To be great, you must work like the greats, and that’s exactly why we sat down with GRAMMY® Award-winning Producer Scott Storch. When it comes to beat-making and hip-hop production, Storch has done it all. He has an insane list of credits that includes everyone from Dr. Dre and Timbaland to Megan Thee Stallion and Trippie Red, and he truly knows the industry inside and out.
His expertise comes from an almost 30-year career, where he learned how to craft hits and the gear that makes those tracks possible. Storch was kind enough to share his insight on choosing the correct studio monitors and how his new signature KRK Scott Storch CLASSIC 8ss Studio Monitors fit into the beat-making and hip-hop world.
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What should one look for in a studio monitor specifically for beat-making and hip-hop production?
Everything sounds good on mains, but you want a monitor that’s best for midfielders when making music. My favorite midfielders are KRKs because they have great accuracy.
With hip-hop and beat-making, you’re also going to push a lot of bass, so you want something solid and not just going to blow up on you. That’s a big part; it won’t blow out and can handle signals. You’ll kill it with KRK monitors, mainly when you use them with a KRK sub.
How do the room size and shape influence the choice of monitors for a studio?
The biggest impact the size and shape of a room will have in determining which monitors you purchase will be on the speakers’ size. If you have a smaller room, you won’t want to put 10-inch speakers in there. Those will not work with your room size and will overpower everything. But if you’re working in a large studio and want to ensure the playback fills the space, you may want to consider large monitors and a subwoofer. Brands like KRK offer various solutions that will benefit any music-making environment.
But, in instances where you have an oddly shaped room with a lot of reflection, you will have to consider more than just the monitors. Once you have good acoustics, your monitors will sound more accurate, no matter which kind you choose.
What should beatmakers know about bass response when choosing studio monitors?
Know your room and how the bass response works within that space. Selecting the right speaker is essential, but it’s more about treating the room and placing everything correctly. That first step will set you up in a good place.
As mentioned, acoustic treatments can be crucial in a workspace, but you don’t have to shell out a ton to get a clean sound. You can get creative and make any room sound good, even a small, at-home workstation in many ways.
How do studio monitors like the Scott Storch Classic 8ss cater to the specific needs of hip-hop production and beat-making?
For starters, they’re fantastic. They give off a premium vibe that will get you in the zone for hip-hop production, but I didn’t reinvent the wheel. The Scott Storch CLASSIC 8ss monitors are all KRK. Like I said, midfielders are the optimum speakers to work on, and KRKs are solid as a rock. I’ve used the KRK monitors for years, so I know they work for my beat-making and hip-hop projects.
They’ve got a great bass response, and they’re very dependable. Everything sounds good turned up loud, but it still has a low end that is super accurate. That’s why I think KRK has the best-sounding reference midfield. If you want to get serious about honing in on your sound, KRKs are the way to go, and the CLASSIC 8ss monitors can get you there.
In your experience, how do the aesthetics and design of a studio monitor impact the creative process of beat-making?
If you take pride in your studio, it will show in your music. To me, I love the creative process behind being in a studio. I don’t want to be on the road playing the same songs repeatedly — I want to make new ones every day. That’s what I feel I was put on Earth to do.
When you’re passionate about your art, you will surround yourself with things that match your vibe and energy. I think these new monitors do just that. They look so cool and provide an aesthetic that I think will work for many artists’ studios. I hope they’ll help people make a lot of fantastic music.
What advice would you give an aspiring beatmaker or hip-hop producer about investing in their first set of studio monitors?
These are the tools for your craft, so you must go in and ensure you spend your money right. You don’t have to go crazy, but you want to ensure you get the proper rig. Sometimes, it’s worth spending the extra money to ensure you have gear that will last and give you the desired results.
Monitors and computers are always significant expenses, but ensuring those things work well is essential. You don’t want to have a computer that’s not powerful enough to mix on or is crashing all the time. The same goes for your speakers―you need something that can handle what you’re doing, nothing that’s too fragile. So that’s my biggest advice: give your tools the same amount of respect and investment as you do your craft.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
