In the summer of 1988, Scotty Hard, a native of Vancouver, Canada, heard the first rebellious wails of saxaphone on P.E.’s “Rebel Without A Pause,” permanently altering his destiny. After a 10 year engagement with the punk and alternative scene in Vancouver, Scotty packed his bags and moved to New York City determined to participate in its hip hop revolution.
His initiation into the New York beat underground began at the legendary Chung King House of Metal and famed Calliope Studios, two of Manhattan’s premier hip-hop sound factories. It was at Calliope in 1989 that Scotty settled for 3 to 4 years, working with such artists as Prince Paul, De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, Ultramagnetic MC’s, Jazzy Jay, DJ Mark the 45 King, Stetsasonic, Brand Nubian, Black Sheep, Louie Vega, Fat Joe, Stereo MC’s, PM Dawn, Major Force Posse, and The Lifer’s Group.
In 1990, during a session he was doing with Q-Tip, Scotty met Jason Furlow and Sebastian Laws,who were just then launching the group New Kingdom. Scotty produced their first demo and their two critically-acclaimed albums for Gee Street Records and played electric guitar in their incendiary live shows.
Scotty’s affiliation with WordSound came through Kevin Martin, a British journalist/producer, and mutual friend of Skiz Fernando. After contributing fat performances to Crooklyn Dub, Volumes 2 &3 both Subterranean Hitz compilations, and projects by Slotek and Dubadelic, Scotty made his debut solo appearance on The Return of Kill Dog E (WSCD034).
After producing Mike Ladd’s “Nostalgilator” (K7), Mike asked Scotty to lend a hand on some mixes for “Negrophilia” (Thirsty Ear), his contribution to the Thirsty Ear Blue Series, which paired avant-garde jazz musicians with forward thinking hip hop producer/beat makers. Upon hearing what Mike had done (along with contemporaries like El-P, Anti-Pop Consortium and goodandevil), he decided he might as well weigh in on this conversation. Building on his work producing downtown jazz rule breakers Sex Mob, Medeski, Martin and Wood, Melvin Gibbs and DJ Logic, Scotty released his second solo album, “Radical Reconstructive Surgery” (Thirsty Ear). A blend of free improvising and heavy beats, this record consolidated and advanced his take on the Blue Series collaboration with John Medeski, Matthew Shipp, William Parker, Nasheet Waits, DJ Olive and Mauricio Takara. Abstract and bangin’ at once, it’s a stark, keyboard driven sonic stew drivin by a nonmetronic, funky metric line .
Scotty is currently doing shows with his longtime collaborator Sebash (Sebstop/Sebastian Laws), a project involving vocals and visuals, and locally performing drummers. For their series of shows in Brazil, Scotty and Sebash collaborated with Mauricio Takara, drummer and trumpeter for Hurtmould, one of Brazil’s most critically acclaimed “post-rock” groups. Scotty has, in fact, produced some of Brazil’s finest cutting edge musicians — including Mamelo Sound System, Hurtmould and Naçao Zumbi.
Never one to rest on his laurels, or invest his energies in the latest musical trend or orthodoxy, Scotty has continued to mutate as a musician, producer, and collaborator extraordinaire.
MIXING THE HARD WAY
Our original methods in teaching mixing come from understanding frequencies. We cover both clean and dirty mixing and the technique of Dub, as well as delving deep into EQ, compression and spatial effects.
Scotty Hard’s class at the UPA focuses on analog mixing and recording, with a firm grasp of the art and craft of mixing sound the hard way.
His masterful approach to mixing and recording has blossomed from decades of dedication to the field of music production, steering him directly into projects by Wu Tang Clan, De La Soul, Vernon Reid, Vijay Iyer, Ultramagnetic MC’s and Medeski Martin & Wood to name but a few.
Planning, gain staging and preparing for mixdown
Routing and submixing: accessing tracks at the right points
Comprehensive and battle tested strategies for EQ and Compression
Spatial effects from subtle to transformative
Adding dirt and/or color to the mix
Analog Mixing Consoles
Bussing
Sends & Returns
EQ
Compression
Limiting
Expansion
Spatial Effects
Subtractive Mixing
Dub Mixing
Creative Effects
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