipment as well as the juice. At first, Ivan shrugged off Speedyגs idea since the whole rap-shouting thing turned him off with its non-stop talk over the mic that hi-jacked the whole DJ show. Regardless, after establishing mutual acquaintance, Speedy asked Ivan to come with him to Power Play studios in Queens. Upon arrival, Ivan was introduced to Spyder and the inevitable happened.
[Doc with Ultramagnetic MC Ced Gee, with whom he co-produced Criminal Minded.]
Finally, after all the suspense of being thrown into the fire alive, the two-week gig was over. He was hired at the world famous Power Play Studios permanently.
From those sessions, he developed a quick reputation within the industry as the person to work with. He had a solid grasp of production and mixing, and a big studio presence, prerequisites for engineering throughout rapגs fertiles beginning, where its sound was evolving daily. Ivan would later join KRS-1 and BDP as the official DJ and uncredited producer following the fatal shooting of BDPגs chief beat king, Scott La Rock. Ivan would have a large hat to wear in the upcoming BDP albums.
Studio Alchemy 101: Sampling-Looping and The Remix
This is the part of Ivanגs story that gathers the most attention in his contribution to hip hop, but you have to rewind back to the years of 1983-84 to understand.
Following the Sugar Hill Gangגs גRappers Delightג, rap exploded in 1983-84 with groups like Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, Syder-D, Divine Sounds, Dr Jekyגll & Mr. Hyde, Treacherous 3, Fearless 4, Fresh 3 MCגs, Fat Boys and Whodini. That time period was great for hip hop. You had several powerful independent acts on independent labels flooding clubs, radio and mix shows with a constant barrage of hits. There was Pumpkin and The All-Stars on Profile Records with the hit of the summer in 1984 גKing of The Beatג; Ultimate 3 MCגs- גWhat are we gonna do about itג on Partytime Records. There was the unforgettable FREEZ with John Rocca -גI want it to be realג and גIOUג on Streetwise Records. The independents had the clout. DJs like Chuck Chill Out, Red Alert, Marley Marl, Mr. Magic and The Latin Rascals filled the air waves with master-mixes playing their rap and club hits. The sound was raw, authentic and real big. Powerful drums, keyboard melodies, and sing-along raps ruled the day with innovating producers: Arthur Bakerגs shakedown sound, Kurtis Blow, Spyder-D, Orange Krush, Davey-DMX Rod Hui and others creating the official stamp for the גNY Soundג of rap music.
[The Roland TR-808.]
In 1985, rap slowed down to a trickle as the groups were riding on the hits and commercial success from their first albums and into their second. The Roland TR-808 arrived to bring in a new crisp and electronic sound. The group Mantronix literally created the new sound with the smash hitגs גFresh is the Wordג, גBasslineג and גWhat is itג featuring MC Tee on Sleeping Bag records. Producer Curtis גMantronicג of Mantronix drastically changed the sound using the 808 and kick drum sound as the industry standard in production. In fact, one can argue that the roots of Dirty South hip hop came from New Yorkגs adoption of the 808 heard in the early records of Luke and The 2 Live crew-Miami bass sound, New Orleans bounce and the slower paced 3-6 Mafia style from Memphis, Tennessee. If you listen to Just Iceגs גBack to the Old Schoolג LP, any Mantronix LP, or T-La Rock, the evidence is there. The 808 played a major significance in the sound shift in NYC and giving birth to the south.
While history was taking place, Ivan was perfecting his skills as a DJ, practicing blends and mixes, listening for quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes, grooming himself to be the ultimate mixologist.
[Doc with Destruction Productions]
Fast forward to 1987, following Ivanגs production work for Criminal Minded and Paid in Full. As the uncredited producer, he experimented until he ultimately innovated new textures and sounds. Technology was limited and apt to get extra freaky. The 808 had already defined the 1985-86 era but Ivan found a way to expand on the range of its capabilities with sheer machine wizardry.
Being a technocrat, he found a way to re-create the kick drum sound by using the mixing console, sampling the sound and tuning the outcome of the sound to bass-lines in songs. This was problem solving by process of deduction and innovating new steps in production. He would also experiment heavily with KRS-1 in what he calls גpanningג (as opposed to the normal studio use of the word), where he would bring excitement to a record by making it sound like a storm. Before Ivanגs panning idea, there werenגt that many sources of sound to create effects like his גdouble bassג sound.
However, the sound barrier was altered when the Criminal Minded LP dropped. Instantly, you could tell the difference in sound from the earlier hip hop records of the 80גs compared to Ivanגs influence in EPMDגs, KRS-1גs and Eric B and Rakimגs material. Clearly, the new era of rap had begun.
[Jive records release party with KRS-1, BDP and the Doc.]
Ivan also developed his own techniques for looping and sampling, a technology that, at the time, was not perfect. Ivan worked around the limitations. He would record a sample of a sound then loop the tape on which the sound was recorded around the tape machine heads, holding the extra slack from the tape of an extended path from the machine with a pencil! Heגd also break the ג10-second sample ruleג which back then, allowed 10 seconds for recordings. Before Ivan figured out how the mixing console automation could improve this set-back, the standard industry ג10 second wayג required a lengthy process for sampling. Ivan eliminated most of the steps, and the results are what you hear on Paid in Full, EPMDגs five LPגs, and BDPגs first three albums. For instance, Ivan would play a part from a record at a lower speed and then sample the part at a higher speed using a lower sounding key on a keyboard. Then heגd play it back at the correct speed, thereby extending the sample from one second to three seconds.
On the KRS-1 Boogie Down Productions single גStop The Violenceג, Ivan used his engineering skills by reversing the DJ scratch. He flipped the recording tape upside down on the tape machine and rewound it 40 seconds, playing the groove on an open track. This was the first time a reverse scratch was used. It worked brilliantly.
[Doc, the original hitman.]
Another regular scenario: MC Lyte and EPMD would bring pre-recorded grooves and tracks to the studio on cassette tape. Ivan would run the hissy originals over six different channels on the mixing board, removing the hiss and filtering the sound to give his artists something clean to work with.
The Remix
The remix is probably the most overstated, overrated, and overused concept in hip hop. Much has been said of the remix while many have claimed to have exclusive rights over it, invented it, bought it back to life; you name the philosophy of the month. The reality is that the remix has been around longer than everyone who lays claim to it. Try 1982 to start. A man by the name of Shep Pettibone, who has done remix work for 80גs icons like Madonna, would add his touch to original versions of a 12ג single by making a special club mix for DJs when they would play at clubs. World famous DJs like the Latin Rascals would edit and chop their mixes every weekend on WRKS-FM NYC. Technically, the Rascals were chopping and screwing their mixes back in 1984 before Houstonגs DJ Screw introduced it to Southern rap and hip hop in general.
At the time, the Rascals style was known as גprocessed and edited mixesג in which they overdubbed instrumentals into their mixes. A Latin Rascal mix on cassette was like gold. Either you had to steal a copy or stay up late and record it live on the radio. You can still hear several גOfficialג Latin Rascal mixes at deephousepage.com today.
[Doc with early 80s DJs Special K and Teddy Ted]
Ivan should be credited as one of the first people to re-introduce the remix to mainstream hip hop in 1988 on the hit single גSeriousג featuring Philadelphia rapper Steady-B and KRS-1. DJ Chuck Chillout played the single live for the first time the day after Christmas on KISS-FM . I was listening in at the time. After playing it, the phone lines lit up with callers requesting the recordגs title. In the following weeks, the single became the most requested song on the east coast, including major play on DJ Red Alerts show, and on Yo-MTV rapגs Top Video 10 countdown:
It was hip hopגs first breakout remix on a wider mainstream scale. The single begins with KRS-1 shouting גDJ Doc [Ivan] break it down like this,ג followed by a sinister horror movie-like synthesized keyboard before the song breaks in with a massive bass drum heavy beat, a funk filled bass groove and cowbells. Maybe because it was such a novelty, KRS-1 breaks into the track repeatedly shouting גthis is a remix,ג and גbecause this is a remix, we will now take the time to remix it.ג It was a 360
Mark 563: Thanks for the clarification...cant believe its been 4 years since that came out...Wax Poetics been doing it for a long time now...anyway, speaking of a producer not getting the credit he deserves, anyone know about about Ivan "Doc" Rodriguez?...his uncredited producer roles are ridiculous
http://www.imposemagazine.com/mag/index ... rodriguez/
(via http://grandgood.com/2008/04/25/the-sto ... rodriguez/)
[quote]Heגs worked with EPMD, Eric B & Rakim, KRS-1, LL Cool J and Alicia Keysג¦He could be the Godfather of Sampling and inventor of hip hopגs beloved remix. So how come you havenגt heard about him until now?
When it is all said and done, Ivan Doc Rodriguez will go down in the rock גnג roll or hip hop hall of fame-or both-as one of musicג greatest producer-remixer-sound engineers of all time; heגs the tri-fecta. Ivan Doc Rodriguez is the name behind some of the most honored classic pop-rap albums in music history. You know those albums, the kind of albums that are often listed in large publications as the top 100 or 50 albums of contemporary music: Eric B & Rakimגs Paid in Full, KRS-1 and Boogie Down Productionsג Criminal Minded, By Any Means Necessary, LL Cool Jגs Grammy-nominated Mama Said Knock You Out and all five of EPMDגs classic albums. These are albums that are beyond worthy of mention. And Ivanגs list of credits does not stop there. Starting in the late 80גs and into the mid 90גs, Ivan worked with Redman, The Fugees, Biz Markie, MC Lyte, DAS-EFX and ED OG and The Bulldogs.
Itגs time to consider Ivan גDocג Rodriguez in the discussion of hip hopגs greatest producer. Itגs that serious. Top five or bust. His roll call speaks for itself:
[Drawn from Discomusic.com]
All five EPMD LP recordings which includes (5 gold / 1 platinum RIAA awards) Strictly Business, Unfinished Business, Business As Usual, Business Never Personal, and Back In Business.
KRS-1 and Boogie Down Productions (2 gold RIAA awards) legendary LPs Criminal Minded and By All Means Necessary.
Biz Markie (3 gold / 2 double platinum RIAA awards) I Need A Haircut, Just A Friend.
Eric B and Rakimגs (1 gold / 1 platinum RIAA award) classic LP Paid In Full.
Rodriguez produced several recording artists including rapגs number one lady with MC Lyteגs Poor Georgie single (that included portions of the disco classic גPoor Georgieג), which marked the first time a solo female rap act achieved a gold record.
[Rodriguez with EPMD, 1987.]
Ivan also engineered and co-produced the historic single, גSelf Destructionג, marking the first time rival rap artists from the East and West coast collaborated for a project with a cause for peace in the violence and drug infested 1980s. These are just a few of his hallmark accomplishments.
For more detailed information on Ivanגs reign in the music industry check out his credits at allmusic.com, where his exact contributions to some of the biggest records in hip hop during the 80s and 90s are documented.
The fact of the matter is Ivan improvised methods in improvising push-button studio technology and helped to innovate a new sound for hip hop.
This is why heגs Doc.
Live from Hellגs Kitchen
Ivanגs story begins on 48th street between 9th & 10th Avenues in Manhattan; New York City. It was an infamous block of real estate during the fast moving 1970גs. Hellגs Kitchen is forever known as that tough Irish-Italian-Puerto Rican-black neighborhood along with the other tough neighborhoods of Manhattan like the Lower East Side, Washington Heights and Harlem. If the kitchen was tough, it also produced some of the biggest names in music; Alongside Ivan, thereגs Alicia Keyגs-who Ivan remembers seeing while growing up-and Lisa-Lisa from Cult Jamג¦Yo Spanador holler at us!
Ivan grew up listening to Soul, Funk, R&B and Disco. Heגs a sound person by nature, a right brain-dominated technocrat loaded with creativity, but he also developed a solid knowledge of music from being a DJ.
His introduction to the profession might have began when his sister גaccidentallyג snuck him into a nightclub as a teen, where a fascinated Ivan had the opportunity to soak up the sounds of NYC nightlife. It was the NYC club anthem/classic גLove is The Messageג by MFSB that gave him the adrenaline rush which foreshadowed his future career events.
[Doc in his early days]
After numerous negotiations with his father regarding equipment, Ivan managed to pull off two turntables, plus the world famous Clubman mixer. After buying his equipment, the coveted DJ work arrived as demand for the man also known as גDee-Jay Docג began. He started spinning at Manhattan clubs like Inferno and the Starship. Meanwhile, his equipment inventory expanded, which left him with no other option but to go completely mobile. It was the mobile DJ status that led him to becoming a background DJ for artists like Spyder-D, a very early 80s rap pioneer with the hit גSmurfies Danceג. You know, it was that classic:
Head / shoulders / knees and toes / Smurf that body across the floor.
The smash hit of 1983 heard around the world.
Doc met Spyder through a neighborhood friend and aspiring rapper named Speedy. Speedy would often ask Ivan to come by his house to rap, since Doc had the equipment as well as the juice. At first, Ivan shrugged off Speedyגs idea since the whole rap-shouting thing turned him off with its non-stop talk over the mic that hi-jacked the whole DJ show. Regardless, after establishing mutual acquaintance, Speedy asked Ivan to come with him to Power Play studios in Queens. Upon arrival, Ivan was introduced to Spyder and the inevitable happened.
[Doc with Ultramagnetic MC Ced Gee, with whom he co-produced Criminal Minded.]
Finally, after all the suspense of being thrown into the fire alive, the two-week gig was over. He was hired at the world famous Power Play Studios permanently.
From those sessions, he developed a quick reputation within the industry as the person to work with. He had a solid grasp of production and mixing, and a big studio presence, prerequisites for engineering throughout rapגs fertiles beginning, where its sound was evolving daily. Ivan would later join KRS-1 and BDP as the official DJ and uncredited producer following the fatal shooting of BDPגs chief beat king, Scott La Rock. Ivan would have a large hat to wear in the upcoming BDP albums.
Studio Alchemy 101: Sampling-Looping and The Remix
This is the part of Ivanגs story that gathers the most attention in his contribution to hip hop, but you have to rewind back to the years of 1983-84 to understand.
Following the Sugar Hill Gangגs גRappers Delightג, rap exploded in 1983-84 with groups like Grandmaster Flash, Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, Syder-D, Divine Sounds, Dr Jekyגll & Mr. Hyde, Treacherous 3, Fearless 4, Fresh 3 MCגs, Fat Boys and Whodini. That time period was great for hip hop. You had several powerful independent acts on independent labels flooding clubs, radio and mix shows with a constant barrage of hits. There was Pumpkin and The All-Stars on Profile Records with the hit of the summer in 1984 גKing of The Beatג; Ultimate 3 MCגs- גWhat are we gonna do about itג on Partytime Records. There was the unforgettable FREEZ with John Rocca -גI want it to be realג and גIOUג on Streetwise Records. The independents had the clout. DJs like Chuck Chill Out, Red Alert, Marley Marl, Mr. Magic and The Latin Rascals filled the air waves with master-mixes playing their rap and club hits. The sound was raw, authentic and real big. Powerful drums, keyboard melodies, and sing-along raps ruled the day with innovating producers: Arthur Bakerגs shakedown sound, Kurtis Blow, Spyder-D, Orange Krush, Davey-DMX Rod Hui and others creating the official stamp for the גNY Soundג of rap music.
[The Roland TR-808.]
In 1985, rap slowed down to a trickle as the groups were riding on the hits and commercial success from their first albums and into their second. The Roland TR-808 arrived to bring in a new crisp and electronic sound. The group Mantronix literally created the new sound with the smash hitגs גFresh is the Wordג, גBasslineג and גWhat is itג featuring MC Tee on Sleeping Bag records. Producer Curtis גMantronicג of Mantronix drastically changed the sound using the 808 and kick drum sound as the industry standard in production. In fact, one can argue that the roots of Dirty South hip hop came from New Yorkגs adoption of the 808 heard in the early records of Luke and The 2 Live crew-Miami bass sound, New Orleans bounce and the slower paced 3-6 Mafia style from Memphis, Tennessee. If you listen to Just Iceגs גBack to the Old Schoolג LP, any Mantronix LP, or T-La Rock, the evidence is there. The 808 played a major significance in the sound shift in NYC and giving birth to the south.
While history was taking place, Ivan was perfecting his skills as a DJ, practicing blends and mixes, listening for quarter notes, eighth notes and sixteenth notes, grooming himself to be the ultimate mixologist.
[Doc with Destruction Productions]
Fast forward to 1987, following Ivanגs production work for Criminal Minded and Paid in Full. As the uncredited producer, he experimented until he ultimately innovated new textures and sounds. Technology was limited and apt to get extra freaky. The 808 had already defined the 1985-86 era but Ivan found a way to expand on the range of its capabilities with sheer machine wizardry.
Being a technocrat, he found a way to re-create the kick drum sound by using the mixing console, sampling the sound and tuning the outcome of the sound to bass-lines in songs. This was problem solving by process of deduction and innovating new steps in production. He would also experiment heavily with KRS-1 in what he calls גpanningג (as opposed to the normal studio use of the word), where he would bring excitement to a record by making it sound like a storm. Before Ivanגs panning idea, there werenגt that many sources of sound to create effects like his גdouble bassג sound.
However, the sound barrier was altered when the Criminal Minded LP dropped. Instantly, you could tell the difference in sound from the earlier hip hop records of the 80גs compared to Ivanגs influence in EPMDגs, KRS-1גs and Eric B and Rakimגs material. Clearly, the new era of rap had begun.
[Jive records release party with KRS-1, BDP and the Doc.]
Ivan also developed his own techniques for looping and sampling, a technology that, at the time, was not perfect. Ivan worked around the limitations. He would record a sample of a sound then loop the tape on which the sound was recorded around the tape machine heads, holding the extra slack from the tape of an extended path from the machine with a pencil! Heגd also break the ג10-second sample ruleג which back then, allowed 10 seconds for recordings. Before Ivan figured out how the mixing console automation could improve this set-back, the standard industry ג10 second wayג required a lengthy process for sampling. Ivan eliminated most of the steps, and the results are what you hear on Paid in Full, EPMDגs five LPגs, and BDPגs first three albums. For instance, Ivan would play a part from a record at a lower speed and then sample the part at a higher speed using a lower sounding key on a keyboard. Then heגd play it back at the correct speed, thereby extending the sample from one second to three seconds.
On the KRS-1 Boogie Down Productions single גStop The Violenceג, Ivan used his engineering skills by reversing the DJ scratch. He flipped the recording tape upside down on the tape machine and rewound it 40 seconds, playing the groove on an open track. This was the first time a reverse scratch was used. It worked brilliantly.
[Doc, the original hitman.]
Another regular scenario: MC Lyte and EPMD would bring pre-recorded grooves and tracks to the studio on cassette tape. Ivan would run the hissy originals over six different channels on the mixing board, removing the hiss and filtering the sound to give his artists something clean to work with.
The Remix
The remix is probably the most overstated, overrated, and overused concept in hip hop. Much has been said of the remix while many have claimed to have exclusive rights over it, invented it, bought it back to life; you name the philosophy of the month. The reality is that the remix has been around longer than everyone who lays claim to it. Try 1982 to start. A man by the name of Shep Pettibone, who has done remix work for 80גs icons like Madonna, would add his touch to original versions of a 12ג single by making a special club mix for DJs when they would play at clubs. World famous DJs like the Latin Rascals would edit and chop their mixes every weekend on WRKS-FM NYC. Technically, the Rascals were chopping and screwing their mixes back in 1984 before Houstonגs DJ Screw introduced it to Southern rap and hip hop in general.
At the time, the Rascals style was known as גprocessed and edited mixesג in which they overdubbed instrumentals into their mixes. A Latin Rascal mix on cassette was like gold. Either you had to steal a copy or stay up late and record it live on the radio. You can still hear several גOfficialג Latin Rascal mixes at deephousepage.com today.
[Doc with early 80s DJs Special K and Teddy Ted]
Ivan should be credited as one of the first people to re-introduce the remix to mainstream hip hop in 1988 on the hit single גSeriousג featuring Philadelphia rapper Steady-B and KRS-1. DJ Chuck Chillout played the single live for the first time the day after Christmas on KISS-FM . I was listening in at the time. After playing it, the phone lines lit up with callers requesting the recordגs title. In the following weeks, the single became the most requested song on the east coast, including major play on DJ Red Alerts show, and on Yo-MTV rapגs Top Video 10 countdown:
It was hip hopגs first breakout remix on a wider mainstream scale. The single begins with KRS-1 shouting גDJ Doc [Ivan] break it down like this,ג followed by a sinister horror movie-like synthesized keyboard before the song breaks in with a massive bass drum heavy beat, a funk filled bass groove and cowbells. Maybe because it was such a novelty, KRS-1 breaks into the track repeatedly shouting גthis is a remix,ג and גbecause this is a remix, we will now take the time to remix it.ג It was a 360