The Art of Automation

These days in music, it is becoming clearer and clearer that the producer — a good, hands-on producer who gets involved in the music, really knows what they’re doing, and makes themselves a part of the final product — is just as important a role in the process as that of musician. This is especially true in the world of hip-hop.

When it comes to the realm of beats and rhymes, a producer’s influence on the music is just as evident as that of the rapper and the DJ. The producer’s hand can stylize the sound, from foundation beats to melodic accompaniment to the depth, richness and tone of the record as a whole. And a background in music — whether classically schooled or naturally inclined — is the best training a producer can have. Dan "The Automator" Nakamura comes from a background that mixes both the scholastic and the practical.

One of the most in-demand major label producers these days, a well-known independent hip-hop producer and DJ whose credits include such masterpieces as Dr. Octagon, Deltron 3030 and his own A Better Tomorrow, and the owner of the Bay Area-based independent label 75 Ark Records, Dan The Automator’s musical upbringing started him out at a young age.

"I’d played Suzuki violin since I was three years old, and I was a student for 12 or 13 years. The violin wasn’t really my choice, I liked it alright and I appreciate it now more than I did then. I’ve probably always been really into music, ever since I can remember," he explains. "Pretty early on I started spending all my money on whatever the pop hits were — Michael Jackson and stuff, whatever it was. I was spending all my money on records and I was obsessed with music. The violin was only one side of it; I was into classical music to a certain degree because I played it, but I was also into soul and pop music and just buying it all. I would read the covers, learn about the music and really get into it all. I think that when "Rapper’s Delight" came out, I decided that hip-hop was my calling. Another record, Malcom McLaren’s Do You Like Scratchin’?, came out, and I was like, ‘yeah, turntables!’ That’s the same time that the Wyld Style and Beat Street movies came out, and it all really took off, it was really exciting. I started DJing, and learned about guys who did remixes — the whole John Robby, Jellybean thing — and I figured out all about that. Then I kinda just went into beat programming to accompany DJing, and then got into keyboards and stuff, and before I knew it, I was creating the backbones of tunes. By that point I had figured out what a record producer was, and realized that’s what I was doing, and what I wanted to do."

Dan The Automator approached creating music with the experience and knowledge of both his classical music upbringing and his love for pop, soul and hip-hop. His current hip-hop releases are rife with string arrangements; music from Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony and Vivaldi’s Four Seasons are among noted works Nakamura has folded into his mixes. It’s an odd combo to say the least, especially since the main genres involved in these mixes — hip-hop and classical — are coming from two totally different places.

"The main difference between classical and pop music is that pop music is usually one-key music with a different key bridge. It’s basically cyclical, like, it’ll go C-C-C-D-C-C," says Nakamura. "But classical music is linear: it’ll start someplace and end someplace else, and it tells more of a story. So crossing the two kinda messed me up at first, but I figured it out. And I think more linear than cyclical, so when I started working with other people, they would tell me that I couldn’t do this or that, or this or that wouldn’t work. In classical, there’s much more of a liberty to do that, and I think that, in the music I make, I take that liberty."

Though Nakamura is arguably the first DJ / Producer to successfully, continually blend the two adverse musical styles in his own definitive tone, he says that the meld is just a part of musical evolution, something that would have eventually caught on.

"It’s been coming on for a long time," he says, explaining that hip-hop in its essence is evolution, and he was following that path. "I like playing strings, though I’m not a very good string player because I don’t play much at all anymore. But I understand the arrangement and the concept of it. I also understand the concept of 4-4 time because that’s where hip-hop usually takes place, and I understand the spacing and breathing of drums because I’ve been doing it for a long time now. It just took a little thinking to figure out where things would work together. So now that’s how I approach everything I do, not just the string stuff."

The Automator’s development as a producer, DJ and musician has, like that of any other player, been a gradual progression, but his work has been his education, a path his music has taken that has taught him more than just about music itself, but about his own skills and understanding of the creative and technical processes. It launched him in a whole new, entirely solitary path of self-discovery that began with his first release, Music to be Murdered By.

"I would look at it this way: When Music to be Murdered By came out, that was like a developmental thing, that was the first record I put out, you know what I mean? And I’m pretty happy with that record, but by that same token, it was a learning experience," he remembers. "That record taught me a lot. I did that thing in a small room on a 24-track with engineers and stuff, but before that, I had the demo on a four- or an eight-track, I don’t remember which. The finished 24-track version was better than the first one, but not that much better. As a matter of fact, there’s something kind of better about the four-track version in a lot of respects. It made me realize that I needed to get my own equipment and start working on my own stuff — the whole home studio philosophy, ya’ know? And don’t get me wrong, I’ve spent years in studios since then, I’ve learned a lot in studios and things do sound good coming from studios, but I’ve learned it’s not really this mystical thing you have to do to make your record sound good. I’ve learned something from every record I’ve worked on, but that was the big lesson, it started me on that path."

His first destination on that path was his own studio in Oakland, CA, The Glue Factory. Not a studio open for public use, The Automator uses The Glue Factory as his private laboratory, forging beats, learning and plying his trade.

"It’s a private facility. Basically, it’s got some good gear — well, some okay gear — and only myself, the Solesides guys and some other good friends record there. It’s not a commercial-type place," Nakamura says. His home base studio has these days become home to his fantastic collection of vintage keyboards, synthesizers and other wonderfully outdated musical gear.

"What happened was that, a few years back, probably around ’95 — I’d been working with DJ Shadow and those guys since about ’91 — and I just came to realize that they’re far more into old records than I am, and I’m far more interested mixing and sound, so our paths diverged. They spent their time searching out old records and I started spending my time looking for old gear. Obviously I still look for old records and stuff, but nowadays I do a lot less sampling and a lot more playing — ya’ know, I got a Mellotron now, and I play it, so I don’t need to sample a Mellotron."

Though Nakamura spends a lot of time in New York City — which really is the center of both hip-hop culture and hip-hop industry — he’s a San Francisco native, and not only keeps his private studio in the Bay Area, but has also headquartered his own record label there. A couple years of old now, 75 Ark Records releases mostly hip-hop records, most notably a collection of Dr. Octagon remixes and more recently, the Deltron 3030 album, a project patterned loosely after the Dr. Octagon release, and featuring The Automator on the boards, DJ Kid Koala on the cuts and Hieroglyphics’ Del The Funky Homosapien — along with a staggering number of guests — on the mic. Many artists on the 75 Ark’s roster are native to California — Northern California — which reflects Automator’s dedication to the art of his home town.

"I’m from San Francisco," he explains, taking the side of all Bay Area hip-hop artists. "Los Angeles and New York are where most of the record labels are, where the industry lives. So being from San Francisco, we’ve always had to put out our own records because we don’t have that kind of industry here. For the most part, every group out of San Francisco or Oakland — with the exception of a very small minority — have made their own records and put them out before they got signed. Me too. I put out many records by myself before I got signed. That’s just what the mentality has always been. So when I got bigger, and after I’d had a few deals and I saw the pitfalls and the pluses of it all, I realized that some of the groups I produced got really big, but only a certain kind of group. Most of the groups I produce do pretty well, but not amazingly well. And when I say amazing, I mean it’s amazing on an indie or underground level, but a major label wouldn’t be all that excited about it. Like, if you sell 100 thousand copies of a record, a major will just be like, whatever. But 100 thousand copies is a lot of records. So with all the majors converging together, this is a time when you can get pretty good distribution though different channels because not everyone is going with a major label, and I’ve found that there’s a big hole between 30 and 100 thousand where you could sell enough records to survive and a major will just not give a fuck at all. And that’s kind of a drag, because there’re a lot of really good records that exist in that region.

"It just seemed like the right time to do my own label," he continues. "I mean, sure I still have deals with majors, but at the same time, I want to put out records that I’d be damn happy to see sell 50 thousand. For example, Deltron 3030 will sell over 100 thousand records, but if it was on a major, it would be a disappointment to them."

There really isn’t a central focus at 75 Ark, musically speaking — except, of course, that it tends to be hip-hop — as long as they think it’s cool and the return on their investment is worth putting a record out.

"If we think it’s cool, if we think we can do something with it, we’ll do it. Of course, just because we think it’s cool doesn’t mean it will sell a lot of copies, so we try to set up a system where, if we think it’s cool and might sell 10 thousand copies, we’ll try to fund it and put it out so we don’t lose money on it. If we think it’s cool and we think it’ll sell 50 thousand copies, then we go for it."

Dan The Automator is no stranger to ways that major labels work. As a producer, Nakamura has manned the boards for all kinds of acts, and not just hip-hop artists.

"Actually, most of my work is non-hip-hop," he explains. "Most of my producing and mixing is done for non-hip-hop groups — Medeski Martin and Wood, Stereolab, Depeche Mode, Beastie Boys, I just did an album with Damon Albarn from Blur that’s got Del on there, Primal Scream, Cornershop — I made my own mark more with albums like Dr. Octagon and now Deltron, but I’ve produced more rock bands in between."

Regardless of what style of music he’s working on, Nakamura says that he gets great enjoyment from approaching a new project and finding a new angle on something. Of course, that is not to say that there is a set method he employs to get the job done.

"Ultimately I threw caution to the wind," he says, only half joking, "but here’s the theory: basically, if I’m going to work with somebody, I’ve listened to their records and their demos and know what they’re about. Then I starting about what would be cool to do to it. I don’t have all the ideas at that point, so then I go and sketch out a few things for them, or we go talk about stuff and then just go into the studio and do it. Invariably, they’ll have other ideas I haven’t thought of, or I’ll come up with something that comes off of something that they said. So I come in with an idea, but it rarely reaches fruition; it usually mutates from almost the very first interaction. It still ends up being in the ballpark because I’ve already thought about what they’re doing, but it usually changes a lot as it goes in."

Dan The Automator doesn’t conform to a standard operating procedure, and therein lies the uniqueness of his music. When it comes to contemporary hip-hop, a popular sound becomes the sound, the one vibe all rappers are trying to emulate (these days MTV loves the sound of the "Dirty South").

"A lot of rap producers send out beat tapes, an MC will pick the beat, and they go record the song, maybe together," says Dan The Automator. "But all it is, is a rapper rhyming over another guy’s track. It’s done. I give MCs bare-bone tracks — a beat, maybe a bass a line or the main melodic idea — and have them rhyme on it, and then go back and produce the track to highlight their parts.

"For the most part, hip-hop is a pretty stagnant industry right now. I mean, there are always good records and people doing cool things, but for example, in New York right now, everybody wants to be DJ Premier. And you know, Premier is great, but we don’t need three of him. To me that’s to the detriment of the music — of the whole art form," says Dan the Automator, remembering that hip-hop started as fresh, new music in which innovation has always been key. "That’s kinda’ why I try to take it other places, not just for me but for the music. I want to make music, I don’t just want to make someone else’s music."

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