Interview with One Take

Interview with One Take

The golden 90’s hip hop era is what surfaced the true essence of hip hop. It takes skill and persistence to stay relevant in the game. Just ask Brooklyn’s finest in house producer One Take. Paying his dues in the game as 1/5 of the production team Anno Domini and the engineer of Goblin studios, he has been a household name in the underground world. Blazing hot tracks for Aye Wu, Starvin B, Spit Gemz, to name a few, One Take takes his production skills to the next level. Watch out for the producer to be reckoned with. One Take joins Intrigued to discuss about his label Brooklyn Bourne, his production skills, the artists he worked with and his fiery production game.

1)            You know me, what it is. Intrigued up in this, joining me is my dude One Take. Talk to us about your musical background?

Well, I always love music as long as I can remember. My mother was always playing the piano in the house as a kid and just me learning how to play the piano from her made me love music as a whole. From latin, classical music, to church songs and jazz. I would sometimes play the piano and develop my own melodies and took drum lesson when I was about 11. I just love music. It’s in my soul

2)            You’re originally from Brooklyn; who did you listen to growing up?

I listened to everything. Lots of reggae house, rock, Latin music. As far as Hip-hop, i listened to a lot of KRS-ONE and BDP, LL COOL J, MC SHAN and was a BIG Biz Markie fan. When the 90's came, I was heavy into BIG DADDY KANE, RAKIM G -RAP, NAS, AZ and the list goes on….

3)            Tell us a small list of emcees that you have already worked with?

Bekay, AVATAR THE ARTICULATE, ANIMOSITY, AL SKILLS AND JEDI FROM HOUSE OF REPZS, UG FROM CELLA DWELLAS, PRINCE PO, SPIT GEMZ, STARVIN B, AYE WUN, SHAZ ILLYORK, EFF YOO, STARKER ILL, EPIDEMIC (HEX-ONE & TEK-NITION) KLIVE KRAVEN, Orion, Ephniko TO NAME A FEW…i worked with a lot of people…

4)            When did you decide to take the production game seriously?

When I moved to Miami to be honest! It was more like a hobby until I moved there and linked up with my dude Orion, Ephniko and Omniscient and local emcees out in Broward County, D-Tox and Killa Bus. I really saw how they grinded and put in work and that’s when I started taking the game more seriously and started really going in with my production and putting my music out. We put out a project called "The Movement" volume 1 (You can hear it at one-take.bandcamp.com). It got a lot of love in the local scene out there and Lots of college radio stations would play our joints and felt good that what I was creating with other people was getting great feedback. I then joined a production crew name Anno Domini Beats a couple months after I moved back to NY from Miami. My dude Anno would shop my beats online via his website and contacts and got more internet recognition. They are a lot of talented producers in that crew and it definitely was like a friendly competition of out doing one another with our beats. Big shout out to anno domino beats. I got nothing but love for them…

5)            Was moving to Miami, a great move for your musical career?

Yeah, it was a true blessing. I was around a lot of music guys, Latin bands, and people who loved to jam out. I used to go to my dude P-LO CRIB in Carol City in Miami and bring my MPC over and jam out with other musicians and just get busy. It was a lot of fun and inspiring to be around people who loved music as much as I did.

6)            What do you think it takes to become a successful producer?

Making beats constantly. I’m always making beats no matter if my schedule is hectic or not. It’s just what I love to do but it also makes you better. I always try to experiment at times but stay in my boom bap element. The more beats you make, the better you will become. But producers should never be a clone. Do things different. You will hear my influences in my Work but the more beats I have made; I developed my own sound I feel.

7)            Who are your musical influences on the production tip and do you use their techniques to perfect your production skills?

I am a huge DJ Premier fan. Also Large Pro, Beatnuts , Alchemist, PETE Rock, J-DILLA. They are all unique but what I learned mostly from them is there Drum work. I always make sure my drums knock before anything. Those are the foundation. I take a bit from everybody just like every producer as far as chopping, Filtering, the way you swing drums etc, but drums to me are the most important

8)            Describe a One Take production set up. Do you use samples, play instruments or both?

I do both. I sample most of the time cause i love diggin for vinyl and I currently live in downtown Manhattan close to a lot of vinyl shops so I would never stop sampling being around all those stores..lol..But I love to just create my own stuff as well. An Example of me using no samples is a track Called Hersey Hawkins That Spit Gemz and Starvin B rocked on that Gemz is using for his Fvck The radio Project. I played everything there…
My productions setup right now is my MPC 2000XL, motif es rack sound module and I flavor up my beats with reason 5 and komplete 7. I’ve had that set-up for a while and have so many sounds that making beats with no samples is definitely a must.

9)            Do you run into sampling issues when making a beat?

Not yet…lol..

10)         I love your beat precision on your youtube clips with hard bass lines and kicks. How do you know when the beat is done?

When im freestyling to it and bopping my head like crazy…i always go back and tweak things once the beat is tracked out in pro tools and flavor it up a bit more, but for me, it’s when you feel it on how its arranged and the feedback from it when you send to artist of course. Then you know it’s done…

11)         You work on the MPC2000XL, one of my personal favorites..lol. It made a lot of bangers and hits. Do you still use the MPC2000XL till this day?

Yes I do. That’s my brain of my set up…I’m most comfortable with it and work best with the MPC.

12)         As a producer, what does it takes for an emcee to get your attention and say I want to work with them?

Delivery, flow, lyrics and Work ethic. I’ve been around a lot of great lyricists with unique deliveries and flow so I’m big on that but they need to have that and work ethic, especially in today’s game. Plus your beats need to fit with the artists…ya know. I tend to attract artist that love that golden era sound and that is my specialty.

13)         Aye Wun is one of the emcees I’m definitely feeling. What is it like working with him?

Shout to my dude Aye-Wun. He is one talented cat. He really loves to Emcee and takes advice and is very humble. Seeing him steadily grow as an artist is great to see. Very easy to work with! We just vibe one day at the studio and played him mad beats and he picked a bunch. WE ReCORDED them real quickly and they were all bangers. He takes the art of Emceeing seriously and I love working with people that got that love for their craft. My sound compliments his style real well and you will start to hear more joints that we have cooked and in the future real soon.

14)         You’re an in house producer and engineer at Goblin studios. How did you get up with Gob Goblin?

Spit Gemz invited me to Gob Goblins B-day party last year. I met goblin there and we clicked. He is a very genuine cat and the type of guy that make you feel like you known your entire life. I just started to come around the studio all the time with beats and people started jumping on them, helping him around the studio, doing recording sessions, mixing songs and just lending a hand. The vibe is great there and it’s a great place to go to just get away from life and just chill out at. I’ve met a lot of Legends in the game just by being around the studio, Sean Price, Cormega, Large Professor, Marco Polo, j-LOVE, SADATX, Beatnuts, Tony TOUCH, LIL FAME….YOU NEVER KNOW WHO CAN BE THERE….Doing recording session with them has been a blessings and definitely inspires you.

15)         Gob goblin has been in the business for a hot minute since rhyming on the Beatnuts “Stone Crazy” album. What have you learned from Gob Goblin?

First off Gob Goblin is an incredible emcee and second, he got a great heart. He had a vision of starting a studio and made that come to light. Giving all the artist that he knows an outlet to do what they do. It good to be around people that have a vision and makes it reality! Lots of people procrastinate with things but he makes his ideas to reality quickly.

16)         What’s the working chemistry is like with Spit Gemz?

Spit Gemz is one of the best emcees I have ever worked with hands down. He just got it. From incredible lyrics that people can relate, to flow and delivery, doing his own videos. He has an incredible work ethic and loves Hip-Hop. We vibe real well! We've made so many tracks in such a short time it crazy. But Gemz and I just can get in the studio and just create. It great to vibe and create with an artist of his caliber and he is someone who believes in my talent. He recognizes I love this Hip-Hop culture as much as he does and when you got 2 people that share the same interest and love what they do, what you create is always fire…. I mixed a lot of his "WELCOME TO HELLZGATE" Project and it was a lot of fun to do and to see how his supporters loved that project. Just banger after banger on that cd! With his new project "FVCK THE RADIO" you will hear him destroy a lot of my beats. You will be hearing a lot from us in 2013, you can bet on that

17)         You produced majority of Starvin B’s album “Something in the Water”. What is it about Starvin B that caught your ear?

Well I only Produced 2 Tracks off his album but i did help him mix his project with super Engineer Spent Dnero. Big shootout to Spent…Starvin B is another incredible talent. He got this rugged sounding voice with crazy wordplay and flow. That kid is a monster. I first met Starvin at Gob Goblins B-day party last year and heard him freestyle with the legendary Craig-G and more than held his own. We became real cool after that and started sending him beats. When we recorded the title track "Something In the water" from his album under the same name, it was one of those sessions that gave you goose bumps seeing him spit that track. I love to create joints with starving and it so easy to work with him. He just gets in that zone and bars are formed with ease. Another emcee that is dedicated and takes his art seriously! Heads really need to listen to this guy cause along with Gemz, are the best lyricist NYC has heard in a long time.

18)         What method do you prefer working with an artist in the studio or emailing tracks?

I prefer studio. Making the track with the artist there and making music off that vibe. I email tracks all the time but I prefer personally to work with the artist in the studio. The tracks come out better to me. just vibing off the energy that happens when 2 creative people are in that zone when you’re in the studio make the music sound a lot more natural and 99 percent of the time, the tracks come out crazy...

19)         I noticed that turntables and vinyl are somewhat obsolete in hip-hop and you still use them on your youtube clips. Do you think it loses the essence of how producers make beats for artists?

I like getting my samples from vinyl. That’s how I do my work. Other producers sometimes go a different route and I don't knock it but I like to really go out and dig for samples that no one has touched. I feel vinyl has been becoming somewhat obsolete cause of the easiness of getting samples from the internet but to me, the best samples come from vinyl. Plus being around JU JU and Psycho Les of the Beatnuts, you gotta dig to get there respect. SO catch me at your local record shop in Brooklyn/queens and Manhattan searching for those gems.

20)         How did the track “Man vs Machine” featuring Prince Po, Ug from Cella Dwellas, and Animosity came about?

I have known Ug since i was a little kid. My cousin grew up with him in Glenwood Projects and he knew my family very well. It’s crazy cause my cousin used to hang out with ILL BILL too. I used to go play football in the PJ'S and hangout with them when I was mad young. I had reached out to prince po to do a track and I saw UG at a show, we exchanged numbers. Once I got the verse from Prince po, I hit up UG and he was down to jump on the track. He came to animosity's crib and we knocked it out…Came out crazy. Much love to Ug and prince po.

21)         Talk to us about Brooklyn Bourne records.

That’s a label I formed that I will be putting projects out in the coming months. My first project will be "true Dialect" which is a producer album featuring all the artists I have worked with the some special guest. IT’S GONNA SURPRISE some people for sure. The label is gonna be a platform to get talented artist out to the hip hop world and we gonna make some serious noise.

22)         Who are your top five producers of all time?

For me my top 5 are DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Alchemist, Largo Pro and the Beatnuts...

23)         What are the top five hip hop albums of 2012 in your opinion?

Another tough one, I love Spit Gemz "Welcome to hELLZGATE:, sTARVIN B- SOMETHING IN THE WATER. Epidemic "Monochrome Skies" Sean Price-Mic tyson and Apollo Brown & O.C "tROPHIES"...Has what I been bumping in the crib all the time.

24)         Any artists you haven’t worked with yet, you would like to collaborate with?

YEAH THERE ARE SOME, I GOT COOL WITH SEAN PRICE AND AG DA CORNONER AND WOULD LOVE TO DO SOMETHING WITH THEM, also Vinnie Paz, IF the opportunity presents itself, I’ll be ready with some heat. But I’m also good with my Home team. IM JUST GONNA CONCENTRATE ON DOING MORE TRACKS WITH SPIT GEMZ AND STARVIN B, Gob Goblin and my brother Spent D'nero and help them get that that recognition they deserve.

25)         Are we going to see a One Take production album in the works?

YES A PROJECT CALLED "TRUE DIALECT. IT’S 95 PERCENT DONE. GOTTA DO A COUPLE MORE THINGS TO IT AND WILL BE PUT OUT IN THE FIRST QUARTER. THAT IS THE GOAL.

26)         What advice do you give to the new producers on the come up?

DEVELOP YOUR OWN STYLE AND CONSTANTLY MAKE BEATS. artist are picky so it is to your advantage when you have lots of beats that artist can choose from.

27)         Where can headz reach you for beats and collabs?

twitter, Facebook or just email me…twitter @onetakebeats, facebook/onetakebeats email: onetakebklyn@gmail.com

28)         It was a pleasure getting up with you, any shout outs you would like to give!

Thanks man, appreciate the love… big Shout out to my first Born Jeremy and my wife. My mom and dad! The whole goblin music family. Gob goblin, Spent Dnero, Spit Gemz, Starvin b, Starker, Eff yew, Gio, Crisis, Sean Price, Cormega, J-LOVE... my brother Avatar the articulate, Epidemic and all my peplos that have supported me from day one…love y'all…