Episode 53
Show Notes
Live with Matt Rad - Episode 53
May 11, 2021
w/ Bainz - Week 2
w/ Teezio - Week 1
Show notes by: Bradley Will
Q: How, if at all, are you able to maintain relationships outside of music?
Bainz:
I talk to each of my closest friends every single day. Usually before 1p.
Sometimes I use social media.
Most of the people I’m with know what it’s like to be in my situation, and understand the needs fo my job.
My girlfriend is hugely important.
It’s important to have that small outlet that you can have everyday, like having someone to talk to and have a friendship. This is with people who you can talk to about anything other than work.
I check in with my family as much as I can. Even if it’s just text messages.
You always need someone who can support you.
Matt:
Sometimes, if we choose this life we’re in it all the time. It’s a challenge.
I don’t recommend this life for everybody. It’s a lot of sacrifice and you have to love the insane hours.
You need to have talks with your loved ones about the time you’re going to be taking.
If you don’t have good relationships your work is going to suffer for sure.
You do lose friends over the course of this lifestyle because some people don’t understand the level of focus and commitment that it takes.
You can’t have friends that are expecting you to be texting constantly.
Q: What makes your workflow so fast? Shortcuts? Methods?
Bainz:
Having a workflow is the important part of that question.
Once you have a path to take you stick with it and then keep adapting and making changes.
There’s an Excel document/chart that goes with every project.
It contains version numbers, notes, etc.
Session recall software (not named)
Software to help document recalls.
Having a template that will open up quick and not glitch out.
No UAD stuff that is dependent on hardware.
Everything in the template must have less than 1000 samples of delay and be quick.
Always be committing/freezing your tracks as you go if they’re dependent on hardware or UAD plugins.
What really helped me was that early 2010 NYC vibe of tracking vocal parts with a lot of stacks and harmonies.
Doing these sessions made me really quick in Pro Tools, because I had to be.
Thug moves so fast. Comping each track on the go. As soon as he has an idea, the first take is the one to keep.
You always have to get the 2-track lined up to the grid. That’s the first thing you need to do before you start the session.
Once you do that clip-gain that clip down to -8dB.
This way all of your waveforms look similar in Pro Tools and it’s easier to see what’s going on.
This sets you up for success with your gain-staging.
Autotune now has a feature that talks to other instances of the plugin when you change the key.
This saves you time because you don’t have to go make the change on each instance and risk being slow in the tracking session.
Matt:
Preparation and efficiency are paramount.
Have your template ready to go for creativity.
You want the shortest distance between having an idea and being able to execute that idea.
There are things about Pro Tools as a tracker/mixer that will allow you to group and customize your layers to an exceptional degree.
Go deep on the Pro Tools Grouping
Bainz:
Unfollow globals.
Folders help so much.
VCA’s are good.
StreamDeck controller
He has it set up with a one-button macro that copies track settings.
Ten inserts and then sends copied immediately. Saves him a lot of time.
Matt:
Inspiration will strike in these very short moments.
People don’t talk about all of the preparation or bad ideas that lead up to the moment of breakthrough.
In PT you can group things, have settings for all the group and deselect ‘follow global’.
There are so many ways to customize this stuff that will help you dial in your workflow.
Being ready for all of this will allow you to capture the magic with the least resistance when the time comes.
That is what separates the pros from everyone else.
Bainz:
When you’re mixing you need to be strapped in and prepared. You need to be ready to go.
Saturation:
Bainz:
I tend to favor tools that will impart saturation instead of being totally neutral.
Some people don’t like this.
As a mixer you’re helping the artist realize their vision. You’re mixing for them and need to give them what they want, even if you wouldn’t do it that way.
I’m not mixing for myself.
I like learning new stuff from artist’s asking me to do something I wouldn’t normally do.
Matt:
On any given project I feel as if I’m only using 10% of my skill set.
You want to have depth to your skills and be prepared to do any sonic thing that the artist asks for.
Bainz:
I get really mad at people who don’t organize their sessions.
He has to keep his team disciplined and insist on them having good organization habits.
It’s not a fun task, but it’s absolutely essential for success.
Matt:
Being organized is the most underrated thing in this industry.
Q: How loud are your premasters when you send them to mastering?
Bainz:
It varies.
For Slime Language 2 the reference masters were between -9 and -10 LUFS.
Sometimes the limiter is doing anywhere from 1.5dB to 4dB of limiting. It varies.
What really matters at the end of the day is how the DSP services (Spotify, Tidal, Apple) are going to alter your sound.
Matt:
I don’t think about it very often. I don’t think it’s as important of a question as a lot of people seem to think.
Q: Low End
Get it loud. Get it even. Get it saturated.
Don’t shy away from automating it. That’s super important. Sometimes the lower notes need different treatment and need to be leveled for consistency.
Don’t treat it like one instrument.
You can even out the volume of your 808s and then saturate them more evenly.
On vocals I’ll automate the gain on an EQ if it doesn’t need to be as bright in certain sections.
It really just depends on whether or not you’ve got enough time to mix the song to that level of detail.
It all comes down to being prepared and being organized.
Q: How do I get my beats to (blank) artist?
Matt:
6 years ago everybody wanted to make Mustard-sounding beats.
We’re in an era where so many people can make good-sounding stuff. It’s not a question of how good you can sound, but the collaborative relationships you can have with artists.
The truth is, you’ve got to find your people and make the relationships.
Weezy has his own people and team with who he has a connection with already.
Bainz:
90% of the DMs I get are “Yo, I’ve got some heat”.
From time to time I’ll respond to them.
1/10 times Thug will ask me to play some new shit for him.
Filtering and listening to submissions takes so much time.
I used to have an assistant run the “beats” email, but even that got overwhelming.
Beatz4bainz@gmail.com
Send me beats to this email.
If it clicks, it clicks.
You would have more luck if you meet an artist or develop your own crew.
Matt:
It’s a very low percentage game.
Teezio has entered the chat
Q: What is the proces of making the Chris Brown/Young Thug record Go Crazy?
Teezio:
We knew right away that this song was different and was going to be a hit
Chris Brown did all of his vocals/harmonies within an hour. Then it was sent to Young Thug.
It’s okay if a song has 6-8 writers. If the song is a hit, then it’s worth it. That is what it is.
It’s way better to have multiple people because you can bounce ideas off of people. It’s harder for a single person to know when the track is really good.
Matt:
In engineer/producer land there is now a great trend of collaboration between producers/engineers that didn’t exist 10-15 years ago.
As a producer, If you’re insecure about bringing in other writers, go ahead and look at Max Martin who has co-writers and collaborators on every song he’s done.
We’re moving towards a more collaborative atmosphere in the industry.
And if you’re succeeding with your friends, then what’s better than that?
Teezio:
It’s not rocket science. You don’t need to get in there and be measuring everything. It’s about feeling.
Prep for your sessions is so important.
