“I just found a way to make the sound come out”: Rick Rubin says he still doesn’t know the “right way” to program an 808Rick Rubin still doesn’t really know the “right way” to program an 808 drum machine, as he learned to do so without a manual.
He made the confession during his new interview with Rick Beato, in which he explains how his Def Jam label – which he co-founded with Russell Simmons – got started. It’s Yours by rapper T La Rock and DJ Jazzy Jay was the first rap recording made by Rubin, in which he used the iconic Roland machine.

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At this point in time during the 1980s, Rubin felt that no rap albums were really made by professionals, and that “the professionals didn’t know what rap was”. As a result, rap recordings more often turned out as “polished” R&B records.
Rubin, who was much more involved with the culture of DJ-ing, wanted to make a record that captured the real lively essence of this scene, and just how it felt to him when he saw it live: “I wanted to make a record with the Treacherous Three ‘cause they were my favourite group,” he tells Beato. “They’d already made three great records and now they had signed to Sugar Hill and they stopped being great.
“Again, I know nothing about the music industry, all I know is I love this music. I met a guy in my favourite band who made great music and now he’s making not as good music, and I want to say, ‘let’s try doing this together’, and he says, ‘I can’t, I’m signed to Sugar Hill’. I didn’t even know what it meant, and he said, ‘but if you want to make a record, talk to Special K [Kevin Keaton, member of the Treacherous Three]. His brother is T La Rock, and his brother is not signed’.”

He continues, “We recorded this song, It’s Yours, and I had a drum machine that I borrowed from a punk rock band called The Speedies. Eric the guitar player lived in my dorm room. I borrowed his drum machine, an 808, so I had that in my room. He didn’t really use it anymore so I kept it in my room for a long time and programmed loads of beats just for fun and it’s really easy to program. I still don’t really know the right way to program it, I know how I programmed it because I didn’t have the instruction manual so I just found a way to make the sound come out.
“I had a PA in my room and a DJ setup, because I was a DJ at that time and I would DJ at the parties in the dorm… At that time most of the rap records that were coming out were like Kurtis Blow or Jimmy Spicer. When you went to the club you saw that the DJ was a really integral part of the way the music worked and I said, ‘I feel like instead of it being a T La Rock record, it would be better if it was a T La Rock and whoever your DJ is’. He didn’t have a DJ and my favourite was Jazzy Jay.”
You can check out the full Rick Beato interview below:

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