Grammy Award Producer and label exec Salaam Remi approached me about mixing the upcoming "New York: A Love Story" album for Tristan (Mack) Wilds who is mostly known for his acting skills (such as HBO's "The Wire" and the war epic "Red Tails"to name a few.) After listening to a few of the tracks and meeting Mack at Salaam's studio I immediately signed on to do the album.
The single named "Own It" has an "ol' skool" feel but with "new skool"elements that work really well. Salaam's production combined with Mack's delivery and energy really brings the song to life. When I first heard the song it reminded me of the many summer block parties we used to have in Queens, New York years ago.
Here's the video:
You can like Mack's Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/TheMackWilds
and follow him on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/MACKWILDS
"Own It' was mixed on a Macbook Pro with Protools 10 and a UAD Apollo. All the tracks were well recorded by engineers Ryan Evans and Gleydor (Gee) Disla with assistance from engineer Neil (Disco) Dyer. I was able to focus more on balance and finding the right effects which made mixing the song even more enjoyable.
The main reverbs used on the vocals, synths and strings were UAD's Lexicon 224 and EMT 140.
The EMT 140 was the main verb on the lead vocals, hook and main synth while the backgrounds and strings are mostly the Lexicon 224. I say mostly because on the backgrounds I also mixed in a lesser amount of the EMT 140 so all the vocals would sound like they occupy a similar space.
Here are the actual settings I used:
These plugins are software replicas of the well known classic reverbs of the same name. I've used the original hardware on many songs over the years and UAD emulated the sonics extremely well. Both reverbs are fairly easy to use especially if you are familiar with the hardware and if not UA's extensive manual (Chapters 10 and 17) explains all the parameters in detailed layman's terms so you can use them on your next sonic masterpiece.
Visit UA's website for more info on the Lexicon 224 and EMT 140 plus the many other great plugins
and hardware in their product line.
