Dale "RamBro" Ramsey

Writer, Producer, Sound Designer

Digidesign Presents "Producing Hip Hop with Pro Tools" featuring Dale "RamBro" Ramsey, Joey P. , Phil Tan, and Mike Wilson at Patchwerk Studios Atlanta

Joey P., Dale "RamBro" Ramsey, Phil Tan

Special guests at the event will include top names such as Dale "RamBro" Ramsey (Ludacris, Jay-Z, Stevie Wonder), Joey P (Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Fabolous, Jagged Edge), Phil Tan (Usher, Mariah Carey, Jermaine Dupri ), and Patchwerk’s own Mike Wilson (Missy Elliot, Cash Money Millionaires).

Along with Digidesign’s Johnny Andrews, they will explain the techniques and secrets behind the making of platinum albums that start with the home studio setup. The workshop will close with a Q&A session, giving attendees a chance to get the answers they need from industry professionals.

Located in Atlanta, Patchwerk Recording Studios is a state-of-the-art recording facility whose past clients include hip-hop giants such as The Neptunes, OutKast, 50 Cent and more. 

Registration is free but space is limited, so visit www.digidesign.com/hip-hop to register today. For more information on Digidesign products visit www.digidesign.com/products.

About Digidesign
Digidesign, a division of Avid Technology, Inc., is the world’s leading manufacturer of digital audio production systems, and the winner of the 2001 Technical Grammy® Award and 2003 Academy Award® of Merit (Oscar® statuette) for the design, development and implementation of the Pro Tools digital audio workstation. The company is the exclusive distributor of the Focusrite hardware and software product lines in North and Latin America. Digidesign provides the professional music, film, video, multimedia, and radio broadcast industries with tools for digital recording, MIDI sequencing, editing, signal processing, and surround mixing. Digidesign products are marketed in over forty countries worldwide through a distribution network of value-added dealers, distributors, and OEM relationships.

June 2004

Grammy-nominated R&B group Jagged Edge (Columbia Records) was recently in JOI Studios' (Atlanta) to work on their latest release, Hard. Chief Engineer/Production Coordinator Joey P. and co-chief engineer Dale “RamBro” Ramsey did the album on Pro Tools MIXPlus.

Vocals were recorded via Neumann U87s into an Avalon 737 preamp/compressor and then straight into the Pro Tools 888 interface. The production team also included mixer Phil Tan and producers Melvin Coleman, Bryan Michael Cox, Jazze Pha and Tha Corna Boyz.

RamBro noted, “Jagged Edge came to us to rescue the album. They had already cut 16 songs with an amateur engineer , who didn’t delay in erasing the files and losing all the songs in just a couple weeks.  

Top: Dale "RamBro" Ramsey, Jagged Edge

Bottom: Melvin "St. Nick" Coleman, Joey P.

   The group realized that they needed experienced engineers to do the record, and they gave me a call.  We’ve been using Pro Tools since it was just ‘Sound Tools’ back in 1990 or so, and we’ve been in the music business much longer than that.  Joey and I came in and recovered the few songs that we could, and then cut an additional 40+ songs with the group.  When it comes to doing a record the right way, there’s just no way around the quality that seasoned professionals can bring.”

Joey P. added, “We used a bunch of different boxes to get the perfect vocoder sound.  After a while, I decided to go out to my car and grab the old Roland VS-880 that I had in my trunk. I connected it to an SM57 and a Korg Triton, and then producer Melvin Coleman sat down and gave it a shot. As soon as Jagged Edge member Brian Casey heard the sound, he quipped, ‘That's it, man! That's the sound!’”