11.01.03:Elianne Halbersberg talks to the folks at Underdog Entertainment, an L.A.-based recording facility with a Motown-like, all in-house vibe.
When your client list includes artists such as Toni Braxton, Craig
David and Brian McKnight, two factors come into play: You'd better be
good - very good - and you'd better have the right equipment. For the
Platinum songwriting/production team of Harvey Mason jr. and Damon
Thomas - better known as the Underdogs - and their engineer/mixer, Dave
Russell, getting the job done requires a Solid State Logic C200 Digital
Console.
Underdog Entertainment is based in Los Angeles, where its
state-of-the-art faciilities make hit records from the ground up. Mason
and Thomas recently inked a deal with Clive Davis' J Records, for whom
they will sign artists, in addition to continued recording, production
and mixes. Thanks to the C200, this process will now be a matter of
total recall.
"Damon and I work on two or three projects at the same time and we need
to switch gears quickly," says Mason of choosing the C200. "In our
previous studio, we used the SSL MT. We needed to be able to recall the
board with one push of a button. The way we write, pace is important so
as to get back to where we left a song, do the track and vocals, move
on to another instrument, song or artist, and come back in three days
exactly the way we left it, with the same creative magic. And the
singer has to be comfortable with the way it sounds. With the C200, it
always comes up the same when we pull it up. We use Logic software, so
it's the same output, volume, pitch, velocity and EQ everytime. When we
start mixes, which are all done in-house, we can just punch it in and
not start from scratch."
Russell, who has worked the The Underdogs for two years, is a veteran
of SSL consoles. The C200, he says, has made a world of difference in
ease and time management.
"I've always worked on SSL's" he says. "I've used the K series, G
series and J series - I'm a big fan of the J series. A real bonus with
(the C200) new computer is that it's a lot faster than the MT and it
shines when we get to the mix because it cuts down on a lot of time.
"I can program it, lock up ProTools and Logic, and go from the start to
the end of the mix with the press of one button. The old SSL's are a
bit more antiquated and you have to type things in. Here, I can do
things easiily. It's very intuitive. There's nothing like when the
producer wants to hear something and you spend a couple of seconds
instead of minutes finding it for him.
"It's one knob/one button per function. I can see the control services.
I'm old school and I like analog, but it becomes very easy to do
something creative with the C200, whereas when something becomes hard
to do you sort of lose the vibe.
"We do a lot of mixing as we go along because the board is instantly
recordable. When the guys are writing we begin balances, or we'll EQ
bits and get a few effects, and we're able to pull the project up in a
matter of seven or eight seconds, work on it,save it, close the project
and reopen another song. We work on four or five songs a day, and on
some we might do drums, and on some a bit of bass or vocals. We tweak
and balance and mix as we go and capture ideas creatively, so speed is
a really, really big factor. I think there's only one board that's in
contention for what we do, sonically and ergonomically: This board has
96 channels on a 48 frame board, and to have a computer that I love,
there's only one frontrunner and that's this board."
Mason and Thomas met when they were working as successful
songwriters/producers for Rodney Jerkins and Kenneth "Babyface"
edmonds, respectively. After each each decided to move on, Thomas
called Mason and suggested forming their own team. Mason resisted, but
agreed to a songwriting session. The result was "I Like them Girls",
which became a hit for Tyrese and the start of a partnership and
friendship.
"It was so much fun that we kept going and there was no chance of not
doing it, because of the success of the first song", says Mason.
"That's how the Underdogs name was created: We were always someone
else's backseat drivers, quiet and out of the way, and when we came
together we felt wew could do good things, prove a point, and stay
simple and humble."
He compares Underdog Entertainment to "the beginning stages of Motown,
where it's all in-house. We have a pretty big staff, including myself,
Damon and a couple and a couple of writers for lyrics, track ideas,
guitar, whatever it is. It's five or six people working on the common
goal of makin a great record.
"Workdays are pretty standard. I get in around noon or 1:00, handle
business and calls, artists come in around 3:00 or 4:00 and we go until
we drop-whether it's 1 a.m. or 5 a.m., depending what stage we're at on
the record and where the inspiration is. there's so much business to
take care of during the day, trying to run the label, and by 4:00 or
5:00 and factory gets cranked up. It's like this seven days a week.
What's different about us is that we write songs specifically for each
artist. We know who their audience is, their sound, where they want to
go with their record. when artists come here, they know that everything
is specifically designed for them."
"Our goal is to be the next important production team, period", says
Thomas. "The gear is very important, and with the C200 we can get
things done a lot faster and therefore more work can get done. It's the
greatest console because of the recall time
The C200 stands out, says Russell, because of its much faster computer.
Citing a "very pleasant learning curve", he remarks, "The new LEDs on
the meters are great. I can see everything that's coming into the desk.
If you've got noise or are trying to find something, it's easy to do. I
can assign meters on a separate little user interface and look at all
of ProTools and Logic on the board. we have 12 sends and returns on
this board, which is a great function - most boards only have eith -
and they all recall correctly. I can automate everyting - my small
faders, EQ, reverb, throws or spins. And the fact that it's layered
makes real sense. SSL is doing a lot of nice little tricks with the
board, and we're doing some interesting development stuff as well."
With the exception of the C200, Underdog Entertainment has identically
equipped rooms. "All of the equipment has to be consistent with
quality", says Mason. "We have four of the same Sony mics, Summit Audio
compressors, Avalon pre-amps and Avalon 2055 EQ in every room.
Sequencing and programming is Logic on Macs - same sound, same hard
drive libraries. We have ProTools in every room with the same plug-ins
for vocals. All laptops are linked for shared folders and audio files."
"The whole studio is a one-stop shop for people to completely finish a
record here, from recording to overdubs to mixing," says Russell.
"That's the ideal scenario. The board helps up push the boundaries and
sound as best as we can. It's a really nice mix room with great
monitoring, and it's good to have a home and a base and a reference to
do stuff in. we're trying to achieve something that gets on a CD and
sonically competes with everything else out there. As far as that's
concerned, we use the best outboard gear, the best desks and the best
monitoring."
Mason and Thomas launced their company with very clear goals in mind:
"To make music that is relevant to what is on the radio, and to offer
an alternative to what's out there," says Mason. "We're musicians and
songwriters; we know harmonies and melodies. We wanted to get great
songs on the radio and make singers sing performances, not chopped-up
vocals. "We want to leave our mark on the industry and have people like
and respect us. We come from successful camps, and we have the work
ethic to hit the home run, shoot for greatness on every song, and make
songs that last.