By Elianne Halbersberg

Long recognized as a member of iconic band The Roots, the producer, DJ, performer, songwriter and Grammy winner known simply as Scratch is also a solo artist with two albums to his credit. His debut, The Embodiment of Experimentation, was released in 2003. Last year, he recorded Loss 4 Wordz, bringing in guest vocalists such as Kanye West, Talib Kweli and Daniel Bedingfield.

In a Planet Ill “In The Studio” Rewind, we look back at the making of Loss 4 Wordz and the multi-talented Scratch’s take on production and promotion in the age of digital recordings and downloads.

Planet Ill: Your goal with this album was to keep the tracks simple and the sounds full. How did you accomplish this?

Scratch: By keeping it simple I mean that you can still hear the beatboxes, and the instrumentation doesn’t take away from my presence or overpower it. Keeping it full is to put out a bunch of other songs, and it’s not completely to the left and it can still fit in with the bunch. Basically, I try to keep things as simple as possible so that people can get into it quickly, because if you don’t catch them in the first ten or fifteen seconds, it’s shit. Attention spans are so short.

Planet Ill: What’s your studio setup?

Scratch: I old-school it. I love handheld mics and laying stuff down. When I come up with a pattern, I critique it and give the bass and drums a thicker sound, add hi-hat crashes and put the melody on top. I worked with a couple of producers because I didn’t want the album to sound repetitive. I used different arrangements and sounds and they would follow through. Other people were involved in the record to give it a different edge. Some people have one producer working the whole album, and you get bored with it. The whole process was about constant change and giving people something different and exciting to listen to—just press “play” and let it ride. I’m not engineer-savvy, but I know what I’m looking for and what I want and there’s a certain way I make records.

Some people think, especially because I use my voice, that you do that and it’s done. But I go back and change things and have a pattern of how I go about making tracks. I’m good with whatever the studio has. Different mics give different textures, like maybe recording on a handheld mic, and maybe a speaker and mic to pick up the background noise, like I did with Talib Kweli. Or a mic in a different room with a speaker to pick up sounds and textures.

Planet Ill: What is your definition of a producer?

Scratch: A person that has a very creative mind, visually makes a blueprint and puts it to sound, constructing and being the architect of the track. You can have all the singers in the world, but the producer lays out how the track will flow, what to add, when to drop out, make changes, the expression of the track, the sound that’s coming across when you listen to it.

Planet Ill: Is Hip-Hop underrated in terms of the expertise that the real artists and producers have?

Scratch: Yes and no. Yes because when you watch a video, it says the artist’s name, the record label, the name of the song and the director, but never who produced the track, the backbone of the song. At the same time, in the last six or seven years, producers have gotten more light because either they say something on the track or they appear in the video. It’s a double-edged sword. In due time, I think it will change.

The way production is going now, people don’t dump money like they used to on tracks. It’s also how a producer pushes himself. Everyone knows Timbaland; he’s in the forefront, even with artists saying, “Be in my video.” It’s getting there gradually.

Planet Ill: The technological effects are easier to achieve, but at what price to creativity?

Scratch: The newcomers use all that, they push buttons, but the real guys are putting something together and you can tell who sampled this or that. The market is so flooded with producers, artists, record labels, people who say they are record labels—“Hit us up at WeMakeHitRecords@aol.com.” No matter what, the best will always prevail and get notoriety over “Yo, I’m a producer! I just made an album for my boy down the street!” No, you didn’t; you made a mixtape. It used to be that mixtapes helped you get a deal back in the day.

With two or three songs, a good bio, pictures and a showcase, the artist development department at the label would get you where you needed to be. Now they expect you to be a polished group or artist coming in with something going on already. So it’s about reconstructing, reinventing. It used to be a couple of posters in the ’hood. Now you’ve got to be Internet-savvy. People download instead of purchasing records. You have to work with the market.

Planet Ill: What are these young cats not getting?

Scratch: Right now I can tell you that one of the things is that everything is not two-track to reel-to-reel to Pro Tools. It’s also input onto a record. I give respect to a lot of those who are making noise, but all this “Hey, unhh! This is how I do it,” and yelling on a record—where is the originality? It’s already been done. Why are you trying to be another Young Jeezy or Soulja Boy instead of just being yourself? Mike Jones says his name a million times but he’s himself when he does it. I commend people like him. These other young cats are portraying something they’re not.

Planet Ill: How is it different producing a vocal versus someone who is all about beats and effects and the vocal ability is almost secondary?

Scratch: One of the things I’ve learned is that the only difference is you’re either working with someone who’s singing or someone who’s rapping. When I work with R&B artists, from a couple of records I helped produce to the singers on my album, there are so many elements singers use to make hooks or lead with a verse or make a bridge sound so full when they’re creating those notes.

People think it’s one voice at one time. That person sang it six or seven times to make it big. People who sing one thing at one time, like Kanye—he’s right to the point. He adjusts a little and it’s done. With others, they want reverb, delay, compression. Then you’ve got the ones who Auto-Tune, like T-Pain. At that point, anybody can sing. You go to their show and “What the fuck?”

Planet Ill: The Internet: friend or foe?

Scratch: I would say it’s good no matter what. Anything out there that you can use to promote your music is good. People identify you; they find something they hadn’t expected to come across when they’re searching. It’s a very strong tool, and it can be an educational tool and very helpful to people who want to look for something. Whatever you want to know, it’s out there. As far as them getting the music, I’m OK with exclusive downloads; they’re very helpful in finding and hearing new songs. The downfall is when you put your blood, sweat and tears into something and people can get it for free. That hurts.

Elianne Halbersberg is a freelance writer whose work has also appeared in Mix, Premier Guitar, Electronic Musician, Audio Media, Ink 19 and many other magazines and websites.

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