heres a little interview with my dude if your interested. Hallway is gona be a name soon...........look for'em on 40's new album.......there should be a pretty dope singer on the songs hook too..........
from wethewest.com
Interview with Hallway Productionz
Wednesday, 16 December 2009 21:37
Stockton, CA based musician/producers Teak and Dee Underdue better known as Hallway Productionz have made a nice little name for themselves these past few years as the official in-house production team for Ice Cube's Lench Mob Records. Appearing on such albums as Cube's Laugh Now, Cry Later, Raw Footage and WC's Guilty By Affiliation, the duo has been making their mark with their instrumental and musical skills. WeTheWest.com caught up with Teak Underdue, one half of the team, to talk about their work on Ice Cube's albums and to give a better insight in to musical production.
Styles: You and your brother Dee had 4 songs that you produced on Ice Cube's last album, Raw Footage. How do you feel your songs were received by the audience?
Teak: Well, with any kind of song that you have with a legend like Ice Cube you bear the cross of having a really good song or one that his fan base will not like. Having 4 songs on that album, we could've been responsible for the project being a disaster. When the album came out we were a little concerned about what the reaction would be but we got a great response for the songs that we did. Even the ones that I thought were a bit weaker, we still received good fan support.
Styles: Since you bring that up. What songs do you think were the weakest?
Teak: The joint “Cold Places.” Ice Cube was real political on it and not too many people are political these days. I thought the beat was crazy but I didn't know how the fans would receive the song. It's a little more Southern and a little more musical. That particular song got a great response though. People told us that they loved what Cube had to say and loved our approach to the song.
Styles: To me the church bells ringing was the perfect touch to a song like that. The mood of the beat set the tone for the message in the song.
Teak: Ice Cube has been able to do that with our music. He'll go through the beats and pick the ones that he wants – and nails it. He's an artist that can match his voice and lyrics to a track really well. The song, “Why Me?” I had a whole different concept when I made the beat and he took it and made it a message song about violence. Cube is a specialist at doing that.
Styles: The Why Me song was something different from Cube. Throughout his career he's been the murderer in his songs but in this case he was the murder victim.
Teak: That's a song that that I'm very proud of because it was a single and it has such a powerful message. I could end my career with that type of song. Not too many people are saying anything in their music today and Cube is addressing a deep issue. I'll accept a song like that anyday especially it being a part of his legacy of work.
Styles: Are you guys working on anything new for him right now?
Teak: Yes. I just sent him a fresh new batch of beats about a month ago. He's been in and out of the lab because he's handling a lot of business right now. He's been recording songs and trying to get in that mode. It's not really an album yet but he's just seeing where he wants to take things next. It's all in the very early stages.
Styles: Are you working with WC on his Return of the Barracuda album as well? He announced that about a year ago and nobody has heard anything from him since.
Teak: Most definitely. Dub has been focusing on that project for a while. He's worked on songs for the album and he's now finally starting to get it in gear. It's not even half-way done so it's in the early stages still but I think he's figured out what he wants to do with it. We are all Lench Mob family so whenever they are working on projects, they call us up.
Even with his last album “Guilty By Affiliation”, it took a while. We had 6 songs on that album but we did about a total of 12 all together. It takes him and Cube a little while but these guys are masters at their sound.
Styles: Have more artists come to you for music after hearing the Raw Footage album?
Teak: A lot of them have been coming from the independent tip. But we have had a few bigger scale artists come to us – one of which was E-40. He out of his way to track us down. Me and my chick had been partying and I remember being hung over as fuck and getting that phone call from him. It was surreal because of who it was and because of all the alcohol in my system. We gave him some beats while he was making The Ball Street Journal but he had already completed his album by the time he heard them. He said he'd get us on the next album. Out of all the beats we sent, he found a specific beat to use which was kind of like “Why Me?” It was a musical beat. He was able to take it and put a club spin on it. That song has a big chance of being a single on 40's new album.
Styles: Who are some of the underground artists that you are working with?
Teak: We are working with a New York artist by the name of Poison Pen. He's good friends with Immortal Technique and he got him to do a verse on a song we produced called “2nd Amendment.” Another artist that found us was a guy out of San Diego named Lil Uno. He got us to do a remix for a song he did with Baby Bash. We are also wrapping up with Turf Talk who's from the Bay Area. He's really respected out here in the streets and he's an incredible rapper. Then there's our family out in Stockton, The Doja Clik. We'll always work with our Stockton family. It's crazy because we are from Northern California but we got our start out in Los Angeles with Ice Cube and WC. It's like we are working our way back up North and scooping up all of the artists who might want to work with us.
There are other artists too like Lyrics Born. He's incredibly talented and we've got a song on his new album. There's a singer named Ledisi that we work with too. She's been nominated for a Grammy and just completed an album called Turn Me Loose which Raphael Saadiq and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis were also a part of. Every producer on the album is a legend. On Ledisi's album I played bass for the first track on there. My cousin Chief Xcel from the group Blackalicious hooked that up.
Styles: You and your brother were traveling on the road doing different gigs the last time I spoke to you. Is that still going on?
Teak: Dee was traveling on the road with Electric Red of Def Jam Records. He was on a bunch of tours going all across the country. The group has some time off now because they are starting their next record. We are both back in the studio working now.
Styles: While he's out on the road, are you just making music on your own? Or do you wait for him to come back?
Teak: I do a lot of the music myself. I'm more of the music guy and my brother is more of the technical guy on our team. He's the mixer/engineer. He does pound out records himself though. Dee did half of the one's on WC's album. We both do the same thing but we have our own specialties. When he's on the road it's business as usual as far as music goes. But when he's on the road, he's out there shaking hands and making contacts for us. I'm more of an introvert anyway. I'm a home-body family man.
Styles: Does a track have to be listened to and approved by the both of you before it can go out? Meaning if you're making music, do you run it all by him and vice versa?
Teak: When artists ask for tracks I'll get some together that I think the artist might feel. We will conference about them and talk about which one's might fit the particular artist. My brother is an artist himself so that's good that he brings the artists perspective when we are deciding on tracks. He'll listen to it and let me know if its too light or too dark for the artist – or too pop.
Styles: Does that ever cause a conflict though? I know that sometimes when two heads come together, there can be a difference of opinion.
Teak: We are brothers (laughs). We've gotten in to our arguments. We've butt heads probably more than the average two people coming together but when it comes to music, it's pretty cut and dry. We both know what we are doing. It's always mutual as far as getting music done. This is something that we've been doing together for a long time.
Styles: Is it just me or does it seem like a lot of these tracks are just being thrown together? Back in the day it seemed like Producers really took time on the music that they made.
Teak: Do you really want to ask me a question like that? I'm really technical. I've thought about this subject very clearly. What happens is that software become available to just anybody – by getting it illegally through cracks or just because it's become really affordable. Just as recently as 2000, to get certain sounds you had to buy your MPC's and at least have a Triton and Sound Modules. All of that costs money. If a person invested money in to buying all of that equipment, then they would take their time in making their music sound good.
Now software is readily available and everybody wants to make music. That is a beautiful thing on one hand but I was talking to WC about this recently and there are people that are putting out a song a week! Then you have places like Myspace, Twitter and other social outlets where you can post these songs. You have technology and production moving very fast. Then add mixtapes to the mix because the economy is bad. That means you have every producer out there online sending beats to every artist who is available. Some of these beats are really good but the business behind selling the beat isn't there anymore. You might have a producer who just wants his name out there and just give out his beats and then other young aspiring beat-makers follow that strategy. The artists have all of these mixtapes coming out and they just want to be heard as well – with all of these free beats on there! All of that really affects the music game. With all of that you get some trash-ass beats – more than you used to – because they are free. It's a real clusterfuck of things. Being a producer seems like the thing to do and you've got people who have no business making bullshit – making bullshit ass music.
Styles: It seems like on an engineering level the quality has gone down too. A lot of songs don't sound polished and properly mixed.
Teak: Studios have taken big hits. You've got an artist that used to think he had to get his song mixed on an SSL and now they just all go through Pro-Tools. Anybody can get Pro-Tools. The quality has gone down but the plus side is that some of the software actually sounds good. Software like Logic, as long as you are not cranking it and fucking it up, it's going to sound pretty good. But yes, sound has gone to shit because you are just sitting there in front of your computer screen with their keyboards. Some of them learn keys and others don't. A cat like me came up in the 80's when they had music in the school and I had to learn different instruments. That was the way to learn music. Now you don't have to have any knowledge of music – just the software to sit in front of your computer long enough for sounds to come out.
At the same time you can't be a bitter dude and just say that the youngsters have fucked everything up. I listen to what I like about what they are doing and use that with what I'm doing. You can't just bitch about the problem and be a part of the problem. You have to try and fix it.
Styles: I like that you guys use a lot of different sounds and instruments in your music. I hear the term beat-maker and I kind of get irritated by it. I hate it when a producer has the mentality that they are a beat-maker. I like it when people consider themselves musicians.
Teak: I work with producers who have been doing it for 15 to 20 years. Chief Xcel is an incredible producer. He can take 5 people and put them in a room and get an incredible record. I think of myself as a Junior Producer in comparison to them. I can turn in really good records but to be honest I am more of a musician than anything – and that comes first with all of my records. If there is no musicianship in it or any type of interesting chords then I am not educating anybody with my music. Really all of the sounds have been played already – its just how you switch it up. It's funny when I see beat-makers say that they have the freshest new sound and that's not really true. With me, I know that I am a musician and that's what's always going to come first. Then as a producer, I will use my ear to see how I can put a twist on things. I'll never call myself an innovator of this shit. I'd rather be someone who's contributing to music.
www.myspace.com/hallwayproductionz
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallway_Productionz
from wethewest.com
Interview with Hallway Productionz
Wednesday, 16 December 2009 21:37
Stockton, CA based musician/producers Teak and Dee Underdue better known as Hallway Productionz have made a nice little name for themselves these past few years as the official in-house production team for Ice Cube's Lench Mob Records. Appearing on such albums as Cube's Laugh Now, Cry Later, Raw Footage and WC's Guilty By Affiliation, the duo has been making their mark with their instrumental and musical skills. WeTheWest.com caught up with Teak Underdue, one half of the team, to talk about their work on Ice Cube's albums and to give a better insight in to musical production.
Styles: You and your brother Dee had 4 songs that you produced on Ice Cube's last album, Raw Footage. How do you feel your songs were received by the audience?
Teak: Well, with any kind of song that you have with a legend like Ice Cube you bear the cross of having a really good song or one that his fan base will not like. Having 4 songs on that album, we could've been responsible for the project being a disaster. When the album came out we were a little concerned about what the reaction would be but we got a great response for the songs that we did. Even the ones that I thought were a bit weaker, we still received good fan support.
Styles: Since you bring that up. What songs do you think were the weakest?
Teak: The joint “Cold Places.” Ice Cube was real political on it and not too many people are political these days. I thought the beat was crazy but I didn't know how the fans would receive the song. It's a little more Southern and a little more musical. That particular song got a great response though. People told us that they loved what Cube had to say and loved our approach to the song.
Styles: To me the church bells ringing was the perfect touch to a song like that. The mood of the beat set the tone for the message in the song.
Teak: Ice Cube has been able to do that with our music. He'll go through the beats and pick the ones that he wants – and nails it. He's an artist that can match his voice and lyrics to a track really well. The song, “Why Me?” I had a whole different concept when I made the beat and he took it and made it a message song about violence. Cube is a specialist at doing that.
Styles: The Why Me song was something different from Cube. Throughout his career he's been the murderer in his songs but in this case he was the murder victim.
Teak: That's a song that that I'm very proud of because it was a single and it has such a powerful message. I could end my career with that type of song. Not too many people are saying anything in their music today and Cube is addressing a deep issue. I'll accept a song like that anyday especially it being a part of his legacy of work.
Styles: Are you guys working on anything new for him right now?
Teak: Yes. I just sent him a fresh new batch of beats about a month ago. He's been in and out of the lab because he's handling a lot of business right now. He's been recording songs and trying to get in that mode. It's not really an album yet but he's just seeing where he wants to take things next. It's all in the very early stages.
Styles: Are you working with WC on his Return of the Barracuda album as well? He announced that about a year ago and nobody has heard anything from him since.
Teak: Most definitely. Dub has been focusing on that project for a while. He's worked on songs for the album and he's now finally starting to get it in gear. It's not even half-way done so it's in the early stages still but I think he's figured out what he wants to do with it. We are all Lench Mob family so whenever they are working on projects, they call us up.
Even with his last album “Guilty By Affiliation”, it took a while. We had 6 songs on that album but we did about a total of 12 all together. It takes him and Cube a little while but these guys are masters at their sound.
Styles: Have more artists come to you for music after hearing the Raw Footage album?
Teak: A lot of them have been coming from the independent tip. But we have had a few bigger scale artists come to us – one of which was E-40. He out of his way to track us down. Me and my chick had been partying and I remember being hung over as fuck and getting that phone call from him. It was surreal because of who it was and because of all the alcohol in my system. We gave him some beats while he was making The Ball Street Journal but he had already completed his album by the time he heard them. He said he'd get us on the next album. Out of all the beats we sent, he found a specific beat to use which was kind of like “Why Me?” It was a musical beat. He was able to take it and put a club spin on it. That song has a big chance of being a single on 40's new album.
Styles: Who are some of the underground artists that you are working with?
Teak: We are working with a New York artist by the name of Poison Pen. He's good friends with Immortal Technique and he got him to do a verse on a song we produced called “2nd Amendment.” Another artist that found us was a guy out of San Diego named Lil Uno. He got us to do a remix for a song he did with Baby Bash. We are also wrapping up with Turf Talk who's from the Bay Area. He's really respected out here in the streets and he's an incredible rapper. Then there's our family out in Stockton, The Doja Clik. We'll always work with our Stockton family. It's crazy because we are from Northern California but we got our start out in Los Angeles with Ice Cube and WC. It's like we are working our way back up North and scooping up all of the artists who might want to work with us.
There are other artists too like Lyrics Born. He's incredibly talented and we've got a song on his new album. There's a singer named Ledisi that we work with too. She's been nominated for a Grammy and just completed an album called Turn Me Loose which Raphael Saadiq and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis were also a part of. Every producer on the album is a legend. On Ledisi's album I played bass for the first track on there. My cousin Chief Xcel from the group Blackalicious hooked that up.
Styles: You and your brother were traveling on the road doing different gigs the last time I spoke to you. Is that still going on?
Teak: Dee was traveling on the road with Electric Red of Def Jam Records. He was on a bunch of tours going all across the country. The group has some time off now because they are starting their next record. We are both back in the studio working now.
Styles: While he's out on the road, are you just making music on your own? Or do you wait for him to come back?
Teak: I do a lot of the music myself. I'm more of the music guy and my brother is more of the technical guy on our team. He's the mixer/engineer. He does pound out records himself though. Dee did half of the one's on WC's album. We both do the same thing but we have our own specialties. When he's on the road it's business as usual as far as music goes. But when he's on the road, he's out there shaking hands and making contacts for us. I'm more of an introvert anyway. I'm a home-body family man.
Styles: Does a track have to be listened to and approved by the both of you before it can go out? Meaning if you're making music, do you run it all by him and vice versa?
Teak: When artists ask for tracks I'll get some together that I think the artist might feel. We will conference about them and talk about which one's might fit the particular artist. My brother is an artist himself so that's good that he brings the artists perspective when we are deciding on tracks. He'll listen to it and let me know if its too light or too dark for the artist – or too pop.
Styles: Does that ever cause a conflict though? I know that sometimes when two heads come together, there can be a difference of opinion.
Teak: We are brothers (laughs). We've gotten in to our arguments. We've butt heads probably more than the average two people coming together but when it comes to music, it's pretty cut and dry. We both know what we are doing. It's always mutual as far as getting music done. This is something that we've been doing together for a long time.
Styles: Is it just me or does it seem like a lot of these tracks are just being thrown together? Back in the day it seemed like Producers really took time on the music that they made.
Teak: Do you really want to ask me a question like that? I'm really technical. I've thought about this subject very clearly. What happens is that software become available to just anybody – by getting it illegally through cracks or just because it's become really affordable. Just as recently as 2000, to get certain sounds you had to buy your MPC's and at least have a Triton and Sound Modules. All of that costs money. If a person invested money in to buying all of that equipment, then they would take their time in making their music sound good.
Now software is readily available and everybody wants to make music. That is a beautiful thing on one hand but I was talking to WC about this recently and there are people that are putting out a song a week! Then you have places like Myspace, Twitter and other social outlets where you can post these songs. You have technology and production moving very fast. Then add mixtapes to the mix because the economy is bad. That means you have every producer out there online sending beats to every artist who is available. Some of these beats are really good but the business behind selling the beat isn't there anymore. You might have a producer who just wants his name out there and just give out his beats and then other young aspiring beat-makers follow that strategy. The artists have all of these mixtapes coming out and they just want to be heard as well – with all of these free beats on there! All of that really affects the music game. With all of that you get some trash-ass beats – more than you used to – because they are free. It's a real clusterfuck of things. Being a producer seems like the thing to do and you've got people who have no business making bullshit – making bullshit ass music.
Styles: It seems like on an engineering level the quality has gone down too. A lot of songs don't sound polished and properly mixed.
Teak: Studios have taken big hits. You've got an artist that used to think he had to get his song mixed on an SSL and now they just all go through Pro-Tools. Anybody can get Pro-Tools. The quality has gone down but the plus side is that some of the software actually sounds good. Software like Logic, as long as you are not cranking it and fucking it up, it's going to sound pretty good. But yes, sound has gone to shit because you are just sitting there in front of your computer screen with their keyboards. Some of them learn keys and others don't. A cat like me came up in the 80's when they had music in the school and I had to learn different instruments. That was the way to learn music. Now you don't have to have any knowledge of music – just the software to sit in front of your computer long enough for sounds to come out.
At the same time you can't be a bitter dude and just say that the youngsters have fucked everything up. I listen to what I like about what they are doing and use that with what I'm doing. You can't just bitch about the problem and be a part of the problem. You have to try and fix it.
Styles: I like that you guys use a lot of different sounds and instruments in your music. I hear the term beat-maker and I kind of get irritated by it. I hate it when a producer has the mentality that they are a beat-maker. I like it when people consider themselves musicians.
Teak: I work with producers who have been doing it for 15 to 20 years. Chief Xcel is an incredible producer. He can take 5 people and put them in a room and get an incredible record. I think of myself as a Junior Producer in comparison to them. I can turn in really good records but to be honest I am more of a musician than anything – and that comes first with all of my records. If there is no musicianship in it or any type of interesting chords then I am not educating anybody with my music. Really all of the sounds have been played already – its just how you switch it up. It's funny when I see beat-makers say that they have the freshest new sound and that's not really true. With me, I know that I am a musician and that's what's always going to come first. Then as a producer, I will use my ear to see how I can put a twist on things. I'll never call myself an innovator of this shit. I'd rather be someone who's contributing to music.
www.myspace.com/hallwayproductionz
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallway_Productionz
