Yo. Love your MWTM. I love that you’re spreading the gospel of producer’s/engineers jobs being to help communicate / complement the artist’s vision.
The head seems to overshadow the heart more and more these days and your emphasis on emotional/spiritual component of music making is incredibly refreshing.
That said, here is a question that I’ve always wanted to ask you:
During chorus 3, following Dani’s feature, there is some low-end distortion that is pretty extreme. The kick is SMACKING in the 3rd chorus in particular. Clipping is present but subtle in the previous choruses, and is a prominent element throughout most of the record ( five star hotels, for instance).
My question is: Was this your decision? Because in this series you claim to have a very limited technical understanding, but I can’t tell if thats you being overly humble or not. (Especially since youre credited as an engineer for this record online. )
Has something been automated? Are the kicks are louder in this chorus and they’re hitting tape, your submaster, or a mastering compressor super hard in the last chorus. Or possibly the strings being an additional element in this chorus takes up enough headroom that clipping occurred as an (un)intentional byproduct.
It seems like a decision that you would make… As the record picks up steam, as the song’s arc reaches its emotional peak and becomes more intense, so does the saturation. It feels like a technical decision, but it serves an effective artistic purpose.
Which was it, how was it achieved, who was responsible, and was it intentional?
Brilliant work. Brilliant record. Looking forward to the next one.
- Jackson Powell