MUS 231 – Research Project

Electric Lady Studios

The studio saw extensive use by big-name artists in the 70’s and 80’s with acts including Led
Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, John Lennon, and David Bowie which resulted in their #1
collaborative hit “Fame” in 1975. Stevie Wonder saw the studio as a playground for
experimentation, departing from his Motown routes to create the classic album, Talking
Book, which featured the hit song “Superstition”.

The studio was initially built to give a relaxed yet professional recording setting for artists to
thrive creatively with homely furnishings, round windows, and colourful ambient lighting, a
look that has remained largely the same to this day.

This warm, homely atmosphere served as the perfect home for the Soulquarians for a 3-year
period of recording in the late 1990’s. This group was initially formed by neo-soul artist
D’Angelo and Roots’ drummer Questlove, looking to record D’Angelo’s sophomore album,
Voodoo. Their jam sessions gradually involved more musicians and artists from their musical
circles eventually leading to the unofficial formation of a supergroup called the Soulquarians.
Other group members included Common, Erykah Badu, J Dilla, Talib Kwali & Mos Def (of
Black Star), and Q-Tip among others. These sessions were often loose jam sessions with
different members frequently switching between studios A, B, C, without real consideration
much of the time for what song was going to end up on what artist’s album. Questlove, who
was often helping run sessions, said conversations would often be, “’who wants this
[track]?’ And it would be, ‘I want it!’ ‘No, I want it!’” This resulted in multiple acclaimed
neo-soul, R&B, and hip-hop albums including, Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun, Common’s Like
Water For Chocolate, and The Roots’ Things Fall Apart.

D’Angelo and Questlove’s vision for Voodoo was to have it recorded using the same
processes and techniques of their 70’s soul forefathers such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye,
and Roy Ayers. They recorded everything to 24-track tape, approximately 90% of parts heard
on the album are tracked live, with real musicians. This was a big push back to the direction
R&B and hip-hop was taking at the time as much of the authenticity of production and
performance was being stripped of the music. The Soulquarians recording process resulted in
a new form of R&B and hip-hop dubbed by D'Angelo’s manager at the time, “neo-soul”,
combining classic soul instrumentation, recording techniques, and gear, with modern hip-hop
sensibilities.

After the Soulquarians stint at Electric Lady ended, the studio began a turn downhill,
resulting in long-term financial hardship. This was eventually turned around when taken over
by investor Keith Stoltz, who in 2010, funded much-needed changes to get the studio back to
the level of hosting A-list artists. These changes included building a new mixing room, and
converting studio-C into self-contained unit that featured the recording space, mixing suite,
and private lounge which allowed for Electric Lady to host esteemed producer Jack Antonoff
as their resident producer.

Since the start of the 2010’s Electric Lady has helped produced several modern classic and
highly successful albums including Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories, Frank Ocean’s
Blonde, and Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Malay Ho
James Ryan Ho, better known as Malay, is an American pop and R&B producer. He’s
worked with John Legend, Alicia Keys, Lorde, and most notably, Frank Ocean as the primary
producer on channel ORANGE, and Blonde. His production style includes a rich sonic
palette, large depth of sounds, and a polished yet authentic emotion that puts the song first –
he doesn’t let production get in the way of the core of the song’s emotion.

Often his sound design starts by recording a real instrument but processes them in a way that
makes them unrecognizable from their source recordings. He says, “if it is a Wurli, I’ll put it
through some pedals, so it sounds nothing like a Wurli. It’s something that’s helping create
the energy or vibe of that song.”
We hear this all throughout Blonde with guitars being washed out with reverb and soft white
noise in “Seigfried” or the extremely low-passed pads of “White Ferrari”, taking authentic,
well recorded instruments and processing them to form a new feeling far different than their
original sound. Malay’s production style and creative process lends itself to more
introspective and “real” lyrics, focusing on working out melodies, harmony, and overall
atmosphere with the artist first, to allow for the emotions of the lyrics to come from the music
itself. It would seem counterintuitive that this produces more emotionally vulnerable lyrics
but given his discography is filled with these more introspective songs, it seems to be a
process that works for his clients.

One aspect that connects his work with different artists together is his creative use of guitar.
The tones he chooses are often clean, DI recordings that will commonly be processed to fit
the emotion of the song, rather than recorded with an amp and layered to fill the mix. There
aren’t really any rules for him when it comes to what the end result of each specific sound
will be, he often pitches, reverses, applies effects, and filters guitars to feel new to the listener
but not take the focus away from the vocal which still always remains the priority.

Another aspect of his production that sticks out is the attention to detail. Malay’s productions
often contain tiny details like small fragments of a vocal, a soft drum sound just barely
audible, every sound evolving slightly even if it is just a looping chord progression, and little
changes in the drum programming that all combine to create a sonic landscape that evolves
and shifts subtly throughout the track, never just copy-pasted without intent. All of these
things combine for tracks that sound brand-new and original, but still authentically human,
which is something that some modern pop songs seems to lack.
Electric Lady Studios
 Built for Jimi Hendrix after purchasing a defunct club called ‘The Generation’
 Designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer
 Was opened in 1970, just three weeks before Jimi Hendrix’s passing
 Saw prominent use in the 70’s and 80’s with Stevie Wonder using it as a place to
experiment with new sounds, departing from the more “Motown” sounds of his
previous albums, resulting in the classic album Talking Book featuring the hit
“Superstition”.
 Other acts that recorded in the earlier years of the studio included Led Zeppelin, The
Rolling Stones, John Lennon, and David Bowie which resulted in their #1
collaborative hit “Fame” in 1975.
 The studio was initially built to give a relaxed yet professional recording setting for
artists to thrive creatively with homely furnishings, round windows, and colourful
ambient lighting
 This served as the perfect residence in the late 90’s for the Soulquarians to call
Electric Lady their home for a 3-year period. This group was initially formed by neo-
soul artist D’Angelo and Roots’ drummer Questlove, looking to record D’Angelo’s
sophomore album, Voodoo. Their jam sessions started including more and more
musicians and artists from their circle and resulted in a super-group dubbed the
soulquarians to essentially become permanent residents of Electric Lady for 3 years.
Other group members included Common, Erykah Badu, J Dilla, Talib Kwali & Mos
Def (of Black Star), and Q-Tip among others. These sessions were often loose jam
sessions with different members frequently switching between studios A, B, C,
without real consideration much of the time for what song was going to end up on
what artist’s album. Questlove, who was often helping run sessions, said
conversations would often be, “’who wants this [track]?’ And it would be, ‘I want it!’
‘No, I want it!’”
https://www.jimdero.com/News%202006/GreatAlbumCommonFeb5.htm
 D’Angelo and Questlove’s vision for Voodoo was to have it recorded using the same
process and techniques of their 70’s soul forefathers such as Stevie Wonder, Marvin
Gaye, and Roy Ayers. They recorded everything to 24-track tape, approximately 90%
of parts heard on the album are tracked live, with real musicians. This was a big
pushback to the direction R&B and hip-hop was taking at the time as much of the
authenticity of production and performance was being stripped of the music. The
Soulquarians recording process resulted in a new form of R&B and hip-hop dubbed
by D'Angelo’s manager at the time, “neo-soul”, combining classic soul
instrumentation, recording techniques, and gear, with modern hip-hop elements.
 After the soulquarians stint at Electric Lady ended, the studio began a turn downhill,
resulting in long-term financial hardship for Electric Lady. This hardship was
eventually turned around when taken over by investor Keith Stoltz, who in 2010,
funded much-needed changes to get the studio back to the level of hosting A-list
artists.
 These changes included building a new mixing room, and converting studio-C into
self-contained unit that featured the recording space, mixing suite, and private lounge
which allowed for Electric Lady to host esteemed producer Jack Antonoff as their
resident producer.
 Since the start of the 2010’s Electric Lady has helped produced a number of modern
classic and extremely successful albums including Daft Punk’s Random Access
Memories, Frank Ocean’s Blonde, and Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted
Fantasy.
Malay Ho
 James Ryan Ho, better known as Malay, is a American pop and R&B producer.
 He’s worked with John Legend, Alicia Keys, Lorde, and most notably, Frank Ocean
as the primary producer on channel ORANGE, and Blonde.
 His production style includes a rich sonic palate, depth of sounds, a polished yet
authentic emotion that puts the song first – he doesn’t let production get in the way of
the core of the song’s emotion
 Often his sound design starts by recording a real instrument but processes them in a
way that makes them unrecognizable from their source recordings. He says, “if it is a
Wurli, I’ll put it through some pedals, so it sounds nothing like a Wurli. It’s
something that’s helping create the energy or vibe of that song.”
 We hear this all throughout Blonde with guitars being washed out with reverb and soft
white noise in “Seigfried” or the extremely low-passed pads of “White Ferrari”,
taking authentic, well recorded instruments and processing them to form a new
feeling far different than their original sound.
 Malay’s production style and creative process lends itself to more introspective and
“real” lyrics, focusing on melodies and atmosphere based on the artist’s raw ideas of a
song, allowing for the emotion to lie in the core of the song, with the lyrics often
coming later.
 One aspect that connects his work with different artists together is his use of guitar.
The tones he chooses are often clean, DI recordings that will often be processed to fit
the emotion of the song, rather than recorded with an amp and layered to fill the mix.
 Another aspect of his production that sticks out is the attention to detail. Even the
“stripped down” tracks often have these tiny details like small fragments of a vocal, a
soft drum sound just barely audible, every sound evolving slightly even if it is just a
looping chord progression, little changes in the drum programming that all combine to
create a sonic landscape that evolves and changes subtly and is never just copy-pasted
without intent. All of these things combine for tracks that sound brand-new and
original, but still authentically human, which is something that a lot of modern pop
production seems to lack.