REPLAY: Marcella Araica

On this week's episode of The R&B Money Podcast, Tank and J Valentine welcome the incomparable mixing maestro and sonic savant, Marcella Araica. From her early days as an intern, making them fly fruit baskets for the vibe, to working with heavy hitters like Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Britney Spears, and Usher, Marcella shares her incredible journey in the music industry. She also opens up about the challenges she faced as a woman in a male-dominated field and how a pivotal moment with a major female artist shaped her career. Get ready for an inspiring conversation filled with insider stories and valuable insights into the world of sound engineering. Marcella Araica is Now on The R&B Money Podcast!

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
R and B Money.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
We are.

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Than take abologized. We are the authorities on all things
R and B. Ladies are filming. My name is Tank.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
This is the Army Money podcast, the authority on all
things R and B.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yes, yes, yes, all things, all things, all things.

Speaker 1 (00:30):
You know what you know the most important nuance? Yeah?
To R and B? What is it to singers? Are
you sound?

Speaker 4 (00:40):
How you sound to songwriters?

Speaker 1 (00:42):
Songwriters? How your song? To producers? How your song?

Speaker 3 (00:50):
What does the A n R say when it gets
to them? Just you know that the mixing?

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Can?

Speaker 2 (00:56):
They turn up when someone is explaining to you that
demo and they don't want you to judge it all
the way.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
They say, it's not.

Speaker 2 (01:06):
Yet, give me some grace until we take the record
to Marcella.

Speaker 5 (01:20):
Thank you, thank you? Ain't that? Ain't that the truth?
Though it ain't mixed yet. They always want to give
you the disclaimer.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
They lead with that they gotta be a T shirt
that says that, actually I couldn't wear that T shirt
because I'm I guess I'm mixed.

Speaker 6 (01:34):
But.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
Can I wear it? Ain't mix?

Speaker 2 (01:45):
That's the disclaimer, because because a bad mix, oh can
fuck up your I remember, I don't know who mixed
it my first album, You're My Freak, that was produced
by Fort Knox. I was so enamored with this song

(02:06):
when we recorded it.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
I was like, oh my god, this is a big record.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
This is gonna be And the mix came back and
I said, there's no way we can put.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
This out of this song, right.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
My whole perception now, mind you. When other when the
album came out, everybody else, Jamie Fox runs up to
me and he says, you're freaking I know that's my
favorite song.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
I'm like, you like that with that bad mix on
it list.

Speaker 4 (02:32):
Because there's also a thing called Demo Ritish and.

Speaker 5 (02:35):
That's big too, that's really big.

Speaker 4 (02:37):
Yeah, we're gonna get into all that. We're gonna get
into that.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
I remember when I when I first met you, I
had been waiting on Timbaland to to do a record.
He'll promise to do a record with me, and he's like,
come on down here to Miami.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
I got you and I said okay.

Speaker 2 (02:54):
When I got there and he said, we just I'm
gonna call you when I'm ready, all right, I say, cool, you, Tim,
you call me when you ready, because I'm ready. I
am ready. Day one at the studio. I'm at the hotels.
Who Tim's gonna call me? Get to the studio and
it's gonna be crazy.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
Day two, I'm like.

Speaker 2 (03:14):
All right, one more day waiting, But Timpleland, he's gonna
call me in. It's gonna be so crazy. Day three,
this nigga, Timberland is not gonna call me. No way,
it's not gonna be crazy.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Day four, I'm gonna go home Tim and call Day five,
Tim Carr says, I got something for you. Come on up.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
He's like, come on in. So we go to the
studio and you're there and I'm like, okay, what are
you doing? You know because when we go to the
studio there there are there are sometimes there are ladies there,
you know, the producer writers have ladies there.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
They have beautiful women there.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
And it's like, walk in and there's this beautiful woman
here and I'm like, hey, are you you're drinking?

Speaker 1 (04:06):
What are you to do?

Speaker 5 (04:07):
No? Who is Who's is you?

Speaker 2 (04:15):
And he's like, no, I'm working. I'm the engineer. I
was like, oh, that's different. That's very different. And the
soon as you got to doing all that, everything else,
all of the unprofessionalism went out.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
The wins. Oh you're an engineer.

Speaker 6 (04:30):
Engineer.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Okay, I'm sorry. I apologize to everybody. I was my mind.
I'm some sing R and B.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Here for me. I don't know, you know, she's not
all right, Okay, thank you.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
And and that was my first time meeting you, and
you were just you were as dope then as you
are now.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
And I'm saying that as a person.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
As a personality in terms of your work and all
of those things, they speak for themselves, you are, you
are amazing at that, But just in terms of a person,
it's always has been day one love.

Speaker 5 (05:01):
Oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
You were like and then and then it was like but.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
She's like one of us though, like you, I was like,
that's my minute.

Speaker 5 (05:09):
Yeah, No, definitely I felt the same way. First of all,
I'm super excited when I got the call to come
hang out with you guys, because it's been a minute. Yeah,
And that it's just always been fam like you know
what I mean, Like we just had a lot of history, years, moments,
memories like and it's just so funny to kind of
go through all of them. But yeah, I do remember
that time. You know, Tim has a thing about making

(05:32):
people wait, but he but you're waiting on greatness.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Listen. Tim.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Tim is my favorite producer of all times. So there
there aren't enough days in the year that I would
not wait for a Timberland call. That's just what it is,
you know what I'm saying. So I was, I was
there for what And that's the day we did. We
did we did the remix to I Let Them Girls.
That's when Sean Garrett walked in there. It's like, I

(05:58):
got a melody. You should be Marvin, Yeah, yeah, six
And Tim was just on the on the he was
on the A s R.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
He was just like and he said that right there?
What's that? He said, you like that? That's how he said, yeah,
that's it. And I didn't.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
I had never been in the studio with Tim before,
and I didn't know how he did beats. So he
he literally just did this little four bar loop and said,
all right, do you think is there anything else you could.

Speaker 5 (06:29):
It's so crazy too, because back then the process is
so much especially from that as R because that as
R keyboard is ancient, you know what I mean. So
a lot of times, I mean not a lot of times,
the way the process was what you're saying, He would
do the little four bar loop, throw it, throw it
over to us, you know, and they throw it in
the pro tools, and then he might throw another thing in.
Then we gotta line it up, you gotta move it on.

(06:50):
So it was like it was very like manually, you know,
like there was parts that were programmed in the keyboard,
but then there was parts that he was just spitting
at just on the like put this in, put that in,
you know.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
And I said, And the reason I say that because
for you as an engineer, like that's a that's a
very tedious process, and you gotta know, like knowing the
ASR and knowing pro tools are like two totally different worlds.

Speaker 5 (07:15):
It's two different languages, two.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
Different languages, and you as an engineer with a guy
like Timberland, you gotta quickly understand what that is and
what that is so that you can you guys can
communicate properly. So he'd be like, I'll be right back
on you do X, Y and Z, and when he
gets back and stuff.

Speaker 5 (07:29):
It's done, Like yeah, because he's not he's not like
he like making people wait, but he don't want to wait,
you know what I mean. Like, so that's just you
gotta be quick, You gotta be ready. You know, he
come from an era of doing music with some of
the greats, you know, including Missy, so Missy work super quick,
and I think, like, you know, he's just kind of groomed.

(07:51):
You know, he groomed himself to kind of be that way.
And you know, I mean, and that's not just Timberland.
I feel like in general, when you work with artists,
when you work with producer songwriters, as an engineer, you
got to be ready to be just you got to
be a step ahead, you know what I mean, you
just because the creative flow is happening, and you don't
want to be the reason because when it stops, oh

(08:11):
my gosh, I feel like it is.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
The slowak sweat. I got it, guys. I'm just making
sure you know what the room got too. And in
the computer.

Speaker 3 (08:29):
Restart, you know how many times the engineered hadn't done that.

Speaker 5 (08:33):
Listen, I've done I don't even know. I kicked the
bug out, like, oh man, going on back here, let
me go back here, back your life, dude.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
Let me act like I'm calling.

Speaker 5 (08:48):
I'm like, oh my gosh, what's going on?

Speaker 1 (08:50):
Listen?

Speaker 5 (08:50):
Little you gotta yeah.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Well, let's go to Mercy Alo.

Speaker 2 (08:57):
How do you get to I just wanted to get
that out the way first and then we'll go back.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
How do you get to Mercy Aligo?

Speaker 5 (09:02):
Oh my gosh, So Marci Alago was Marci Alago came
from an experience that I had working with Missy Elliott.
Now you have to understand like I was when I
when I started in the industry. I got an internship
here in Miami at the Hit Factory, even in Hit
Factory and so legendary studio, and so I had.

Speaker 2 (09:23):
A Yeah, I felt good because it was technically Timberland's room.

Speaker 5 (09:32):
Yeah yeah, yeah, Well he got one, so he got
the experience. But no, so I'm working with Missy. I'm
I'm an intern at the Hit Factory. I end up
starting to work with her two months after my internship,
which was like an unheard of, you know, transition. So
I'm with Missy working as an assistant in the room

(09:53):
for a few months. The opportunity came where her main
engineer was running late, right and she was like, I
need to work can you record me? I said, yeah,
I got you. I knew I wasn't the best at
pro tools at the time, like, but I'm not gonna
let her know that. I'm just gonna jump in the
seat like this is a moment. And so I start
recording her and like she's like, all right, fly that hook.

(10:18):
Well now I'm like.

Speaker 1 (10:18):
Oh shit.

Speaker 5 (10:20):
Now I'm like, oh god. So I'm trying to I mean,
for those that those pro tools, you know, there's the
different you have slip mode and grid mode. I'm trying
to fly this damn hook and slip modes. When I
hit play that thing come in like so off me
Like like she like, what the like, what what's going on?

(10:41):
I said, I'm trying. You're talking about the sweet you sweat?

Speaker 2 (10:44):
Man.

Speaker 5 (10:45):
I'm like, oh god. She's like, you know, she gets
intense and so no, I got this. I do it again,
like I'm not in grid mode. Hit play it's off.
She's like, man, you're fing me up, Like man, like
are you working like a turtle? I can't mess with you,
Like you got to get the f out of here.
And I said, like I was like, oh my god,
and I'm still trying to fix it. She's like, what
are you doing? Still sitting down? You gotta go, And

(11:07):
so I'm like, oh my god. So I leave right
with the feeling of like, all right, as long as
I have a job tomorrow, I'm gonna come out of
this like I'm gonna rise above this moment. So literally,
I literally just like immersed myself into learning this program.
So when the moment came, if the moment came ever again,
not just with her, hopefully or with anybody, I would

(11:30):
be red tea, you know what I mean, like not ready,
but red tea, you know. And so literally, maybe a
few months went by again, the call comes in the
engineer's late. She's like, man, Carlos messing up like he
and here I'm ready to record, And I'm like, I
got you. Oh hell no, like you'd be messing me up.
I said, man, miss, trust me, like I got you,

(11:52):
Like I just just trust me, right, Like I didn't
even say trust me. I mean I beg without sounding
like I was begging please, you know. She's like, all right,
come on. So I go in there, but this time
it was a whole another beasts behind the computer. I'm
in there, but like flying hooks adding effects, the layser

(12:12):
is flying everywhere. She's like, dang, you went from a
turtle to marcilago whoaghin. So basically that's where Marciolago was birthed.
And then over time my name just started people just

(12:34):
started like shortening it to Lago or miss Lago, that's
Queen Lago. So it came into so many different ways,
and Miss Lago just stuck. Like I just was like,
I'm you know, because Marciolago is a long thing to
she's calling me miss Lago. I feel I feel respect.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Shout out to miss.

Speaker 5 (12:57):
She sure didn't, man, because you know what, but there's
a lot behind that story. Because I could have really
like walked away from there and just said, man, forget this,
this isn't for me. You could I could have been like,
this is like not really what I want to do.
I just got cussed out by Missy Elliott and it
felt horrible, right.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (13:16):
But I was like, I'm just somebody that always likes
to like I take that as like something that I'm like, Okay,
I need to ride above this the challenge. I live
for challenges, you know what I mean. And I think
that's a big part of my twenty year success, twenty
plus years success in this career is yes, I will

(13:37):
have you know, because it's it's been a career that
it's first of all, as you know, there's not a
lot of women that do what I do. You walk
into a room, you're like and so like. For me,
it's like, no, I'm gonna take this challenge and I'm
going to beat it, and I'm gonna keep going forward
and just keep you know, addressing them one by one.

Speaker 2 (13:55):
There's so many challenges as being a woman in this
business right right, and I want to I want to
get to those. I do want to like, I want
to go back to the beginning. Though, What makes you
say I want to work at a studio and figure
all of that stuff out?

Speaker 5 (14:14):
Yeah, well I didn't know it was an industry of
dusty men. I'll tell you that.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
The challenges, So.

Speaker 5 (14:22):
I mean, just to go back, I was just from
what I from how I remember as a kid. I
was I was enamored with sound. And I say this
because my dad used to play a lot of music
in the house. But I was more intrigued on why
this vinyl was going onto this you know thing on
this stereo system, and why this needle and how like

(14:43):
transmitting this sound to these and then he had this
equalizer on the front and I'm over here messing with it.
I've just been that girl since I was a kid,
and as I grew up, I remember just thinking about
where I wanted to go in life in school and
people always telling me like, what do you want to
do when you graduate? You know, like your count when
you graduate high school? Where do you see yourself going?

(15:03):
Maybe a doctor? I'm like, no, I want to be
in music. They're like music, And I'll tell you, guys
something like I don't have, like, I don't sing, I
don't play like I don't like for me, it's just
all about my ears, you know. And so I just
was like, I want to be in the music business,
and they just were like, well, we don't really how

(15:25):
like how do you want to do? Like like, I
don't know, I just want to do it. And they're like, well,
we don't have anything for you. How's that? Like, you
don't have you don't play an instrument, you don't sing
a lick. Sorry, figure out another career. And I'm like whatever,
I'll figure it out one way or another. So over time,
a few years after high school, I was in college
for like psychology, trying to learn to mind, you know,

(15:47):
and my brother and the.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
Women love taking psychology, like, you know what.

Speaker 7 (15:51):
There's something about it psychology exactly.

Speaker 5 (16:02):
No, there's a thing about it.

Speaker 1 (16:04):
But no.

Speaker 5 (16:04):
So I ended up being introduced to a school in Florida,
up in the Orlando area called full Cell University. Yeah,
and so I went up there for a little like
let me go check this out and see what it's about.
And I did a little tour and I remember when
they were like, here's our studio A and they opened

(16:24):
this door right and I walk into this SSL console
in there and I'm like, oh my gosh, I never
seen like I've seen them in pictures to see it
in person. Yeah, it's just like it's a thing. And
when I tell you I like challenges, most people would
be like so afraid. They'd be like or like, you know,

(16:45):
just like intimidating. I was like, I want to learn that.
What is that?

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Like?

Speaker 5 (16:50):
What does that do? I want every you know, I
want to learn every little button. And so six months
later later, like I saved my little coins and you know,
dropped out of regular college, worked my ass off. I'm
sorry if I'm not allowed to courage, but perfect, thank you,
thank you. You know, I'm passionate. I'm lad so happens. Yeah,

(17:11):
and I went, and that's what it was. And going
to full Sale is when I was introduced to the
I guess what the industry looks like, you know, male domination.
Because my classes, like I remember our lecture classes was
somewhere around one hundred and fifty kids and or students
or kids or adults and stuff. It was only five

(17:34):
of us or four or five of us that were female.
And I was like, oh, that's interesting. And then the
instructors would tell us like, you know, this is a
male dominated industry. It's going to be you know, it's
very hard for women to break through. Mind you, this
is over twenty years ago where it was probably okay
to say.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
That, you know.

Speaker 5 (17:52):
But I didn't even think anything was wrong. I was
just like it was okay, yeah, I didn't I didn't
take offense to it. To me, I actually was like
even more intrigued, like oh yeah, even better, like I'm
coming for this, like I want to do this, you know,
And I went. I graduated at the top of the class.
I I ended up graduating with honors, got like the

(18:15):
highest award, Advanced Recording Engineering Award, like I studied like
all the way.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
Through, but you still couldn't fly hook.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
That's hysterical, you mother, you know, but yeah, yeah fly freaking.

Speaker 5 (18:31):
Hook rights though. Yeah, top of the class, but on
the engineering side, yeah, so so so so, so what
do you in terms of the school, because I know
about these schools, but I'm not sure how in depth
you know they go.

Speaker 2 (18:48):
As it as it relates to, you know, simulating real sessions,
like how far did it take you to where you
know where you're getting a session with Missy. You're still
maybe just a little behind on things like what is
what is the difference?

Speaker 5 (19:01):
So you're very behind on things. So Full Sale is
set up to be an accelerator program. So back then
it was a two year degree that I received in
one year. So you go to school NonStop, like you
you're like your lectures are during the day, and you're
going to class at night anywhere between nine pm to
one am, one am to five am, five am. Then
those are your little.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
Studio hours.

Speaker 5 (19:22):
Yeah, studio hours. So it's it's considered a real world education,
so you're you're they're simulating it as much as they can.
Where you're doing your sessions, which is called your labs
at in the middle of the night. Sometimes I would
be in school from nine to five, and then I
would only be able to study from five to nine
because I'd have to be back in school from nine
pm to five am right to do my labs. My

(19:45):
sessions are artists coming in, bands and stuff. Yeah, like yeah,
there's bands and artists that come in, ye, and you're
recording them. You definitely should.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
We can talk about that working at your pace because
they understand that it's a it's a it's.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
A school in your life. Yes, so you're you're getting
a lot.

Speaker 5 (20:05):
Of it's more like the local artists. You're not getting
in sync in there, yeah, exactly, you're getting a lot
of grace. Yeah, and you're just kind of set up
like it's you know, there's six people in your labs
and there's the engineer, there's the person that's basically that's
the assistant engineer that's kind of patching things in for

(20:25):
you know, like like there's there's jobs that you have
to do to come and simulate this kind of thing.
But I will say I didn't know how to fly
a hook because we didn't get a lot of time
on pro tools. Yeah, like it was very back then,
and I keep saying back then, and I really feel
like I'm aging.

Speaker 1 (20:43):
My no, no, because it's all good.

Speaker 5 (20:46):
We were actually learning two inch tape, like cutting the tape.
We were still we were just getting into like dats
and you know, like digital audio tape and stuff like that.
So like we like pro Tools was actually not even
the premiere. It was like it was busting through the door.
But like people were still like kind of like we
don't know, we don't know about this yet, you.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
Know, because it does sound different.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
Yes, absolutely, that's a whole other thing. Does sound very different.
So my entry into the business was like we were
still recording to two inch tape. The mixing engineers were
printing to half inch tape, you know, so there was
a lot of that still happening.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
You should have told Missy, Yeah, you go to lunch
and I'm gonna fly this.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
To lunch.

Speaker 3 (21:30):
We always joke about that that we've been in the
industry so long that we remember when you used to
have to like take two hours go to lunch and you.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
Come back and they've flown the hook for you.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
Yes, I remember when they like the.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
First pro toos rig into the studio at the Music Grinder.
It used to be down on Western in Hollywood, and
we're in there and we're like, what.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
The fuck is this there?

Speaker 2 (21:54):
Like it's pro tools, it's just the new you record
your vocals into the computer.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
I was like, I'm not doing that ship right, where's
my master?

Speaker 5 (22:05):
It's too colorful?

Speaker 1 (22:06):
Why is that?

Speaker 5 (22:06):
Why is it?

Speaker 1 (22:09):
I'm just looking like none to this the rest of it.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Because we got to two inch real right there in
the concept, I'm like, I don't this doesn't make that.

Speaker 4 (22:18):
Makes you feel like you're in a real studio.

Speaker 3 (22:22):
They used to make you feel like you were because
because I've anybody had that.

Speaker 1 (22:26):
I've gone from I've gone from D eighty eights to
A dads all that.

Speaker 2 (22:30):
And when it was like D eighty eights and A Dads,
you still kind of felt like you were amateur a
little bit, and I mean you.

Speaker 1 (22:38):
Were getting a sound. But when I moved, when I
went to.

Speaker 2 (22:41):
L A and saw two inches real right right, I
was like, and I saw the sun move this big,
I said, I'm here, I'm here, this is studio, And
did you bring in this little computer?

Speaker 1 (22:56):
That's the studio? Yak with me? Y'are fucking with me. Listen.

Speaker 5 (23:00):
It was it was a hard transition, and I was
in that gap where it was like the two inch
was still there, but we were you know it, you know.
But then I was working with engineers, you know, like
in my beginning, like in the beginning with like engineers
such as like Jimmy Douglas, who was working with like Timberland,
who like hated pro tools. He was like, oh my gosh,

(23:23):
he was trying everything in his power to just stay
on that board, and or he.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
Was I'm gonna just fly it back to the two yeah, listen.

Speaker 5 (23:33):
He was the crazy thing. Is I kind of blame
him for the whole No, I don't blame him. But
it's interesting because he would actually run pro tools like
a tape machine. So when we talk about flying things
in slip mode, he would do that. But he was
like good at it. It was the weirdest thing. He
would be maybe be off by a few samples, but
it wasn't like by like me. I was probably off

(23:54):
by like large like the of course came in for
no words came in yet, like so you.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
Didn't even label the hon't even have a.

Speaker 5 (24:06):
Market I think there was no marketing that was not Listen,
I wasn't there.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
Okay, I wasn't there.

Speaker 5 (24:10):
Listen, I wasn't there.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
We all got to get there.

Speaker 5 (24:13):
We got to get there, and I got there, got there.

Speaker 2 (24:29):
So so you graduate, and what's the first thing you
do after you graduate?

Speaker 3 (24:34):
Yeah, because we need this information, because we need the
young kids that are there now, Yeah, to understand. Okay,
this is this is going to be the process. You're
not going everybody's not going to be as lucky, even
as going from full sale to work with Mystery with
Missy at the Hit Factory in a matter of months, right, Like,
this is a this is a process.

Speaker 5 (24:54):
Yes, no, it is a process. But I'll tell you
the process started for me. Three months into my program.
I already started thinking where do I want to work
in the next nine months, because it was you know,
I had a one year program. So I'm like, all right,
what do I want to work? Am I going to
want to move to New York, LA? Or do I
want to stay home? Well, for me, the easy bit
was I'm going to stay home. Miami's home for me.
Why money I need? I don't have money, you know
what I mean? So I can like finagle the system,

(25:17):
stay back with my parents for a bit and work.
And so I started doing the research research. I found
the Hit Factory, and I said, and I found a
bunch of Circle House. I found a bunch, But the
Hit Factory to me was just like wow. It was
like it was it.

Speaker 1 (25:31):
Was an incredible studio.

Speaker 5 (25:33):
Yeah. I was like, oh my gosh, the legacy in
this place, this is incredible. I need to work there.
So three months into the program, I reached out to
the studio manager and I'm like, hello, like, I'm a
student here and uh, interested in wanting to work for
you when I've graduated in nine months blah blah blah.
And he's like, all right, that's great, call me when
you graduate. I'm like, damn, all right, I just tried
it again. It's a different way here. So six months

(25:53):
into the program called them back. I'm like, hello, I
want to tour the place. I'm interested to tour the
place because you know, I would love the one. I
would love to work there. But you know, I had
heard that they would do these tours. He's like, sure,
let's just call my assistant. We'll set up a tour.
So I went on a weekend where I wasn't in class.
And I toured. And when I went into that building
and walked around those halls, I said, whoa, I felt

(26:17):
like a spirit. Like I felt a spirit. I was
looking at all the plaques said, oh my gosh, I
have to work here. I have to work here. So again,
like the nine month mark, wrote, I wrote again, and
then like a few maybe, like on my last month,
I was just like, I'm graduating in a few weeks.
Do you have an available position? Studio managers like I don't.
I'm sorry. I was so sad. I was like, hey,

(26:39):
so all right, back to the drawing board. What am
I gonna do? So I think I reached out a
circle house and like an audio post house here in Miami,
and I was waiting, waiting, waiting. I graduated two weeks.
Three weeks after I graduated, I got the call from
the Hit factory like, we have a position open. Can
you come in for the interview? I said, yep.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
You know.

Speaker 5 (26:58):
I was still living in Orlando though at the time,
and he's like when can you come. I was like,
I'll come tomorrow and he's like, well, don't you live
in Orlando. I was like, yeah, I'll get in the
car right now, jump in the car right now, and
so he was like like, just you know, why don't
we do it for like two days whatever. I went
down there. I thought I bombed this interview because Trevor Fletcher,

(27:19):
who's the manager and still the manager of the Hit Factory,
he's intense, like he has no like he has like
no type of like nothing on his face. He just
kind of looks yeah, and he's asking me questions and
I'm just like who, Like it's hot in here, you know,
And he's like thank you for coming in, and like
I didn't get no type of temperature from him, like

(27:40):
if I did good, if I got the job, I
was just like okay, like you know, and I'm just
like dang. And I got in the car and I
remember like just upset. I was upset. I was like, yo,
I bombed it. I killed the interview, like not in
a good way. And I had a moment and I
just was like in tears, you know, because I was
just like, man, this was the one thing I wanted.

(28:02):
A Leah's record Try Again jumps on the radio right
and the lyrics of that of that song come on.
If at first you don't succeed, you dust yourself off
and try again. And I remember looking at myself in
the mirror and being like, this isn't the end, Like
you're gonna keep going and if you get it, amazing
and if you don't, it's okay. And I just wipe

(28:22):
my tears. A few hours later, I get the call
I got the job. Wow, Yeah, I got the job.
And I wanted to start like the next day. And
he's like, well, don't you live in Orlando And I
was like, it don't matter, like I'll get.

Speaker 1 (28:35):
Don't figure it out.

Speaker 5 (28:36):
He's like, how about you take the weekend and you
start Monday? And I said I'm there. So I literally
drove back up, grabbed my stuff, and the rest is history.

Speaker 1 (28:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (28:44):
So when you get there, are you just an intern?

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (28:48):
Yeah, beginning, I'm just an intern. Listen when I get
the job. The job that I got was called general assisting. Okay,
I'm not in the studio. I my job is to
make fruit baskets, like set up nice little I'm a
runner food, make coffee. I'm in the studio.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Because people don't know how the fruit gets there. You
just think it's there, shows up.

Speaker 3 (29:12):
People don't know how to stop being mean to people
when you walk in there, they might be.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Preparing that fruit and.

Speaker 2 (29:19):
Listen and when there was food budgets, yeah, you will
go get that food.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
What else eat you guys were eating?

Speaker 5 (29:27):
Yes, we were the uber.

Speaker 1 (29:28):
They will eat some of your fries. You know, manin't somebody.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
Was broken Because that's the thing, and that's the information
that we love to give and the insight that we
want to give to you know, up and coming you
know creatives right right right right where they just think
a lot of them really believe that you do a
TikTok and the next day you're whatever you said you

(29:57):
were going to be.

Speaker 1 (29:58):
That is not reality.

Speaker 5 (30:00):
It's so true and it's and it's horrible because that's
it's like a dying breed of that mindset of how
I took my approach. That's not even there because now
when I try to interview people from the studio, my studio,
that's their So so when do you think I'm going
to be able to mix I'm like, what.

Speaker 1 (30:23):
Like yeah, like, and I'm just like I'm running.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Corn to give these these these.

Speaker 5 (30:38):
Young this young generation of reality check. I'd be like huh,
and then I just find something real bonkers to do.
I'd be like, you know what, I got a warehouse
down the street. I need you to go organize the
where they'd be like huh yeah, like there's no mixing,
Like what you mean, I'm the mix like you know,
it's like, that's not the way it works. I was

(31:00):
even an overnight mixer. It was years and years of
work that I had to do to get to that point,
to get to the trust of a client, you know
what I mean. So it's like the mindset for someone's
walking and be like, do you think I'm going to
get in instant and just start mixing or even recording
like you I'm not higher if I Otherwise the job

(31:23):
posting would have been I'm looking for a recording engineer.
That's never the job posting. I am looking for an
intern or general assistant. But they're just so like they're
ready to do.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
Everything is happening at warp speed, and so they're just
used to that exactly, scrolling and getting right to it.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
No o contra frayer, Oh contrare.

Speaker 2 (31:42):
So you so you get the job at the hit Factor. Yeah,
you're in charge of fruit baskets right now, right now.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
Right now.

Speaker 5 (31:51):
You said I had them know that my fruit baskets
were fly Okay, like I made taking pride. If I'm
going to do a job, I'm going to do this
thing like or they know it was a Lago basket.
I mean Lago wasn't born yet, but you know, like
they need Marcela the flowers edible, Oh yeah, that flower

(32:12):
Like listen, I was the one.

Speaker 2 (32:13):
Because then you go from there and then you graduate?
Do you graduate straight to assistant? Is that the next So.

Speaker 5 (32:20):
That story was actually crazy because it wasn't even a graduation.
It was a it was an opportunity to happen. I
was a general assistant. It was Missy that called the
studio and told Trevor that she was coming in. She
was twenty minutes out. Well, Trevor didn't have anybody in
the building that can assist this session other than like

(32:41):
because it was like early. It was like ten or
eleven in the morning, so there was nobody there yet.
So he calls me up to his office and he says,
you ready, And I said, thinking he is he talking about?
What am I ready for? But I didn't want to
ask the question because he's intimidating everything out of me.
So I'm like in that moment, I just said, girl,

(33:02):
you better say yes. I was like, yeah, I didn't
know what I was saying yes to yes, And he
was just like, great because Missy just called and she's
on her way and she'll be here in twenty minutes.
I need you to assist the session. Set up the mic,
get our hard drives going, get the vibe right, get
whatever Carlos needs, which was her engineer at the time,
and it's your gig for today. And I said, oh

(33:24):
my gosh, all right, got it. So I did my thing,
worked met Missy. Missy was like, you know, she was
super cool. You know, she had an assistant back then.
Her name was nut Nut. I don't know if you
know noth nut was, but that was her name, man nut.
But nothing was my girl.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
She was. She was.

Speaker 5 (33:51):
Y'all had to know, okay, yeah, yeah, shout out.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
Nut.

Speaker 5 (33:57):
But yeah, so like you know, like she was just like,
you know, everything went smooth, and uh, I guess her
assistant ended up calling Trevor. I don't know if it
was nothing. Her mom pat and she was and they
called Trevor and was like, yo, Missy, she loves Marcella.
She wants her to be all her sessions, so she

(34:17):
like she wants her to be the you know, working
on the sessions. So I basically was two months as
a general assistant and then all of a sudden I became.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
I went right in and it was literally just oh.

Speaker 5 (34:38):
Listen, you have no idea. There were assistant engineering general
assistants waiting for their turn. They've been there over a
year and not even had the moment to be an
assistance and well they never had.

Speaker 1 (34:53):
It was like.

Speaker 5 (34:56):
Eleven in the morning, right right like, and that's the thing,
Like I didn't mind being the morning person, like I
liked it. I was like, I'll do the morning shift.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Whatever, Yeah, everybody else is trying to sleep exactly.

Speaker 5 (35:08):
I was like, I'll be there, but no. So I
became the main insistant engineer with Missy and it was
the under Construction album that she started working on at
the time. So it was that moment when Timberland showed
up on the on the tour bus. I think back
then he wasn't even getting on planes. He was afraid
of flying, so everywhere he went was on a tour bus.
So he pulled up and that's where you know, I

(35:31):
segued into meeting Timberland. It's all kind of started to
you know, the one and you know, I was so
wild about it, and I promise y'all, I promise y'all.
Tim and Missy were my favorite among everyone else. Right,
it was just like they were my favorite producer, artist, songwriter,
Like they everything, they touched back everything, you know, genuine

(35:53):
the aliah Like then you know, you hear the stories
of their time in Rochester, New York, and it was
like they were putting like they just came from the
stuff that Missy was putting out. It was just phenomenal,
you know, And I'm like, I want to work with
Timberland and Missy if I ever get in the business
and loan and beholden that's what happened. Like you know,

(36:15):
you don't get to you want, you don't get to
really you know, like Trefor could have put me on
Latin sessions because I'm Latin, you know, and he could
have put me or he could have put me on anything,
and my career would have went in that direction because
that's what I That was the clientele that I was
working with. But my first client was Missy Elliott and

(36:36):
it was that to Timberland and then I was working
with Tweet. I worked on Tweet for on her album.
Yeah my love shout out the Tweet for sure. But yeah,
like it was just like a constant like.

Speaker 2 (36:47):
And this is like in the assistant days. In these days,
like you actually had work too, You.

Speaker 5 (36:51):
Had work to do, you had to patch, you had
the like.

Speaker 1 (36:53):
No, the patching was a thing.

Speaker 5 (36:54):
Yeah, the patching was a thing. Yeah. It was like, yeah,
come in and documentation. You have to do all the paperwork,
you know. It was like, I mean everything was analogue,
so it was nothing, but you had to recall things
by hand. It was nowadays like.

Speaker 1 (37:17):
That's all you need this system for how do you
turn the TV? This?

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Yeah, you got a good weed, man, you make me
a drink. It's so different now, but like you say,
you come from a different kind of work ethic.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
I do.

Speaker 5 (37:33):
I do, and and I and it's and it's interesting,
you know because now it's kind of like when I
hear stories of some of my colleagues are younger, I
get a different experience. I'm like, dang, you really didn't
really have to do any of the things, you know,
And I mean like even like recalling an.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Entire forgot about that channel by.

Speaker 5 (38:01):
Channel, So if your mix was on a seventy two
channel eighty channel so side remember No, you don't have
to remember. There was actual it was like like a
super whack computer system that was like it was like
DOS basically. I don't know if you'll remember what DOS
was back in the day, but like it was so
like whatever, mediocre and like it would show this picture

(38:24):
like a screenshot of where the where the knobs were,
but you had to manually do so if like I said,
the mix was eighty channels worth, I'm going eighty channels
worth of recalling and not by not and it had
to be. And then the outboard year was another, you know,

(38:44):
the whole another.

Speaker 1 (38:47):
So it was like we started working on the G series.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
But then like everybody was so excited when the K
and J came and I was like, okay, okay, the
recalls are going to be easy as I.

Speaker 5 (38:57):
Really No, no, no, they're not, No, they're not.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
There's the same thing I forgot about the recall. The
recall got about that.

Speaker 5 (39:07):
Yeah, And so I definitely come from.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
Because you know, I'm the artist, so I would just
get there and it's recalled.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
Right, yeah, you know what I mean?

Speaker 5 (39:14):
Yeah, if you were coming in at two, I'm coming
in at twelve because I not only was it like
let me just recall, but I need to make sure
I think sounded like right, you know, like as close
as possible to the mix. So during that time where
I had to do a lot of you know, like
you naturally if you're you know, you should be doing
it if you're studying, but like I'm studying, my my

(39:36):
ear is like training. I have to ear train to
the sound, you know, making sure that these things are
coming back the right way, because when you walk in
or even the main engineer, like I'm not the main engineer,
will usually walk in like ten minutes before y'all walk in,
they're not there. They want to, they don't, they're not they're.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
Not really they're the stars, right there are rock.

Speaker 5 (39:56):
Stars in their own levels.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Yeah, there's levels everything.

Speaker 5 (40:00):
Absolutely, Yeah, So you know, I just had to make
sure everything was right.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
You know, So are you?

Speaker 2 (40:07):
So you you have desires to mix at this point
when you're when you get this studio job and now
you're assisting or does that come later?

Speaker 5 (40:14):
As it comes later, because like in the beginning, once
I started the record, you know, after working with Tweet
and Missy for so long. I made the transition into
wanting to work with Timberland under Jimmy Douglas. I was like,
you know what I want to I want to learn
under one of the great.

Speaker 1 (40:30):
Are you still at the Hit Factory?

Speaker 5 (40:32):
Yeah, I'm still a the Hip Factory.

Speaker 4 (40:34):
I'm at the Hip fact technically still an employee.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
I'm still an.

Speaker 5 (40:37):
Employee of the Hip Factory. Yeah. And so I end
up like basically working with Jimmy Douglass.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
And so how do you get the Jimmy though? How
does you just ask Trevor.

Speaker 5 (40:46):
Trevor, I'm like, listen, I think I've learned all I
can learn from working with these Missy sessions. She had
her engineer, so I was only jumping in as an
engineer for her when when either the engineer didn't know
what was late or needed to leave early. So I
was substituting more like you know, I'm like, I wanted
more of like a gig, you know, I'm like, all

(41:07):
I need to like, I need to figure this out.
So I ended up asking Truvor if I could, like
work with Jimmy as his assistant so I can learn
that side of it and working with Jimmy. Carlos was
only a recording engineer, so everything coming out of Carlos's
room was going to Jimmy. So I'm like, well, I
already see the recording process. I want to hear that.

(41:27):
I want to now see the mixing process. And it
was there where I really became a student of the craft,
where I just really ear trained. Every time he was
dialing in on a kick, on a snare, on a sound,
on a vocal, I started to really understand those frequencies.
Like I really was like, where's he going with that?

Speaker 1 (41:43):
You know.

Speaker 5 (41:43):
I wasn't over his shoulder like this. I was just
more like sitting in the back, you know, just kind
of listening. Yeah. And then and then when he would
step out the room, I would look on the console
to be like, let me see where he went with that,
because I would know frequency wise was but I didn't
really understand it. I've always been I've always understood frequency

(42:04):
as an emotion, you know, So I all that technical
gibberish was just something that I needed to know. But
it's more of the background for me. Like for me,
it's like everything is by ear. Everything for me is
by ear. It's an emotion. It's how it makes me feel.
And as an engineer, I do know where to go
or what to take away to achieve, to achieve what

(42:26):
I need to get to, but it's all driven by
my heart and my you know, like an emotion. So yeah,
just learning under him, I was just like, all right, cool,
this is great. But then I started to want to
be more like you know, eventually we got done with
the mixing, and so we started working with like, you know,

(42:47):
Timberland started having like jay Z come through and just
you come through.

Speaker 8 (42:50):
You know.

Speaker 5 (42:50):
It was just like all these like artists now more
like in the recording side, and with Timberland, like I
started to record more, you know, because I would just
jump in the chair.

Speaker 1 (42:58):
He'd be like can you record me?

Speaker 5 (42:59):
Or like I would just jump in. So I got
more opportunity. And then it was around this time where
he signed an artist, Carrie Hilson. So he signed an
artist along with Polo the Don and so I met
Carrie and and actually just to I kind of missed
one step Before Carrie, tim brought in a young producer

(43:23):
that he wanted to train and bring in as his protege,
by the name of Danger. So you know, Danger came
into the picture, and you know, it was real funny
about Dangers. When he first came in the picture, I
couldn't stand the guy. I couldn't not stand him. That
is the nicest guy I know. But you know, it's

(43:44):
so funny because if he was here right now, she
thinks she was running shit in there. He come in
on his first day. I didn't know who he was.
So the door opens to the studio, I see him
just walk in Ahll Bay and Tim had his keyboard
set up in there, and he gets on the try
and immediately just starts programming and I'm like, yo, who
are you? He's like, who are you? And I was

(44:05):
like And then Demo, who was an engineer in the room,
was like, oh man, that's Danger. Like I'm like, all right,
well man, screw him. Like that's like I was like,
from him.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
Touching ship, right, he touches yboards.

Speaker 5 (44:22):
He ain't even introduced himself. That was the whole thing.
He can't come in and introduce.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
You don't touch him.

Speaker 5 (44:27):
You don't touch Siman's keyboard. So the crazy thing though,
he made a beat on this trite and one of
the most incredible sounding tracks in like ten minutes. I
ain't never seen nothing like it, so silently I had
to give him my respect. I ain't given my respect.
I was like, but I'm still giving you the cold shoulder.

(44:52):
But you know what it was about Danger that I
didn't He just he's just a quiet dude. He quiet
I thought. I interpreted that as mean. I interpreted that
as like cocky. I don't know what. I just didn't
like it.

Speaker 7 (45:05):
And then all of a.

Speaker 5 (45:05):
Sudden, like over time, I get to know him and
I'm like, yo, you are like the nicest guy in
the world, right, And so I had backed it up
because I had to say, like I start working with
Tim Dangers in the room. Now there's another engineer in
the room by the name of Demo, and myself, like
Jimmy comes in in and out, Like there's a lot

(45:25):
of work that Jimmy's doing that is either in New York,
so he's not really in So I'm kind of still
staying put in Miami still as like, you know, assistant engineer.
I'm still working for the Hit Factory, so at this time,
like Tim, but engineer though, I'm still on the payroll. Yeah,
which is great because I'm still getting insurance. So I'm like,
I'm not trying to leave yet, you know, I'm still

(45:47):
stacking money like you know. And so Tim would tell us, yeah, yeah,
I'll be in two o'clock tomorrow, two pm. This man
will not show up to the studio till midnight of course,
you know. So Danger would be like, well, I'm gonna
come in, like if you don't mind, like I won
I'm like, yeah, come in. So I would be there
because I'm working for the studio. He'd be in their programming,

(46:10):
and then eventually I was like, hey, man, if you
want like throw me your parts and like I'll just
get it nice and blended and I'll blend it and
and you know, get mixed it for you. Because the
one thing Danger didn't have with Timberland, with like Tim
Kupress play and the damn speakers would catch was incredible

(46:31):
crazy Danger didn't. Danger had a great body like of work,
but it just didn't sound right. So I'm in there
tweaking the sounds, getting all that. So we had time
because Tim would to show up to the studio till midnight.
So by the time ten, yeah, it's a whole session.
So by the time he would show up he would
want to hear what Danger did, and over time his

(46:53):
music just started sounding bigger and fat, you know what
I mean, Like it just started to have like a
sound to it, and so it that was a thing.
So with Danger in the picture, tim then Carrie gets signed.
Carrie's hanging out in Miami just kind of like in
the beginning, just.

Speaker 4 (47:09):
Kind of like all right, I'm just here.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
I'm waiting.

Speaker 5 (47:12):
I'm waiting, you know, like what you Diday, four day
live whatever. She's hanging She's writing songs with us, but
we're not really focusing on her, you know, Carrie Hillson
music yet. And then I think Danger starts making tracks
like that. She starts like feeling and she's like writing,
and I'm like, yo, like why don't we get a

(47:34):
room upstairs? Like the that sounded crazy? Like why don't
we get around I'm feeling?

Speaker 1 (47:42):
No.

Speaker 5 (47:43):
So there's a studio the Hip Factory called Studio B.
So I'm like, why don't we get the studio up there?
And we just vibe out so we get the approval,
we go up there and we just start making music
like just dangering myself and Carrie.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
And you had to end because technically you worked there.
So it's because that's listen, yeah, this is just not happened.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
Guys, you just can't be at the studio. It did
take over another room.

Speaker 5 (48:04):
Exactly exact you. Yeah, yeah, so we just up in
this little you've been in the studio, b I feel
like it's on the second floor. Man. I to me,
I think it's the dopest room because it's away from everything.
They don't have the best console in there, but I
mean I think now they put something digital and work
for what it is. But I love that room, Like

(48:25):
I did the entire tweet album in that room. Like
I have some stories in that room.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
Like it's for the money I paid it hit factory,
you should have.

Speaker 5 (48:33):
Did you want the main room you want to get?

Speaker 1 (48:38):
I want to storage rooms. That's who I was in with. Yeah,
I was in with Scott Storage.

Speaker 8 (48:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (48:44):
Yeah, so you were in studio E.

Speaker 1 (48:45):
Yeah, it's cracking. The two rooms. Its cracking. You know
what I'm saying. I'm gonna get my budgets work. I'm
gonna blow this budget. In the right room, the top
of the room.

Speaker 5 (48:56):
But I couldn't get in those. I can get into
the reject room was the like the isolated, nobody wanted it.
I'm like, well I love this, I love it. But yeah,
so we in there making music and whatnot. And it
was recording Carrie. I got a lot of you know,
just hours in on that. And it was working with
Carrie where my mixing skills really started to shine through.

(49:19):
Because I would do these rough mixes. Tim would be like,
let me hear it, and then he'd be like yo,
and Polo too. They'd be like, man, you got Carries
sounded amazing, like you thought her harmonies the way you
would blender, and so I was like yeah, so Like
it was those opportunities where light bulbs went off and
Tim's head, Polo's head, Danger's head like, yo, she's not

(49:43):
just a recording engineer, she can mix too. I had
my first mix I ever did was a song for Usher.

Speaker 6 (50:00):
Oh my God, too much night over there?

Speaker 1 (50:04):
You know what I got?

Speaker 2 (50:05):
Yeah? Yeah, I don't know if that night you came
through you. I don't know if I sang to you
that night, but I'm gonna sing to you now.

Speaker 1 (50:12):
Okay, yeah, please? Do people want to know? Come on,
what they want to know. They want to know your ears,

(50:34):
Mercy Alaco, your.

Speaker 8 (50:40):
Top, your top five Come on, top Fire, Hey, your.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Top five RB singer.

Speaker 2 (51:00):
The song.

Speaker 9 (51:03):
We want a New Almost you go Mercy, We want
to know?

Speaker 1 (51:15):
Yes your time five.

Speaker 5 (51:32):
Yeah, I do love this. I do love this little
intro and somehow you might have just shot somewhere near about.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
Just a quick reminder, it's not the bark, miss Iago.
Your top five R and B singers, Top five.

Speaker 5 (52:00):
R and B singers. All right, let's see in no
particular order, no particular all right, here we go, mm hmm.
I'm going to start off with number one because this
was my first love as a child, would be Stevie Wonder.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (52:13):
Yeah, Stevie Wonder was where the vinyl playing was in
the house and I was like, oh my goodness, what
is that. Yes, I'm uh you will see from my list.
I live a lot in the past because it's so good.
Luther Vanras I love Luther. Sorry, it's just he just

(52:33):
makes me cry. Next, I'm going to have to go
to Joe. I love Joe like I.

Speaker 4 (52:49):
Love shows a favorite.

Speaker 5 (52:52):
She's what you mean? Yeah, when that man lives on
a playlist that doesn't quit for I'm going to have
to go with the false settle grade of Maxwell I
actually named my son Kayden Maxwell after Maxwell.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
Oh.

Speaker 5 (53:10):
Yes, I do love Maxwell. I do love him. I
love his music. I love him like he's just incredible.
And number five? Where am I at with number five?
Oh my gosh, don't go blank, Mars, don't go blank, man,
I'm gonna have to give it to one of my own,

(53:31):
mister Luke James.

Speaker 1 (53:33):
James.

Speaker 5 (53:34):
I'll give it to Luke James sang He's just too good, yeah,
I mean. And we talked about singers. I know sangers, yeah,
you know, for no different reasons and maybe songs just
a voice, but Lucas voice is.

Speaker 1 (53:55):
Pristine. Yeah, flat out. I like your list top five
R and B songs.

Speaker 5 (54:06):
This one's gonna be hard.

Speaker 6 (54:09):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 1 (54:09):
You heard a lot of songs.

Speaker 5 (54:10):
I heard songs. Okay, let's see a woman's work. I
just love me. I just love that.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
Yeah, yeah, I can just hear it.

Speaker 5 (54:25):
I don't know like that record can still make my
skin crawl, you know what I mean, which is it's
just crazy. You know, Black Street it's coming to head
to my head right now with uh, don't lead with.

Speaker 6 (54:40):
It, don't leave.

Speaker 5 (54:42):
Don't let me sing either, Please don't let me sing
you do not let me sing, So thank you for
for for backing me up there. Yeah, that's that's.

Speaker 2 (54:53):
Just the first came out and they played that that
that song came over. We was like this, yeah, what
is this sound?

Speaker 5 (54:59):
And then way just kept growing at the end and
it just didn't want to quit. It just kept going. Yeah.
So okay, so that, uh I need something sexy. What's
the sexy stuff that I like? Emotional?

Speaker 1 (55:17):
Karl Thomas.

Speaker 5 (55:18):
Yes, sir, you guys coming to Miami.

Speaker 4 (55:23):
We're gonna make that happen.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
It has to happen. We just had a conversation about
that too, because I'm like, I was so excited somebody
who can.

Speaker 5 (55:30):
Help me come up to Atlanta. But I'm like, you know, you.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
Gotta, I gotta makemi Yeah, dang, I got a few
list here all the things I'm Joe.

Speaker 5 (55:45):
Of course, that damn song just speaks everything.

Speaker 2 (55:48):
I mean, I'll be on the road with I'm like,
you you really out of control? You're really out of control?

Speaker 5 (55:55):
Yeah, and the last one, I mean, there's just so many.
That's why I have a hard time. I've never liked
these type of questions because just there's so like, I
don't have a top, and.

Speaker 1 (56:07):
You have a different feeling to the Army podcast. You
have a different feeling every day.

Speaker 5 (56:11):
Every day.

Speaker 4 (56:12):
It's just like, you know, it just depends on where
I'm at, you know, so on today.

Speaker 5 (56:16):
So I mean, look, if I really wanted to feel freaking,
it's gonna be somewhere in the joys world's.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Yeah, I mean, it's just gonna be. It's just why not.
Pick one? Yeah? Pick one? Yeah, any of them?

Speaker 5 (56:29):
What's that one slide?

Speaker 1 (56:31):
Come talking to you?

Speaker 5 (56:32):
Talking to no? Man? Come on, like, that's that's that.
I love that.

Speaker 1 (56:39):
You're the first person to bring that one out.

Speaker 5 (56:42):
I'm telling you because I'm like, I'm I'm a laugh
in the past, I think it was like number six
to on the app. Nobody everybody just kind of like,
I don't know, everybody sat.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
Half of an album the whole.

Speaker 5 (56:56):
Thing is and I'm like, man, that song is crazy
with the whole album.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
Okay, uh, let's do your volte ron all right, you're
gonna make your super r and B artists. You're gonna
get the vocal from the performance style, the styling, the
passion of the artist, and who's going to mix that record?

Speaker 5 (57:13):
Here we go, Okay, who are you getting the vocal
from Whitney Houston performance style Michael Jackson, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
Styling or Prince, that's way different. You gotta that's two different,
both flying their own way.

Speaker 5 (57:34):
I'm gonna go with.

Speaker 1 (57:34):
Prince eclectic, stand out.

Speaker 3 (57:38):
No boxes exactly, not a one boxers either.

Speaker 2 (57:46):
He out here with all right, that my friend is
a thong that you know that's that's not a box
of bre God, let's.

Speaker 3 (58:00):
Some damn pants on man, all your pants man, he
told you like that.

Speaker 5 (58:10):
Uh, the passion of the artist, the passion I'm gonna
say you.

Speaker 10 (58:17):
Hm hmm man, passionate man, passion man. I'm gonna say you, sir, passion.

Speaker 1 (58:28):
I'm a passion man.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
Ship alright, that's my name in restaurant to think of
name the rival pleasure p I'm passion pe, I'm passionate.

Speaker 3 (58:43):
Just passion man, none of it man, you know, passionate.
He wants an R and B name because he doesn't
feel like he has an R and B name.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
Pleasure. His name is pleasure.

Speaker 2 (59:00):
You know how many ways you can work that in R
in an R and B s Like just in a conversation,
you know what I'm saying, And I just like, yeah, girl,
you're gonna get tanked tonight. What you're gonna get this
tank on you tonight? How you have been rolled over?

Speaker 5 (59:16):
Aggressive? It's really aggressive aggressive?

Speaker 1 (59:20):
You want me to fill up your tank? What you want?
So you want to go to this listen yas it's high.
I want you to feel like that goddamn tank.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
Wow, we're working on it. Who's who's gonna mix for
this artist?

Speaker 3 (59:43):
The goddamn.

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Better believe it? Yeah, yeah, like.

Speaker 9 (59:49):
This, Send us out, Send us out. I ain't saying
no next. I ain't saying no next, no name, I
ain't saying no name.

Speaker 8 (01:00:02):
Who he was? Who?

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
What you did?

Speaker 1 (01:00:06):
Don't say she? I ain't saying the name who?

Speaker 5 (01:00:22):
Passion fee, ladies and gentlemen, your passion pee?

Speaker 1 (01:00:27):
Oh my god, I love you guys. I'm not pounding
you out for that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
Fee eedn name this man passion pee pee, passion p
pleasure has a rival.

Speaker 1 (01:00:43):
Oh my god.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
But before we get out of here, we have this
great segment. I know you, I know you've seen it.
I know you've seen it. It's called I ain't saying
no name. Tell us a story funny or fucked up?
Are funny and fucked up?

Speaker 1 (01:00:57):
In life?

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
And times and the travels of Marcia a Lago, the
Lamborghini herself herself.

Speaker 1 (01:01:05):
You know what I mean, we knew you know, you need.

Speaker 3 (01:01:07):
You're driving a fast car around Miami, you know, even
though you're supposed to jump in the fast car and
hang out with us one time, and then you did
show up.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
You know what, But we ain't gonna talk about gonna
talk about it.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
Talking about thinking it's a great song was made the
next day. It's cool. Ship we played basketball?

Speaker 5 (01:01:23):
Yeah yeah, that's for part two.

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
Oh boy, only route to the game, no name.

Speaker 4 (01:01:32):
Oh that's easy, okay, Oh yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
I like that.

Speaker 5 (01:01:35):
It's kind of like a damn for really happened to you?
But I laughed whatever. I enjoyed myself after. It's all good.
All right. So there's a time where I was flown
out to New York.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
Flew flown out.

Speaker 4 (01:01:51):
He was flown out because if it was flood out,
you know what I mean, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:01:59):
Inolved, No, No, it was fluid is personal flows business.

Speaker 5 (01:02:08):
I was there in town to work with a very
very high profile female artist, and so I was excited
because I've been listening and loving this artist since I
was a kid, and I just remember getting that call

(01:02:29):
and just being like, wow, I'm so excited that this
is it. Like, I'm whatever. We're in New York. We're
sitting there waiting and she shows up about four hours late.
She walks in. I'm like, you know, I'm professional, so
I'm like, oh, how you doing. She comes around the room.

(01:02:50):
I'm in the room with two other guys, the writer
and a producer. I'm the engineer. And she comes in.
Let me not even acted out, because let me not
let me just stay poor. And so she comes in
and she's four hours late. Then she walks in like
at one am, and so whatever, We're like, okay, cool,

(01:03:12):
no problem. She comes in and she's like, Hi, I'm
so sorry. Oh gosh, I'm acting out. Sorry for god. Hi,
I'm sorry, like I'm late, you know, I am so
and so, I am so so. And she comes around
to me and she's like, Hi, gives me one of
these one of these fingertips. Hi, And I was just like, okay,

(01:03:35):
that was different, and so whatever. We sit down, we
start grooving, we start trying to start the creative process.
She stopped, everybody stop, I'm sorry, what's your name again?
And I turn around like, oh, Marcella. She's like, yeah,

(01:03:56):
I'm that bitch in this room. You gotta leave. And
I was like, I was like, is this like am
I being punked? Like you know, Like I was like,
is this for real? And so I was like and
she's like yeah, She's like like you gotta go. And
I remember looking turning around and look at the producer
and writer and they were like they didn't know what

(01:04:17):
to say, like you know, I enjoy I told you
high profile, so like you know, there's not a discussion
to be had. It's just so I'm like, okay, no problem.
So I just like walked out and I stayed. I
stood outside the studio doors in case the producer needed
me for anything, and I just was like I'll be
outside the doors if you need anything. They called in
a guy engineer to take over, and I remember just

(01:04:39):
being like dang, that was rough. Dang, And I just
remember being sad, and then the sadness turned into like
like annoyance, and then I was kind of mad and
then I'm like dang. So then the label calls and
was like, man, we're so sorry what happened? Like yeah,
like we're so sorry. But like I already they had
already you know, booked the hotel out, and the hotel

(01:05:02):
was like, what do they call like the prettyem what
do you call them? When you can spend whatever you want? Oh? Yeah,
yeah whatever, what do you call it? We had no
we have no like limit, no limit, you know what.

(01:05:23):
I know exactly what I'm about to do, And in
her honor, I'm buying champagne and sushi. Yeah, inviting all
my friends over. I literally had a party party out
on her dime. I was like, I'm going in, Yes, sir,
I was in.

Speaker 4 (01:05:43):
I said, I was like, you know what, champagne, sushi
and friends.

Speaker 5 (01:05:49):
Champagne, sushi and friends.

Speaker 2 (01:05:50):
Here's the thing, right as it as we as you
said in the beginning, right was it's a male dominated industry, right,
and there are challenges and things you go through with men.

Speaker 8 (01:06:02):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
People don't really understand what it is to be an
attractive female.

Speaker 5 (01:06:10):
And the star walks in and it's like, oh yeah,
no ah, now.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
You're taking up too much of the Yeah, like other
thing you have to you got to go or you
can't dance with me?

Speaker 1 (01:06:25):
You no, you.

Speaker 5 (01:06:31):
Yes, yeah, but yeah that happened.

Speaker 2 (01:06:35):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (01:06:35):
In the end, I prevailed and had a great time
in New York City.

Speaker 4 (01:06:42):
Wow, not expect that limited, I believe it, But I
believe it.

Speaker 5 (01:06:49):
I did not come back it up well in the
room obviously, no name, no name.

Speaker 1 (01:06:58):
Yeah, we've done that. What we do it? All this?
Please do? Wow. That's a great story, though. It's a
great story.

Speaker 5 (01:07:05):
And it's so interesting, right because like it's all you know,
all this happened before obviously, all this woman empowerment movement, right,
So isn't that interesting that if I ever really wanted
to unleash this story?

Speaker 2 (01:07:17):
Oh my goodness, here's a question, though, have you ever
ran back into her again and at least had like
eyes or like you know something where you.

Speaker 5 (01:07:28):
Know, no, but not face to face. But I ended
up having being hired to do a mix for her,
and she ended up knowing who I was, but was
okay with it. It was fine, And she ended up
loving it and approving it and like singing her praises

(01:07:48):
through her management to let me know how much she
loved it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:52):
So and they paid the incident about to say she
paid the incident and then she paid the fee for
you to for you?

Speaker 5 (01:08:00):
Yeah, then I got paid.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
Yeah, listen. Sometimes you know it's all so good, it's.

Speaker 5 (01:08:05):
All good, But you know what it was for me?
It was because I loved like we love the excitement. Yeah,
of someone that I grew up like, they say, yes.

Speaker 1 (01:08:19):
I've been there, exactly, I've been there.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
It happens well, Doctor three oh five, the original doctor Man.
All right, let me tell him him.

Speaker 1 (01:08:35):
The log.

Speaker 5 (01:08:39):
In d O H two oh creative Asylum, dream side,
dream side.

Speaker 2 (01:08:44):
Yes, that's what I was getting to that. I was
just saying, creative to dream dream Asylum. Your family, you know,
we love you, and we thank you for just coming
and giving us be a hitmaker. Yeah you know, yeah,
thank you for thank you for caring about caring about
it and and and putting your heart on the line too.

Speaker 1 (01:09:09):
To help enhance the soundtrack to the universe.

Speaker 3 (01:09:12):
Always, I must save up my money so you can
do a mix. I'm gonna save a little bit coins,
a lot of coins.

Speaker 2 (01:09:25):
Maybe we put our coins together, Maybe we could just
at least get a deal on maybe.

Speaker 1 (01:09:32):
You know what I'm saying. I ain't gonna even go
in the master because that could.

Speaker 5 (01:09:34):
Be a whole nother oh man to the mastering engineers.

Speaker 2 (01:09:39):
Look at you being like me, do what I do.
Thank you, and we appreciate you. And you know this
is you know, this is your house. So you got
love over here.

Speaker 5 (01:09:49):
Thank you. I love you, guys. I appreciate you, ladies
and gentlemen.

Speaker 2 (01:09:53):
I am Tank and this is the R and B
Money Podcast, the authority on all things R and B
Sounding good. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's important, looking good, Okay,
it's core. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
Make sure that's to be a limit. Man. When your.

Speaker 2 (01:10:12):
We all start from somewhere, do you take pride in
your humble beginnings?

Speaker 1 (01:10:18):
Yeah? I hope you do. I hope you do, because.

Speaker 5 (01:10:26):
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
R and B Money.

Speaker 4 (01:10:31):
R and B Money is a production of the Black
Effect podcast Network. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.

Speaker 3 (01:10:43):
Don't forget to subscribe to and rate our show, and
you can connect with us on social media at Jay
Valentine and at the Real Tank.

Speaker 4 (01:10:51):
For the extended episode, subscribe to YouTube dot com, forward Slash,
R and B Money