All language subtitles for 1. Mix references, setting intentions, hybrid processing, lead vocal treatment, background vocals, reverbs_EN

I'm Kevin "KD" Davis.
I'm here with Mix With The Masters.

Today, we're looking at
a song titled "Ain't No Way,"

sung by the late, great
Aretha Franklin,

covered by Jennifer Hudson
for the "Respect" soundtrack.

And we're going to get into
my process of how I mixed it

and got into
the record.

Recently, I mixed a project
for Epic Records,

the "Respect" soundtrack,
basically about Aretha Franklin

and her life, and it was
starring Jennifer Hudson.

She basically sung
the whole soundtrack,

redid basically
most of Aretha's songs.

And so they called me
to kind of put my flavor on it,

and that's
what I did.

So I received the tracks
from producers,

and it was various producers
on this project.

Just got into my normal process,
just kind of listened to the old,

original reference that Aretha did
and then listened to the difference

between her and
what Jennifer did.

And just kind of started
putting my mind together

on how I wanted to go
and approach it.

Like every song, I just started
with the vocals, the lead vocal.

There's a few background
parts in this song,

but it's mainly just a lead
vocal type of record,

and I just started my normal process,

which would begin with just listening
to old references and listening

to her lead to see what she did and how
she captured what Aretha did, basically.

So this was the reference that I got
from when they recorded it live.

It was just kind of the board mix I guess,
that they used when they recorded it.

It wasn't really a specific
reference that I had to follow,

which is the outputs
are basically the mics

when they pulled them
back on the board.

And you can tell
the drums are kind of soft.

And her vocal is just
dry in the front.

So, for this one, I just kind of
more so went off my own field,

just my own instincts about
where the vocals should be,

what kind of verb,
where the rhythm section should sit.

That's the original.

This is kind of the ballpark
of where I have it now.

More detail to some
of the instruments.

You can
hear better.

I'm just kind of listening to some
of the elements going on in the track.

This is just a raw
session that I got.

Right off top, the band,
I can hear,

is recorded very well,
the horns especially.

They got a good vibe of the original
sound that Aretha had, actually.

So, as I'm listening to what
she's doing, what Jennifer's doing...

add a little RVox to it
just to kind of bring her up.

Nothing too crazy, but just get
the level where I need it to be.

And then, following that,
just some slight compression,

just very little, five to one ratio
just to get some of those peaks,

but nothing too dramatic
that will over-compress the song,

over-compress
the vocal actually.

I like running my vocals to
an outboard EQ, the 2055 Avalon.

It's an old piece of gear
I've had for a long time.

Just the top end can't
compare to a lot of other EQs.

So I added that
into my vocal chain.

Followed by the UAD Neve 1073
to give it a little more body.

Once I got the vocal in a neighborhood
that feels pretty good to me,

I'll run a vocal stem so that
I can start building the mix.

As you can see here,
I printed a stem of her vocal,

and that's it below,
as you can see it.

She has a few
background parts,

some background singers
that sung on here.

They'll only be singing
a few lines on the song,

but I'm actually bringing those
through some plug-ins

just to kind of get them
[inaudible] better.

Same process,
very little.

I actually really didn't
do much to these stems

until I really got
into the mix session.

So it was really the lead I reprinted
before I really got my hands

into the mix
for the most part.

So now that I've got the
lead vocal stem ran and printed,

I can start building
around the mix.

This is the lead stem
that I put in.

As I'm listening to it, just seeing
there're certain things about the vocal

that I need
to get out of there.

So, the first thing I put
on there was...

the Summit Audio TLA-100.

I'm taking a little bit of the
low end off, everything low 40.

There's nothing down there
from the lead vocal.

Put a little
compression on it.

A lot of compression on it
actually to kind of tame her down,

but I'm also using the Parallel Inject
to bring some of the raw signal in there.

And I find a happy medium
where the vocal feels right.

That's not getting ducked too hard,
but at the same time,

you can still feel it in
your face a little bit.

Follow that up by
a little bit of de-essing.

I use the little Pro-DS
by FabFilter, really clean.

There are certain
notes on here

that Jennifer is hitting hard
or kind of piercing.

So one of my favorite plug-ins
to use for something like that

is the Soothe plug-in.

Soothe just takes a lot of those
crazy harmonics

that kind of
sound harsh,

and it just makes the vocal
more palatable to the ear.

Used a little Pro-MB,
some multi-band compression on her

because she had some frequencies
that are kind of jumping out

I wanted to
kind of tame down.

So I added
a little bit of that.

Everything is kind of subtle,
though, working together.

Then I start following it up
by a little bit of EQ.

I love the 1073-SSL
combination.

One is for warmth,
and one is for detail.

So I use the 1073 UAD
to kind of warm her up a little bit.

Then I use the SSL to just
give me some of my top,

some of the sheen,
some of the clarity.

Then I like to follow it up with just
some slight RVox on it

just to glue it
together, I call it.

Nothing too crazy, just feel a little
bit more presence on the vocal,

and I put a little bit
of this on there.

And when I got it in the area,
then I can start dressing it up

with things that I like
to dress it up with.

So, in this case, I used
an old-sounding reverb.

This thing sounds incredible,
the AKG BX20's... great verb.

So I used this.

Taking off a little bit of
low end before I get there.

I got a real short decay on it,
but it's such a big verb.

You'll see
what I mean.

And then I use a little bit of
distortion at the tail end of the verb

just to make the verb
jump out, nothing crazy,

but just to
make it peek out.

So this is what
it sounds like.

Just a little bit of distortion
on her vocal that was recorded

but it kind of gave it a little
vintage feel on her vocal.

There's some background parts
that go with this...

I've verbed out
using Valhalla.

And after I got the vocal sounding
in an area where I feel is comfortable,

I start building up
the rhythm section of it.