All language subtitles for PART 4_EN

So, on the Music Bus,
I'm throwing the bass, the guitar,

the chords, all through a Music Bus
that's going to the mix.

And on that Music Bus,
I put this little OneKnob Pumper on here,

just to kind of give it a little bit
of subtle vibe to the song

since it's a dance record,
give it a little pumping vibe to it.

So, not major.

Between two and three was the setting,
just to kind of give it the vibe.

Most of the vibe from that pump is coming
from the kick and the bass,

so it just kind of enhanced
the feel of the song.

So, that's pretty much all I added
to the Music Bus outside of the drums.

Drums have
their own bus.

And then everything comes
together in the Main Bus.

So, that's pretty much…
Like I said, this is a really sparse song,

so there wasn't
a whole lot going on.

I widened a couple of things to
give them their space.

I added some reverb on some of
the melodies and stuff like that just to

give them their
space as well.

This Dirty Plate is a really
good-sounding verb by Valhalla Vintage.

We'll go with the lead.
We'll go with Sam's first verse.

I'm using a couple of verbs, some delays,
a delay throw, and a chorus on him.

So we'll dry
everything up.

Sam by himself.

So, the first thing I'll do
is I'll add in maybe…

…some chorusing to kind of thicken
him up a little bit to see how he is.

That's when I use...

...this setting I have on Space Modulator
with a couple of things I've added to it.

I'm just making them
sound a little thicker.

So then, when I went
to go choose my verbs…

…I just do a plate.

Two different plates.

One was a longer, darker plate.

One was a shorter plate.

So here's the first plate.

This is the second plate.

And in combination.

Then I also had a delay throw in here
with a reverb on it on certain lines

that he said
in the verse.

I'm using the EchoBoy
for that delay throw.

Followed by
a hall verb.

I use this little delay, Repeater delay,
just a little 40s tape insert plug-in

I use to just thicken
them up a little bit.

Very subtle.

Here's without it.

Add a little more character
to it, very subtle.

For Normani, I kind of did something
very similar to that, same verbs.

Because it can be
in the same vibe.

They have different tones,
which kind of makes the song,

because one is warm
and one is a little more sharper,

but they work well
together in the song.

As far as reverbs
are concerned…

…my favorites are, like I said,
Little Plate, Valhalla stuff.

So, on the choruses, on both of them,
there was some vocal effect stuff

that was added to it
to uplift the chorus.

So, on Sam's hook,
there was this…

…high octave vocal
verbed out.

We used the large room.

That's just his vocal…

…octaved up.

And on Normani's chorus,
they added a vocoder.

Same kind of vibe
verbed out.

Nothing major, just to
uplift the chorus slightly.

So, with her together.

Sam's with his.

It's just a different
color for the chorus.

And in the vamp of the song,
they added these little parts.

Background harmony parts.

So, those are all things that just
subtly come in throughout the song

to make it interesting
in different sections.

A little verb on her adlibs
to give a space to it.

This main vocal part,
this little effects vocal part

that goes throughout the song,
it's just a background part

that Sam sung, but we added a little
pumper to it to give it a vibe,

but it's verbed out.

This is without it.

Added a little Scheps to it.

A little SSL compression to it.

Verbed it out.

And add a little
pumper behind it.

Just added a little
vibe to the song.

So, on this track produced by Stargate,
I've been working with them

for a long time, so I kind
of know how they want it to sound.

So, when I get it in an area
where I'm comfortable with it,

and I might work on the song for a day
or I might be working on multiple songs,

but I'm working on a song for a day and
then maybe come in fresh in the morning,

take a fresh listen, just to
make sure there's any little things

that I might need
to change or tweak on fresh ears.

Then I'll just send it off to the guys
and just see what they have to say.

Usually, when I get comments from them,
it's very slight, minor changes.

But using that reference,
it helps me because it lets me know

where they envisioned
the song before I got it.

So it kind of cuts down on a lot of
the changes that I'll get back or feedback

that I'll get back
from them from mix notes.

So, on this particular song,
there wasn't a whole lot of mix notes

because the elements
were kind of there.

I think we maybe did some level changes
on a few of the instruments.

It wasn't a whole lot
of changes for this one.

I think I sent them maybe two
or three versions of it,

just trying different
things at different levels.

I think we came with…

The last mix was pretty much
close to the first one I sent out.

And that was pretty much
it for this one.

Other songs
can get complicated.

We can be tweaking for days or weeks,
but for something like this

which was pretty simple, it went pretty
smooth as far as changes were concerned.

And once I get their approval, then I just
prepare everything for mastering.

We print everything at mastering levels
and run my stems,

and that's pretty much
my process.

The one thing that's helped me along the
way, and I've learned this over the years,

was just taking breaks,
taking from breaks from just listening

to the mix over and over,
because you can get caught up

and be here for hours,
making changes and tweaks,

and if it doesn't seem like it,
and then when you come back the next day,

you're like,
"Why did I do that?"

So, taking breaks
for me helps.

I'm usually working
on multiple songs,

so if I get tired of working
on a song for a few hours,

or I want to just change up the vibe,
I'll maybe stop that song,

pop in another mix, get some work done
on that mix, and then come back

to the song itself.

And it helps
me refresh.

And a lot of times, when I pop that song
back on the first time,

I hear right off the bat what I need
to change, what sounded good,

what maybe not
sounded as good,

what maybe needed to come
up or down or whatever.

But taking those breaks
and then having that fresh listen,

even if it's a 10, 15-minute break,
and you come back in and you say,

"Okay, that's what
needed to happen,"

I've found, makes the mix a lot quicker
because you kind of can identify

what the things that are bothering you
or what needs to be changed.

Sometimes, like I say,
when you were in it, you're in it.

And you look up and six hours
have gone by, and you're like, "Wow."

So, the key thing I would advise people,
just take breaks

and reference other songs,
just listen to other stuff sometimes.

Maybe listen
to nothing.

But getting away from it
helps sometimes.

Also, as I'm having a monitor mix
or reference mix coming up

on my monitor session, I also have my
computer coming up on my monitor as well.

So I'll have a Spotify playing,
so I'll pick some songs on a playlist

and I'll have them going
as I'm mixing the song.

So, I can hop into
the reference mix.

I can pop into the songs that I've put
on a playlist on Spotify or whatever.

Or... you know
what I'm saying?

I'll reference stuff on a small speaker,
some consumer small speakers.

A lot of times,
I'm referencing stuff on my iPhone,

just listening to the mix on
something small and without big speakers,

because you
can kind of hear,

for me, a good balance
of what the song is going to sound like,

listening to that
on smaller speakers.

So, I maybe have three or four
different sets of speakers

that I'm constantly
switching to and changing.

I might do vocal rides
on a small set of speakers.

I might listen again on some
medium speakers, my Focals.

So, just working on different sets
for small periods of time helps me

get a good balance
between everything.

Like I said, listening on a smaller
speaker consumer product

sometimes helps me know what it's going
to be like any other day, because that's,

at the end of the day,
where we're doing the mix for.

Not everybody has Focals
and Augspurger in their house,

but they do have
the consumer stuff,

and that's really where
the stuff's got to sound good at.

So I'm constantly changing up
the monitoring of where I'm listening to.

Sometimes
it's in the car.

A lot of times, like I said,
it's on an iPhone or something small.

But that's about
how I use my monitors.

So, thanks
for tuning in to this.

I hope this helps some people as far as
their mixing process and moving forward.