Pennyn Hip Hop Production Project.

 

The first of many tasks we were set this trimester was to work in conjunction with the Pennyn prison program who aim to rehabilitate young offenders and give them some manner of outlet for change. It was ascertained that a few of the young men had a great interest in hip hop and another few loved to sing. We were tasked with producing an album of tracks that the inmates could write to.

 

The group that I was involved in had a few musicians which was a great starting point. We were able to collaborate over 2 separate tracks using mostly live musical elements including drums, guitar, bass, keys and other conventional instruments generally found in hip hop. We also added a few not so conventional elements such as didgeridoo.

 

In terms of production on both the tracks the drums were edited using beat detective to give the groove a more sampled vibe. Along with that the drums also got some pretty heavy compression which is synonymous with a lot of tracks within the genre. Tracking was done in either the Neve or the Audient making use of the nice outboard gear available. For the piano we were able to open it up and aim a stereo spaced pair at the strings themselves as well as a tube room mic. We were able to get quite a nice sound out of the old upright also making great use of the tc effects unit dialling in some nice reverb. As well as acoustically recorded instrumentation, we also included a few programmed elements such as flute and more kit layers. The kit layers were used in a parallel sense with heavy compression being used to make the sound more thick and defined.

 

From this project I gained a more thorough knowledge of patching in outboard and learnt some of the unique processes of the neve. Also this project allowed me to further progress my collaborative skills when producing as apart of a collective team.

 

The aspects of this project that I found to be challenging was definitely finding a cohesive direction for the track between 3-4 different minds. Despite this being a challenge I think this fact made the outcome more interesting with the influence of several opinions. Another challenge was the uncertainty of what the vocalists will bring to the table. Because the artists are behind bars, logistically we faced a challenge of how to record and have any sense of what direction the artists would go with it.