Bryan-Michael Cox Setup

[computa]

for those who are interested:

...Cox's writing rig consists of the Akai MPC4000, a Korg Triton Extreme as main controller, Roland Fantom X sound module, Logic running on a 17-inch Powerbook G4 loaded with Native Instruments' Komplete, IK's Miroslav Philharmonik and Arturia's CS80V, among lots of other soft synths, plus Yamaha Motif ES, Roland V-Synth, Moog Voyager and Studio Electronics SE1X synths, Technics SL1200 turntables and mixer, and Serato's Scratch Live turntable controller.

"Bryan uses Logic as a sound module," explains Thomas. "He doesn't sequence inside of Logic, he does all his sequencing on the MPC. We use Ak*Sys [Akai's sound manager program for their samplers] to communicate between the MPC and Logic, and it allows you to actually see the MPC on your laptop. We have an amazing sound library — we take a lot of time to build it and sometimes spend two days just catching kicks and snares and hi-hats and other sounds. Or we'll take snippets from vinyl records or sounds from sample CDs. We organise sounds of all sorts of different categories and moods in different folders. Depending on what mood Bryan is in, all he has to do is take a folder of sounds and drag and drop it onto the MPC4000 and all sounds will be automatically loaded...

Bryan-Michael Cox

[UpstateboiBeats]

i actually just bought a roland-Fantom...the XA workstation though.

i'm so pumped to get it; i love cox's work

[lospat123]

to sound like cox u have to be cox. well sort of i guess. the man has a talent for making great melodys and that u cant get from having even a billion dollar studio, u either have that or u dont. how many producers use a fantom ? lol no need to tell me. how many use logic? how many use mpc 4k? how many use se1x ... will all these things make u into a hitmaker like cox no, will all these things make u into a superstar producer no, will all these things make u lots of money no. only thing that will make u that is hard work and im talking hardest work u have ever done and put into anything no sleep, 10/12 hours a day of practice and hard work on ur beats and being able to play keys realy well will help u to get a sort of sound like he does. when i tell people i want to be like timbaland i say i want to have the success he has and respect he has in the industry as a hitmaker but i dont want to be him or have hes sound i want my own sound. do u just want to copy others or do u want to be the one others copy? that is just 1 question a producer has to ask himself. u have to create a new sound for yourself that stands on its own, that said u dont even need a sound just dont make ur beats sound like something or someone else like hey that beat is like a timbo beat or that sounds like a dre beat, its hard to find a new style as we all know cause many of everything has been done. but u dont need millions of dollars of gear to make a million dollar record, look at crap like mr souljay boy sure that is a load of crap song but lol would u complain if u had that many selling? i get asked alot for that crank that song when i dj i refuse to play it cause the production on it is just not on par with me that i would say its quality stuff, but the constumer out there in the world dont care aslong as its catchy and it gets out onto mtv or radio ur set... some guys u can just give a stack of records and a mpc 2000 and they will make u hits, others u can give millions of gear and he will not be able to make anything that is worth listening to. work on ur craft not on ur gear.

[NeekRusher]

Originally Posted by lospat123

to sound like cox u have to be cox. well sort of i guess. the man has a talent for making great melodys and that u cant get from having even a billion dollar studio, u either have that or u dont. how many producers use a fantom ? lol no need to tell me. how many use logic? how many use mpc 4k? how many use se1x ... will all these things make u into a hitmaker like cox no, will all these things make u into a superstar producer no, will all these things make u lots of money no. only thing that will make u that is hard work and im talking hardest work u have ever done and put into anything no sleep, 10/12 hours a day of practice and hard work on ur beats and being able to play keys realy well will help u to get a sort of sound like he does. when i tell people i want to be like timbaland i say i want to have the success he has and respect he has in the industry as a hitmaker but i dont want to be him or have hes sound i want my own sound. do u just want to copy others or do u want to be the one others copy? that is just 1 question a producer has to ask himself. u have to create a new sound for yourself that stands on its own, that said u dont even need a sound just dont make ur beats sound like something or someone else like hey that beat is like a timbo beat or that sounds like a dre beat, its hard to find a new style as we all know cause many of everything has been done. but u dont need millions of dollars of gear to make a million dollar record, look at crap like mr souljay boy sure that is a load of crap song but lol would u complain if u had that many selling? i get asked alot for that crank that song when i dj i refuse to play it cause the production on it is just not on par with me that i would say its quality stuff, but the constumer out there in the world dont care aslong as its catchy and it gets out onto mtv or radio ur set... some guys u can just give a stack of records and a mpc 2000 and they will make u hits, others u can give millions of gear and he will not be able to make anything that is worth listening to. work on ur craft not on ur gear.

They don't hear you scrap,what you just said, will fall on deaf ears.The younger heads are looking at it like, WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME ANYTHING your not TIMBO, BEAT IT! Thats why I stop talking and giving advice. Forget about them, they will understand when the time comes. Sorry to be so BAH HUMBUG about it,but it's the
truth. The best example is to lead by example & THATS IT!!!

[lospat123]

NeekRusher they should take note for one reason and this is the very truth of the story.

say u produce beats that sound like timbo. why would they go to u cause they will just say ur a copy and rather go to the big man himself and get the beat from him more money yes but no ways u gonna pull the numbers he does as easy as he does... with a big named producer sometimes u just dont buy a beat u buy a product u buy a name...
dont forget im not talkin about the rapper that starting out yesterday when he woke up im talking about big artists.
if i look at someone who doesnt realy have a style i can pin point it would be jr rotem, listen to hes stuff i mean he can do pop well, rnb, rap... u name it and its not like u can always say well that is a jr rotem beat. thats kinda like the guy i wanna be i want someone to walk in and say listen im looking for a gansta beat and i make it. im looking for a pop beat and i make it but it stands on its own without having to have my name behind it to make it big...

[NeekRusher]

Originally Posted by lospat123

NeekRusher they should take note for one reason and this is the very truth of the story.

say u produce beats that sound like timbo. why would they go to u cause they will just say ur a copy and rather go to the big man himself and get the beat from him more money yes but no ways u gonna pull the numbers he does as easy as he does... with a big named producer sometimes u just dont buy a beat u buy a product u buy a name...
dont forget im not talkin about the rapper that starting out yesterday when he woke up im talking about big artists.
if i look at someone who doesnt realy have a style i can pin point it would be jr rotem, listen to hes stuff i mean he can do pop well, rnb, rap... u name it and its not like u can always say well that is a jr rotem beat. thats kinda like the guy i wanna be i want someone to walk in and say listen im looking for a gansta beat and i make it. im looking for a pop beat and i make it but it stands on its own without having to have my name behind it to make it big...

Yeah I agree they should take note but they won't because they feel you or anybody else who doesn't have the "ACCOLADES" should tell them anything.
I have a friend who is now trying to get into the manager aspect of the music business. Ironically he is going to be managing my niece father. YES MY NIECE
FATHER LOL. I told him dude,if your going to do this,here what you need to do
get paper work on him. HE LIKE NAH YO WE HAVE A HANDSHAKE AGREEMENT
BLAH BLAH BLAH. Then the conversation gets a little heated,then he attaks my career and were I'm at with my career. I'm like ok scrap,do you,in due time you will see.

[lospat123]

NeekRusher lol my gosh that is crazy serioulsy. u should never ever go in on a handshake, watch rocky 5 lol good story there to show u about trusting people. might seem nice at first but when success comes the nicest person can quickly turn into the biggest asshole. saying "ur just my manager u dont own me, im the star here not u!" lol oh boy

[NeekRusher]

Originally Posted by lospat123

NeekRusher lol my gosh that is crazy serioulsy. u should never ever go in on a handshake, watch rocky 5 lol good story there to show u about trusting people. might seem nice at first but when success comes the nicest person can quickly turn into the biggest asshole. saying "ur just my manager u dont own me, im the star here not u!" lol oh boy

Yeah scrap,it's a jungle but like the great JAY-Z said

(WE DON'T BELIEVE YOU YOU NEED MORE PEOPLE)

[gdeusthewhizkid]

Originally Posted by NeekRusher

Yeah I agree they should take note but they won't because they feel you or anybody else who doesn't have the "ACCOLADES" should tell them anything.
I have a friend who is now trying to get into the manager aspect of the music business. Ironically he is going to be managing my niece father. YES MY NIECE
FATHER LOL. I told him dude,if your going to do this,here what you need to do
get paper work on him. HE LIKE NAH YO WE HAVE A HANDSHAKE AGREEMENT
BLAH BLAH BLAH. Then the conversation gets a little heated,then he attaks my career and were I'm at with my career. I'm like ok scrap,do you,in due time you will see.

Yea i definately feel what you are saying. I go thru that all the time with this young producer i work with. I tell him what he should do with his artist and what route he should take and being that he is 22 and he has me as a older figure to help guide his career a lil. He always says what didn't you do this and im like dude learn from my mistakes but at that age we think all know but we don't know squat..

[parkay909]

I know this post is old but I think its good for a laugh!!!

B Cox is not a "beat-maker" he is a musician. He knows how to play instruments.

Any jackass with nice gear can make a beat, but writing music is a talent.

The people out there who are really good can play a $10 kids piano and make it sound like a steinway.

I read an interview where Kevin Killien was asked how he got the incredible bass sounds on Peter Gabriel's sledghammer. He replied that they used a DI in to the SSL console pres and that the sound was not so much the signal chain but how Tony Levin was playing the bass...

The best piece of gear you can invest in is yourself - take some music lessons!!!

[gdeusthewhizkid]

Originally Posted by parkay909

I know this post is old but I think its good for a laugh!!!

B Cox is not a "beat-maker" he is a musician. He knows how to play instruments.

Any jackass with nice gear can make a beat, but writing music is a talent.

The people out there who are really good can play a $10 kids piano and make it sound like a steinway.

The best piece of gear you can invest in is yourself - take some music lessons!!!

I think this is one of the best pieces of advice i have read here. I need to go back and brush up on my piano....

[PettyCash]

Originally Posted by parkay909

I know this post is old but I think its good for a laugh!!!

B Cox is not a "beat-maker" he is a musician. He knows how to play instruments.

Any jackass with nice gear can make a beat, but writing music is a talent.

The people out there who are really good can play a $10 kids piano and make it sound like a steinway.

I read an interview where Kevin Killien was asked how he got the incredible bass sounds on Peter Gabriel's sledghammer. He replied that they used a DI in to the SSL console pres and that the sound was not so much the signal chain but how Tony Levin was playing the bass...

The best piece of gear you can invest in is yourself - take some music lessons!!!

Very true.

Consumers are always blaming things on gear. What I notice with alot of younger "beat-makers" is that some don't really have enough knowledge of playing and arranging real instruments, so they are at a disadvantage when it comes to using the synthetic stuff, even though they have the same access to what B. Cox has. What that guy does is great, but if you were to go out and dedicate some time or even your life to becoming even better, once you develop good enough chops and develope a good taste for arranging instruments, you would see that what he does is nothing more than just another day at work for him.

Serious people master their craft and develop a personality so they dont struggle to get by at their profession.

[phillysoulman]

Originally Posted by PettyCash

Very true.

Consumers are always blaming things on gear. What I notice with alot of younger "beat-makers" is that some don't really have enough knowledge of playing and arranging real instruments, so they are at a disadvantage when it comes to using the synthetic stuff, even though they have the same access to what B. Cox has. What that guy does is great, but if you were to go out and dedicate some time or even your life to becoming even better, once you develop good enough chops and develope a good taste for arranging instruments, you would see that what he does is nothing more than just another day at work for him.

Serious people master their craft and develop a personality so they dont struggle to get by at their profession.

I second that emotion

[majesticbeats]

PettyCash, i totally agree with you. I've been making beats for 3 years now. My first piece of equipment was a motif rack. I thought if i'd buy some hardware, my skills would drasticly improve but it was a big disappointment. Over the years i've learned it's not even about your hands and playing techniques but about what's inside your brain (on a creativity level). So i've been practicing the piano since a few months, studying other pieces of music to understand how instruments are naturally played. And i have to say it is really paying off. I do think hardware plays a significant role for the quality of production. The sounds from the motif rack for example are all pre-mixed and when you're a novice when it comes to engineering, you don't have to worry so much bout the mixing part. I also own an se1x and no softsynth could come close to the strength of that beast. To me hardware is like something that only will improve your production if you use it right. It's something you have to be ready for. But when you're ready for it, it will help you out.

So yeah, it does matter what you use, but only when you're at a certain level.

[lpuma]

??? ... The TO dropped some info about the setup of a musician he apreciate... and some details about his workflow. Cool. Whut s up with all the "if you not blah you cant sound like blah"? ... I dunno but I ve been reading other posts from computa and I dont think he wants to sound like Cox, he jus wanted to share sum info IMO... btw thanks computa.

[Keyflo]

also im pretty sure we want the same equipment or favorite producers have

[E-Irizarry]

Originally Posted by NeekRusher

They don't hear you scrap,what you just said, will fall on deaf ears.The younger heads are looking at it like, WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME ANYTHING your not TIMBO, BEAT IT! Thats why I stop talking and giving advice. Forget about them, they will understand when the time comes. Sorry to be so BAH HUMBUG about it,but it's the
truth. The best example is to lead by example & THATS IT!!!

Yo dunnie. It's all good! I heard loud and clear; nada deafly fell on these ears.

I use FL Studio, but my tweaking game is crazy. I mix, pre-master (ie tweak) 'em in FL Studio 7/8, and then I NRRX it in Izo RX, then I import it into Pro Tools 7.4 M-P'ered and export the beat at x-bit depth/x-Khz SR sounding like it's "pressed off of CD" for real.

Import that bedtrack joint into Sonar, lay down vocals with compression, eq, NG, and limiter, and we rocks it.

That's why midtown Manhattan engineering labs close shop because of what I do. My soft gear still bangs out -10 RMS with clarity, transparency, and warmth. The claps and the snares literally beg to go over 0.0 decibels every time they hit while every thing is full of detail slight in the background riding the track.

"Two to ya face, tough guy"
- Hacksaw Jim Duggan.