PreSonus Blog

#TeamPreSonus Spotlight: Spud Too Tight of The Producer’s Corner!

[We decided it best to give some recognition to our more vocal advocates—and what better way than via a blog series?]

Who are you, where are you, and what do you do?

My name is Spud Too Tight based out of Minneapolis, MN, I’m a producer/keyboardist and host of The Producer’s Corner with Spud Too Tight—A celebrity-driven music production & tech talk show since 2009. It’s the new hot spot where Billboard chart-topping, award-winning, Grammy-award winning & platinum-selling icons sit down and discuss their craft. I’ve interviewed some of the biggest names in the business such as George Duke, Jeff Lorber, Larry Graham, Brian Culbertson, Gerald Albright, Fourplay, Marion Meadows, Gloria Loring, Mindi Abair, Joyce Cooling, DJ BattleCat, The Justice League, Cool & Dre, and a long list of others.

I am also the Inventor of V.S.C. (Virtual Studio Configuration) A new studio wiring configuration that allows musicians to stream audio directly from any DAW (PC or MAC) or analog setup over the Web in stereo without any feedback or audio looping issues. I use WebRTC chat services that provide real-time communication. As musicians, we can run into obstacles preventing us from making rehearsal or recording sessions that may require us to fly out of town. The traditional days of playing music over the Internet would consist of either using your internal microphone on your laptop or desktop, or using a USB microphone. It’s an instant turn-off to collaborate online effectively without good audio clarity. As musicians, we need to be able to hear what’s going on in the song. If we are going to collaborate online, we need to be able to hear the low end of the bass, some nice punch from the midrange and brightness from the high end of the mix. When your studio is configured with V.S.C., you will be able to stream and monitor music online directly through your studio. I also use various screen sharing and remote desktop control programs to give me more of an interactive experience working as a virtual musician.

 

How were you introduced to PreSonus?

I had the pleasure of chopping it up 1×1 with legendary music producer Teddy Riley. He introduced me to PreSonus and Studio One. Teddy Riley is my biggest influence as a keyboardist, producer and tech expert, so I was all ears when he started sharing with me what PreSonus had to offer! Our conversation got really HEAVY on production and engineering—and at that time, I was using another DAW for all of my work but I wasn’t truly happy or inspired to create. After my conversations with Teddy, I was eager to make a big change including switching from Mac to PC as well, which was a hard sell. So I purchased Studio One Pro and Teddy advised me for starters to first create some generic test tracks, tracking with my hardware and software MIDI instruments. He recommended to quantize them and listen to the timing of tracks on playback and compare it with my other DAW. The difference was night and day and worlds apart. I was immediately sold!

What PreSonus software/hardware do you use and for what purpose?

I use Studio One Professional for all of my tracking, recording, editing, and sound design projects. It is my main platform for all of my musical ideas. Studio One has changed the way I create as a composer. I feel more inspired as a musician than ever before. I have over 100+ plug-ins so the drag-and-drop functionality and the search bar in the browser for my VST’s and samples really helps me narrow the search down. The automatic time stretching feature and Melodyne integrated right in the DAW: priceless! I also use the PreSonus FaderPort to assist with my editing and recording tasks. I love having the layout and the feel of the FaderPort, excellent build quality, quick access to my Mix, Edit, and Browser windows, and adding a motorized fader was the icing on the cake! I also converted A.Rapheal, (film and music producer as well as my beta tester for V.S.C.)  from another DAW over to Studio One and he hasn’t looked back since.

What’s so great about PreSonus, anyhow?

I see nothing but passion behind the extraordinary PreSonus products. From interfaces, mic preamps and headphone distribution amplifiers, and now the new Eris & Sceptre studio monitors, finally we have the perfect tools for musicians and recording engineers created and built by some of the most prolific tech experts, musicians, and recording engineers. It’s always exciting to see new product releases and it’s so easy to recommend PreSonus to other musicians… a true one-stop shop. I look forward to their new lines in the future!

Where can our readers learn more about you online?

http://www.spudtootight.com   

https://twitter.com/spudtootight   

http://www.linkedin.com/in/spudtootight