ThaFormula.Com - What kind of equipment did you use to record the album Ninth? I know that you kind of just got by with whatever you could, but what specifically?
9th Wonder - (everyone laughs) Let the record show, as far as how we hooked it up, it was a damn computer, an old Gemini mixer, and two little mono speakers. As far as a lot of the stuff you hear on "The Listening," I had to "guesstimate" a couple of trial runs to really get the stereo effect. What else? An old ass amp like the Ohio Players used (laughs) from the '74 "Love Rollercoaster" tour. We really used archaic equipment. The only thing we really used that was new was the computer and the mic. I mean, we didn't even have a booth. It's not like some studio where you know you're on one side and you have to hit a button to talk to Phonte in the Booth, "yo take it from the top 'Tay!" Nah. It was more like "okay now, everyone in the room gotta be quiet!" When we recorded "The Way You Do It" and "The Yo-Yo," it was like D-12 up in there with so many people. Everyone had to be still and be quiet. I'll hear some cat's like, "I got this studio and this big board," and I'm like "Why?!"
Phonte - I mean, if you've got the money more power to you, but the equipment is only as good as the people behind it. If you make wack beats on the SP, then you're gonna be wack on the MPC. If you can't get it done on a 4-track, you ain't gonna get it done on a 100 track? It's just giving you more ways to fuck up. I liken it to the difference of putting a drunk driver behind the wheel of a '72 Ford Pinto or a 2003 Corvette. You put a drunk nigga behind the wheel of the Pinto and he ain't gonna cause that much damage, but you put him behind the wheel of the 'Vette? It's over, get the children off the street. You got these niggas messin' with pro-tools and all these effects, and their album sounds like a damn train wreck.
ThaFormula.Com - What led you to start creating beats on the computer Ninth?
9th Wonder - A friend of mine, a good friend of mine by the name of Leroy, (Yorel) he's a Justus League member. We used to argue a lot about who was better, DJ Premier or RZA. I'd say Primo, he'd say RZA, whatever. One day Leroy was like "Yo come down, I'm makin' beats on the computer!" I'm like "why not" so I went down there to his room to check it out. So I'm clickin' around and the first joint I make is garbage, terrible. So I walked away from it came back later. After that I think one of the first joints I made was called "Paper Lines," a joint me and Phonte did a looong time ago.
Phonte - Yeah, like '98 or so.
9th Wonder - It was cool so I ran with it. I mean, I really wanted to learn on a SP or MPC or whatever but I thought, Little Bother has got to revolutionize. But come on man, the MPC is really just a computer in a box!
ThaFormula.Com - A little smaller with a bigger keyboard.
9th Wonder - I mean what's the difference, you may beat a couple pads on the MPC, but I might be clickin' on a mouse. A lot of niggas think because I make beats on the computer that it's gonna sound digital or high tech and futuristic, but I can make my shit sound as dirty as 1991 if I wanted to. I love makin' beats on the computer, I learn new things about it everyday.
ThaFormula.Com - I think a lot of people are gonna change their minds and flip after they hear this album.
9th Wonder - Exactly, it's like whoever the first motherfucker was to use Pro-Tools, now Pro-Tools is everywhere and everyone uses it.
ThaFormula.Com - Yeah, like Rodney Jerkins, that guy owes his career to Pro-Tools.
9th Wonder - Yeah, I can do the same thing. As long as Phonte and Pooh believe in me, and what I can do on the computer, then we should fuck everybody up.
taken from
http://www.thaformula.com/little_-_brother.htm