The weeknd earned it (fifty shades of grey) (from the
![the weeknd earned it (fifty shades of grey) (from the the weeknd earned it (fifty shades of grey) (from the](https://freshsheetmusic.com/media/catalog/product/t/h/the_weeknd-earned_it__fifty_shades_of_grey_-musicnotes_thumbnail.png)
The “air” between the notes was exactly where I felt the “sexy” lived, and it was so important for me to make that my mission. It may sound strange, but from the first time I heard the song, and throughout the mixing progress, I felt that the strongest parts of the song were not in the actual sounds, but in the space between the sounds. This is where my adrenaline is pumping like crazy and I am “mixing” with emotion. Not only do I think this makes it sound better, but it also allows me to treat the console as an instrument and “play” the console from the heart in real time. 95% of the dynamics in my mixing comes from me pushing the faders on the SSL. I didn't use that much compression on anything, but automated some of the EQ and levels ITB, and did some cutting and pasting of some parts to make the bridge drive hard. Then I spent time working on the piano (live), bass (live), guitar (live), and wurlitzer (sample). It was an unintentional happy accident to have only the distorted vocals during the fade. When the song was ending and I just had up the distorted vocal effect, it became crystal clear that that's the way the song had to end. I was working on the mix later in the day without the lead vocal in, but I had up some of the vocal FX and delays. Backing vocals had combinations of Waves RVox and console EQ. FX were a combination of Bricasti, AMS, and Eventide. PCM 42's for delays, and Spatializer for that 'in your face' sound. Vocals went through NTI EQ3's and DBX 902 De-Essers no compression-just fader rides in and out of the box. I also did some cymbal overdubs in the chorus’. I also used the hardware SPL Transient Designer on some kicks and snares, and I had a pair of Distressors that I used sparingly for parallel compression. Used some samples to augment the drums, re-amped the original snare feeding it into an Aurotone speaker to my real upside-down Ludwig snare in the live room did a few cymbal overdubs and added transitions using reverse sounds. I did a lot of my pre-mix homework by learning as much as I could about The Weeknd, studied the demos to make sure I didn't lose the vibe and gathered a bunch of my samples and sound FX that I thought would work in the song.įor "Earned It", I started mixing with the drums, bass, and vocals only. Because they were on an extremely tight deadline, I only had one day to mix The Weeknd song. I mixed the song in Studio C at Westlake Studios in Hollywood. He called us back and loved it! He only wanted me to raise a few words in a few spots, but other than that, he was thrilled at the way it came out! What was your mixing workflow like?Īs I mentioned, I listened a lot to the rough mix so that I could visualize exactly what I wanted to do from the moment I walked into the studio to start mixing. The Weeknd wasn’t able to be at the studio, but I sent him a “Mix In Progress” at about 2 AM after working all day on the mix. The Weeknd nailed his vocal performance, so the main objective was to shine the spotlight on his voice. Stephan and I talked a lot about his vision of the song. What input did you get as you started digging into the mix? I took an MP3 and walked around the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica listening over and over to that rough while mentally preparing exactly what I wanted to do with the mix. His engineer Jay Paul Bicknell did an excellent rough mix. I was able to go by his studio and help him with the last few overdubs.
![the weeknd earned it (fifty shades of grey) (from the the weeknd earned it (fifty shades of grey) (from the](https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2015/01/The-Weeknd-Earned-It-video.jpg)
It’s because of the professionalism that I exhibited on the CHL project that he felt confident in having me mix “Earned It.” How did you prepare for mixing the track?įortunately, Stephan was still working on the tracking up to the last minute before mixing. When he got the gig for The Weeknd’s song for Fifty Shades of Grey, he called me to ask if I would mix it for him. This was a huge project and I humbly kicked ass for him. Stephan Moccio, the producer and co-writer of “Earned It” hired me over the summer on the recommendation of David Foster to mix a big project that he composed for the Canadian Hockey League. How did you end up mixing “Earned It” by The Weeknd?