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Artist Profile: Mike "Hitman" Wilson
Cakewalk: Let's cut to the chase. Lots of our users write to Cakewalk looking for advice on getting and doing remix and engineering work. Do you have any advice for our users? Mike "Hitman" Wilson: Embrace the new technology in SONAR 2.0 and learn it. I'm telling you to read the entire manual and get to know it like it's the back of your hand. SONAR 2.0 is so deep, it's the kind of technology that gives you the ammunition you need to crank out great productions. And once you've mastered that, it could lead to some serious work. Here's a suggestion on getting started doing a remix. You should try to get a copy of the vocals of the song that you want to mix. Then build your own tracks around the vocals. Tap the tempo of the vocal track. Then load up some loops into Cyclone DXi and "play" the loops while your vocal track plays back. If you record what you did with Cyclone, that will give you a good starting bed of tracks for your remix. Then you can jump in and start tweaking with SONAR's other features. Once you're finished the first thing you're going to think is "this is the best remix ever." And you're going to feel like that for at least a day because you were the one who did it. I go through this with almost everything I do. But take my advice: don't play your remix for anyone important until you've tested it in a club or worked it into a hot-mix tape. You can only really tell if it's good once it's blaring through a PA where you can gauge an audience's reaction. If the people are feelin' it, then try to get your mix into the hands of the record label and key club and radio DJs. Be tenacious, because it may take a few tries to get someone's attention. CW: How did you come to work on projects for acts like Michael Jackson, Jermaine Dupree, Ludacris and others? MW: I've found that having a great manager is the most important thing to have when going after big artists like these, and the only way to get a great manager is to perfect your craft. So see my response above. CW: What are your favorite things about working with SONAR? MW: I love SONAR because it is so easy to use. Vocal sessions are a breeze. I can record a song in half the time it would take using my mpc3000, record the vocals in 1/4 of the time than it ever took with an ADAT or tape machine, and still have way better sound quality. And ACID-loop support, Cyclone and the other DXi synths, now you're talking. CW: Mike, can you tell me a little about your background for the Cakewalk users? MW: I started as a promoter and one day the DJ couldn't make it. Rather than lose the money for the gig and wind up with a lot of unhappy people, I stepped up to the turntables and did the DJing myself. I fell in love with DJing and from that day on I spun at all of my parties. At the time the Hot Mix 5 was a huge group that worked on the radio in Chicago. I hired their #1 DJ, Farley Jackmaster Funk to spin a set at one of my parties and we became friends. One day Farley let me guest DJ for him, and from that guest spot I eventually became the member of the Hot Mix Five. CW: And, how did you get into making music, rather than just playing music? MW: As the new member of the Hot Mix 5, I felt that I had to do something different than the other DJs in the group. So to differentiate myself, I began to re-edit the records I played, which lead to mere mixing the records I played. My big thing was to put an intro and a breakin the record that didn't have one to make it easier to mix in and out of. CW: What was it like working in the Chicago House scene? MW: The cool thing about working in the Chicago House scene was that I was on the radio (with the Hot Mix 5) right when the House scene started. That led some of the house producers to ask me to remix their songs. Within a short period, I'd remixed over 100 House songs and most of the time I did them for free. I just loved working in the studio. CW: What prompted you to make the switch from being a DJ to a producer? MW: My good friend Bad Boy Bill and I entered the DMC battle of the DJ's. I was afraid that if I lost that battle I could lose my respect as a DJ/Remixer. Just in case, I produced a bunch of house tracks to fall back on. It worked out great because we ended up making it to the National's where I met Tony Prince (the owner of DMC). I was able to play Tony my latest tracks. He was so impressed that he offered me a gig as a DMC producer/remixer, which lead to my first major record deal with Clive Davis on Arista. CW: Which projects that you've worked on would you say you are most proud of? MW: I was most proud of the Shawn Christopher project which was the one that ended up on Arista. Through that project I was blessed to work with John "Jellybean" Benitez, David Morales, Kevin Saunderson, Todd Terry and my cousin Hype Williams, just to name a few of the people involved. The 1st single off of Shawn's album (Another Sleepless Night) ended up being the #2 Billboard Dance single for the entire year. And from there, one gig followed the next. CW: Do you have any tips, techniques or advice you would like to share with musicians who want to make music on the PC? MW: Yeah, don't believe the hype that Mac's are faster or better. With SONAR 2.0 and the PC I built, I'm able to record over 64 tracks with reverb, 2 delays, and 24 tracks of EQ and compression. I'm only running dual 1 gig Intel processors with ultra100 hard drives. And I didn't have to spend $10,000 on 4 farm cards either. So I guess my advice is to build or buy a solid computer, so you wont have to deal with anything that can slow you down in the middle of a production. CW: What are you working on now? MW: Right now I'm working on moving my studio down to Atlanta to work with Hype Williams on his next feature film
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