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The Signal Flow of a
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Studio Social Manners "Who be da Producah"(Producah is pronounced PRO-DOOSE-SAH) Teaching hip hop class to teenagers as I do, I have witnessed the legitimate role of the producah. While many people dismiss this role as ridiculous, (a "False Producer" I am here to tell you it is not. If there is no one in charge I can guarantee you the session is at high risk for failure. For every hip hop session there must be a producah and they have the following functions: 1. They decide who is supposed to show up, make arrangements ahead of time. They set the time for the session. 2. They decide who lays down the beat, who is the main rapper, who is the guest, and exactly what the others are supposed to do. 3. While they can accept input from others, they get to make the decision. If beatmaker does not show (common), the producah accepts input on who should make the beat. If push comes to shove, the producah must have the power to win all disputes. This is best done by being the studio owner, because if you shut it down, what are they gonna do? Its just as important for the producah to know how to use a sequencer. |
Yet the MPC is digital on the inside. All those analog sources coming from your Mic, preamp, turntable and CD player are digitized as samples as they are recorded in the MPC. These samples are triggered by MIDI notes, which occur by pressing a Pad on the MPC or by pressing a key on the connected keyboard. Inside the MPC is a MIDI and Audio sequencer. The song is "assembled" by moving bits and blocks of MIDI data which trigger the samples. While that is what is happening underneath, for the user, the experience is one of tapping on the pads and the keys after hitting the record button.
The chart above is based on the common MPC 1000, which only has 2 analog line inputs and no mic preamps. Because of this I show how to use a DJ mixer to add the analog inputs for a turntable and CD player as well as a common mic stereo mic preamp. The Mic preamp not only lets you connect microphones, but guitars, basses and other gear that has instrument level outputs.
Newer MPCs have digital i/o and USB connections. These are excellent for connecting to a computer for storage and for bringing samples into the MPC from sample libraries. The older MPCs use SCSI connections to proprietary Akai CD Roms.
One way to same money on this rig is to get a DJ Mixer that has mic preamps onboard. However, there is a thing you have to watch out for. Some DJ mixers have hi impedance mic preamps (look like guitar inputs). These will NOT work with your professional mix with XLR jacks. Also DJ mixers might not have phantom power. That means you can't use a condenser mic. So be real careful on the DJ mixer. Two mixers that might be good for using dynamic mics, like the Shure sm57, 58, might be the Allen &Heath Xone 2 and Xone 32
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