Hello! And welcome to
Red Bull Remix Lab. This is where your
favorite producer comes in and remixes a
track for you live right here. My name's
Anna Lunoe and we are coming to you from
Santa Monica at the Red Bull Studios.
Where are you right now?
Hit us in the chat and let us know.
I'm joined by Grammy-nominated producer
and artist --
It's TOKiMONSTA! Thank you. Good to
have you in here.
Yeah, I'm really excited.
So tell us about the track that you
chose to remix today.
This song is called "High Hopes." It's by this amazing
new and up-and-coming artist by the name
of Rosehardt. The song will be released
on a compilation that I curated ton
my label Young Art Records. So
basically I'm really excited to see what
happens to this artist. I think he has an
amazing career ahead of him and because
I love the song so much I decided to put
my spin on it. Right now, we're listening
to the original.
Cool. Very very vibey.
Did he produce this himself?
Yes.
The vocals, the production, everything. 
- Yes
Cool. So when you listen to this, what do you want
to take from it? Do you have it in what in
your mind what you want to do?
It's interesting. So I just downloaded
this stems yesterday. I know this song
It's really musical. It's in
a very specific key. What I'm
planning to do what I always do with all
my remixes is usually abandon all
instrumentals, so I only take the
vocals and then I take my own spin.
Sometimes I'll reimagine the entire
track melodically, so different chord
progressions, everything. Or sometimes I
might mimic some important aspects of
the song, but for this one I think I'm
gonna ditch everything. Except the vocals.
We got some work to do.
[Music.]
So let's talk through the
setup a little bit actually we've got
some really fun toys here.
Okay, so for my current setup, this is kind of like my
go-to, even at home. I have a Komplete
Kontrol right here, 49 keys,
pretty much good enough. This is the
Maschine MK 3. It's the new one that came
out. And this is a Microkorg. I have the
XL at home, so I'll be playing with this
I mean the main thing is just getting
some nice sounds and an organic play.
I mean, I think a lot of producers,
especially ones at home, they might not
have any of this gear and I don't
think any of it is necessary. In my
opinion if you want to you can use your
keyboard on your laptop or your computer
and use that as a MIDI keyboard. People
drum on that. You can also...
Microphones are also pretty good on the laptop.
Yeah, not bad, you know.
Sounds good
And you can also use your
computer to just draw on piano roll, too.
And like I know tons of
people just have folders of chord
progressions because they might not know
music theory and then they just drop in
chords and see what fits and I think
that's okay, as well. But one approach to
this song because it's in a particular
key, I might end up pitch-shifting a lot
of the vocals to fit an aesthetic
that I'll be going for. I'm not sure yet
but I'm just anticipating kind of
reimagining the whole thing and making
this song quite different from the original.
Right. And we've got so we've
got the Komplete Kontrol, we've got the
Maschine, we've got the Korg vocoder
keyboard and then you're using ...
I'm in Ableton, yes. So originally I
started off with -- okay, the song ended [Laughs.]
with Fruity Loops and it's kind of a
nice standard for people beginning.
I think there was more of a stigma
around FL Studio Fruity Loops in the
beginning, but now so many respectable
producers use it that you know it is a
amazing program. I do miss it a lot.
I think in the beginning when I started
using Ableton I really liked using the
drum racks and like how to drum program
in Ableton, uh, in Fruity Loops, but now I'm
here and now I have this and yeah so I'm --
Gonna make it work.
- Yeah
What do you guys think of this song? Like 
if you were a mixing this song what parts
would you choose what would you put in
it? Let us know in the comments. Maybe
we'll take some of your ideas, as well.
- Yeah, okay, oh and the one thing that I
forgot to mention is -- mic. So one thing I
really like to do in my production is
record. And usually I have a field
recorder. I'll be out in the world and
I'll record sounds and I like
integrating them into my music, whether
it's for percussion or for drums, and in
this case we have, you know, we've
brought like various things from the
canteen here, like a little sound, so I'm
hoping that everyone out there in the
Twitch world can make some suggestions
on what they think would make really
good drum sounds. [Drumming.] And yeah I will
literally take recommendations from you
guys and what we should record for -- you
can recommend a snare sound, some hi-hat
sounds and like a kick drum and we'll
record it and I'll integrate it into the
song. So yeah, I'm gonna begin right now
with like I said just the vocals. So I am
scrapping every single component of the
original. We're not taking the drums.
I'm not taking the synths or the sample
that was in it. Just the vocals and for
me, I usually ... Okay, right now I'm using
the wet vocal. I was given two groups
of sounds, one's dry and one's wet, so the
dry stems
typically mean that the stems have no
effects on them, no distortion, no
compression, nothing. And the wet stems
are the vocals as you hear them in the
track. And I'm actually going to work
with the wet stems.
[Vocals.]
So this has all the effects.
- A little distortion.
Yeah, exactly. So I am NOT
manipulating these. These have already
been affected, but I think so much of the
aesthetic of this song involves how it was
presented, which is with the distortion,
with this kind of saturation.
Oh, so the cat ... the cat, sorry. [Laughs.]
You guys in the chats are now all cats now to me.
- Kitty cats.
Asking for a cowbell. We don't have one.
This is gonna act as a cowbell, obviously.
- This is called a human bell. When you
want to call humans over, just put coffee in there.
This will have to do. Or if you have any other ideas. If
you want me to hit the spoon on the
salts or the can, just let us know.
- Yeah.
Half can ... Okay, yep. Okay, we'll try that.
You guys want a half can of
Red Bull hit for a drum sound I think
that would sound good, as well, we'll
definitely do that.
We'll start with the vocals and work our way to the
Red Bull can.
So I pulled out all the instrumental and I
don't know if anyone was paying
attention, the song is really
repetitive, so with vocals the song is
just like A section, a B section and
there's pre-choruses, choruses or hooks
or you can be known as "the drop." There's
always post-chorus or post-hook, as well.
So me as a remixer, I can really choose
-- Oops, to not have all my files sync'd to
my Dropbox right now [Laughs.] And
choose which parts I want to keep
because I might not want to keep the
entire song. In this case I know with a
lot of people we have the ability to
start with drums or with keys. For me,
even though I have these vocals, I'm
gonna leave them pretty full. I'm not
gonna do like glitchy effects or things
like that. That always comes
after. I want to hear which parts I like.
And for me, let's start with this part
that's not playing.
[Music.]
Okay, so I'm gonna loop this one section of the first verse. It's gonna go over and over.
I already established that the BPM is 115 and I'm already thinking in my mind right now
115 is really good for kind of like
slower house stuff. I mean I could also
make it more halftime and make it more
of like a hip-hop beat, too.
But I'm thinking ahead. I actually really want to
start with melody, if that's okay and
start with the chords I want to put in
this track. So let's see ---
[Music.]
I'm gonna start with the first four bars. This
part's gonna get a little repetitive.
I'm really sorry, so it's gonna keep looping
while I try to find some chords.
So when you're gonna listen to this
melody what are you listening for to
inspire the chords?
The main thing is that I find
chords that are in key -- that's the first
thing. And then kind of like how I want
to flip it, right? So the song was kind of
uplifting, a little happy -- that's the original.
And when I remix a song I really want
to present it in a way that it wasn't in
the original. And the lyrics in the song
are I mean the song is called "High Hopes."
It's a very loving song and it
might not sound the most turnt, but I feel
like I want to use more pensive chords
and find more emotion. Cause the
lyrics are highly emotional. The song
itself is presented originally in a bit
more of like a fun, groovy way.
Let's get deep.
All right, you guys I'm not a
professional piano player anymore.
Anymore. Were you like
[Laughs.]
No mistakes. Our prompter guy is being very nice.
There is no such thing as mistakes
cause sometimes the things where you feel
like you messed up and then you listen
back to it you're like this is kind of
the best part. I'm gonna leave this in.
[Piano playing.]
But also this woman right here has done
five albums full-length. Seven EPs?
I have a lot of music out.
Countless remixes and singles.
This is not her first time at a keyboard.
[Music.]
What key is the track in?
I I think it's in some kind of E minor, but then I I'm not
entirely sure. I am just going to
find notes that work. So that's the other
thing, you know music theory is so
particular and not everyone has that and
especially as a professional musician
the more musicians you're around the
more you realize no one knows what they're doing. 
- That's true.
For example, when it's me and I'm
actually working with session musicians
that are just like jazz guitarists and
they know all this theory they're like
"Is this an inverted scale?" or "Is this
like what is this pentatonic?" or "Is this
a Phrygian scale?" and that kind of shit. I
literally am just like that's not the
right chord. Can you like play it a
little different or one note up or one
note down? So I mean ...
And sometimes the chord can be right, 
according to the rules,
but it sounds completely wrong to you.
Exactly.
And there's this esoteric component, where just because in theory it should be one way it prevents you
from thinking it outside the box and
that's what I learned as a classical
musician. I just felt like a glorified
cover artist, you know I was just
playing Schubert. I didn't really learn a
lot about theory at the time I was just
taught how did play.
And you kind of have to unlearn that right and
learn what you want to write.
Exactly and at this point I've unlearned a lot of it. [Laughs.]
A proud unlearner. You got to learn
the rules to break them, they say.
Okay, so these bass, these root notes I really.
Like again, this is only the first four bars.
And you're working with the piano
sound now so you get the notes right, but
then will you change the sound?
Yeah, so right now I'm working in MIDI so it
gives me the opportunity to switch up
the sounds and eventually if I want to, see
like if I decide to use this -- this is a
little mini synth, so I won't be able to
change it after I record it, though I can
cut it up and manipulate it, but
establishing the chords right now for
writing purposes. Yeah, good. Let's see...
[Music.]
Let's turn the metronome on from here.
[Click track.]
I wish I could tell jokes, but I'm really bad at multitasking.
Does anyone have any jokes? Put them in the
comments and I'll read them out if they're funny.
[Music.]
There's the mood. Mood change going on.
It's really simple. I'm just going to quantize what I did right now.
Quantizing is when you you
play it in organically and then you put
a quantize the MIDI so that it
gets on the grid of the song, so it's in
time with everything.
And the buffer size right now
is 128, so it's pretty
low latency, so I'm trying to keep it as
accurate as possible. Obviously, I didn't
play those chords like on time.
I don't like to quantize everything
So like with the drums, once we get to
that, I'll try to keep it as unquantized
as possible just to get that energy of
movement. You know sometimes music can be
really rigid with the quantize on, but
sometimes even with quantize on you can
still have a lot of energy and movement.
It just depends on placement at that point.
And rhythm, too.
[Music.]
Shout to everybody watching. Shout out to
the pro gamers watching and shout out to
the people who can't game at all, like me,
hopeless.
[Piano chords.]
In case you've just joined in, this is TOKiMONSTA. My name is Anna Lunoe and you are watching the Red Bull
Remix Lab. This is where your favorite
artist comes in and makes the remix
right here, live, nothing is planned.
She's just doing this right now for us.
Very cool. We want your input we want
your ideas. We want your input. If
you've got any good ideas, put them in
the comments. We might even use some of them.
[Piano chords.]
Okay, so I found my first little loop.
So yeah you know ...
I'm sure it's like this with a lot of musicians but when you're kind of in the groove it could also just
be really uninteresting, so you know I
always get really self-conscious and
just like oh I'm making music in front
of people. I'm not shy. I love sharing my
process when I can, but it's also like
very interesting I'm just like sitting
here on my computer and we're talking
about that earlier this idea of just
like cutting and pasting and doing and
pressing a note and shifting MIDI notes
and things like that.
No, but that's what you guys want, right?
You want to see those little tiny things because at the
end of the day it's all about little
choices that make a song what it is,
especially the remix where you've got a
little bit to work with and you're
adding in these little choices. People
are saying that they can hear a bit of a
Kaytranada vibe come in on this.
- Maybe, maybe.
[Music.]
I've worked with a lot of people who
don't have half the piano chops you have.
You've got to feel very
confident about your abilities, walking
into a session knowing that you really
can play an instrument, which a lot of
dance producers can't.
You know what it is? It's like you just have to be
able to play you well enough where
you can you can get your point across.
I find like sometimes
the musicians that I know that really
don't know anything about music theory,
they come up with the most unique ideas,
to the point where I really envy
that. It's like I can't think about
sounds as being dissonant as okay.
Sometimes I'll be like that note
it really bothers me, but at the
same time maybe that note gives it a
character, you know, and that's why
you have a lot of producers right now
that are so seasoned, so intelligent, so
knowledgeable, knows all the skills,
knows all the scales and everyone's
music tends to sound really similar
because of that. And it's like
that one dude that can't play piano, he
has something else or that makes him
special or that one the one woman that
can go on a drum machine and be like no
one ever taught me I just figured out it
out for myself and come up with
something more original than anyone else.
Right
[Music.]
Get out of your way here. You
just get into it, we'll just hang out,
we're just watching. Pretend we're not here.
[Music.]
Right now the vocals are really low
because you know cause they should be,
because if you're gonna go and mix
everything down at the end or get it
mastered, everything should be coming out
of your master buss at
like negative 6, 7 dB or less or
whatever.
What is this that you're opening now?
I opened up Nectar and it's a plugin made
by iZotope. It's kind of like an
all-in-one vocal plug-in, so it's really
useful for people that may not
know how to mix their own vocals down. It
makes it super easy. It has all these
little modules, so there's pitch, gate,
harmony, saturation, EQ compressors, a
de-esser, which is really great if you
don't have a good microphone. Helps cut
out the sibilants, like the T's and the
S's that are really sharp. It has
limiter effects, delay, reverb, so for now
since I'm not planning to probably mix
this song right now, I want it to sound good
out of these speakers. I'm going to actually
put a compressor on these
vocals so they're a little louder and
more present in the mix.
Is this one kind of your favorite, 
your go-to first step for vocals?
Not all the time,
But I feel like in a in a time crunch, like
this, it's easy because it has everything.
You know, I don't have a to-go and
look up a specific plate reverb that I
need it's like it just needs to sound
good right now and that's also like when
you're in studio sessions you can always
mix it down later that you can always
change your plugins later but the moment
you have with someone else if you're
working with them now is the moment to
just be like let's look let's get this
idea yeah you know let's see what we can
do at this moment
that is a catchy vocal do you like it is
really good right so that's the thing I
haven't decided what I want to do like
this whole idea of like pitching
distorting cutting up vocals for me it's
not something well it depends on
project-by-project right but with this
one I think the vocals are really
beautiful I want to keep them
I just want to enhance them with
different music and so it's not maybe
the most traditional way like dance
remixes usually people want to kind of
fuck up the vocals or just keep pieces
of it right also sometimes dance remixes
have all the vocals in ensues so in this
version sometimes the label will tell
you you have to keep the vocal actually
very true that's why I like I have a lot
of remixes I've made for certain people
and I'm gonna come out because but
you'll hear them in your set yeah I mean
it's not even anything that's bad it's
just like sometimes I I want to take a
lot of like I put a very strong
footprint on the music that I make okay
so this is something that will test out
right now now I've extended out the
vocals so it's eight bars so for this
first first it's actually 16 bars so
it's eight and then there's eight but it
repeats the melody repeats the lyrics
has changed so if I can find these
chords that will match the first eight
then I just copy and paste for the
second
see that doesn't work okay so those are
not they don't work right very obvious
but you know with the power of April t'n
or you know you can use melody and
auto-tune and all those things you can
make it fit so my easy way is okay so
you're gonna make this vocal fit with
your chords that use exactly
okay so I'm gonna transpose it
transposing is when you change the pitch
see that sounds nice right yeah and also
you know like your humming these these
harmonies what I do a lot in almost all
the songs I have with vocals I always
create additional artificial harmonies
so I'll take maybe doubles or whatever
that the vocalist has done and then I'll
go and create I'll manually make
additional harmonies just like I'm doing
right now like I'll take this
I might copy all these over again into a
new track and then pitch them down maybe
for semi tones or like whichever to kind
of create maybe like out of fifth or
something like that and if you don't
have a great year for chords or
something like that there there are some
amazing apps that have like Bill T and
chord like vocal cords and you can just
whack it on
how would you describe your sound do you
think it's so hard to describe music
like the world is it I think as an
artist you almost don't want to yeah
because you're like oh I make dubstep
that means that's all you can make right
you know if you say this is the artist
that I am I make one specific thing it
doesn't give you the opportunity to make
other things and so I mean generally
when people ask I just say you know it's
kind of like electronic music but it's
also very much like soul soul R&B and
hip-hop you know so whatever it falls
underneath the umbrella I will always
make right you know I like the word
adjacent so you can say like oh it's R&B
and soul adjacent Oh see isn't it a good
word because it kinds of means
everything but also nothing's so great
yeah
so that's a good way to not answer yeah
question
evasion yeah
that sounds good get you in your field
does but hot strange
so now we're in that like the of the 16
bars the latter 8 and so it's happening
again because the melody repeats that
it's not on keys so I'm gonna go in and
do the same thing again find them and do
some the chat is saying that the way
that you tweak each syllable is like
poetry that's so lovely it's really nice
you should stop calling yourself a poet
a sonic poet I really I'm gonna
introduce you next time I have to
introduce you sonic poet I like that
yeah no good got to fix it you know and
it's almost like these two right like it
sounds really off-key so we're fixing it
but I feel like maybe there could be
someone out there that would hear this
and be like oh I like it cause it sounds
yeah and it's off in a really beautiful
way and yeah so I love consuming music
in that way like I love consuming the
idea of other people because beyond
anything beyond the music that I make
and I'm sure the same is for you it's
like I love music I love consuming music
I love listening to other people's music
I'm inspired by the artistry that other
people like kind of present and yeah it
can be hard as a musician sometimes when
people ask you for your feedback on
their tracks and they've done something
that you wouldn't do but you can't
always tell because it's so making these
chords like the decisions that somebody
makes in this moment is so personal
hmm so who are you to tell them that
that Court is wrong you know that
exactly if it feels good to them and if
that's their favorite part of the song
and that's the part of song exactly I
think that's one of the things too is
music is so personal like I really only
get feedback on my music from maybe like
three people right I don't show
unfinished music to anyone really and
it's because you know I'm self-conscious
not everyone understands well who are
those three people one is Louis okay
Louis I manage yeah and then one is my
friend might go and then another one is
my
and I think for the most part I still
don't show them anything until way later
and I never really show people music
unless I have a question and mostly like
when I asked Luis I'm like hey Luis do
you think the snare is too loud right I
always mix questions I don't like really
asking people for creative questions
yeah but I think it's I think that's not
a good quality that I have I think you
can gain so much from getting the
feedback of others if you're open
towards it because so much comes from
collaboration but I really don't
collaborate with a lot of other
producers I tend to have a lot of
ownership over that side I've worked
with tons and tons of like singers and
songwriters but I think that actually
goes back to because I'm a female
producer I didn't want to attribute any
of my music to someone else that they
could then be like oh well back yeah
when all the strings which is unfair cuz
like you know guys can produce with each
other and yet do a collab track people
be like oh this sounds equally that guy
and that guy but you know when I get
into the room with someone even if I do
a majority of the work for some reason
most of the credit will go yeah which is
changing now you know but I've been
making music for so long and it becomes
so sensitive about it so like I'm trying
to change that up and be like yeah let's
collab more and like do more of that and
create a song better than the both of us
yes and also that people don't always
give you the best advice either like you
don't know people's motives if you ask
them oh my gosh I made this track is it
cool and you send it to them maybe
they're gonna feel threatened maybe
they're gonna be like oh my gosh this is
sick I had no idea they could make
something that go like they might say
something kind of a little bit negative
that throws you off what are you just
gonna trust you God don't trust you guys
I love that okay okay and it's also
clipping which is expected so you can
hear so we can just do a quick fade I
don't blend them a little bit better
together how long did it take you to get
a monster on this side of things like
the notes and the feeling like you know
when things are clashing and I don't
know I'm still learning yeah you know
it's like you never it for you for me to
be where I am right now it took all the
years behind me to get here you know and
I'm not even in my final form right so
it's like I can still improve upon
myself as a musician I always want to
learn more I want to get new gear I want
to learn how to use more more plugins
more sense to get into new things hear
more music get more inspired because you
know as an artist I never want to be
stagnant and think that right now I'm
the shit this is the best elevator no
one will ever be better than me it's
gonna make the same beat for the next 50
years yeah but the thing is I've also
learned that it's really important to
have a few people that are like that the
one the people where you look at them
and you're like they never changed their
music I would rely on them to always
like if I want to listen to a specific
sound they will always have that because
you know you know like I'm the musician
that will change but maybe some people
might be a bit it might be unfortunate
for some certain fans are really loved
like a certain era yeah exactly and I
have to be like well I'm sorry you know
I want to change yeah and yet me as a
consumer I feel like as someone who
consumes music I can feel like oh man
but then the psalm is not as good to
much you gotta roll that dice yeah
that's funny is because the next one
might be even better
Hey look at this beautiful color
spectrum that you have going on you know
it's beautiful it's
ableton in there Auto picking color
situation I wonder if there's an artist
at Ableton who's like okay first six
tracks we're gonna go from a tops who
are Brown then we're gonna need to spice
things up
sometimes I know a few people that are
really really good at color coding
things like they'll go through and be
like okay this whole group will be like
this all the like this I'm just like I
don't know it's a talent I usually go
you know the colors represent the sort
of sonic space so like usually drums and
bass a darker heavier colors I mean is
pretty obvious and then the mid-range
stuff is usually bright colors and the
top stuff is usually the yellows and the
more light I mean it's just pretty
obvious because then I can physically
like visually see where I mean yeah yeah
I tried I do it sometimes like there's a
few of they'll be like really
color-coded and the rest I'm just like
they're just like giant fart so I'm like
I don't know you know I just do it by
groups and hope that the colors don't
repeat and I get confused
alright so we got these cool it's it's
sounding really good baby
if you guys are just tuning in this is
the remix lab I meant a little bit
this is toki monsta she is making a
remix live right now okay now the fun
part let's do some of the drums cuz like
will embellish later but for now I'm
gonna keep the same chords throughout
the entire song you guys like these
codes right give us a thumbs up how are
you gonna approach these drums you got
the machine
yeah the machine but like we have to
have the sound any work any sound so
we've got the request for the half the
half red ball and we've got the salt
shaker yeah we've got the kettle corn
Alex can you tell us everybody's digging
the chords good I'm diggin the chords -
I'm getting it a little bit emotional
don't try and hold it this bad day and
then remix let it stop crying for all
you lovers out there just be the first
one your first show and be like the
saddest song no but it's happy sad
they're the kind of sides like my
favorite kind of music is those songs
where you like dancing and kind of
feeling it's so hard that you kind of
cry but you're so happy because you
dancing that's what I'm after in life I
think this is gonna be really good this
is a great at ideas pouring some salt
into the mug to add texture to the sound
of what I can only assume is gonna be
the cowbell no this isn't a cooking show
ladies and gents I think it would be a
you guys this is what we're making today
these are our ingredients we have any
point now we've been working on some mmm
it looks like one of those have you seen
those I just saw a meme today or not I
mean like a video that tells you how to
clean like spaghetti stains out of your
Tupperware I feel like it involved
things very similar to this oh my gosh
yes this is how you get stains on your
carpet people yeah great
let's see do you think it changed the
sound
I don't think it changed much adding the
salt oh yeah we tried we'll try the
music is experiment trial era trials
like talking into the mic double please
okay so I wonder like if we want my
goblin shield my Goblet guys I wonder if
there's like an opinion if I should keep
let's so we're gonna read oh well the
Goblin could be handy oh it's the what's
a cold it's for like Moscow mules yeah
so much that one actually sounds good
that sounds like a cowbell yeah that
actually that a cowbell okay I'm gonna
try recording with this like windshield
on and if it sounds too dull I will
we're just gonna make show mark I think
oops would have been scary to have
someone says okay so going into the drum
section we're gonna record these sounds
for sure but how nerdy do you get about
your drums are you the kind of producer
who's like oh I only record all my well
you sometimes go into a sample pack and
get a kick drum or will you never do
that oh dude I got super into splice so
I'm like all about it yeah I think
splice is a great tool I love it but you
know I also come from this like you go
and find breaks and the dollar section
at the record shop and you pull it out
and you record the breaks you need to
make sure no one else has the breaks or
you spend like $100 on on some really
rare vinyl that has ten seconds of drums
on it you know then you go on splice and
it's already recorded perfectly on
splice yeah and you just spend a hundred
dollars like a doofus yeah so it's like
a it's an arat well let's see it's like
how like in the beginning maybe that's
the way I would have done it I don't do
it that way now but the great thing is I
still have all my libraries of sounds
from before that's when I probably had
more motivation to do that now it's like
I want to make music and there's an
artistry to the process which is like
yeah like going and finding samples and
records and things like that but now I'm
just like I have all the sounds I need I
have like a terabyte
sounds you know we all do now and you
have to limit yourself yeah you can't
keep doing this stuff and never like get
focused on the mine you sure and never
look at the big picture and go away
actually no do you know a lot of
producers like that who would just
obsessed with every little sound that
they never really put any music out
exactly
someone's suggesting that we try the
sound of the cat we only got one of
those so let's do this good okay oh I
think we could probably get me more yeah
that's the stream that's like when we
had thousands of cans here okay check
check
let me do hello Chuck let's see how's
our level and I think it'll be okay
later all right
I'm actually gonna opt to take this off
since we're not talking into it okay
okay I'm nervous now one two three
that was a really good sound let's get
them all right now so we got that can we
um can you shake this salt shaker wait
the that you have to shake on beat so
I'm gonna have the metronome going and
I'm gonna turn it down so it doesn't
record the next no this is fun we're
gonna hear the Michener I'm so loud do
you want it like that we'll do it that
and then we'll do double time it's now
so quiet that I can't hear it
oh it's looping we had some headphones
so I could hear the metronome okay
or you could walk this door this is true
but here actually can you hold this hold
the mic all right all right
Mike I have this because I want to shake
it in a really specific way get that
shake
I'm also afraid of like unleashing all
the salt on the river which we kind of
dude before actually need to hear low
okay that's good
and I'll just double that for the double
time in Ableton because I can't shake
that fast enough ticket let's stick it
like a salt shaker what about these you
think you can do anything maybe the this
could be like a maybe just like yeah
just do a one shot with that kind of
genie could lay this on a kick and it
could be like a rattly top kick yeah
let's try it like let's try it we can do
it see you can always try and just not
use it but I feel like either to try so
keep telling me she's not gonna use my
topic idea but that's cool that's cool I
don't know hey I think I might use it
either way I'm cool with it
can't we recording you just do wide
enough okay just so I can get one clean
nail yeah got it
no one's good and then oh smash the bag
good idea guys might be messy I'm into
it on the floor Oh what if I blow it and
then go you know what I mean oh yeah
yeah okay lean okay we're sorry we
apologize in advance this is all for art
you guys probably want to see what I'm
doing what I'm doing right now is Lima
chips and I'm gonna pour out all the
popcorn so that we have a pristine bag
to work with this actually is a very
firm bag I don't think I'm gonna be able
to pop it but maybe you can try again I
feel like we should maybe you can put it
on the floor we could step on it but no
one would be able to
see it now I think we've got to do the
blow and then pop just say the noise it
makes it doesn't work we're moving right
on to the machine something that
probably will work this is hard I
haven't done this since I was about 11
okay it's not holding
it's just like collapsing and I trombone
you guys that's actually quite a cool
sound yeah it's like a really muffled
kick that was good I like that
great okay good
this is getting very experimental I mean
so wait it's a totally other kind of
show this is some heavy shit performance
art okay cool so we got we got got the
sounds let's see so let's go through
what we have back up that one I really
like just opening I can so cool I don't
know what I'm gonna use it for you but I
want to use that you guys think that's
cool too right
is it yeah I think it's cool I think
it's really cool yeah
so what we can do now is we can take
that stretch of audio we can chop it up
we can pick little bits that we like out
of it can make it louder or softer
basically do anything to it not bad
pretty good not bad so it's a little off
right now but I think I like it
that's groove yeah and the main thing is
like when it's off there's like good off
and bad off and I find that things being
late sounds better than things being
early so pushing things always sounds
better in my opinion so let's just add
this already
I want these shakers in and what we're
seeing right now is you like rough
refining your drum sounds
and you can see it's not really looping
completely on see music can be very
tedious he days but I think this is
amazing I'm having so much fun right now
you guys having fun drop something in
the comments like your favorite emoji
pick the emoji that describes how you're
feeling deeply in your heart okay and
you can hear the metronome in the back
but honestly like by the time you lay it
out yeah does it matter
okay so let's do the fun stuff you could
probably use like a DES or something to
nip it out in the queueing if you really
wanted yeah it's always funny cuz like
metronome clicks are kind of like in a
very useful like range kind of similar
let's see why don't you oh yeah totally
let's do so I like pro-q it's my
fabfilter so that's like one of my
favorite eq's to use
how about this though I really only want
the high end anyway so just a quick
thing we can just do a little cut so
that's taking all the lower frequencies
out of the sound wait you guys are
sending emojis cats waves on yeah the
cat's you're out kitty guys salt shakers
Bob Ross cool I love Bob Ross do you I
don't know if you guys know that oh I
love that dude
OOP he's amazing so I'm Australian I
don't know who Bob Ross is he's he was
like a peeping just gasp someone over
there just gasped is that bad what is he
who is he so he was a paint this painter
with this like you the guy who just
paints on TV it's all about he's super
Zen he always talks about there are no
mistakes you know he likes happy trees
and he'll turn things into happy things
and just a peaceful guy that really
encouraged people to create art even if
it was I'm already you know pretty
amazing you guys are saying that this is
like an audio version of happy painting
so that's cool got a metronome out a
little bit
No
now let's double-time this one hmm so it
sounds really funny and to me keep it
long for now let's work on some drums
we'll figure that out later okay and I
just have a machine right now open
somewhere are you machine so I'm not a
machine Pro I know a lot of people are
really good at it but I do like it as a
tool right now I just have I loaded it
just like one of the factory packs that
come with it
it is the boom bap kit so if someone's
never heard of Maschine how would you
describe what you're using what that
machine it's a standalone drum machine
you can also sequence in it it's really
popular with people who make rap trap
hip-hop also in techno and house like a
lot of people yeah world made a lot of
good loops
yeah tops and mids and yeah it's good
and it also kind of has its like own
built in compression so it always sounds
good coming out like it just sounds like
it's max yeah straight out the but I
honestly don't necessarily like all
these sounds that are in this kit but it
was great with Maschine as I can just
draw up sounds in like the ones that we
made so so she can take the drum rack
and just drag our songs and replace one
she doesn't like which songs with the
sounds that we recorded another thing
that machine does is that you can change
it to be chords as well so there's that
drum pad can actually play chords which
is handy because you know there's more
than just drums in a beat so if that's
the only machine that you have you can
do everything with it I totally forgot
what sound that was I think that that
was the popping of the bag or was that
the shaking of the bag that was the bag
here we go can that be on the drop here
we go guys just put heaps of auto-tune
on me yeah cool I can do that
see this is like the whole multitasking
thing
you're doing very well I'm trying really
- you're doing very well no idea God
isn't she doing well she's doing very
well okay let's see let's put the sounds
it's also like really hot in here is it
just you know we could also record like
that's a good sound the sound of people
eating popcorn yeah I was thinking if
you just like smashing it she's a great
multitasker but I'm also a great
multitasker
I can eat and stand here at the same
time oh no I'm gonna end up in this
remix honor among the many things I'm
learning right now is that it's playing
the entire loop hold on I know how to
fix this but yeah you know I think even
when someone's been producing for a long
time
you always have new things that you can
learn and this is me learning something
new so sorry to practice on you guys
we're all learning I know someone out
there it's like no not to use that shit
she sucks but no they I'm not no one
would ever say something mean on a chat
no one would say anything mean on twitch
let's see I think no one says anything
rude on the whole internet there we go
it's just all hugs
it's just Bob Ross that's the energy
that I want
yeah they want the chat room to be like
Bob Ross Ross action yeah that's like a
good good way to go okay so I'm gonna
take this which was what was that
short-term memory loss I think it's a
real thing
I don't remember either did you just
push this like shorten the sound
well I cropped it right now so this was
okay we did that's a brand first it's
not the popcorn it's not this oh I know
what it is it's when I shook the bag
oh yes that's that does sound what it
sounds like she's just pushed the sound
so it's super tight and it actually
sounds like a great little rim hit ee or
like slappy snare exactly and I think
that's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna layer
it over an actual snare sample I'm also
gonna make a little letter so you guys
are just bub roasting up our chat room
right now I love it
he's kind of this is this is only
couldn't of a heartful he's a good
person I'm gonna go home and just get
into such a deep hole on the internet on
Bob Ross okay so I added a little bit of
plate reverb I'm using Valhalla which is
a great one and let's layer that with
snare so let's go into some splice
samples so if someone didn't know what
reverb was how would you describe it
it's like room ambience right cuz it's
different than an echo but it can have
it an echo II effects like when you yell
in a valley exactly like the reverb or
echo might bounce back or you're in a
large hall so even you can have like
reverb with presets that are like yeah
you know you have a studio room a
Cathedral things like that and depending
on how large the space is the reverb
sounds different reverbs also tend to be
pretty CPU heavy mm-hmm
on you is the the running power of your
computer right yeah yeah so they might
drag your computer down if you use a lot
of certain plugins yeah and with the
reverb so it's it's typically good to
have reverb and like echoes and things
like that on returns so that's when you
can route more
to pull attracts to just one instance of
the plug-in but also yellow whatever you
know if it starts to break down well
it'll hit then so I know people who just
print their reverb straight away like
red light he just prints the reverb and
just commits to it which gives me the
heebie-jeebies like I'll change it a
hundred times and he's like no that's it
sounds great ship it
I don't commit to anything I like I'll
freeze tracks cuz you know in Ableton
you can freeze tracks before you flatten
so it's almost like you render it out
but then everything is still there like
all the MIDI all the plug-in settings
and so if you have like FOMO regret you
can just unfreeze it and get it back so
you've thought let's find a good snare
let's see I want I want this to have
kind of more of a groove right so if we
were talking like Kate Renata this idea
of something that's more swung something
with feeling a little bit more low fie
right right so let's try mmm I like a
good rimshot I'll put that in here so
we're building a bit of a drum kit right
now which is we're gonna use one machine
to play in I think right is this your
favorite way to do drums like this when
you play it in live or do you ever just
do the audio and cut paste and all the
time so I do it several different ways I
like the idea of drum machines and I've
gotten back into it because I used to
use like an SP 404 which is like this
kind of like janky sampler that you
could also do drums in but I find that
like the swing is better you know when
you have a drum machine even if I end up
quantizing it there's something about
just like the primal feeling of playing
yes right but I definitely also just
like I've pulled in drum loops sometimes
I'll use things I've recorded before
like shakers for example I have a folder
right just have a bunch of shakers I've
done and I'll just pull them in because
I think we live in an era where we want
to facilitate
the creative energy and not just have to
wait and be like fuck I have to do all
this stuff no more to get the idea down
and so that's where this era of like
supplies and samples I know a lot of
some producers are kind of like anti but
it does help you get your ideas down
better and one-time stuff sometimes you
can just use it as a stand-in you know
like you can have theirs in there and
change it later and that's a nice snare
right yeah and with that snare let's how
do you layer in this like how we gonna
layer is you just play them both at the
same time for this one it would be like
that and then you can actually it's so
cool
I didn't know this so you can I might
actually end up recording it as audio
but there is a cool feature where you
can just drag the MIDI in hold on you
know it I know why you can have all the
equipment in the world but it really is
how well you know your equipment so
getting one machine like getting one
piece of equipment you can do a million
different things with it it's all it's
really all you need if there's just so
many different ways to do everything and
if you don't know how to use it it can
also all sometimes be even more
confusing to have more equipment you
know so if you've only got your laptop
and one janky old MIDI keyboard that's
fine you've got plenty of stuff to work
with okay so I don't necessarily like
this kick drum but for the sake of time
I'm gonna keep it and you know again
we're getting ideas down I can always
change it later and all those other
things be recorded I'll I'll probably
think about putting in after so right
now we have a salt shaker
the four four sounds really good right
so yeah pours all the kicks on the beat
let's try that
hmm okay how you guys doing out there
hmm
how's Bob Ross doing
and in my effort of trying to figure out
how this works I kind of fucked it up on
one that's how it goes and okay let's do
this again so you guys are feeling the
house bye-bye here oh we just had a
crash did we have a crash oh my god the
whole thing to shut down you guys
lucky Ableton usually saves everything
yeah and they totally did the non save
this is what you definitely press yes
I've definitely pressed no when it's
like you want to recover your work and I
accidentally press no and then I'm like
just wait you know what I'm not gonna
use machine to do the drums you know
what this luxury doesn't happen very
often and the only news oh good what
Gucci is this so let's try it a
different way totally unnecessary also
really scared also kind of compress
command save right now are you guys
relieved I'm really relieved that we're
not starting from scratch but hey that's
what live remixing is all about and we
would have done it if we had to we don't
now let's do it the other way we're
talking about I'm just gonna drop in
splice apples right now okay last is a
relatively new thing and is it you I
don't know I mean you think for about a
year but yeah I got into it kind of
within the last year I think it's been
around a little yeah like three or four
years I remember hearing people talking
about it so splash is basically like a
bank online that collects every kind of
conceivable sample that you could ever
think of you can tie one of my favorite
ways to use splices to type in
descriptive words for things that I want
and just see what comes back because
it's this infinite amount of samples you
could search up a day is like a kick
drum or any I mean it's just
and days worth of stuff so yeah it's
it's a very great resource if you're a
producer and yes this is a great
reminder to save as you're going along
we just want that lesson so and just
like that I just dropped in a loop but
let's just pretend it with me oh no
they're both in there so the shaker is
our original shakers are in there
together I mean as far as like how I
choose loops I just go and drop them in
I'll pull them out if they don't work
that's fine sometimes like here it's a
kick and snare loop there is like a
slightly elitist part of me that thinks
it is kind of lame if I just drop that
in but at the same time let's say well
shit I really like those sounds but I
don't like the pattern so let's try them
and this is the appeal of sample loops
right like I didn't really have to do
anything I just dropped it in and it
sounded really good but what I can do to
really personalize these loops is to
really change the pattern so
and we're talking earlier about four or
four right so what if we okay and this
is something I do also if I ever use
loops like this where it's a snare and a
kick I copy and paste I separate them so
I'll cut out all the kicks or the snares
from each other and put them in their
own track so that if I need to mix them
I don't have to do that to the entire
loop and I don't have to use automation
which is also really heavy on your
computer so let's see let's say that
that's all I want from them I just want
this kick and the snare and I'm gonna
create the 4/4 just copy that over and
right now it is quantized but that's not
gonna give a swing right but I think
that with the shakers because I use
shakers a lot I don't know if it's like
weird or not like I like shakers more
than using like like 808 high hats or
something you know
and so I think with the shakers I don't
think I mentioned it earlier but what I
did do is with our salt shaker it's a
real thing you can get these from any
supermarket guys any supermarket has
this exact salt take off probably about
two bucks so cheap should have more have
more salt shakers yeah considering it I
actually took a small one out in the
kitchen and I poured a bunch of salt on
the floor so this is the safest version
of it that where came down to the to the
idea that it was good luck that she
spilled the salt all over herself
looking that's like a good luck thing so
there's a time delay feature or track
delay feature on Ableton so it allows
you to shift everything by a few
milliseconds either forward or backwards
so what I did is for the salt shaker
which is right here I shoved it alright
I pushed it back so it's a little late
by 8 milliseconds and with this loop I
haven't done anything to this I also
shoved it I actually shoved this pen
millisecond so obviously none of this is
precise I'm not trying to have
everything hit at the same time I think
a little bit of chaos creates that live
movement it creates a little bit of soul
you know because it is a little bit
inaccurate and sometimes the music is
super on super on time it can feel a
little cold so we have both of those and
they're pushed back so they're not even
on the bar and when you add the kick and
the snare even though the kick and the
snare are on they're still movement
she's making this look really easy
playing with that playing with the
groove could be like tricky sometimes if
you get to either bridge but it sounds
really good
what do you think is like the craziest
sound you've ever put in the track that
we wouldn't even know crazy yeah like
the weirdest thing um people breaking
glasses at a bar okay yeah which song I
think it's an um it's in my song Rouge
so if you hear there's a lot of like
glass sounds so some of them are like
broken glass but also have like
helicopters airplanes road noise
nightmare doors
ambient talking people are talking in
the background I like to imagine you out
in the night in like a little Bella Club
we can later in my recording beware
so that's all is that the verse or the
pre-chorus
that it's kind of like a pre-chorus I
see I'm just experimenting right now
probably better at that right see it's a
lot of experimenting that's the way here
for ya right a little bit I feel like
going for the lead and then I think I
feel like it'll sound really good if
they can get this
I love boys wow so good
they're kind of jumping around in the
arrangement now is that something you'd
normally do like I would you just look
work in a loop and then stretch it out
to arrange near the end of the process I
have a tendency to arrange kind of while
I make the song I might like go in and
work on it more but I know everyone's
different some people just work in loose
yeah but when I have a song when I hear
the song and I hear the vision for it I
already have most of the song mapped out
in my mind like how I wanted to go and
how it where I want it to that's some
Elton John shape but it's like sometimes
I have no vision i'm like i don't know
what to do with this this is bad
do people ever say to you a song to
remix and you're like i I got nothing I
don't really want to attempt this or do
you get the pots and then take a look
and then be like oh well because I have
this tendency to mutate the songs a lot
if it's a song I like don't think I
could do anything - or a song I don't
feel very inspired to work on hmm but
let's say it's like an artist I really
like or you know the song is good but
then I don't know what I can do to it I
just changed the song until it's
something I can work with right so you
know even though and that's why I like
you know remixes for me it can really
depend it might not it will pay homage
to kind of the original but it will
probably be fairly different right you
know so if the song is like I I know I
could do something with it without
changing too much of the heart of the
song then it's great but if it's a song
that I'm having trouble with the best
thing for me is always just to mold a
song into something that I feel inspired
by right and this is a good example
right like I think originally when I
heard it it was really I couldn't figure
out a way to make something better than
it is and that's what's hard right when
there's a song presented to you that's
super good yeah and amazing and you're
like well what else can I do to the song
yeah I know it's almost better to remix
songs that aren't very good because I
think you can just try to do something
special to it that I didn't have before
but this song is challenging because I
really like the original and in my mind
I was like I really like the song I
probably could remix it but then coming
to it I'm like actually this is kind of
hard the song is so good and it's in a
particular key the original songs really
repetitive
there's the same sample throughout the
entire song so that gives me at least a
clue that I can also just do a loop that
goes over and over I think if I had more
time maybe I could have more like chord
progression changes but there's
something really meditative about I love
I love a loopy track I love just getting
into the hypnotizing kind of vibe of a
track and getting stuck in a loop I also
think it's a nice trick when you do a
bit of a three bar loop so it's not like
most bars like for sixteen eight kind of
in blocks but if you can do it so that
it's a three bar you just never it's
like realtalk one of my songs it just
you can never get out of it because it's
like hypnotizing chat still wants to
hear that coffee mug cowbell and we you
know we've got it we've got our you it's
gonna get in there you guys just be
patient think Bob Rost think trees let's
do the cowbell because we didn't
actually do that one we put the salt in
it but we didn't we've got that yeah
that's that's the cowbell right okay I
can do this we can do this all right
which is just one Oh download try right
here okay I think think if it's too high
it's a little too sharp okay good y'all
really liked the cowbells huh who
doesn't and this is true good cow well I
guess cattle is a Mormon you muted
sounding right yeah that's the one it's
kind of like a baby between a cowbell
and a triangle and the one that you went
with is the one that I thought I messed
up so you just never know I like it it's
a it is not as sharp because like I
think when you went really yeah it gets
really creamy yeah we want something
with more grit yeah it's a good sound
that's nice right yeah okay like that
it is this this is able to inten right
yes
I'm still having a lot of trouble with
the copy paste and the different they
slightly changed the copy paste in
Ableton 10 and I'm still not quiet
yeah it's cuz they added this easy
automation which does help but then I'm
always in the wrong mode yeah I'm still
not nailing it
it's banks Ableton yeah I mean if you
ever get like press this on accident if
you move this into the piano mode then
yeah do it get stuck and I'm always in a
hurry and then I'm like why isn't it
working
yeah and also like now you have to copy
and paste from up here yes exactly yeah
these are true someone out there with
some people just trying to mess with me
okay so I put this is just manually
adjusted but I put the I put our cow
cowbell
yeah mock bail wait human human bail
what did I call it okay what did I call
that the goblet table it's a goblet bail
if you've just tuned in and you're
wondering what a goblet bail is I
understand this could be confusing
you're watching the Red Bull remix lab
we re mixing a track live for you right
here
my name is anna luna this is Toki
monster she's a grammy-nominated artist
and producer and a label owner she has
made five full-length albums seven EPS
countless singles countless remixes and
we are so lucky to be in the room right
now as she works on his check and we're
all working on it together we're having
snacks we've got food we've got drinks
we got Bob Ross it's all happening we
have the spirit of Bob Ross we have a
spirit of Bob Ross he's with us all the
time everywhere is he still alive
I don't know about him no being arrested
cease it was a really big deal all was
really sad he's been gone for a little a
few years yeah yeah but his legacy lives
on forever you know all of us yeah
ah okay oh yeah that was a big deal to
chia pet except when you actually have
one they always like grow out like from
weird yeah weird but cool ah
probably yeah when you water the top of
their heads and it grows yeah yeah now
people just eat you right yeah totally I
might make my own chia pet
yeah inside my stomach follow my
Instagram I'll get on that straightaway
um what was it like getting nominated
for Grammy like that's like did you it's
not the first time this year last year
oh yeah I mean I never thought that
maybe the last time for me ever who
knows I didn't expect it which i think
is good you know like I'm not here
making music for accolades yeah I'm
making music for myself and for anyone
who's willing to listen but you know the
Grammys are really interesting cuz
electronic is a really new category and
you know in the past I know a lot of
people in the sphere of music have been
really disappointed by some of the
nominees or who wins and we're like
that's not really electronic music but
is it or should that be in that category
should be somewhere else and this year
was the first year where I looked at it
and I was like wow I really was
representative everyone that is in this
category with me and I literally don't
care if I win yeah you know I was very
surprised to be nominated to begin with
but I knew that at least I was with
peers that I respected every single one
of them like I enjoy their music and it
was like John Hopkins Sophie Abby Tucker
Fe Tucker
justice and then also was me wait we
must wait yeah I think Sophia Sophie
Tucker John Hopkins me and justice wait
did I do that justice yeah yeah I
thought above and beyond when Norman
made remix okay yeah yeah yeah that was
really weird it's a weird city to go I
did go and I not I was uh I was a
presenter oh wow so weird
so I was the very first person to
present and for the premiere
monie which is this ceremony that
actually has the bulk of all the
categories it's like 70 of them and only
10 are on the telecast so 70 categories
in one ceremony and as a presenter I had
to announce 10 winners oh my gosh and
one of them was best a cappella group oh
my god and do you know any people are in
an a cappella group basically I don't
have to announce all the nominees in the
category there's a good it's like
pre-recorded right so then it's
pre-recorded I look at the list of
people and there's one like group of
nominees that has 15 names and I'm
thinking my head please come feed them
because I'm holding the envelope I don't
know it's inside and then I open it and
it's totally this group of like 15 a
cappella singers and I'm and no one
prompts me or let me told me like oh you
know to say the first few names or you
know just say their first names or
whatever it was so I was like they won I
should say all their names so I was
reading all 15 of their names as they
were walking on stage as the music was
turning on to kind of hand it over and I
was like man this is really hard work
and was it hard to pronounce some of the
names you're like by macaroni he's like
my name's McGovern yeah I mean John
macaroni in front of the whole world I
mean I will say this I apologize to
everyone in advance if I said their name
wrong cuz there were some really idea
it's funny because before how they do
like email you this lists on how to
phonetically say everyone's names but
you don't know who won so yeah it was
like 300 names on there it's like my
name was on there like everyone's name
yeah anyways I really enjoyed it but man
that was really hard so oh yeah so I've
put our goblet cowbell situation back to
the goblet cowbell what I did too just
so it sounds more natural machine
actually does it on its own see if you
ever do note repeat on here it'll adjust
the velocity so they're not all the same
it sounds more natural so it's like keep
playing it keep your hands we're doing
it and basically I have the cowbell
every half like every quarter note and
it's playing offbeat between the kick
and the snare and it's always like a lot
or quieter louder quieter like
so not noticeable but it'll make the
whole thing again sound more I need you
you just audibly did that you drew it in
okay
and I think it sounds kind of dry so I'm
going to put some reverb on the
situation I stand with a copy I'm pretty
excited to see what you're gonna do with
that can that opening can I know I feel
like it's gonna be like the last moment
before it goes back into a chorus or
something right that last sound it
sounds so cool he's almost like the
sound is so special you don't know what
to do with it it's just gonna sit in the
corner forever
you could either I mean you could give
it rhythm and make it more of like a
feature sound - it's true that I felt
like up front things do but I guess with
this track it's all about the vocal and
the instrumentals just kind of feeling
out around them so cool I actually did
not notice that camera and I feel like
you mean spying on me
baby
this song isn't even out yet this is
very exclusive oh just a little break
maybe I could put like the whole since
then some of the vocal harmonies yes oh
oh that's where the can should come in
where'd you go Ken Kenny boy
we lost a can with a crash
called the UH we can do it again okay
when's the compilation coming out May
3rd 4th this I'm not sure but it's in
May in May early one of the first weeks
cans cans cans
oopsie cans okay so this check isn't
even out for another month or a month
and a half two months what is it we're
at the end of March so that's like
another six weeks or so that is cool so
you're getting the remix before the
track it's triple exclusive I like that
phrase no a triple exclusive yeah I said
that wrong triple x-- exclusivism
okay so we took that off yet one two
three back in the game people you get
some sizzle in there okay I know I want
to put it Thanks Alex Alex is telling me
that I cracked well I used would crack
it was really good
I don't know if anyone knows this but I
love this this is a good turn around oh
my god this is gonna be great
that's gonna have to change all right
but before then I think I could speak
for all of us by saying that we were
lost in emotion in the groove in the
vibes just like being this like super
super strange person I don't know what
it is but when I'm working on music I
lose all social cues and suddenly I'm
like not a pilot I don't know how to
like be a human being I don't know what
it is maybe it's just like disconnecting
and using so much energy into focusing
on the music itself but I like don't
remember I like forgot my mom's birthday
don't remember where I live in apartment
mark yeah it's gone so we can use this s
like a little riser right super common
trick everyone uses this we can use a
frequency shifter so I grouped our salt
shaker and the loop together and we can
just do one of these I actually have
never done this before
ooh try me
I've seen like plugins to do similar
just basically add echo and add like
frequency shifter all of this is it's
super easy yeah I'm saying similar
things but not frequency shift to like
that and it's a really light plug-in so
if all you want to do something simple
like that then it works really well
tips on tips on tips I hope you guys are
writing this all down if you just tuned
in if you feel like you missed a bit at
the start all of this is going to be
online on YouTube we want to get that
effect snapback in so you can really
feel that code pop
let's see I think this guy deserves to
be louder this is something I also like
to do a lot we all listen to music on
headphones right like when we're
consuming half the time I have like
really cheap earbuds in my ears I'm on
an airplane and it's really immersive
when you have music being listened to in
that way and so you can really trip
people out so I like working with stereo
a lot not in a way where it's really
annoying because sometimes too much
stereo padding Mason makes you dizzy
yeah like all the music it's just on the
side of your ears you know but I do like
with little effects like this to kind of
have it drive across your ears so like
with this opening of the can we can make
it seem like it's opening across across
our like from one side to the other it's
a round sound oh yes okay so it might
not be super obvious for everyone but
it's such a gentle sound as here that's
the total ants of our south
what do you think is one of like the
best little tricks that you've gotten
like that
like little tricks that just help the
process well I kind of like that
frequency shift just things you you know
honestly the the biggest thing for me is
the track delay on Ableton
okay so then being able to shift things
around because sometimes it could be you
recorded someone or you want to shift
whole things whole tracks it really
creates a lot of energy also for stereo
panning people will also do like track
delay and stuff like that I just use it
a lot sometimes it's just an easy way to
create swing mm-hmm also do you give it
to everything or just like do you do to
do do you do it to the kick or do you
just do it to all the perks and I always
keep the kicks on the one quantize no
matter what right
so ghost kicks can be swung a little bit
maybe I'll push them just like a slight
bit late sometimes snares might be a
little early I might move them a little
early or they're also just on you know
on the bar but percussion like shakers
bongos anything like that I tend to
shift around a lot in the very it's kind
of like broad strokes and I can try to
I'm just moving it around on what feels
good you're not being like okay
everything has to go five this way or
like yeah and actually like
unintentionally will make them different
so like one is 8 milliseconds and one is
10 mils that's so interesting because I
feel like the rule I've always been
taught is like everything has to be the
same on the swing that's so cool
yeah it's like if you if you look at if
you study like drum patterns like funk
drum patterns like like James Brown if
you were to put that on a grid and you
can see how they move the drums like how
the drums are played they're never on
yeah but because of the way that it's
played it creates movement like you want
to snap your head in that way that's why
J Dilla was so good yeah like his drum
swing was just like the best and so much
of it was placements like sparseness
do the type of drum sounds like really
short snares in certain instances where
you just want it like snap your neck you
know and it's obviously like a really I
don't know like a scientific way to look
at it but you know
everything is about movement because
there's also like the wrong way to
create swing where it's like too jerky
and you know it's not natural enough do
you ever get up and dance when you're
working on it just to feel how it feels
when it goes to your body yeah
absolutely all the time yeah
how do you feel good in the studio
though it's important to feel good in
the studio and feel like it's important
to feel good in the studio and yeah like
get up and dance and keep the spirit so
that you can put that in the music
that's all it is it's the energy that
you have that goes into the music I'm
gonna let you finish those drums out
I really use the Valhalla plate the most
so this is my favorite reverb so because
I think once as I go at least I can like
sequence out the whole first part of
this song for everyone so what are you
adding reverb to now just a tail end of
that vocal okay it all like carry it on
yeah and it'll just melt into the sort
of pre-chorus that we have and it's
starting to clip because my buffer size
is really low which I don't need anymore
only necessary like when you're
recording in so now it's set at 512
what's that the decay really long
Oh another effect I really like is that
filter is timeless I've been using this
on my music for a long time like even on
my first album I always use the Analects
tape back oh so it just adds like that I
love that I just love the space echo
effect there's tons of other plugins for
it too but it's just like I guess I'm
confused to this one yeah
the check is concerned that you've saved
this oh yeah thank you very much these
are this is what happens I think
everyone can identify right you just
like so in the zone it's like BAM gone
beside it's like little single tear and
that's totally done that thing to where
it asks you if you want to open I've
also press note I know that's the bit
and you had the option to save it and
you press know you have you guys ever
done that I've totally done that before
it's just the worst feeling cuz then
it's all your own fault like it's like
why like does do I hate myself do I hate
myself it's a little bit ya know but
then it's also living in the moment that
song was meant to crash
do you know what it's because you're
like sometimes your computer is always
saying do you want to update
do you wanna update and I'm like no no
and then it's like you know if you've
just tuned in we re mixing high hopes my
rose heart this song isn't even out yet
it's out in made on a compilation on
young our records which is Tokyo
Monsters record label we're working on
the drums we're just getting that drum
down and then afters I guess we're
moving to the when we're moving to next
after this oh maybe like bass yeah baby
needs bass there you guys do we need
face
now that I put the reverb on it actually
like how it sounds all drowned out
so that's on all the drum a little bit
of reverb on the whole drum track no not
the drum track just the the vocals okay
okay and which is good because right now
I'm going to do classic compression
sidechain compression on all the vocals
with the kick drum strike okay labeled
it kick so we have my compressor the
input so it'll be sidechain to the kick
which I labeled here and we'll have some
of that cool ducky click attack click
release
if you're ready for the bass drop a face
face emoji in the comment something
that's kind of like this I like that
they took a photo but it wouldn't be the
first base face of mine on the internet
that's the sad truth
obviously really loud
Wow there's some crazy face emojis going
on keep them coming keep them coming
so I'm actually not that familiar with
this Korg but super classic shout out
during concept she's an amazing player
of this machine so I'm gonna just find
some peace patches this is just a Rhodes
but it sounds pretty cool
so patches of sounds that are already in
the machine that programmed a certain
way and they're a great place to stop
when you want to ride get a good idea
route I like a good farty bass love a
foggy bass not a fight in the studio no
body bass the walls are very thick in
here that smell will stay forever 45
minutes of 1/5 there's a lot of people
in here to please don't do it okay I'm
watching all of you
and then there's that whole thing that
happens when you're like I really like
that and you didn't record any of it
okay let's try this again
is that again the groove
nice alright good clean take Sam van
Hoorn what was your what was the one
that Sam wanted electronic a knob preset
to we'll have a listen to that in a
second all right
shout out Sam thanks for the comments
and but this space is pretty good I'm
happy with it
they put I put that sidechain
compression on the bass
so this is a long song I'm gonna cut
some of it out so that's also the thing
you get to do as a remix up we just
decided we want the song to be 45
seconds long thank you so we're all done
here I think we should leave I mean pack
up and almost thanks for coming in the
good day I mean are you the kind of
producer who can just be like I'm done
with this idea delete do you get
attached or do you just feel like you
can delete and start again tomorrow you
mean if I don't like it yeah like if we
do what we do now like were you happily
about fully happily abandon this if you
feel like it's not working when you
listen to it tomorrow and start again or
would you like feel quite attached to
this idea and feel the need to see this
through
because some people they just delete and
move on I get quite attached you know I
think both one like one attribute about
me as a musician I'm quite proud of is
that I'm good good at deciding early on
if the song is gonna be worth keeping
yeah so when I commit early on cuz like
if I start a song and it's going bad
it's just bad from the beginning right
but if I've managed to make an entire
song it's cuz I loved it enough to keep
working for hours and hours straight
yeah so my vibe is usually if I find a
song and I really like it
remix original track if I started an
idea I'll sit in the studio for like 10
hours I won't eat I forget to use the
restroom okay I want to answer my phone
people are knocking on the door making
sure I'm still alive you know like hey I
completely shut off and I just work on
it so for eight hours anywhere from 6 to
8 to 10 hours straight I just work on
one song not knowing how much time has
passed and then I'll like fine-tune it
over the next few days like mixes and
things like that and maybe there'll be
some parts that are not as good the next
day but I know that I've put a lot of
energy in all the right parts in there
I'm a my bad producer if I always want
to eat I don't think so I'm always
hungry in the studio like I'll never
skip a meal I will stop whatever I'm
doing to eat because I have no energy
I lose my energy if I haven't eaten then
I'm like
and I don't have the energy to apply my
brainpower but anyway now you get to me
I eat a lot when I'm not in the studio
so I think it makes it for the day
I like at the end of a day when I'm like
crawling out of my studio the sun's
hitting me or it's like nighttime and
I'm like I haven't seen ya and healing
but after is I'm like oh I'm so hungry
like oh man he's a restaurant when this
needs to cuddle her I have like 10
missed calls so it's always like a rude
awakening afterwards like oh yes
well the chats saying that you're
inspiring them to create so awesome
thank you for yelling everybody thank
you glad it's something - I'm getting
hungry just right before we came in and
I'm also like that popcorn studio snacks
are probably my favorite thing to talk
about so if anyone has any favorite
studio snacks let me know what they are
I'm always looking for new ones
sometimes I'll even just spend time on
my Instagram talking about my studio
snacks you know it's a good one Pocky
talkies are good you know like those
like Japanese sticks that are coming YUM
how's it really good ten just see it in
more of a salty place like more of like
a chip or Chino or hippy but I will be
open to experimenting yeah the park is a
good one or what else is good how much
is a good one sometimes garlic-breath oh
you know no one else is around that's
true yeah oh if everyone's eating it
because the article is garlic it's
supposed to like yes have some hummus
ruin everyone's day yeah someone's going
on a date afterwards just like that me
smell bad all right so we've got some
chat the chats telling us their favorite
snacks we're seeing a lot of hot cheetos
Sartaj kids great suggestion Famous Amos
cookies I don't know what they are
either they are a studio staple you know
what else is a staple that I don't like
is red vines people might fight me on
that but they're in every studio
including this one sometimes I don't
like red vines like big
I don't like that about you you can't
help it but I do like it like the studio
always has this is like a Halloween
mixes of like Reese's Pieces and
starbursts
but then the starbursts will start to
implement
into the Reese's Pieces so if you eat
any of the chocolate that's in the jar
yeah but then I'll eat them anyways I
just do that in here
what is someone saying Twizzlers are
better than red wine I think Twizzlers
are I don't know what the difference is
between those two things in my head red
vines are Twizzlers oh that's just Alex
the teleprompter guy just asserting
himself on I think red vines are like
wax fear okay I'm not a big fan of
either I like chocolate me too and I'm
all about a creamy sweet if I'm gonna
sweet it's gonna be creamy chocolatey
yeah
or like hi choose I choose they're a
good studio snacks too I get stuck in
your teeth a little bit yeah a little
bit yeah you have to get them when
they're warm anyway look I can't be of
this remix what's whatever this is like
a it's really sweet like it's like a hot
chocolate yeah I think so
Amaka a mocha do you guys say mocha you
seem a girl you say mocha that reminds
me of manga which is like a new like
hippie thing people like a protein which
actually to me makamaka tastes gross I
brought so much just it's in my yeah
people put it in coffee now to help with
their adrenals looks like a new thing I
have other ways of helping with my
adrenals than eating that oh yeah it's
called sleep yeah
hey this is feeling good so that's the
base she just played over there on the
call
which stars that vocal yeah I think it's
like slightly all right did it bother
you guys I didn't actually didn't keep
me straight away I think almost like it
can fit a better vocal or like a better
note pocket maybe right we'll see or I
can also harmonize it which I should do
too
okay I feel like this is getting there
like what what else do we need besides
this base are you gonna do have you got
the main like sections down what's left
to add here you know I think maybe
there's always room for like effects and
there's always room for I mean just
sequencing it also depends on the type
of song like the song is really simple
but I personally think it sounds really
nice like this just bass just some piano
we could go in and maybe do some like
arpeggiation some high-end tomfoolery on
that colgar can make some good high-end
noises oh the one that what's-his-name
already forgot so he's gonna have things
that can you tell us again I think it
was this hatch to electronica like thank
you Alex Alec truant electronica knob
preset food
yeah so there is an example just like
I'll go really have you with the the
artificial like vocal harmonies but yeah
I'm gonna cut this next section out the
sequencing we can also just
now I'm just doing some sequencing stuff
I feel like my mind is always racing at
like a thousand miles per hour and if I
have an idea I have to like try to do it
as quickly yeah otherwise it falls
sometimes you can forget it so far like
you can write everything down sometime
do you have a good idea it's in the
middle of the night that you're like
about to fall asleep when you think of a
melody and you just gotta get your phone
out electively record it also I have
like extensive insomnia know what I do
this but when I sleep good I sleep
really good right sometimes those 50 now
studio days
so what did you do just then you muted
the so we're sort of record stop on the
vocal breather yeah that's also
something I dunno it's something I've
always done um I think it was like this
video I watched a Timberland like a long
as time ago where he doesn't just have
things repeating like at least every
four bar is every eight bars every
sixteen bars something has to change
yeah but maybe just at the end so like
the turnaround so something that I've
always done is just this kind of
dramatic snare reverb where I cut
everything out and just have it there
and it'll also like kind of cleanse the
palate really quick for another section
I like that I'd be living the rabo game
so like I'll actually probably remove
all of this
are you thinking about like what where
you want this song to live as you create
it like or just fully focused on making
up whatever it is what do you think
about playing it live like oh if I play
this live I'm gonna need this section to
be more energetic for I never think
about playing songs like okay when I
work about music but what I do like to
do a lot and it's fun is I'll remix my
remix or remix my own tunes so when I
play live I retool everything and one of
the main things I do when I read tools
something for live is I remix I do the
mix sounds differently so this is really
rolled off right yes it feels really
comfortable it's really nice to listen
to it's super warm but in a live space
it's nice to hear it more sharp because
you don't know the speakers are like
inside the venues and you know you want
maybe the kicks to hit a little harder
and so I'll mix down the songs
differently to be a little brighter it
to be a little heavier maybe certain
elements will be louder and maybe I'll
take the vocals and maybe strip them
back or add them or do something
different so I have remixed versions of
all my songs that I play live I feel
like you're a very thorough person did
you spend a long time learning to mix
your tracks down perfectly like how did
you approach that process I'm always the
learning mixing stuff is so hard and
especially right before I release
something or right before something goes
into mastering right so the mastering is
really just to keep all the levels equal
and ideally as the artists you want the
song to really sound as good as possible
before it goes to the master engineer
he's not gonna like get your music and
make it sound like it belongs on radio
it's not gonna sound amazing you're
responsible for your mixes so I will
literally go crazy during that process
cuz I'm just sitting there going is this
kick drum one decibel too loud should it
go down half a decibel it doesn't matter
anymore at that point you know and then
you're just doing it if you're like
tooling on it so much that it actually
ends up sounding worse so I'm really
good at knowing when to step away from a
song when I'm making the track like
sequencing and creating but I have a
really hard time stepping away when I'm
mixing that's where it's like you know
like the people that will work on tracks
forever like things like that like it's
all because it mixes for me and I'll
still listen to old tracks and be like
the bass is too loud it should go down
like I think have a track called darkest
Tim with Gavin Turek and I think this uh
bass on it is way too loud and I can't
change that now but like I always have
weird mix FOMO and makes room and that's
what's keeping her up at night guys and
you're the only person thinking about
that ever right like nobody's ever
thinking about that except for you but
it feels so real no one it it is it's
just me but it's you're your worst
critic but I'm glad that it's that
that's right is I'm always gonna
challenge myself yeah that critical
thinking makes you who you are
well let's I mean where are we up to on
this track we're like pretty much almost
done I think what I'm doing right now is
trying to sequence because it's there's
not a lot of things going on a lot of it
is just creating a mood so you know part
of sequencing is just muting stuff like
meeting
and you're just going off feel at this
point of what you or did you have a sort
of strong structure in mind no strong
structure yeah it just felt like it was
time for something to change
oh wait this is a good time maybe we can
do what did he say electronic electronic
ha oh we forgot again come on Alex get
back to us not preset - is it this one
electronica knob is this Sam can we
change the timing on the oh oh because
our appreciation was on that's kind of
nice I like that remember you that
resident turned the resonance sound is
that the right one Sam he's like you
guys didn't use a sound yeah I couldn't
run that all right do you like it I
don't know
never knocking yeah
the note on it is hard to decipher yeah
it's also like D Johnny
I'll save that one for later I
appreciate the recommendation
let's see but we can pick
there is a section called all sandy and
b sam says he was wrong all good Sam we
all make mistakes okay come and save
weird filter e thing so maybe we can use
that as an effect so you haven't added a
lot of those in here obviously sorry
yeah there's tons of splice packs and
things like that but it's always cool to
kind of make your own because even after
we use this I can always change it too
it's also really loud when is that
polyphony come one this one is
polyphonic yeah so it's like a analog
like it's it's a digital synth and it's
analog modeling so it's you know like
super light you know but it sounds
really good when you do your live shows
do you tool with this kind of gear
no okay I mean I I have Anna gave you
really like MIDI stuff yeah I'm usually
unable to in clip mode okay that's how I
do everything but I have had a few
moments but I don't know it's like
there's two different sides of me
there's like the performer side and
there's the music side and I think I'm a
lot more outgoing and connected to
people when I'm performing I'm very
introverted and inside myself when I'm
creating it's it's quite different you
know which I this is so weird right now
but it's a really rapid one person have
both those qualities because like a lot
of producers something that makes
someone obsessive about something is the
same quality that makes them probably
not very social it's a real like there's
a lot of studies on on obsessive ISM and
what makes someone amazing in the studio
but maybe not have the same qualities
that's gonna make them in an incredible
DJ who's gonna jump up on the decks and
see that whole thing it's not the same
quality yeah so here as she's a red snow
leopard snow leopard yeah she's right
it's very rare um okay so after we get
this sound going
I'd love to heat this whole thing oh
yeah it's time
it sounds kinda weird I think a higher
often sounding better I didn't commit
you guys I didn't commit because think
it's in its unki oh okay
I promise let's try it on something
really quick yeah retro should we play
so we can see if it fit where's the
tempo oh I like that that is really good
it's cool good call oh wait now alex is
telling us to take our time what do you
want Alex you want us to rush it or take
our time are you you're just excited I'm
sorry
yeah
that's super cool that was cool of that
those definitely I definitely didn't get
it the first time
it's cool too because like the tempo on
this thing is manual so it's not
completely on but it's also a little
late right so it has a bit of that
movement and you can warp it she can add
timing markers in the track now that
she's got it in the in Ableton and add
her own swing to it fix the swing give
it that Toki touch
yeah so one of the best aspects of
Ableton
ah this is sounding so good I'm gonna
cry
one more coach one more can it means
we're just getting the rest of the
arrange happening I can see that there's
like I'm very close to getting a full
arrange I think for the if you're
wondering why I said that's Elton John
shit apparently Elton John he sits at
the keyboard and he just think and then
when he plays he plays the chords and
the vocal line at the same time like he
can he just it all comes out at once we
need to think before that it's not
interesting so she's like it's very hard
to arrange and write at the same time I
think
and even caught the main vocal app just
leave the harmonies in
and there was some locally
thank you for all the love huh
people love hugs coming in the chat let
Sookie know that you're vibing this
track right now this is awesome
you're talented like I'm such a I'm like
so I don't know it's not very often that
I work on music in front of the camera
like 10 people and you and there's like
really hot lights on me but I'm glad I
made it fun I really like this I think
that it came out really beautifully
the old fat built a timeless coming back
in the Chuck again love it
gosh those vocals tell us more about the
vocalist now that we're getting to the
tail end of this I'm already obsessed
with these song it's not even out yet
I'm gonna have to like heat you up for
the for the original track as well and
for the remakes yay so tell us more
about the vocalists so it was hard I met
him through another friend of mine
thought Edward so I said yeah so
basically he was just introduced to me I
didn't really know too much about him
but then I got to hear his music and I
was like oh like he's really talented
and someone who hadn't been producing
for very long I think at the time he
said a couple years or or so and I was
just so amazed by his talent cuz you
know you can work on music for years and
not make music of that caliber you know
and when I came out with the concept for
the compilation which this is the second
iteration of it and my label is not a
money-making venture it is just a
platform to raise up artists that I
really believe in and use whatever like
little influence I have to kind of help
them shine and through this compilation
it's a lot of like up-and-coming artists
a lot of artists that I think deserve
more attention and it's me getting to
use my curators hat right like my music
loving hat not my music making hat you
know because I'm still that person
that's like yeah you know you got to
hear this new album have you heard this
artist from wherever or like you know
you're sharing music with me as well and
it's like I love that I love people
sharing music with me and consuming it
and being a fan like everyone else and
this is a way for me to be like well if
you like the music I play when I DJ or
if you like you know the songs they play
when I have when I had like my BBC show
things like that I'm still presenting
that's every one and this time I'm going
out on the ground and finding people at
the roots and he's one of those artists
and you know I don't randomly just go
and get coffee with strangers you know
and I didn't talk to him in advance you
know Todd was on the emails or was
texting me on his behalf so I literally
was long I like a weird musical tinder
date and just talking with him and
hearing his bio me such a kind person
and I think so much of that is you can
hear that in his book you know you can
hear his heart and he is sincerity in
their vocal and yeah you know there's
something about he's very Bob Ross I
know y'all have a little bit of Bob Ross
in us would you release this like how
the rain are you happy with how this is
coming yeah I think it's really great I
mean I would spin s it a little bit more
I kind of caught my song well it's like
three minutes pretty good I've heard
shorter tracks then yeah so now oh wait
it's actually shorter than three minutes
cuz my songs oh no no wait let me see
I'm gonna be good with like a nice snap
on it and there's no compression on any
of the drums right now just top
I'm just using Auto filter right now
standard Ableton yeah and it's only put
automation on the one
you know what in the sequencing
standpoint I actually don't want it to
go back to this feel like I should go
back
how you guys do it guys all right give
me a thumbs up if you're feeling good
you can still with us give me a shock is
you feeling it all right I'm getting a
question from you right now okay this is
a good question all right so what
mastering do you put on a finish track
because right now we're getting to the
tail end the arrangements taking place
you now want to sort of put a few put a
few mastering effects on absolutely all
go to so I guess what's really important
is to have a limiter right now because
they just wanted it to be really loud
it's been redlining the entire time
which is not how you want to give it to
your actual mastering engineer if you if
that's the case actually you shouldn't
be mastering you on music that loud but
I have a folder of all my favorite
mixing plugins and which is such a life
hack to have like it all ready to go so
you can quickly get it on there so the
main thing that I do is just put a
limiter and that's it I want to make
sure that my song sounds good with just
that I don't need to put any extra
compression on the master nothing like
that everything sounds good straight out
the bat so as long as they believe in it
all I do is just put the master because
you know you do want it to sound loud
enough I use iZotope ozone it's a
everyone loves it I love it it's great
it's kind of an all-in-one tool I'm only
using the Maximizer which is basically
like a limiter I always set it to the
IRC four and I have it on the transient
setting just so you know it does
emphasize the transients if you set it
too high it'll start to distort the
sound as well but let me check how loud
my song is
so I already have my truck really
bricked which is not advised I don't do
that at home but in this environment
usually I have it pretty quiet like
negative 6 or 7 l u FS and then when I
do it or sorry like negative 6 or 7 DB
lower when I'm looking at the max the
the ideal loudness there's always an
ongoing conversation with lots of
producers and musicians it's called the
loudness war how loud you want your
track do you want to sacrifice you know
dynamics to make your track louder and
it works really well if you do like drum
and bass where you can like carve out
your spectrum so that the kick stays
here in all the high melodies stay here
and none of those sounds ever compete
with each other because the louder you
get the more that each sound needs its
own space in the spike and your like
your spectrum right I don't make really
aggressive music so I tend to have I
tend to have my songs not as loud like a
super loud bein like excision or like
you know drum and bass whatever that
stuff can be up to like negative for all
u FS which is really really loud or even
negative 5 my music tends to sit more
around negative 7 and that's still like
kind of loud there's people that even
master this stuff even quieter than that
so yeah right now it's sitting at
negative 6 because thanking yeah it's a
little loud but it sounds good
you know as long as every every element
of your song has its own space then your
mixer should sound good but it's harder
to carve that out the louder things get
how did you learn to mix it was it just
trial and error did you read books did
you do a course you know it is it is
trial and error
it is listening to music in the car it
is reading reading online great forums
yeah yeah you know yeah is it
consequence of sound there's like you
know if you want to learn about gear
there's like gear slots and all these
things YouTube tutorials are really
helpful and also just like your peers
like just
the way I like how I'm sharing
information with everyone out there
someone shares information with me I
take that information and share it with
someone else someone else might share
that with whatever it's this community
of shared knowledge the smarter we all
are you know or this the more we share
our knowledge the smarter we all are as
a group and it helps us all create the
best music and you know in the past it's
been kind of like you can't you
shouldn't see what amusing or like yeah
they're whatever you're - yeah you know
and it's not conducive to an artistic
environment I mean it's true people get
really competitive because they're like
if I'm successful like I can't let you
know my secrets because then you might
knock me off or whatever you know it's
and it's not about competition people
have two ears that can listen to and
like an infinite amount of music you
know and sharing knowledge is great I
think it raises the bar music now is at
such a high caliber from a technical
level and even if you have all the
knowledge and your friend has all the
knowledge it doesn't mean they'll make
better music than you all the same track
like even if someone has the same
knowledge as you they're never going to
make the same thing as you see I
shouldn't worry about sharing secrets
like that um can we quickly review like
from the top how we built how he got to
this point from we just had a vocal and
now we have a whole track how did that
happen I blacked out and now it's the
end of the show and we have a whole
track I kind of blocked out - no I mean
you do you ever have that where
sometimes you make a track and you check
it out the next thing you're like I
don't know how I made this I think I was
possessed by something spirits coming
through us I know I mean it is really
primal in that way right like music is
something so deep within you and it's so
much feeling and everyone approaches it
differently because some people might
make music from a technical perspective
but for me when I'm making it it's just
all the ideas are happening and I put
them all down like in those large blocks
and then I figure out if they're good or
bad ideas the next day you know so yeah
you know we had the original original
song I had pulled out all the
instrumental I didn't want to use any of
it and so I had this vocal and the I
created this two chords really simple
with the first four bars of the lyrics
or the acapella the same four bars did
not work for the second group of full of
lyrics and there's a bit of peachy stuff
and so what I did is I mean there's two
ways I could have either found other
chords to fit or I just pitch the vocals
so I said I did I pitch the vocals and I
basically made this song and my like my
vision kind of collide with each other
you know I turned the acapella into what
I needed it to be to get the song and it
did require kind of manipulating it but
that's just how I remixed songs you know
and I really did stick there's a lot of
integrity of the original vocal that
carries through it wasn't like you took
it to a whole new place no absolutely
not
adjustment yeah and and in this case the
the goal in the beginning too was to
present the song in a different way
while maintaining the heart and the
original song was very uplifting and
kind of upbeat and my song the beat like
the energy still upbeat but the chords
are a bit more pensive and if you really
listen to the lyrics they're really
romantic they come from a very sensitive
place so I made it a slightly sensitive
song you know something that you can
listen to with a loved one in the car
when you're by yourself and I find the
music I like to listen to the most are
usually songs that I can chill with you
know and with driving music I love a
good driving charge yeah and so that's
also what dictated the kind of sounds I
chose I didn't choose anything really
harsh like lo-fi drums you know the
shakers are kind of low even the the
higher resonant sounds like our cowbell
goblet and the shaker is a salt shaker
you know they're kind of lower in the
mix mhm
so they're present but the song doesn't
have a lot of high end at all about the
entire thing and I think that's what
gives it that softer like analogue kind
of body to it and yeah I think I just
started adding adding layer by layer
right we had the most amount of fun
trying to mic oh yeah we did our mic we
did a shaker work we did our Goblin
cowbell we did our
an opening on the drop we should have a
listen through the whole track I mean
obviously there's always bits and pieces
to add and take away this is just the
sketch yeah absolutely and while we're
playing this you guys should think about
where tell us where you would listen to
this song would you be on the beach
would you be in the car driving to the
beach would you be in your backyard some
baking I'm gonna cheat by like
sequencing it as we're listening to the
song to tell me why you listen to the
way you want to listen to this track
and how did that make you feel
how do you feel about this experience
unique you did so well though you did
well this is your first one so I'm glad
I got to be here hopefully it made it
easy you just hit it I just stood here
and she just like but I needed the
cowbell of citizens anytime you need it
I'm only a phone call away that's you
50% of the trash just like that
then I like sweating in here are you
guys
I still want to know what you guys are
listen Alex tell me what everybody's
gonna listen to this chalk give me the
info
if you feel good about this remix give
her a little round of applause in the in
the chat we got some Malibu bhai cheer
we got a late night drive the beach my
brother with me that Barbara remix
Anna Lerner here this is Toki monster if
you would like to see more of this kind
of content then go ahead and subscribe
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