CHRONICLES OF AN ENGINEER

4/7/2009: ENTRY #5 Engineer Ariel Borujow gives HipHopGame a tour of his new studio Stadium Red Studios in New York City.

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3/19/2009: ENTRY #4 Hey, what’s good, everyone? It has been a while since I had written a journal. A lot has been going on in my life as far as work is concerned and with the new studio opening up. Things have gotten hectic (in a good way, of course). I’m now back on track and ready to deliver the goods to the readers. 7 months have flown by since I have been in the new facility on good ol’ 125th Street and it couldn’t have been a better thing. Business is good and I’m fortunate to be working on so many wonderful projects.  For starters, Donny Goines’ album Minute After Midnight was finally released to great reviews. He has already shot a few videos for it and the single “I Am Moving” was on Video On Demand a few weeks, which was cool. Donny talked me into making an appearance in the video. Generally I prefer the behind the scenes status, but hey, sometimes it is healthy to get out there in the limelight.  On another note, I also want to call Emilio Rojas out for implying in his interview on hiphopgame.com how expensive it is to work with me. That is not true, he knows it and now his rates are gonna get even higher. I figure if I raise his rates high enough, I can lower them for everyone else (big shout out to the "Money Devil" for coming up with that idea).  Recently I started mixing Scram Jones’ album. I won't say too much about it but it’s going to crazy. The features he has on it mixed with Scram’s production really is dope. Everyone will be kept posted on that. Congratulations go out to my good friend Phase One for the completion of this first video, which was directed by Mills, who also did Donny Goines "Ricky's Story" (produced by Statik Selektah). Check it out when you all have a chance http://vimeo.com/3484671 . Phase is a super-talented artist who I have seen tremendous progress through the years we have been working together. So with that I will stop rambling for now and get back to my session. The next Chronicle will be a goody. I will take you guys through a video tour of the new facility crib’s style. Look out for that. So until then, peace and happy recordings.

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7/22/2008: ENTRY #3 What’s good, HipHopGame readers? It has been a minute since I last posted on here but a lot has been going on. Details on what has been keeping me so busy will be revealed in the next few articles. Now I know I mentioned in the last article that this chronicle would be about an album that influenced me and the engineer that worked on it. Rest assured that I am working on it so stay tuned. I will keep this one short since I am treating everyone to a video interview that was recently done by one of the most gifted journalists in the game and my good friend William "The Coach" Johnson. Much thanks to him and his staff at Feedback. The interview was broken up into two parts. There is more on the way, being edited as we speak...so look out for that. In the meantime, sit back, get your notepads ready. It’s school time. Enjoy.

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5/15/2008: ENTRY #2 I want to first thank everyone for the positive response to Part 1 of the Chronicles. Support and interest came in emails from readers thanking me for doing this as part of HipHopGame. That feedback from the HipHopGame.com reader community is very appreciated. I want to take time in Part 2 of the Chronicles to talk about a few things that are going on in my world, from current projects to my new studio and even the prospect of starting to teach is what lies ahead.   There are three projects that I’m currently working on that I’d like to share with the readers. First, is an artist by the name of Phase One. This project is particularly close to my heart for a few reasons. I have been working with Phase for a few years and I have seen him grow tremendously as an artist. In addition I am working with a few extremely talented producers on this project. DJ Static, Dub Z, Asa Buchanon and Steele. Experience of endless hours in the studio have taught me that it's very rare that projects happen the way this one does. What I mean is that whenever we do a session and we are working on a specific producer's track, it's not just that producer that comes to the session. All the producers are giving their input at almost every session and on every song. That is very unique. No egos, just a bunch of great minds working towards the same goal. I can not wait till this project is finished and I can share it with everyone. It's real hip-hop with a message and I feel fortunate to be working on it. In the next few weeks we will be starting to get into the mixing so I will update everyone on the progress.   The second project is Emilio Rojas and producer M-Phaze's project titled Phaze One (the name is just a coincidence). With this project I’m in charge of mixing the entire album. Big shouts to Marco Polo and Torae for looking out on this one. Emilio is a beast on the mic and a very talented songwriter. M-Phazes is very gifted with his music and is a visionary (will explain that one in a bit). What's crazy is that these two guys have been working on this project for over a year and have never physically met. Emilio lives in Brooklyn and M-Phazes is out in Australia. The power of technology has allowed them to go back and forth over the internet with the songs. We are expecting M-Phazes to be visiting the states very soon. I have mixed one song completely called "Pull Us Through". This song features the very talented Mela Machinko, who sang on a couple of songs on Pharoahe's album Desire as well as Telib Kweli's song "Hostile Gospel" off his latest release Ear Drum.   Earlier I mentioned that M-Phazes was a visionary. The reason I say this is because he sends me a message through AIM the other day letting me know he just recorded a live string section and a grand piano over one of the songs. He then sends me the song and it's like a story which he says has a total of 95 tracks. I'm looking forward to mixing that song too. All of these elements are such important components of the vision.  The third project that I'm excited about and want to share is from an artist named Donny Goines. I have been working with him now for over a year and the progress he has made as an artist is something that gives me great pride. The chemistry that him and I have in the lab is very obvious in the product. It's very much a team effort. His hustle and determination is like no artist I've ever met. Before people start getting offended I will explain myself. His motto is basically if you don't know his name, he is not working hard enough. That mentality is pretty rare in my experience, and it is inspiring. If you Google his name, you will know what I am talking about. If you check out his myspace page, you will know what I am talking about. Through the years, the advice I've given most artists is the advice that I use myself. Finding the right people in this business is hard, and learning to depend on them too much is easy. Even when Donny had management he was still hustling on his own. This project is actually gonna be executive produced by Dame Grease and will feature production from Dame Grease, DJ Static, and Dub Z. So far it's going great and I will keep the readers informed as we move along with it.  On another note, people have been asking me about the progress of my new studio in Harlem (It's located on 125th and Park). Well I will say this, it's coming along. Of course in the meantime C4 in Queens is running 24X7, pretty much till the day we open in Harlem.   I was recently approached by Darrell "Digga" Branch about an online production school he is starting. This, to me, is an amazing idea. What is going to set this apart from other programs is that he wants the educators to be people that are currently working on projects and can give the students actual real world experience. The intro curriculum is coming together and hopefully I will be ready by the time he is ready to launch the program. I'm a total believer in education in the audio and production field since so many major studios closed down and young people trying to get in the biz are mostly learning now by picking up a Pro Tools or similar system. This program is gonna allow the students to interact with the teachers and have any of the questions they have answered. Much respect for Digga for coming up with this idea and trying to help out the next generation. He has my total support!  Don't hate but I am actually out in Northern California taking a couple of days off to regroup and it was a good time to sit down and finish writing this (I included a pic). I want to thank everyone who took the time to read my words. Next one will be a special one but I won't say too much about. I will start my first review of an album that greatly influenced me and I will be interviewing the engineer that mixed that album. Only thing I will say is that he is a mentor in my life and still is a great influence so look out for that.  I want to send out a big thank you to Frequency for babysitting my two cats. On top of being one of the best producers out there, he is a hell of a babysitter! Thanks to my manager Juliet for more than I can write. Shout out to my assistant Karla Allen for holding down C4 Studios while I'm gone and getting everything in order that I tend to overlook.  On a sidenote, I have officially given Poison Pen a leave of absence from the game for a while. He is on vacation somewhere (and not the locked up kind), not sure where but he needed the time off. He had mouthed off to me and he has been acting out. He will be back as soon as he starts behaving. Good luck to him and with that said, see you all next time and happy recordings!

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4/23/2008: ENTRY #1 I want to welcome everyone to my first official article for my HipHopGame section titled "The Chronicles of An Engineer". For the readers that don’t know me, I’ve been a mix/recording engineer for over 10 years (read the interview http://www.hiphopgame.com/index2.php3?page=ariel).   While attending audio school in 1996, I started my first internship at Greene Street Studios. Following that experience was years of working my way up as assistant engineer to chief engineer at some of the most respected studios in NYC. Fortunately, I had the great pleasure to assist some of the best engineers and producers in the biz coming up. This, to me, was like going to Harvard and I got paid for it. Not much, but enough to eat two meals a day. Eventually, my experience allowed me the confidence to take the risk and go out on my own as a freelance engineer. A little more than a year ago I decided to take the plunge open up my own commercial studio.   Recently HHG had approached me with an incredible idea. The idea is to take the reader through a journey into the world of a working engineer. This job, in my opinion, is the most overlooked and under appreciated in the industry. My hope is that I can shed a different light on the job of an engineer. Throughout these chronicles an array of different topics will be covered. Topics such as technical aspects, videos of current projects I am working on, discussions about what albums I admired from the mixing point of view and everything in between will be covered. Along the way, I will have special guests from the industry ranging from producers, artists, label execs and, of course, some of my engineering peers.   Why the emphasis on well-mixed albums? Well, that is because I am a big fan of well-mixed albums. Since I can remember I have always paid special attention to the sonic quality and overall feel of recordings. What is the difference between the two? Well, “quality” does not necessarily mean it “feels” right. While a record may have all the elements of a great mix (sonically it may sound right), but the feel just isn’t there. Second I feel that what I call “sonic quality” is overlooked by young up-and-coming artists. As an engineer, the definition of "sonic quality" changes with each mix. However, there is a point in every mix when it stops sounding like a mixtape and it sounds like a radio hit.   With the digital revolution in full effect, everyone and their mother owns a Pro Tools setup. It’s a great thing that you can make music using pro equipment in the comfort of your own home. Not long ago if you needed to record a quality demo, you had to book time in a studio and have it done by a qualified professional engineers, who paid close attention to the quality of the recordings. The engineers who mixed some of the classic albums simply did not learn about recording and mixing in the confines of a home studio. Just like with anything else, the amount of practice and education (formal and/or real world) an engineer has, the better his or her ability will be. I want to be able to bring you the insight on how these records were recorded and mixed.   Recording and mixing works hand in hand. Vocals or instruments recorded properly can help make a great mix. I believe that if I can talk about the records that influenced me and give you the behind the scenes look on how they were made, it just might give an in-depth perspective on the magic that made those particular albums.   Throughout the upcoming months I will be involving the individuals that made those albums, particularly the engineers. Paying homage to these engineers is really imperative, since for the most part they don’t get the recognition they deserve for the long hours put in the studio. The engineer is usually the first to get in the session and the last to go home. Also, you can look forward to updates on sessions I’m working on, along with some in-studio video footage and other goodies. So with that said, welcome to The Chronicles of an Engineer. Sit back, kick your feet up and enjoy.

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