Dāvis Strauss on Hit-Boy constantly reinventing himself: “I don’t know how he does it”

On May 21, 2021, with a couple of trash bags and all his possessions in the back of a car that was breaking down, engineer/producer Dāvis Strauss moved from Eastern Europe to California and got to work. From recording pre-fame Don Toliver and Tobe Nwigwe to trying to keep up with Hit-Boy and Big Hit’s health regimen in the studio, Strauss knows exactly what needs to be sacrificed for greatness.

“They may go for 12 or 14 hours. Hit might sleep in the studio on some nights. Hit starts working around noon and finishes by 10:00 p.m. or midnight,” Strauss tells REVOLT.

In this installment of “Studio Sessions,” he explains how The Game changed his career forever, talks Hit-Boy’s father having garbage bags full of rhymes, and reveals what makes the famed producer a genius. Read the exclusive chat below.

Who were some pre-fame artists you worked with?

I worked with Don Toliver. I had a couple of sessions with him before he had a deal, and nobody knew who he was. They were doing a one-hour session, trying to record, and make two songs and ripping beats off of YouTube. I worked with Tobe Nwigwe, who started the same way. He was just nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammys in 2023. Last year, I believe. Before he built his brand and sound, I remember him pulling up to the studio and ripping beats off YouTube, maybe getting them off Traktrain. It was that type of workflow. It took some years for those artists to get good at their sound and for me to get good as an engineer.

The Game was the first major artist you worked with once you got to LA. There are photos of you two recording in what looked like a wooden attic.

It's not an attic (laughs). That’s the studio at Game's house. I believe it was a garage before he converted it into a room for his sneaker collection. You can put a studio in there, and I feel the sneakers help absorb the sound.

How did the wood paneling affect the recording?

With the type of vocal chain he had, it sounded good, man. You can't go wrong with a Sony C800, Neve preamp, and a Tube-Tech CL 1B. He also has the big Slate Digital Console in there. So, it sounds good in there, and that’s just the home studio.

Engineers are closer to a song’s sound than anyone else. Have you ever added anything to a record that impressed an artist?

I've been in the studio with Hit-Boy while I'm just doing crazy vocal effect work. I’ll send him the bounces, and he says, “Holy s**t, we need to do this whole album together.” I was going crazy with a bunch of delays, pitch shifting, and time compression on certain things. I like to do a lot of things manually.

The Game was a huge part of the career you have now...

When I moved to California three years ago, the first major artist I was in the studio [with] was Game. I just reached out to him. I was like, “I just moved out to Cali. I've been a fan of your music for two decades. I'm an engineer, and I'm trying to work with you.” At first, he was a little hesitant. But later on, he shot me his number, and then I kept bugging him for about a week until he finally told me to pull up to the stu. He’s the one who brought me over to the big studios. He brought me to Chalice [Recording Studio], where I was able to do those sessions with DaniLeigh, Benny Blanco, Bebe Rexha, and a lot of these pop artists. That all came off the strength of my working with Game. Once an artist of that stature gives you that stamp of approval, everybody suddenly believes in you. Before that, when I walked up to these studios with my resume and business card printed and asked to work, they told me I could be a runner.

You were seen working with YG, Big Hit, Hit-Boy, and The Alchemist. What came from that session?

We were working on music. We cut a bunch of records that night. They're not released yet. I'm not sure if that's something that might end up on Big Hit’s next album, Alchemist's album, or maybe YG’s album.

How long do those Hit-Boy sessions last?

They may go for 12 or 14 hours. Hit might sleep in the studio on some nights. Hit starts working around noon and finishes by 10:00 p.m. or midnight. I would go to the studio and clock in or start getting ready for the session around 8:00 p.m. or 10:00 p.m., then leave the studio around 8 a.m. or sometimes 10 a.m.

You mentioned Hit-Boy’s father, Big Hit. How did you help him get used to recording again after being in prison for nine years?

He obviously wasn't recording while he was locked up, but he was definitely writing and rapping while he was in there. He came home with bags of lyrics he wrote on medical slips because they took everything away from him; he couldn't have a pen and paper. He would have to find a way to put these lyrics down. I started recording him 10 days after his release. At first, those recording sessions were just him and me in there for weeks, if not months. He was just getting his ideas out because he had so many of them and was ready to go a cappella. We would be banging out about 10 songs in one day. He had all of these ideas without an outlet while he wasn't free. Now, I feel like the vocal process has changed. He's more comfortable with his voice because once you put your reps in, you gain a deeper understanding of what you can do with your voice, where you can push it, and you get more comfortable.

His voice had also opened up more because when he was locked up, there was a lot of dust in the vents that were f**king with his breathing and tone. His voice has been recovering from that because he's not forced to be in a cell and breathe bad air.

How have you observed Hit-Boy helping his father with music?

Hit is the mastermind of it all. He has the vision of how he hears the production and sees everything. He’s bringing Big Hit up in every way possible. That’s the most beautiful thing to see. I don't think SURF OR DROWN, Vol. 2 was intended to be a Big Hit and Hit-Boy album because I don’t think he was aware that Big Hit was getting released at that time. That was a beautiful moment.

Big Hit is dedicated to fitness. How have you seen that affect his studio sessions?

We all have been on our health tip. Everybody’s working out. Big Hit would say, “We gotta make five songs today and do 500 push-ups.” I’m just trying to hang in there with him. We mostly drink [alcohol] only at social events. Nobody’s really at the studio getting hammered or anything like that. We’re staying pretty focused and productive. We’re letting the creative juices flow.

What impresses you about Hit-Boy when he’s making music?

Almost every day, he reinvents himself. I’ve seen it with my own eyes and heard it with my ears while in the studio. I don't know how he does it. I walk into the studio, and he's working on a beat, and I'm like, “How did you come up with this? You haven’t done this before.” He finds different angles and pockets. That’s the genius in him.

There are engineers who have been kicked out of other artists’ sessions for being too slow. How do you keep up with the fast-paced environment at Hit-Boy’s Surf City studio?

I've never really been kicked out of a session for being too slow (laughs). I've bumped heads with artists before, but it wasn't because I moved slowly. Speed is important. You don't just start moving fast. It's like if you would try to play a piano piece, and it was a very fast-paced piece. You don't start practicing it fast. You start practicing it slowly. Then, you build up the speed. I feel like that's one of the most fundamental things in engineering. You have to perfect your skills. You have to know what tools you have in your arsenal and master those tools. After you do that, which probably takes a couple of years, you’ll start developing your own style. Once you develop your style, you'll start developing your speed; you're just going to start moving faster. There is no plug-in preset for style. There is no plug-in preset for speed.

What do you have coming for the rest of 2024?

I’m going to keep going crazy in the studio. I'm sure it's going to be a lot of these spontaneous moments that are going to continue happening. A lot of music is going to be released from Hit-Boy, Big Hit, and other projects we're working on. I don't want to speak too soon, but I'm definitely in my producer bag. We also just came back from our first Surf Club/Empire producer/songwriter/artist camp out in San Francisco, where Ghazi has built a beautiful state-of-the-art facility. We were locked in there for about five days. We made 100 songs between all the Surf Club producers, writers, and artists. I'm sure there will be a lot of cuts that got made in that camp that will be seeing the light of day.

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