Arts & Entertainment, Music, Science & Tech
Song Origins: “Pony”
Lesson time 05:02 min
Using Ginuwine’s “Pony” as an example, Tim demonstrates how choosing unique sounds can make your music production stand out from the competition.
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Topics include: Song Origins: "Pony"
Preview
The bleh, that was-- I don't think they have them anymore, but that was like a rack mount. And I remember it was, I already forgot the name, it was an O-Fat, oh yeah, something fat, right? You scroll through them, and it was a sound like, wah. And I had this truncated, and I'd just say, bah, bah bah, bah. That bah was so interesting when I was turning, trying to find a bass, and I hit that fra kind of sound. I was like, oh that's dope. Mm, ooh, pwah, pwah, pwah. It was just a sound, and it sounds so cool. And when we did that, I remember Static coming in the room. He would like, ooh, what's that, Tim? Because he had a country like he is from Louisville. He was like, ooh, what's that, Tim? That's fly. He's like, then you know, me and him, when I did a groove, he bounced the same way I bounced. Meaning when I say he bounced the same way I bounce, the way I bob my head, he'd bob the same way. So it's like whatever rhythm, he was going to catch. You know, we had to be on the same page. And he wrote that for Genuine. Genuine came down, to just do that. Like oh man, Genuine got his deal at Sony. 10, 8, 9 years later. That was the first song he put out. But that song's like, nine years old before it hit them. That's what I try, I try to do timeless things that just don't sound like what's going on today at that time, and play it. [MUSIC PLAYING] Still sounds new. Put the car sound. Ooh. Then I had this vocal right here of a girl. They're saying ah, and I just went down on this, hit it. Did you hear the piano over laughing? It's about finding the space. Hear that? For the they got whee, Cuba, that was the Cuba, when the video game QBert, when it jumped, bree, I took that sound, and put the car err, it crashes. And I had, I believe at the time, this guy named Craig play some chords over the top of what I had, just the bass of the bass line. And he had, and I had that whoo, this little simple sound. He just put that little part, and that was it. He put this to make the chorus stand up. But if it had none of those sounds, the song was so powerful, just that bonk. That's just extra ear candy, just that bonk, and the beat. We already did. That's the song, it's right there. And the pony, ride my pony. Just that line. You can stop it, Chris. Just about the word, the Static, instead of saying a vulgar thing, he made it, made you think. If you're horny, let's do it, let's ride it, my pony. He just made, we tried to find cleverness in things, and try to make it like, how would you say it? Would it be fly, would it be this? The Static was always that fly guy at that time. And he said a lot of fly things. And we just did a lot in that. But when I had the bass line, he already had the melody, because he just boom, [SINGS MELODY] he already had it. And when he we wrote the whole song, I just started adding ear candy around it. But the whole basis of that song was about that bonk, that was really about it. And once I found that sound...
About the Instructor
Grammy-winning music producer Timbaland takes you behind the boards to teach you his process for creating iconic tracks with artists like Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, and Aaliyah. In his first-ever online class, learn how to collaborate with vocalists, layer new tracks, and create hooks that stick. Step into Timbaland’s studio and learn from one of the industry’s most innovative hit makers.
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Timbaland
Step inside the production studio with Timbaland. In his first-ever online class, Tim teaches his process for creating infectious beats and making sonic magic.
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