Understanding Kaytranada's vision with Neal Pogue

Full video available exclusively on mwtm.org/np-kaytranada
A sneak peek of Neal Pogue's 'Inside The Track' series in which he takes a listen to the incredible parts that make up Kaytranada's hit single '10%' with Kali Uchis.
Step inside The Mix Room studio for a video series premiere with renowned producer and engineer Neal H. Pogue! In this installment, Neal takes you through the process of how he mixed the 2021 Grammy award-wining single '10%' by Kaytranada featuring Kali Uchis. He describes how he got involved with the album project, and how he approached the record with sonic translation to clubs in mind. Working in hybrid format with Pro Tools and a SSL J Series console, Pogue demonstrates how he used straightforward processing with an emphasis on fine-tuned balance and equalization for this track. You'll learn how he manages kick and bass relationships, why he doesn't use mix templates, how he treats his master buss, and much more!

[@mixwiththemasters]

Full video available exclusively on mwtm.org/np-kaytranada

[@santdaman3]

man just having fun with the solo button, gotta luv it

[@akashshravan_]

"Sometimes with mixing it's not what you do it's what you DONT do." Can't stress enough

[@Akroniim]

yooo i spotted a king 😳😳😳

[@ottmarmiller5282]

He's treating the mix like a DJ, solo tracks and bring them one by one.Very cool to watch lol

[@Dumblitstudios]

Man this project file has so much sauce id kill to see kay’s exported stems

[@syrosis3480]

Yooo frrr

[@agbeats1687]

I swearrr

[@kaib5048]

So much musicality in this production from start to finish. Nothing but respect for Mr Pogue. Thanks for this.

[@renecarranza5472]

I love the vocals panned middle and both sides, huge dynamics

[@chukiextra2991]

I can't see the middle lead. only the panned vocals

[@iangrveme]

this man is the bob ross of audio engineering

[@MojitoMatt]

Kaytra knows how to do intricate production but makes it sounds so clear and focussed

[@jmoemorris4133]

I can hear every move you made on this, made so much since,thanks for your input

[@wefreeplanet]

Can we talk about how soothing his voice is? Loved seeing him have fun with the channels too 😁

[@seanscott1532]

Excellent advice from one of my favorite mixers!

[@christianbiend4458]

It’s so pleasant to work with talented producer

[@747lch]

People are equally as offended that he made a point about the color in these comments LMAOO

[@artluna1017]

I’ve been looking for the advice Neal is giving for years

[@bigloxxito]

I love his approach of the mix !

[@musiqmanful]

Am I tripping or at some point he sounded like Pharrell talking

[@GorgonDrageil]

If you close your eyes at 1:37 it's like Pharrell himself.

[@MonenMiner]

i cant unhear it now lmao

[@xeriusxerius]

Exactly what i was thinking

[@teegreenburg]

@@GorgonDrageil It almost sounded like Pharrell punched in lol

[@jm2p7]

Neil is so great. Some of my favorite albums have been mixed by him

[@christianbiend4458]

The mix is soooo dynamic👍🏿

[@soaribb32]

That's cuz there's less compression then what's usual nowadays.

[@athuairush235]

Thanks!!! Great stuff!!!

[@missgigip]

Wow this is amazing..thank you for this video

[@bboymac84]

Learned alot here!! great Job Neal!

[@TheShpmusic]

Awesome sound. I love it..well done.

[@christianbiend4458]

I love that bassline 🔥🔥🔥

[@seangorena2586]

I love using the SSL J series console. Such a nice console to work with.

[@burgerbeatz6293]

Really fascinating how he does so much with so liitle

[@oscargolfmusic]

thanks for this

[@shoeengine1161]

didn't know the legend mixed this album

[@LeBeautiful]

Light on compression is key...fire

[@ayoonine]

sound selection is so important

[@odysseusdadon1234]

Can't understate this. Especially when it comes to mixing at the end

[@JohnWayneBaileyonfire]

I really like this bro

[@chadsoflyyy8201]

This song is just so wholesome 💛🙌🏼🎯

[@philmartin7474]

Man, i gotta say, that shirt is dope, where can i buy please? Awesome👍✨👏🏼👏🏼

[@PrantoKoX]

Eh eh, "open it up"... 🤔😉 Nice to see someone working on pop mixes with finesse, light handed. And totally agree on his "listen instead of looking" VU era principles! 👍 Speaking of eras, it's insane, sad and perverse that anyone should ever feel the need to apologize for track colours, or that anyone could find that "sexist". Also, it's a fad of this same, insane era to call them "stems": they are MULTITRACKS, that's what you mix from, stems are the effected, automated and already mixed stereo instrument or vocal groups breakdown of a finished mix. The great Bob Clearmountain recently posted about this, too.

[@majorbangz]

beautiful tutorial

[@KemetColeman816]

Following this dude from now on.

[@ConnorFischettiMusic]

i wanna hear from this guy all the time. he's the type of person we need to see more of

[@estoesmoira]

This man is making a remix to this song at the moment 😂 What a legend.

[@DidierBampiliMusicProduction]

Nice beat 💯

[@kepriworks]

I feel the same way about the use compression whether or not it may be needed.

[@oswavee]

I can’t help but learning from this

[@emilholmsten8600]

I manifest to work with and get my stuff mixed by him

[@Bati_]

He is the ultimate definition of instinctual vibe in mixing.

[@djvoid1]

We're all pink on the inside

[@alexdrumm1457]

This guy is great.

[@davidwoodward700]

I would love the triceps version of this vid

[@jailenebaez]

mastermind!!

[@isthata.j.]

This guy gotta be the perfect mixing engineer for kaytranada. He knows what’s up

[@noahbarer166]

maybe im missing something - can someone explain to me what he's doing on the stereo track w the L2 & the Ozone Maximizer? Nothing is hitting either of the thresholds seen @ 7:45 and 8:10? If nothing is hitting the L2 or Maximizer thresholds, then isn't the only thing happening a volume increase?

[@whawha9016]

Absolutely. No disrespect to the guy, I'm sure he creates good sounding masters, but why use a limiter to add gain only and be under the false impression that the limiter's sound characteristics impact the mix, when the limiter is not even affecting the signal other than increasing the volume level?

[@BennettCoast]

great vid but could the editor not lower the track volume when he's speaking? his voice will be audible regardless

[@entreritmo85]

This video is gold tho

[@noahunterberger6230]

I'm curious how the limiter is still affecting the sound? Is it just adding gain because the threshold is never being crossed?

[@brianmartin6729]

what he actually wants to say is that the mix is ​​already done and in principle there is nothing left to do.

[@1998Cebola]

If the signal goes through it still gets affected, hooefully not nearly as much though. There are no 100 % transparent plug-ins/consoles.

[@brianmartin6729]

@@1998Cebola Absolute not true. The L2 makes no color to the sound. it only dithers the sound to 24 bit. and thats surely no what he wants. many plug ins are do absolute nothing to the sound. normally only analog modeled plug ins do that. Its nonsense

[@inspir.edmusic]

@@1998Cebola Yes there absolutely are.

[@michaelsnell4187]

Brian Martin he says in the video that he just likes the sound of the L2 so surely in this application it’s for colour

[@filtafacta]

Nice joint indeed. 7:35 "very light". Yes indeed, showing 0.0 attenuation on the L2 metering. Can't see it working in chorus either as the track is so linear. Probably would have got the same sound with +2.6dB of Trim if the limiting never kicks in.

[@korreyshortime3141]

I was thinking the same

[@CestLaVie73]

They say adding limiter or compressor even it doesn't hit still affect sound. Spirit 🤣

[@brianmartin6729]

yes the L2 makes absolute no sense. I am wondering that pros do not understand such simple things an tell the people "it opens the mix a little bit" this is nonsense !

[@korreyshortime3141]

Don’t get me wrong, so many gems in this, but the Limiter thing doesn’t make sense to me, seeing as he’s a pro and I aspire, I’m assuming I’m just missing something

[@2gunzfilms425]

Sometimes the compressor or EQ is just there to give color and not actually compress. For example an LA2a or 1176 have a “sound”..even when not compressing anything

[@iamdjtab]

🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@whawha9016]

7:39 That's the second time I see that from an HipHop / R&B engineer: the L2 is not attenuating at all, only gain is added, but the limiting doesn't happen. Same with the Ozone Maximizer. Basically they are as gains, not limiters. Why not simply use a gain plugin to achieve the same?

[@0utlawMusique]

would think it has something to do with the color and Saturation that comes with the L2 and maximizer

[@bhaveshtochabbra6853]

@@0utlawMusique yup

[@gunderson1005]

@@bhaveshtochabbra6853 yup

[@rawbinmo]

The L2 adds a nice grit/crunch to the mid range. But the mixing engineer in the video is wrong, it doesn't saturate the sound in the ordinary sense. But it definitely adds a nice flavor if you put -0.5 to -1.5 on the Threshold

[@FytchMusic]

Zen

[@swagonmax]

epic

[@boatisme9016]

👑

[@walterlopez1504]

does anyone know what console he is mixing on?

[@MarcusSt0ne]

I'm not super familiar with Ozone, but the EQ is obviously doing something and I assume the character parameter for the maximizer is doing something. Like a few other people have mentioned the L2 is literally not doing anything to "color" the sound. The highest peak showing on the L2 from the incoming audio is -9.8. A setting of -2.6 does nothing but add 2.6 dB of gain. If he took an EXACT duplicate copy of that INPUT bus and just had a trim plugin with +2.6 dB of gain and the original with that L2 and Ozone bypassed they would phase cancel each other out completely. This guy may not mix with his eyes, but he thinks louder is better lol

[@alexandre7634]

I guess Neal is just not a technical engineer 😅

[@aerov2484]

L2 is applying Dither. I think it might just be what he likes.

[@atapenalva]

💞

[@RossRobinette]

Great sounding track, but how is it compressing if neither thresholds are ever being hit? If you clicked gain match on Ozone and bypass it within the plugin, their would be no difference (with no EQ). Maybe I missed something?

[@duhtee7]

I was thinking the same. It seems like he is only adding a little bit of 'color' and gain by letting it go through these plugins, but he fails to either see or explain this.

[@SavBeatz97]

It sounds good.

[@JesusSavesSouls]

@@SavBeatz97 Exactly lol, why do people wanna know the science when its only your ears that are the final test?

[@m.o.n.d.e.g.r.e.e.n]

cool guy. learning to calm the compression and this helped,,,, althoughhhh i have to say neal's like "i dont compress much" but that lead vocal waveform is totally slammed as far as i can see

[@inspir.edmusic]

Proably because Kaytra sent him the stems already with the FX he wanted on them.

[@setvice]

The waveform is zoomed in pro tools.

[@m.o.n.d.e.g.r.e.e.n]

@@setvice ooooo interestingggg yah im a logic pro user so thnx for this

[@SJE023]

🧘🏾‍♂️📝

[@domdraper3221]

I’m not sure but the vocal sounded already pretty compressed.

[@skiro5823]

Its parallel

[@BCFoolin]

There's a good chance it was tracked with compression

[@domdraper3221]

@@BCFoolin did you see the wave file? Looked almost limited.

[@domdraper3221]

@@skiro5823 did he say that? I heard him saying he goes light on compression and then he put it directly on the track.

[@iyoran4838]

@@domdraper3221 there is a button in pro tools to make the tracks very large

[@prod.piccolo7262]

thats ozone 8 btw

[@iceered]

he sounds like pharrell lmao

[@BettersAthletesOnly]

TWONIEB loves it

[@sergescardigno]

not crushing with compression is the only way you could approach a kay song i feel like - kay usually sidechains the whole beat to the kick anyway so you kinda need those dynamics preserved for the bounce. just shows how good a producer kay is that our boy neal didn't have to do much - just kinda added some thump and accentuated that high hat a lil and it was good to go

[@alexandre7634]

Neal is all about the balance and groove, I feel like he doesn't use a lot of processing. But there's people like Jaycen Joshua that are crushing every thing using a ton of plugins and tricks and it sounds amazing too. I guess, everyone is different 😂💖

[@juno6]

Apologizing for painting a track with pink (purple actually)... afraid of someone offended on the internet... what strange times we live in. Cool guy btw.

[@susanwojcicki5714]

fr that was weird to me like how tf is someone supposed to be offended by a color like really... i don’t care

[@trickprod4242]

true shit bro

[@DELLUEdotCOM]

My thoughts verbatim.

[@m.o.n.d.e.g.r.e.e.n]

you seem offended

[@juno6]

@@m.o.n.d.e.g.r.e.e.n don't have time for that.

[@pecansaregross9405]

Its hard to hear the differences when he takes the buses on and off

[@pocouturier]

since when a limiter opens up the mix ?

[@hdgdfghdgs]

a limiter can color the sound

[@UnterDerSonneOhUnterDerSonne]

i think in this case it's just his feeling/reaction towards making the track ablittle louder..

[@M3333C]

interesting that a mixing engineer is adding mastering plugins, but very lightly.

[@ronizedd8372]

In Arabic we say “bala falsafè”

[@plrplm]

mixing session in 2021: explaining the color of the track so that it doesn't offend anyone

[@TheKidLAROI.]

Still blows my mind you have to clarify the color of a audio file in a daw… sad world

[@savageroyale7]

Can we talk about this man’s shirt SMH 🤦🏾‍♂️ 🔥🔥🔥

[@iron_recluse]

🤷🏽‍♂️ I kinda like it. Trippy and all over the place.

[@undergroundkid8337]

Danm you gadda explain if you say someone is in pink wow is this really the new world danm

[@himdownstairsmusik]

Kinda upset he had to apologize for a track color geez

[@m.o.n.d.e.g.r.e.e.n]

yeh amazing someone can get upset by a track colour isnt it, like you

[@himdownstairsmusik]

@@m.o.n.d.e.g.r.e.e.n oh?

[@Mdcatlas]

He doesn't compress much, but his meters are staying below -6 in ozone...so I'm assuming here that he's allowing he's allowing the mastering engineer to do the compression. I'm just saying somebody, somewhere compressed this song bc there's no way we're hearing it on streaming services at a -6 peak. Lol.

[@timwalker1897]

wait so is he bald or not?

[@2620az]

Sorry I love the track but I mean “my fav two compressors are these sterile limiters” *shows EQ* “I mean it just opens it up I’m light on compression” prob because it’s a limiter with 0 GR u just turned the gain up a little right? Or am I missing something about all this And sorry but If you this VU meter old school dude why give a f about track colours

[@inspir.edmusic]

right? it's just making it a little louder right?

[@beatweezl]

I always ask my clients how they identify before I start coloring my tracks. Blue if they identify as male, pink for female, and grey for non-binary.

[@henkdemollie]

For what? Just ask people what color they like.

[@henkdemollie]

Haha basically you start with your openminded question followed by narrowminded labeling.. ✌🏽️

[@cristobalbalenciaga7295]

So in 2021 people ecen apologizing for giving someone a certain type of track color..?? I miss the 90's man..

[@beatweezl]

Seriously tho.

[@spadeyspacely]

Oh, associating a woman with a color?! pink at that? HUGE NO, NO MAN! What are you trying to do? Kill them?! Haha jk, *le'sigh* may we heal. May we heal... Anyway, to what actually matters, the track - brilliant track and mix!

[@marcm907]

nobody talking about the hear cut.....

[@Truevitz]

Hair*

[@thespeakersoftruth7187]

The fact that this Brother starts off by defending himself for an alleged "sexist" statement tells you how insane the social engineering has gotten.

[@TGCid01]

Crazy times. Everything is offensive these days

[@thespeakersoftruth7187]

@@TGCid01 All by design of the controllers.

[@TheMuffinMan01]

god forbid someone demonstrates sensitivity

[@SeanMour]

Awww man, I’m gonna be that guy in the KZbin comments! Sorry in advance, but this was really bad. “You’ll learn how he manages kick and bass relationships”. MWTM, NHP is a legend, but him saying “you have to find the right frequencies”, playing with colors for 5 minutes and messing with solo’ing the stems for 15 minutes was a huge waste of time. It’s not knocking him at all, he shared some valuable philosophies and did his thing. No disrespect to a King. But the knock is on your product in general - you guys need to do a better job at giving your mixers direction and being more specific and hands on with what they do. There really wasn’t anything applicable or valuable in this aside from maybe the last 10 minutes when he showed us some bus stuff. A lot of your videos are disappointing.

[@jguk1977]

Big facts bro!

[@breezy985]

Oh so he didn't say it like you want to hear it smh he doesn't have to do ish. Why don't you do it. MWTM are doing their best.

[@jguk1977]

@@breezy985 He makes a very fair point bro. The production value is great, the speakers are legends and to be highly respected but the actual level of detail required for meaningful learning is lacking. It’s just a lot of production platitudes and not very much A - B problem solving. I appreciate he prefaced, by letting us know his job here was to get out of the way of the record but even at that I still feel like I didn’t gain much insight. I’d have like to know a bit more of the ways in which his wants and the records needs may have clashed and how he resolved those issues etc. That sort of thing

[@laiflis4507]

Imagine getting offended by a colour

[@thexlr8rkid]

My boy needs a new gpu

[@hysyanzrecords]

From now on, I'm going to color all females vocals tracks pink and I'm not apologizing. Hell I'm even going to highlight that I colored them pink because its a females vocals. And yes, I said female.

[@jaigrant-williams7736]

A little extreme…

[@brianmartin7710]

is this a joke? he says the L2 opens it up a little bit?!? it makes it 2,6 db louder thats all. absolute no sound proccesing. i think he dont understand what the L2 is doing :)

[@tommygeebeatz]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_H_Pogue

[@Timdrum]

So this is a 'hit song'? Now I'm sad...

[@into.cassette]

I would recommend checking out Kaytranada's album 99%. It's pretty eclectic but maintains an awesome flow. (esp check out his track w Karriem Riggins.) This is one of his more recent / house-ier tracks.

[@gabrielhansen2667]

yeah and it fuckin bangs

[@Timdrum]

Yes, of course it does. Somehow I must've missed that. :-)

[@undergroundkid8337]

Ti.eless jam can't wait for the next kaytra album

[@rawbinmo]

man this is beautiful to see and hear