jimmy productions

I'm posting my EQUIPMENT because I'm not one of those producers who fears others copying my sound. The truth is that talent makes good music, not equipment. Although, I do believe there are a few must haves.

The First is the MPC. I have a 2000xl but a 2000 or 2500 would be sweet too. This is the brains of the hip hop studio. Everything is run through this machine. Many times, I'll play a guitar riff or a piano chord progression and sample it into the MPC just because of the different ways you can manipulate the sound within it. Gotta have an MP. You need a nice set of monitors as well. I have a set of KRK V4's. They work great for me. I also have a set of M-Audio B4x monitors that I use because the V4's accentuate the low end and the M-Audios push more of the highs. Next, I have the Alesis Multimix 16 firewire mixer. This is on the low end of the spectrum as far as firewire mixers are concerned, but it has 12 inputs and thats enough for me, plus you can bypass the preamps. So, if you wanna use a nice preamp for vocals you don't have to worry about it ruining sound quality. I use an M-Audio 88es midi controller with Logic for midi sounds and have several sound pack upgrades. I also do all of my mastering in Logic.
I bounce a two track from my MPC through a Sonic Maximizer 482i into Logic on my ibook G4. It slows down the highs to match up with the bass waves. It helps smooth out the sound. I have a few pairs of headphones. A pair of AKG K141s and a pair of Sennheisser HD280's. Both are pretty decent, one open back, one closed. As far as microphones and hip hop go, all you really need is a Shure SM58 and thats what I have. It all works for me.


Thats it. There are so many things that I can add to my setup and maybe I need them or maybe I don't. That is a question that can send producers on a wild goose chase for the nicest setup possible yet their tracks still sound like garbage. It's all about the ear not the equipment.