Corry BanksJorge Corante’s ability to deliver complete songs virtually overnight has earned him the trust of Hollywood’s top music supervisors. Corante began his music career by producing records at a young age, working with a diverse range of multi-platinum artists from Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul and K-Ci & JoJo, to name a few. In 2001, he made the move to California and built his own private recording studio.
I’ve been fortunate enough to to be able to reach out to Jorge Corante from time to time to rap a bit about gear and music. So I’ve come to know his love for hiphop and the technology used to make good music. In this interview we get a chance to chat with Jorge Corante about his work, his company, his favs in gear and software as well as his upcoming projects.
You are a “Native Instruments Damage” Artist. Tell us a bit about why Native Instruments Damage is a part of your tool kit and how you became a featured Native Instruments: DAMAGE Artist?
I heard samples of DAMAGE online and I really liked the way they aggressively mangled the sounds and loops… so I thought I’d just buy it. But the week I was going to order it, NI called me about becoming a DAMAGE artist. As it turns out: they’d heard of my work through a mutual connection and thought I’d be a good match for their product.
Are you also a Native Instruments Maschine user?
Yes I am. I actually have one of the earlier versions of Maschine with the few unmarked buttons.
For those that may not know, tell us a bit about some of your past work?
Well, my body of work consists of record production projects and film & television music. On the record production side – I’ve worked with a lot of the 90’s R&B artists: Janet Jackson, Adina Howard, Kc & JoJo, Brownstone. On the Film and TV side; I’ve worked on various shows on E!, MTV, Oxygen, Disney, CSI: Miami and movies such as Scary Movie 3, Big Mommas House 2, Ninja Assassin and The Town.
What does your company Urban Authentic do?
We license and create original music and songs for all media – including: film, television, video games and adverts.
How did you get into making music for television and film?
I met a music supervisor in town (Los Angeles) that was looking for Hip-Hop tracks for a rap battle show on Showtime…back in 2001. They licensed a few of my tracks, and that was my first foray into the world of making music for Film & TV.
Is there a particular project that you’ve worked on that you feel especially proud of?
A few years ago I scored a Documentary film titled “Dirt!: The Movie.” I’m particularly proud of that project because the film was selected to screen at the 2009 Sundance film festival and It was an amazing experience to sit in with an audience of really talented and accomplished filmmakers watching your film.
One of the things I like about your music is that you compose original music as opposed to sampling. Is this of particular importance to you and your business model?
On the creative side: I don’t sample because it’s much faster for me to come up with an original piece of music…then to sift through crates of records. On the business side: I don’t sample because It’s much easier to license a song or a track that you own 100%.
How is composing for film different than producing popular music such as hiphop and r&b?
In my experience: composing for film is about finding the right ‘emotional tone’ for whatever it is you’re scoring. The goal is to write a piece of music that reflects or heightens the emotions you’re seeing (or not seeing) on the screen. But writing a song, to me, is more about capturing the moment or a vibe that reflects your own taste and perhaps the taste of a large audience; and molding that into a song.
What is your go to piece of gear right now?
Depends on what I’m working on, but I tend use all of the Native Instruments plug-ins quite frequently.
What is that one piece of gear that you’ve owned that you will never get rid of?
I’ll never get rid of my Universal Audio 1176LN compressor.
Here at BBoyTechReport.com we have this thing that we call the “unicorn”. It is the piece of gear (either real or imagined) that you would love to have but for whatever reason, you have not been able to obtain? What is your “unicorn” piece of gear?
I wish I had a mouse with a fader.
How many instruments do you play? Which is your instrument of preference?
I play very little guitar and drums, but my main ‘axe’ is the piano.
What is your bboy techiest geekiest indulgence? You know… what is that one gadget, piece of gear, soft synth etc that you love to geek out on?
Any analog synth; I love twisting knobs and making new sounds.
If you could do your dream project, who would you enlist to collaborate with?
I’d like to work with the RZA on a project.
What is your favorite or top 3 go to plug-ins at the moment?
I use so many different plug-ins on everything. But my three go-to products are: Native Instruments, Universal Audio UAD and all of the Spectrasonics Virtual Instruments.
What’s ahead for Jorge Corante and Urban Authentic?
I’m finding film scoring to be both very challenging and rewarding creatively, so at the moment – I’m focused on scoring; whether it’s for film, television or video games. I have some exciting career opportunities that lay ahead that are going to challenge me on every level…and I’m really looking forward to that.