Year of manufacture: 2023
Manufacturer: Mix With The Masters
Manufacturer’s website: Link
Author: Ricky Reed, Blake Slatkin, Bill Malina
Duration: 1h 10min
Type of material distributed: Video lesson
English language
Description: After years of hard work, Lizzo and her team felt that work on their second album was finally complete. But something kept producers Ricky Reed and Blake Slatkin in the studio working on the promising idea for another single. The bet paid off, and the result was the Grammy Award-winning song “About Damn Time.”
As Lizzo’s close friend and collaborator, Ricky Reed has played an integral role in her musical universe since 2016. After crossing paths with Blake Slatkin while working on the Special album, the two formed an immediate connection over their love of old-school funk and disco. What happened next went down in history.
This four-part series begins at the piano, with Blake and Ricky discussing the harmonic basis of the song. Bouncing ideas off each other, they slowly reconstruct the track and demonstrate how the simple but powerful groove lured Lizzo back into the studio.
In the control room, the duo are accompanied by recording engineer Bill Malina, who will talk about some of the technical solutions that made it possible to bring their creative ideas to life. He talks about his approach to creating sonic cohesion throughout the recording process, using careful selection of equipment, microphone placement and session management.
Eventually, the spotlight turns to Lizzo and we learn how she wrote the song’s unforgettable hooks and wordplay. Written in real time as she freestyled over the track, her impressive talent and delivery ties the song together perfectly and showcases the power of an outstanding performance.
Content :
1. A&R process, musical conception, writing chords, demo process
2. Tracking process, live instrumentation, bass, drums
3. Key changes, additional parts, challenges, vocal production
4. Finding the chorus, finishing the track, mixing process
There are subtitles in Russian, English and Spanish.
Example files: not provided
Video format: MP4
Video: AVC, 1920×1080, 16:9, 30 fps, 2000 kb/s
Audio: AAC, 44.1 kHz, 320 kb/s, 2 channels
