There's a reason the nickname for Todd Terry is 'The God'. With over 20 years experience sitting in the producers chair or manning the decks, Todd Terry has been one of the most influential figures in dance music. Whether its House, Hip Hop, Drum & Bass, or any of the thousands of sub-genres, Todd has excelled in them all.
He's on a never-ending tour of the world, whether it be stopping by Russia, swinging through Eastern Europe, or headed to Asia, his frequent flyer card is maxed out. Even with the constant travel, he still manages to stay as prolific as ever--teaming up with artists from his envious black book of 'All-Stars', releasing concept albums you didn't see coming, and running his InHouse Recordsimprint as a first class outlet for himself and other producers.
We were able to catch Todd in between his manic schedule, and Stompy's own Deron Delgado was able to have an in depth conversation with him about, well, being Todd Terry.
Stompy - Hey Todd…you're in New York for a bit now. Is that your home base?
Todd - Yeah, in New York, but I'm back forth between New York and Atlanta.
Stompy - With all the touring you do, how much time do you get to stick around your home and what do you like to do when you get back?
Todd - Well, I leave pretty much every week or other week, and I'm about to start another tour again so Its starting to get a bit busy. But when I'm back I just get back in the studio and keep the music flowin'.
Stompy - Do you get to do make much music constantly on the road and away from the studio?
Todd - I take the laptop with me and knock out some ideas on planes and hotels and just get it out of my system.
Stompy - Many artists work only solo, or only with a handful of other artists, yet you have collaborated with hundreds of other producers, vocalists, engineers and musicians from a variety of backgrounds --what types of inspiration do you find in working with so many different types of people?
Todd - I guess it really just keeps things really current in peoples eyes, you know, if I have a record out with this guy or that guy, it allows me to reach a younger crowd. I love the collaborations now, and that's kind of the real hot idea now.
Stompy - It seems you can work with a wide variety of people, and you have a lot to offer each other in the studio and also feed off of their ideas.
Todd - It works better when they grab one of the older records and then I'll send them over the parts and then they'll do their thing with it and send it back to me and I'll mix it. But every artist is different--sometimes we're able to be in the same room together, other times we'll pass it back and forth and it can get a little crazy.
Stompy - Are there any other artists you would still love to work with?
Todd - A lot! I still got some tracks with Armand (Van Helden) that we're trying to get done, Riva Starr, Roger (Sanchez), Kenny Dope & Louie Vega….there's a lot of stuff that's getting done right now, but we're trying to get around each other because we want to be in the same room and get the vibe going.
Stompy - Do you have studios in both NYC and Atlanta?
Todd - Yeah, but these days its a laptop and some speakers, which is enough. But to get it really club sounding it works better for me to take it to the studio, since its sometimes hard to get the boom out of just the laptop.
Stompy - - Coming from a background of analog mixing boards, 2in tape, large sessions, and a physical distribution model where it took a while for records to be released, it's much different than nowadays where you can make a track on a laptop and have it up for sale that same day.
What are some of your thoughts on the new business model?
Todd - As far as Big Room, Big Record, I've always made songs from out of my house on systems and its worked for me. With being able to take a laptop track and put it out in a few hours is a lifestyle now, and that's why you have 4000 records a week, and its hard to sift through all that stuff.
For me its good, since I'm lucky that I have a name and have been working for 20 years so it helps me to push through everything a bit. I just feel lucky to still be here and to have younger people still buying my records.
Stompy - - What artists have you been listening to lately?
Todd - I mainly listen to a lot of Hip Hop, like Kanye and stuff, but as far as dance artists its a lot of my old crew that I've been collaborating with--Kenny & Louie, David (Morales), Roger, etc. Everyone's really busy, but we're still close and talk regularly and do what we got to do to make it work. The old school is still trying to keep up with the new school, so its good for us to keep working together.
Stompy - - Even with all of the hits you guys have made, its exciting to see the old school guys still keep putting out current and fresh music and I think people appreciate that and look forward to hearing all the new material.
Todd - Yeah, and what's really good about the is that I get to experiment on these records--I can make some techno, some slowed down stuff or speed up, play around and experiment. In the early days, I would still experiment besides house, and make some drum and bass or a hip hop record, I'm definitely always looking to push the envelope.
Stompy - - You have released so many different styles of music, you seem like an artist whose worst nightmare would be locked in a room in the perfect studio but only allowed to make one genre.
Todd - Yeah, to me when I got into the house thing, I was doing more of the hip hop thing when I first started. I didn't take it really seriously until about four years deep, and then I started to realize I gotta do things like this or that, and not go too out of the box, otherwise they might not understand it.
Stompy - - Well now besides the genres, your range in dance music is quite varied--you can make a big room club hit, alongside some soulful records, next to a jackin or an underground deep house record.
Todd - I'm still always trying to push the envelope. I'm doing a new project called "Todd Terry vs Hip Hop" where I went into the hip hop stuff, and went into a lot of the house stuff and mixed it up. I took some samples from some rap tracks with some house beats, and some house samples with some hip hop loops. I'm still working on clearing all the samples, so it should be out by May or June.
Stompy - - Is it a full album?
Todd - I'm going to do an EP and also a mix tape that's hip hop. The EP will have some different genres like dubstep, hip hop and house all mixed together.
Stompy - - You one of the most sampled artists and probably hear one of your beats every time you go out. Do you have plans to make more licensed sample packs?
Todd - I did the Loopmasters Todd Terry pack, and that has a lot of the sounds and samples on it, and every now and then we'll release a small selection of loops and hits and stuff. We'll keep doing that and have a lot of old sounds that we'll keep putting out as DJ tools and get them out there.
Stompy - - Let's talk a bit about your InHouse label. As an artist that has plenty of labels clamoring to release your material, what was the motivating factor to run one yourself?
Todd - Well, sometimes you get tired of playing your music for other people and they might not get it or want it to sound the same all the time, so the label is a real freedom statement. I also really wanted to give others a chance to put their records on there without any criticism. A lot of times I get the records from people and I put it out just like that, and I don't judge what their doing. I think that's a big part of being an artist and getting your music out there.
Stompy - With a proven producing and sound engineering background, do you have the mindset to play an active role in the A&R process of each release?
Todd - Yeah, I really try not to A&R it. Unless its something like an arrangement, or this part would be better in the beginning or end and say little things like that, but I'm not trying to tell them to go back in there and make the bassline funkier or something. That's what we do with the 'Studio Sessions' album where everyone has their own genre on it and does their thing. There's two more albums coming out like that this year. But I really want to just let people do their thing.
Stompy - What's the process for putting out releases on InHouse?
Todd - Every record is different and it all depends on the package. Things change and now we put out the record to see how it does and then the whole package to keep it interesting.
Stompy - Working with all sizes of labels--majors, large independents, small limited edition labels--what lessons did you take away, both good and bad, that you apply to INhouse?
Todd - Well now as things keep getting bigger and bigger, we now have a time factor and need three months to set up a big record. It takes time to put out the video, run the promotion on it, get it to all the key guys and let people know its coming out on this date, so the setup is different now then making a record and putting it out next week.
It's more real, everything is serious now. Not to take the fun out of it, just deal with each release a little more seriously.
Stompy - What's next up for 2012?
Todd - Keep up with the collaborations, and putting out another Todd Terry All-Stars record, along with the Todd Terry vs Hip Hop. And constantly touring--headed to Moscow and then back to California, then Italy, Miami and on and on and on.
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