So how does Dre get that thick transient sound? When talking to Studio Sound in September 2001 (2 years after releasing ‘Still Dre’) Dre said: “I like the compressors on the SSL. ‘Still Dre’ has a fairly sparse arrangement, but the sounds are so full-bodied that they fill the speakers and hit the listener in the chest. Contrastingly the synth pluck only comes in during the chorus, solidifying the structure and progression of the song. The high strings jump in and out of the arrangement to give a subtle change every 8 bars though they aren’t unique to either the verse or chorus. Keeping it simple with these three unchanging elements allow the lyrics to become the focal point to grab the listeners attention.
The drum loop and bass/cello are also relentlessly driving the track without pause. ‘Still Dre’ repeats a very simple but infectious 2 bar piano riff throughout the song. If your main elements still feel balanced and you can still decipher the lyrics you’re on the right path to a great mix. In addition to monitoring through a limited range speaker in mono, try turning the volume right down so you can barely hear the audio. This is a killer technique to help you get solid mixes. It’s difficult to assess your balance, whereas when you listen in mono, you can gauge the true value of how everything sits in the mix.” Source. I mix on just one Auratone, because I like specific elements of the mix to pop out, and listening in mono on that speaker really helps me define that. “Dre always told me that if I could get something to sound amazing on crappy speakers, it’ll sound brilliant on normal speakers. If you listen to ‘Still Dre’ and toggle between stereo and mono, you’ll hear almost no sonic difference.ĭre’s mixing approach of favouring mono is further backed up by one of Dre’s protégés who discussed a technique he picked up from working with Dre.
The club will have outputted the audio in mono, so his mixes had to sum to mono well. When he began making music, he would play his track in the club, see how the crowd reacted, then make tweaks in the studio. Dre started his music career DJing in a club called Eve After Dark. The chorus vocals and synth pluck are the only elements that are mixed considerably wide. The kick, bass/cello, piano riff, vocals and snare are all mixed almost completely mono. In the infographic below, we can see that Dre has mixed the main elements very centrally. Hopefully we’ll come away with inspiration and ideas we can utilise in future productions. In this blog post, I’ll be decoding his iconic song ‘Still Dre’ to uncover his approach to music production. His golden touch boosted the careers of many household names such as Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Eminem… the list goes on. Dre has had a colossal influence over the sound and development of Hip-Hop.
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