How To Get The Perfect Mix With MIXED BY ALI

this episode is sponsored by the hmd Rosetta EQ the EQ plugin that translates traditional EQ into everyday language to speed up your workflow as well as making easier decisions use the code Ali right now for 10 off at help me devon.com I'll leave a link in the description below now on to the episode all right we recording I just want to make sure because sometimes you'll be trying to catch us slipping before we start the conversation yo yo yo what's going on y'all it's your boy Devon Terrell welcome to the my audio nurse podcast for audio nerds like yourself please make sure you comment like And subscribe also make sure that you follow us on Apple podcast as well as Spotify podcast now before I introduced my guest that you are so annoyed with and you see every day have a very special guest today and this guest has really been pioneering something completely different in our entire industry I I don't I don't have to ring off this man's credits you know who this man is at nauseam ladies and gentlemen clap it up one time for mixed by Ali come on man you're making me blush my boy yeah yeah now he doesn't like I know he doesn't like to be like flattery he doesn't like that I know that but bro I always have to give you a flower so uh without further Ado let me just introduce you guys because you guys are here with me as well it's your boy I'm a Proto's user to the left of me you got the Ableton assassin it's your boy Courtney Taylor okay that was calm today I was trying to think of something last minute you know can I come up with that fruity loops you know team is in the building okay okay and Ali Daw claiming today man I mean I'm saying uh I'm Pro Tools you know that's right yeah me and my boy with two on one right now okay you know it's funny in the show I never had anybody that's an affiliate like that's Pro twos too like I never had not one person that's produce two but look who I got myself for your first one this is a huge one yeah for the last year yeah I have never brought her I'm not gonna lie are you fruity loops and I've started on food I started tracking and uh and recording them mixing the Fruit Loops we've seen you comment one time so this is great because this is a question I like to ask everybody as far as you was concerned as far as like how you started and how you got to like Pro 2 what was your Daw Journey like how where did you start in and how did you land here great question so I started in Cool Edit Pro right wow old school quarter Pro yep that's when I was chopping up the ringtones and doing the whole everything uh and then we we upgraded to Sony acid Pro I had a new download link from uh Sony acid Pro uh started recording and uh making Center Fruity Loops wow and that was it got you yeah that's wild Okay cool so so you know as far as everything is concerned as far as you just being a mixer and stuff like that I'll be honest with you I've watched a ton of your content like when it came to um a lot of the mixed people that we heard about and knew about like giving this game and just like letting us watch the process like you're one of those people that I put there because I remember your Twitch streams and stuff like that back in the day um how do you feel and I wanted to know this like how do you feel about the artist being in the room with you because a lot of times I've seen the artist in the room with you when you were mixing and stuff like that like how does that process work like how how it depends on artists you know uh I'm all about Vibes like if you know if the artist himself is you know a good friend of mine or you know we have a relationship outside the studio um let's hang out you know what I'm saying let's work on a record right um but you know at times I like to start the mixes you know where I can kind of just put my foot in it first when I'm about you know 80 through then I have the artist come through just so it's not that tapping on the shoulder right you know every two seconds so that's not this or let's try this to try that I like to you know uh spend a little time on the record just so I can kind of you know put my foot in there first right right um I heard like even Nipsey because y'all did Victory laps together he would only record it like certain times or um that was the first album he got professionally mixed right can you talk about that a little bit man what a journey um yeah Victory lap man that we were in we were at Paramount for about three months wow okay and we literally was sleeping there waking up Mike and keys 1500 in the booth making beats you know while we're in the control room just working mixing nip we're probably taking meetings off to the side right uh it was just man it was just a Time that it was the first album that yeah nip had really gotten mixed before that it was just you know him putting two tracks together and just putting stuff together right right um so during that process it was tons of just educating the process right you know instead of giving him the mix that's like you know negative ADB or whatever and it's like why is this so low compared to this reference I've been living with right and just right him understanding that from you know from from top to bottom right um but yeah like that was different like I said the energy of the whole just Studio was it was like I said I like to work with energy and people around me like that was just a complete Vibe right right you seem like you do you handle that really well because you know how it is like there's a lot of people that feel like I don't want the artist nowhere near me I want my process and stuff like that but ever like I remember one time I think I think one time I even seen you with Marty basey in the studio yeah yeah it was wild like I was like yo it's Marky basically like you just got Marky basically and he just chilling and what's funny is you're doing a background vocals and freaking Marky is just like it's just he happy like he like yeah I would be too um but you know another thing and the reason why the real reason why I'm really happy to have you here is because from a mixed engineer standpoint you know I've recently onboarded onto your platform as far as the engineers on platform is concerned and I learned a lot just working with you guys just behind the scenes where we was at name and stuff like that thank you for that by the way just giving us the opportunity for That Make Some Noise I'm sorry like all the time it's incredible thank you thank you thank you I have to support it yeah I appreciate it and I I'm thankful that you allow us to stand next to you in that regard because it means a lot to our fan ship as far as them like oh wait like to be to be for you to be sitting here it just gives such a validity to what we do you understand saying so we really appreciate that like trust me they're in the comments going crazy this is going to go you know how this is I'm a fan I'm a fan I've been a fan I'm glad thank you man thank you man another thing about your platform as far as Engineers concerned I think it's obviously revolutionary you know we love it to death as far as getting your money and just having like the a b system of um when you send it to a client for instance and you're just like here's an A B of your rapping because a lot of time I'll send somebody mix them like yo do me a favor play the play the reference first then play my actual thing so I feel like you guys have paid so much attention to detail and I can tell someone with a mixed background made this one thing that really impressed me was the fact that we have an onboarding call right so the onboarding call basically for everyone that doesn't know is um that's when they basically you get selected you move off the waiting list and they bring you onto the platform but you get an onboarding Zoom call for the platform and apparently it says mixed by Lee is going to be there blah blah so in my head I'm like he's not gonna be there it's gonna be some video my head is going to play some video and that's just gonna be it um and my man showed up scruffy was like what's good y'all like my fault like I know it's the morning and I thought that was really fascinating man like as far as just actually seeing you a part of the platform so like off camera you're talking about it as far as you being a part of it like why why do you constantly do the onboarding calls and stuff like that like why is that a part of your whole thing um I mean first and foremost like there's never been a platform built like Engineers right the jump right so the reason why we even created an onboarding process is while we're tweaking things under the hood right we can get it right onboarding users onboarding tons of Engineers using the platform get real-time usage talk to them I talk to users on a monthly basis right understanding what they like what they don't like right so going through that process right month after month after month after month is how we are able to build the tools and utilities that we are currently offering because it's coming from the community's mouth right you know so the reason why we have the onboarding is because like I mentioned there's not a platform built like this with a comprehensive tools and the workflows and all these things that we provide right so I want to make sure we get it right right you know if we would have just had an open platform for everybody to use because it was so early on we we let go the Bare Bones iteration last year when we launched Bare Bones iteration right to where we wanted the community to tell us what was the next thing for us to build on our product roadmap gotcha right so you know we wanted to be strategic in a way where we don't achieve failure you know we wanted to make sure that we're talking to users as they're booking projects after using it in real time right you know so once we talk to this month's batch of Engineers that's using it we can iterate on the things they asked us to right then we onboard the next but next month of Engineers with the the implement the implementing all of the new features they wanted then we can ask them how they like and continue to move up the change right you know for the first time there's a tech platform built by the people that's using it you know what I'm saying right rather than somebody in Silicon Valley that's trying to create a solution for an industry that never step foot in right you know and that's why we're getting this [ __ ] Mass adoption the way we are right now is right because for the first time we have something to stand on yeah yeah for sure it's it's it's becoming that and to let everybody know a lot of people think to themselves that the engineers they see on the TGO Bay they think those people aren't actually there but even when I spoke at a season they're like no we're on the platform like the actual you guys are actually on the platform so I just want to make that clear too A lot of people don't think like y'all are actually there and like available y'all are available right so um let's have some fun so I want to slide on over to our FL uh studio uh correspondent and I want to I want you to tell what you got for us today all right so we're gonna do one gotta goes so I'm gonna give you a bunch of one gotta goes you just gotta pick one one or the other waves um voice of God versus tape head oh damn painting is called they put me back against the wall yeah honestly I would say tape it I've been doing I've been I've been receiving a lot of sessions uh um well damn [Laughter] no I like I like to learn the voice that God gives uh-huh yeah I love the low on The Voice voice just throwing it on something gives it the low end without even having to tweak it right that plugin is just like the voice of God right it is yeah uh big studios versus intimate smaller Studios um honestly I prefer more intimate Studios I like to fit in a room like a glove yeah I feel like I get to hear imperfections in a certain type of way right um but the big ones for The Vibes you know what I'm saying those little sessions right it depends on what I'm working on you know if it's if it's sessions that you know require just you know me spreading it on the board and I need those 480 channels right um then you know then I don't mind it but you know if it's more you know just getting ideas tracking or you know just quick ideas and things like that then you know right yeah but I'm really I mean [ __ ] I'm a chameleon bro I couldn't you know I can put some headphones on my laptop and get to work yeah we know you're early beginning so I know you're trying to be wrong like I know it's like your sister yeah the big rooms you know saying crack the crack plugins and broken inbox yep and a broken mic um 2A versus 76. uh I like the two-way automation on what so you like to use 76 on instruments I mean it depends on what it is it could be instrument that'd be light or dark you know it depends on the text or the tone of the instrument but I like the two way on vocals is because it like it gives me this is this this compression like where it just for vocals that it it fills me puts in pocket for me a lot more gotcha a lot of vocals that you know a lot of sessions that I've been working on just recently um meet a lot of taming and you know I've been able to really achieve with the two-way a lot more got you question for you what's up what's the plug-in that you've added recently to Your Arsenal that you've been messing with because I see you saying you talking about like newer stuff like what's up honestly uh I've been getting tons of sessions uh with the God particle on It come on already coming I mean Engineers are just using crazy right now right you know just you know obviously I love doing mixes with nothing on the master right you know nothing on the mix bus I like doing a mixed drive right um and then I'll throw whatever was on the max the the mix bus uh I'll basically bring it back in just to see what you know the translation is between my mix and you know what they had it right um but the guy part of that is I've been getting some nice uh just some nice glue like it's been it's been it's it's been it's been it's been giving right what I'm saying right right so so my question to you so you when you say like you've been getting sessions with the guard particle when people send you these sessions are they sending you it with that like literally I plugging on is it printed no that's on it yeah I get the actual recording session uh that's the ones I really request because I try you know nowadays you know a lot of artists really want closer to the references possible right that's right you know so it's it's uh I request those recording sessions that they last bounce the reference from right um and then I kind of tweak it backwards from there got you so my question is say for instance you have a recorded session right like so you have the whole Pro 2 session and you're looking at the recording chain obviously coordination has some plugins on it how do you go about that like are you I'm sure you're not taking plugins off like how are you talking actually I'm I'm not broadcasting everything on the vocal chain gotcha I'll bypass it and I'll bring it back one-on-one I don't know what it's doing right because sometimes you know some images might be you know doing too much or too less or something right so I have to understand what each you know uh plug-in chain is doing you know just so I can kind of get the full context and then from there uh you know again go back and retweak it you know I've been doing a lot of just pulling back more you know uh my model nowadays is less is more you know and you know when I get a lot of these sessions you know the you know a lot of people are just completely just pushing these plugins to the max right so you know our majority of time pull it back a little bit and I'll do some some more game stage like on the board you know gotcha I still do a hybrid of of uh in the Box compared to Something in the board gotcha you know and the funny thing is I've been seeing even some conversations that you've been having as far as like you mix in the Box for the most part now if I'm not mistaken uh majority it depends on the session right but majority of the time instead of me spreading a whole mix of summit where I'll have you know a stereo kick and drum stereo base stereo vocal uh music right um you know yeah so I'll do a blender right so you so you're so I'm we've seen a lot of Engineers adopt this with the boards like right like because you come from I don't want to say come from that but you are very familiar with the SSL consoles and stuff like that you work on those um so I'm seeing a lot of Engineers makes a lot in the box but still use the board for summing which I'm finding ever like I'm seeing everyone starting to do that from a workflow standpoint because I feel like everybody was like yo I just like to be able to recall my sessions you can work on more sessions like that way and stuff like that so when it comes to summing right as far as the board what is the sound of something that you like as far as what it's not giving you in that Daw from a digital standpoint personally um you know it's just that that Clarity that depth you know uh you know obviously you know uh when you're mixing the boxing or you're dealing with digital Distortion all these things right um you know from just mixing analog and just having a hybrid you know setup since [ __ ] with 2013 now right um I I don't feel like I can achieve that type of depth or Clarity or or space in a mix without it you know what I'm saying I just love you know being able to really uh achieve that you know right and on the board you're able to push it a lot further you know especially I got a g plus uh one of the last ones ever production oh wow um and you know uh this is one of the techniques that I really learned from Dre is you know being able to clip the track in a good way to where it's giving you like that Dynamic that you really can't achieve right in the Box you know right and Dre used that G Plus too if I'm not mistaken yeah four thousand DG plus okay one of the last ones ever in production uh we got it from endoscope that was it was raised back in the days a good kid to pick a butterfly down wow before that Drake done tons of albums right right is that at your new studio by the way that you got no name got you we took over uh obviously if you don't know uh yeah uh Can-Am the whole death row oh wow that's the old spot that's crazy okay gotcha how did you how did you find like get how did that happen yeah it's a funny story shout out to Matt cause if he seen this he would be upset that I didn't bring his name money making Matt nah but it was uh it was a dreamville studio um for about a year or two okay uh you know I'm super close to the whole dreamful family's family um and uh I think they were they they were just letting it go or whatever and Matt was like yo you should come check this spot out right and at the time I'm not knowing his Can-Am right you know okay when you say Canada people just it just Rings Bells it's Legendary Legendary studio right uh before death row like legendary rock and roll I'm talking about like the Guns and Roses yeah Stevie Nicks you know Green Day like you know crazy crazy [ __ ] um and he's like yo I'm getting rid of the studio I'm getting rid of Studio I'm like all right bed I'm gonna come check it out and in my mind I'm like I'm mixing heavy like we just early in development of the platform like I don't have time for this [ __ ] right um and uh so yeah I pulled up I went to go check it out I'm already I'm looking at the bones like the whole facility is just like it just feels like the 80s like 80s and 90s right blue carpet stands left and right just a little trim and just so already walking in I'm just throwing up I'm like I'm just here supporting the homie at this point it's like yeah um and I'll be walking through I see the end we go all the way through to the rooms you know I see the back room the official room where pot get all eyes on me and right um and you know I'm like yeah this is cool you know whatever whatever right uh and then he's like yeah man so park did this and I'm like wait what he's like oh this is the old death row the Can-Am I'm like [ __ ] why do you start with that right exactly I would have took it when you if you would have just called me and said I would have been the hook exactly right um but yeah I mean energy brought me there you know what I'm saying that's wild that's crazy and I know that you guys I'm not if I'm not mistaken I've heard rumbles you guys starting to label on the whole nine is that true because I see noise was talking about it last time I was talking to him shout out noise uh no name recordings uh so we converted uh Can-Am Studios into no name Studios uh myself uh my business partner Dan Maynard um and then from that you know um you know how we even started the label right it's kind of crazy I don't think I told the story um you know it was Pete covet you know and again we're early on building this platform right and you know I'm just I'm getting ready to like launch the V1 right of Engineers just like the Bare Bones iteration right and I'm like you know I want to get I want to bring some awareness to it how can I create some type of like awareness of the platform to get some some early usage right um so I hopped on Twitch and I was doing like a lot like the live mixes on Twitch and I was doing like little things like that and I I we started this um this mixed by Elite competition right right you know I'm looking for artists to like select and I want to mix their song live on Twitch and right you know so uh we ran that for a couple months basically just where um artists would submit their songs via email I would listen to them you know on live on Twitch with you know people viewing as I'm playing like Call of Duty or just you know [ __ ] around right um and you know uh we had you know the people in the comments kind of voting on the records that they liked the most right and we ran this month after month after month and uh you know it was an artist name of Malik Moses right you know that uh you know it was submitted songs week after week genuinely like no [ __ ] you know he was winning off the train to just having music that stood out right you know uh and the fourth week comes and we're like yo like you know we asked him offline to send some more music or whatever right we flew into L.A you know and we wanted to kind of just kind of test the waters you know we've never personally I've never worked hard outside of like you know the Kendricks of the world like I've never you know what I'm saying right um so he came out and we just bonded like his brothers and you know from there we say yo let's do something I don't know what it is I don't know what it could be but right you know through like Community Building initiatives with Engineers we were able to start now no name recordings right he's not the first artist that we signed that's all right so um circling back on Trey on the one gotta goes I had the chronic versus o1 whether you want to do mix or just your favorite you're asking me which one I like that makes all the favorable combined uh come on damn so overall yeah okay I mean they both like they both had this thing like The Chronic the original chronic had that funk like real Funk reference George Clinton parliament's worm since everywhere like you know like but the chronic just slaps I would say 2001 because that album really shaped my childhood like right right just you know growing up in Gardena and just being from L.A right um you know those are the hours you know that album definitely listened to it and it was like this is you know the soundtrack of La like this is you know this is you know you're able to paint that picture by listening to these songs right um and you know as I'm you know embarking on my early music Journey these are the references that I wanted to live to sound like right you know right right so definitely The Chronic yeah [Laughter] um and the last joint and that's to the day of reference though well like who doesn't reference the Chrysler that's just yeah yeah um last joint rmx reverb versus Valhalla the real RMS yeah the real one yeah so that was actually one of the first reverbs I ever started using like a real battle version of I was right at the studio in La uh Encore um it's like where we were uh we mixed like all the early J rock records and stuff right I had one there right and using that in real time was uh you know was that funny game changer it was fun to use it and stuff like that uh outboard gear is always going to be the way because it's like you are the mouse like you're really literally in the room something about it it's just you know it's it's your Hands-On like right you're not you know for some reason why I'm mixing the box I'm always counting and I'm looking at the red I'm looking at the meters like I'm always just that's like number basing right yeah right I rather I'd rather mix off a feeling you know got you you know speaking of your uh your younger days and stuff like that um I'm aware that you were the guy in the street selling the um ringtones yeah 20 Hollow ringtones what you need so I want to know and I want to understand how the hell did you figure that out like how did you figure out like how to be the ringtone guy because everybody knew one too but like how was you how was you doing that like how did you establish that business that ass like I was really like interested in that I was like how like how did you figure that out I'm a hustler boy no it's it um the ringtone I mean I was at that time you had a chirp phone you was up like yeah I had to light up antennas the battery packs we'll find them they were just so happy to land off the back of a truck right uh but you know ended up being the phone guy but the ringtones it was uh I just always been computer literate right you know just always just love coming to computer games I just you know those things you know they just always intrigued me right um and I just found a program that you know was able to hack the phones and you know put real voice ringtones on them rather than just those beeping Rings right the Polyphonic ones he was laughing at my eyes everybody had Fur Elise yeah uh but then I pulled up you know what I'm saying I got the homies just uh recording like parody ringtones clowning whoever's calling uh right you know we're talking about moms just calling pick up whatever the case was right you know and uh and yeah that actually just the start of my journey and recording right just uh yeah being able to have people come over with headphone mics and uh you know record these jokes and it turned into hey I gotta I gotta do a song you think you can record a full song for me right um and that was like the spark right and if and from that spark basically as far as your Tech background because I feel like a lot of people that get into mixed engineering we're like really computer like Savvy like for me too like I was I went to school for computer engineering I just one day decided I was like this ain't it I was like I don't want to sit behind this incredible something like yeah I just was like I'm done and I went I went over the full set that's when I changed but like as far as your journey I just know that that was really a big part of your journey and like how you got to like meeting Kendrick and all that stuff like how did that whole relationship develop with y'all as far as everything is concerned as far as working in the studio like your audio side as far as like okay I'm really recording now like what was that I mean it started from the plugins I mean from the ringtones uh right like literally in my grandma's house I lived across the street from my high school um so like after football practice you know homies will come over right in my closet I had you know I'm saying the bed sheets up in the closet you know I'm saying I had the headphone mic on the edge right and you know I I think I I had an M Audio solo interface the AKG headphones oh my God the Audio Technica because that was the exact mic yeah we was in there yeah but that was my exact setup you know that's when I was recording and Cool Edit and as like it started intriguing because I had severe I still do severe ADHD right so like that was the one thing that like really can like calm me down you know what I'm saying man Focus yeah um so from that I just like started learning just looking up you know what was I doing right audio engineering right finding uh whatever I could find online wire like I'll download the next one was like you know Sony acid Pro right um learned that when I was like a more professional doll for recording way more um and just continue to be like a student bro like I was on the blogs on the forums learning the [ __ ] right like you so I've heard that she was like on gear space and a lot of stuff like you don't understand yeah I don't think I would have found that one yeah you know me either what is this site it was a bunch of nerds like just chopping it out it was a dope that was like the first inkling for Community it was you know what I'm saying because like I'm in the forums bro like you know looking at DIY Studios where people can post how they built their right bass traps and things like that right um you know there's a you know a section where you can upload your mixes for people to review right just it was a good conversation it was like at this time like I'm still like coming in from out the street so it's like none of my homies was on this none you know what I'm saying so like nobody was like you know trying to talk about how they connected the speakers to like you know yeah like it wasn't a thing but no gear space since gear slots they was doing that they were talking another language like right right so that you know that is furthermore you know I always like complicated [ __ ] you know things that I don't understand I like to be challenged right right and you know me falling in love with audio engineering like that was something I was now challenging me because like I'm not couldn't afford the music schools you know I couldn't I didn't know anybody in my circle that was a [ __ ] musician at the time right right um you know so you know that just you know something I don't know I'm gonna do whatever I can to learn it right and I'm aware that you guys recorded you recorded Kendrick and all of that other stuff just with the at2020 during this time it was Tiger so uh oh God yeah it was Tiger it was a funny story if you look up Tiger's uh Young on probation mixtape from like oh three you see mixed by Lee undercover oh wow that's funny man that's crazy it was actually that one that was doing all the early stuff um right yeah it was the usual Corner that at 2020 I think that's the one wow that's set up that same setup the 1820 the AKG headphones uh the m audio solo man if I listen to that whole album that Big slap bro you're the one right with the setup um that's that's still and then um you know just going I I really enjoy your journey so I'm just kind of walking down the road um and within that Journey you know obviously um you know the people that you were surrounded by obviously catching traction and they'd start to have a buzz around the city and stuff like that and I understand that Dre took an interest in Kendrick and that's kind of where your um kind of I don't say understudy but that's kind of where your mentoring [ __ ] from Dre kind of came from his stuff what was that like for you you know what I mean just coming from the guy with the ringtones to the at2020 to kind of like yo we in here with Dre and just kind of working and stuff like what was that like for you like that whole like introduction what was that first day like I mean it was it was you know from the 80 2020 to like the Drake a whole like six years seven year probably say five or six year Gap from like doing all the like the early Kendrick the early J-Rock right I have so like you know really doing a lot of the TD stuff right um but getting like you know once Kendra signs to Dre you know because we really developed the sound together you know you go back and listen to the section 80s of the world like there was nothing out out during that time that sounded similar right right um so you know getting with Dre it was like you know no doubt was like oh like you know that's you know I want Ali to be in there with you because you know say we have a sound that we want to cater to right right um and it was intimidating as [ __ ] I bet are you kidding me that's what I was thinking yeah man Drake could have been doing anything I'm not gonna say nothing right bro you know but like just the way he the way you know uh you know Dre opened up you know just with open arms you know it was it was inspiring you know right it's like somebody at the Statue you know I'm saying just at least attempting to listen to you know what I'm saying the sounds that we're creating though the way we're putting these together right um you know it was humbling you know what would you say is the biggest thing you uh probably learned from that you itching I got you I got you because I felt like that I got it go ahead you asked him there answer that first okay I was gonna say what would probably be one of the biggest things that okay as far as the aha moment like within just working with him like obviously it's day in day out yeah kind of working and stuff like that what was up that you was like oh [ __ ] like that really caught you like oh that's dope like I didn't like that's a way to do that like what was one tell me the board right you know what I'm saying that like working on the console like it wasn't until you know uh really connected with Dre when you know the concert was anything in my life bro right um you know so it was just being able to you know uh clip the board like I speak of that technique of being able to push that board and push that G Series right um the way where you know you're getting positive you know Distortion if that makes sense right right um you know it was learning that you know because again I'm a kid with no formal training trying to follow a book that I've never read yeah right you know so it's you know I'm sitting here making sure nothing's going over zero like yeah and then when I'm seeing him you know what I'm saying like you know I'm saying going crazy and then you know learning you know uh you know the sweeping style of EQ in the way you know I was taught it uh it was um you know it was it was it was incredible you know it was shaped it shaped you know my whole career my sound like the way I look at mixing the way I approach mixing right right but and when you say for instance when you talk about because you talk about this a lot as far as that clipping that board a lot of people do that especially that for that uh G yeah how are you going about that process are you literally just going to the fader and bat and just hitting it like just turning it up it depends on how on the input coming out of uh Pro Tools going in right so you might have something coming hot out of Proto Pro Tools going in and how you know uh you know I would convert because obviously coming out of Pros was into into the board that's when you start getting that that uh analog or that digital Distortion right so but sometimes you know I might get a track where you know I might lose a lot of the energy of the presence because I pulled it back in the box to not get that right so right right um you know what we would do was uh I was taught to bring that down right to make sure you get some more hair in the Box clip it just literally clip it in the board you know if I have to I'll use a line trim up there to you know to get the volume down but it's still clip got you that's what I was wondering if y'all were hitting it with the line like are you clipping it from the input like I'm clipping it from the actual I know I'm turning it down so once I clip it on the board uh from the from the faders then when I go to the line and turn it down from there gotcha okay okay then he bring it back in then you can bring it back into the box and that's it wow you know doing that you know specifically on like drums and you know on hats and percussions and things like that right you know if you go back and listen to Chronic you know you know uh how the kicks and snares you know hit on top of you are the kicks and hi-hats right to get that Peak right um you know so that's that's one thing where I was like yo like there are no rules in this [ __ ] right yeah you know that's like the honestly I was a real pivotal moment in me thinking about I need to stop thinking about this right right and I peeped that from Neil um when like we literally just posted that clip today like about Neil right right yeah same concept right it's like just this feeling that's music right right you know I feel like when you put in the box with thinking about the rules right you just really creating a ceiling for yourself that doesn't really exist right you know uh and you know me learning that early uh you know it definitely was a pivotal moment you know for my career that was it what was you itching for brother man he kind of he kind of touched on it but I do want to know um just going back on your time at TDE and you're working with Susan you're working with Kendrick and you're working with all these different genres with our alt r b which is when control came out or something we never heard it kind of Changed music and um it's a pimp a butterfly Jazz you're working with a lot of funk and stuff like that so how was that just attacking working with different genres um I mean it was just it was always a New Journey for me because again I'm coming off of not knowing [ __ ] you know what I'm saying so right coming off a good kid to then jumping into a paper butterfly right right two different worlds I'm I'm tracking like full full bands right I'm mixing upright bases like I'm I'm working with instruments I've never heard of before you know what I'm saying just again because it's not coming from no musical background right um but you know the the transition it taught me so much right it taught me it taught me patience more than anything right um you know during the time of mixing to peel butterfly uh you know I did a lot of studying you know because you know it's good to understand like it's good to know what you don't know right um and you know I wanted to make sure yes I wanted to bring a flavor of what I'm doing when it comes to mixing engine to this album but I still want to cater to you know the original way these these instruments and how things are supposed to be laid out right did a lot of studying um you know went back and listened to the Mo Better Blues soundtrack um went back and listened to Abbey Road tons of Abbey Road right right um and you know the parliament storage Clinic you know went back and listened just uh they're laying out the textures right how they're panning you know a hat or a snare you know 25 rather than just you know just just just understanding you know the Landscapes right and kind of apply that to my workflow with this new album right and I peep that when you uh you did mention that and you were talking about um which is something I really wanted to touch on as far as like do mixed Engineers have the ability to mix other genres because and that's the reason why I want to bring it to you is because knowing you did to pimp a butterfly for instance and I've seen you talk about that where you said I had to study like I had to figure out okay I'm recording up our base and I appreciate your honesty on that because a lot of people just be like kind of be like yeah I got it like you know what I mean it's just like bro you don't know like you don't know the landscape you know what I mean it's like sometimes if I get a record and I'm like okay I'm a little bit out of my wheelhouse let's see if I get something that feels a little more rockish right then I have to go study so what I say to you is and you kind of touched on already but how did you go about studying like when you got the idea when they said okay this is what we're doing like how did you go about studying did you just immediately start going to records in the genre like and what were you looking for in those records I heard you say textures I heard you say a bunch of things but what were you looking for in those records just how the instrument how the instruments laid out right you know uh textures like you know you go back and listen to Old Funkadelics right how you know the hot the hats and the hi-hats and the snares with the driving records or the driving instruments right um you know just just understanding and really reaffirming a lot you know it's the real it's reaffirmation of you know uh yes it's okay to pen the snare a hundred to the left right you know yes it's okay for you know the kick or the drug you know for whatever the case for it there was just you know it just reaffirmed that you know music is all filling you know right um you know and you know during those times going back uh doing those studying and it was again you know I'm not mixing live instruments you know I'm coming off of good kid my city you know the first rat before that was mixing two track beats right you know so again even just mixing uh understanding how to blend a live [ __ ] Bass with a program drum right and I want to go and feel what that felt like when they were doing you know instruments where it was all live or it sounds so they're all loud instruments right so it was it was again it was just understanding I was doing my history right and just studying the entire thing and stuff and the cool part is like after all of that I'm like well [ __ ] I you know it's I'm already doing majority of things that I'm learning right it's just again that the concept of of no rules right right so that's wild like I was I was thinking about that a lot and I was like um just trying to understand like your thought process because I know for some people right like I've made this mistake a long time ago where it's like for instance afrobeats I learned this the hard way I was I remember mixing the afrobeat years ago like before it became like a thing had these African guys come into the um studio and they had afro Beast thing I never knew what afrobeats was and I mixed it like a hip-hop record and they quickly told me wrong they was like this is not I was I was like Fred fam this slaps like I was like what are you talking about but I learned that lesson there's different driving points you know right uh it's funny because I asked this question similar to uh to Dro okay yeah not this year um and you know he's uh he's from South America so like just in his bloodline like just you know percussion and percussionist and just like focusing on those instruments right uh were heavily but um it's like yeah you know when you're working on different you have to understand what are the driving points of a record right as a mixed engineer that's the main goal yes yes you can make something slap and you can't just push the low end but you know that's not always you know what the focus is right right times where the vocals or the focus you know you want the drums and everything else to play the back yeah um you know and another time I learned this I was working with Foster the People um there was an album that they did uh the secret hearts club which I did completely just shout out to Mark Foster incredible Mark shout out to you my boy um but you know that's when like obviously they booked me because of the work that I did but then I had to like confine to what their rules were in that genre right you know right and you know I've done multiple passes uh on the records that I was mixing just to pull back all of the things that I thought I was killing at the low end and drums and you know things like that because you know it's mostly instruments and vocals that they wanted right right as opposed to us you know our Niche to that kid I wanted to slap I don't want to hear nothing bad habit yeah actually I would say my favorite mix from you uh is on we cry together because it's not it's not a record today you know I mean it feels like Cinema um auditory Cinema so and just I would love to hear about that because I'm listening to the record it's it's a room bro yes two it's a couple arguing you hear the keys you hear the drink with the ice in it wild it's insane the footsteps oh that's that that's all Kendrick like that like the last album was one of the one of the only album I was the least involved with um I I mixed about eight records on the album originally uh because Manny did the other records and how that works and how Doc puts the album together it's all about flow and sequence yeah so you know my mixes might have clashed with Manny's mixers right in the way where they weren't transitioning in a way where you know what I'm saying so um that's how things dwindle down to the one record uh you know but that's like he's like he's been like that right being able to curate scenes within the song right right you know like that's if you go back and you know listen to like a lot of the older joints just you know uh is he has his ability to paint these pictures that you know I've never been able to see before with any other musician right yeah like um Zulu love uh complexion or to put butterfly like just the blend of those two records that's my favorite record when I joined yeah it's just because it feels like yeah I figured out how to make it so seamless I mean it's creating scenes man this is what I'm talking you know it's again creating music that people and everybody can relate to right right you know just the way he does it is different because it's you know I don't know how one person can really put that amount of thought and detail into something and to see it come together and it'll have the pieces you know you know the engineers The Producers the whoever putting the piece together to achieve these goals right right it's a different type of art you know I see uh I I for my mistake I think you guys if I said his name wrong please forgive me if yeah I use Mike Bosey a lot we we use Mike Bosey uh for a lot of uh like all the stuff that I did with Kendrick right like a lot of the master and stuff yeah I see I have like a really tight relationship because I see him mastering Everything Kendrick wise and stuff like that when you guys are creating these projects and stuff like that because like he said like those projects just have like as soon as it comes on it's like this a certain sound in a certain texture is going to stay in my ear for the whole time then when I put on another song it's like we're out of that world so it's like oh as far as like creating that cohesiveness right right how are you guys going about creating that cohesion that's why I brought Mike in because I know masteringwise he has to also play a part in that 100 yeah so how are you guys creating that cohesiveness um I mean transitions you know uh you know obviously when you put an album together you know when you go back to like any of the good kids the peanut butterflies you know damn um even Mr morale right you know what I'm saying everything you know it's creating this they're like Legos right putting the blocks together and then filling in the spaces right um you know but it's then also just understanding just direction of an album right you know there's a lot of emotion that you're taking a listener on when it comes for the ups and the Downs right of course right you know sequence of an album is really you know it's really important like I don't think a lot of people is you know a lot of artists nowadays are just putting songs together and just dropping yeah just giving out a playlist you know what I'm saying like that you know when you secret to album and really have intention behind you know the Cadence and the flow of an album right that's you know I really you know you're really able to tell a story right you know that's always been the jump if you go back and listen to you know the Kendrick Lamar OD you know EP I'm sorry go back to EP right everything has always been about you know um you know having you know being able to tell a story right in a sense right and you know when so when it comes to you guys creating that that type of like setting so you guys are have all the songs you're mixing and now you're creating those transitions are you guys bringing like say for instance all the songs into a pro tool session like and then kind of like okay we have all the songs laid out in the Pro recession now we're starting to create the transitions are you guys doing it that way yeah I'm saying drop it in the session uh track after track have the track you know what I'm saying uh in that in that sequence session you know you know there'll be other tracks where you do that in you know production or you know more vocals uh you know it's funny we were doing this at mastering for uh for damn right um it was one of the records we're at mastering um and I'm actually on the background of what was like we were in there just in the back just cutting over the Master Tracks right right wow so it's like those sessions you know again you know production vocals uh sequencing right uh you know it's canvas right you just continue to paint right and then from there also the trick that we did was we took the two we took the two track like the balance of the two track instrumental and then we put the bounce of the two track vocals um just to give a little bit more separation over vocal over music gotcha okay so you know that's I'll do that to this day you know in uh in all my mixes uh you know when I sequence when the mixes are done everything's approved why um and we put the album together um you know I'm always dropping the bounce two track uh stem you know with the two track vocal right and it gives you just that it just sits the vocals just that much more on top wow so so you're doing a so you're separating so let me let me understand what you're doing so you're basically doing a print of the instruments everything and then you're doing a separate print of the vocals by itself and then and then in the sequence I'll drop in that print of the instrumental in the print of the overall two-track vocal and I'll do that for every song that way also I can EQ if you know if some vocals might be a little too sharp a little too bright compared to the record coming in or out of another song right you have a little bit more control over the process wow let me tell you why that's so great because say friendly when I'm mastering my project which I know I shouldn't be doing when I'm asking my own project right um obviously what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to create that cohesiveness and even from a low end stamp let's say the low end for instance I'm like oh like the low end is just way different and it just kind of goes away compared to the other one so what sometimes you'll make the mistake of doing is trying to get this one louder killing the Dynamics of that because you're trying to compensate for that but you saying I'm not gonna lie that's a life-changing thing you just gave me because now that I'm thinking like oh just have the two-track vocal and the and the uh the instrumental I can have more flexibility over just kind of like over more limit on the instrumental you just add more low into the instrumental and then you you know and I don't mess with my vocal any at all and sometimes I just be wanting to turn up sometime I just need to turn up the vocals just a little bit on that particular Master as opposed to saying I need to turn up the overall value bro you have no idea I'm so mad I would do vocal rides like you know again it's all about the overall project right right every song is a chapter in a book you know right uh you know so you know you want to make sure when you flip that page right right you still moving on with the story right um you know so you know again vocalized you know the sequence session at times can look like you know uh you know yeah yeah it can look wild like I'm sure it could look crazy like tracks on tracks on tracks yeah that is that was yo I'm not gonna lie if you if there was one thing you came for today bro I'm already I'm like oh that's how I could do it but I like that you guys work with uh Mike he seems to really really get it yeah um you know as far as everything you know um I feel like you seeing you work on records was so important for me as an engineer like just from your Twitch streams and stuff like that and you put us onto a lot of plugins especially that voice of God I feel like they should be I feel like yeah they should just have your face on it actually code how did you how did you find that plugin how did you stumble on that plug-in like that one um I mean from the jump bro like my whole thing like I would I would sit in a studio and I would put every plug in that every everything that I had in my in my in my toolbox and I would throw it on a vocal and throw it a snare throw it on the base I would I would literally go down hundreds of plugins and just try [ __ ] right right you know there's just so many right you know uh and that's that's how I really find like that's when I really just build a Rolodex of you know how certain things give other things texture or space or something whatever the case might be right um and you know it was one time I I it was one time after the voice of God just on a baseline on a live Baseline um and the way I just gave it this body the way it just like I get right it gave me everything I needed to do without doing nothing yeah you know what I'm saying you just literally throw it on like a base or a kick or what you know uh you know a vocal right um and you know I just fell in love with it from there you know and yeah and she's been kind of be some something that's been my go-to for a long time now yeah I don't see it going anywhere I don't see it go anywhere for you because every time I've seen you put it on it's like what I always it throws me off because it's like it's not even like it gets louder right it just feels like it gets like like more intelligible and more just better it won't be like actually explain it but it does something and then I seen you using the tape pad which is why we had that in there yeah a lot I see using a tape head a lot uh and I'm guessing you are using the tape for like like saturation yeah Federation aggression uh yeah yeah got you just to give the kick some more like top pop like anything really like I would just percussion I'll do drums uh I I there was a time when I was using the tape had uh like on background vocals oh okay um to kind of give it like a little Lo-Fi greediness like you know what I'm saying gotcha um you know but then I'll throw it randomly I'll throw it like on a Reverb chain right right you know to give that a little more like presence right interesting so you throw it on a she would throw the tape at like a saturation or anything anything that I want to give like some grit to gotcha I'm saying so like you know with me and verbs and and things like that like I like to I do a lot of like spacers [ __ ] with verbs and things like that I like to get it a little bit more um you know when you think about a verb in my in my world when I think about a verb it's it's like a a pillow that like is is is over the vocal it's like it's what's covering a vocal right right I try to have that be as present as possible if that makes it like sitting on top of the vocal gotcha um you know again I don't know if that makes sense no um I understand for the most part for sure people watching this if you got this one I think you might understand um so but it goes back to the concept but let's just try and [ __ ] like you know what I'll put like you know I'll do anything or anything right that's what makes it what's what feels good what makes like it's not a [ __ ] like it's not computer science right it's what feels good you know there's no rules right and one and with the Reverb and stuff like that which I want to know what's your Reverb that you're using right now like what's a favorite Reverb you is right now I love the ball Oliver now I used what's the orange one the 1770s yeah I was good that's what I wanted to know orange one don't know why it doesn't but what else is there uh verb wise uh as far as your Reverb and stuff like that is concerned is there any processing you're doing um to the Reverb and stuff like that like it's because you mentioned your Reverb change so I'm really interested in that like is there anything that you're doing to your Reverb chain in particular tape on there uh uh Kramer said with like a delay the delay in the Cramer tape is legendary uh within the Kramer tape then the Kramer tape um uh do a lot of like Imaging out there like that's what image Runner depending if I'm trying to get the vocal to sit more on top of the mix or just inside of it um you know I do a lot of panning of of the verb or or of the delay there's any effect right right like with mean effects it's like I like you to sound dreamy like you know my my way of mixing like mine I want I want you to experience the mix I want you to pop out the speakers I want things to uh you know to kind of to kind of I want you I want you to feel the mix you know I want you to experience it right right so yeah and that a lot of the times when I'm using verb like again I'm using it for separation also and you want to forget right how are you liking spatial in that regard then like the new this new frontier spatial and just like mixing and stuff like that how you liking it so far I mean I'm doing less work of achieving Clarity right with because you have so much so much space right you know you're able to get that depth and Clarity that I'm looking for right I still feel like we're in the early phases of it you know when it comes to mixing like Adobe Atmos because you know there's still all the tools are still not really available yet right right you have like a limited amount of tools that you can use right um you know but um you know for the most part you know I asked tons of potential right I always equate to the time of spatial audio currently um from like when it went from monitor stereo right going back from like 69 to roll down before that yeah right and it's funny when you go back and listen to like Abbey Road when I was remixing stereo right and you're not hearing the hi-hats and snares will mix all the way to the left yeah yeah I speak about that a lot too they're experimenting right you know and I feel like we're in that phase Now with uh with Adobe almost a special audio right that's a great way to equate it because I remember I was listening to like old Ray Charles records and when they they were first discovering stereo dudes doing whatever his vocal will be in the right speaker and then all the music yeah that was kind of weird yeah it's like going back and listening to it oh okay wow look at that like yo because I'm sure that you know the Abbey Rose and you know they were mixed and model first yeah they were certainly right I have all this the stereo field now like let me let me let me try some [ __ ] spatial first started like I would say the last year name was in the Dolby Atmos rooms is just listening right compared to this year's name oh it's like oh y'all playing with it yeah it's more access you know it's more access on even with the engineers platform we certify engineers in the format appreciate that by the way yeah but it's you know it's going to be there right as soon as like you know the community gets their hands on it you know uh which is happening now right we have more and more Engineers enabled Adobe almost every day right uh you know those are gonna be the ones that are going to be breaking it and and creating those those techniques and why you know the processes and you know just the styles that makes really once you know more artists I know artists producers are doing it but most people are creating fully like in animals from jump right I think that's when like the capability will really be exposed I've been seeing a lot of have you ever seen like the uh 3D Sims so it's like these new Sims engines that they're making that are built and as soon as you play it it's in Atmos yeah it's a verb and everything it's a 3D if you type in 3D Sims that's like the new like kind of like genre of Sims you've been seeing it like you've been seeing Oh it's been coming up a little bit I've been seeing it I've been noticing incredible yeah but I was trying to figure it out because I just feel like when it comes to spatial and when it comes to Adobe Atmos I feel like it just has to slowly it's getting cheaper and cheaper it's for us of course like for a home person at home to get into it I remember we went and Sonos did a display and Sonos had like it was weird they had like this four speaker set up yeah but like one would shoot into the roof and it was the hitting the whole room correctly and stuff like that so I feel like over time I actually feel like this is actually going to work because a lot of people were skeptical like about it I'll be honest like we were all like No One's Gonna use this but when I look at cars I'm like duh this is perfect for cars like as far as being able to have like everything and then just seeing everyone just massly adopted it's like when I seen it on your platform teaching it I'm gonna take this class but like I'm gonna physically take this 100 I mean it's about enablement right right you know it's like I feel like um you know for them for the first time ever there's more content that needs to be worked on in this format than or enabled Engineers right able to work on it right right um and you know so you know provide writing education to be able to get enabled and then us being able to you know have deals where bringing at most projects to these Engineers right again it's just growing their businesses but it's it's it's being able to have engineer there was for so long right before technology was really think when I was coming up it was it was never it was always like keeping people like me out of the room in the conversation yeah you know what I'm saying it was like you know whether it was me not having money to go to music schools you know to to officially learn what I need to learn right um so it's like now it's like you know we wanted to provide that access you know we might spark the next Dr Dre through you know these educational experiences right or so on so it's like right instead of pushing pushing pushing everybody away like We want to give everybody what I'm saying now like you know my legacy could live to them now oh yeah for sure I forgot who the Legend um from USC teacher he's helping you right yes right he's a complete Legend crazy story shout out to Brian Lewis manual human being right like you know what I'm saying like just a super great guy uh but funny story is I got connected to him through one of our graphic designers Mo uh which Mo was in his course at USC um but then when I got connected with him we invited him by the studio and um and crazy stories the room that we're in he built that room in 79 when it opened 79 he built that room he built that room with his own hands right so how that came about full circle when you go back in Can-Am Studios like Brian he's the one that built the room right I know he was like Hey I built this room I was wigging out he came with a photo he came with a photo of them I was like it was like it was one of those moments like nah no no me I'm saying like just you saw uh yeah just being able to connect with him and now he's helping uh educate all the engineers in Dolby Atmos that's right yeah which I thought was so dope you know I I like the space that we're starting to create um you know before we get out of here I like the space that we're starting to create just amongst like all these platforms like I see yours you know Adobe Atmos I see like the mastering.com it's like kind of niching to people like as far as like hey like you if you want to learn this like we'll kind of like it's an easier way because I come from there was no YouTube there was no anything like I just had to literally either I was going to uh email you a thousand times until you answered me and beg you just to come and just work for you or um I was gonna go through like some school and pay a lot of money you know what I mean and I didn't have you know that the trade-off we both went to audio school so we know the Vibes you know what I'm saying so you know I just want to say man you know I really appreciate what you're doing you know um I feel like this is just the beginning for you you know just as far as like what you're starting to create and what you're doing I want to say you have an amazing team I love your team to death I mean oh yeah I was happy to see them when I seen him walk through the door shout out to them when I seen him I was about to say can I shot can I shout out like them out real quick I just wanted to let y'all know like Nam 2023 was like the most amazing and streamlined experience for us because Ali and his team are by far and all the fence intended to any other crew I've worked with they are the best and most professional team I've ever worked with oh yeah can I tell you something incredible shirt right now all right bring it up five because I ain't gonna lie because I had it on like I generally had it on like like coming the other day I had it on and I was like nah that's whack it's a found dealers my mom was like your music sounds like [ __ ] like I was like what you talking about we got to get you uh the sound dealers yeah oh yeah I love those yeah yeah please please I love which y'all merch like just the brand yeah we love the shirt like the texture we big on that like we like it's a good shirt it's not like that you know that comes from fashion like before yeah him being involved with engineers and all that right he comes from the fashion background right um You Know Dan is the person that you know helped get all my business Affairs in order gotcha you know what I'm saying so there will be no Engineers if it wasn't no Dan you know gotcha gotcha but now I just want to with what you guys are doing I've been the fastest day one right you know there's not too many people that you know can express this industry the way you guys are right right thanks thank you um and it's you know I'm I'm grateful to be able to you know be in network with you guys yeah man we appreciate you just being here like it means a lot to us but I know it's going to mean a lot to like the community that's watching us do like it's gonna be so much because I think a lot of people see people like us and in this industry and it's hard for them to give us a shot in a sense of taking a serious but I just feel like our community that we're creating is growing so strong that suit that you it it it's becoming something that's undeniable as far as a voice as far as being hey yeah we are like this like this is how we really are like shout out to like the people that come before shout out to the pencils places like without those places out this wouldn't exist you know because I didn't think it was possible like when we would see you on Posada pensado place and stuff like I was like yo yes interview these guys I'm talking to someone that technically knows how to speak to you you know like I could sit here and ask you without time so what was your life like blah blah but deep down as an engineer when I'm watching that snare bro like you know like that's that's what it is so I appreciate you so much for just making the time just to come and sit with us this means a lot it's a really big it's a really big deal to us you know um and um thank you for just letting us be a part of your journey and just what you got going to support us and stick it to your word I just won't let everybody know you really stuck to your world with everything that you told us so I really really appreciate that yeah I appreciate that and just real quick speaking on what you last said uh on anybody that looked like us or anybody that has an idea if I stick to that you know anybody that's watching you know uh I'm no different from anybody you know I'm no different from you I'm no different from you know a CEO at you know the Fortune 500 company you know you know I come off the streets to be able to now you know have a tech platform that's being massively adopted by thousands and thousands of people and growing right um you know uh continue to feed your inner dreamer you know there's nothing that you can do right you know and not now we're getting out of here I'm not gonna let you destroy this and say something crazy yeah are you good you got anything yeah um as an FL engineer I want this [ __ ] this has been uh the my audience podcast the podcast for all the universe accused so please make sure you comment like And subscribe also make sure you rate US on Apple and Spotify if you give this episode nothing but five stars you're a Madman songs mixed on Engineers that's a fact make sure you get your songs go check out the engineers platform please do please show these people some incredible love hey they even is serious they even had me so I appreciate that um and uh again just want to thank Ali for being here clapping up Ali one time you know appreciate y'all um and uh yep and until next time you guys

Channel: Help Me Devvon

Views: 67,340

Keywords: mixedbyali, mixing, how to, ableton live, mixed by ali, music production, eq, audio, audio engineering, ableton, fl studio, plugins, mastering, studio, audio mixing, protools, dave pensado, producer, audio engineer, avid, mixed by ali twitch, mixed by ali tutorial, mixedbyali mixing, mixedbyali kendrick lamar, help me devvon

Id: KQbilB0TmqA

Length: 57min 36sec (3456 seconds)

Published: Wed May 31 2023