Yo, would anyone hear love to hear Mix Tips from Jean-Marie Horvat?

[smoke]

Thanks for taking some time out to answer some questions!

I wanted to know what was your inspiration for K.Rowland's "Like this" track. It has a real Go-Go beat feel... being that you are from VB, I was wondering if you made that connection. One of my favorite beats, somewhat overlooked IMO.

Anyway, I'm from DC and my approach to music is very much inspired by what I know most.. Go-Go. I've always had the same feeling about Pharell... Their "looseness", strong drums, and "artistic innaccuracy" are reminiscent of Go-Go, and he's from VA as well.

Very curious about this.

[jmh]

Originally Posted by M2E

Hey Jean,

Do you take a different approach when mixivng Hip Hop then R&B or the same by mixing the vocals first?
Also, when you mix Rock songs do you again take a different approach then R&B/Hip Hop.

I just found out last night as we talked that you've done some Rock heavy hitters man.

Which do you feel is the hardest to mix? Rock, R&B, Pop or Hip Hop?

M2E...1ne

Hey Brutha,

You know i let the song dictate the mix for me an then i put little twist.people find to
put you in a bubble once you establish yourself,which is very closed minded.i often had found myself in those situation,jus recently i've been asked to mix other style from hip hop to country to rock,an the funny thing the reason why teddy hired me is becuase i had great sense of feel an knew rock as well as hip hop .it's all bout feel an attitude not by numbers.

[jmh]

Originally Posted by smoke

Thanks for taking some time out to answer some questions!

I wanted to know what was your inspiration for K.Rowland's "Like this" track. It has a real Go-Go beat feel... being that you are from VB, I was wondering if you made that connection. One of my favorite beats, somewhat overlooked IMO.

Anyway, I'm from DC and my approach to music is very much inspired by what I know most.. Go-Go. I've always had the same feeling about Pharell... Their "looseness", strong drums, and "artistic innaccuracy" are reminiscent of Go-Go, and he's from VA as well.

Very curious about this.

Hey my man,

the track was done by Polow Da Don he is a producer from atl,the vibe of the mix was just keepin it gully.i'm actually from nyc i was brought down to VB by Teddy.Pharrel is a unique individual as well a great producer,he knows alot bout every style of music he has been like that when i first met him at 17 so its no surprise were he goes when he or chad produces.

[jmh]

Originally Posted by andrewj

Hi Jean, may I ask some questions, too?

1. You say you love to work with Logic. Have you tried Cubase? What maes Logic better in your opinion, or do yu see DAWs as workhorses and not as important as some people say? I read Teddy uses Cubase rightnow?

2. Do yo have favorite pluggies you use?

3. The LilFreg is your favorite hardware? So what is it good for in your opinion, or did you buy 48 pieces to make mixdowns with these EQs (Nice idea, isn't it???)?

4. Do you have a standard setup for male vocalists (Mic, EQ, Comp...) that you always try first?

5. What do you use on the buss?

6. How important are mixing desks and outboard for your work and what would be your 5 must have outboard pieces you would take with you if you had to!?!?!?

Hope you will answer these questions!!!

Best regards and biggest respect to the mixes I heard so far!

Hey mang

these are real good question for inspiring mix knowledge so here we go

1.i never used cubase ive been a logic users for over 10 years,teddy turned me on to it,i did talk to teddy recently bout him changing he mention he was goona go back to mac an logic.i'm so use to it but i never really took the time to play around with it.

2.I'm endorsed by waves so im a big fan of those an channel strip

3.well it's so funny i have 8 of them bout to get some more Dave Derr is a friend of mind an he could'nt but give 8 i'm bout to get 8 or 16 more.an yes it a very very great idea im there with you homes.

4.yes i do api mic pre an distressor (i'm a big big fan of emperical lab)

5.nothing

6.very important, these are my gear pref 1081 neve,api eq, distressors,auratones,an my ears hahahah

i hope this helps

[smoke]

Originally Posted by jmh

Hey my man,

the track was done by Polow Da Don he is a producer from atl,the vibe of the mix was just keepin it gully.i'm actually from nyc i was brought down to VB by Teddy.Pharrel is a unique individual as well a great producer,he knows alot bout every style of music he has been like that when i first met him at 17 so its no surprise were he goes when he or chad produces.

ah I apologize for having my facts mixed up... well you should listen to some go-go anyway! I don't mean today's stuff, I mean from the late 80s and 90s. Peace bro.

[Methlab]

Nothing on the buss...Is this so your drums hit harder?

Also, how do you go about mixing your drums? What Eqs to do you like for that? do you use submixes with parallel compression? Any info on drum mixing is always nice to read.

[jmh]

Originally Posted by smoke

ah I apologize for having my facts mixed up... well you should listen to some go-go anyway! I don't mean today's stuff, I mean from the late 80s and 90s. Peace bro.

Ya kiddin me i do Chuck Brown, i use to mess with a chick in DC thats what she turned me on to but its such a regional base its hard sell for everyone

[jmh]

Originally Posted by Methlab

Nothing on the buss...Is this so your drums hit harder?

Also, how do you go about mixing your drums? What Eqs to do you like for that? do you use submixes with parallel compression? Any info on drum mixing is always nice to read.

Yep clean on the back end. it really depends on what they give, put it to you this way,when they hire me ,i do enhancing bringin thing to life,yes i made my sound off of kick buss's an snare bussing.i normally do extensive rides no compession on the perc or keys.love this last question LIVE DRUMS my favorite think like a drummer behind the kit get his sound relationship first not pans but his tone on the drum throne.i use various mic my fav is a fet 47 on the kick an simple 57 on the snare worked for Led Zep.love those freakin tones.

i hope this helps

[PhonoquO]

Hey Jean! Nice to see another famous mix engineer join up here!

Was wonderin how u treat your bass frequencies. Do you split your bass frequency bands in frequency ranges and treat them differently?

[jbuehler]

Originally Posted by jmh

i normally do extensive rides no compession on the perc or keys.

NOW THAT IS THE SHIT!

Fader riding is more fun anyway.

I am going to slap my friends in the face with this because they make fun of my fader rides!

Thanks you!

[jmh]

Originally Posted by PhonoquO

Hey Jean! Nice to see another famous mix engineer join up here!

Was wonderin how u treat your bass frequencies. Do you split your bass frequency bands in frequency ranges and treat them differently?

i do it all what ever works for the the song the 3 main ingredent for the song THE SONG THE SONG THE SONG.

[Methlab]

Originally Posted by jmh

Yep clean on the back end. it really depends on what they give, put it to you this way,when they hire me ,i do enhancing bringin thing to life,yes i made my sound off of kick buss's an snare bussing.i normally do extensive rides no compession on the perc or keys.love this last question LIVE DRUMS my favorite think like a drummer behind the kit get his sound relationship first not pans but his tone on the drum throne.i use various mic my fav is a fet 47 on the kick an simple 57 on the snare worked for Led Zep.love those freakin tones.

i hope this helps

Thanks that does help. I do use a buss compressor when I do rock songs, but I rarely like what it does for R&B or beats. It just seems to take away the size of the drums to me, so good to know im not hearing things.

When you said that you make your sound off of kick and snare bussing, I am not going to pry on how so, but thanks for stating it. I do the same concept. I try and get the best samples for the song and then buss in distortion and compression that way and leave the original sample untouched. I guess I am on the right path then, so thanks!

And yeah, the 57 on the snare always works great..the only other mic i like to try is the Audix I5 sometimes.

[mintyfreshbeats]

wow this is pretty cool. thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[Umlaaat]

I dunno why folks are so afraid to ask specifics.. If the man doesn't want to say, thats his choice and I'ld respect it either way...

so.

that being said..


Jean.

Firstly, you the shit.

secondly...

Lets talk drums...

1. Can you tell us what you do specifically to get the drums going - like where do you start.. kick, snare, hats etc...?
2. If you get a song where the drums are so so;
3. Do you sample replace?
4. Track live drums over original samples?
5. Replace them entirely?
6. Do you start with a single sample and process that or stack?
7. What do you do to achieve depth and width? I've been using short delays and verbs (in Logic) panning them in accordance to what the sample may dictate.. like if i have claps stacked with snares, I'll pan claps differently, etc..
8. Do you have all your drums going to a buss/aux or have the snares going to one and kicks going to another?
9. Please explain "i made my sound off of kick buss's an snare bussing"

I've had L2 and more recently Sonalksys 317 on my 2 buss for a loooong time.. I couldn't comprehend not having some sort of limiter on the stereo buss so when you say you have nothing...

10. Do you have all instruments and vocals going to its own buss with a limiter as an insert on each respective buss?
11. No limiter on the buss.. how do you achieve loudness/avoid clipping?
12. Do you print at a med-loud level and leave the rest to the mastering engineer?

Jean.

I really appreciate you taking the time out to answer our questions, man...

thanks

[sonnyblack2000]

This is a great thread so far, thank you JMH!
I recently had to do a remix for EMI/France of J. Holiday's Bed wich according to your credits you mixed. I received an acapella and and intrumental version and had to record a french R&B singer (that I produced and signed to EMI France for 3 albums) in the 1st verse and chorus.
I was trying to match the vocal sound as much as I could and found myself cutting pretty much everything under 120-140 hz and doing some drastic hi shelf boosting as well. Also I didnt use reverb only delay wich I reproduced using soundtoy's echoboy. Did quite a bit of automation as well.
Was wondering how did you get that vocal tone + FX, was it close already because of tracking or did you have to do drastic changes with EQ comp etc. Also curious to know how the instrumental tracks were, they have a great vibe to them, like a Prince slowjam (with those guitars - big Prince fan here!) type of thing
thanx for your time
Sonny

[jmh]

Hey Dudes and hopefully Dudettes

It's Jean-Marie.Im flying back home today so i'll be little delayed on responding your question,but i have to say i'm enjoying the questions.til then


jmh

[jmh]

Originally Posted by Umlaaat

I dunno why folks are so afraid to ask specifics.. If the man doesn't want to say, thats his choice and I'ld respect it either way...

so.

that being said..


Jean.

Firstly, you the shit.

secondly...

Lets talk drums...

1. Can you tell us what you do specifically to get the drums going - like where do you start.. kick, snare, hats etc...?
2. If you get a song where the drums are so so;
3. Do you sample replace?
4. Track live drums over original samples?
5. Replace them entirely?
6. Do you start with a single sample and process that or stack?
7. What do you do to achieve depth and width? I've been using short delays and verbs (in Logic) panning them in accordance to what the sample may dictate.. like if i have claps stacked with snares, I'll pan claps differently, etc..
8. Do you have all your drums going to a buss/aux or have the snares going to one and kicks going to another?
9. Please explain "i made my sound off of kick buss's an snare bussing"

I've had L2 and more recently Sonalksys 317 on my 2 buss for a loooong time.. I couldn't comprehend not having some sort of limiter on the stereo buss so when you say you have nothing...

10. Do you have all instruments and vocals going to its own buss with a limiter as an insert on each respective buss?
11. No limiter on the buss.. how do you achieve loudness/avoid clipping?
12. Do you print at a med-loud level and leave the rest to the mastering engineer?

Jean.

I really appreciate you taking the time out to answer our questions, man...

thanks

Ah more great questions 1by 1 my friend here we go


1.its all bout the feel of the song i might work perc an sn kick an perc it really depends i'm not by numbers mixer.you should try different techinque. what works for me might note be the answer for you.

2-6.when i mix i mix freakin it "I DONT CARE IM MAKEIN A HIT"LOL.my theory is you are paying alot of money to do mix let me put my touch on i enhance,stack rip an raw.
for live drum i respect the trackin eng first an foremost b4 i do anything im an old school at heart. so i really try not sound replace the live drums Mike Barberio an mean mixer back in the day showed me the bussing trick an he made a tin can snare to drop deep black beauty sn like ,happen in minutes no samples. it takes the life away of the tone of the kit.but then you might have ugly tones then you might need to reach in the collection an bring the puppy up to speed.

7. try to make the mix run without having fx up, make it sound great b4 using any fx.you'll achieve much more.so panning an fitting is my key thing.also using logic sounds very different then protools very different so the perception is different remember that.

8-12. I have a L2 converter which hits first b4 i go into protools no limiting at all the clears up all that jitter crap.an as for level for hot cd i riaise the level then give the mastering guy nomenal levels for mastering.

i made my sound from bussing becuase down @ the future(teddy riley studioin VA) we had limited amounts of gear when teddy opened the doors,so we needed to be creative we had very few pultec or tube techs so we utilized every aspect of the room,console, you name it an the most logical way was the old school sub bus on the kick an snare.there is no rules.

I have usally 4 st bussing on the console this is why i dont need to squash my 2 buss,im pre mastering with in the mix.

Guys an Girls remember "THERE IS NO RULES""DONT THINK TECHY THINK LIKE A FAN FIRST"


I love these question i wish gearslutz was available for me when i started you guys have been to kind thus far.i hope this helps

[jmh]

Originally Posted by sonnyblack2000

This is a great thread so far, thank you JMH!
I recently had to do a remix for EMI/France of J. Holiday's Bed wich according to your credits you mixed. I received an acapella and and intrumental version and had to record a french R&B singer (that I produced and signed to EMI France for 3 albums) in the 1st verse and chorus.
I was trying to match the vocal sound as much as I could and found myself cutting pretty much everything under 120-140 hz and doing some drastic hi shelf boosting as well. Also I didnt use reverb only delay wich I reproduced using soundtoy's echoboy. Did quite a bit of automation as well.
Was wondering how did you get that vocal tone + FX, was it close already because of tracking or did you have to do drastic changes with EQ comp etc. Also curious to know how the instrumental tracks were, they have a great vibe to them, like a Prince slowjam (with those guitars - big Prince fan here!) type of thing
thanx for your time
Sonny

Hey man which vers do you have the radio vers or the album vers.they had to go to radio so i believe my radio vers is different ffrom the album.im not sure which acapela you have.but on my vers there was some tweeking involved the track was a carlos mckinny an tricky production.tricky is a beast with his, although carlos was point producer on that mug,some the tones had the fx on it an your right the vibe was on point.as for the vox i very rarly look when i eq, i use my ears .i use multple eqs comp.i would love to hear what you did to it.

[riecespieces]

I got a question if ur still up...

In mixing hip hop/rnb/pop etc... I started out using a lot of fx but as time passes i find myself using less and less and now Im at a point where I feel my mixes are a lot better with no fx at all.. Whats ur take on fx overall ? Is it better to level my tracks and avoid any processing it all or does not adding fx leave too much leway and not give u as an engineer direction in the mix ?

[jmh]

Originally Posted by riecespieces

I got a question if ur still up...

In mixing hip hop/rnb/pop etc... I started out using a lot of fx but as time passes i find myself using less and less and now Im at a point where I feel my mixes are a lot better with no fx at all.. Whats ur take on fx overall ? Is it better to level my tracks and avoid any processing it all or does not adding fx leave too much leway and not give u as an engineer direction in the mix ?

Hey my man i dont really use fx alot i mentioned that on a reply early this evening
i eq the shit out of the thing maybe rev here in there maybe nuthin at all i like my mixes raw a feelin gully with a twist if i need to,here sumthing i might have rev on the ld but not on the bgs if there is its a throw.also i love to hear were the producer left off an take it there its been go for me for quite a long time haha trying not to show my age lol so it really depends what mood was left off

[riecespieces]

Thanks again and heres another one, recently did a track for one of engineer Neal Pogue's groups Mamas Moonshine and when he sent me back a copy of the song I noticed he added an 808 sub (that was bananas by the way just didnt have the balls to ask him for it) in the between spaces but didnt all together replace my 808 or take it out, my question is after all tha babbling Do u keep on hand an archive of ur own personal sounds to add to tracks and if u do how commonly do u actually add things to spice it up or take the track up a notch ?

Never compress 808s only subs n basslines, yes or no ?

[jmh]

Originally Posted by riecespieces

Thanks again and heres another one, recently did a track for one of engineer Neal Pogue's groups Mamas Moonshine and when he sent me back a copy of the song I noticed he added an 808 sub (that was bananas by the way just didnt have the balls to ask him for it) in the between spaces but didnt all together replace my 808 or take it out, my question is after all tha babbling Do u keep on hand an archive of ur own personal sounds to add to tracks and if u do how commonly do u actually add things to spice it up or take the track up a notch ?

Never compress 808s only subs n basslines, yes or no ?

Yes i do whatever the track needs i add tones an No i dont compress 808 or basslines i ride my tones pretty much the whole mix thats were the vibe comes in

[riecespieces]

thanks for taking my questions as simple as the answers were, u just cleared up a lot of stuff for me... thanks again

[traknologist]

Hello Jean and gs members:

I have a career questions? Sorry couldn't think of any mixing questions... I just like to have fun and be different when I mix. I have been engineering for close to 4yrs. 2yrs full time from my home, I started a music career to do what I like and my intention was to become a producer. I started recording to meet new contacts because of my lack of music contacts. I have quickly become one of the most popular engineers in my area and tho many may see this as a huge accomplishment I have been discouraged.

My keyboards are collecting dust and I would like to produce more often. Some of my friends and family have suggested going back to a normal job and continuing to make tracks but I feel as though this would slow my growth. I have tried using assistants to pick up the slack but the majority refuses to work with anyone but me, even if they have access to million dollar facilities, I'm sure this is compounded by the fact that I don't have thousands to open a commercial place and hire a guy from fullsail or something.

I am in the midst of shopping my productions and working with an artist to produce his entire album but if you have any suggestions, how can I transition to doing more production work 1, and 2. would moving to a major city increase my potential as a producer? I have many people that come to me from other major cities but I feel that I could compete with anyone and would have more exposure to better projects if I weren't in the boomdox.

Sorry so long... thanks in advance for any advise.

[jmh]

Originally Posted by riecespieces

thanks for taking my questions as simple as the answers were, u just cleared up a lot of stuff for me... thanks again

Anytime homie anytime

[jmh]

Originally Posted by traknologist

Hello Jean and gs members:

I have a career questions? Sorry couldn't think of any mixing questions... I just like to have fun and be different when I mix. I have been engineering for close to 4yrs. 2yrs full time from my home, I started a music career to do what I like and my intention was to become a producer. I started recording to meet new contacts because of my lack of music contacts. I have quickly become one of the most popular engineers in my area and tho many may see this as a huge accomplishment I have been discouraged.

My keyboards are collecting dust and I would like to produce more often. Some of my friends and family have suggested going back to a normal job and continuing to make tracks but I feel as though this would slow my growth. I have tried using assistants to pick up the slack but the majority refuses to work with anyone but me, even if they have access to million dollar facilities, I'm sure this is compounded by the fact that I don't have thousands to open a commercial place and hire a guy from fullsail or something.

I am in the midst of shopping my productions and working with an artist to produce his entire album but if you have any suggestions, how can I transition to doing more production work 1, and 2. would moving to a major city increase my potential as a producer? I have many people that come to me from other major cities but I feel that I could compete with anyone and would have more exposure to better projects if I weren't in the boomdox.

Sorry so long... thanks in advance for any advise.

F**k the day job the day is eng,take ears brks an do beats dont listen to anyone but yourself,ive been there really ,IVE BEEN THERE!i missed alot of opportunities
make your visualzation become realality freak everyone suggestion even mine your heart kid thats important.as for major cities there is haters all around dont forget that an there is room for all types get yourself a rep to the leg up work for you an get a intern to pu up the slack you dont haver to pay til you get your financing straight
look man it scary nuthin comes easy but im living proof that belief an persistence goes a long way.keep me informed i love to hear bout your destiny.