Philip Smart (9 April 1960 – 25 February 2014) was a
Jamaican music
producer
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
based in
New York City.
Biography
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Smart's career spanned over five decades. While in high school, he produced his first record with reggae instrumentalist
Augustus Pablo
Horace Swaby (21 June 1953 – 18 May 1999),Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p. 200-202 known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer and a multi-instrumentalist, active f ...
and vocalist
Lee "Scratch" Perry. The transition to recording engineering came when the Augustus Pablo's album ''Java'' was being recorded.
Errol Thompson was the project engineer and Smart was taught how to record to sixteen-track tape machines and how to make rough mixes to two-track tapes. This was followed by working with
King Tubby,
and then for producer
Bunny Lee, who gave him the nickname Prince Philip. He was in fact King Tubby's first trainee, recording and mixing such hits as "None Shall Escape" by
Johnny Clarke, "Jah Love" by
Yabby U
Vivian Jackson (14 August 1946 – 12 January 2010), better known as Yabby You (or sometimes Yabby U), was a reggae vocalist and producer, who came to prominence in the early 1970s through his uncompromising, self-produced work.
Biography
Jac ...
, and most of
Dr. Alimantado's albums.
His HC&F Recording Studio in
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
was built in 1981 and opened in 1982. The first recording project was with the group
Monyaka, titled "Go Deh Yaka", which was an instant hit, and reached number 14 on the
UK Singles Chart. Since that time, the studio had several very successful projects such as Jah Life Productions, which featured such artists as
Sister Carol
Carol Theresa East (born 15 January 1959, Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica), known by her stage name of Sister Carol, is a Jamaican-born American reggae musician, recording artist. She has used many other stage names, including Black Cinde ...
, Scion Success,
Barrington Levy and Carlton Livingston. Smart is also known for work he did with artists under labels other than his own, such as Island In the Sun Productions artist
Horace Andy
Horace Andy (born Horace Hinds, 19 February 1951) is a Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer, known for his distinctive vocals and hit songs such as "Government Land", as well as "Angel", "Spying Glass" and "Five Man Army" with English tri ...
; Narrows Records artist Mr Easy;
Donovan Germain Donovan Germain (born 7 March 1952 in Jamaica) is a reggae producer, one of the most successful of the digital era.
Biography
Germain's entry into the music industry was via his record shop in New York City in the 1970s.Larkin, Colin (1998) "The V ...
Productions artists
Audrey Hall,
Owen Gray, Tanto Irie, and
Johnny Osbourne; and Witty's Music Master Productions artists Shelly Thunder, Junior Wilson and Barrington Levy.
With the 1990s came digital recording and the introduction of
Pro Tools' two-track computer-recording program to the studio. The first hit recorded with Pro Tools was
Dirtsman's "Hot This Year", which was released on Smart's TanYah records.
He later produced "Rikers Island" by
Cocoa Tea and Nardo Ranks.
Later that year, Shaggy recorded "Mampie" with Smart;
Red Fox and Screechie Dan's "Pose Off"; and "Shot Mek You Wiggle" by Junior Demus, which was later used in the film "Dancehall Queen". From 1993 until 1993
Shaggy
Shaggy may refer to:
People
*Shaggy (musician) (born 1968), Jamaican American reggae rapper and singer
*Shaggy 2 Dope, half of the hip hop, horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse
*Shaggy Flores (born 1973), Nuyorican poet, writer and African diaspora ...
recorded five albums with Smart, including; "Boombastic" and "Hot Shot".
As dance music got bigger in 2000, multitrack Digidesign Pro Tools TDM was in demand, along with 24-track tapes. Mixes such as "Headacke", "All Out", and "Blue Drawers" were synced with 24-track tape and Pro Tools technology to achieve fatness and warmth placing emphasis on digital mixing and editing features. Smart's early Pro Tools and analog technology knowledge gave him a cutting edge in the 1990s, which provided reggae artists with the ability to record Jamaican-quality sound in New York.
Death
Smart died on 25 February 2014, aged 53, in
Port Washington, New York from
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...
.
[Campbell, Howard (2014)]
US-based reggae producer Philip Smart dies
, ''Jamaica Gleaner
''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. Originally called the ''Daily Gleaner'', the name was changed on 7 December 1992 to ' ...
'', 26 February 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2014
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smart, Philip
Jamaican record producers
1960 births
2014 deaths
Deaths from pancreatic cancer
Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica
Jamaican expatriates in the United States