DAW Is 'Next Step' For Rap Music Pioneer
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BUENA PARK, CA (October 04, 2002) Culture and technology have always been tightly linked entities, perhaps nowhere more than in the world of HipHop. Beginning as an underground genre on the streets of New York City, this billion-dollar industry has spawned a host of artists, DJs, remixers, producers, performers, and technologies that continue to change the way music is made. Kenneth "Kay Gee" Pounder embodies that entrepreneurial spirit in a career that includes Rap music pioneer, engineer, producer and technological innovator. Centered around a Yamaha AW4416 digital audio workstation, Pounder, a founding member of the ground-breaking rap combo The Legendary Cold Crush Brothers, is currently at work at his Bronx-based studio, remastering historic rap and HipHop tracks for a series of compilation albums, recording and mixing a new project from ex-Fugee Pras, and working with partners on a new technology called CS2 (Consumer Surround Sound).
"For mixing and making glass masters for replication, the Yamaha AW4416 is my main console," Pounder explains. "I like the fact that you can do a project 'in one box.' The recording quality is superb-very clean." "I've recently installed the Waves Y56K card, which makes a CD master sound much crisper and that, in turn, makes it easier for a plant to replicate." The studio also features a Neumann U87 mic, an Avalon preamp, a vintage Ensoniq ASRx drum machine and controller keyboard.
Cutting his engineering teeth at D & D Recording, one of the main HipHop powerhouses in New York in the 1980s, Pounder made the transition from performer to studio wizard, developing promos with Funk Master Flex of top radio outlet Hot 97, finally opening his own facility in 1989. "In that time, I saw studio become much more user-friendly, with drum machines, synthesizers and workstations. Today, that gear, particularly workstations, is at a level that can produce professional-quality material. Project studios were a natural progression, not only for me, but for the entire industry," he adds. "I got into the studio because, as a performer, I always thought that it would be a cool thing to put hip-hop on wax, and was always interested in the development of the sound. And, being actively involved in a style that has pushed the musical and technological envelopes, allows me to bring a unique history to my projects. I've seen music technology evolve to the point where a professional project can be done by someone with a home-type studio, and digital audio workstations are a big part of that." The Yamaha AW4416 contains full 32-bit DSP capabilities (similar to the Yamaha 02R digital console), 44 fully-automated audio inputs, 17 motorized faders, four fader and mute groups, eight bus and eight aux sends plus stereo, stereo cue busses and a front-mounted CD-RW drive, which enables mastering as well as loading and/or backing up data. An integrated 16-track recording system-complete with sampling, editing and mastering capabilities-retains true 24-bit, 48 kHz resolution without data compression of any kind. Seamlessly integrating with the workstation's normal operation, the Waves Y56K provides a hardware and software solution to expand the recording, mixing and mastering capabilities of the AW4416, and eliminating the need for rackmount or computer-based processing. The Y56K inserts into either of the two Mini-YGDAI slots on the rear panel of the AW4416, and utilizes two 120 MIPS Motorola 56K DSPs. Audio processing is supported with 48-bit internal precision on a 24-bit I/O. "The most unique thing about hip-hop," he continues, "is that it can be created from any kind of music. In the early 70s, Kool Herc, a native of Jamaica, brought what was called Jammin' to New York, and that eventually became rapping, and what the media re-named 'Hip-Hop.' The early scene was very 'street,' very word-of-mouth, and pretty much limited to the Bronx. People didn't say 'I'm going to a hip-hop party,' they'd say, 'I'm going to a Jam.' People would block off streets with garbage cans and hook up their equipment to lamp posts. The police would shut you down, but you'd move a few blocks and start up again. "Once we learned that we could get permits, a jam would turn into a block party and go from noon to nine o'clock. That's when the music really started to grow and push the bounds of technology. Early DJs like Grandmaster Flash, Grand Wizard Theodore and Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Herc were the real innovators. They came up with the DJ style of scratching, keeping the beat from two tables-they were basically human loop machines and samplers. "In 1973," he continues, "there were only three things you could be: a DJ, a break dancer or graffiti artist. I didn't have the cash to buy DJ equipment, and my folks would kill me if they knew I was doing graffiti, so I started out dancing. I got introduced to rap at a DJ Smoky party, and after seeing Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, I got turned on to emceeing and was in several groups. I hooked up with the Cold Crush Brothers in 1979. We got so much attention that other crews stepped up to battle us." Known for flashy costumes and synchronized routines, The Legendary Cold Crush Brothers set the standard for live shows of the time. Pounder and fellow members DJ Tony Tone (Angelo King), Easy AD (Adrien Harris), DJ Charlie Chase (Carlos Mandes), Grandmaster Caz (Curtis Fisher) and JDL (Jerome Wilson) participated in the Wild Style tour, the first rap foray into Japan in 1982, and were also the first crew signed to CBS records on the Tuff City label, releasing the singles "The Weekend," "Punk Rock Rap," and "Fresh , Wild, Fly, and Bold." The group is immortalized in the hip-hop exhibits of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Experience Music Project museums. One of the most infamous incidents in Hip Hop occurred involving the group, when the head of Sugar Hill Records heard a bootleg of a club bouncer named Hank rapping to a performance by Cold Crush member Caz, and invited him to become the third member of a group she was forming called the Sugarhill Gang. Hank requested to use some rhymes from Caz in exchange for future collaborations, which never materialized. The bootleg became the multiplatinum crossover hit "Rapper's Delight," with Caz receiving neither royalties nor credit. "None of us knew how big this music would be," Pounder explains, "or that it would reach such a wide audience. When you're kids and creating a new sound, it's just something that you enjoy doing. Radio and the media got onto it because they saw the money potential and how addictive the music is. But today, other than the production methods, there really isn't anything that's taking the music to another level. It's still a money machine, and the innovations are in the marketing." Pounder and partners are tapping into new ways of marketing that media with Consumer Surround Sound, or CS2, a technology which allows the replication of DVD-quality video on a standard CD that plays in both DVD ROM and CD players ("an Enhanced CD on steroids," as Pounder explains). "We're using the studio to do all the CS2 mixes for CS2. The CS2 will allow the CD to play video footage on both DVD and computer. There isn't anything in the market that can do that. It's another step, not only in my life, but for the music that I love." For more information on the AW4416 Digital Audio Workstation and Waves Y56K Card, write Yamaha Corporation of America, Pro Audio & Combo Division, Professional Audio, P.O. Box 6600, Buena Park, CA 90622; telephone (714) 522-9011 or e-mail: infostation@yamaha.com.
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