Dr Dres Mixing Secrets
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In todays video I take a look at the mixing and production secrets of legendary producer and pro mixer dr dre. Dr. Dre has wokred with artists like Eminem, Snoop Dog, DJ Khaled. He has produced and mixed albums like the chornic 2001.
As a producer who has no hardware,
these are some points in the video that I found applicable/interesting mainly for drums :
1. Hard compression : Ratio up to 8-9.
2. Distortion / Harmonics(thirds) : Achieved originally by putting sounds through tape machines in high levels.
3. Clipping : Cuts off transients / gives top end shine.
All of these processes seem to be basically pushing sounds to their fullest and giving them power, edge and warmth.
Also want to point out these are not rules, just a few things mentioned in the video. Learning the fundamentals is crucial.
I've edited the comment after feedbacks.
that ration means nothing because the effect it will have depends on the source, recommend learning compression cause that kind of mentality dosent help in the long run imo
@@filipeventura2729 You are right. But I think the ratio was mentioned to highlight the extremity of how Dre used the compressor, almost like a limiter.
The clipping has more of an effect the just "shine", what it does is basically inaudibly cut of the transient of the drum, increasing its peak to average ratio, means more loudness without the squashed weakness a limiter introduces. You'd be surprised how much you can push into a softclipper without even noticing that you're distorting the signal, literally just sounds louder and better in a lot of cases.
He had the bank behind him. He used a lot of studio musicians so the sound was prestine to begin with too.
You don't really need hardware to make decent sounding music anymore, tho ofc analog will always sound better. The industry standard has been (for a while) to mix and master your music in pro tools in any case, but thats not really necessary either. Also you are kind of correct about the compression part, modern music is usually compressed a lot, which make the track overall sound louder and thus tricking your brain into thinking it sounds better, however this may or may not destroy transients depending on the amount etc.
Dre also has good ears, which he developed as a DJ playing well mixed records on huge club systems. He simply knows what sounds good.
Mixing is literally magic, making sounds work together
So just chill till the next episode
😎
@@ConeBoneSixtyNine Nuthing But a G Thang
2001 is a wild album when you go back to it today and listen to the mix, loud af for something that was originally on CD
Maybe controversial opinion in terms of today's loudness standards, but this album is one of my favorite reference points ever.
100%. Sonically years ahead of its time. Very few albums sound as clean
That was pretty insightful. Solid mixing tips plus a history lesson is a nice departure from the straight up mixing tutorials all over YT. I see you George!
Thanks
That Dre. Snare. You should hear that out of festival speakers. Knocks you back a couple of steps every time it hits. It's like walking against a wind, trying to dance against that
This was a hip hop history class for mixing geeks bro! Well done!💯💪🏿
I recorded Dre Day vocals and Doggy Dogg World using the Sony 800 then… 1992 - this is all after the fact. Aftermath stuff…Ask Dre who showed him his first SSL…🎉
The DJ named Glove, has reigned supreme, as the turntable wizard of the Hip-Hop scene…
Interesting. I was watching some interviews you did and was trying to find some info to put into this video. I unfortunately ran out of time. If you ever want to do an interview that I could turn into a video just dm me on Instagram @georget_music
You are one of the most underrated producers in HipHop!
Dr Dre secrets to achieving great sounding mixes is rooted in being simple and not using too many instruments. He has got a lot of space in his tracks and that's why his drums sound full and knock hard.
VST's on dr. dre's pc display:
1. Trillian (Spectrasonics)
2. Absynth (kontakt)
3. Massive (Kontatk)
4. Stylus RMX (Spectrasonics) this one is HIDDEN SAUCEEEE''''
Damn metro boomin was talking about that too must be nice 😳
Stylus RMX ? SAUCEEEE ? what special about it ? never really liked it...but i might have a second look at it...
Nahhhh🤣
You can have all of that and still not sound close to what Dr Dre does. 😂
This brings back memories when I used to listen to mixes at 8 years old. One of dre's secrete too was getting a engineer to mess with the group|stems mid and sides and summing them together. SSL does but sometimes you get another ear to come in and mess with the push pull. Modernly we can do this in any DAW now. But some of the magic is still only known to the long timers (like the jazz mixing engineers).
What's missing from these "secrets"completely has absolutely nothing to do with mixing but with production. Dre uses live instruments all the time. Be it a live bass to replay a bassline from a sample or create a new one. Or having musicians replay sections from samples to his needs which is a tremendous benefit in terms of fidelity when it comes to mixing compared to having to rely on a sample alone.
agree that´s why chronic 2001 songs (that were sampled) were played from scratch ,and he could mix them better .and one more benefit he doesn´t have to pay so much for sample cleerance .
He’s the goat.
Man, keep going with these, this channel is gold.
Thanks!
Bro…your the mvp with this type of content. I’m always inspired everytime I watch these 👌🏽
Dr. Dre’s Mixing secret --> Critical listening with trained ear
Some good stuff in there. Something else dre does that was hinted at in one of the clips is spending most of his time mixing in mono. Ali talks about learning this from dre. It helps you zone in on the broader components of mixing before getting too focused on earcandy. Basicall levels, dynamics, and tonal balance/eq
Very few sounds + Quality mono sounds + LCR mixing + SSL compression + tape saturation. Minimalism is what brings the cleaness of his sound.
George once again another banger. Keep up the great work, you got the best content.
What i really like are all the small stuff, the sprinkles, small effects, samples plus that the mixes are so clean and well crafted. Nothing sloppy going on ever. A dj background for sure.
Dope video. Love the gear. The elephant in the room though is Dre's production skills. I'm sure he would have had the same success using similar methods on different gear. It's really tempting to think that some compressor, sampler, or mic is going to make all the difference but in reality, that's probably like 10% of the equation.
Love the channel & content! More like gear choices for this one - his "secret" to mixing is the concept of tone and sound in his head that guides all of his decisions!
Incredibly insightful. Really well made. Thank you.
I enjoy the history lesson just as much as the rest. It's gotta be hard putting some of those things together since Dre can be guarded about his techniques but you dug deep my guy. Currently looking into digital versions of some of that gear
let us know if u find anything!
I'm already on it
The sound of the SSL G mix bus compressor is magical. You can push the levels a bit while recording to analog tape and get beautiful character due to that adding saturation, and Tape naturally adds compression. Also running signals hot out of an analog desk can give you overdrive. You can't just slam it as hard as possible, all you'll get doing that is distorted mess, but mix and mastering engineers can tell the difference between even the best sounding digital distortion, saturation, and compression vst's, and analog. When you work to train your ears to know the difference it's not even subtle.
Glad as f*ck to see Dre gets some attention reguarding his approach and methods. He's one of my biggest influences as far as dynamics and balance to shoot for. Liked/Subbed.
A good mix is essential. I've heard beats unmixed that sound avg then through proper mixing, eq, compression, reverb etc sound amazing.
You'll notice that in his newer projects, and even Snoops projects, there's this nasty harsh top end and I believe it's down to them using Beats by Dre as a reference speaker. Some of the worse mixes I did few years ago were when I was using Beats headphones.
Dre listening to music at 110-115db over decades doesn’t help either 😂
What speakers? Don’t you mean Beats by Dre headphones. I doubt it. Even though it’s not mentioned in the video Dre uses more than one speaker for reference when mixing. Most likely from small cube Aurotones to large loud and expensive Augspurger speakers.
Yeah that Contract album was super harsh. Idk how he is not hearing that.
@Vigilante StylezVEVO That "Compton" album was super harsh also. It sounds horrible. Some vocals were destroying my ears 👂🏽
@@DaMixWizard oh yeah! That one too! Forgot about that one. Harshness is usually around 5 to 7khz, which means Dre might not be able to hear that high up, he's got serious hearing damage then.
Clean mixes are easy to achieve when you have very few tracks in them.
Yes Steve B one of Dre’s engineers mentioned his use of space
Dr. Dre had a mind of 90s but his beats represented the future...
He’s old school analogue... and I love it!
that shot at 7.53 is at the Paramount Recording Studios - Studio C. That just threw me back on memory lane. Great studio!
Would love to see some more videos of this style!
More coming!
These aren’t really mixing secrets. Mixing is so much more than just using the same gear/plugins. Mixing is how you decide to BALANCE a mix. Eq and compression are part of that. There are a million ways to present a multitrack. Spend your energy on the faders, not on the gear.
I usually use the console one to mix my tracks I usually use the SSL 9000K Channel strip for drums and bass or the SSL 4000E for instruments and vocals
This whole video is bloody brilliant, some real gold here
Thanks!
Big up yourself George T! Your vids are always on repeat 10x
thanks to your video, I bought an MPC drum machine yesterday and just got a grammy award today!
🤣🤣🤣
great video, thank you for this content, looking forward to your work like this.
the speakers are a must also.. Got to have one for the bass, the highs and mids, and one for super clear sounds.
Yes mixing in mono may be one of the most impostant points to his sound. And then push the limiter/clipper into oblivion when mastering
Love the videos, but have one piece of constructive feedback. I’d look into getting a better mic or recording setup. Kinda jarring to be learning about mixing and mastering techniques when your own mic is poorly mixed. Again, no hate, just something to consider!
ANYTHING on Aftermath sounds fresh! DR.DRE the perfectionist
This is so well put together
Finally I see real modules , machines and compressors that today we see on PC monitors
This is great for producers thank you for this 🎉
Once I bought my second monitors, the new mixcubes, it was unreal how much better I got just from that. I have them paired with the Hs5's. That alone leveled up my mixing by double or even triple, I can't recommend it enough. It's 10x easier to get things to translate
Mixcubes by Avantone? I got a Roland Cube Monitor which I use for mixing. From Tape to Protools Hip Hop can be now mixed on android how I get down. I recommend making Layers of drums & crank at least one up to get the bass & make the kick dominant & everything. & then experiment with the drum-layers.
which mixcubes?
Having a good subwoofer and room treatment also really helps.
@@cvstlebeats Auratone have powered ones these days - they have a smoother mid hump and less low end than Avantones. I used an old pair of 80’s Auratones for years that were super sensitive to amp choice. I sold them when the new active ones came out. The old ones had an incredibly dry, midrange knock to them (with the right amp). The new active ones don’t have the same dryness but they at least sound the same as each other 😂 and they give you the magnifying glass on the mids thing. It’s unreal how quickly your mixes start to translate when using them, there’s literally no learning curve. Bass and top end have a way of finding the right balance if you can’t hear it and just get the mids right 👍🏼
*DR DRE EARS IS HIS MIXING MAGIC.*
I brought that Sony Mic to Dre…got it from Babyface. This is cap…😂😂😂😂😂 I taught Segal as well 😂😂😂😂
Someone recently said in interview he was in dre studio last year and that he has wall of custom main monitors that are best on earth. He went to his studio to listen his mixed project on them and said they go very loud whole room was shaking
Love to push sounds through a board and tape.
And not to forget the ad converter of the mpc60 🔥
Thanks for what you do 💖✌️
really love your content man ! i went to check the prices on all of those and basically the secret ingredient is CASH ! ahah
This the typa stuff that made me wanna be a mix engineer 🔥🔥
Cool stuff. I like watching these old videos too.
But what about the avalon 737? I thought it was one of those Dr Dre pieces too, especially for tracking purposes. I remember reading an article where they described how they tracked „in da club“
Yes with an 8:1 ratio compression
Yeah, they apparently use either the DBX or the Avalon. Don't recall where I heard that.
Could be very possible he uses it. I didn’t see it being mentioned by Dre in any articles tho
@@georgetmusic This article originally appeared in the September 2003 issue of EQ
50 CENT
"In Da Club"
Producer: Dr. Dre
Engineer: Vito (Mauricio Iragorri)
It's funny how all Dr Dre videos contain 30+ year old footage. The man's still making music today, why is there no footage of his modern process?
Probably saving it for a documentary or something
he's basically hidden
Thanks for the video! Very inspiring information
And his quality stil sound good TODAY!
Excellent video 💯
Lost my DAT,s I will keep you posted
@8:14 i was using DECK II in 1996.. and the interface is identical.. DECK II was like the garageband to protool's Logic if that makes sense
Awesome, Thank you!
Bob Horn sighting!
DR DRE 1 OF THE G.O.A.T.S. 💯
its halfway into 2023, and FL Studio, has a decent hitting bus, and a great Distortion plugin! compared to millions in gear back in the days of the digital era when it started!
One thing to mention is that the EQ on the SSL uses low/high shelfs and not cuts. This will effect the sound and how the processing turns out
Nice Videos!! Please make a mixing tutorial again
DOPE VIDEO! powerful informative practical.
Dre's mixing secrets. 200 thousand Dollars worth of equipment. 😂
As the money grew, so did the recording budgets.
User > tool. Never forget that.
Great content
Thanks
Just to add more oil to the fire of AKAI decacle :) dope video!
3:39 😬 thought this was going somewhere else 😂
So what was dr Dre’s vocal chain? ...
1. mic > neve 1073 > SSL compressor > DBX 160 > Studer tape?
Or was it...
2. mic > neve 1073 > DBX 160?
Thanks
🙏🏻
That was so awesome.
This is 99% gearporn and one percent actual "mixing secrets"
Anything wrong with that 😏
@@georgetmusic I mean it doesn't really help anyone, I guess this falls under clickbait. I have been baited, congrats ^^
Great video !
Awesome vid 👍 thorough explanations & inside look. Oddly, not a fan of Dre's beats lol. Dilla, Pete Rock, & Quik here lol
So his secret is good recording practices and extremely expensive equipment. 😂
The dude said that peaking the channel and clipping it is a secret that "no one would tell you"
Besides of every engineer that uses gear and understands that most of the FET consoles produce harmonic distortions
Bro...
DR DRE IS A HIP HOP SOUNDSIGNER
as a pro electronic music producer alot of what they're saying is funny coz its just a lil compressor and they're talking about it like its game changing def made me giggle.
Great Video I subbed
they only have part of vocal chain a few pieces of outboard gear missing rick Clifford
Just listening to some Dre mixed tracks. He really focuses heavily in the high frequency region. It seems he's like "fk that de-essor". His snares really clap in your face. 'Imagine', by snoop, that snare is a good example. Ironic 'cause everyone focuses on the bass. It's a bit of magic trick.
Pushing a tape machine. I wonder if he still does that?
But on 2001 for example bitch niggas has a lot of Ts zs and s’s and it’s not harsh has to be de essed compared to the contract album not de essed super new school feel where 2001 is gold
😊 ❤ love this its partly here but love this documentry
Good stuff. Just so happens I have a 1073 and an A800. I’m an API guy for consoles though.
Don't forget high end conversion!
Explain this at 3:30, Dre clips drum on the SSL intentionally??
He does, you can hear it quite often on 2001. Most, if not all of the drums are very saturated on that album.
Analog clips differently to digital. Analog clipping produces distortion/saturation which can sound really good, while digital clipping is just noise
The DBX on vocals was interesting. Not as common as the 1176.
giving our music away to the main stream
Great Video!
Thanks!
I read somewhere that Chronic 2001 was the best mixed album of all time. I didn’t get it until I listened to it in a car with an expensive sound system
Also on cheaper systema you always hear the fuller sound of Dre with clear voices coming out
If you need all that then. It can’t be
@@SDSOverfiend it wasn’t the MOST expensive but it was better than a stock system. U can’t really tell on some skullcandy earbuds
@@THEINFAMOUS1011 I got some wireless Onedio headphones I copped for 59$ they blow all the at shit out the water he selling. I listen to a lot of dr Dre songs and other than being good records. He wasn’t doing nothing post productions nobody else was doing. His live instrumentation from Scott Storch we the differentiator.🔥🔥
I remember back in 2000, I had a E-MU sampler and sampled off that Chronic 2001 CD, it sounded better than every other CD I sampled.
This video is more about dr music production equipment nothing about mixing tricks.
Could have pointed to more mixing techniques and less gear imo. Good video regardless!
i read somewhere that he masters from ssl console to the panasonic sv3700 dat and clipping the converters in the process, i also guess that he uses gml 8200 for mastering but not sure about that.
Knew he was a Neve man.. anytime you hear that, you know what’s up
2:08 Is that Kontakt? I see the Spectrasonics Trilogy VST
Correct that was the early Kontakt the green & blue vst back then was called Kompakt, I remember seen my cousin used this vst I've been trying to find this vintage Kontakt is really hard to find.
The Auratone "warts" as they were called.
Dope