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August 10th, 2010Innovation
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Here is a very interesting talk by Hank Shocklee which serves as great introduction material for the Incubate Pirate Conference. At the Red Bull Music Academy, Hank Shocklee talks about how The Bomb Squad founded their sample-collage production methods in the 1980s, and about making Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Here, you can hear Hank talk about more technical stuff; how they would go around the studio, putting all sorts of different found sounds together, without even being able to digitally edit their works. He goes on talking a little bit about maintaining full creative control while signed to a major, the role of Chuck D within these sample-heavy productions, the difference between digital and analog sound, and what Hank looks for in sounds that he re-uses in his own productions.
“I remember mixing a bunch of records and we were just bringing people that were out in the lobby to help us, like make our mutes, you know? I mean, one time, Fab 5 Freddy was happening to hang out in the studio: “Yo, Freddy, come on,” run in the studio and we would all grab like three faders or something each. And we needed to do like a mute way, you want a mute at all the instrumentation and just have the vocal in there and then come back on. You have to wait for that part of the song going by and then everybody goes: “OK, one, two…” and everybody had the beat on, the same beat the same time because the minute you
got somebody coming a little late or a little early, that whole take has got to get done over. So everything has got to get started over again. So the process of making records back then was very much a team method. This is why we had the Bomb Squad, because everybody at the time had to have a specific function and a specific duty. And especially from the things we were doing with records, combing through records, finding the right sound or the right part or the right drumbreak or the right turnaround or the right horn hit or the right tambourine loop or the right spoken word piece, the right bass piece. That’s hours amongst hours on top of hours of combing through the records.”
In relation to this talk, you can download the full sample set that The Bomb Squad used for the production of It Takes a Nation of Millions… via this page. Make sure to catch Hank Shocklee at the Incubate Pirate Conference if you want to hear more about his productions and his views on copyright and piracy. Tickets are still available for Pay What You Want right here.
Tags: download, hank shocklee, music academy, nation of millions, production, public enemy, red bull, sample set, samples, videoze-medium wp-image-212″ title=”public_enemy_-_it_takes_a_nation_of_millions_to_hold_us-back-front” src=”http://incubate-innovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/public_enemy_-_it_takes_a_nation_of_millions_to_hold_us-back-front-630×627.jpg” alt=”" width=”450″ height=”447″ />Last week, we confirmed Hank Shocklee to be interviewed during the Incubate Pirate Conference on September 17. Hank will tell his story of the heavy-sampling production method he created mid ’80s together with the other members of The Bomb Squad. Their technique of engineering, sampling, scratching, constructing, deconstructing, reconstructing was groundbreaking at the time and still is a technique that has hardly ever been duplicated. Hank will also shed light on his views on copyright, sampling for the future and will offer artists an insight in how to deal with
these developments.
Music platform Pitchfork shared some footage of Public Enemy performing the album live in 2008, together with some really interesting backstage interviews with the producers of this album: It would be difficult to overstate the importance of Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. As a political statement, as a sonic experience, as a hip-hop album, and as music, period, it just doesn’t get much better than this 1988 LP. Commemorating the 20th anniversary of its release this year, Public Enemy performed the record in its entirety, including on Friday night at this year’s Pitchfork Music Festival, presented with All Tomorrow’s Parties. Chuck D, Hank and Keith Shocklee of the production team the Bomb Squad, and long-time associate and “media assassin” Harry Allen also appeared on a panel here in Chicago to discuss the record. Incorporating footage from these events and additional interviews, Pitchfork.tv presents the story of this album as told by the people who made it happen. Check out the videos below:
If you can’t get enough, also make sure to read this interview by Stay Free! with Hank Shocklee and Chuck D.
Tags: bomb squad, hank shocklee, it takes a nation of millions, live, pitchfork, production, public enemy, sampling, to hold us back, video
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We’re really proud to announce that Hank Shocklee will share his views on copyright and piracy with all of us at the Incubate Pirate Conference. Hank Shocklee is Music Producer, founder of Public Enemy & The Bomb Squad. The Bomb Squad is a hip hop production team, mostly known for their groundbreaking work on Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. This album, released in 1988 (before the record labels and lawyers really started paying attention to sampling), is known for its dense, sample-heavy production, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track. The Bomb Squad are also known for their ability to incorporate harsh, unmelodic sounds and samples into their songs, generally enhancing them. Because of this highly influential sound and productionmethod Hank Shocklee is viewed by some as the Phil Spector of hip-hop.
A worldwide role model for pushing the envelope and breaking new artistic boundaries, Hank Shocklee is looked upon as the leader of the pack. Whether via his production legacy which continuously ranks at the top of the ‘best of’ lists or throughout the academic circuit, Hank’s ideologies and techniques are studied amongst a wide cross section of people that include music fans, aspiring artists, audio technology developers, universities and media policy makers.
As a DJ, producer, composer and record company executive, Shocklee has managed to work with and develop a large variety of artists and musicians across many genres all while keeping a very innovative approach and a distinction for high quality productions. Shocklee has been a force behind some of the most significant music and film projects of the last two decades including Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Mary J. Blige, LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Anthony Hamilton, Ridley Scott’s American Gangster, Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing, Ernest Dickerson’s Juice and countless others.
At the Pirate Conference, Hank Shocklee will be interviewed by Job de Wit (freelance pop/hip hop/house journalist) about his method of production, his view on (the future of) copyright, and sampling and the recycling of material to build a new work and a new context.
That same evening, The Bomb Squad will perform in the regular music program of the Incubate festival.
Tickets for the Pirate Conference can be bought trough the Pay What You Want principle. Through incubate.org and incubate-innovation.org visitors can indicate how many tickets they want to buy and what total amount of money they would like to pay for them. The payment can then be made via Paypal or bank transfer. Also visit incubate.org and incubate-innovation.org for more information on the program of the Incubate Pirate Conference.
The Pay What You Want principle is not applicable to the normal day tickets and passepartouts of Incubate. Incubate tickets can be bought through the Incubate website.
Tags: bomb squad, copyright, discussion, hank shocklee, incubate, piracy, pirate conference, public enemy, sampling
