Producer, composer and singer Teddy Riley had a
dramatic introduction to the music business.
"I was five years old," he says. "Gladys Knight was
performing at the Apollo Theater, singing 'Neither One
of Us,' and she picked me up in her arms and put me
onstage with her! From that day on, my dream was to
perform on that stage. And all my dreams came true."
Riley grew up surrounded by music in New York,
learning to play drums, guitar and trumpet at an early
age. By his teens, he was performing with two local
bands—a Jacksons-style vocal group and a Top-40 band.
And after meeting Kool and the Gang associate Royal
Bayyan, Teddy also began tagging along to recording
sessions.
"I used to studio-hop, from age 15 to 17, just to
learn about it all," he remembers. "I became an assistant
at Media Sound Studios on 57th Street. I learned everything
I needed to know as an assistant, watching everybody
do these incredible hits."
Riley soon connected with singers Aaron Hall and
Timmy Gatling to form his first vocal supergroup, Guy.
"I was working at Quantum Sounds in New Jersey, going
back and forth between there and studios in Queens and
Manhattan, doing production work for Keith Sweat,
Heavy D, Kool Moe Dee, Bobby Brown and a bunch of
other people," recalls Riley.
"At first Timmy Gatling just wanted me to produce and
play keys, but Aaron Hall said, 'I don't want to do this if
he's not in the group.' So they made a quick decision and
put me in the group."
With Guy, Teddy originated the New Jack Swing
sound for which he would become famous. Guy's blend
of jazz, gospel, funk and hip-hop earned the group
instant fame, with hits like "Groove Me" and "Teddy's
Jam." After Guy disbanded, Riley launched another
group, Blackstreet, which brought even greater success
with the platinum hit "No Diggity." "That was the
biggest record I ever sang as an artist," he notes. "It
knocked 'The Macarena' off the #1 spot on the charts!"
Meanwhile, Riley started amassing production
credits. Beginning with Bobby Brown's "Don't Be
Cruel" in 1988, he produced a string of hits that
continues to this day, including records by Michael
Jackson, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, the Winans, *NSYNC,
and SWV. "Working with Michael Jackson really
brought out the best in me," claims Riley. "It put me in
the mode of 'settle for nothing less than great.'And that's
the mode I've been in since then. If I can't get it great, I
don't do it at all."
Riley now has his own studio complex in Virginia
Beach, VA. He also tours with both the re-formed Guy and Blackstreet and is working on a
joint album featuring both groups. He uses Steinberg's
Nuendo digital audio software in the
studio and on his PC laptop-based system, incorporated
with Yamaha's mLAN technology to stream MIDI and
audio data between his computer and his Motif keyboard.
"And soon I'll be mLAN-based on the Motif and the Yamaha DM2000 console, with 96
channels," he adds.
"Nuendo gives me everything I could ever want for
working with audio and MIDI instruments," Riley says.
"I use a lot of the effects in Nuendo and in the Motif. And
once I get the DM2000, that covers everything I will ever
need in a mixing and engineering board. I really would
love to be all Yamaha-based, even in my big room. The
maintenance on the console I have now is close to
$15,000 a year! I'm tired of spending that type of money
and being disappointed when I could get such a great
sound with the Yamaha stuff. I don't have to go out and
get effects or any third-party things—it can be added into
the board through the mLAN."
As a longtime fan of Yamaha synths, starting with
the DX7 and DX100, Riley is especially fond of his
Motif keyboards. "I have them all, but the one I like best
is the ES6, the 64-key model. We use the ES8 on the road
with my band, along with two ES6es. The Motif has
truly visionary sounds. If you want strings, trust me, the
strings sound like strings. If you want horns, they sound
like horns. Every instrument in this keyboard sounds like
what it is, down to the 808 kick drum."
Riley attributes his remarkable success not just to
talent or luck, but to technical know-how. "You have to
have the engineering skills," he insists. "I have an engineer
on my sessions, but I can do it all myself if I need
to. If I need a knob moved, I can tell him everything
without even looking. I teach all my producers, and even
the artists, how to engineer their own sessions. That's
what you need to be in this crew: You need to know how
to do it on your own." |
