The most renowned trio of hip-hop history, Run DMC (Run, Joseph Simmons; DMC, Darryl McDaniels; and Jam Master Jay, Jason Mizell), talks to Guitar Center about their recent induction into RockWalk, creating upcoming albums, and their equipment.
GC: What was it like being involved with the Spin Off and performing at the Grand Finals at the Gravity Games?
JMJ: That was cool! It was incredible! I had a cool show. I love performing for kids. I had a lot of fans out there and it was cool, a bunch of people doing crazy flips.
GC: What was it like being inducted into the RockWalk this year?
JMJ: It was one of the biggest days of my life! From me being the first DJ to put my hands in there to being the first rap group to be recognized as rock and roll stars and putting our hands in RockWalk, it was a really huge thing! A lot of our fans came out and supported it. People like Jay-Z, Jermaine Dupre, and Snoop Dogg came out to pay homage. I thought it was incredible. It was one of the best days of my life!
GC: Could you describe the equipment you use on stage?
JMJ: I've been using some Vestax PDX2000 turntables for awhile. Right now I'm starting to use Numark TTX1 turntables. I just started trying them. It's really cool. I started off with Technics and when I started using the Vestax with the straight arm, I couldn't go back because it's just better. I've been doing outside gigs in windy conditions with Run and D jumping on the stage. For my DJ gigs, I started using these TTX1s and this has just been working out incredibly. I've been using the Vestax PMC07Pro mixer and I just tried this new Numark Matrix 3 Mixer. I saw it at a DJ show in Atlantic City. I saw this mixer, but I was stuck on the Vestax. Then just the other night I used the Numark mixer for the first time. The fader is just incredible! You can just touch it and it will go all the way to the other side. It's just very loose, very hot!
GC: Do you wind up having to replace your cross faders very often?
JMJ: Since I've been using the PMC07Pro, not really. But recently I did have to change a couple of them. Truthfully speaking, I'm hoping this Numark Matrix 3 is going to be a little hotter than the Vestax. The Vestax has been great, but I do a lot of gigs and I'm probably working more than anybody else because I do Run DMC shows. Plus, I do parties. I'm working at least 200 nights a year. That's a lot of flying, a lot of travelling, a lot of wear and tear! So I'm thinking I need something that has to be good and it has to be sturdy. It has to be able to take a little bit of banging up, too. I'm about to try the Matrix 3 under those conditions. It's about to get it's run right now because I like the way it works. That is how I usually start off, I have to like the way it works. That's what happened with the Vestax PMC07Pro. I started trying it and I liked the way it worked. From there I had to try to figure out whether it could take the road & the flights. There have been a few times I've had to let equipment go because it was good but it just couldn't take the flights, couldn't take the little bangs, the little knocks. One little bang and it's over!
Last night I started using the Numark TTX1's and I dig it. Now they have to make the flights. These are nice. I never got a chance to play on them. And I finally got a chance to play on them, set them up and did my thing and played on them. I'm going to use them again tonight. But I'm not using them for the Run DMC show because I have two gigs tonight. I've got the Run DMC show with Aerosmith and Kid Rock. Then right after that I have to get off stage and go do an after-party. So I've got my Vestax turntables set up on the stage with Run DMC and Kid Rock. Me and Kid Rock's DJ are sharing the same rig so I can't switch on him in the middle of the tour. Like all of a sudden he looks up today and I've got Numark turntables!
I prefer the Newmark TTX1 because it's a little easier. It has the stop and start button on both sides. Normally the way the coffin is set up you have to have your turntables set up a certain way. The way my turntable is set up on the particular set of Vestax PDX2000 I've got, the start button is all the way to the right side. The way these TTX turntables are set up, they're on both sides. So no matter how you've got the turntables set up, the stops and starts are right there for you. I don't have to reach all the way over. So that's one reason why I am going to start using these during the Run DMC shows. Another reason is, with the cues I can start and stop. You have adjustments on the breaks, with the TTX1. They also have a 78rpm on the turntables. The Vestax I have don't have 78, but the pitch can go so fast where it is like a 78. But this actually has a 78 setting so if I've got something old I can play it! The 78's sound like sh*t, but I can play them! So I'm kind of feeling the TTX1. They're made for the DJs and I like it when a manufacturer is reaching out. I like the straight arm as well. You know you do all kinds of tricks with your curved arm to make it feel and work like a straight arm. I think the straight arm for scratching purposes rides the grooves a lot better! None of the other turntables I've used besides the TTX1 had interchangeable arms. So last night, I got to choose between a curve arm and straight arm.
GC: Which would you rather use?
JMJ: Everybody says the straight arm is definitely better. You do the same thing and then change the arm and you can try fix the weight and try to adjust it and everything but straight is still better.
GC: Do you do a lot of scratching even when you're doing a regular DJ gig?
JMJ: Definitely a lot of scratching. Some songs I play, I will let it play out. Other songs, I just go into a little quick mix of that song. And other songs, when I go through my old school sh*t, I'm definitely scratching up sh*t like I'm at a show. I'm actually acting like I'm at a show when I DJ at a party.
GC: So it's a full-on performance?
JMJ: Right. It depends how long I've got to do the party for. But at some point at that party, you will be getting a Run DMC type of Jam Master Jay show. Regardless of when I do a party, I always bust it out to some form of a Run DMC show where I'm trying to just act like you're at a concert right now. I'm expecting crowd participation. And I'm playing my songs, my Run DMC songs. Even if I'm playing for four hours you can believe a half an hour or twenty minutes of that, I'm going to stop the music and go into some other sh*t. Being a 37 year-old person in the game for 20 years my range of fans could be from 18 year-old black kids to 45 year-old white kids. There's no telling who I'm going to play for. You never know who's showing up for a Jam Master Jay party so that means I have to bring a whole lot of records, 80s pop records to my 2002 hip-hop records. I've got to work the crowd! I'm trying to win. Prince might have to get played tonight. Some parties Prince can't be played. Michael Jackson might have to get played tonight. Some parties, Michael Jackson can't be played. I'm doing the same gig in Atlanta, the same concert, but it's a Thursday night and this is the 25 and up mixed crowd. They want to hear old school hip-hop and old school pop records. Or this gig is only ten percent black people and I've got to pull out David Bowie and play "Let's Dance" and other kinds of records. I used to roll around with like 12 crates, extra excess baggage all the time, everything! Now there are CD players that have disks, like virtual wax. So whatever you're doing on the wax, the CD is acting like a turntable. You use this piece of wax to do everything you want to do. When I play the CDs with the wax, nobody even knows I'm playing CDs! They actually see me playing CDs. But they see me back spinning and everything on wax and taking a record off and putting another record on. I might jump into records kind of quick, but it still looks like I'm using the wax. That's what I loved about it! The one that is feels best to me is the Pioneer one, the CDJ1000. The action that I'm hearing sounds and feels like the turntable, but it's not a turntable, so there's some difference. I was considering getting that just to break my crates down. With three CD books I have a lot more than with 12 crates of records! So I'm going into that CD stuff more. As far as doing parties, I definitely need to come with some CD thing because the parties are never local. It's always Boston or London. It's always crazy places and just on the excess baggage alone, we kill it. I always come with like 5 or 6 crates. Biz Markie is strictly on CDs now. You can do more stuff with the CDs, but there are still some things you just can't do without a turntable.
GC: Have you ever considered leaving the turntables behind and just going with the CDs?
JMJ: No, that's not my plan at all. Using both is fine for me. This is the first time I've even considered doing it because before the CD's weren't as dependable. This is my livelihood. So when I get there, I'm playing the CD, like I'm mixing it in. I'm still doing the pitch tones and all the stuff the CD can do. I just don't like the actual action of pressing the button, hitting the cross fader and pressing the button at the same time to make it go. I have to press the button to let it go, instead of throwing the record to let it go. That whole part of it, I don't like.
GC: Do you have a home studio that you use to record?
JMJ: Yes. I've got the Tascam DA88 and the Tascam DA38. I've got the Akai MPC-3000. I've got the Roland JV2080. I've got the Korg Trinity. I've got Pro Tools. I've got some Neumann mics. My Drum machines. I've got the Akai MPC-4000. I've got an old Akai MPC60 that we don't mess with anymore. I'm about to get the Mackie HUI controller that they're making for Pro Tools.
GC: What's the typical process of how you might come up with something?
JMJ: Right now the reason I'm going with the Pro Tools and the DA88s is it's just easier to work with. My typical way is I'll make the beat on the MPC-4000. My friends come up with a chorus and we'll have the 4000 with SMPTE on it and we dump that to the DA88s and maybe two-track it or dump it and then put a chorus on real quick. Or we might just even do two tracks on tape just so they can put a chorus on it and then take the chorus and dump the chorus back in the MPC. We take all of our stuff and put it on DA88 and we dump it to my system in one take or three takes. We just make all our stuff on DA88s. I've got four of those machines. Then when it's time to go to a big studio, somebody will come in one day and dump all the songs in Pro Tools so I can take the hard drive to the Pro Tools system in the big studio. I'm just learning how to work Pro Tools, but I guess my studio is going towards strictly Pro Tools. With Pro Tools you know technology is coming. They've just got all types of stuff now that they're making digital. But I still have my Focusrite and all the stuff that I bought, you think they'd have gone digital by now. Of course if you spend $3,000 for one piece that's supposed to make a certain sound. That might be the right sound. Maybe it can't be copied digitally. But, at the same time, for that money, you can get a lot more digital or software stuff as far as making your music sound good. I have my own little tricks for mixing down digital stuff. Like I go put it on a half inch at the end of the mix, before I put it onto the DAT. I do those things to get that warm feel back. You can't really get that warm feel with the digital like you can get on the 24 or 48 tracks with two inches. But there are ways that you can do it with the new stuff. I'm kind of with the new school. And as far as editing a song and putting choruses on it and stuff like that, it's much better now. The possibility for rearranging is ridiculous with Pro Tools! Everything is so simple! I come from the dinosaur days when you had to cut half inch tape all the time. We'd do mixes and do like ten different mixes. You'd come in my room back in the day, it would just be a room full of tape hung up all over the walls everywhere! "Don't step on it!" Oh my god, that was a nightmare! Then you'd have to hire someone to do the remix edit session because they knew how to slice tape real good and could put little repeats and things. It was just a nightmare!
GC: What are the differences between how hip-hop records are made today versus in the early days?
JMJ: It's a lot easier today! First of all, we didn't even have sample machines when I was making records. For me to sample a record, for real, I would literally be playing it on my turntables! I'd have to blend it perfectly to my drum machine and then stop the tape and go to another track and blend it again perfectly to my drum machine, stop the tape and then go to another track! In order for me to loop a James Brown record or something like that there were no loop machines. There was no E-mu Emulator. No nothing! So if I wanted the beat to play it over and over again, I would have to make the beat play over and over again with the turntable. But it would be a little more professional because I would play it to a drum machine. I would put my drum machine on tape and then I'd come back and mix my record to the drum machine. A lot more complicated than just putting a loop right into the MPC-3000 immediately! Not only that, now you can also put the chorus in the MPC-3000, put the vocals in the MPC-3000 right there and put it everywhere! When it plays back, it will play everywhere it is supposed to play. And all your drops and everything you do right inside your machine. Before, we had sequences, but the sequences were just a bunch of junk, a bunch of problems! Just to get everything to sync up together before the days of MIDI. Before MIDI we were using these Dr. Click machines and all types of trash just to get everything to play together. And if you didn't have a good engineer who knew how to use all that stuff, it's a wasted night!
GC: Today in your studio, are you basically making finished records? Are you dumping it on to hard drive?
JMJ: Yeah, I actually come up with some stuff that is done, a finished product. I take it to get a final mix sometimes, and a lot of times, when I do that, I don't even use it! I go to the big studio trying to get that home vibe and people keep telling me they liked it better before. That has happened to me a lot of times in my life. You just sit in your house and know what you like. If you don't like it, you come back in your studio and you put more bass in it or cut the snare out. It stays how you left it. The mix is there. I can go away and come back and it will be exactly the same way I left it.
When I go to a big studio and I usually tell the engineer, "You go ahead with your vibe. I'll tell you how I want it to go but you go ahead with your vibe since I'm not in this studio everyday." I may think there should be more bass, but I'm not going to tell him because he's sitting in there everyday. Maybe if I put too much bass in there it'll be wrong when I get outside in the car. Then I'll end up not loving the way the mix came out and wind up using stuff from my own studio. But you go to the big studio because you want quality. A few times, I wind up getting the quality I'm looking for. Most of the time in my studio I don't even bother to try to do anything. I don't try to mix it down. I just get a decent sound and move on.
GC: Is there going to be a new Run DMC record anytime soon?
JMJ: It's going to be a huge event! Run DMC's going to sign with Def Jam for the first time. It's our twenty-year anniversary. When they started Def Jam we were already artists on another label. Everybody came around Russell because of us, and then he got the deal with Def Jam. He needed a way to promote his artists through Run DMC, through our tours. I've also got a new group coming out. They signed to Virgin Records. Most of their stuff was done in my studio. Then I got DMC's solo album coming out on Arista Records. And then Run DMC the album next year on Def Jam!
GC: Do you shop at Guitar Center at all?
JMJ: It's cool! That's where I go to get my guitars and amps and all the stuff for my studio. I love it! What I really love about Guitar Center now is that they recognize the DJ as a musician. They're selling more turntables than guitars at Guitar Center. And when I go to things like the Spin Off and the DJ Convention in Atlantic City and see how many DJs there really are and how big this whole DJ world is, man there should be a DJ Center at Guitar Center! You know Run DMC has a DJ, and guitars are just as big as the DJ with Run DMC. Our biggest records that put us on MTV like "Rock Box," "King of Rock" and "Walk this Way," it's because of the guitars. So I'm not trying to take away from the guitars. I'm not trying to take away from the drums. I'm not trying to take away from anything else. I'm just happy that they are recognizing what I do along with everything else!
GC: Tell us about your Scratch DJ Academy.
JMJ: My partner, Rob Principe and I put Scratch DJ Academy together because kids can't afford these turntables and things and a lot of people want to be DJs. You can go to school and take guitar lessons or piano lessons. They teach you how to play the trumpet, teach you how to play drums. You can take all kinds of lessons, but you can't take DJ lessons! There's a school band, but there's no DJ in that school band! If you look at your new rock and roll acts, your R&B acts, everybody has a DJ if the band is hip and hot! If you look at Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock and these guys that are in it today, they have DJs. The DJ is a big part. So the reason we came up with this is because the world is recognizing the DJ and there are a lot of kids that want to do it. Here's an opportunity for them to do it!
GC: Sure! How do they sign up?
JMJ: They can go to www.scratch.com and learn more about it. It's my first one, it's in New York. We started it off by doing a couple of free things for the press, a couple of free semesters. We had 1,100 people sign up for the free semester! We just don't have the space to cover it all! We started off our first semester with only 60 kids because of the facility. 60 students. Sold out! Next semester 60 students, sold out! Next semester 120 students, sold out! You know what I'm saying? We doubled the class and it still sold out!
GC: Do they get a chance to learn from you personally?
JMJ: Yeah, I teach, but it's not only me! I teach DJ 101. You got younger cats that are way better than me! My philosophy and my talk about the DJ and my skills are good, but you can also learn how to be a Battle DJ at my school, which is a lot more complex. We are also teaching kids how to produce. We've got Mista Sinista teaching a class. We got DMC champions and stuff like that that teach the classes. It's a celebrity cast! You never know what celebrity DJ might come to teach because they all want to be a part of it!
I think it goes hand in hand with what you guys are doing, how you guys are recognizing the DJ. It's not just for the turntablist either, we don't discriminate. I think a DJ is a DJ, No matter how you get the stuff played. No matter how you're getting the job done, you're still a DJ! No matter what new technique winds up coming up, if some new technology comes up, you're still a DJ to me!
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