All controversies aside, I really, REALLY, dig R.Kelly's 1995 album and would like to know everything about its production.
I'm especially interested in achieving the same smooth type of sound of the drums.
I see no drummers on the credits list, but plenty of programmers so my guess (and that's what my ears tell me) is that it was all programmed.
In this track for example:
https://youtu.be/PH9Dkatytzo
Does anyone have an idea what type of drum machines were used?
Also, anyone has any idea about the keyboards/modules that were probably used on that record?
Any insights about the overall arrangements of that record?
Any piece of knowledge that someone could share regarding this record would be highly appreciated.
R.Kelly 1995 sound
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- KVRAF
- 15517 posts since 13 Oct, 2009
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 250 posts since 1 Mar, 2019
Of course...please go spread your sense of humor somewhere else.
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- KVRAF
- 3023 posts since 6 Nov, 2006
the secret ingredient is piss.
srsly though it just sounds like standard R&B stuff. that sound is super common. if you google around for interviews and stuff you'll find some leads on what's what. just stick to that era of production.. there's bound to be some interviews in magazines and on youtube.
you can probably figure out who the producer is w/google then search for that person some more.
srsly though it just sounds like standard R&B stuff. that sound is super common. if you google around for interviews and stuff you'll find some leads on what's what. just stick to that era of production.. there's bound to be some interviews in magazines and on youtube.
you can probably figure out who the producer is w/google then search for that person some more.
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- KVRist
- 494 posts since 9 Feb, 2019
You´ll never know and they can´t tell that much in interviews.
1995? Sampler. Roland Rompler. Yamaha Rompler. Workstations. This stuff sounded "smoother" as it was (not always desired back then).
Good to know: Romplers had a limited dynamic range and (mostly) also a limited frequency bandwidth AND professionally prepared sound content. Tracks initially sound more "consistent", I guess that is what you mean.
The first gen´s of Yamaha Motif should get you there. They were so RnB.
#yamaha
1995? Sampler. Roland Rompler. Yamaha Rompler. Workstations. This stuff sounded "smoother" as it was (not always desired back then).
Good to know: Romplers had a limited dynamic range and (mostly) also a limited frequency bandwidth AND professionally prepared sound content. Tracks initially sound more "consistent", I guess that is what you mean.
The first gen´s of Yamaha Motif should get you there. They were so RnB.
#yamaha
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- Banned
- 161 posts since 12 Dec, 2021 from Nürburg, Germany
R Kelly sound of that era
Buy an Emu Mo Phatt and you'll find most of those R Kelly, early Chris Brown, Destiny's Child type sounds. I am not sure if there are drums inside but you can get all of these drums from nearly any old Korg sound module (NS5R), Roland JV1080, Emu Proteus 2000, Yamaha (I can't remember the model) but all of those type of modules will have the drums.
Buy an Emu Mo Phatt and you'll find most of those R Kelly, early Chris Brown, Destiny's Child type sounds. I am not sure if there are drums inside but you can get all of these drums from nearly any old Korg sound module (NS5R), Roland JV1080, Emu Proteus 2000, Yamaha (I can't remember the model) but all of those type of modules will have the drums.
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- KVRAF
- 2464 posts since 15 Apr, 2004 from Capital City, UK
Boinks and drips. And bumps and grinds.
Apologies.
I also went through this phase. The guys offering useful information, 90's romplers.. EMUs, Roland and Yamaha; that's your toolkit. One company I found which has the EMU sounds is digitalsoundfactory.com, I'm sure there are more but I didn't look any further.
Roland do their own JV1080, this guy has 'romplered' a Yamaha Montage
Apologies.
I also went through this phase. The guys offering useful information, 90's romplers.. EMUs, Roland and Yamaha; that's your toolkit. One company I found which has the EMU sounds is digitalsoundfactory.com, I'm sure there are more but I didn't look any further.
Roland do their own JV1080, this guy has 'romplered' a Yamaha Montage
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- KVRist
- 384 posts since 15 Jan, 2003
As others have mentioned, most of the R&B music during the 90's was created with romplers: Roland, E-MU, Korg, Yamaha, Alesis, Kawai, etc. R. Kelly's music was no different in that regard.
That said, the 90's R&B sound can be created with modern instruments, hardware or software. The key is understanding the musical language of R&B at that time rather than the specific instruments used. To that end, I would highly recommend recreating several tracks to understand how he constructed songs. Although his songs were creative, none of them are musically advance from a musician viewpoint, and should be fairly easy to learn by ear.
A lot of R. Kelly's songs were an 8 bar loop with some parts removed during the verse (i.e., strings), and added back in the chorus. He mostly used the lyrics to drive the songs over the various song sections.
That said, the 90's R&B sound can be created with modern instruments, hardware or software. The key is understanding the musical language of R&B at that time rather than the specific instruments used. To that end, I would highly recommend recreating several tracks to understand how he constructed songs. Although his songs were creative, none of them are musically advance from a musician viewpoint, and should be fairly easy to learn by ear.
A lot of R. Kelly's songs were an 8 bar loop with some parts removed during the verse (i.e., strings), and added back in the chorus. He mostly used the lyrics to drive the songs over the various song sections.
