Dan the Automator Stream MP3.com's interview with Dan the Automator
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MP3.com: So let's just start off talking about the soundtrack. How did this, first of all, how did this gig come about? Like how did they approach you, or how did it come about? Dan the Automator: Well 2K had got in touch with me through a third person, they were like, "Would you be interested in doing this video soundtrack for this game?" And they told me about the limitations as far as time and this and that and asked if I was still interested and I said, "Yeah, I'll give it a shot." Okay. And what drew you to it? Was it something that you knew you wanted to do immediately? Well, I saw it as an opportunity to work with a lot of different people, and it's a lot easier to work with people in some respects when it's not for their own record because then they don't feel as constrained. With time and that sort of thing. Right. But I should say that the original lineup they gave me was very much leaning toward underground backpack kind of stuff. And I just felt like, especially for basketball, if they would let me pick different artists from different kind of areas of hip-hop, I thought that would be a good idea. When they came to you was 2K6 something of a blueprint? Or did they start it off in a different direction? The only thing that was in common was they wanted it to be a hip-hop thing, but they wanted to change it so that one person could shape it and produce it. Right. 2K6 was just compiled. Yeah, it was just a straight compilation. When you say you wanted to kind of bring some different people into the mix, give me a sense about who that was and like, who stayed from the original list, and that kind of thing. Well, the original idea was a little bit more underground. I wanted to bring in, regionally speaking, people from the Midwest, people from the South, people from New York. All over. And then I wanted to bring in rappers that would appeal to the underground, certain rappers that would appeal to mainstream, some that are a little more hardcore, some that are backpack. I just wanted to get a cross-section of everybody. There are a good number of up-and-coming artists like Rhymefest on the soundtrack. Which of the folks that you haven't worked with before were you most excited to work with? To do stuff with guys like Rhymefest and Lupe [Fiasco] and Dilated Peoples, those are all the kind of acts that I may not have worked with specifically, but I end up working with a lot of groups like that. So I was more excited to work with guys like Fabolous and Slim Thug and E-40, just for a little change of pace. Ghostface too. Outside if your normal scope of left-of-center MCs, if you will. Yeah, I get to do a lot of alternative kind of hip-hop records and alternative kind of rock records, but hip-hop is sort of where I come from, so to get to do more of that is kind of cool. And what's the difference between doing like a mix tape or a normal kind of compilation and doing video game soundtrack like this? Well in this case I think the soundtrack element really is only about two things, which is basketball, obviously, and then also the idea of keeping it upbeat. I don't think you want to have really depressing songs for a video game. That's not too much of a restriction, though. So do you play ball? Are you a baller yourself? I mean, I shoot around and stuff. I don't have time to really be playing that much. I like it, actually, I like basketball a lot so I play when I have a chance to, but I don't really have time to play that much. You won't be recruiting me for the all-stars. What about games? Do you play a lot of games at all? You know, I experiment with games a lot. I sit in front of computers a lot and I'm in studios a lot where there are games around, so when I have free time I have a couple of choices, you have the pool table, the TV, or the games. So I don't really ever try to do too much of one thing because I don't want to focus too hard while I'm trying to not focus. But I do really enjoy, like, the racing games and like the manhunt kind of games. And I play the sport ones a little bit. But with the sport ones, people who are really good, they tend to take it very seriously. And I can't quite hang on that level. You're probably best known for all your hip-hop production, but you've also done stuff with Cornershop and Blues Explosion. What's the difference between producing for hip-hop and rock? Well you know, to be honest, I've done three times more rock records than hip-hop records. But to me it's all music, though. I like music in general. I come from the hip-hop production background, but that was a long time ago. I've been doing rock records for a long time. Gorillaz, Jamie Cullum, I'm doing the Killers' record right now. I have a theory, if I like it, I think I can do something good with it, I'll do it. I tend to avoid modern country music, modern jazz music, and modern R&B music, as a generalization, because I'm not really feeling them so hard right now. I mean, there's R& B sounds I like; I can't say there's a whole bunch of country songs I like right now or modern jazz songs. Jamie [Cullum] is probably the one exception as far as jazz artists. With early '60s and early '70s jazz stuff, I'll listen to it all day, but where it's headed right now, I'm not really feeling it. Were there any opportunities to put on non-hip-hop tracks to the soundtrack? They told me it was a hip-hop record. I don't think there was that option so much. The names that they started with definitely signaled that it was a rap record. What are you listening to right now? What's on your home stereo? Right now? Cat Power's The Greatest, Ghostface's Fish Scales, Phoenix, Juelz Santana. Oh, and The Eraser from Thom Yorke is also in there right now. Let's talk about Tribe real quick. They're doing the Bounce tour. How much have they influenced you, and what does it mean to you to see them reunite? Well when Tribe was out in their heyday, they did stuff with jazz music that I don't think anyone in hip-hop had done at the time. It was obviously very influential to me at the time. They haven't been together for a number of years, so I don't really refer them so much right now in my life. They really shaped a lot of what was really good about hip-hop in that period of time. I have a lot of interest and respect for that whole time of music and it obviously, at this point it's an influence, but a backburner influence. What's coming up for you in the future? Right now I'm just finishing the Deltron 3030 record. It'll probably be out maybe early next year, and it's really good. Me and Jamie Cullum are talking about going back into the studio towards the end of this year. Right now I'm in the middle of a lot of production. The 2K thing was like, I had like two months to make a record, so I had to concentrate to get that much stuff done in that period of time. But Deltron has been ongoing and that's just been pretty good. People are going to be pretty excited to hear about that. Anything else you working on? I'm mixing the Killers right now. What else am I doing? I feel like there's a stack on my desk. Today I'm going to concentrate on the Killers, but I've been working on the Del thing, and we have about four vocals ready to go. Alright, so last one. If we were to get you, Del, Damon [Albarn], and [Kid Koala] on the basketball court, who reigns supreme? Well Damon is English, so he doesn't really play basketball. I know this for a fact. Koala's Canadian, so I don't know what that means. He's little, and you know he's got fast hands. Del probably wouldn't be that interested. But if it was the video game version, I'm going for Del. Any video game, for that matter, and I'm going for Del. I'm taller than Eric, but Eric is faster than me. I'm going to say, with him being Canadian, I'll give him the edge because of this [Canadian NBA MVP Steve] Nash thing. After that, I'm not really sure. Well, that's it. Thanks very much, Dan, we really appreciate it. No problem. Thank you.