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Around the end of November 2003, Panic called me up to tell me that he was offered
a deal by a production company to produce a regional urbano version of Brown Town Looters.
He said he needed help since he was not really a composer. The goal was to create about 14 tracks
and it had to be done ASAP. In order to meet the deadline, Panic worked on the drum machine at his place
and I composed the music at the my studio. It took me around 3 weeks write the music and he filled-in the
extras and programmed the drum. Many days, we stayed up 24-36 hours non-stop. Add to that, I was working a swing-shift
job in Orange County so it made it very hard. I concentrated on actually writing music that would give Pueblo Cafe the unique
edge I was looking for. On the album, I wrote the the music and chord changes
for the tracks. Panic did the drum machine work (note: he did though write 2 tracks "Reflejos De La Vida"s music and Chavo Del 13). Citric did all his vocal recordings at La Movida's studio in Chino, CA. Rap was written by Citric, the vocal hooks were written by Azteka and sung by Banda Toro's lead singer. The final productions were done using live musicians and vocalists at Carmen Jara Studios in Downey. There was some additional production that was added to the music by the Engineer. I particularly felt the final production was too cluttered on some of the songs not capturing the original Hip-Hop feel. All those whistles and clown sounds on El Chavo or the the wrong notes on "Nuevos Tiempos" were not my doing. If I was consulted on it, I would have done the finals less busy. But other than that, it came out great and everyone did a fantastic job. Even though I wrote and produced most of the music, I am only listed as a producer (and in second position???). The credits on my tracks should have read: Music written, produced and performed by J-vibe Co-produced and drum programming by Panic, Rap written by Citric. |
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I always say "It's not the equipment you have in your hands, it's the equipment you have in your head."
The entire production was created, recorded and delivered from a Pentium 2 (233 Mhz)
computer with 64 MB of Ram running Windows 98, a 2 Gig Seagate Bracudda drive, a 16-bit Gina
Card and Cakewalk version 9! No joke..... These master files were then sent into a Pro-tools
256HD system with all the works at a seperate pro-studio. At the time, I was transitioning into Protools 6,
but had no time to learn or install it. Our deadline made us rely on Cakewalk and the
old trusty computer I bought 8 years ago in 1996. Now, I am using a Mac G5 and Protools 6. This production created on this old system was pitched to and accepted by a large major label. What they heard was simply good music. For all they knew, it was recorded at some place like the Record Plant in Hollywood. Don't be fooled by people that tell you that unless you have top-notch equipment, your music can't be sold. |