Dr Dres Mix Magic

[@RickFrogenstein]

We missed u bruh, the community needs ur vids🙏

[@EVILJAMARR]

I've been a working engineer for almost a decade now, I have learned so much from Dre that can apply to almost any genre of music mixing. He's really something special that I think most serious engineers can and should study. There are lots of engineers that you should study, and Dre should be in the top ten.

[@OD2C]

Where should I look to study his craft.

[@valerietayfun3006]

​@@OD2Cdid you get an answer?

[@OD2C]

@@valerietayfun3006 no

[@OD2C]

@@valerietayfun3006 but I looked into some of the people he's worked with (a lot are actually from Pittsburgh) and I saw some KZbin videos with helpful knowledge. Sam Sneed and Mel-Man both from the Pittsburgh area played a huge role in Dre's production style

[@valerietayfun3006]

@@OD2C i cant find anything online. People are always very secretive about these things. This week i convert a vst to an audio file. I tracked this audio file through my wa73 preamp and my wa2a compressor.. the results of analog are amazing

[@pac0re]

He just followed what other engineers did in well equipped studios… they all used ssl compression, eq, preamps .. outboard and tape.. Dre’s records were loud and open sounding because the tempo was slow, the instruments were very sparse and there was a lot of space for the vocals to shine.. one thing the video left out which was crucial to the loudness was the lavry converter softclip which gives a loud saturated sound without the squashing a limiter does

[@eihthype6578]

Anyone know who Dre’s mentor was? Alonzo? He somehow knew his way around a studio at age 22. Most foos wouldn’t even be able to patch a microphone into a channel strip, let alone produce gold standard recordings! Maybe there was someone handling the technical aspects for him?

[@poindextertunes]

good question. i imagine a lot of his sound was by trial and error

[@LawrinMaxwellsmpc500]

You be surprised what you can teach yourself if you have access to the equipment.

[@eihthype6578]

Agreed, but Dre was producing better sounding records in his early 20”s, than most people who have spent decades experimenting with studio gear and various techniques. There had to be someone behind the scenes helping him achieve the vision, and routing the patch bay to the mixing console. That sh*t is so complex, especially in the pre KZbin era. No way Alonzo just let the kids have free reign on that gear with zero assistance.. unless Dre had a seriously remarkable mentor.

[@doobiesonix]

U mean Donavan Dirtbiker Smith

[@TheJohnsofDoes]

Dre's mixes haven't sounded good for years. he ditched this methodology just a bit before Compton. he's all Pro Tools now and has been for a long time. no SSL, no tape, no finished stereo mixes to DAT. not sure about the MPC, but given most of the people he has in his entourage crafting demos for em use things like EXS24, and Battery, i doubt it features much. his methods don't really translate all that well to an ITB environment. it's pretty clear from anything he mixed around the time of Compton and after which was bright and harsh and didn't have that bottom end thump he is known for. that usually comes from tape, and you really need to know your shit to get around the shortcomings of ITB to craft a sound like that. simply mimicking your original methodology wont get you there as there are pitfalls and road blocks in digital audio that don't allow to stumble upon some killer sound like you do when you are OTB with very elaborate patch bays of recording gear and fancy signal paths

[@vonnagel]

What are some typical ITB limitations that we should consider in order to achieve a more analog sound? Could a good SSL EQ + harmonic EQ + parallel processing + tape machine plugin get close?

[@marcinneumann4114]

Top tier fucking comment

[@TheJohnsofDoes]

@@vonnagel that is kind of what I was getting at though. A does not necessarily lead to B ITB. meaning, just because you use "analog modelled plugins"doesn't mean your mixes will sound analog. there's really no way I can put it into words for you to understand. that's not me being condescending, it's just difficult to articulate. when it comes to ITB it's better to focus on the psychoacoustics of why a sound results in this perception you covet when it's processed such a way, and you don't necessarily get there by using say an SSL console emu or whatever else you've got in your chain even if that is what was used in the sound you like. caveats of DSP and discretising nonlinear models mean that you will not get 100% of the sound from an emulation. that aint my opinion. that's just the facts of how these systems work, but that doesn't mean that sound is not achievable incorporating a bunch of other factors as well that give you the composite sound. But it aint all bad... Serban Ghenea is completely ITB and his mixes have front to back depth. actually one of the very few who does as well especially in Pop music. Dre's on the other hand, are flat from his complete shift to Pro Tools onwards because he has simply did what he always did when he was primarily analog and took that workflow to Pro Tools. what's the difference? Serban sounds like he understand ITB better at least IMHO far better than Dre or his team and is not hung up on silly analog ideals and ironically getting more analog like results in terms of the imaging and other things people associate with that sound despite probably not using many if any tools associated with it it's a worn out overused adage but it holds true nonetheless "It's not the kitchen, it's the chef"

[@Reggi_Sample]

Dre literally posts up in front of his SSL regularly. The one in his home or the one at Record One

[@jeromethames1225]

Real ass comment here bro, I got a headache listening to Compton, you can tell him Quik all them dudes going the easier route, them some bad dudes tho. I thought maybe mastering f it up, but even Em shit that I heard back then was grainy sounding. Jus me. I’m still searching for outboard gear and such cause Ive been realizing music losing it soul with all these plugs and mouse moves. I got a hybrid system hopefully I stick to it. But Dre nem winging it nowadays, they did it all so I kinda get it, but even if I’m a billionaire I’m sleeping on my SSL CONSOLE 😂😂😂

[@poindextertunes]

as an old beat maker in the middle of my mixing journey, I always enjoy videos man 🔥

[@rociorenteria-ho2bh]

Thanks!

[@lequidbit9385]

Another banger George!!!! Would love to see a video of how to emulate Dre's clipping the ssl technique in the digital realm

[@andivax]

Live music recorded on colourful Neve and mixed on transparent SSL. Rap music created on colourful 3000/1000 and mixed on transparent SSL. The same approach.

[@Durkhead]

I think this is the reason 90s music sounded so good in general cause it was the perfect mix of analog and digital

[@Bittamin]

Understanding the color and how converters played a huge role in how it went into digital, will help understand why the 1000s of dollars people spend on digital emulations of these hardware tools always fall short 😂

[@HelpMeDevvon]

Thanks George!!

[@moxictasculinity]

Team HMD

[@makethisfood8574]

DOPE!!! We need more like this Bruh💯

[@CK-3K]

Music production and the engineering side was so different back then from how it is now. Nowadays, entire albums can be tracked, mixed and mastered with such little gear, it almost looks like you nothing at all. It’s also sad to think we’ll never get more music that sounds the same as it did from this era. I have a soft spot for that sweet, warm, fuzzy sound that music once had.

[@moxictasculinity]

Numerous hits have been created with just a UAD Apollo and a decent mic

[@MC333]

This becoming one of my favourite channels ✌🏾

[@DEVDLXRD]

george got the most unique videos when it comes to mixing or masteting 🔥

[@MULOVOLUM]

George, you keep enlightening us with new techniques from Old Gods. bless you.

[@3mpathy717]

George T always comes through with the knowledge! Is there any chance you will do one on DRO?

[@Bittamin]

The oldskool baby 🎉❤

[@novacanevein809]

Thank you for this!

[@vincechavez6256]

Great insight

[@theonenonlybass]

welcome back🔥

[@dannyho6786]

Great ! Thanx !

[@RealDealy]

He's producing like a DJ would cause I do everything they said Dre does, but that's cause I produce the same way I DJ That's why he focuses on the mids, then deal with the low, and highs, your mids are where your vocals are, and everything revolves around that

[@DerpySwag]

nice vid as always, keep up the good work!

[@Octwavian]

documentary vibes

[@danthegeetarman]

George!!

[@ryanboyce3365]

I guess it’s nothing but a G series thing baby.

[@rayy1of1]

dope vid fam

[@poindextertunes]

sounds like Young Guru was talking about a form of gain staging 🤔

[@sleepysleepy9913]

What to do if you can't afford all these?

[@JulianDoe]

I hear you. You can go a long way with a daw and plugins. Nowdays, hardware is not strictly necessary to get a great sound (and in some cases even detemeteral). and plugins aren't that expensive especially if you keep your shopping list short. most DAWs already come with 90% of what you need so for a dre-like suond focus on buying and learning an ssl-style plugin, a dbx/vca compressor, an SSl type bus compressor, a tape simulator and a decent reverb.

[@MuzdokOfficial]

​@@JulianDoe 💯

[@JonMurray]

@@JulianDoeagreed. Great advice.

[@ObviousArtists]

If you can't afford... go back to the late 80s and check out ruthless records productions pre digital Era. His hip hop was more music than beats.

[@amazeus1980]

There are also modifications to the standard consoles and other equipment. No one will get the same sound by using plugins really...first of all because plugins sound really bad in higher frequencies. You cannot push plugins like you can push analog equipment.

[@juniorchefmusic]

🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@michaelparker9860]

How did he learn this stuff

[@subadimir]

i just wish i had one of those ssl boards

[@JulianDoe]

Yes the analogue console are fun.. until you have to do client recalls, channel calibration, converters alignment, power stabilization, failures and repairs...😅

[@subadimir]

@@JulianDoe well, i feel like it's worth it. everything comes with a price

[@poindextertunes]

hope you got a quarter milli 😮‍💨

[@moxictasculinity]

@@subadimir Just get the ssl vst honestly. Only self proclaimed audiophiles notice the difference. SSL themselves have a vst which is the best

[@scottshepardson9969]

The voice in the video needs more mixing. Great video nonetheless

[@MIXEDBYJP]

🔥🔥🔥🤍

[@synaikido]

First 😎

[@obrekmedia]

Dre is overrated as a producer but he is a great engineer.

[@knookieknook6057]

He don’t even produce the beats fr he just puts his name on other producers beats. He also rarely mixes and takes credit

[@paavoilves5416]

@@knookieknook6057 Producer doesn't necessarily make beats. They lead the creative process to make the end product as good as possible. Rick Rubin is a good example.