"Umbrella" - Rihanna (Mix Analysis)

Engineer - ?

Producer – Tricky Stewart, The-Dream

Mixing Engineer(s) – Manny Marroquin

Mastering Engineer(s) – Chris Gehringer

Studio Recorded – Westlake Record Studios (LA)

Studio Mastered – Sterling Sound

            For this mix analysis, I chose Rihanna’s 2007 hit “Umbrella.” The song was mixed by Manny Marroquin, who mostly works in the hip hop/urban genre. He is known for working on records for other top artists such Kanye West, Usher, and Alicia Keys.

            For his approach to the mix, Marroquin says that, “something like Umbrella, I thought, needed to sound as warm as possible but yet aggressive as possible too.” With the vocals, there was a lot of emphasis on delay. On Rihanna’s main verse vocal track, there are two delays panned hard left and hard right (quarter note and eight note, respectively). On the return of the delays/reverbs, Marroquin used a doubler plug-in from Waves. This gave them a more “lush” as well as wide sound.

            For reverb he went with outboard gear, specifically the Lexicon 480 and an AMS reverb unit. For compression used a Tube-Tech CL 1B and Avalon 2044. For EQ, he stuck with plug-ins from Nieves. With the instrumental, he EQ’d the sample so it wasn’t so surrounded by the drums.

            The punchiness of the drums and the vocal effects makes this song compare to tracks like Alicia Keys “No One” as well as many other urban/R&B tracks.

Analysis:

:00 – Starts with drums, very punchy
:01 – Jay-Z intro, not much effects
:10 – Jay-Z verse, one main vocal track. Multiple Ad Lib tracks
:11 – Synth Line
:13 – Rihanna “Eh”. Multiple Tracks, Panned, Effects (Reverb, Delay)
:33 – Rihanna Verse w/ Reverb and Delay
:33 – Bass hit on the “one” of each measure.
:50 – High Synth
:55 – Bass Synth

Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5MWmif7teM

Major Project Proposal

For the Major project, I will be re-doing the sound for a short film that my roommate made last semester. It was shot well but I think the sound I think the sound could have been done a little better. It's hard to make out the dialog in some parts and some of the sound effects don't sound that good.

I will work on it when I have time during the week in the audio labs.

Inspirations for the work will be the films, Apocalypse Now and Being Johns Malkovich, which I feel both had very good sound.

My roommate originally mixed the sound for the film, but I feel I could bring in some audio experience and make it sound better.

The only hurdles I expect to face are time constraints.

Minor Project Proposal

I will be working on remixing a track that I recorded for a friend’s band a while back. The song is “Voicemail” and the band is Blind Man Leading. The original mix sounded okay, but I want to make it more commercial sounding.  I still have all of the files from the session.

I will do all of the mixing at my house. I will work on it on weekends when I have time.

The mixing inspirations for the piece are “Time Flies” by Porcupine Tree and “Thinking of You” by Katy Perry. I want the mix to have a commercial vibe like the Katy Perry song, but still retain some of it’s “raw” qualities like the Porcupine Tree track.

I will bring to the project a new perspective. The original mix was influenced a lot by the artist. This one will be all me.
 

The only hurdles that I expect to face are time constraints and perhaps a bit of trouble lining up the tracks in Pro Tools, since they were recorded with Adobe Audition.

"Don't Fear The Reaper" (Mix Analysis)

Music
Engineer	Shelly Yakus
Producer	Sandy Pearlman
Mixing Engineer(s)	Shelly Yakus and Sandy Pearlman
Mastering Engineer(s)	Tony Stevens
Studio Recorded	Record Plant (NYC)
Studio Mastered	?

Overall, the mix is very reverb heavy. The drums sometimes get a little lost. The overall levels of the mix climax in the section where the guitar solo kicks in. Sounds good for the era. I feel it could use a little more cowbell though.

When the song was mixed, Shelly Yakus claims it was “worked from the top down.” They started with the voice, then the guitar, then added the drums and rhythm elements. Each instrument was submixed and then ran through pieces of gear from different generations. This helped them achieve some interesting sounds. For the song’s signature guitar solo, they daisy chained channels on a 4-track tape machine so it could be used as a delay.

The vocals weren't performed by the band's primary vocalist. They were recorded by guitarist, Donald Roeser.
The vocals were sent through a Pultec EQ and LA-2A compressor, then went straight to tape.

Since most of the effects were achieved with vintage equipment, it may be hard to replicate the same feel with the gear we have here. However, the Yamaha multi-effects unit has some reverb effects that might get us close to that sound.

The thing that makes this track well-mixed is that overall feel. The reverb gives it a certain ominous ambience that fits the songs theme and lyrics.

Producer and mixing engineer, Sandy Pearlman, has an impressive catalog of work. As well as working on Every Blue Oyster Cult album, he has also worked on albums for bands like The Dictators and The Clash. 

Mix Analysis

:01 - Signature Guitar Riff starts, Panned Left, lot's of delay and reverb

:04 - Second Guitar kicks in, Panned Right

:06 - One hi-hat hit

:07 - Drums, cowbell

:14 - Vocals, multiple lower harmonies

:16 - Organlike instrument begins to swell

:27 - Left guitar begins playing single note son the beat.

:34 - Second vocal track "call and response". Multiple tracks with effects and panned.

:35 - Right Guitar kicks in with signature riff

:47 - Lead Guitar 

:50 - Multiple Vocals track harmonies

Information Sources:

http://mixonline.com/recording/tracking/blue-oyster-cults-dont-fear-reaper/index.html