All language subtitles for 002 - Manny Marroquin

[Music]

okay guys so Dan Weston asked when

you're doing a hip hop or pop song do

you use any compression on the drums to

keep Peaks in check and if so is it on

the individual sounds or drum sub what

compressors do you find suitable for

this use great so a hip hop track I've

talked about glue and on tracks and on

the hip hop track the approach is unglue

like you want separation from your

sounds and I tend to almost never do a

drum buss compressor or any processing

to the stereo drum including drum bass

hi-hat and I'm sorry kick snare hi-hat

and all that stuff so what I do is I

never ever glue those meaning I process

them individually so if there's a kick

and I want that hard hit and the sound

doesn't give me that I'll just maybe go

to my 1073 or with Naville on 2044 or

sometimes I'll do a quad 8 and then I'll

also use some of the plugins out there

but for the most part I don't one blue

when it comes to hip-hop and that's

that's the that's what I would do to

hip-hop drums Roman English says hey man

thanks for doing this can you explain

your process working with stems in the

box after you're almost done with mixing

a song

what's your train of thought when it's

up to the parallel compression by the

way your plugins are the best Thank You

Roman so what do I do after I have I'm

still on the desk on my SSL so we all

mix the song on the on the desk

then we print stamps now now at that

point I'm in the box but the stamps is

it's really hard to especially from over

compressing a song so that the stamp

sound the way they should sound on the

way back so there's a couple of tricks

what would I do a couple of things we

bypass whatever's on my master buss and

then I put it

I can with the stems that works fairly

well on my SSL I got a key input so we

feed that and to it so that has the

compression even though we're sewing

each instrument at a time it has the

same overall buss compression and then

once I'm in the box I'm in the Box just

I process the way anybody would in the

box if it's if the client says vocal up

I bring the vocal up in the box if the

client says you know I need it's an

alternative type of track if I want my

drums to be glued and I want this cool

stairs stereo buss compression on the

drums and I do what you would do on the

Box select an ox send the drums to that

and play around with compressors I feel

like the parallel compression right now

is just a fence this fancy thing to do

and I think it's so funny people young

engineers spend a lot of time thinking

about that and and I I don't pay

attention too much attention to parallel

compression but I do parallel

compression as well but it's just a

fancy thing to do nowadays as like the

trend but that's this that's how I get

my stems to sound as good as they as

good as the make sounds on the desk and

it's been years and years of trial in

there to get the system going and and

I'm still trying to make it better and

better so that's that's what I do

okay Paul Vaughn the gauge gauging sorry

I'd butcher your name I'm so sorry hi

Manny

could you tell us something about your

mixing process for example I heard you

always start with the drums at what

point do you move on to new elements

what about adding reverb and delay etc

once you feel the mix is coming together

do you repeat to your process of

balancing processing again until the mix

is done or is your approach more linear

whoa that's a great question because I

just spent a week here luffa break

discussing that I did a couple exercises

I did I had the guys do

sort of my process without them knowing

what my process is it's very simple I

start with the drums always I always

joke around even if there's no drums in

the song I start with drums meaning that

I'm very groove oriented so I want to

established a groove

I don't move past the groove until I

think I have the groove not 100% but

till I feel good about it then I start

bringing other things like the bass now

I get the bass as my bass feeling good

with the drums and once I establish that

I move on to the vote maybe I'll put the

vocal in to see what the vocals doing

I'll mute the vocal bring it down and

keep going with the sense what type of

track is it is it a hip-hop track is it

in the alternative country folk whatever

the the John rays will sort of mix

itself so then once we have all the

drums my rhythm section my groove is

established I start bringing more colors

into it it could be guitar since and

again I'll bring the vocal up to check

and make sure how the vocal is affecting

other things if it's a big pop song I

want to make sure that the vocals

established I may actually work rhythm

section and then do some stuff on the

vocal now to start off with I'll put

maybe just a simple reverb delay so that

is it inspires me to keep working on the

groove when the vocals in once the

vocals in and I have basic delay and EQ

throughout the day I you know I'm

tweaking and I'm working on the on the

effects but my attention is does it even

need effects does it even need a delay

doesn't need a Reaver who knows it may

not need any of that so after I get my

groove some of the instruments some of

the focal focal points in I may just

want to mute it the way or I may want to

change it'll delay or I may want to EQ

process whatever it is and if you

haven't had a chance to check out my my

my delay with waves it's very useful and

it's really really simple to use so I

can get any tone fast efficient and I

like to think that it sounds musical too

so I'll start with basic things but I

don't let the delays or the effects

Drive what the mix should be doing

I was telling the guys this week that uh

I use as needed if it needs it I use it

if not and I you don't even mess with it

but I established the groove first and

then I move on to it other things

doesn't mean that my groove is done it

just means that I can move on and then

once I bring other things in I may go

back to the groove and compensate for

that space that the other things have

taken we got a little mooska as hey

Manny thank you for doing this I'm

pensado's place interview you say you

don't do recalls and state your print

stems back to Pro Tools and then if you

need to recall the song you found a way

to make your in the box them sound close

enough to your SSO mix so what's the

secret I discussed that there's no such

thing as secrets here but what I do is I

take whatever I'm doing on the stereo

bus i bypass it we print stems and then

do a new session import that ox and put

this whatever I was doing on the stereo

bus backgammon and simple as that on my

ssl we do a keychain or a key input we

feed the mix into it when we solo the

kick or whatever I'm printing has the

same compression that the SSL has and it

comes back pretty close it doesn't come

back a hundred percent I may have to

compensate here and there may be a kick

level maybe a vocal level maybe half a

DB point three DB on something but I'll

a be it and make sure that I must close

to myself makes us possible and then at

that point I'm in the box and I do what

anybody else would in the box

Emiliano Caballero as many I love the

Bruno Mars record in locked out of

heaven

I can feel different dynamic changes

during the song how did you approach the

mixing to translate that sense of

emotional change do you get influenced

by your clients rough mixes which was

your first thought that came to your

mind when you started mixing that song

thanks

so I mean ya know Bruno came and played

me his rough mix and I feel like the

rough mix kind of gave me enough

information

to sort of mix this up so I said I said

a couple of times that that song was i

tried things that i never tried before

because I knew was special I felt good

about it the rough just I mean gave me

the sense of what the song was about and

how special that song is so I did a

couple things where the dynamic changes

were there but I just exaggerated them I

pop compressors in different sections

that I would have never normally never

done before but again I felt like it

needed that it was there but I just felt

like I needed to make it better

or make it more pronounced and

exaggerate some of the emotions so

simply it was one of those where I need

a lift here how can I create a lift I

don't want to bring my volume up I don't

want to bring do rides cuz it the focal

point disappears so it was let me try to

glue this section and I think that song

has maybe four different sections of

course got yet the police vibe and I

didn't listen to it I didn't reference

any other police records but I felt like

oh what do I remember from a police

record and my perception of that is how

I approached it and then after that it

was just about but about getting those

dynamics that song was all dynamics how

because it's really difficult to create

a when you listen back it's it's hard to

tie those sections in and the only way I

felt like I was able to do it was just

creating dynamics whether it was one of

my compressor or whether it's filtering

or EQ in a section instrument because it

sounded that frequency range was missing

on the previous section and now I got to

carve it out in the next section or else

it'll feel like cutting and pasting even

though it wasn't a cut and paste but it

was a tricky song it was but I think

that what helped was just obviously

having a great production you know I

can't take all the credit for it it was

a great production and I just kind of

exaggerated

was there already and and that was it

that's the first thing that came to mind

on how to build how to exaggerate those

dynamics and make it you know make it go

like this so that listener is always

engaged and they're always there's

always a push-pull feeling with with

that song and and that was it that was

the approach on that

okay so Patrick Brown hey Manny how do

you like your coffee well thanks for the

wonderful question because if you're

trying to break into the business make

sure you know how to make a really

really good cup of tea or a cup of

coffee or a Jack and Coke whatever it is

make sure that the client is always

happy and it's a good advice for anybody

that's trying to break into the business

we got to pay attention to detail and if

you cannot make coffee then is this not

probably hit your career but yet so

thanks for that that was it that was a

fun question okay so I'm gonna screw

this name up I apologize and it's from

the link went hey Manny can you tell me

how to EQ a harsh or bright vocal to

make it sound more natural and are there

any particular EQ and compressor that I

can use detain the harshness and what

frequencies should I be targeting so

there is a plug-in called a Manny

Marroquin Signature Series Triple D that

takes that is a de-esser D harsher in

the boxer

I find that vocals nowadays because of

tools those can be a little harsh

sounding the inexperienced young

engineers don't know how to properly use

microphones and compressors and preamps

so we sometimes get harsh sounding

vocals it also depends what information

is there around the vocal that makes it

sound harsh as well so I you know listen

that's why I created this plug-in

because that's I face that a lot so it's

as simple as the plug-in has a key

listen you hit

he listen you listen to the frequency

you want to get rid of you d click the

key listen and you bring that one knob

up and it does it for you and it's all

to taste

sometimes you will abuse it and then

you'll start scaling back the harsher

you got to be really careful with it and

then I have a de-esser saying constant

key listen listen to what you're trying

to get rid of unclick key listen bring

the knob up and boom voila you have a

smooth vocal so you should try that

as far as hardware my go-to is a two

co1b tube tech I use that a lot in the

1176 have the luxury to have a fair

channel in my room that when I have

these harsh vocals but my point is you

don't need I mean listen if you have it

great but you can also achieve this the

sound in the box by using a couple of

the plugins especially was the one the D

harsher that believe me it's gonna

change your life I hope it changes life

all right moving right along

Jamie Turnbull as okay Manny can you

tell me how you like to use distortion

in your mixes I use your plug-in and

have been a fan of using lo-fi a lot in

my mixes - Brian things up cool thank

you for using my plug-in Distortion

you know I use distortion almost like a

queuing something sometimes I add a

little crunch and stuff that you don't

really you can't really tell in the mix

but you know something's going on so

with distortion I'd like to use very

subtle distortion now of course if you

have a guitar you want this distorted

that's an effect but I use distortion to

color things and that's why I came up

with that plug-in as well I felt like

there's not a lot of good distortion

boxes plugins out there there are a few

don't get me wrong but a lot of them I

just felt the sort of distortion wasn't

as musical and I tried my very very best

to create something that was at least

musical and that you can manipulate with

the frequencies in the box and you can

get a sound really fast so I use it to

just shape things more as an EQ than say

a distortion box Daymond Martin asks

what are your top two to three favorite

albums of all time that you feel were

sonically perfect also in what ways are

you pushing boundaries to top those

albums and or what new horizons have you

hit lately that you feel may have taken

your mixes further well how I feel my

mixes hopefully move forward is just by

like I told the guys here left a break

being just a music fan meaning I listen

to new things I get inspired by new

sounds and I hear something that I would

never not never but I wouldn't have

listened to if I had if I was close

minded so I stay open and if it's

something that I would necessarily

listen to I give it a shot

and who knows maybe there's a guitar

tone in there that that I try to use

some one of my mixes and try to create

that and be inspired by that sound and

it's just simple inspiration from either

my peers or just people that I look up

to artists and just being a mute just

the music of fat a music fan - three

favorite albums of all time

oh man that's such a tough question

because it's like which kid do you like

your the best you know what you have

three kids which pick one like it's hard

for me to pick I do like what I have

worked on I don't know if that's the

question if you've asked if they were my

favorite albums that I have worked on or

just favorite albums that have inspired

me well the ones that I've worked on

just cuz I'm selfish and I'm gonna talk

about me oh I have to say continuum

continuum was great John Mayer I really

really like the way that album feels and

sounds this artist named Citizen Cope

the Clarence

Greenwood recording it makes a few

things on that as well it just feels

right it just gives me a sense of like

yes I can do this there's some Alicia

stuff as I am that I feel like sounded

really good and influenced me to you

know keep mixing some of that stuff

there's a new album that's about to come

out by the weekend that I feel like we

nailed the atmosphere and the feel of

what that was so god it's I can just

keep going and going but I would say if

I had to name two or three or four those

would be the ones that come to mind

right now and of course as soon as the

camera stops rolling I'll think of ten

more that I am going to say I should

have said this one or that one but those

are the ones that come to mind so I hope

that helps

okay so Steve Allen what type of

strategy or way of approaching a rap

beat that has tons of 808s in the mix

and it overpowers the vocal from the

base being so low and aggressive it

actually makes the vocal crunch so again

we discuss this here at la Fabrique in

there's lovely lovely one-week seminar

that we do we discuss 808 808 I feel

like in a mix 808 or the low-end

information it's the hardest it's it's

really difficult in the vocals so if you

have your low-end information that you

can master that and then also your

vocals those are the two hardest things

in the mix for the most part 808 you

know my approach is very simple I leave

the 808 alone I don't color it at all

I try to ikki around the 808 so if

anything else is getting in the way of

the 808 I try to take it out so that

that 808 always has space and that's the

trick simple as that and you're like how

how do you carve frequencies out well

you have your 808 and you have a kick

and you solo both of them and you start

messing with a kick if the kid gets in

the way of the 808 and you keep that

frequency up it may be a tiny bit it may

be a combination of level and EQ

anything that you

v8o a to exist on its own and then the

cake becomes a supporting place a

supporting role and everything else

plays a supporting role so if you bring

faders up and it gets in the way of the

808 to straight queueing some stuff out

if level doesn't work and it's a simple

approach but it's it's very effective

that was it