#146 Wolf- Drummer, Studio Heavyweight, Programmer & More!
Steven Wolf (also known simply as Wolf) is one of the world’s most in-demand studio musicians.
His discography includes numerous #1, Gold, Platinum, and Grammy winning records.
A virtuoso drummer and world class programmer, with an encyclopedic musical vocabulary spanning every musical genre, his distinctive skill-set and versatility have made him the "go-to" rhythmic solution
for a long list of the world's top recording artists and producers. In addition to drumming and programming, he's also an accomplished producer, songwriter, and remixer.
Gig alerts…..
Damon will be playing with Zane Carney at the Rockwood Music Hall on Tues Oct 15th and play with Scott Kettner’s Maracatu NY up 6th ave for the Halloween parade.
The Jazz Foundation of America has an event on the 19th, the Loft Party.
Thursday the 17th, Marcos will be at the Bitter End with Jeremy Bosch, Friday 18th at Murphy’s Law with Karibe Mambo, and G&G (Gonzalez Y Gonzalez) with Samuel Torres and the Astoria Salsa Project on Sat the 19th.
Educational Spotlight…..
(Friend of the show) Ari Herstand, has a blog called Ari’s Take. He also wrote an amazing book called How To Make It In The New Music Business. You can PRE-ORDER THE (2nd Edition of the) BOOK HERE. The band Ari leads where Damon recorded percussion is called Brassroots District.
Correction Section…..
The drummer on tour with Emily King right now is Shajuan Andrews.
Social Soundbyte for this week……
Damon playing a cover to Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body”
Music News for this week……
October 10th was National Hug a Drummer Day, as well as World Mental Health Day.
Non-profit suicide prevention group LightHopeLife has announced a new division of its non-profit called ‘Tour Support’. It’s aimed at supporting the mental health of musicians and crew traveling for months on the road. Additionally, Mental health and wellness resources for the music industry can be found by visiting Backline (dot) Care. The Best Career Advice That No One In Music Takes Seriously is taking breaks and getting enough rest. SoundExchange Website to Let Artists Search and Claim Unmatched Recordings. You Can Make a Professional Song with $0. DJs (and other music professionals) You Are Warned — Do NOT Upgrade Into MacOS Catalina (at least for a few weeks). Tokyo Man Arrested For Stalking A Pop Star By Using The Reflections In Her Pupils To Track Her Down (CREEPY).
The song leading into the interview is “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus. Wolf played drums on that as well as some of these hits.
The interview starts with Wolf talking about some of the stories he shared on the I’d Hit That Podcast. As well as black jews.
Wolf is from Philly. Damon and Wolf talk about their favorite cheesesteak spots. They range from Jim’s on South St. , to Tony Luke’s, to Mama’s Pizzaria, to Ishkabibble’s.
Wolf attended Berklee College of Music and first steady gig in NYC was in 1989 with Hiram Bullock.
When Wolf started programing drums, he used an Akai MPC drum machine.
If you use Pro Tools as your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation), you might want to know some of the key command shortcuts.
Since Wolf is at his desk for hours at a time, he invested in an Aeron desk chair. Some people use a yoga ball chair for balance and posture. Varidesk makes a lot of options to go from seated to standing quickly and easily.
Wolf used to have a ton of hardware gear for tracks, and now he uses lots of software options in his iMac desktop computer.
Wolf makes reference to a Vocal Signal Chain and some of the effects he uses. He also talks about sidechaining.
Wolf brings up seeing the Chick Corea Elektric Band and Herbie Hancock New Headhunters band with Steve Thornton on percussion.
The play along books Dave Weckl wrote that Damon mentions are called Contemporary Drummer + One.
Wolf brings up Charley Drayton and his groove. He also mentions how he grew up in NYC hanging in the studio his dad was recording in.
Damon and Wolf talk about the original recording of Chameleon that Harvey Mason plays on. They also bring up the Steve Gadd shuffle where he uses his left foot for the syncopation.
This is the Miles Davis recording (Four and More) with Tony Williams on drums Wolf brings up. Damon brings up the Deep Rumba albums.
More of Wolf’s programming set up is his aforementioned iMac, a midi controller, Technics 1200 turntable, CDJ turntable (while using many of the Beats, Breaks & Scratches albums Vol 1-7), & Native Instruments Kontakt Sampler.
Damon mentions the David Lee Roth Soundboard.
Wolf brings up using his scratches for the Ruby Black band.
Wolf mentions how top line writers are brought in to write melodies and lyrcis over tracks by producers. One of the biggest producers is Max Martin.
Damon makes a joke about using an Abel vs Grover triangle. Wolf says his influence for triangle playing is percussionist Mino Cinelu playing on Miles Davis’ “Star People”
Wolf’s go-to percussion influences are Ralph McDonald, Pablo Batista, and Paulinho Da Costa.
There is a hidden menu in Pro Tools for MPC swing (and more).
MPC 60 & MPC 3000 & MPC62 were the old school Roger Linn MPC machines.
Roger Linn made the LinnDrum (LM2) and the Linn 9000. The predecessor to the Linn Drum Machines was the SP 1200.
This is the song by Craig Mack that used the SP 1200.
Another drum machine was the Oberheim DMX. One of the most iconic songs that used this machine was “Sucker M.C.s” by Run DMC. Tevor Lawrence Jr. created the clap stack with Istanbul AGOP that mimics the hand clap sound in an acoustic function. The Simmons SDS1 pad is what Wolf saved up for to buy as a kid.
Wolf talks about the drum sounds Prince used. They were from the LM2 and Oberheim DMX. Later Wolf and Damon bring up the Roland TR-808 drum machine as well as the Maestro Rhythm King.
Wolf mentions some other great Philly musicians like Kurt Rosenwinkel, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Christian McBride and the guys from Boyz II Men all went to the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts. Wolf did not go to that school. Other people like Clay Sears and Adam Dorn are all from the Philly area.
Here’s an example of how someone like J Dilla used samples.
Wolf brings up Circuit and Dr. Luke.
Mackie Studio Monitors and the Universal Audio Apollo interfaces also make up Wolf’s rig. Damon mentions the Ox Box for guitar players. Wolf uses Pro tools. Dr. Luke uses Abelton
The meatless cookbook Damon brings up is called the Thug Kitchen.
Wolf has two size stickbags. Large and Small. He uses the Evans magnetic drum key. Damon uses the Wing Key. Wolf always has earplugs, his own signature stick by Promark, leather drummer’s gloves by Zildjian for moving gear, retractable brushes and a 32gb flashdrive.
Wolf studied with the late Elaine Watts.
Wolf does a lot of work for Jungle City Studios, Avatar, and Mission Sound Studios.
Wolf talks about a couple of Steely Dan grooves. “Deacon Blues” and “Babylon Sisters” which uses the “Purdie Shuffle”
This is the scene from the movie Inglorious Basterds that Damon was referring to when Wolf got released from being detained by security. “Au Revoir Shohanna”
Wolf uses Promark Sticks, Evans Drumheads, Zildjian Cymbals, Ludwig Drums, SKB Cases, Roland Electronics, Liquteria Smoothies, XLN Audio (Addictive drums)- check out the DS-10 Drum Shaper and the RC-20 Retro Color. Mackie Monitors, Shure Microphones and Headphones, Radial Engineering, Propellerhead (Reason), Roc-N-Soc Thrones, & Reflexx Pads.
Damon and Wolf continue to talk about iconic songs turned into breakbeats like “the Funky Drummer” and “Impeach the President”. Wolf talks about Marly Marl and how he used to chop samples.
