P-Nazty

You could say that musical royalty courses through the blood of one of Atlanta’s brightest new producers, Pierre Slaughter, a.k.a. P-Nazty, who hails from Tupelo, Mississippi, birthplace of the King of Rock and Roll himself, Elvis Presley. Mr Nasty has been calling ATL his home ever since relocating there with his family in his teens.

As has been the path for many musical talents before him, P-Nazty got his musical education first in the church before honing those skills further in the recording studio.

The pivotal moment for Nazty’s career came with an intro to another rising star beatmaker, Mike Will Made-It, It was this formidable creative pairing that would become the current hip-hop collective dynamo known as the Ear Drummers. This uber talented crew forged hits for Ciara (Body Party), Future ft. Pharell and Pusha T (Move That Dope), Mike Will Made-it ft. Miley Cyrus, Wiz Khalifa, & Miley Cyrus (23), Miley Cyrus (We Can't Stop). P-Nazty is also credited for discovering the collective now known as Rae Sremmurd and the Sremmlife Crew.

P-Nazty was kind enough to share his studio wisdom with the Kaoticalife crew.

How did you get started as a producer?

"In church. The first beats I ever made was on a Casio keyboard with my cousin, Riff back when I was like 8." 

And the next time I kind of like took it seriously was when I was like 15.  I got another Casio keyboard and start making beats on that you know. That’s how I got started. Just me working you know.

How do you use the studio as an instrument in your craft?

The studio plays a major part. I remember when I was when I was making beats, probably when I was 17 I didn't really have that much to work with. It was kind of like Acid Pro and my keyboard and my desktop. It was just like Fruity Loops three or four. I was writing some of my own shit. And back then Lil Drone was popping so I was kind of like remaking little drum beats and whatever that club feel was. I was recording on my Acid Pro Six and recording on my Casio keyboard. So I would record the beat through my desktop on my Acid Pro from the Casio. And then record like a hook to it. Since then everything is just kind of been like motion. Like I always keep some type of studio equipment around around me.

"I've got the Kaotica. I think I was one of the first guys to actually get that."

When I was recording in my home music studio I was always trying to find a way to close the spacing around the mic so I could make like a virtual vocal booth or maybe you'd call it a portable sound booth.  I would put pillows up around our room over the whole space. But there was so much space between the walls that the mic would pick up all the sound of that big open space. So I was thinking about how to close that space around the mic for a long time because nobody ever thought to do it before. But then y’all came around and invented the Eyeball and now here it is.

And so this is really really dope. As far as recording in any type of environment I keep the keyboards I keep the deejay boards. I keep the laptops, drum pads and my MPKs. Whatever it takes to make a hit. The Kaotica Eyeball is my mobile vocal booth.

"The Kaotica is a definite must have around the studio at all times to record."

How important are the vocals to a track?

In this day and age you can have an instrumental and get the people moving too or you can have a hit with vocals. Shit they got hit instrumentals out there. Look at Skrillex and Diplo. They do a whole lot of that stuff.

But vocals most of the time on a track is critical. They can take the whole record to another level. Just from a simple idea to what the producer can do producing vocals. Vocals are very important in the sense of making a hit because you can't just play a whole bunch of music on the radio and not be anything you can relate to in the story. Having killer vocals on the track is what it needs to be. And it got to be hard too. Don’t put no bullshit on a track.

How has the Eyeball helped your vocal tracks?

Like I said I used to think I could get rid of that room sound with a sock. I don't know where I got that idea and it did kill some of that sound but it killed my vocals at the same time. I would put things around the mic and over the mic but it never added up to this piece of work right here (points to the Eyeball). I bought all these products to help control the sound.  This one cost $80. That one maybe $70 and another might be $60. I’d put all this stuff up around the mic and none of it would work. Compared to this Eyeball all that stuff is just crap. Now I've got a portable recording studio I can take anywhere.

What advice would you give to young producers?

"Slowly but surely. I would advise you to dream big. Don’t let nobody stop you from what it is you really want to do. And know what it is that you really need to do. And that is I like."

Sometimes your shit might not be it. You got to suck it up and be like ‘my shit ain’t it right now. I need to make it IT’ so that time in that process you’re going through it’s a transformation. That’s what that really is. You need to be finding yourself and crafting your sound and making it what you want it to be. You want to be the one who predicts what stuff is going to sound like. And so that's what makes you who you are.

"Don't never lose sight what the main focus is. And that's working. So invest in yourself. Get yourself a Kaotica."