User:Jivesh boodhun/Sandbox18

Recording and mixing of 'Déjà Vu (Beyoncé Knowles song)'

Overview

"Basically, this song is a take on what Quincy Jones did with pre-Thriller Michael Jackson. Beyoncé really wanted it to have a street feel to it. On top of the kick pattern there's an 808 and a really busy live bass, which is great. The horns are also live. The potential problem with a record like this is that the drum and bass patterns are very busy, and there is a lot of frequency information that can cause a loss of dynamics and clarity. This was the real challenge for me. I was very concerned, and voiced this to Rodney and Beyoncé, that when the mastering engineer slapped his limiter on the mix to bring up the volume, all the low end would come up as well and you would lose all the bounce, which is the great thing about this record. So I ended up printing a couple of versions with the 808 pulled back, which is what they went with."

Drums: URS Fulltec EQ, Sony Oxford Transient Modulator, Smart C2 compressor

"There's something that sounds like a loop, but it's a hi-hat pattern that I put through some distortion to make it lo-fi and give it more movement. Rodney programs things like a drummer, so at any time there may be extra fills or patterns that change slightly, so I had to treat it like a live drummer, which was a blast for me. On the screenshot you can see that there are five kick drums. Rodney may program one all the way down, and then trigger other ones to get the feel he's after. But there'll be slight variations as some of them drop out in places, giving it a different feel. I have a dirty kick, a clean kick, and one that's more like a click. If one drops out, it changes things for just one beat and makes it sound more like a live drummer, as he never hits things exactly the same every time.

"The problem for me was to make that pattern fit with the bass and the 808, and they were long 808 hits — they carried over a couple of beats. So I EQ'd the 808 to leave only the very low end, and then put a gate on it that I triggered from one of the kicks that played the whole time, so that it only hits when the kick hits. Then, by shortening the release on the gate, I shortened the length of each 808 kick. This cleaned up the low end and also made space for the bass to move. It's such a great bass line that I actually EQ'd the bass a little higher than I normally would on an R&B record, so it would have some more presence. It is really moving the song. Obviously I had enough low end in the kick drums, so the record is not lacking in low end.

"If this record had been mixed totally in the box, you would have seen more plug-ins on it, but here's a sampling of what I do. I normally use the URS EQ on kick drums, typically boosting at 30 or 60 cycles. I'm cutting at 300 to create space for the bass guitar. I'm boosting twice at 5k, once with a bell and once with a shelf... that's an example of me just turning knobs until it sounds good! It's what gives the kick its snap.

"The Sony Oxford Transient Modulator now replaces the Transient Designer in my rack. The plug-in tailors the envelope of the sound — the 0.20 ratio setting adds attack to the kick drum. I use the same effect on the finger snap. It changes the envelope. I also use this plug-in a lot on acoustic guitars. In cases where they're just playing rhythm and they are too 'plucky', I can slide that back a bit and take some of the attack off, without using compression. I do that a lot. It's also to do with the issue of apparent loudness. If you make the attack harder, something will sound louder. It will cut through the mix without having to add additional volume, and you don't get a build-up of EQ or phase shift either.

"I also used my Alan Smart C2 compressor on the drums. It has something called Crush mode, which adds field-effect transistor distortion. I'm a big fan of using distortion, in small amounts. Tubes distort more harmonically, whereas transistors and Class-A stuff is more aggressive, which is why I think many guys still like to mix on the SSL 4000 — those consoles are always just shy of distorting. It adds to the overall aggression of the mix. So what I did on 'Déjà Vu' was feed all the drums into the Alan Smart, set the attack very slow, so all the transients get through, but set the release time very short, so that the dynamics of the drums are changed, and finally press the Crush button to add some aggression. During the mix I played the uncompressed drums side-by-side with the compressed drums, and I rode the compressed drums in and out depending on the section of the song. You can lift your chorus by giving it a different dynamic feel."

Bass: URS Fulltec EQ, Sony Oxford Dynamics, Waves Renaissance Compressor

"In addition to the live bass there's also a sub-bass, like a Moogerfooger kind of thing. I didn't use a lot of it, as it was just too much with the kick drum and the 808. The challenge was to get dynamics to happen with all these different elements going on in the low end. [The track labelled] 'Bass 4.02' is the live bass — the numbers probably refer to it being a fourth take. You can see how I use the URS EQ and the Oxford compressor/limiter on it. They are acting like you would expect them to. I pressed the 'Warmth' button on the Oxford to generate some harmonics and create presence and make the bass cut through. The [Waves] Renaissance Compressor is triggered by the kick drum. I often do this when the kick drum is being stepped on by the bass. So every time the kick hits, the bass ducks 2dB or so just for a moment. When you have a bass that's as prominent as on this record, you can't do too much."

Piano: Waves PS22

"There's a jangly piano going through the whole song. It's in mono and I put it through the Waves PS22 spreader to widen its stereo image. With most pop records you have so much information going on, but with this track, as busy as it is, it's actually pretty empty. There's not much playing all the time, only the drums, bass and the jangly piano. By widening the image of the piano I was also able to make more room for the lead vocal in the middle."

Vocals: Waves De-Esser, Line 6 Echo Farm, Sony Oxford EQ, Avalon 2055 EQ, Pendulum 6386 compressor

"'BLD1C001', track 24, is the lead vocal, which has just a bit of de-essing on it. The VxFx is the Echo Farm delay you hear on her lead vocal. I use the dynamic stereo delay to add a bit of depth and character and spread to the vocal. Dynamic delays are often called ducked delays, because they will 'duck' out of the way, coming up only at the tail end of words and phrases. I almost never use a straight delay, unless it's as an obvious effect. I also used the Avalon 2055 EQ and my Pendulum Audio compressor on Beyoncé's vocals, because she can sometimes sound a little too strident and aggressive, and the tube compressor smooths things out a little bit and takes off some of the edge in those sections. Track 23 is the ad-lib track, on which I have the de-esser, which goes out to the Avalon 2055, which hits my Pendulum compressor, and then the board. Beyoncé must have done vocal takes on two different days, and one take goes to audio 17, where I use the Oxford EQ to compensate for the differences."

Reverb: TC M3000/VSS3

"The two TC VSS3 reverb plug-ins weren't actually on the record, but I added them, because their settings are exact replications of the hardware M3000 boxes that I used on those mixes. Since I've moved into the box, I'm using these TC reverbs. I like reverbs that are shorter, so the 'Stairway Plate' is my main reverb that went on a lot of stuff, and where I needed a longer reverb to fill in spaces, to throw in at the end of words or between sections, I used the 'Ambient Plate'. It's a feeling thing that's not necessarily audible."

Mix Buss: Sony Oxford EQ & Inflator

"Aux 1 is my stereo buss. The Oxford three-band EQ adds whatever kind of EQ I felt the track needed — usually just a little bit of low and high end. The Oxford Inflator is one of those voodoo boxes that uses a little bit of compression and harmonic generation to allow you to play with the dynamics, or emulate tape compression. This is what makes my mixes sound louder. Like many mixers, I've had complaints that my mixes aren't loud enough. I could never figure out why that mattered, because by the time it got to mastering, it would be plenty loud. But these two plug-ins preserve the dynamics, so the mastering engineer has room to do his job."

Additional notes

• Waves' PS22 stereo spreader helped to give the mono piano track some width.
• Beyoncé's vocals were treated with hardware compression and EQ; one take was lightly de-essed with the Waves De-Esser, while the other was matched to it tonally using Sony's Oxford EQ. Line 6's Echo Farm was used as a ducking delay behind the lead vocal.
• Jason Goldstein's preferred reverb is TC Electronic's VSS3.
• For compressing the stereo backing vocals, Jason Goldstein used Sony's Oxford Dynamics in dual-mono mode.
• Oxford Dynamics was used again for the bass.
• Line 6's Echo Farm was used to generate eighth-note ducking delays on the 'Irreplaceable' lead vocal, and quarter-note delays on the backing vocals.
• The 'Déjà Vu' mix passed through Sony's Oxford EQ and Inflator plug-ins.

-Source. ★Jivesh 1205★ (talk / ♫♫Give 4 a try!!!♫♫) 05:16, 28 September 2011 (UTC)

My love is love

The bass and drums were really fast during the recording which caused a loss of dynamics and clarity in the song. Mix engineer Jason Goldstein, stated that when the limiter was used to make the sound of the song louder, "all the low end would come up as well and you would lose all the bounce, which is the great thing about this record. So I ended up printing a couple of versions with the 808 pulled back, which is what they went with." Five kick drums were used during the recording. The sound of the song is similar to a loop (a repeating section of sound material), but Goldstein used a hi-hat pattern (a type of cymbal used as a typical part of a drum kit in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, rock and roll, house, reggae) in order to make a distortion or background noise (to create "warm", "dirty" and "fuzzy" sounds; any sound other than the sound being monitored) and to create a Low fidelity (technical flaws such as distortion, hum, or background noise, or limited frequency response) which would give the song a more movement. Rodney programmed the song like a drummer (or used a drum programming), adding extra fills and different sounds in the drums to get the "feel he's after." However, variation between drums were still present because there were several kicks (I don't know what a kick means) and if one of the kicks dropped out, it changed the sound "just one beat and makes it sound more like a live drummer"

Piano

A jangly piano is also used in the song which went through a Waves PS22 to widen its stereo image. By widening the image of the piano it was made "more room for the lead vocal in the middle."

Things I don't understand (I should read them)

• Loop (music)
• Hi-hat
• Distortion (music)
• Low fidelity
• Equalization (audio)