Mix Breakdown: Pharrell Williams "Happy"
Вставка
- Опубліковано 17 січ 2024
- Justin Colletti analyzes the "bad" mix for Pharrell Williams "Happy" to show what makes it great.
►🎚Mixing Breakthroughs: mixingbreakthroughs.com
►🎛Compression Breakthroughs: compressionbreakthroughs.com
►🎧 EQ Breakthroughs: EQBreakthroughs.com
►🔊Mastering Demystified: MasteringDemystified.com
►✅Become a channel member here: / @sonicscoop
Big thanks to Soundtoys, Lewitt Audio and Ultimate Support for making this episode possible.
►See free audio tutorial videos with Justin here:
• Justin Colletti Videos...
►Get the free mastering workshop:
sonicscoop.com/Mastering101
►Get the free mixing workshop:
sonicscoop.com/MixHabits
►Win free stuff at
sonicscoop.com/contest
►Subscribe to the podcast or leave a rating and review here:
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/0gEpIPf...
#pharrell #happy #mixingengineer #musicproducer #audioengineer #lesliebrathwaite #justincolletti #sonicscoop #compression #eq #mixbus #mixingbreakthroughs #compressionbreakthroughs #masteringdemystified #mixingengineer #audioengineer #audioeducation #eqbreakthroughs #pharellwilliams #whatmakesthismixgreat #mixbreakdown
What do you think makes this mix work?
►🎚Mixing Breakthroughs: mixingbreakthroughs.com
►🎛Compression Breakthroughs: compressionbreakthroughs.com
►🎧 EQ Breakthroughs: EQBreakthroughs.com
►🔊Mastering Demystified: MasteringDemystified.com
►✅Become a channel member here: ua-cam.com/channels/qEKv3KIZoZrjv2LymD3iMg.htmljoin
The CD skip effect is Pharrell's signature 4 count start, It's on a lot of the songs he produced like Frontin, milkshake, blurred lines etc.
You’re right! I’m guilty of not listening to enough Pharrell to know that he does it often.
Most people who have heard and enjoyed this song probably didn’t know that either! :-)
I still think it’s worthwhile to ask and answer: WHY is he doing it? And what effect does it have on the music that follows?
-Justin
It’s like a producer tag. But a more elegant one than shouting “DDDJJJJ KHALED!!!!”.
Yeah anyone who knows his work knows this 😂
totally fooled me when i would binge listen to frank oceans "sweet life" and earl sweatshirts "burgundy" until a production page on ig pointed it out years later
Music>mix
Absolutely!
-Justin
When the chorus drops it says it in the words... Clap along. Clap & snare right in the face, yeah! BOOM! 🔥🧨💪🏽🤠👍🏽🧨🔥
VERY good analysis and breakdown, excellent stuff, this is both more interesting and useful than the "secrets" or tips most channels seem to be keen on! 👍👍
However, I do feel that a couple of really key points here have been overlooked, and need to be pointed out:
1) his vocal delivery - that's absolutely fundamental to the success of this song!
It's a no shouting no showboating approach, calm and cool and almost polite, therefore politely enticing the listener to connect and identify (and that's a million miles from what talent shows teach and value or from the overall aggression & vulgarity of a lot of pop or R&B today). All the euphoria and expression of happiness are therefore left to the clapping and the joyful backing vocals and the brightly groovy hihat. Brilliant!
2) if you check in mono or at quiet volumes, even when his lead vocal is almost buried b y the backing vocals and the claps, there actually is one, consistent high frequency in the lead vocal that is constantly there, riding audibly just a hair above it all, well present. Maybe a bit of the Dolby trick or maybe a well placed HF narrow bell boost, but that's one very subtle and clever mix move.
3) the tubby kick drum, often almost undetectable if not for its pulse, is IMHO a nod to the old soul and R&B and funk records and so often sampled breakbeats - think of a James Brown kick drum, or an Otis Redding drum groove - the kick drum was never clicky and pointy and carved out in the low mids, it was way before that era and trend. So more than a mixing choice (not to take away anything from LB, who is a great, brilliant engineer, producer and mixer), I would say this was certainly a compositional and production decision, even an ideological decision made by Pharrell.
4) Also, in opting for a hihat-on-3 an the claps-on-2-and4 driven groove arrangement, doing so, it subconsciously takes the listener away from today's kick and 808 given aggressive music, from the darkness of a club or the hardness of modern dance records, and back to the past, to a place which was hypothetically more... Happy.
👌
All of the above in my opinion & experience, of course.
Cheers,
AF
Great comments, thanks for sharing them!
-Justin
My Guess on the Snare loudness is, that the snare is more panned to the side then the HiHat. Therefore, If you flip the side, the snare moves a bigger distance and therefore attracts more attention after flipping. What If you listen to the Track first in reverse and then put it back to normal? @sonicscoop
The cd skip in the beginning is Pharrell’s producer tag. He does this with every beat he makes
You can tell I really am analyzing this song from the perspective of someone who isn’t deeply familiar with the artist!
Which is GOOD. It’s something I specifically recommend doing at the end: Analyze mixes of songs you really respect from artists you aren’t particularly interested in.
For them to cross over barriers of genre and familiarity and culture and personality and taste to grab your interest and attention… they must be doing a LOT right in that production.
-Justin
No, he doesn’t. You can tell he likes it, as he does do it often. But in no way does he do it with every beat he produces. Also he never did it with the bad-editing clicks like in this song.
@@doptec ok literally not every song but I’ve been a fan of the Neptunes for 20 years, I’ve studied every single song that they have ever produced and I’ve even met Pharrell several times so respectfully I strongly disagree with your opinion
@@jessezaverucha2403 Yeah, whatever man. You just said I’m right and then said you “strongly disagree”. Also I didn’t express an opinion but an observation.
@@doptecextremely critical I see lol
This analysis is great! The insights are revelatory! I have heard this song dozens of times and now I feel as if I am hearing it anew by listening to your analysis. Thanks!
Awesome to hear! So glad to be useful.
-Justin
A ton of Neptunes produced tracks and solo Pharrell produced tracks have that tiny bit of snare effect you mention around 10min mark. I noticed it as a kid and always thought I was crazy then years later discussed this with other producers and some still don’t notice it lol. I wish I could think off top but there’s some Neptunes rap tracks where it’s just a simple volume shift with the snare and nothing more. No panning nada. I always just figured it was their background of playing instruments in high school and being in NERD carrying over into their production.
Funny that i just found your video today cause yesterday i was listening to a song that also had a „bad mix“ and while i was listening the song was so good and engaging that i shortly after my first assessment thought „hmm maybe i was wrong or who cares ?“
Same in this one here. This song is 100% about the vocal and i see the music as backround support , a bit like in a Vocal Group.
The Kick and Bass are two Baritones and the rest of the singers do the rest in a way. This is how i always felt this song at least
amazzziiinng breakdown....had to rewind a few times to really internalize that visualization. thank you thank you for that!!🔥
This is awesome! Nice work, Justin
Thanks Tanner, glad to have you by!
-Justin
Great video! Just starting it out. Although perhaps it was mixed ITB, it was mastered entirely in the analog domain
Thank you for this one { as well as other videos ). I would say the think of "muddy' kick and bass here is that they work synergicaly together as kind of one great rhythem instrument
The beginning sounds like back in the day I used a Roland S1 sampler, with 3.5" diskettes, so begin 80s, you get that effect just touching one note, maybe they used a sampler? This mix likes to be done with a broadcast sound engineer or gear. We used a lot of M/S, so the tracks sounds good in stereo and mono. But we also used active Phase rotation, different from other plugins that fix phase shifts. And I hear some pre-emphasis too in this song. That ffffssss high end. It sounds familiar to me. And maybe a tap delay too, on the percussion. So my conclusion on this, is that this song is mastered through an FM DSP, but without de-emphasis used.
Thanks.I like how you can teach us how to learn.
The stuttered start always reminded me of Gnarls Barkley's ' Crazy' from 2006.
eye opening again, love your work here
Awesome and interesting breakdown! Thank you for the meticulous details! It's why Pharrell is Pharrell!
Wow Justin, what an excellent video
11:08 isn't the snare also a little to the right?
The mix is brilliant... if u listen to the music and and how it effects ppl, thats whats important. What some hifi club thinks about every separat sound is kinda not interesting. Its like food, pick a dish apart and taste all the ingridients, they will not likely taste good. U need to cook the food (song) and make it work. the mix is brilliant imo.
Hi Justin, do you finally have a sponsor for the engineer Jason Goldenberg for this mix with 2024? Could you make the video for the song Vette Motor?
I’ve been using my Soundtoys every day! 👍🏼
Nice!
hey justin, did you finally find jason goldenberg's sponsor to this mix con 2024 ? could be the the song Vette Motor?
Not yet, but I’ll be at NAMM next week talking to sponsors for this year’s event and he’s near the top of our list.
We should have a lineup finalized by Spring.
-Justin
Now cha-cha, real smooth.
From the Despicable Me soundtrack. Leslie B was one of my College professors (Full Sail). He is a very seasoned sought after engineer/vet. TO BE SURE, THAT MIX TURNED OUT JUST LIKE THEY WANTED IT! That song is one of those that become annoyingly infectious.
This is dope......ive always felt like happy was a "bad mix". Meaning.....if i gave that up as a finished product id feel like it wasnt done. But wu tang created a legacy off of bad mixes
Pharrell does that intro edit on a ton of songs, it's like his signature thing: ua-cam.com/video/qoEjV241xuk/v-deo.html He's a bit off brand doing 5 tho.
You’re right! I’m guilty of not listening to enough Pharrell to know that he does it often.
Most people who have heard and enjoyed this song probably didn’t know that either! :-)
I still think it’s worthwhile to ask and answer: WHY is he doing it? And what effect does it have on the music that follows?
-Justin
👍
CRAZY NOT TRUNCATED RIGHT:))
Same concept with Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. Sometimes you just have to get out the way to serve the song from a completely different concept and perspective.
what's the point of analysing the tracks from different era? off course there was a different tastes and trends. you can go even further. there is no wrong or wright, there is only music resonating people
If you know Pharrell's production, that intro is his signature.
Yeah but there is a click. I like the CD skipping effect though it gives though.
I do not know Pharrell very deeply, and think most listeners of this song are in the same boat.
Being able to approach it from that perspective is useful, I think.
-Justin
Very good but please don't analyse Uptown Funk.
Why not?
-Justin
@@SonicScoop Because I can only take so much!😁
It's not a bad mix I think your not so familiar with his diskography that's his sound
Dude you’re not looking at the obvious thing it’s like blues or ribs it’s the sound of wrongness it’s making something out of nothing like the blues guys making music with no training and playing chords with notes that don’t belong or early rap music with no musicians and no singing or ribs the tuffist meats that nobody wants and you find away to make it good and people are willing to except less because sonic quality and brilliant performances have been done to death the wrongness of this track combined with the fun vocals was enough to set it apart from everything else and as far as the composition goes it was only supposed to make people want to dance by guys who don’t know the structure of some elements are odd. have you ever heard if it sounds good it is?
it does sound awful 😬
C-Lo Green turned the song down so Pharell did it himself.
'Crazy' starts with a staggered intro too, that was 2006.
Are we just going to ignore its been ripped illegally from Spotify....?
No, I sent Spotify 25 cents to cover the cost of the streams.
Most versions don't have pops in intro
This is the version that is on Spotify that has been streamed 1.3 billion times.
If you find a version that is different, please let me know!
-Justin