58-579: Christopher Edward Martin (born March 21, 1966), known professionally as DJ Premier (also known as Preemo ), is an American record producer and DJ . He has been frequently lauded as one of hip hop 's greatest producers by publications such as Vibe . He formed the hip hop duo Gang Starr alongside American rapper Guru , with whom he has released seven albums. He formed another hip hop duo, PRhyme —with American rapper Royce da 5'9" —in 2014, with whom he has released two albums. Premier has produced each of Gang Starr's releases, as well as many of those by
116-489: A Grammy nomination, the Recording Academy defines a producer: The person who has overall creative and technical control of the entire recording project, and the individual recording sessions that are part of that project. He or she is present in the recording studio or at the location recording and works directly with the artist and engineer. The producer makes creative and aesthetic decisions that realize both
174-590: A 2003 interview: "They [Group Home] don't respect what fed them." He further explained that he only agreed to produce the track "The Legacy" because of Guru's involvement. Other artists closely tied to the Gang Starr Foundation who Premier collaborated with include: Afu-Ra , Bahamadia , Krumbsnatcha, Big Shug, Smiley the Ghetto Child, and NYGz. Premier collaborated with MC Jeru the Damaja on
232-423: A broad project, the creation of a popular music recording may be split across three specialists: the executive producer , who oversees business partnerships and financing; the vocal producer or vocal arranger, who aids vocal performance via expert critique and coaching of vocal technique, and the record producer or music producer, who, often called simply the producer, directs the overall creative process of recording
290-654: A chorus. Premier has also experimented with atonal samples that are not confined to soul, jazz, and funk. For example, he sampled and chopped up seminal electro-acoustic music from the 1960s on the track "Physical Stamina" by Jeru the Damaja. In an interview with XXL Magazine , DJ Premier was asked how his sound evolved, to which he replied, " Marley Marl is my number-one inspiration. Jam Master Jay , Mix Master Ice, and UTFO . Grandmaster D, and Whodini . DJ Cheese , Grandmaster Flash , Kool Herc , Afrika Bambaataa . Jazzy Jay —even Cut Creator . Seeing them do what they do. It's black music, it's black culture, it comes from
348-471: A cylinder. By the 1930s, a gramophone etched it laterally across a disc. Constrained in tonal range, whether bass or treble, and in dynamic range , records made a grand, concert piano sound like a small, upright piano, and maximal duration was four and a half minutes. Selections and performance were often altered accordingly, and playing this disc—the wax master—destroyed it. The finality often caused anxiety that restrained performance to prevent error. In
406-407: A leading A&R man of the 1950s. During the decade, A&R executives increasingly directed songs' sonic signatures, although many still simply teamed singers with musicians, while yet others exercised virtually no creative influence. The term record producer in its current meaning—the creative director of song production—appearing in a 1953 issue of Billboard magazine, became widespread in
464-516: A musical element while playing a previously recorded record, Les Paul developed a recording technique called "sound on sound". By this, the final recording could be built piece by piece and tailored, effecting an editing process. In one case, Paul produced a song via 500 recorded discs. But, besides the tedium of this process, it serially degraded the sound quality of previously recorded elements, rerecorded as ambient sound. Yet in 1948, Paul adopted tape recording, enabling true multitrack recording by
522-542: A new technique, " overdubbing ". To enable overdubbing, Paul revised the tape recorder itself by adding a second playback head, and terming it the preview head . Joining the preexisting recording head, erase head, and playback head, the preview head allows the artist to hear the extant recording over headphones playing it in synchrony, "in sync", with the present performance being recorded alone on an isolated track. This isolation of multiple tracks enables countless mixing possibilities. Producers began recording initially only
580-509: A recording space in Astoria, New York City, U.S. DJ Premier served as one of the three curators for the soundtrack to the video game NBA 2K16 , alongside DJ Khaled and DJ Mustard . On May 16, 2019, DJ Premier released a collaboration with Buffalo (New York) rappers Conway The Machine , Westside Gunn , and Benny the Butcher , called "Headlines." In June 2020, DJ Premier produced
638-531: A set of recordings in Los Angeles. Later, folklorist Archie Green called this perhaps the earliest printed use of A&R man . Actually, it says neither "A&R man" nor even "A&R", an initialism perhaps coined by Billboard magazine in 1946, and entering wide use in the late 1940s. In the 1920s and 1930s, A&R executives, like Ben Selvin at Columbia Records , Nathaniel Shilkret at Victor Records, and Bob Haring at Brunswick Records became
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#1732798348932696-513: A track for Public Enemy called "State of the Union (STFU)". DJ Premier hosted a weekly two-hour show, Live From HeadQCourterz , on Sirius Satellite Radio 's Shade 45 . The show ended in 2022. In August 2023, DJ Premier's collaboration clothing collection with AMIRI was released, marked with "PREEMO" alongside the Amiri typography, with a record print. DJ Premier's style of production epitomizes
754-448: A woman the reins of an immense, creative project like making a record." Ultimately, the reasons are multiple and not fully clear, although prominently proposed factors include types of sexism and scarcity of female role models in the profession. Women producers known for producing records not their own include Sonia Pottinger, Sylvia Robinson and Carla Olson. In January 2018, a research team led by Stacy L. Smith, founder and director of
812-479: Is distinct from the role of an executive producer , who is mostly involved in the recording project on an administrative level, and from the audio engineer who operates the recording technology. Varying by project, the producer may or may not choose all of the artists. If employing only synthesized or sampled instrumentation, the producer may be the sole artist. Conversely, some artists do their own production. Some producers are their own engineers, operating
870-660: Is more forgiving of overmodulation , whereby dynamic peaks exceed the maximal recordable signal level: tape's limitation, a physical property, is magnetic capacity, which tapers off, smoothing the overmodulated waveform even at a signal nearly 15 decibels too "hot", whereas a digital recording is ruined by harsh distortion of " clipping " at any overshoot. In digital recording, however, a recent advancement, 32-bit float , enables DAWs to undo clipping. Still, some criticize digital instruments and workflows for excess automation, allegedly impairing creative or sonic control. In any case, as production technology has drastically changed, so have
928-637: Is the first step in a broader effort to improve those numbers and increase diversity and inclusion for all in the music industry." Afu-Ra Aaron Ocosice Phillip (born January 31, 1974), better known by his stage name Afu-Ra , is an American underground rapper . A member of the Gang Starr Foundation , he has worked closely with its members, including Gang Starr , Jeru the Damaja , Big Shug and Group Home . Afu-Ra grew up in Brooklyn, New York City with frequent collaborator Jeru
986-825: The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, based in the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism , issued a report, estimating that in the prior several years, about 2% of popular songs' producers were female. Also that month, Billboard magazine queried, "Where are all the female music producers?" Upon the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative's second annual report, released in February 2019, its department at USC reported, "2018 saw an outcry from artists, executives and other music industry professionals over
1044-935: The Gang Starr Foundation . Alongside this, he has been credited with production work on releases for ASAP Mob , AZ , Common , Eminem , the Game , Griselda , Jeru the Damaja , J. Cole , Jay-Z , Joey Badass , Kanye West , Limp Bizkit , M.O.P. , Mos Def , Nas , the Notorious B.I.G. , O.C. , Rakim , Royce Da 5'9 , Run the Jewels , and Showbiz & A.G. , among others. Despite mainly working in underground hip hop , he has produced Billboard Hot 100 -charting singles including " Ain't No Other Man " (2006) by Christina Aguilera , " The Actual " (1998) by All City , " Mass Appeal " (1994) and " You Know My Steez " (1997) by Gang Starr, " MC's Act Like They Don't Know " (1995) by KRS-One , and " Nas Is Like " (1999) by Nas. Martin founded
1102-526: The Shady Records album, Shady XV , and the music video was published in November 2014. In mid-2014, Premier collaborated with Korean hip-hop group Dynamic Duo on two singles "AEAO" and "Animal", which were both warmly received. A mid-January 2015 announcement from Premier stated that the producer's studio, D&D, also known as "The HeadQcouterz," will cease to be operational and relocated to
1160-707: The "bed tracks"—the rhythm section , including the bassline , drums, and rhythm guitar—whereas vocals and instrument solos could be added later. A horn section , for example, could record a week later, and a string section another week later. A singer could perform her own backup vocals, or a guitarist could play 15 layers. Across the 1960s, popular music increasingly switched from acoustic instruments, like piano, upright bass , acoustic guitar , and brass instruments , to electronic instruments, like electric guitars , keyboards , and synthesizers , employing instrument amplifiers and speakers. These could mimic acoustic instruments or create utterly new sounds. Soon, by combining
1218-432: The 1940s advent of tape recording —which Les Paul promptly innovated further to develop multitrack recording —and the 1950s rise of electronic instruments, turned record production into a specialty. In popular music, then, producers like George Martin , Phil Spector and Brian Eno led its evolution into its present use of elaborate techniques and unrealistic sounds, creating songs impossible to originate live. After
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#17327983489321276-462: The 1940s, during World War II, the Germans refined audio recording onto magnetic tape—uncapping recording duration and allowing immediate playback, rerecording, and editing—a technology that premised emergence of record producers in their current roles. Early in the recording industry, a record was attained by simply having all of the artists perform together live in one take. In 1945, by recording
1334-522: The 1960s. Still, a formal distinction was elusive for some time more. A&R managers might still be creative directors, like William "Mickey" Stevenson , hired by Berry Gordy , at the Motown record label. In 1947, the American market gained audio recording onto magnetic tape. At the record industry's 1880s dawn, rather, recording was done by phonograph , etching the sonic waveform vertically into
1392-501: The 1980s, production's move from analog to digital further expanded possibilities. By now, DAWs, or digital audio workstations , like Logic Pro , Pro Tools and Studio One , turn an ordinary computer into a production console, whereby a solitary novice can become a skilled producer in a thrifty home studio. In the 2010s, efforts began to increase the prevalence of producers and engineers who are women, heavily outnumbered by men and prominently accoladed only in classical music. As
1450-580: The Damaja . Afu-Ra's first studio appearance was on Jeru's 1994 album The Sun Rises in the East , on the song "Mental Stamina". He made another appearance on Jeru's second album Wrath of the Math , on the track "Physical Stamina", in 1996. Afu's debut single, "Whirlwind Thru Cities", was released in 1998, reaching the top 20 on Billboard 's Hot Rap Singles chart. In 1999, he released his second single, "Defeat" b/w "Mortal Kombat". His debut album, Body of
1508-647: The Kinks produced some of their own songs, although many such songs are officially credited to specialist producers. Yet especially influential was the Beach Boys, whose band leader Brian Wilson took over from his father Murry within a couple of years after the band's commercial breakthrough. By 1964, Wilson had taken Spector's techniques to unseen sophistication. Wilson alone produced all Beach Boys recordings between 1963 and 1967. Using multiple studios and multiple attempts of instrumental and vocal tracks, Wilson selected
1566-549: The Life Force and KRS-One 's debut solo album Return of the Boom Bap . Besides the Gang Starr Foundation, Premier is closely affiliated with M.O.P. , which he names as one of his all-time favorite groups. The relationship started with the remix of "Rugged, Neva Smoove" in 1994, a single from the group's first album, which also included the exclusive B-side "Downtown Swinga." From then, Premier produced about one-third of
1624-837: The Life Force , was released in October 2000. The album featured production from DJ Premier , DJ Muggs , True Master and Da Beatminerz . Guests included Wu-Tang Clan 's GZA and Masta Killa , M.O.P. , Ky-Mani Marley , and the Cocoa Brovaz . The album peaked at 183 on the Billboard 200 , 13 on the independent chart, and 42 on hip hop . Afu released his second effort Life Force Radio in May 2002 on Koch Records , featuring production from DJ Premier, True Master , Easy Mo Bee , Domingo and Ayatollah . Guests included Guru , Big Daddy Kane , RZA , and Teena Marie . The album
1682-717: The New York sound of his earlier peers. He is known for sampling jazz , funk , and soul artists, as well as sampling an artist's past work when creating a new track for that same artist. For example, on Jay-Z's "So Ghetto", from the 1999 album Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter , Premier samples an older Jay-Z song, 1997's "Who You Wit II". In addition, his encyclopedic memory of hip-hop lyrics allows him to distinctively speak with his hands by scratching in lyrics from several different songs to construct new phrases. Premier's beats are known for his oft-imitated combinations of short vocal samples, often from multiple artists, to create
1740-406: The album The Sun Rises in the East , released in 1994, as well as the 1996 follow-up, Wrath of the Math . Premier produced and supervised Livin' Proof by Group Home , also from the Gang Starr Foundation; although overlooked at the time of its 1995 release, the album eventually received acclaim. He produced several tracks on fellow Gang Starr Foundation member Afu-Ra 's debut album Body of
1798-409: The artist's and label's goals in the creation of musical content. Other duties include, but are not limited to: keeping budgets and schedules; adhering to deadlines; hiring musicians, singers, studios, and engineers; overseeing other staffing needs; and editing (Classical projects). The producer often selects and collaborates with a mixing engineer, who focuses on the especially technological aspects of
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1856-469: The best combinations of performance and audio quality, and used tape editing to assemble a composite performance. The 1980s advent of digital processes and formats rapidly replaced analog processes and formats, namely, tape and vinyl. Although recording onto quality tape, at least half an inch wide and traveling 15 inches per second, had limited "tape hiss" to silent sections, digital's higher signal-to-noise ratio , SNR, abolished it. Digital also imparted to
1914-567: The campus DJ, and he also occasionally performed with the Marching Storm band. The early line-up of the Gang Starr Foundation in the mid-1990s included Jeru the Damaja , Group Home , Big Shug , and Gang Starr. Premier was fully responsible for the production of Jeru the Damaja's first two albums, The Sun Rises in the East and Wrath of the Math . Jeru released three subsequent albums that did not include Premier's involvement. In terms of his Group Home collaboration, Premier commented in
1972-517: The capabilities of tape, multitrack recording, and electronic instruments, producers like Phil Spector , George Martin , and Joe Meek rendered sounds unattainable live. Similarly, in jazz fusion , Teo Macero , producing Miles Davis 's 1970 album Bitches Brew , spliced sections of extensive improvisation sessions. In the 1960s, rock acts like the Beatles , the Rolling Stones , and
2030-414: The ghetto. How can you not relate to ghetto people when that's the rawest form of blackness? Even though it's not a good place in regards to the economy and how bad people have it in the neighborhood, the realism's there, and that's what we were born out of. So I very much pay respect by doing the same type of music in return." DJ Premier attended Prairie View A&M University and may have been influenced by
2088-424: The greatest hip hop producer of all time—he finished second after Dr. Dre received 62 percent of the votes. Afu Ra explained Premier's influence in a September 2014 interview with the "Lyrically Fit" website: Premier definitely coached me when I was in the booth. "harder..stronger..more this..more that"—I was an untamed artist and rapping next to recording your vocals are different. He gave me this knowledge through
2146-449: The host for radio station The Classics 104.1 . Premier produced the majority of Blaq Poet 's Tha Blaqprint , which was released in mid-2009. Premier contributed a song on Game 's 2011 album, The R.E.D. Album . Also in 2011, Premier appeared on the song "Gangster", on Bushido 's album Jenseits von Gut und Böse . Premier was one of the artists followed in the 2012 documentary, Re:GENERATION . The film followed his production of
2204-460: The industry are Logic Pro and Pro Tools. Physical devices involved include the main mixer, MIDI controllers to communicate among equipment, the recording device itself, and perhaps effects gear that is outboard. Yet literal recording is sometimes still analog, onto tape, whereupon the raw recording is converted to a digital signal for processing and editing, as some producers still find audio advantages to recording onto tape. Conventionally, tape
2262-669: The knowledge demands, although DAWs enables novices, even teenagers at home, to learn production independently. Some have attained professional competence before ever working with an artist. Among female record producers, Sylvia Moy was the first at Motown , Gail Davies the first on Nashville's Music Row , and Ethel Gabriel , with RCA , the first at a major record label . Lillian McMurry , owning Trumpet Records , produced influential blues records. Meanwhile, Wilma Cozart Fine produced hundreds of records for Mercury Records ' classical division. For classical production, three women have won Grammy awards, and Judith Sherman 's 2015 win
2320-507: The lack of women in music" and "the plight of women in music", where women were allegedly being "stereotyped, sexualized, and shut out". Also in February 2019, the Recording Academy 's Task Force on Diversity and Inclusion announced an initiative whereby over 200 artists and producers—ranging from Cardi B and Taylor Swift to Maroon 5 and Quincy Jones —agreed to consider at least two women for each producer or engineer position. The academy's website, Grammy.com , announced, "This initiative
2378-520: The manufacturing of record discs. After World War II , pioneering A&R managers who transitioned influentially to record production as now understood, while sometimes owning independent labels, include J. Mayo Williams and John Hammond . Upon moving from Columbia Records to Mercury Records , Hammond appointed Mitch Miller to lead Mercury's popular recordings in New York. Miller then produced country-pop crossover hits by Patti Page and by Frankie Laine , moved from Mercury to Columbia, and became
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2436-774: The music a perceived "pristine" sound quality, if also a loss of analog recordings' perceived "warm" quality and better-rounded bass. Yet whereas editing tape media requires physically locating the target audio on the ribbon, cutting there, and splicing pieces, editing digital media offers inarguable advantages in ease, efficiency, and possibilities. In the 1990s, digital production reached affordable home computers via production software. By now, recording and mixing are often centralized in DAWs, digital audio workstations —for example, Pro Tools , Logic Pro , Ableton , Cubase , Reason , and FL Studio —for which plugins , by third parties, effect virtual studio technology . DAWs fairly standard in
2494-470: The musical atmosphere at the university while serving as the campus DJ and occasional performer with the world-famous Marching Storm band. He was a major progenitor of the boom-bap style of hip-hop production. For its 20th-anniversary issue in 2008, The Source selected DJ Premier for its list of the 20 greatest producers in the magazine's history. He also made the finals in Vibe magazine's 2010 search for
2552-538: The other records were still constructed like Premier tracks they were like, "Yo, I really love this album. I was really impressed. I was worried, but you totally sound like what we love about you." Until you hear it, don't say a word. I never want to be just attached to hip hop. I want to be attached to music—country, rap, soul, jazz, blues, it doesn't matter, gospel music—I come from all of that. In 2008, Premier appeared in Grand Theft Auto IV as himself –
2610-438: The precursors of record producers, supervising recording and often leading session orchestras. During the 1940s, major record labels increasingly opened official A&R departments, whose roles included supervision of recording. Meanwhile, independent recording studios opened, helping originate record producer as a specialty. But despite a tradition of some A&R men writing music, record production still referred to just
2668-449: The production team and process. The producer's involvement in a musical project can vary in depth and scope. Sometimes in popular genres the producer may create the recording's entire sound and structure. However, in classical music recording, for example, the producer serves as more of a liaison between the conductor and the engineering team. The role is often likened to that of a film director though there are important differences. It
2726-725: The record label, Year Round Records in 2010. He has signed acts including New York group NYGz, New Jersey rapper Nick Javas, and Houston rapper Khalil. Tha Blaqprint by Blaq Poet, which features 13 Premier productions, was released by Year Round Records through Fat Beats Records in June 2009. Christopher Edward Martin was born in Fifth Ward, Houston on March 21, 1966. He was then raised in Prairie View , before moving to Brooklyn , during his teenage years. He attended Prairie View A&M University , where he honed his musical skills as
2784-463: The recording process, namely, operating the electronic equipment and blending the raw, recorded tracks of the chosen performances, whether vocal or instrumental, into a mix , either stereo or surround sound. Then a mastering engineer further adjusts this recording for distribution on the chosen media. A producer may work on only one or two songs or on an artist's entire album, helping develop the album's overall vision. The record producers may also take on
2842-438: The role of executive producer, managing the budget, schedules, contracts, and negotiations. (Artists and Repertoires) In the 1880s, the record industry began by simply having the artist perform at a phonograph . In 1924, the trade journal Talking Machine World , covering the phonography and record industry, reported that Eddie King, Victor Records ' manager of the "New York artist and repertoire department", had planned
2900-607: The song "Regeneration," for which he used a live performance of his work by the Berklee Symphony Orchestra. In September 2012, Immortal Technique said that a song called "Born in the Trap," on his upcoming album, titled The Middle Passage , would feature production by Premier. In early 2014, Premier revealed that he was working with Aguilera again in an interview with New Zealand's Rip It Up magazine. Premier produced Y'all Ready Know by Slaughterhouse , from
2958-431: The song in its final mix. The producer's roles can include gathering ideas, composing music, choosing session musicians , proposing changes to song arrangements, coaching the performers, controlling sessions, supervising the audio mixing , and, in some cases, supervising the audio mastering . A producer may give creative control to the artists themselves, taking a supervisory or advisory role instead. As to qualifying for
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#17327983489323016-538: The songs on each subsequent album and overseeing and mixing the projects. On M.O.P.'s 2009 Foundation album, Premier provided only one track, which was called "What I Wanna B." In 2006, pop/R&B singer Christina Aguilera recruited Premier to produce her album Back to Basics . Premier explained the reservations he heard from people regarding the collaboration: When Christina [Aguilera] had me work with her, people were like, "Oh no. Please don't." Then, when they heard "Ain't No Other Man," "Back In The Day," and all
3074-440: The technology across the project: preproduction, recording, mixing , and mastering . Record producers' precursors were "A&R men", who likewise could blend entrepreneurial, creative, and technical roles, but often exercised scant creative influence, as record production still focused, into the 1950s, on simply improving the record's sonic match to the artists' own live performance. Advances in recording technology, especially
3132-481: The vast majority have been men. Early in the 2010s, asked for insights that she herself had gleaned as a woman who has specialized successfully in the industry, Wendy Page remarked, "The difficulties are usually very short-lived. Once people realize that you can do your job, sexism tends to lower its ugly head." Still, when tasked to explain her profession's sex disparity, Page partly reasoned that record labels, dominated by men, have been, she said, "mistrustful of giving
3190-424: The work we did. Record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensuring artists deliver acceptable and quality performances, supervising the technical engineering of the recording, and coordinating
3248-658: Was an early female record producer, having produced both of her Ivor Novello award-winning songs. Across the decades, many female artists have produced their own music. For instance, artists Kate Bush , Madonna , Mariah Carey , Janet Jackson , Beyoncé (even that of Destiny's Child and the Carters ), Lana Del Rey , Taylor Swift , and Lorde have produced or coproduced and Ariana Grande who produces and arranges her vocals as well as being an audio engineer. Still among specialists, despite some prominent women, including Missy Elliott in hip hop and Sylvia Massy in rock,
3306-455: Was her fifth. Yet in nonclassical, no woman has won Producer of the Year , awarded since 1975 and only one even nominated for a record not her own, Linda Perry. After Lauren Christy 's 2004 nomination, Linda Perry 's 2019 nomination was the next for a woman. On why no woman had ever won it, Perry commented, "I just don't think there are that many women interested." In the U.K., Lynsey de Paul
3364-530: Was slightly less successful, peaking at 184 on the Billboard 200, 17 on the independent album chart, though 29 on hip hop. In 2004, he released a compilation album titled Afu-Ra presents Perverted Monks , followed by a studio album in 2005, titled State of the Arts on Decon Records . The latter featured production by DJ Premier and Bronze Nazareth and guest vocals from Masta Killa, Royce da 5'9" , and Gentleman . In 2012, he independently released Body of
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